Chapter 19 : Mr. Giving

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I never really liked birthdays. Not mine, not anyone else's. So when I wake up in the morning, I don't feel any different than other day.

Except that Braden is showing me his gratitude with kisses, making me giggle. ''Happy birthday,'' he wishes with a hot whisper in my ear, biting my earlobe.

And as he goes down my body, under the covers and settles his head between my legs, he shows me just how happy and satisfying a birthday can be.

***

''I made reservations for us to go out at 9 tonight.''

I'm just putting the finishing touches of my mascara on my lashes as Braden informs me of his plans. He stands at the doorway in the bathroom, leaning against the door frame and watching me in the mirror, looking like a model.

''Uh, alright.'' I don't even feel like pointing out that he again informed me of this plan, instead of asked me, but I'll cut him some slack since it's my birthday. I don't doubt he's taking me somewhere fancy so I'll need to dress up. ''You know, I might just use your credit card today.''

Braden raises an eyebrow, a cheeky smile stretching his lips. ''You better do. That's why I gave it to you.''

I sigh. I figured that it's really pointless to have arguments with Braden about money and gifts from him, because at the end, it's going to be his will, no matter how much I fight against it.

So I accept it with gratefulness, giving him a kiss on the cheek, silently thanking the Gods among that they let me have this man.

Braden takes me to work again. He doesn't come in the bar with me today, only says goodbye when we come there, wraps his hand around my neck and gives me a toe-curling kiss that I'll probably think of for the most of the day at work.

And to say I'm anxious for the work to finally finish is putting it mildly. I actually find myself looking forward to that dinner Braden planned for us.

But there's also a small fear inside of me that Victoria will come back here and make a scene. I'm seriously not in the mood to deal with her today.

But the shift passes without any drama and I'm grateful, because now comes the fun part. Well, not really that fun, since I don't really like shopping that much, but it can't be avoided. I terribly need a dress to wear for tonight.

When I come out of the bar, Jeff, Braden's driver, is already parked outside, waiting for me. He greets me with a smile. ''Hello, Miss Rory.'' I narrow my eyes at his formal greeting. ''I heard it's your birthday today. So I wish you a happy one.''

I smile. ''Hey, Jeff. And thank you.''

He nods. ''Where to?'' he asks me when we're seated in the car.

I tell him where to go. And so the shopping begins. With Jeff walking closely behind me, because, of course, Braden the overprotective caveman told Jeff not to let me out of his sight. To say it's awkward with him walking behind me like a shadow, following me from store to store, would put it lightly, but I soon get used to it.

I feel safer with him with me, anyway.

***

My parents, Lily and Brooke all called me during the day to wish me a happy birthday, along with Aaron and Jared.

I let myself have a little off time after I bought the dress and the shoes and went to the salon. I got a haircut – just the ends - and also at the moment of feeling bold, got the light highlights. The hairdresser also did some big curls that turned our great and my hair looked like it had much more volume than usual.

I got some manicure and pedicure done and got waxed everywhere. That wasn't so pleasant to go through, but, oh well. You have to make some sacrifices in life.

Then, I went to the make-up artist and let her do her magic on my face. So when I came back home, I barely even recognized myself.

I felt fresh. I felt confident. I felt good. And I felt relaxed.

It was a good feeling and I'm sure it was showing in my eyes how happy I was.

I sent Braden a text that I'm going back to my flat. He wasn't happy about it, but he said he's going to come to pick me up at half past 8. Enough time for me to get ready.

I was disappointed that Brooke wasn't there when I came home. I really miss seeing her face around and I hoped I could see her, at least today. It makes me a little sad, actually.

I like that she's spending a lot of time with Aaron and I wish them both well so that's what I focus on and just be happy that she's happy wherever she is right now.

When it turns fifteen after 8, I go dress myself and put the heels on. The dress I bought is a red long dress that comes down to my ankles. It has a killer slit through my whole leg, so wearing panties is a big no tonight. It's also tight around my curves and when I saw my ass in the mirror in the dress again, I suddenly started to have doubts by picking it out, because it looks way bigger than usual.

I frown. Or I hope it only looks bigger than it actually is.

