Page 121 of King of Pride

Zoe clasped her hands together, her earlier excitement replaced by nervousness.

“I’m really worried.”

Rose turned toward her. “About what?”

“Maverick.”

Zoe glanced around the decorated room as though her brother might suddenly appear and demand to know what they had done to his house.

“What if he doesn’t like it? What if he gets angry?” she asked anxiously. “I’ve never seen him celebrate his birthday. He doesn’t exactly seem like the birthday-party type.”

Rose couldn't help smiling.

“You think he’s going to get angry because we decorated the house for him?”

“You don’t know him like I do.” Zoe lowered her voice. “He gets angry over everything.”

Rose looked around at the balloons before turning back to her.

“Well…” A smile slowly spread across her face. “There’s only one way to find out.”

Rose’s voice softened as she looked around the room again.

“I want him to have at least one day that feels special. He spends almost all his time working, and I don’t get many chances to surprise him or celebrate something for him. Now that it’s his birthday, I really want him to feel special.”

Zoe studied her for a moment.

Then a grin slowly spread across her face.

“You seem really excited.”

“I am!”

Rose practically bounced on her feet, unable to hide her enthusiasm.

Zoe laughed and slipped an arm around her shoulders.

“Okay, okay. I’m leaving before you two lovebirds start getting all mushy in front of me. I can’t handle watching you two say ‘I love you’ every five minutes.”

Rose burst out laughing.

“Go away, then!”

“I was planning to!”

Zoe waved over her shoulder as she headed for the door and disappeared outside.

Once she was gone, Rose wandered over to the couch and settled down, her excitement slowly giving way to anticipation. She pulled out her phone and checked the time, wondering how much longer Maverick would be.

She had barely put the phone down when it began ringing.

Rose glanced at the screen but ignored the call.

A moment later, the ringing stopped.

Then her phone began chiming repeatedly.

Notification after notification appeared across the screen.