Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(95)

My dad was wrapped up in playing with a new, techy gadget, but Mom watched Kellan as he turned the present over and over. I elbowed him gently. “Open it.”

He looked up at me, then at my mom. “You didn’t have to…” He shrugged and Mom smiled.

“I know.”

Swallowing, Kellan unwrapped the present. Inside a simple, white box, was a small scrapbook. Kellan smiled as he started to flip through the pages. I blinked as I looked over his shoulder. It was a book about the two of us, about our life together. There were pictures of just me, some taken when I was pretty young. There were pictures of Seattle—his house, the bar, the Space Needle. And then there were pictures of the two of us.

Most of those pictures were candid, like we weren’t aware that we were being photographed. There was one of him staring at me at work. I 265



had my back to him, helping a customer, and the look on his face was nearly reverent as he secretly watched me. There were others where we were smiling at each other, laughing at some private moment. A few were of us softly kissing each other. And the very last photo was a close-up of the two of us cuddling together, sleeping on my ugly, orange sofa.

Even in sleep, Kellan had a soft smile on his face.

Anna giggled and I glanced up at her and Mom. As Kellan shook his head in disbelief, Mom quietly said, “Anna helped me put that together for you, Kellan. So you could take a piece of home with you on the road.”

Kellan looked up at her, his eyes a little glossy. “Thank you…so much.”

Mom nodded at him. Sniffing a little, he brightened and reached over the back of the couch to dig through his bag. “I have presents, too.” I smiled and tilted my head at him. Grinning, he dispersed gifts to Anna, a joint one for my mom and dad, and one for me. Grinning myself, I pointed to where I’d been hiding one for him at the back of the Christmas tree. “Don’t forget yours.”

He smirked at me, grabbed it, then sat beside me again. As my family opened his presents, laughs and thank yous going around the room, Kellan and I stared at each other. “Together?” he whispered, lifting my gift in his hands.

I nodded, and we started tearing into each other’s gifts at the same time. I watched him more than opened mine, then laughed when I saw he was doing the same. Shaking my head, I stopped and pointed at the gift he was halfheartedly opening. “You first.” He frowned, then laughed. A few minutes later he was holding what I’d purchased for him. He was hard to shop for; he didn’t really need or want anything. But there were a few things he cared about and I’d played on those when I’d started looking around for presents. One, he liked to write. He was constantly scribbling lyrics into spiral notebooks that were shoved into his dresser drawers. So I’d gotten him some really nice journals to write in, maybe for the lyrics that were keepers. He was 266



also trying to be more involved with writing the music, so one of the journals was just music sheets.

Second, Kellan liked the classics. Being stuck on a bus with lots of noisy boys, I thought he might like a reprieve. I’d gotten an outstanding deal on a Discman, and loaded up some CDs with all of the classic rock songs that he’d occasionally sing around the house. The technology was out of date, MP3 players being all the rage now, but considering Kellan still had a tape player in his car, I figured it was about as far as I could push him in that area.

Thirdly, Kellan liked sex. Not wanting to give him something that would embarrass me in front of my family, I’d taken a picture of the moderately sexy outfit that was awaiting him when he got back home.

I’d picked it up right before heading out here, after he’d jokingly mentioned buying me something. For some reason, I knew our style levels would be completely different, and if I was going to wear something…like that…I wanted to be the one picking it out.

Finding the picture tucked in one of the journals, he glanced at me with a raised eyebrow. When I pointed to the cuffs in the very top corner of the picture, his grin turned heated. I flushed, knowing I would have to be very, very drunk to ever, ever use them, but the look on his face was worth it.

The last thing I’d tucked into the box I’d gotten on a whim. It was a Hot Wheels car. And not just any Hot Wheels car, but a classic muscle car. I wasn’t sure if it was a Chevelle, but it was close, and it was shiny black. Kellan’s car was the last thing that Kellan really cared about and I’d gotten the toy as a way to let him know that I was taking care of his baby.

When Kellan spotted it, he picked it up and stared at me. His mouth dropped open and he looked completely thrown. I bunched my brows as I watched his eyes start to tear up again. He shook his head and muttered something that I swear was, “How did you know?” I opened my mouth to ask him what he’d said, but he grabbed me, hugging me tight. “Thank you, Kiera…you don’t know how much I love 267



this, all of this.” He pulled back to gaze at me, his heart in his eyes.

“How much I love you.”

I swallowed and nodded. Palming his toy, he pointed to the box in my hands. “Your turn.”

Exhaling in a rush, I concentrated on the box in my fingertips. Biting my lip, I wondered what he could have gotten for me as I finished unwrapping the partially opened gift. Once I saw the shape of the box, my heart started thudding. It was a ring box. I paused, unsure if I should open this. Was he proposing? What did I say if he was? Honestly, a part of me thrilled over the idea of being his wife, but my dad had a good point. Kellan and I still had issues to work through before we could even think about heading down that path. I mean, we hadn’t even gotten to the point where we could live together again. This step seemed too big.