Shadowboxer (Tapped Out 1)

When would I ever learn that I wasn’t some sexy chick? I was still a fighter girl down to the marrow, and I didn’t know how to be seductive. I screwed it up every time.

“Can I open them now? Huh?”

“Can’t we eat cake first?”

He frowned. “You honestly expect a penis cake exploding with vanilla pudding and bearing whiskers to distract me from what’s in these boxes? Nope. Sorry. Gimme.”

“But—”

“You would deny a man on his birthday? Have you no soul?”

I laughed helplessly. Screwing up commencing in one…two…three… “So I’ve been told.” Sighing, I waved him on. “Go ahead, boy-man-child.”

He dug into the first box, yanking off the lid and tearing through the tissue paper. Clearly puzzled, he withdrew the satin black and red shorts. “What in the frilly fuck? Boxers?”

“Special boxers.” I set down the forkful of cake I’d just picked up so it didn’t end up in my windpipe when I started laughing again. “Turn them around.”

Eyeing me, he did as I asked—and choked. “Fox? You actually got me boxers that say that on the ass? What is this, a matching pair to go with your Juicy panties?”

“Carly suggested we call them foxers instead.” I kept a straight face for all of ten seconds. “Come on, I couldn’t resist. They were there, and I have my new charge card.”

“We’ve created a monster.”

Barely hiding a smile, I motioned him on. “There’s more. Open the next one.”

He carted the next box to the desk and popped the lid. “If this is a G-string, I’m breaking up with you.”

A couple of months ago, I might’ve taken that threat at face value. Now I tossed back a smug reply. “No, you aren’t.”

His grin flashed as he sifted through the tissue. “Fine. Busted. No, I’m not. But I’m only wearing it on holidays.” His hand stilled. “Oh shit.”

“Take it out.”

He drew out the ankle-length black leather duster, and my stomach quaked as I waited for the verdict. It wasn’t like his leather jacket. Not at all. But it was badass. At least I thought so. Carly had too.

“So? Do you hate it? I knew you’d hate it. I suck at this. It’s just that you’re so tall and I thought it would look…yummy,” I trailed off as he pivoted toward me. “I kept the receipt,” I finished weakly.

He grabbed my upper arms and pulled me in for a sizzling kiss that almost steamed my lips right off my face. “I love you. Do you know that?”

“Uh.” Brain function was not optimal. Or even minimal. “Uhh…”

“It’s incredible. I love it. God, I can’t wait to see what’s in the last box.” He whirled back to grab the third one.

I was still trying to remember how to breathe. He told me he loved me almost every day, with the ease of someone who’d been saying it for a lifetime despite the fact that I knew he hadn’t. And he definitely gave me smoking kisses. But the two together? I was still so dazed that I almost missed his stunned expression as he tugged out the pale yellow see-through teddy.

“Wow. Um. Wow.” He blew out a breath. “It’s great, but I don’t think it’s my size.”

“That one’s technically not a gift for you.”

“I beg to differ.”

I slipped my arms around his waist, snuggling my hands under his T-shirt. “This was what I tried to buy that first night when I got those stupid panties. I sent pictures to Carly and she thought this one would work.”

“I vote affirmative.”

“I was going to get it then, but I blacked out. I grabbed the first thing I could.” He tensed under my fingers and I stroked his stomach, trying to soothe. “Darren liked me in yellow.”

“Let’s take it back and get red,” he said after a long pause.