They were coming to the end of the gifts when Xander handed over all four of their gift bags. “Alright, birthday girl, these are from me and Freya.”
She snickered as the majority of his friends rolled their eyes, but all their smirks were good-natured. The sweet girl politely thanked them for the pajamas and then squealed with delight at the tent playhouse and furniture.
“Hang on, birthday girl,” Xander said, handing Daisy an envelope. “This is also part of your present.”
“Oh good God,” Tash quietly grumbled from beside her. “Of course he got her another present. Do you know what it is?”
Freya shook her head, curiosity clawing at her.
“It’s a mama and baby slothy!” Daisy exclaimed, holding up the photo.
“That’s right, birthday girl,” Xander said, pointing at the picture. “That’s Suzie, the sloth mama, and that’s her baby, Coco. We have to wait a couple months for Coco to get a little bit bigger, and then we can go on an adventure and visit them in person. You can even hold and feed Coco.”
Daisy’s eyes widened, and she gasped. “I can cuddle a real slothy baby?”
He grinned. “You sure can, birthday girl.”
Chuckles sounded when Daisy launched herself at him, practically strangling him.
Freya’s chest squeezed. This sweet, sweet man . . .
“Ugh.” Tash groaned, leaned toward her, and whispered, “I don’t even want kids, butthatwhole thing just made my ovaries spring to life.”
Freya laughed. “I hear you.”
Was it too early to fall in love?
She’d never been one to believe in love at first sight. After all, she was the one who’d had the rule of two dates before you kissed and twomonthsof dates before you slept together. She’dtechnically kissed Xander before they’d even been introduced. Then she’dreallykissed him after their first dinner. Then she’d happily jumped into bed with him a few days after that.
Yes, it was fast. And it was most definitely not her norm. But nothing about it felt wrong.
“Xan’s a great guy,” Tash said, her voice low. “But I’m sure you already know that.”
“He is. He’s made me throw every dating rule I had out the window.”
Tash chuckled. “If it’s any consolation, I know for a fact that you’ve done the exact same for him.”
She glanced at the other woman, the woman who was one of Xander’s best friends. “Half the time, I wonder how it’s possible that he’s real.”
“What you see is what you get with Xan. And with you? He’s letting you see more than any of us. Please be careful with his heart.” Tash looked at the man in question, a soft smile lifting the edges of her lips. “You’re good for him, Freya. If you give him the chance, he’ll be everything you didn’t know you needed.”
“I think he already is,” she whispered. Watching Xander as he laughed with Daisy, warmth filled her soul. “His heart’s safe with me. I promise.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
After Daisy’s party, Xander had to hit the gym extra hard. Aside from the burgers and cake and ice cream, outside movie night had included a copious amount of junk food. Popcorn, M&M’s, Junior Mints, Whoppers... Hell, he may have even eaten his body weight in some caramel-chocolate-peanut-butter concoction.
He didn’t have a lot of experience with children’s birthday parties—Daisy was their group’s first kid—but it had been a lot of fun. The way Freya had fit so seamlessly in amongst his friends, Daisy’s excitement about visiting the sloth sanctuary... It had been great. He grinned as he recalled rubbing his number-one status in his buddies’ faces. Immature? Absolutely. Did he care? Nope.
“What are you smiling about?” Freya asked from the passenger seat.
He glanced at her, and his smile grew. Damn, she was beautiful. “Just thinking about Daisy’s party. It was fun.”
“Uh, yeah. When you’d mentioned an outdoor movie night, I hadn’t expected a twinkle-light canopy with heaters. The twins would love something like that. Just maybe... a little less fancy.”
“In fairness to Alvarez and Scar, that wasn’t their idea. They’d planned on watching a movie in the living room, but Esme got wind of it and...” He shrugged. “Her titleisdirector of logistics.”
“Well, if she ever gets tired of working for Hudson Security, she’d make a killing at party planning.” After a moment, Freya’s brow furrowed. “Those clouds are pretty ominous looking.”
