My brow furrowed as I leaned around him to look. He shifted to the side, and I slipped in, noting that while there were no clothes to be seen, there was a package wrapped on the bed with a bow.
From the way Simon said I had something, it made me think it couldn't have been him. Besides, why would he leave something like this when he already gave me the bracelet downstairs? That didn't make sense.
"Let's look at your clothes, then I'll leave you alone so you can open whatever that is," he said.
I turned and then followed him to the closet where he revealed a vast selection of things.
"You didn't have to get all of this," I said as I thumbed over the fabric. All of it was soft, and I knew it would keep me warm. I wanted to wear them all, but I knew taking off what I had on wasn't going to happen quite yet. I was too attached.
Simon stood behind me. His body was so close it felt like he was wrapped around me even though he wasn't. "You needed a little bit of everything, but I didn't want you to not be prepared. Besides, Atticus was clear with me when he texted after I left that I needed to get enough for all types of things—whether you wanted to work on the ranch or simply relax."
I nodded since my voice disappeared at his proximity. When he stepped away, I nearly whimpered.
Looking over my shoulder, I willed my body to calm down. If I turned, there was no hiding my cock tenting his sweatpants.Even with the baggy shirt, the state of my arousal would be obvious.
Simon must have moved over to the door while I was arguing with myself because there was distance between us. He knocked on the frame and said, "I'll leave you to it. I'll be right downstairs if you need me or decide you want to come back down."
"You don't have to work today?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Sean said he'd be back at some point, but I figured I could keep you company until then."
I bit my lip and nodded, then watched as he disappeared. I scurried over to the door and closed it behind him, mostly because I didn't want to get caught—both with my problem and with this gift.
Easing down on the bed beside it, I grabbed the package and slowly unwrapped it. There'd been no card, no indication of what it was. At least not on the outside.
Inside I found a bundled-up blanket made of the softest material I had ever felt. Atop it was a card, and in a pretty, swirly font it said:
You don't have to hold it all in.
As I lifted the blanket to fan it out, I realized it was heavier than I first thought. My mind registered it a second later.
A weighted blanket.
Holy crap. I'd always wanted one of these things but never stopped to buy one for myself. Whoever gave me this was a mind reader. They were also really suspicious. I had questions—loads of them—but I didn't know where to start.
I'd been asleep earlier so I couldn’t say who delivered this. Sean was here though. Maybe he saw who it was. I'd have to ask him the next time I saw him.
It was then I remembered the whole Secret Santa thing that had been mentioned earlier. Could this be from that person?Was I being included as like a mandatory thing? Like Simon said?
While I had no plans of going out to buy anyone a present, I kind of felt curious about this whole thing. Would me not getting a gift mean that someone wouldn't get anything in return? How did they know it was a balanced game?
At the same time, who would I have to buy for? How does this even work?
With every new question, I felt my anxiety rise. Then I remembered the bracelet Simon had given me. As I ran my thumb over the stones and laid out across the bed, I covered myself with the blanket. The tension in my body eased.
Between the bracelet and the blanket weighing me down, I managed to slow my heart to a more regular pace.
If only I'd known it was the calm before the storm.
CHAPTER
SIX
Simon
It took everything in me to leave Tanner in his room. I wanted to stay. I wanted to watch him open the gift that I had secretly placed, to see his reaction when he held the blanket. I wanted to know if it brought him comfort or if I was completely off base.
I couldn't resist handing him the bracelet myself. That one was smaller. It was less—I don't know. It was just less. The blanket felt like a more intimate gift.
