“Good.”
Mary looked up at him again, hesitating, and smiled shyly.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Positive,” he smiled. “And when I leave? I’m going to need your address, because I quite like spoiling my friend. Now, I’ve been a patient man, but this chocolate cake is messing with my sense of smell. Let’s have the cake, put on your pretty earrings, if you want to… and there is a bookstore within walking distance – if you are interested?”
Mary looked at him, biting her lower lip, and nodded… quickly reaching for the tiny silver studs she currently had on and removing them in order to wear the gift from him. He tried not to watch her, fascinated, but he meant what he said.
Spoiling Mary would be something he would truly enjoy – and he was going to get her address in order to mail her some things when he returned home.
CHAPTER8
MARY
As she finishedher last bite of cake, they got to their feet to walk to the bookstore two blocks down. She had been there a few times but rarely went as often as she wanted to. They had books, memorabilia, stickers, and old vinyl albums for sale, but parking was hard on the main thoroughfare, plus she didn’t want to get caught unawares.
The little earrings were bobbing as she moved, and it was such a sweet gesture from Jax, because he listened and paid attention to the things she liked. He kept using words to reassure her, comfort her, and then retreating back slowly to allow her to be comfortable with whatever this was… and it was working.
That – and his humor.
She had never laughed or smiled so much as she had in the last twenty-four hours. He was forever being silly, talking to her, and it seemed to just come naturally to him. He actually was the most upbeat and outgoing person she’d ever met… and she liked it.
As they walked, he didn’t pressure her to hold hands – but didn’t fight it either when she awkwardly slipped her hand in his. No, he looked straight ahead, chatting easily, and didn’t miss a beat. The only indication that he knew she’d done it was that his fingers tightened slightly around hers.
She actually liked that he didn’t push her outside of her comfort limits – and was struggling with how attracted she was to this sweet man. No, this needed to stay as friends, so she didn’t end up getting her heart broken yet again.
The idea of dating someone was terrifying – but this was just coffee, cake, and a bookstore. There was nothing overtly romantic about this. Friends could walk together to a bookstore.
As they walked up, Jax opened the door for her and held it, waving her inside first. Joe never did that. According to him, ‘she had two capable hands’…
“Milady,” Jax whispered as she walked past him, stepping over the threshold of the bookstore.
“Well hello, stranger. How have you been, Miss Mary Quite Contrary…” the clerk said easily, causing her to blush at the unexpected attention. “We got some new fantasy books in. There is a whole series of Dragonlance books back there, and I was going to call you tomorrow to see if you were interested in them.”
“Oh hey! Thank you, George,” she replied easily, but quickly backed away, heading for the fiction section where all the fantasy books would be located. She was actually a little surprised to see Jax was following her.
“You can look at whatever you want to. You don’t have to stick with me back here…” she began nervously.
“We have similar tastes,” Jax said easily, winking at her as she saw him grab a Star Wars novel off the shelf – and the one beside it. “Nice…Heir to the Empire.”
“Ohhh I’ve read that one – it’s good,” Mary volunteered without even thinking and hesitated, glancing at him. “If they have the Thrawn Trilogy – it’s incredible, too. There’s a whole different side of Thrawn revealed.”
“So, you do like Star Wars, too?”
“Yeah, I like both series very much and read just about anything I can get my hands on.”
“Me too.”
“You know,” she hesitated. “If you don’t have much room to store your books, you could just buy the digital ones.”
“Or?” he hesitated, smiling shyly at her. “I could leave them with you, allowing you to also enjoy them – and the next time I’m in town? I could switch one out.”
“That’s true,” she admitted, feeling herself smile shyly as she gazed at him. He would be leaving again, and this would be only temporary with an occasional meet up if he flew back to the area. Maybe there was no reason to be so on guard or defensive around him?
Mary met Jax’s chocolate brown eyes and really looked at him. There was no guise, no guile in his face. There were no frown lines on his forehead, just a few laugh lines on the edges of his eyes and around his mouth, telling her that he liked to smile – a lot. He was so clean cut with closely cropped hair, and despite the growth on his chin? He looked like a six-foot tall, broad-shouldered, handsome as could be… Boy Scout.
She couldn’t help but stare at him – and then realized he was doing the same as they stood there in the middle of the aisle, each holding a few books in their hands.