“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’sthe 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.”