Page 126 of Jaked

"And after that," I told him, "I figured we could give each other makeovers and talk about boys."

He stopped walking. "Come here," he said, pulling me close.

Laughing I fell into him, savoring the feel of his strong arms wrapped around my waist. Around us, other shoppers circled past, but I couldn't seem to make myself care.

He leaned down to whisper in my ear. "Lemme tell you something," he said.

"What?"

"If you talk about another 'boy,' someone's going to be very unhappy."

"Really?" I pulled away to blink up at him. "Who?"

Jake gave me a cocky grin. "Him."

With an epic eye-roll, I grabbed his hand and tugged him forward. "That's it," I told him. "We're getting facials too."

In the end, we stuck with shopping. And the more we shopped, the guiltier I felt. My old pair of sorry suitcases had held nearly nothing. And the stuff thathadbeen in those things? It was mostly crap. It was cheap, second-hand, or both.

In contrast, the replacement stuff was expensive, brand-name, and stylish. No matter how many times I tried to steer us toward cheaper stores or at least toward the clearance racks, Jake wouldn't hear a single word of it.

Within a couple of hours, we were loaded down with way too many festive shopping bags filled with everything I'd been missing and then some. There were jeans, sweaters, shirts, pants, skirts, shoes, a couple dresses, and enough lingerie to make me blush, especially when Jake threatened to muscle his way into the dressing room to watch me try it on.

Laughing as he tried to drag me into yet another store, I pulled against him. "No," I said. "Seriously. We need to stop."

"Why?" he said, giving me a gentle tug forward. "You tired?"

"It's not that," I said. "But come on." I glanced down at all the bags. "This is way too much, and you know it."

He propelled us forward anyway. "How do you know what I know?"

I knew he was spending a lot of money. And I knew I'd never be able to repay him. And yet, I also knew he didn't expect me to.

In some ways, it was absolutely wonderful. In other ways, it just didn't seem right. But for the last couple of hours, I had argued nearly to the point of awkwardness. If I argued any further, I'd just be ruining the fun for both of us. Plus, he'd threatened to make me walk back if I gave him any more trouble.

I recognized a bluff when I saw it. But it was such a sweet bluff that I couldn’t call him on it. So I smiled up at him and tried a different approach. "For one thing," I said, "I know you haven't bought anything for yourself."

He flicked his gaze toward the nearby store. "I will," he said. "In there."

I glanced at the sign above the entrance. "But that's a woman's store," I said. "They don't even sell guys' stuff."

He grinned. "I know." He tugged me forward. "Now come on."