Quinn wanted to call Rain. She wanted to see him, have him give her one of those big strong hugs that he always did. It was hug like he was trying to soak up as much of her as he could before she left.

He said that he was going to call, so she didn’t want to interrupt any of his plans. Then again a little voice inside of her said that he wouldn’t care what he was doing, he’d want her to call him if she needed to. That was counterintuitive to what she was used to doing.

So what if her mom was there. She would see that everything was fine and then she’d leave and go back to Yakima. Then again, the fact she had gotten on a bus, was missing work, and was paying good money for a rental room, spoke volumes about how she was feeling about things.

What it really meant was that even though her mom looked like she had given up, Mona Sutton was not one to concede so easily. No, this was just the first skirmish in a much longer battle to get her to accept Rain.

Giving herself a headache wasn’t helping. She turned and pulled open the bottom drawer of her dresser. It was where she kept her emergency stash of junk food that she didn’t want Lars to eat. It was under her maxi pads and tampons. He’d never delve past those to find the treats below.

Pushing the pads to the side, she found a box of Little Debbie Nutty Bars. She sat down cross-legged on the floor and ripped open the package. Taking a bite, she let the artificial peanut flavor soothe her wounded nerves. Spying a jar in the corner of the drawer she gave a shrug and reached for it. Spinning off the top, Quinn dipped the nutty bar into the soft white sugar.

Taking a big bite she moaned. “Marshmallow fluff…”

So many things in the world could be fixed with judicial application of marshmallow fluff. Not being one to usually eat her feelings, she finished the bar with another dip into the vat of corn sugar perfection before putting it away.

Quinn maneuvered herself so she was leaning against the end of her bed. She let her head fall back against the mattress and stared at the ceiling.

“Rain hasn’t called, Mom is in town, my friends have abandoned me, and I need to do laundry. My life is just awesome.”

* * *

“No, it needs to be not so new.”

Rain had decided that Quinn didn’t need to be walking or taking the bus to work anymore. Having only used his trust fund for school, books, and clothes up to this point, he had taken a chunk of money out and was planning to spend it on his mate.

His parents had set up trust funds for their children that most of them hadn’t even bothered with until they went to school. Money wasn’t something they had ever worried about, and they didn’t have overly expensive tastes, so the money had just accumulated.

Wise investments also meant that the money was always growing. Until now, Rain hadn’t really thought about how he’d ever spend it. Now he saw that it was how he was going to take care of his family. He would still work and make a salary but this money meant that he would have an easier time setting up house for his family. It would help take care of his mate, and cubs when they came along.

“Sir, could you give me a year range? I have mostly new and a few trade-ins on the lot. I’ve got a nice minivan that was just traded.”

The poor man looked harassed. Rain had walked in and told him he was looking for a car. Then he rattled off all the things it had to be. Not new, not old; something safe with good fuel economy that was easy to drive, had good visibility, and was cute. The poor salesman wasn’t sure what to make of him. He tried to talk to Rain about financing and had balked when Rain had said that he’d be paying cash and driving it away today.

That made poor Tony start to sweat. It wasn’t everyday that someone came into the showroom and was willing to throw down cash and guarantee your commission.

“With your list of requirements it’s not an easy vehicle to find. Maybe if we talked about price?”

“Price doesn’t matter, it just has to meet my requirements.”

The man clutched at his chest when Rain said price didn’t matter. Sure, it was a cocky thing to say, but Rain wasn’t joking. It only mattered that the car was right for Quinn.

He figured that she was going to put up a fight anyway, so he had to have enough reasons that she couldn’t refuse it. Rain tried to think of all the excuses she could come up with and that was what built the list he had rattled off for Tony.

“Let me go through my book. Maybe there is something I’ve missed.” The man went back to his desk and started tapping on his computer. Rain was standing in the center of the showroom. The gleaming new cars were calling to him from across the room. He would love to get Quinn a new car. Something that no one else had ever driven, ate in, or left a bag of fries under the seat. But he knew she’d never accept anything so extravagant.

He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, it just had to be right for her.

“Mr. Rochon?” Todd called out to him after a few minutes. Rain walked over to him and took a seat on the other side of the table.

“I have a 2014 Mini Cooper Countryman. It’s a four-door, but still a smaller size car. It’s at our partner dealership. It’s decent price for the year and the condition. It looks brand new.”

“What color?” Because it did matter, it had to be something she’d be proud to drive.

Todd turned his monitor around and showed Rain the picture. It was a light brown color but wasn’t a bad brown.

“It’s listed as light coffee, heh, perfect for Seattle,” the man laughed. He was a quintessential suck up salesman. It didn’t bother Rain, anyone that lived off of commission had to be fake or they’d starve.

“Great, can you get it here today?”

“Sure can, I’ll have someone drive it over. Let me get the paperwork started.”

Rain nodded to the man and stood up to walk around the showroom. He wasn’t going to haggle over the price, he didn’t need to. Instead, he used the time to add her to his car insurance since he wasn’t about to let her take on the cost, he made sure the car would stay under his name until she agreed to mate and marry him. He would have been happy with just being mated to her. But in the real world, he wanted to share everything with her, and that included everything he had financially.

There was a chance she would flat out reject his gift, but he would hold onto it until she saw it was a practical and stylish gift that would help her, not hinder her.

It did make him a little nervous. His mate was fiery and she may not see his good intentions. The paperwork took an hour which always astonished Rain when it happened. What took so long? He wasn’t applying for credit, so they didn’t need to wait on approvals, so what was the hold up?

“Mr. Rochon, the car is on its way. They wanted to give it a detail before bringing it over so it was ready to go.”

“Great, I took the bus here so I could drive it back.” Rain wasn’t going to leave without a car today.

It was another half hour before Rain had signed the papers, got the confirmation of the insurance policy and was behind the wheel of Quinn’s new car.

He was feeling better about his decision. The car was cute, safe, and fun to drive. He thought about calling her to tell her he was coming, but wanted to surprise her.

Rain got back to the school and the Fates were shining on him again as he parked the car on the curb. He locked it and leaned against the side of the car and dialed Quinn’s number.

It rang twice before she picked up.

“Hey, Rain.”

“Hey, baby. Sorry, I couldn’t see you today. How’s your day going?”

“No biggie. I’m sure you were busy. My day has been… interesting.”

Rain could hear the stress in her voice. “Interesting how?”

“Long story, really. What’s up with you?”

“Just wondering where you are?”

“Honestly?”

“Preferably.”

“I’m laying on the floor of my room staring at the ceiling waiting for the stomach cramp to go away from eating too much marshmallow fluff.”

“That tub of white goo? Cassie eats that shit. It’s crack, you know. They have twelve step groups to get people off that stuff.”

He heard her laugh then sigh.

“Yes, but I’m currently unwilling to admit my problem. Where are you?”

“All finished with my errand. I wanted to know if you could come out and meet me on the curb. I have something to show you.”

“Sure, give me a minute to wipe the sugar off my face and I’ll be right down.”

“See you in a few.”