Braden surprises me by coming a bit early. I'm applying my lipstick when he comes so I just call out for him so he knows where I am and I hear his footsteps coming closer.

I'm leaning over the sink so my face is close to the mirror and I can apply the lipstick better and thoroughly.

''Hey, babe, are you – holy ... wow!'' I catch a glimpse of Braden in the doorway, gaping at me – or rather my backside.

My lips curl up into a sultry smile. I would be lying if I said I didn't wear this dress for him tonight ...

I turn around as he comes closer and his step falters a bit. His eyes rake up and down my body and when they come to my lips, he groans, throwing his head back a bit. ''You're wearing that lipstick?'' he breathes out, his voice tight. ''Jesus, are you trying to put me in grave tonight?''

I chuckle, but my laughter quickly dies down when his arms snake around me and grab my butt, pulling me closer to him and squeezing my ass cheeks. ''I'm glad you like it,'' I tell him, putting my palms flat on his chest and look him up and down.

He has his hair sliced back tonight and he's wearing the black tux that hugs his body so deliciously it makes my head spin. ''You look good, too, by the way. Hot as always,'' I joke.

Braden grins at me, flashing me his significant dimples that make me weak at knees. When his hands move to my hip and down lower he sharply inhales as he discovers that killer slit, coming into contact with my bare skin.

''Hell, Rory,'' Braden breathes shakily. His jaw becomes tight, his eyes get hooded and dark. ''I'm starting to have second thoughts of taking you out, especially dressed like this. You have no idea how much I want to cancel that dinner and stay here with you ...'' His fingers lightly brush down my thigh down and up, goosebumps breaking all over my body. His hand carefully tangles in my hair, ''To ravish you. To love you. To please you ...'' He leans to my ear. ''The whole night long,'' he breathes in it.

I stop breathing completely, my palms on his chest grip the expensive material tighter and I don't even care if wrinkle it. ''Yes, please.'' I don't recognize my voice. It's desperate and begging. ''We can stay here.''

Braden chuckles and drops his head down to my neck, pecking the hot skin there. ''No, we can not. For variety of reasons; but we'll still have plenty of time to finish what we started. Later,'' he promises with one last squeeze at my ass cheek before he steps away.

He grabs my hand and twirls me around, making me giggle. He smiles down at me in return, his eyes shining in nothing but pure happiness and content. It makes my heart squeeze. He drops a sweet kiss down on my cheek, breathing me in before he steps back yet again.

''We really should go before this gets any further.'' He puts his hand on the necklace I'm wearing – the one he gave me. It's easily my favourite one. He smiles softly as if sharing a secret with himself before he composes himself again and straightens his form, brushing down his tie. ''Ready?'' he asks.

I shrug. ''Bring it on, Mr Campbell,'' I challenge him.

His eyes sparkle. ''Careful what you wish for, sweetness,'' he mouths and grins at me before he puts his hand on my lower back, his fingertips almost touching my butt and I wonder if he did that on purpose.

I see there's a limousine waiting for us and my body involuntary tenses up. Braden puts more pressure on my back, his touch burning through my coat and I take a few deep breaths to calm myself down.

I step forward, but Braden pulls me back, putting his hands on my shoulders. ''Rory, are you going to be fine? It seemed proper to take you out in a limo, but if you're not okay ...''

I shake my head and exhale, my hot breath mixing with the cold air outside, creating a fog. ''No. I'm good, it's alright. It helps that you're with me,'' I assure him.

He gives me a small smile, but it's tense and doesn't reach his eyes. He looks at me worriedly, before he caresses down my arm and kisses the top of my hair. ''Always,'' he says.

And that's all I need to calm down completely – my anchor, my life line. Everything always seems so easy with him and that's what I need to just keep going. I don't know how I could survive before meeting him, because I now know that if there ever comes a time I'll have to face the life without him by my side, I seriously doubt I could do it.

Braden opens the door for me and comes in after me, sitting so close that our sides touch. He doesn't hesitate by grabbing my hand and holding it the whole drive where we're going.

I don't even question where we're going because I know he won't give me the answer I'm looking for so I just ask him about the work to fill in the silence.

It's nice and comfortable to just talk to him about small stuff like this and equally learning stuff about him. He amazes me every day.

