Page 214 of Shattered Silence Duet

“Hold on there, Kitten!” He laughs. “I didn’t think you’d be so excited by presents. I have to admit, I thought you would be a little weirded out.”

“Would you rather I was?”

“God, no! Now I can spoil you and not worry about it.”

I turn my head up to face him and pat his cheek. “Now let me go like a good boy so I can open my presents,” I demand. His eyes go wide.

“Why you little—” He goes in for the kill and I squeal as his fingers tickle my sides.

“Atlas! Atlas, save me! Ahh!” I squeal again and laugh at Dom’s vicious assault.

“You know the deal, I get one favor from you if I help you,” Atlas tells me with amusement as he crosses his arms over his chest.

“Deal!” Atlas wraps his arms around Dom, giving him a bear hug and pulls him back, freeing me.

Jasper wraps me in a hug, kissing my head, and pulls me in his lap into a chair before I can try diving into the presents again.

“Alright, Angel, open this one first,” he tells me as Max passes me a present and I don’t hesitate to rip the wrapping paper off.

“Oh my god! You got me a tablet? That’s awesome, thank you!” I hug the tablet with one arm and Jasper with the other as he chuckles.

“It’s from all of us, all the gifts are, Angel.”

“Oh, well, thank you everyone!”

“Okay, this one next!” Max says excitedly, passing me the next one. I glance up and see the eagerness in his eyes. And something else that makes me bite my lip and press my legs together as I squirm in Jasper’s lap.

I open the gift and my eyes go wide. “Whoa!” I exclaim, grabbing the first piece of fabric and holding it up. It’s red lace lingerie. I look through the box and find seven different sets, all in different colors. “These are gorgeous, thank you.”

“We each picked one out. When you put one of them on, whoever picked it out gets some alone time with you!” Max waggles his eyebrows at me suggestively and I laugh, but then think about that and how hot it would be, not knowing which one I was silently calling to my bed.

“Alright, Princess, now this one.” Ben passes me an envelope and I open it up. It’s some sort of subscription.

“What is it?” I ask him.

“It’s a one year subscription to an online resource. It’s full of video tutorials on just about any subject you can imagine. I thought it’d be a great way for you to browse some topics that might interest you and learn a bunch of new things.

“I love it, thank you!” I jump up from Jasper’s lap and hug Ben. Then I hug each of them as it’s technically from all of them, although that one has Ben’s name written all over it.

“Alright, Sugar, the big one now.”

“Oh, oh, oh, yey!” I yell, pulling it to the edge of the desk.

“Eee! A laptop, thank you!! Now I don’t have to steal yours anymore!” I say excitedly to all of them as I hug the box.

“You’re welcome, Love, now this one.”

Gideon hands me the other envelope and I open it up and shout, “oh my goodness! Is this real? We’re going to Aruba?!? Next week!!” I hug and kiss them all as they kiss me back and smile at my happiness. I mean, can life get any better than this?

“Hey, where did Atlas go?” I ask, realizing he’s not there anymore.

“Just grabbing your next gift, Malishka.” I turn around as he walks in the room holding the cutest dog I’ve ever seen. My mouth drops open and my eyes go wide. I walk up to him as Atlas steps towards me, looking nervous.

“Mina, I want you to meet Daisy. She’s an eleven months old, fully trained border collie. She won’t get too much bigger than this and is trained to protect us and keep you safe.” I stare at the bundle of black and white fur in his arms. She’s perfect.

“She… She’s mine? Ours? We get to keep her?” I ask quietly as I slowly reach my fingers towards her.

“If you want her, yes. I thought she would help you feel safe, and give you someone to care for. I thought you might get a fraction of the joy we get caring for you.”