“Well, now you know my birthday is December eleventh.”
“Exactly two weeks before Christmas.” She smiled at him and took another bite of poutine.
“I like all kinds of movies, Briar. We could do action-adventure with something likeNational Treasure, or we could do a musical likeThe Greatest Showman, or we could do a rom-com….”
Briar grinned at him. “You don’t know the names of any rom-com movies, do you?”
He burst out laughing and shook his head. “No, ma’am. I sure don’t.”
“So, action-adventure,” she said. “MaybeJumanji, or?—”
“The new one.” He pointed his fork at her. “I don’t like the old one.”
“The newJumanji,” she said. “Jurassic Park,National Treasure….”
“There’s also that new one with the guy fromThe Office,” Tarr said. “I don’t know the name of it.”
“I think I know what you’re talking about,” she said. “It’s on one of the streaming services.”
“Yeah. Or we could watch something like a documentary. I like those ones about people living in Alaska, or the guys who rock climb.”
Briar wanted to wrinkle her nose and shoot him down, but she said, “Yeah, I can look those up,” instead.
“Are we having cake now or later?”
Briar glanced over to him and found that his plate had been emptied. “You can have more if you want,” she said.
“I’m deciding based on whether we can have cake now or later.” He grinned at her. “You know what? It’s my birthday, and I should’ve had cakebeforelunch.”
“I’ll get it.” Chuckling, Briar got up and hurried into the kitchen, where the enormous cake she’d had to buy off the shelf waited. If she’d had more time, she would have orderedsomething custom, maybe put Wiggins on the top of it or something. As it was, this was a male-themed birthday cake decorated in black, yellow, and blue, and it saidHappy Birthdayin perfectly piped cursive letters.
She grabbed two fresh plates and a spatula server on her way back to the table, then returned to the kitchen to get a knife.
“The yellow is kind of gaudy,” she said.
“It’s perfect, Briar.”
She cut into the corner of the cake. “I know you love frosting, so you can have this corner piece.” Extra piped frosting decorated every edge almost an inch high, and she cut him a healthy piece, slid it onto the plate, and put it in front of him.
Before she could pick up the knife to get herself a smaller portion, he grabbed her hand and tugged her closer.
“Tarr,” she warned as her balance started to fail her.
“Just sit with me for a second.”
She practically fell onto his lap, and he grunted, which caused a stream of embarrassment to erupt inside Briar’s chest.
“It’s my birthday and all.”
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and tilted her head back as he nuzzled his face into the soft skin there.
“You smell amazing.” He placed a kiss against her skin, and Briar shivered. “Yeah, this is going to count as my fourth birthday gift,” he whispered.
Little by little, Briar relaxed as Tarr held her and placed gentle kisses along her neck, ear, and jaw. At this rate, she wasn’t sure why touching her lips to his would be that big of a deal, and she pulled back to look him in the eye.
Just then his phone rang, the shrill sound of it piercing the tender, intimate moment between them.
“That’s Tuck.” He pressed her closer with one hand while he released her with the other so he could silence the phone. “I’mnot talking to him right now.” He got the ringing to stop and refocused his attention on Briar.
