“I wanted an owl theme.” He leaned over the box and startled me by kissing me, a soft worshipful kiss. “They do remind me of you, like I told you. Wise and always watching.”
Both the kiss and the compliment loosened me up. It felt so natural, so easy for him to kiss me. I smiled up at him. “Thanks. This was very sweet of you.”
“I have my moments.” He tapped my arm. “Take your coat off. Stay awhile.”
“I’d love to.” Those words had more weight than I intended. I was on my knees on the rug. He was bent over and at my words his movements were arrested.
Devin ran a finger down over my cheek. “Good,” he said, roughly.
He moved over to survey the tree.
“So how do we do this?” I asked, taking my hat and jacket off. I lifted a fluffy white owl ornament out of the box.
“You could look it up online,” he said, teasing. “Or you could just put ornaments wherever you want and see what happens.”
“You’re very funny.” The tree was already lit, plugged in by Tree Guy. The soft white lights glowed in the dark room.
“I know.” He bent over, snagged a pinecone ornament and put it in some random spot.
I followed his example and in twenty minutes we had a beautiful Christmas tree. It wouldn’t win any awards, but it had reindeer, owls, raccoons, and even a moose on it, all looking out at me in cute adoration. I felt like Snow White surrounded by my critters. “I love it,” I told him. “It’s perfect.”
“It looks a little lopsided, but I’m glad you like it. I need another glass of wine. You want anything?”
I shook my head, and sat down on the couch just to stare at the tree in wonder. My tree. Our tree. Gratitude and love were all jumbling together and making me more open and vulnerable than I’d been in a long time. I suspected my heart was in my eyes when Devin returned, not just with a glass of wine, but with a present in his hand.
“I was going to wait, but I don’t exactly have a lot of patience,” he said, handing it to me.
It was gold foil, with a red bow on top. “What is this?”
“A present, you silly woman.”
“I know that. But what is it?” It was a stupid question, but I was so in awe of the perfection of the package in my hand, and the sentiment behind it, I wasn’t sure what to do or say. We’d been moving towards something more, something intense and real, but this was different.
This was a gift. For me.
“So… I asked myself what would Tiffany want? And then I realized that you don’t want anything. You think in terms of what you need. So I thought maybe you needed this.” He unplucked the ribbon on top, clearly impatient with my pace. “Open it.”
I swallowed hard, suddenly afraid. What would Devin think I needed?
Popping the lid off, I had my answer. It was a set of car keys on a turquoise blue keychain with Tiffany and Co embossed on it.
“It’s Tiffany blue,” he said, reaching in and pulling the keys out and holding them up for me. “And so is the jeep. I had to pull some strings to get the color done so quickly, but it turned out really well. It will be here by next week.”
I stared at the keys as they dangled in front of me, brand new. Silver. Shiny. The leather strap of the keychain elegant. Expensive. Together, they belonged to a car. Which Devin was saying belonged to me. A jeep. That he had thought to get, to pay for, to give to me.
“For the long winters, a jeep is perfect,” he added.
“You bought me a jeep?” I asked, throat tight. My voice didn’t sound like me. I sounded husky and raw and far away.
I could count on one hand the number of times I’d received a present and each one had been special. I could describe each one in great detail. How old I’d been, where I’d been given the gift, what it had been. To the teddy bear at five, to the sweater at eight, to the coffee mug at fifteen. But this… this was incomprehensible. This was beyond a gift. This was huge.
The tears in my eyes blurred my view of him and I blinked, hard, not wanting to cry. “Why would you do that?” I asked.
Devin’s hand cupped my cheek. “Because, Tiffany Ennis, I find myself in the very uncomfortable position of having feelings for you that I don’t fully understand or welcome. It doesn’t seem like the person who has my heart in a vice should be a decade younger than me and even more solemn than me. But I’ve never met anyone like you, never met anyone I admired so much. I just wanted to give you something to show you that I appreciate who you are.”
I didn’t how what to say. Wasn’t sure I could speak. He was saying that he loved me. Between the lines, that was precisely what he was saying. That he didn’t want to, that he didn’t understand it, but that I was in his heart. The way he was in mine. I wasn’t sure that I could accept the enormity of his gift, if I could live with myself for taking something so expensive, knowing our relationship was never going to last.
But at that moment, I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything but Devin and the way his eyes shone with affection and desire. I only cared that he had thought about me, had made phone calls and arrangements on my behalf. That I occupied space in his crowded brain. That the girl who’d spent her whole life on a rock in the middle of the ocean might matter to him.
“I don’t know how to say thank you,” I whispered. “It’s a very big gift.”
“You could just say thank you.”
“Thank you,” I murmured, wrapping my hand around his to clasp the keys. I leaned in, let my lips drift apart in invitation. I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted him.
“You’re welcome.” He kissed me softly. “It was my pleasure.”
I tried to tell myself that to Devin, the price of a car affected his bottom line the way a latte might affect mine. It wasn’t that big of a deal to him. But it was. I could see it in his eyes. In the way his hand shook slightly as he drew his thumb across my bottom lip. “Is this what you want?” he asked before kissing me deeper, his tongue teasing mine. “Really?”
The question was ludicrous. When he released me, I nodded. “Yes. It’s all I want.”
Devin took the gift box I was still holding and threw it on the floor. It tumbled a foot with a clatter that seemed loud in the quiet of the family room. But before I could comment, he did the same with the keys we were holding together. His eyes were stormy as he gathered me into his arms, his hands possessive and greedy more than gentle. The strength of his hold lifted me up off my feet onto the tips of my toes as he crushed me in a series of kisses that left me breathless, panting.