Total pages in book: 203
Estimated words: 199654 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 998(@200wpm)___ 799(@250wpm)___ 666(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199654 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 998(@200wpm)___ 799(@250wpm)___ 666(@300wpm)
And on that note…
“I should get to work,” I say, getting to my feet. “People will be wandering in soon and I have some stuff to get done anyway, so… thanks for the chat and the treats.”
They all look at me like I’ve told them Christmas is canceled.
I finish with, “Last night was strange, weird, surprising, and yes, I felt things. I haven’t fully decoded what those feelings mean yet because it’s all a lot and I’ve been on overload, but I’m going out with him again tonight and… I don’t know, you guys. We’ll see what happens.”
“One day at a time,” Stacy says, squeezing my hand.
I give her a shaky smile.
“I’ll stay and help. Deal with people if they flood in again, hoping for gossip,” Audrey offers.
“The way you guys did, you mean?” I quip with my eyebrows up.
“Exactly,” she fires back.
The door flies open and Amie rushes in, looking a little disheveled, a little pale, and a lot anxious.
“What did I miss?” she demands.
***
I’m thinking about it all, all day long, particularly the nugget Amie shared.
Mase got home from the morning run with the other council members and told her Jase was out all night tearing the forest up in wolf form. He was physically exhausted and moody when the rest of the council met up with him partway through their morning run. This resulted in a fistfight with Linc about something, which alarmed all of us, but Amie said Mase waved her concern off, telling him Linc was just helping Jase work out some of his aggression.
This nugget has me wondering if he’ll cancel our date tonight. Or maybe if my next interaction with Jase won’t be like last night. Because right now, it’s kind of on me that he’s moody, not sleeping, and getting into fights with one of his closest friends.
It could be that Linc’s taking punches from Jase, so I don’t have to take Jase’s knot.
Am I anywhere near ready to spare Linc?
Images flash in my mind of Jase doing that BookTok lean, only this time I’m the one who moves in for the kiss.
When I shake the image off, I hear a low growl instead of yipping.
***
I get the last half hour of the day to myself, freshening up my make-up, rolling on some more of that scent muting stuff, and swishing with mouthwash, which… I know… I beat myself up for it because of what it suggests I’m preparing for. But I’d rather have minty breath and kiss nobody than stale coffee breath for my first kiss with Jase.
I close up the library and walk out at one minute after five to a sight that has me nearly tripping.
Jase is standing beside Dad’s convertible, at the far end of the lot. He’s standing there in the exact same pose as Jake Ryan from Sixteen Candles. It’s not a Porsche, but it is red. Jase isn’t wearing a sweater vest (and I couldn’t imagine him ever wearing one of those), but his vibe is a blend of Cool Jase and Jake Ryan.
Did he do this on purpose? Or is it just a coincidence?
He waves.
I have the insane urge to point to myself and mouth, “Me?”
But instead, I gawk.
He smiles. With dimples. And then he rounds the car and opens the passenger door and gestures.
I put my keys into my bag and head that way.
I’m about to get into the car, but he wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me close, whispering against my temple. “Hey. You look beautiful. And you smell like hot apple pie.”
He lets out a little growl which instantly saturates my undies.
I wonder how muted my scent is.
He then lets out a not-so-little rakish laugh. He knows exactly what he just did to me.
“Hey,” I whisper and force down a swallow, because I could say something about the way he smells, too, but I’m trying to play it off like I didn’t just embarrass myself.
I’m just… stunned right now.
He closes the door, rounds the hood and gets in.
“Where are we going?” I ask when he starts up the car.
“Taking you to a carnival where we’ll pig out and I’ll win you a new stuffed animal.”
“Huh?”
“That stuffed wolf on your dresser is getting a little long in the tooth,” he says. “When did I win that for you?”
My heart skips a beat because he remembered my wolf that he won at a pack carnival when I was fifteen. “Ten years ago,” I tell him.
He continues. “After that, we’re going to a vintage drive-in that’s been doing a John Hughes marathon. Tonight it’s not Sixteen Candles, unfortunately. That was last night.”
So, this was intentionally a Sixteen Candles theme.
“Which one?” I ask.
“Double bill. The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. You like those?”
I nod a little, getting my seatbelt fastened. “Yep. Sure do.”