Page 74 of Her Game Plan

I twist the pearl earring in my right ear. “Yes! But first, I got you a Christmas present. It’s not anything big. And you might hate it, but I think you’ll like it. Or I hope you will. Not that it cost me anything. To be clear, I would’ve spent money on you. We’ve just been so busy the last month with the season and all your travel for your sponsorship deals, and with me truly getting into the thick of things at work, I—”

Callan presses his lips against mine, his favorite way to make me stop talking these days. I want to be insulted by it, but I’m not. He usually lets me go on until I work myself into a spiral and then cuts it off before it moves from a baby spiral to a full-blown crisis. “I got you a gift, too.” He stands and walks out of the room. I follow him, finding him looking into the branches of the tree that a decorating company put up during the first week of December. Apparently, Callan likes a festive house.

It does make it feel like home. Though, that might have more to do with the man I’m sharing it with.

I take the box, carefully inspecting the slightly crinkled wrapping job. Judging by the amount of tape used to keep it all together, it’s hand-wrapped. “Okay, this looks like you put a lot of thought into it, and I want you to know that I did, too. It might not look like it, but—”

His smile is soft as he taps the top. “Open it, Princess.”

I pull on the wrapping paper and open the reused cardboard box inside. Laughing, I pull out six bags of Nerds Clusters inside.

“It’s all the varieties I could find.” Callan rubs the back of his neck, his cheeks slightly pink. “I thought we could do a taste test sometime to pick our favorite.”

I throw my arms around him. “This is amazing! I haven’t had the Christmas ones yet. Or the orange bag.” I sort through the six bags again. “Oh my God. Grape Strawberry Blitz? It looks like Princess Clusters. We should take some to Marlee. And Halloween ones?” I squeeze the bag. “How are these not rock hard?”

He grins. “That’s what she said.”

“Oh really? Is someone commenting on your flaccid penis a lot?” I bite my lips to keep my laughter from slipping out as his eyebrows pull together in confusion.

“No, that’s not… I meant—”

I push onto my toes, wrapping my arms around his neck to pull him down for a kiss. “Fortunately for me, that’s not a problem we have to deal with.” I gently rub my hand along his already hardening cock as I drop onto my flat feet.

“Princess,” he rumbles. “Behave. Or we’re going to be late.”

“What if I want to ditch everyone and spend Christmas with just you?”

He exhales loudly, taking a step away from me. “We can’t. We can’t.”

I’m not sure whether he’s trying to convince me or himself, but I turn and start walking toward the garage. “Fine. Come on, then. I’ll give you my gift in the car.” I pop my knuckles. I hope he’ll like it. The Nerds Clusters were the perfect gift; I’m worried mine might not measure up.

We ride in silence for a moment before finally Callan turns toward me. “Can I open my present yet?” His puppy-dog eyes are out, the ones he knows I can’t resist.

“Let me see your phone.”

He unlocks it before handing it to me, his expression turning puzzled as I click a few times on the screen. “Okay, I know you like the playlists you have, but I also realized a couple of weeks ago that you’ve been letting me win so we can listen to my music. So, I thought maybe you’d like one more playlist. Not one for every occasion, like me. I know you don’t want that many options. But, so, yeah. I made you a playlist. Which I’m realizing now was a terrible idea. I’m forcing my music tastes on you. I can delete it. I’ll wait until you’re asleep and make you wake up for long enough to unlock your phone again. Honestly, you should probably be worried about your e-safety with how easy it was to unlock your phone using your mostly sleeping face—”

“Charlotte. Can you play it, please?” His voice is almost reverent.

I nod once before clicking the play button on his music streaming app. He listens for a minute before saying, “This is the song you played on our way home from the Vegas game.”

“Yeah. You sang along to this one.”

He glances at me for a moment, as if searching for something before turning his attention back to the road. “What’d you name it?”

I bite my lip. “‘My Version of You.’”

Eyebrow quirked; he mouths it. “I like it. Not as good as ‘Music’ but it’s got that Charlotte Langford vibe to it.”

“I do think you’ll like the songs. Or I know you like them. And I think they’ll make you happy.”

He reaches across and grabs my hand, stopping me from popping my knuckles again. “I love it, Charlotte. Thank you.”

I hand his phone back to him. “You can always delete it if you decide you don’t like it. I shared it with you from my account because I was going to add to it as I find out more songs that you like before I have to move—but, anyway, I realized you like consistency, so no new songs.”

The smile I give him is forced: I’m in my head about this. Not only because I almost reminded us that we’re barely two and a half months away from when we agreed I’d move out, but also because I can’t tell whether he likes it or not.

“This is the best gift anyone has ever gotten me,” he finally says, and my heart swells. “Thank you, Princess.”