We also had the basement that was currently unfinished, which we figured it had the potential to become anything we needed it to be. Storage. Hobby areas. A hangout space for teens one day, so they had a safe place to hang out with friends.
It currently only housed our holiday decorations and one particularly large spider that had a prolific web-making ability.
The backyard had been the best part of the whole place. We had about a quarter of an acre, which was spacious for the area, surrounded by a stockade fence and mature landscaping that made it feel like a world away from all the neighbors.
Milo had surprised me with a hammock that I spent a lot of time in.
“Roe,” Lucky called, making me drift back toward the front of the house. “He’s only half an hour out. I’m gonna get going.Don’t want to be here for what I imagine will be a naked reunion.”
“Thanks for being here,” I said, giving him a smile.
“Happy anniversary, babe,” he said before heading out.
Alone, I dashed upstairs to change into one of my old lounge singing dresses, complete with the sexy thigh-highs and heels.
Then ran back down to turn on some sexy music (because Lucky was right; I planned to be naked relatively quickly) and waited for Milo, perched on the edge of his desk.
“Baby?” he called, coming in the front door a few minutes later.
“In here.”
“Why are—” he started, but then he saw me and the fish tank. “Baby…”
“Happy anniversary,” I said, pushing off the desk. “I wanted to surprise you.”
“This is… amazing.”
“And don’t worry; I learned all about maintenance and will be handling it all. You just get to sit and watch and ponder… business stuff.”
“This is amazing,” he said, putting down the box in his arms and reaching for me instead. He pulled my back to his chest, and we both stood watching the goldfish swim around for a long moment. “Thank you,” he said, pressing a kiss to my neck. “My turn.”
“Your turn?” I asked, twisting in his arms.
“I may have asked Luca to pretend to send me out of town so I could work on something for you,” he admitted.
“Wait, what? I asked him tosendyou out of town so I could work on this.”
“So he played both of us,” Milo concluded with a little huff of a laugh.
“I guess he’s a romantic,” I said, sliding my arms around his back and leaning up for a slow, lingering kiss. “Okay. Enough of that. Where’s my present?”
Milo chuckled but went to retrieve his box.
I was excited as hell.
Milo was a phenomenal gift-giver.
And I never realized how much I liked getting presents until him.
The box, though, wasn’t super promising.
It was an old grocery store box, beaten up and dirty.
But I followed Milo over to the desk, where he set it down and pulled the tuck on the top.
“Go ahead,” he said.
I reached inward, feeling something velvet.
