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“Not me. But I think Nate got you another present—wait, that means he’s gotten you more than me. What if I give you an IOU? Or if you let me between your legs real quick, I can give you a mind-blowing present. Spoiler, it’s a load of my cu⁠—”

“Max,” I scold, laughing too hard for any sincerity. “What present?”

“Fine.” He pouts. “He’s out there.” He gestures. “I still think I should get extra time to get you another present.”

Quickly curling the last strand of my hair, I turn off the iron, get to my feet, shake out my hair, then make my way over to the bed.

“You already got me a gift, and it’s not even a big birthday,” I tell him, leaning over his prone body. My loose curls fall around us as I hover over his impishly handsome face.

“I can give you something big?” He winks, then gets distracted by my mouth. Heat rolls over his features, and his eyes turn hooded.

Argh, he’s too alluring for his own good.

I swoop down, erasing the space between us, and I kiss him. He groans into me, tongue flicking in to tangle with mine, but I pull back before I can sink into him too much.

“Come on. We need to go,” I murmur as his mouth follows mine. “Max, you’ll get us into trouble.”

He snorts, both brows rising. “Nate’s the one in trouble.” At that, I spin away, ignoring Max’s grabbing hands. “No, wait. He didn’t bring anything. My mouth’s lonely without yours.”

I skid to a stop when I reach the sofas.

“Nate?” I ask, staring at his arms. Well, not his actual arms, as distracting as they are, but what’s held in his arms.

“I had to,” he grumbles defensively.

I look down at Moshi sitting at his feet, just as interested as I am.

My feet move closer without thought. “But we weren’t originally supposed to keep Moshi. He was supposed to find his forever family,” I remind him, taking yet another step closer.

“He did, with us.”

“Please tell me you didn’t go out and buy this one?” I plead. Unable to resist, I offer my hand to the very fluffy bundle of fur he’s holding. It’s smaller than Moshi, looking closer to the eight-week mark and should definitely be with its mother.

“No.” He huffs, almost affronted. “They were giving him away for free online. Some stupid fucker who won’t treat him right would’ve gotten him. So I drove there, picked him up, and brought him home.”

Heart melting a little at how he had to step in and save him, I release an exhale.

“We need to keep him separated from Moshi until we take him to the vet tomorrow,” I tell him, thoughts already darting through what he needs.

Nate frowns at me. “Little beast won’t hurt him.”

I bite my cheek to stop the smile that wants to break out. “I know, but before we slowly introduce them, we need an all-clear from the vets that he hasn’t got anything that might harm Moshi. So we need to quarantine him.”

He nods, absorbing the information.

“We’re not taking him back,” he warns, and my mouth kicks up into a grin.

“We’re going back for my birthday. It’s decided. I’ve got a new favourite place!” Max exclaims as he drops backwards onto the sofa. His arm darts out, wrapping around my stomach and taking me down with him.

I squeak loudly at the sudden movement. “You can’t do that! I could’ve slipped off or squished you.” I huff, nudging my elbow back into his stomach.

“Oof,” he grunts, then wraps his arm tighter around me, nuzzling my neck. “I think you just elbowed that last slice of pizza.”

“You sure it’s not garlic bread? Or either of the two desserts you ordered?” Bry snorts, squeezing onto the end of the sofa and lifting my feet into his lap.

“Fuck, that garlic bread was good,” Max agrees.

He untucks my teal satin shirt from my skirt and slides his palm over my stomach. Automatically, I suck in and go to remove his hand.