Chapter 35 #2
“Not today, though.” He flashes another smile as his eyes return to the road ahead. “Unless you ask nicely.”
And there are butterflies divebombing in my belly.
I open the little envelope and it’s a bookstore gift card.
“Huh?”
“Gonna take you to that bookstore an hour and a half away. It’ll mean a late dinner, but I figure letting you spend that first’ll buy me a few brownie points as well as work up your appetite. I have an ulterior motive, too.”
I frown.
We’re passing the library now, leaving town. And I don’t ask him what his motive is, though I can tell he’s waiting for me to ask the question. I set the card into the cupholder and tuck my hands beneath my nervously-jiggling knees.
***
Yep, we go the entire hour and a half without speaking. It might be the longest minutes of my life, not counting those hours in Alta Starling’s basement.
Finally, we stop at a prime parking spot in front of the big bookstore on the same block as the twenty-four hour department store I drove to the other night. I would’ve spent that time right here if it had been open. Why aren’t twenty-four hour bookstores a thing, anyway?
When I hop down out of the truck, he’s right here in front of me.
“Should’ve let me open your door.”
“That’s not necessary,” I mutter.
“Don’t forget your gift card,” he reminds me, reaching past me to grab it from the cupholder.
I gasp as I watch him do it because as he stretches into the truck, I spy something new on his neck, by his collar bone.
“What the fuck?” I ask because right there on the equivalent spot to where a female would wear a mate mark, is my name.
The right side of his neck already had ink, but this is the left. My name is small, in calligraphic script, in black like the rest of Jase’s ink with what looks like a black apple dotting the I of my name.
I stare, dumbfounded, mouth open.
“Oh.” He puts his hand on his neck. “Got it this morning in The Hollow. You like it? I fuckin’ love it.” He grabs my hand and presses his mouth to it, keeping his lips there while looking at my face. Does he really expect me to answer? I’m stunned.
Finally, he tugs my hand and pulls me toward the store.
I’m not even really seeing anything around me when he says, “Here. Go crazy. Have fun.” He lets go of me and flops down on a reading chair.
I stare.
“Just drop ‘em here as you pick ‘em.”
“Huh?”
“You got a grand to spend on books, Bay. Get to it. Drop ‘em here and I’ll cart them up to the cash register when you’re done.”
“A… a grand? You just handed me a gift card for books worth a grand after tattooing my name on your neck?”
“How am I doing at this dating thing so far?” he asks.
“We have shopping carts,” a bookstore employee pipes up, appearing with one. Her face is flushed when she says, “You got yourself a keeper, girlfriend.”
A thousand dollars’ worth of books?
A tattoo of my name on his neck?
Sudden frustration bubbles up inside me and I don’t know how it’s going to come out of my mouth, but sensing an eruption of something coming, Jase’s hands rise defensively as he does some fast talking.
“Not tryin’ to buy your affection, Bay. I want to spoil you.
That’s the ulterior motive. You’ve been upset lately and I know how much you love books.
I’m already planning on making you a reading nook with shelves on the second floor when we move into the house.
You always said it’d make a great reading nook up there.
Even remember you sitting up there under that window with your books when you used to visit Grey before he moved out. ”
He runs his hand through his hair and blows out a breath.
“I’m staying at Tyson’s cabin until you’re ready to move in with me.
I’ll build you bookshelves. Already ordered that chair you want from the furniture store while I was in the tattoo parlor this morning.
And with the amount of shelves I’m building, I figured you might like more books to fill ‘em.”
“That chair I want?”
“The one you were talking to Ivy about a few weeks ago. You showed her on your phone. Saw it while walking by.”
He retained that? This was before all this mating stuff.
The chair in question is the ideal reading chair. It’s soft, big enough to be a cuddle chair for two – not that I’m thinking about cuddling with Jase in that chair.
“Hey, Bay?” he asks.
“Huh?” I shake myself free of the daydream.
“There was gray, pink, or cream. I bought the pink one. Was that a good call or no?”
“Who even are you?” I ask.
He swallows, looking a little hurt.
And I stand awkwardly while he sits here looking like his feelings are hurt for too long before the store employee speaks again.
