Page 119 of Between the Lines

“And besides,” I say, scooting out from beneath her to cross the study to where I’ve stowed her gift. “Now we can trade presents.”

“Oh my God, Nathan! You didn’t have to get me anything!”

I know her parents didn’t get her anything of value, but her reaction makes me wonder when the last time was that anyone did an act of service for her.

“I wanted to.”

Wanted to so badly that I dipped into my inheritance.

It pained me to make the phone call, to go behind my plans for Cal and the house and the growing pile of worry surrounding my financial situation that I’ve decided to push back until after the New Year, solely so that I can see the look on her face.

I’m not sure what to do with that feeling in my gut that allowed me to break all of my own rules for her, but I’ll deal with the consequences later.

“Wait. I’ve got yours out in my car.”

When she comes back with a small bag and a shy smile, my chest fills with stuffing. Seated on the couch again, I hesitate, tapping the envelope against the palm of my hand.

“Can I go first? I’ve been keeping this a secret fromliterallyeveryone and if I don’t tell you soon, Imightpass out.”

She is worlds away from the Claire who walked in here carrying the weight of the world in her tears. If she asked me to jump right now, I’d ask her how high.

“Of course.” I take the bag from her, but pause as her hand empties, and raise it to my lips to kiss her palm.

I peel back the tissue paper and recognize the shape of a book already. But what emerges from the green and red paper steals my breath.

It is leather bound, and I know the title before I even uncover the rest.

It’s a strange feeling, having a ball of tears caught in your throat.

I haven’t cried since my parents’ funeral, and even then, I did that in private so that Cal wouldn’t see me as weak.

All of a sudden, this woman beside me has my emotions on a roller coaster ride, and I don’t know that I want to exit.

“I know you already have like, seven copies of it, but this one is a special edition,” she says while I trace the gold foil impressions on the brown leather. “Oh! And there’s a surprise inside!”

She snatches the book away from me and I surge forward, but not before she can flip to theinside pages.

Ink is scrawled in the margins ofThe Fellowship of the Ring, in her neat, loopy handwriting.

“Did you annotate this?”

“Mhm,” she nods. “I finally finished it. And then I left my thoughts for you in the margins.”

She shrugs.Shrugs, like it was such a simple thing to do.

“I don’t uh…” She shakes her head, her brows pressing together like she’s unsure of herself. “I wanted to get you something bigger. This was such a gold mind find when I stopped into a secondhand book store, or I would’ve gotten one from like, Barnes and Noble. I don’t have a ton of extra money lying around, so I umm… I thought I could give you my thoughts? On your favorite book.”

She has no idea what she’s done. Gifting me her heart on the pages of my own.

I can’t decide if I want to spend the rest of the evening wrapped up in these pages or in her, so I choose both. I steal the book from her grasp and tug her into my lap, mashing my lips against hers in pure, animalistic possession. I growl into her open mouth, then plunder my tongue there, thanking her with my body because the words written on my heart right now would reveal too much. As the hand not holding onto the book dips beneath the hem of her shirt, she pushes away.

“Wait,wait!” she giggles against my mouth, and I sink a bite into her neck, hoping that it will hold off the sting of tears and the unfamiliar sensation that has my chest ready to burst. “I want to open mine!”

My stomach tightens. I stop kissing her immediately and sit up straight.

“I don’t want you to be disappointed after that,” I admit, one hand still on the treasure she’s gifted me.

She cups my face, somehow knowing that I need her touch to ground me.

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