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Rosy’s brows pinch in concern, so I lift her hand and kiss her palm. “Did you see it and think of me?” I ask, placing another kiss on the inside of her wrist.

Rather than smoothing the concern in her expression, her eyes widen. “Um, yes?”

I chuckle, then kiss a fingertip. Her gaze keeps flicking between my eyes and the places I kiss. The distracted look on her face is sweet.

“Then you did. That’s what Dad and I used to do. Sometimes we gifted a book from an author we knew the other would like, but a majority of the time, we found one that we thought the other would enjoy.”

Finally, her face smooths out, some of her tension easing as her head bobs to the book, and she explains what she thought when she saw it and what made her think of me. She’s animated and so sweetly excited that I barely keep up with what she’s saying; I’m too distracted by watching her. Once she finishes, I swoop in.

Our mouths meet, and I push all my consuming adoration and appreciation into the kiss; every heartfelt feeling she inspires in me, I send it back to her tenfold.

Her lips, so plush beneath mine, soften as she sighs. The gentle moan slips from her and into me.

I pull back and she blinks up at me, mouth parted and pink. “What was that for?”

“It was for you.” I grin, then move away to place the book down on my bedside table with care.

After dinner, she’d guided me into my room. The small lamp was lit, and a few candles flickered, casting the room in a dim, romantic glow. She must’ve set it up when she’d rushed in first ahead of me.

Her throat clears from behind me. “I thought we could watch a movie together?”

“Do you have one in mind?” I ask, pulling back the bedsheets and gesturing for Rosy to slide in.

“Your birthday, your choice,” she says, shaking her head. “But I got this mini projector, so we can lie back and play it on the ceiling.”

She turns to retrieve something from my desk, her loose curls spinning out slightly as she fiddles with something. She turns back around, and her exposed shoulder captures my attention. The oversized V-neck slips slightly, and I barely notice the device she holds between her hands.

Once Rosy’s set up the movie I suggested, we settle on the bed together and my arm wraps around her. She shuffles into my chest, and her leg hooks over mine.

“Comfy?” I ask with a light chuckle, squeezing her lightly as I rest my other hand on her leg threaded over mine.

“Yes.” She sighs contentedly, then her palm slides up my stomach and comes to stop on my chest.

The room’s dim, only lit by the remaining candles and the brightness of the projector as the movie starts. It’s subtly romantic, and being here with Rosy is the most treasured part of my birthday.

“This was a really good idea. Thank you,” I mumble, pressing a kiss on the top of her hair. I pause to inhale the sweet, berry scent that still lingers from when I washed it for her last night.

We barely made it halfway through the movie before we became distracted by one another. I wouldn’t be able to pinpoint which of us moved in first. Perhaps we just gravitated and came together as two perfect puzzle pieces.

Rosy mewls softly, the noise barely audible, but my lips feel it through the column of her throat. Unhurriedly, I scatter kisses along her skin and enjoy the way she bows for me at every lingering suck.

“Aren’t I…supposed to be…doing things to you? For…your birthday?” she pants breathlessly, and her hands fist the back of my shirt as I hover over her.

“Mmm,” I mumble into her neck, sucking again. She arches and releases another little gasp. “This is for me. You’re here for me.”

“Yes, yes. I’m yours,” she agrees frantically, and my chest pulses at her promise.

I pull her closest leg to me and create a space wide enough for me to wedge myself between her thighs and settle against her. My elbows frame her torso, and I thread my hands through her soft curls and cup her face.

She’s still breathing deeply, the rise and fall of her chest brushing against mine, as her dilated pupils stare up at me. Her face is so beautiful and kind that it makes me ache with my love for her. Every day it grows. Every day I fall in love all over again, and I never want it to end. Her smiles, her laughs, the conversations we have, the way she confesses her thoughts and fears. The way she trusts me with every part that she is.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she whispers.

Her eyes take on a sheen as she blinks repeatedly. The energy between us mellows, becoming less frantic and lustful, shaping into something warm and potent, something so intensely breathtaking.

“I can’t help it.” I brush my thumbs across her cheekbones. “It’s how you make me feel.”

She tugs her lower lip between her teeth, before letting it pop free, then her nostrils widen just a fraction as she exhales heavily.