“Who are your favorite authors? I can make some recommendations.”
“Oh,” I shake my head. “My T.B.R is at least three hundred books long. I could spend a thousand bucks on books without breaking a sweat.”
Her expression drops a little before she shuffles nervously.
“T.B.R?” Jase asks.
“My to-be-read list.”
I wait for the bookstore employee to speak as she’s nervously fidgeting like she’s got something to say that she’s nervous about.
“Any chance I can follow you while you do that and then ring you up?” she asks, then lowers her voice even further. “I’m a single mom, I’m new here, and I could really use the commission.”
“Omigosh, of course you can!” I say, low, then ask, kind of loud, “Miss, could you please help me find books trending on BookTok and Bookstagram?”
She beams a happy smile at me. “I sure can. Right this way.”
“Have fun, baby,” Jase whispers as I follow her, and his words and the tone of voice he uses work in tandem to make my belly dip.
Not long later, I’ve got a full cart of beautiful books and a new friend named Marla with pretty much the same taste in books as me.
She’s made some recommendations and so have I, meaning we’ve now both got a longer T.B.R than ever.
We’re deep into the romantasy section and I’m thinking about buying a new copy of a book I’ve read five times already because I don’t have this edition when my new book friend Marla whispers, “Hope you don’t mind me saying this, but your man is book boyfriend material the likes I’ve never seen in the flesh.
I mean, he looks like he materialized after someone fed their wish list into a prompt! ”
I laugh.
She continues. “And I heard what he said about you moving in and him building you bookshelves. Girl…”
I sober. I guess I have let myself get carried away here. But I mean… how could I not? Marla needs the commission.
“Did I say the wrong thing?” she asks, looking worried.
My nostrils are filled with Jase’s scent.
They have been this whole time, as if he’s right next to me.
I realize, now that I’m no longer lost in bookstore gift card spending land, that it’s because he’s been following us, watching, though Marla is entirely unaware of it as she’s got her back to him.
He’s two aisles back, at the end of the bookshelf, leafing through a hardcover edition of A Court of Frost and Starlight. His eyes are on me.
“Naw, but uh… I think I lost track again.”
“You’re at about eight twenty-five,” she advises.
“I saw fluffy blankets and mugs up there by the cash,” I say, rushing ahead. Jase doesn’t follow and the distance is helpful.
Marla grabs my cart and wheels it in that direction, looking embarrassed.
“You didn’t say the wrong thing,” I let her know once we’re near the cash registers. “He’s just… a lot.”
“Well, sign me up for all of that if it’s too much for you.
I’d like to see how I handle it,” she mutters before she claps her hand over her mouth and mutters, “Sorry! Foot-in-mouth-itis. I swear it feels like I suddenly ovulated the minute that man of yours walked in here looking at you like you’re his sole reason for breathing.
I don’t mean to embarrass you.” She fans herself.
“So inappropriate of me, especially considering you’re doing me a favor here. ”
“It’s okay,” I whisper. “He has that effect on women, unfortunately. Just lower your voice because he has superhero level hearing and his ego is already the size of Texas.”
“The way he looks at you, wow, sister. You’re a lucky girl.”
“He’s definitely out of my league,” I mutter. “Always has been. He’s acting different now and I’m having trouble getting my head around it.”
She rears back. “Don’t sell yourself short.”
“I’m a short, stereotypical nerdy bookish girl, with glasses and too much junk in her trunk.
I’m also clumsy as hell, can’t cook to save my life so no wifely qualities whatsoever, and I’ve got some less than ideal personality quirks.
I don’t usually dress like this either. I’m not exactly his type. ”
“Nothing stereotypical about you from where I stand. You’ve got some self-confidence issues, clearly, but you gotta know you’re pretty.
You’ve got pretty eyes, great hair, those bee-stung lips, and a rack most women would pay big money for.
I would, if I had more than six dollars and thirty-seven cents in my savings account.
” She points to her non-voluptuous chest. “And your derriere? You’re pin-up model shaped.
That dress is perfect for highlighting your assets. ”
I shrug.
“Be confident. Own all you’ve got goin’ on, girl. He’s obviously into all of it.”
