Ivy doesn’t know about Maddox and me yet, but I think she’s suspicious, since she’s caught us staring at each other multiple times.
Veronica left Reginald in charge of the collaboration with Maddox. According to Maddox, he’s a much better designer than Trang, but Maddox still isn’t completely satisfied. He said the designs are nice, but they aren’thim. They lack his personality.
After Trang got pulled from the collaboration, I sketched a few designs—T-shirts, windbreakers, hoodies—that matched his vibes and incorporated his Japanese culture. I haven’t shown him the designs yet, because I know if he showed Veronica, she would shut it down as soon as she learned who designed them.
No matter what I do, she will never think I’m deserving of becoming a fashion designer. I hope one day I’ll be able to prove her wrong.
“Why am I being blindfolded?” I ask as Maddox ties a black scarf around my eyes. “Are you going to tie me up, too?” My lips curve into a suggestive smile.
A deep laugh rumbles through him. “I plan on doing that later, love. You can’t see anything, right?”
“Nope. It’s pitch black. Please make sure I don’t bump into anything.”
“I won’t.” Taking my hand, he leads me through his house.
We turn left and walk a few steps before coming to a halt. Maddox unties the scarf and my heart skitters when I see what’s before me.
He’s completely transformed one of his empty rooms into an office space for me. The room is probably the size of my apartment, and is painted a sage-green color with a pastel-pink accent wall.
In the back is a desk with a top-of-the-line sewing machine, and hanging on the wall behind it is the name of my brand—Thorny Roses—in neon letters. It has everything I could ever want—a rack to place my rolls of fabric, a drawer to organize my threads, and so much more.
It even has a brand-new Kamado Tech desktop so I can use it to fulfill my online orders, and a massage chair for when I need a break.
“Happy early birthday, Rosie.” He smiles.
Throwing my hands around his neck, I kiss him. “Thank you, Maddox! I love it so much. Gosh, you’re the best boyfriend ever.”
“Boyfriend, huh?” Maddox’s face flushes to an adorableshade of pink, and he flashes his dimpled smile. “Is that your way of telling me you want us to be official?”
I laugh and squeeze him tighter. “Maddox Masashi Kamado, will you be my boyfriend? Again?”
“I would love to.” He lifts me up and kisses me tenderly, carrying me out of the room.
“Is myboyfriendtaking me to his bedroom to fuck me while I’m blindfolded?”
“I do plan on fucking mygirlfriend. But she needs to open her next gifts first.”
“Gifts? As in plural?” I stare at him, wide-eyed. “Maddox, you have given me more than enough.”
“You deserve the world, Rosie.”
We enter his bedroom and he sets me down on the ground.
On the floor is a bag from Dior and a beautiful mocha-colored luggage set with a matching weekender and toiletry bag.
“Maddox, you didn’t!” I pull the box from the Dior bag and open it. Inside is the white Lady Dior bag I’ve been eyeing for the longest time.
“Open the luggage,” Maddox says, nodding toward it.
Crouching down, I unzip the luggage and find that it’s full of swimsuits and beautiful outfits—perfect for a tropical vacation, all neatly folded.
“Remember how we talked about visiting Hawaii one day?”
“Yeah, I do.”
We were supposed to plan a trip to Hawaii during winter break of our first year of college, but we never got a chance to.
“We leave in a couple of hours,” Maddox says, smiling.
