My lungs forget how to work.
I’m about to answer—something, anything—when Lex suddenly snaps his fingers like he remembered something huge.
“Shit. Your birthday.”
“My what?”
Lex slides off the bed and walks across the room, unbothered by being shirtless and unfairly gorgeous. He bends down, grabs something leaning against his dresser—a medium-sized rectangle wrapped in thick paper—and brings it to me.
“I completely forgot about your gift. But don’t blame me. I got distracted by yourpants, and the way they wrapped around your ass… God, that view was definitely something I won't get tired of. Like ever.”
“You… got me a gift?”
Lex snorts.
“Yeah, princess. Open it.”
My hands tremble as I tear off the wrapping paper.
The second I see the painting, my breath leaves me in one violent burst.
“Oh my God.”
It’sThe Lovers IIby René Magritte.
The piece I’ve wanted for years. The one I saved photos of on my phone, studied in art books, talked about exactly once—months ago. A surrealist masterpiece with the veiled lovers pressed together in a kiss that shouldn’t be intimate but somehow is.
“Lex… what the hell,” I whisper.
“This is impossible to find. And it’s—it costs like sixty thousand dollars.”
“Sixty-two,” he corrects casually.
“Why would you…?” My voice is barely a sound.
“Why would you spend that much on me? On someone you supposedly hate?”
Lex just gives a slow, dangerous smile. The kind that says he knows exactly what he’s doing. The kind that tells me last night didn’t just happen.
“You deserved something special,” he says simply.
“And maybe I planned more than you think.”
My heart stops.
Then he steps toward me, eyes glinting with something wicked.
“And maybe I wouldn’t mind doing last night again.”
I choke.
“You mean—sex?”
Lex laughs, low and deep.
“Yes, princess. I mean sex. Unless you also want me to buy you the whole art gallery with all your favorite paintings. Cause I can easily do that as well.”
My entire face burns. I can actuallyfeelthe blush crawl up my neck and ears.
