Since he wasn’t trying to re-enact a scene from Sixteen Candles, he pushed himself off the car and took a few steps onto the sidewalk. He tucked his hands into the pockets of his dark jeans. He found he was taking a little more care in his appearance since meeting Quinn. His charcoal sweater and black leather jacket was probably a little preppy, but he didn’t have any other style than generic catalog model.

It was about ten minutes before he saw her coming down the walkway between the buildings. She was wearing an oversized blue sweater that had sleeves that looked to be twice as long as required. Her hair was messy like she’d run her fingers through it a lot. Her arms were crossed and she was looking down as she walked.

Rain could feel the tension pouring off of her as she got closer. She smelled the same, but she also smelled like anger and frustration. His bear could pick that up easily. It made his hackles rise up instantly and his bear was looking around for whatever was threatening their mate.

As soon as she got close enough to hear him, he opened his arms and said, “Babe, what’s wrong?” She didn’t answer as she crashed into his chest, her arms wrapping around him and squeezing him tight.

He leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of her head. “If you don’t tell me, I’m gonna assume I need to go beat someone up. Do I need to kick someone’s ass?”

“No.” It was muffled into his chest.

“I’m not believing you. You smell stressed.”

Her head pulled back from his chest. “I smell?”

“Stressed,” he corrected.

“How can you smell that?”

“Instincts. My other half is very good at picking up on physical cues. So you going to tell me what’s going on?”

“Got a visitor today that I wasn’t expecting.” She seemed hesitant to even tell him that much.

Rain raised his eyebrow. “Like one that comes every month?” He knew it was dangerous territory, but he planned on spending the rest of his life with her, so he didn’t mind talking about it.

She rolled her eyes at him. “If you can smell stressed, couldn’t you smell that?”

“I was being delicate,” he explained.

Quinn made a moaning sound. “No. My mother showed up today, unannounced, for the first time in my school career. Got on a bus and came out here to interrogate me... about you.”

“Me? How does she even know about me?”

“Fucking Lars. He’s so stupid. He picked up my phone when she called and told her that I was getting ready for a date and that you were my boyfriend.”

“Well, he wasn’t wrong. Why would your mom care so much about you going out on a date?”

“Because she hasn’t ever known me to be dating anyone. Let alone a full-fledged boyfriend. She came to remind me that all men are evil and will only ruin my life. So, that was nice of her.”

Rain was absentmindedly rubbing her back trying to soothe the tension out of her. “So, you’re saying I need to work to win over your mom?”

Quinn gave a sad laugh and dropped her head back to his chest. Rain moved his hand from her back to cup the back of her head, holding her close to him.

“I’m thinking we just avoid you two meeting forever. That would be best for all involved.”

“Babe, that isn’t going to work. She might need to know that you’re with me. She might notice something over the next fifty years.”

“Dude, fifty years? I can’t plan past my work schedule. You see years ahead.”

“I’m lucky that way. But now I’m also thinking that my surprise for you might be badly timed…”

He knew it would be tricky, but now his mate was distressed and he didn’t want to make that worse.

“What surprise? Like you’re really married kinda surprise?”

“Quinn, there is no way I’m married since you are my one true mate. No, I wanted to get you something that would help you with your job and your internship. Something that would make it easier for you and hopefully give you some extra time for studying, or more importantly, hanging out with me.”

“What… like an unlimited bus pass? Because that would be cool.”

“Not exactly.” He moved her to the side and looked over at the car on the curb.

Quinn followed his gaze and looked around confused, her eyebrows drawing together. “What?”

“That,” he said, pointing to the car.

“That Mini? What about it?”

“I bought it for you today. I already have insurance on it and you don’t have to worry about anything.”

Quinn looked back and forth between him and the car a half dozen times. “I’m sorry, I must have heard you wrong. Did you say you bought me a car?”

“Yeah. That’s okay, right?”

“Rain, that isn’t even a thing! You don’t buy people cars. That is a major life purchase that you agonize over. It’s not a five dollar foot long you spring for on a whim!”

Rain was trying to feel out if she was mad, confused, or just shocked. He was really hoping for just shocked, he could work with that.

“Think of it as a cold-cut trio and accept it with as much thanks as me buying you lunch.”

“No, wait, you’re just pulling my leg aren’t you? Dick! You almost had me going there for a minute,” she said, shaking her head at him. She had a small smile on her face as she chuckled.

Rain pointed the keys at the car and beeped the locks. The lights flashed and the doors unlocked.

He kept his eyes on her and watched her mouth drop open. Her head slowly moved back to look at him. Rain dangled the keys in front of her with a small smile. “All yours, baby.”

She took the keys robotically and looked down at them in her hand.

“Before you refuse, it’s not new, it’s used. It’s safe and not too big. Gets great gas mileage. And not bad to look at. The color is something about coffee. I thought you’d like it.”

“Rain, it’s a fucking car! You don’t give someone you’ve known a week a car!” Her voice was getting louder and little more hysterical.

“Babe, it’s just a car. It will get you from A to B without you having to wait in the dark for a bus. It will keep drunks from falling asleep on you while you’re riding through Seattle. You need your own car for work. You need something safe to transport kids for your internship. This will do all those things.”

