“Doesn’t that take away the whole purpose of secret Santa?” I ask.
“Okay, so it wasn’t you…” Kennedy says, giving me an evil side eye before turning to Scarlett. “How did you get these?”
She holds up two special editions, signed copies of her favourite author Jasmine James’ new novel which she has been obsessed with all year. They’ve been sold out everywhere but somehow, she managed to snag two.
“I have my sources,” Scarlett shrugs as Kennedy drools over them. “Now me.”
She picks up her present which is in a small envelope. From me.
I try and hide my smile when she opens it. The anticipation surges through me as she takes out the small handwritten note.
“To Scarlett,” she reads aloud. “Here’s a present that you can use for the next year, and you don’t have to lie about sleeping with the hotel owner.’ Wren! You sneaky motherfucker. How did you do this?”
“I havemysources. Plus, if you keep pretending to get access to the hotel without a real ID, you’re going to get thrown in jail. Now, you can stop lying about it. You can use it for a whole year too,” I explain. She jumps into my arms, and I almost topple over as she suffocates me. “Okay, my turn.”
I get back up into a sitting position and pick up the gift bag in front of me. I know it’s Kennedy who got me this from the process of elimination and the terrible wrapping. I take out the hundreds of tissue papers before digging my hand into the bag and I pull out…
“Batteries?” I ask Ken. She nods her head and gestures towards the bag for me to keep looking through it. Then my hand finally hits a big box. I pull it out and start laughing.
“What is it?” Scarlett asks from across me, her knee bouncing like a child. I turn the box around so she can see the front of it. Scarlett also bursts into hysterical laughter. “This is the most Wren thing I’ve ever seen. Now I wish that Ken had me.”
“I had to do a lot of research for this. And the week when the Wi-Fi was down, I had to go to the library, to search up where I could get a good one. You wouldn’t believe how many times my account got blocked for searching ‘Where can I buy the best vibrator,’” Kennedy explains.
“Thanks, Ken. You always get the best presents,” I say when my laughter dies down.
“Well, I thought if you’re not going to sleep with Miles, you might as well get some action elsewhere.” She shrugs.
I don’t have the energy to make any snide comments because as much as I’d like to joke about it, Miles and I have not slept together. There have been opportunities — many opportunities — but one of us always shut it down. The second we sleep with each other; this whole thing will be over. The fake part and the friendship part.
It’s not long before Miles and his friends arrive. His friend, Xavier, a kind black man, comes in with a bottle of champagne. Evan, rich boy of the century and Scarlett’s nemesis, arrives in jeans and a button down.
And Miles looks so fucking sexy.
It's unfair that he can look so good all the time. It doesn't help that he has a sweet gooey heart and a wicked smile. That combination is deadly.
Knowing someone on the inside as well as the outside is a different kind of attraction.
When he walks in, he immediately snakes his hands around my waist and presses a kiss into my neck even though the only person who doesn’t know it’s fake is Evan. It wouldn’t take a genius to know that there are some moments that aren’t fake. The things we do for the sake of it — to give in to the pleasure for a second.
"I got something for you," he whispers into my skin and everyone around us groans. My chest pinches as I look up at him but he doesn't say anything as he drags me by the arm into the corridor to my bedroom.
When we get inside, his woody cologne clouds my senses as he towers over me as my back presses against my closed door.
I finally speak. "What are you doing?"
He smirks. "Close your eyes," he demands.
I raise one eyebrow. "Why...?"
He takes a step back, hiding the small bag that I only just noticed, behind his back. "Do you trust me, Wren?" I nod, because I really,really, do trust him. Probably more than I should. And I'm excited to find out what he got me. "Then, close your eyes."
I do as he says, all my other senses heightening as I feel him move closer to me. The fresh lavander smell of his soap crowds my mind and my nose as I feel his hand come to the top of my chest where my collar is opened slightly.
My breathing picks up as the tip of his fingers skim the expanse of skin on my chest. "Miles," I breathe. "What kind present do you have that requires you touch me?"
"Baby, I could think up any excuse to touch you, but this isn't one of those," he whispers, his voice hoarse as his mouth feels so close to my own. I'm betting that if I moved my head a slight inch, our noses would touch.
I feel him starting to button down my Christmas shirt, very slowly. The same torturous way he did at the gala. When I feel the cold air of my room hit my stomach, I know the shirt is unbuttoned. I don't have to open my eyes to see how hard my nipples are. I'm around him all the time in my sports bra but this feels different. It shouldn't be this intimate. Whatever it is he's doing.
