I struck out with a girl, but we are still friends. Is surprising her with a nice birthday present going to come off as me trying to buy her affection?

TL;DR - Worked with a girl who I asked out a couple times, it didn't work out, and now I am living in a new town 2 hours away. The cliched "omg friendzone!" would probably apply in this situation, but I hate that term.

Anyways, her birthday is coming up in July, and I am going to send her one of those eCards (she loves them, we send each other vulgar ones back and forth all the time), along with a $50 Barnes and Noble gift card, because I know how much she loves to read.

This would be a little bit out of character for me, and I am wondering if it would come off as "I know I struck out twice, but give me one more chance." It's really not like that at all. I am finally in a place in my life, financially, where I can afford to do nice things for people, and I just want to give her a nice birthday gift.

So, women of Reddit. If you had a male friend, who previously asked you out, but you just weren't interested, give you a nice, maybe TOO nice birthday gift, would you think he's up to something?