Serenity (Inevitable #5)(64)

As he flicked on the overhead light, Sasha could only stare in wonder at the sight that greeted her - at least two dozen gifts of various shapes and sizes, all beautifully wrapped in striped satin paper and elaborately tied velvet bows. She thought in a near panic that he had probably spent more on just the wrapping paper and ribbon that she had on his entire gift.

But she wasn't able to resist running her palm over the gift nearest to her, enjoying the lush softness of the velvet ribbon beneath her fingers. She'd never experienced such extravagance in her life before, had never been showered with so many presents at once, or had someone like Matthew who treated her like a princess. And while she had never been deprived of anything, had always had everything she needed, neither had she ever really been indulged before. Neither of her parents had made much money during the gypsy days of her youth, and while they were both comfortably off now Sasha certainly wouldn't call either of them wealthy. She'd counted herself lucky as a child to receive half a dozen small gifts, and had cherished each and every one of them.

The lavish pile of presents that took up an entire corner of this room, however, was like something out of a fairy tale. She shook her head in mingled dismay and delight as she picked up a medium sized box.



       
         
       
        

"I - I don't know what to say," she began haltingly. "Or where to begin."

Matthew grinned. "The one you're holding in your hands is a good place to start. Here, I'll tell you what. Take a seat in the desk chair and I'll bring the gifts over one at a time."

Nearly an hour later, Sasha was down to her last gift, and felt moved nearly to tears at all of the beautiful, thoughtful things Matthew had chosen for her. He knew quite well that she wouldn't have been impressed by expensive jewelry or designer handbags, and had instead gone out of his way to make each gift - large and small - something personal. Oh, not that some of the presents hadn't been on the extravagant side - like the brand new laptop and top of the line cell phone he'd insisted that she accept.

"Hey, I'm the CEO of one of the biggest software companies in the world," he had pointed out. "If word ever got out that my girlfriend didn't even own a computer, and that her phone was hopelessly out of date, I'd be a laughingstock. So you have to accept both of them, don't you see? In order to save my reputation, that is."

But most of his gifts had been small, thoughtful items - a bag of her favorite loose leaf tea; an exquisitely soft cashmere scarf; a CD by a sitar player that she liked; a pair of copper and jade earrings that he assured her were costume and not the real thing.

It was his final gift, though, that touched her the most - a small painting of a woodland fairy that she'd admired once in a gallery while window shopping with him after dinner one evening. She had completely forgotten about the painting, and marveled that he could be this thoughtful, this observant.

Sasha set the painting on his desk carefully before flinging herself into his arms, pressing a tender kiss to his cheek.

"Everything is perfect," she whispered tearfully. "Absolutely perfect. You are the kindest, most wonderful man I've ever known. Even if all of this is ridiculously over the top, far, far too extravagant. You went completely overboard, Matthew."

He buried his face against her curls, pulling her close against his body. "Not even close, sweetheart," he assured her. "If you could have seen some of the things I really wanted to buy you, well - you'd have set your foot down for sure." He lifted his head then, cupping her cheek tenderly in his hand. "You are the one person in my life who never asks me for a thing, who never expects stuff. Whether it's Lindsey or Hayley demanding a new pair of shoes or a luxury vacation somewhere, or one of my managers needing an hour of my time to go over a proposal, it feels like every day, every hour, someone wants or needs something from me. Except you. Rather than ask me for things, you give them instead. And in these few months we've been together, you've already given me so much, Sasha. Far, far more than any present I could give you in return." 

Tears had begun to pool in her eyes at his impassioned words, and her lips were trembling as he claimed them in a slow, sweet kiss. The kiss quickly ignited, and turned hungry, passionate, in the blink of an eye. He scooped her up into his arms, and kicked away a wadded up pile of discarded wrapping paper as he carried her out of the room.

Once in the master bedroom, he laid her down on the bed with great care, as though she was a fragile, treasured piece of glass. With only the bright light of a nearly full moon to illuminate the room, Matthew began to undress her slowly, taking his time this evening instead of nearly tearing her clothes off with frantic lust as he so often did. She had dressed up for their special holiday dinner, in a flapper-style dress of ivory silk and lace that she'd unearthed in a vintage store. He slid the dainty spaghetti straps off her shoulders, then carefully worked the dress down past her narrow hips and off her legs.