When we come to our destination, Jeff opens the door for us and Braden leads me inside of a very beautiful and very expensive restaurant with the name Fascino flashing above us.

He tells the man who greets us his name and we go straight to where the private rooms are located. My eyebrows raise slightly, but I don't say anything.

We stop in front of the door of one of the private rooms and Braden thanks the man. I want to comment since when is he so polite, but he sends me a secretive smile and opens the door. I can't see inside until Braden steps on the side and I gasp when the chorus of united voices sing out, ''Surprise!''

I put my palm over my mouth, my eyes widen in surprise and my lips stretch in a full-on grin that I just can't hold back. ''Oh, my God!'' I shriek and rush forward to greet everyone.

My mum, my dad, Brooke, Aaron, Lily and Jared – they're all seated at a big table that's in the middle of the big, beautiful room. The room is decorated with balloons and a big happy birthday Rory is hanging down in colourful letters in the back of the room.

It's so very beautiful and also unreal. It's such a great surprise, I never would've thought Braden has something like this planned for tonight.

Speaking of him, I turn to him after I greet everyone with warm hugs and kisses on the cheeks and after they all wish me happy birthday yet again and give me presents, wrap my arms around his neck and press my lips softly to his cheek. Even in my heels, I have to lean up on my tiptoes a bit to reach him. ''Thank you,'' I whisper to him meaningfully.

Braden warmly smiles at me. ''No need to thank me,'' he whispers back.

Our moment of intimacy is broken when the waiter comes and demands Braden's attention, so he turns away from me to talk with him, but another waiter comes to me and a glass of champagne is forced in my hand before I can decline it.

My dad comes by my side and drops his arm around my shoulder, clinking his glass with mine. ''Cheers, sweetheart,'' he says with a smile.

I grin and shake my head at him. Before I can say anything, Braden is back with me, but he has a deep scowl on his face, staring down at the glass I'm holding. ''What the hell are you doing with this, Rory?'' he seethes, his jaw clenching.

I take a double take at him and then raise my eyebrows. ''It's not like I was going to drink it, Braden,'' I hiss at him quietly, not wanting to create any scene in front of everyone, especially with dad standing beside me, following our encounter with raises eyebrows.

''What's it doing in your hand, then?'' his voice slightly raises and I see that mum's looking at us now, too.

I step closer to him. ''Will you calm down, for God's sake? The waiter handed it to me and went away before I could turn it down and give it back. I'm not stupid, I'd never harm our baby in that way,'' I whisper the last part so no one can hear it but him.

His gaze immediately softens and he looks a tad bit regretful. He traces his eyebrow in despair. ''I'm sorry. I'm just ... I'm ...''

I see he doesn't find the words and I smile. ''A bit overprotective?'' I ask him, pursing my lips.

He chuckles and puts his hands in his pockets. ''Yeah, you could say that.''

''What's going on?'' Mum asks when she nears us, her suspicious eyes trained on Braden.

I clear my throat uncomfortably because I know I can't hide this from my parents anymore, even though this is not a good place or a time for them to find out. ''Mum. Dad. I –'' I look at Braden and he looks back at me with encouragement, ''we need to tell you something.'' I take a deep breath. ''I'm pregnant,'' I rush the words out of my mouth in fear if I say them slow, I will change my mind in the middle of the sentence and shut up.

My mum gasps. My dad's eyes widen. And I clearly see they weren't expecting this to come out of my mouth. ''But are you – are you sure?'' my mum stammers.

My eyebrows knit together. ''I'm pretty sure the tests I took weren't lying. And the baby we saw in ultrasound wasn't imaginary.''

My mother doesn't appreciate my sarcasm in this moment very much, so I shut my mouth after telling her that yes, I'm completely sure.

Her eyes flicker to Braden briefly and then back to me with a clear question written in her eyes, but I refuse to answer it until she voices it loud. ''But are you sure about this? Now?''

I laugh uncomfortably, sneaking a peek at Braden, but I see he's merely watching my parents' reaction, not taking anything personal. ''Now is as good time as ever, mum. And yes, we're both sure.'' I grab Braden's hand and intertwine our fingers together.