“But, it’s a car. How much did it cost?”

“Oh, we aren’t going there. Let me just say that it is paid for in full and until you’re ready I’ll leave it in my name since we aren’t married.”

“Married! Geezus, Rain, are you trying to give me a stroke?”

“No, I’m just saying there is some legality involved when you buy a car. I’m keeping it easy on you and thought you’d be more inclined to drive it if you knew it was still in my name. Of course, if you agree to be my mate, I’ll happily add your name to the car, my bank account, and my trust fund anytime you want.”

Quinn covered her face with her hands. “I can’t really wrap my brain around this right now. I thought my mom broke my brain earlier, but this was really the kicker. Tell the neurologist that the headache started behind my left eye. Start looking there for the tumor.”

“Come on, just sit in her. I promise she’ll make you feel better.” Rain tugged at her hand and pulled her over to the car and opened the driver’s door. “Sit down, see how she feels.”

“She?”

“All cars are female. You’ll need to name her too.”

“Yup, I’ll get right on that after the hospital visit.” She took a seat and put her hands on the steering wheel. Making sure all her appendages were clear he closed the door and ran around to the passenger side.

Getting in, he looked over to gauge how she was feeling. She still looked a little shocked and confused.

“Babe, don’t think of this as a car. Just think of it as a slightly larger ORCA card. It will be something to help you. Don’t worry about anything else.”

“It’s a car, honey,” she said quietly.

“You need a car. You need a home that is safe and nice. I’m pretty sure you won’t agree to move in with me, so I’m doing what little I can to ease my bear and my own anxiety and not being around you all the time. I’ll be honest with you like I promised. What I want to do is wrap you in velvet and lock you away in the highest tower I can find and feed you chocolate and make love to you all day long. All things I realize aren’t practical in any way. I also am well aware it makes me sound like a macho asshole. I’m holding that back from you, believe me. I’m more animal than man when it comes to you. All my bear wants is cubs, he’s rather focused on that topic.”

Quinn’s head whipped toward him. “Babies!?”

“It’s a constant thought. Filling your belly with our baby. It gets me hard every time I think about it.”

Quinn’s mouth dropped open and she started sputtering.

“Like I said, I’m keeping that part back. But this is part of you believing me that I’m more than just a man and helping me out by letting me do something that will ease some of my worry about you. Can you give me that?”

Rain watched her chew on her lip. He could tell she liked the car, but her very nature would be telling her to never accept such a gesture from a man. Especially one she had only known for a week. There would be no way to convince her that he didn’t believe in strings unless they were unseen, and between mates.

“I’m going to say yes and thank you because I don’t think I have it in me to fight you on this with my mother here.”

It wasn’t exactly the way he wanted her to accept his gift, but he’d take it.

“So, it’s just mine? Where am I going to park it?”

“Yes, it’s yours and I’ll figure out parking. I think I can do monthly at one of the lots. That way you always have a spot. Leave it to me, okay? I will make this easy for you.”

“Gawd, I have to go to dinner with my mom tonight. I don’t know if I’m going to make it.” Quinn dropped her head to the steering wheel and moaned.

“I’m happy to go with you. I can explain to her that I’m a good guy and I can take care of you.”

“Oh, that would go over great. Tell her you’re going to “take care of me” might just set her to nuclear mode. She’s done nothing but preach to me my entire life that I need to take care of myself.”

“I’m not going to say anything bad about your mom, but by the sounds of it, you’ve taken care of yourself for more years than she has. Let me be there for you now. I love you, Quinn. I will do anything I can to ease your burden. I’m not even going to apologize for it because you deserve the fucking moon. I’m going to make sure you never want for anything whether it’s clothes or coffee. Then I’m going to convince you to move in with me, if that doesn’t work I’ll make sure your home is safe. I’m going to be there after work, take you to dinner and make damn sure you never run low on orgasms. You’re mine and I take care of you now.”

“Fuck me, Rain, I get so confused because I never knew how tired I was until I met you. Is that bad?”

“No, baby, it’s not bad.”

“I am tired. I expect so much of myself and I never even give myself a break. Whenever I felt weak or like I was failing, my response would be to take on more. Forcing myself to accept more responsibility and spend even more of my time working so I don’t have a minute to whine about being tired.”

“I think you are fucking warrior, Quinn Sutton. You are an amazing, strong woman that can take over the world if you want. Never doubt that about yourself.”

Quinn turned her face to him, still leaning on the steering wheel. There were tears in her eyes that hadn’t fallen. “You think I’m strong even when I tell you I’m tired?”

“Quinn, we all get tired. The rest of us just accept it and give ourselves a damn break. I’m pretty sure you’ve never had a break in your life. It’s time.”

Rain watched her close her eyes as she took in a deep breath, then opened them again. “Thank you.”

He wasn’t sure if she was thanking him for the car, for what he said, or something else. But he’d happily take it.

“You are most welcome. Want to take her for a drive? I’m thinking she needs a name like Sabrina or Maxine.”

“Dude, I’m not naming my car like that. Her name is obviously Hazel because she is the same color as a hazelnut cappuccino.”

“Hazel it is. Start her up and let’s cruise her around.”