I shrug again before I pick up a fluffy champagne-colored braided throw with sparkly threads woven into it and chuck it into the cart, thinking it’ll look good draped over that pastel pink reading chair.
And now my face is hotter because I shouldn’t even be thinking about that chair in Jase’s house in a reading nook he’s planning on building for me with his very capable hands, because he remembered I like to read up there.
I stop myself from lingering on that thought too long because I could get to watch him build that reading nook, watch those very talented hands build bookshelves from scratch. I’ve always loved to watch Jase work with his hands.
I grab two new bookish coffee mugs and when my total is rung up, there’s exactly fifty dollars left available on the card.
Jase appears beside me and is gathering up bags of books.
“Can I buy a smaller gift card with what’s leftover?” I ask.
“You can just leave the balance on this one and use it later,” she tells me.
“How many kids do you have, Marla?” I ask.
“One. A little girl. She’s three.”
“Then you keep the gift card. Here,” I say. “Buy some new books for her.”
“Oh my goodness. You don’t have to do that!”
“I insist.”
“I’m not sure if I’m allowed to accept it,” she says.
“Get the manager,” I suggest.
***
“That was sweet of you, Bay,” Jase says, pulling out of the parking lot.
“It was you that paid for the gift card,” I remind him.
“It was sweet of you,” he repeats.
I gave the manager a rave review of Marla, telling her she knows her stuff and asking if I’m allowed to give her the balance on my gift card as a tip.
Marla’s manager agreed it was no problem and thanked us for our patronage.
Though the manager was near retirement age, it didn’t stop her from eyeballing Jase appreciatively.
He loaded up the back seat with many bags of books along with my bougie blanket and new mugs and now we’re pulling in to the parking lot for the steakhouse down the street.
“Mom and Dad bring me here for my milestone birthdays,” I say, staring at the building.
“I know,” Jase answers. “I was here for the sixteenth, remember?”
As if I could forget. Jase doesn’t know that I forget almost nothing. It’s probably why I can hold on so tight to a grudge.
I was told I could pick a friend to bring for that sweet sixteen dinner and I picked Jase, which my parents and Grey thought was hilarious.
But Jase was sweet about it, playfully tugging on my braid and thanking me because this place makes the best steak.
I ordered a steak that night, just the way he ordered his.
And then I couldn’t eat it because even a little bit of red on the plate seemed just as bad as if it swam in blood. My brother was the only one that caught on to me sneaking my meat into my napkin and taking it to the restroom so I could flush it.
“Did you run around today asking people for advice for tonight?”
He frowns. “What do you mean?”
“On planning this date,” I elaborate.
“No. Why?”
“You remembered how much I like it here. Buying me all the books… I mean…”
“On your sixteenth birthday, you said about ten times that it was your favorite restaurant.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t you remember I gave you a gift card to come here three or four years ago for that secret Santa party?”
“Right.”
I felt like it was kismet that he’d drawn my name in that Secret Santa draw. I invited him to help me spend the gift card and he laughed it off like I was joking. I wound up bringing Cicely with me.
“And anybody who knows you knows how much you love books. Seeing your bedroom, how stuffed those bookshelves are, the fact that you spend your days surrounded by them… I knew I’d need to build you more than those bookshelves in our place, so that’s what I’m gonna do.
Tall ones with one of those rolling Beauty and the Beast ladders like you want.
I remembered the chair because… because I guess I just remembered it. ” He shrugs.
“You remembered me being excited about rolling ladders from a Disney movie?”
Not just any Disney movie. The Disney movie. A book-loving girl getting the beast of her dreams? I totally identified with Belle.
“Also heard you say more than once how you’d love one of those, how it’s the ultimate home library feature. Though, baby, with how accident-prone you are, gonna insist you just let me climb it when you need a book from the top shelf. You hungry?” he asks.
I’m starving, actually, but I shrug and say, “I could eat.”
He gets out of the truck. So do I.
“You gonna keep fighting me on the chivalry?” he asks.
“Probably,” I say.
His eyebrows jut up. “You gonna keep fighting me in general?”
I raise my own brows. “You expect me to answer that?”
“Hold that thought. I’ll ask again on our third date.”
I roll my eyes. But my heart is beating faster than it should.