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Christian Louboutin is written in white script on the top.

And when I open the lid, there’s a pair of gorgeous nude red-bottom heels inside.

My size. The exact height I like (one hundred millimeters).

“God, you’re pretty,” I whisper as I carefully pull them out.

“Me or the heels?” Ace teases.

I giggle as I turn them from side to side.

Seriously gorgeous.

“Baby?” he asks a moment—or it may have been ten minutes—later as I stand in the kitchen, my boring daily heels swapped out for these beauties and I all but drool as I stare at them on my feet.

“Yeah, honey?” I reply distractedly.

They’re hot.

So damned hot I may never take them off.

“Remember what Ally said?”

“Ally said a lot of things.”

He steps close, hand coasting along my side. “About passing the time.”

I still.

Then I smother a smile.

Because I know I’m suddenly thinking the same thing Ace is.

But because I’m me—because I can be me—I tease my man.

“To hole up here at the AirBnB and eat our troubles away?” I ask innocently. “Because we’re doing that. I’m going to make pancakes.”

His hand freezes. But only for a heartbeat.

Then his lips are back at my ear, his words low and sultry. “Not that part, princess.”

“To take some time to just breathe?” I tap a finger to my lips. “We should work on box breathing. That always helps center me.”

“Mmm,” he murmurs, lips trailing along my jaw. “You’ll be breathing, but it won’t be slow and steady.”

I shiver. “If not breathing and eating then what are you talking about? Sleeping.”

“You know what.” A nip. “And it’s not sleeping.”

“But the only other thing she said was to fuck away our worries.” I turn in his arms. “And you made it so I don’t have them anymore.”

His face changes, and it’s beautiful.

So beautiful I know I won’t ever forget the way he’s looking at me right now.

“So,” I say, rising on tiptoe and nuzzling at his throat. “I guess that means you’d better fuck me in these hot ass heels so we can celebrate another Vi.”

He scoops me up, starts for the stairs. “What Vi is that?”