My mum doesn't look totally convinced for a moment, but she sighs. ''Oh, well. I'm so happy for you two, then. Congratulations.'' She hugs me, embracing me in a tight, big, warm hug that makes my eyes water.

Meanwhile, dad recovers from the shock and pats Braden on the back, congratulating him and then hugs me after while my mum hugs Braden, too, much to both our surprise.

After that awkward, but a very necessary, encounter is over, we both sit down. Braden pulls the chair out for me at the head of the table and then sits down on my right.

The waiter comes then, taking our orders. I don't even have to think about how much money had Braden had to throw out for this, but I appreciate it. I know he did it with love and that's what's most important.

I cross my legs under the table and the slit falls open, exposing my whole thigh. Of course Braden notices the movement, because I feel his hand on my bare skin seconds later, pushing under the dress to rest the whole palm on my thigh.

I look at him warningly, but he ignores me and leans in, whispering, ''God, that dress is making me wild.'' His eyes narrow on my lips and I purse them out, because I'm evil like that and because I know it'll drive him completely crazy. And I'm not wrong as I hear his low growl and feel him squeeze my thigh.

I lean into him. ''Maybe if you'll be good tonight, you'll get to see that lipstick smeared over your cock again.'' I sneak my own hand on his thigh, but I don't stay there because I get to his crotch and squeeze him. He's already hard.

Braden exhales sharply, his chest expanding over that delicious tux and I remove my hand to grab the glass and take a few big gulps of the cold water to cool my body down a bit.

Something over the table catches my attention and I turn my head, furrowing my eyebrows until I see it. And I gasp. ''Lilly!'' I squeal and everyone shuts up to look at me. I ignore the flush that instantly goes straight up my neck to my cheeks and stare widely at Lily's hand. ''What is that?''

Lily's cheeks redden and she looks down on her lap uncomfortably. Jared drops his arm around her shoulders with a smug smile playing on his face. ''We're sorta ... kinda ... engaged,'' she says, almost as if testing the word out.

Jared's smile slips a bit as his eyebrows draw together. ''Uh, babe. Sorta? Kinda?'' He shakes his head at her. ''We are engaged. Period.''

My hand falls on my chest as my mouth falls open. ''Oh, my God!'' I shriek excitedly. ''Congratulations! Oh, my God! I'm so happy for you two.'' I blink the tears away from my eyes as a face splitting grin appears on my face.

More congratulations follow from everyone and they both thank everyone, Lilly a bit uncomfortable to be put under the light like that and Jared with all his addictive charm.

I feel Braden's stare on me and I look at him to see him studying me intently with a tiny little smile on his lips and a distant look on his face.

''What?'' I ask him and can't help but grin.

He only shakes his head to bring himself back from wherever he went. ''Nothing,'' he replies and squeezes my thigh.

***

My birthday celebration went awesome, better than I could ever imagine it. Everyone had fun and I dare to say everyone had a great time.

Well, except for Brooke, the moment when Aaron went home and left her there by herself. After that, she was really ... looking down and her mood instantly dropped. I asked her about that and she said she didn't want to bother me with her drama tonight, but I persuaded her so she finally admitted that they were having some troubles.

She said she finally took the balls to admit to him that she wanted more from him, but he apparently said that he isn't ready to give it to her yet. She was devastated about that.

She also told me that he found Damien at her flat two days ago when he came to visit her in the evening.

And Aaron just flipped out, even though she assured him that he doesn't even have a reason to be pissed at her.

And then, as if that's not enough, he admitted to her that he was seeing a few other women besides her.

And to say he was taking that not-relationship-but-still-something too literal was an understatement. I hated him in that moment. I hate him that he did something like that to Brooke. And I hated him that he still didn't leave her alone and treated her like she shouldn't even talk to some other guy while he goes around screwing other girls.

That bastard!

But other than that, the event went off as okay. I'm currently cleaning my face of my make-up. There's a knock on the bathroom door. ''Are you going to be out soon?''

I frown, staring at my wet face in the mirror. ''Uh, yes?'' I call back, thinking why doesn't Braden just come in like he usually does.

There's no other response from him and I wipe my face with my towel and go out, wearing only Braden's shirt and black lace panties.

I find him sitting on the bed, holding some

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