Breaking Even (Sterling Shore 5)

I really thought getting Brin’s car back would make Maggie like me again.

“I know where she is,” I say, walking into her room and flicking on her light.

“What the hell are you doing in her room? You can’t just—”

“Where’s the present I gave her?” I ask when I don’t see it in plain sight.

She follows me into the room, her arms crossed disapprovingly over her chest.

“I said she’s not here, so you shouldn’t be in her room. Your pranks are only giving her hope, and I can’t allow you to break her anymore. She never cried before you, and now that’s all she does.”

That makes me feel like shit. But I’m about to work really damn hard to make it up to her.

“I know she’s not here. She’s in my bed. We’re together—for real this time. So where’s the present I sent her?”

Her mouth falls open, and she stares at me in shock. That’s insulting. I think. I really don’t understand women. And Brin thinks I’m confusing. Her whole fucking gender is mind-boggling.

“It’s in the kitchen,” Carmen says, grinning as she starts pulling a still-stunned Maggie from the room.

I quickly walk around them and rush to the kitchen. The red package is on the counter, and I snag it and walk back out while Maggie still stares, dumbfounded.

“I love her, Maggie,” I say on my way out.

Just as I make it to the end of her yard, she yells, “You’d fucking better. I’d hate to have to roast your balls over a fire.”

Why do girls always threaten a guy’s balls? So unnecessary.

I just grin at her over my shoulder, and she works really hard not to smile back. Then I devote all my attention to getting back to the naked girl in my bed.

***

BRIN

Rye walks back into the room where he abandoned me, and he’s holding the red package that I still don’t trust. “Shorts off,” I demand, smiling at him when he laughs.

He complies though, and he gets as naked as I am before joining me on the bed.

“Here,” he says, handing me the item of suspicion.

It’s a long box, like something you would put clothing in. But I’m still not opening it.

“You open it for me,” I say very warily, handing him the box and waiti

ng for him to put me out of the suspenseful misery this gift has caused. It doesn’t stink, so I’m assuming there isn’t anything dead inside.

“No trust,” he says with a playful sigh, and I snuggle up closer to his back, peeking over his shoulder and letting his body shield me... just in case.

He peels open the paper to reveal the white box, and then he opens the top. Inside rests something white, and I lean up to get a better view. It’s a note on top of white tissue paper.

I miss you. And I bought things that make me think of you.

Really glad I didn’t open this before. I would have melted and begged him to take me back. Then we might not be in this new place where a future is possible between us.

“You’re crying,” he says with a frown.

“They’re not bad tears this time,” I say, smiling at him as he shifts and kisses me sweetly on the lips.

I pull away and peel back the tissue paper, and I burst out laughing at the simple white cotton panties that rest on the top layer.