He escorted me to my room, and when we arrived at my door, he pulled something out of his suit pocket. “Your birthday present,” he said gruffly, handing me a rolled-up sheet of paper tied with a ribbon. “Nothing fancy, but I had it and thought you might like it.” My breath caught. “You didn’t have to get me anything.” We never bought each other birthday presents. The most we did was buy each other a meal, and even then, we pretended it was for something other than the other’s birthday. “It’s not a big deal.” Rhys watched, shoulders tense, while I carefully untied the ribbon and unrolled the
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