Unexpected Gifts Read Online Free PDF Page A

“I
don’t know where you’re getting your information, but that’s
bullshit.”
    “C’mon, Sam. You can’t really think we
belong together.”
    He just stared at her.
    She didn’t want to have to spell it out, but
it looked like as if didn’t have a choice. “This isn’t going to go
anywhere. We both know that. And, when it ends, it won’t just
affect us. It’ll affect my family and yours. Do you really want
that?”
    He opened his mouth to protest, but she cut
him off.
    “You don’t stay with women for longer than a
few months. I’ve met a lot of them, and they’re wonderful.
Gorgeous. Smart. Funny. If they didn’t hold your interest, I don’t
have a chance.”
    “For fuck’s sake, Cassie!
Is that what this is about?” Before she could answer, he plowed
ahead. “Those relationships didn’t work out because those women
weren’t you .”
    Anything she might have said died in her
throat.
    “By the time I realized that the infatuation
of high school had passed and I was actually in love with you, it
was too late for me to do anything about it.”
    He loved her? She hadn’t really believed him
last night when he’d said he’d wanted her. But he had. God, he’d
wanted her. She was still a little sore to prove it. She glanced at
his face. There was nothing but certainty there.
    “If there was a chance you could be happy
with Tyler,” Sam continued. “I wasn’t going ruin that for you.” He
sighed. “I wish I’d known how much of a bag of dicks he was gonna
turn out to be.”
    She smiled sadly and adjusted the afghan
around her, trying to come to grips with the fact that Sam MacLane
was in love with her. “Even if you’d known and had tried to warn
me, I probably wouldn’t have believed you, anyway.” She shrugged at
his questioning expression. “I wanted the fairy tale. The happily
ever after. I guess that’s the problem with reading too many books.
You don’t realize until too late that happily ever afters don’t
exist.”
    He shook his head. “Bullshit.” He frowned a
little. “Okay, maybe bullshit is too strong. Not a lot of people
get a happy ending because they’re not willing to work for it.”
    She nodded. He was right. Tyler hadn’t been
willing to put in the effort, and, in the end, neither had she.
    “Here’s the thing you
should know,” Sam said, taking her hands in his work-roughened
ones. “I’m willing to work for it. Hell, I want to work for it. But I need to
know if you are, too.”
    Her heart stuttered. If she said no, if she
didn’t even give them a chance, she’d regret this for the rest of
her life. Realizing there was nothing she wanted more than a chance
at happiness with Sam, she slowly nodded. The smile he gave her was
the best gift she’d ever received.
    “Good.” His eyes shone with happiness. “Now,
open your presents, because, after that, we’re going back to
bed.”
    “Oh, are we?”
    He leaned forward and kissed her nose. “We
are. And it’ll be in a real bed where I can love you properly.”
    Her lips quirked. “That wasn’t proper?”
    “Not even close,” he said darkly, and desire
flared to life within her at his tone.
    “Now, open this.” He handed her a present.
It was lumpy and messily wrapped and could only be from her mother.
Cassie adored her and would recognize her poor gift wrapping skills
anywhere. Feeling more than a little guilty that she’d skipped the
family gathering in order to sit home and pout, she pulled at the
tape, lifting it away from the brightly colored paper. Inside, was
a new pair of mittens and matching scarf her mom had knitted. She
opened present after present from her parents, her brother and
sister and from Sam’s family, too.
    Sam picked up the last gift. She could tell
it was from him. No one else she knew wrapped gifts with that kind
of military precision. He set it on her lap, and sat back and
waited, looking a little uneasy. She couldn’t remember him ever
being nervous around her, before. Of