All I Need: Rod & Daisy (All Of Me Duet Book 2) by A.D. Justice (books to read to improve english TXT) 📗

I’m hiding something and perks up. Knowing him, he thinks it’s more dessert. My smile grows wider as I near them, and his brows furrow more with my every step. When I reach the end of his lounge chair, my cheeks hurt from smiling, and his suspicion is at an all-time high.

“What are you up to, Mahoe?” He arches one brow at me but doesn’t avert his gaze.

Tracy moves to stand beside me. Then she slides her hand behind my back, takes Kevin’s gift from the top of the stack, and hides it behind her back. Out of the corner of my eye, I see her smile also splits her face in two.

“Rod, why do I get the distinct feeling you and I have been played?” Kevin sits up and swings his feet over the side of the chair. He scrapes his hand over his face, then pins Tracy with his non-sense stare. “Trace, if you’ve done what I think you’ve done, I’m spanking your ass tonight.”

“Promises, promises.” She blows him a kiss, not at all affected by his bogus threat.

“Rod and Juliana, although you didn’t plan to spend Christmas with us initially, I can’t imagine the void your absence would leave in this family. Within hours of arriving here, you both became full-fledged, card-carrying members. Today is as important to me as it is to you.”

With a gift in each hand, I extend my arms toward them. For a split second, they both sit stock still in stunned silence. Then Juliana gingerly moves to take the box from my hand, and Rod soon follows suit.

“Daisy, you already gave us matching pajamas. You shouldn’t have bought anything else. I feel awful because I didn’t get you anything.” Rod appears genuinely troubled as he stares a hole through the gift in his hand.

“Just open it.” I’ve already explained to him I have all I need and more.

He nods and begins ripping off the wrapping paper. When he opens the box and pulls out the surprise inside, his face instantly breaks into a broad smile.

He holds the vintage vine bottle up so everyone can see it. The clear bottle is half-filled with seashells and small pebbles. A cork stopper covered with larger seashells and a small sand dollar seals the bottle. A picture of Rod and me while we were on the island stands prominently among the seashells. In the picture, Rod and I are on the dance floor at the costume party, dressed as Captain America and Harley Quinn. We have our arms wrapped around each other as we dance. We’re staring deeply into each other’s eyes, as if we’re the only two people on the floor.

“Ah, Mahoe, I love it. This is incredibly thoughtful, and something I’ll treasure forever. But where did you get the picture?”

“Tracy snapped it when we weren’t looking. I didn’t know she had it until we went shopping the other day.”

He stands, slides his arm around my waist, and pulls me to him. He bends and presses his lips to mine in a lingering and sensual kiss. When he pulls back, his voice drops to a low, sensual murmur. “You are absolutely incredible, love. Thank you so much… for everything.”

“Your turn, Jules.” I turn while I’m still in Rod’s embrace, not ready for our intimate moment to end. “Open your gift.”

She doesn’t waste another second before tearing into her box. She acts like a kid, excited to receive a present regardless of what’s inside. When she pulls out the thick, leather journal and feathery pen, her bottom jaw drops open.

“I thought you may want to use it to write letters to Isa, especially while you’re in the hospital. She’s too young to read it now, but you can give it to her as a gift when she’s older. She can read about the time you were apart and better understand what was happening. Also, it’ll give you something to do while you’re recovering. Maybe it’ll help take your mind off what you’re going through and help you focus on good days to come.”

She joins Rod and me, wrapping her arms around my neck, and squeezes with what little strength she has. “You are the most thoughtful person I know. I can’t thank you enough for this.”

“Last, but certainly not least, I have something for you, Kevin.” Tracy steps in front of him, still hiding the gift behind her back. “Knowing we’d be here with Daisy’s family, I ordered it a couple of months ago and picked it up while we were out. There’s a lot you don’t understand about my family, but that doesn’t mean you’re don’t have my whole heart, Kevin.”

She produces the small box and places it in his hand. “I mean every word of this.”

His eyes crinkle in the corners and he tilts his head to the side, but he doesn’t respond. With the paper quickly disposed of, he flips open the jewelry box to find a TAG Heuer watch inside.

“Read the inscription.” Tracy’s voice is so soft, I almost didn’t hear her, but Kevin certainly did.

He takes the watch out, turns it over, and reads it aloud. “My heart is yours for all time.”

After he secures the watch on his wrist, he tugs on Tracy’s arm to pull her into his lap. “I’m holding you to this promise… for all time.” They immediately get lost in each other.

“It’s past my bedtime, so I’m leaving you lovebirds unsupervised out here. Don’t get in trouble.” Juliana kisses Rod’s cheek, then stops to kiss mine, before heading into the house.

Rod and I settle on one of the lounge chairs in our usual manner—he sits, makes room for me to settle between his legs, and he holds me in his loving embrace. This sheer perfection is almost enough to make me forget about the secret I’m harboring.

Almost.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Rod

“Chelle and Brian, I can’t thank you enough for having us here for the holidays. I used to hate Christmas and dreaded going through the motions