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I glanced up in surprise.
“The postcard in the care package,” he explained, his voice low. “What your parents talked about at dinner.”
“I don’t get it. Bioluminescent plankton?” I said slowly. “What did you put in this box? Ocean water? Is this a prank?”
“Piper. Open the damn box.”
With the biggest sigh in the world, I slowly eased the top of the box off. Underneath was soft tissue paper and a handwritten thank you card with another name I didn’t recognize in fancy silver writing.
“I feel like I’m opening up a Jack-in-the-box,” I admitted, picking up the last piece of tissue paper. Frozen, I stared down at something I probably should’ve expected, but one hundred percent did not. The fabric was the first thing to catch my eye. A rich, dark blue, like nothing I’d ever seen before.
“You have to bring it out, Piper,” Adam urged. “You haven’t seen the best part.”
I looped my wooden fingers through the neck of the dress and raised it from the box, shocked beyond words. There were no sleeves. None. And the top was layers of bunched fabric, beautifully adorned, that flared out with the skirt, like the rolling waves of the ocean.
The dress had to be four or five layers. I could feel the structure of it, yet it comfortably lay against my hand. There were little lines I couldn’t quite zero in on and I stared at the dress, trying to piece it together, when Adam stretched back and closed the blinds.
The dress glowed. Actually glowed. Shining rings were gathered here and there, outlining where the fabric flowered out, like the bioluminescent light at the edge of the waves.
“It’s not a light-up dress,” Adam was quick to explain. “June and Cleo helped me find it. The light-up dresses were cheaper, and it was just a lot of batteries and cords to carry around. But June has this fashion designer friend, and she wanted a challenge. It’s like glow-in-the-dark but—”
“How much did this cost?” I breathed out.
“When it’s pitch black, it’s insane to look at. I mean, this is dark but it’s not—”
“Adam,” I blurted out, putting the dress back as gently as I could. “How much did this cost?”
A chuckle escaped him and he shrugged, leaning back against the couch. “You’re never going to find out.”
“How much?”
“I’d rather transfer to KYU than tell you.”
“Adam.”
“Five dollars.” Adam grinned. “If you want to pay me back, it was five bucks. Got it off the rack. Hand stitched it myself. You can even give me five dollars and fifty-one cents for the materials—”
I placed the box on the table next to the couch. “I can’t accept this.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
His hand reached over and ran up my arm, drawing a shiver up my spine. Gently, he tugged me back to him, and before I knew it, I was sitting on his lap while Adam was gazing up at me, his eyebrows furrowed.
I put my hands on his chest. “Adam, I’m trying to have a serious conversation here.”
“Okay.” Adam nodded and shifted me forward until I was truly sitting on his lap.
Oh.
My lips parted. I could feel his hard cock in his jeans and I rubbed against on instinct before I willed myself to stop. No. I needed to talk with Adam about this and actually talk to him. Adam had done a lot of things for me recently. I couldn’t accept such an extravagant gift. I could only guess how much he paid for that dress and every guess made my stomach turn.
I sounded a little less sure of myself when I spoke. “Adam. We’re talking.”
“Got it.” He ran his hands along my back and slipped under my shirt.
My body twitched in response. “Adam.”
