Page 65 of Rebel's Fairytale

She lifted her hand to knock on the door, but it was pulled open, and Rebel was standing there in only a pair of those tear-away sports pants, looking scrumptious.

Tearing her eyes away from his bare abdomen, she looked into his eyes. “Hi. Happy birthday.”

He smiled at her and kissed her lips, taking the bags from her other hand. “Thanks, Sweetie. You already told me that, this morning when you texted me.”

“I know, but now I’m in person.” She let him take the bags and turned around to go back to her car to get the rest.

“Where are you going?”

“To get the rest,” she answered as she crossed his porch to the stairs.

“I’ll get it.” Then, he was walking around her, hands free.

She waited on the porch, while he opened the passenger door and grabbed the remaining two bags and the cake.

“This all?”

“For now.”

He closed her car door and headed toward the porch.

Once they were both inside, she tried to grab the original bags he took from her from the floor by the door, but he let out a growl. Shrugging, she left the bags there and followed him to the kitchen.

She started unpacking the bags, setting plates and cups on the top of the island. “Your present is in the gift bag. It might be a good idea to open it before anyone else gets here.” She didn’t look at him because she was still steeling herself for his reaction.

When the bags were empty, she finally looked up and saw him staring at her. “What?”

“I wasn’t going to open it until you were done.” He nodded to the stool next to him. “Come. Sit.” Then, he reached for the gift bag. It was dark green and had silver stripes on it.

Taking a deep breath, Ruby rounded the island and slid onto the stool next to him. She tried really hard not to fidget as he pulled out the first small box and pulled off the ribbon. He lifted the lid and pulled out the folded piece of paper.

The look on his face was amused and curious. He unfolded it and read what it said. Then his eyes shifted to her. “Ruby,” he breathed, before he leaned toward her and took her lips in a slow, sweet kiss. “That’s perfect, Sweetie. Thank you.”

“That’s… not all.”

“You really didn’t need to get me anything but thank you.” He reached in the bag and pulled out the wrapped album. He pulled off the plain green wrapping paper and revealed that it was a 5x7, dark green album. “You’ve got my attention,” he mumbled as he set aside the wrapping paper.

Ruby held her breath as she watched him open the cover. His eyes looked over each photo before he flipped to the next. Ten photos, and no response. She couldn’t read his expression. It was completely blank. When he slowly closed the cover and still didn’t say anything, she slid off the stool.

“Well, ya know, it was just an idea. No biggie.” She turned to go back to setting up his party, trying her best not to be upset, when he grabbed her wrist. She stopped moving and looked back at him.

He was staring up at her, that golden-green light coming from his eyes. “Ruby,” he said, his voice more growl than human voice.

“Is that… good… or bad?”

“Ruby,” he said again, and pulled on her arm, forcing her to return to his side. He released her wrist but only to wrap that arm around her waist. Then, he opened the cover again and ran his fingertips over the photo. “Fucking beautiful.”

“You like?”

His hand slid up to fist in her hair. Then, he forced her head down the few inches he needed for him to take her lips in a scorching kiss. Using his teeth and tongue and lips to drive her crazy. Without breaking their kiss, he started unbuttoning her shirt.

When she needed to breathe, she broke the kiss and asked, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Hot as fuck,” he growled out and stood. Gripping her hips, he lifted her and headed for his bedroom.

“What about the ice cream?” she asked in a moment of panic.

“Fuck the ice cream,” he replied and tossed her onto his bed, immediately pulling off her shoes.

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