85

I wake up to the sound of shuffling around, instantly I search for Hardin with my hand, wanting him to make the noise go away. Except he's not in the bed.

With a low pitiful groan, I drag my eyes open and sit up, only to freeze when I see a bright red Santa hat sitting on top of Hardin's head.

Is he having like a early mid-life crisis? I immediately presume, either that or he really does enjoy Christmas.

"What are you doing?" I ask him, my voice full of sleep, I wipe my eyes and frown at him.

"Merry Christmas!" He beams at me like a crazy person, that hat jingling every time he moves. What the hell have I signed myself up for?

"Merry Christmas." I grumble, falling back against the pillows.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a grinch." Hardin comments, and I feel the covers slowly being pulled off of me. I couldn't be bothered to fight it, so I let him take the covers.

The bed dips around my legs. Opening my eyes again, I glance down, seeing him crawling up over my body. What is he doing?

"If you don't leave this bed right now, I'm going to cash in a check." Hardin whispers in my ear, so temptingly sinful that I almost laid there just so it would happen.

"Alright." I mutter, sliding from underneath him and getting off the bed.

I immediately brush my teeth and wash my face, trying to wake myself up a little. Hardin stares at me from across the room, I could feel how impatient he is today, so I didn't jump in the shower like I usually would.

Figuring I can just stay in my pyjamas a little longer, I brush my hair and head back over to him.

"What do people even do on Christmas?" I ask him curiously.

"We take pictures." He comments, already prepared with his phone.

Smiling, I climb onto his lap and let him take some pictures of us. I don't particularly care that I've only just woke up, if he wants to take pictures then so be it.

"I got you something." Hardin tells me, and due to him giving me gifts before, I know that he's most likely gone overboard.

He opens up the closet and begins bringing out arms full of wrapped presents, the presentation isn't so pretty but I didn't care, I love that he tried.

"Hardin that's not something, that's a whole store!" I laugh in disbelief.

He piles the presents on the bed, like a mountain of Christmas people surrounding me at all angles. Eventually, he stops bringing presents out and I immediately exhale in relief.

"I feel awful! Like I literally got you three things-"

"That sex check book is like a good month of pure happiness." Hardin cuts me off, playfully winking.

I open my mouth to whine more, until I heard his words.

"A month? Hardin, there's like a hundred pages in that thing." I breathe.

Hardin just smirks at me, silver eyes bright with mischief. In his Santa hat, shirtless, and wearing the grey sweats that I specifically told him he couldn't wear around me back in New Orleans.

I advert my eyes instantly.

"Can you grab the grey duffel bag please." I ask, pointing to the bags that I have yet to empty out. Tomorrow, I'll definitely do it tomorrow.

Hardin grabs the bag and places it on the bed. Reaching over the presents, I unzip the bag and take out the neatly wrapped presents. All medium sized boxes, three of them as I said.

"Did you wrap those?" Hardin asks with a deep frown, glancing between the ones he wrapped, and mine.

"I watched tutorials on YouTube." I admit with a grin.

Hardin frowns still but joins me on the bed, handing me a specific box first. I raise my eyebrow slightly but make no comment as I rip it open. Dropping the paper on the bed, I open the pink and black striped box. Inside there's pink tissue paper, so I pull it back.

"Hardin!" I squeak as my face flushes.

"What?" He innocently shrugs, but his smirk says it all.

"Where's the material? Like, how do I even wear this?" I couldn't help but laugh, I shouldn't be surprised really, this is Hardin after all.

The lace lingerie is white, with practically no material to it, like it's literally transparent. But like, Victoria's Secret? I can't imagine Hardin going into that store and picking this out for me.

"No idea, I just wanted to see your reaction." Hardin admits with a snigger.

Closing the box, I set aside and kiss him shortly.

"Thank you." I whisper before pulling back.

"You can open them." I smile, pushing the three gifts towards him.

I know there's not as many gifts as he's gotten me, but I also know Hardin doesn't care about that. I honestly wasn't expecting so many gifts, I didn't think he'd have thought to buy me a gift since we weren't sure if I'd be home.

"No, are you joking? This isn't real." Hardin's reaction to one of the gifts making me laugh, because I'd seen it on his laptop literally months ago.

"It is, do you like it?" I ask, already knowing he does.

"Like it? I love it, how did you know I wanted one? I've literally been thinking about getting one for months now." Hardin grins, eyes sparkling.

"I saw it on your laptop ages ago." I admit, smiling.

Hardin takes it out of the box like it's the most precious thing in the world. I felt his love for the watch, so I didn't worry about him not liking it.

Custom iced out 18k gold Rolex oyster perpetual men's diamond watch 20ct. For anyone wondering, it's a very, very expensive watch.

"Shit Kalli, you literally just complained about three gifts, like what the hell? This watch is fifty five thousand." Hardin stares at me in disbelief, like he honestly can't believe I whined about only getting him three when one costs so much.

"I'm glad you love it." I smile in response, knowing he does, he'll love it more once he gets over the shock.

Grabbing a random present from the pile Hardin got me, I unwrap a second gift. This one is a thick heavy soft velvet blanket, personalised with pictures from my time in New York, and the island, and Africa, and even ones of me and Hardin, or me and Jackson. I immediately fell in love with it. It's literally the most thoughtful gift anyone has ever gotten me.

"I love this so much, thank you." I admit in awe, keeping it over my legs as I open up another gift.

The next one is medium size flattish gift, and when I open it, I realise it's a goddamn Louis Vuitton purse. That feeling of royalty, that's what it feels like to touch it.

"You got me a Louis Vuitton purse? Hard-"

"You don't have a purse, I figured it would help." Hardin cuts me off, knowing that I'm about to make a complaint about how much these things are.

Deciding to just accept it, and move on in case I make him feel bad, I thank him and open the next gift. Hardin watches me the whole time, with the look of pure love on his face, a smile so big that my heart melts.

Each and every gift makes me want to cry, from the matching Louis Vuitton purse and bag, to the lush bath fairy collection, which is easily one of my favourites. I couldn't even process all the items, but I make sure to kiss his face off and hug him so that he knows I appreciate everything.