Chapter 67 Lincoln
LINCOLN
“You know, it’s just not fair that you’re good at everything,” Parker sulks.
I snort a laugh. “I promise you, I’m not. Have you ever seen me draw?”
Parker giggles. “Remember that piece of art you did in middle school that was meant to be a family portrait? I thought your mom was going to end you right then and there.”
“I must admit, it wasn’t the most flattering of paintings, but I worked really hard on that.”
“I’m sure you did, baby,” she soothes, gently rubbing her arm down my bare back.
Her touch has goose bumps erupting instantly.
“Okay, so art aside. You’re a pro hockey player who can cook like a chef, and look at you,” she says, waving her hand up and down my body. I smirk. I spend hours working out; I can’t help that I’m cut and look great on billboards advertising underwear, or anything really.
“Can’t say I’m complaining about the view either, pretty girl.”
Despite everything we did in the shower, this is what makes her cheeks burn red.
She’s standing in my kitchen, wearing one of my T-shirts and nothing else. She has a knife in her hand and an onion on the chopping board before her. Prior to this conversation, she was looking at it like it might jump up and bite her.
“What did you want me to do with this again?” she asks with a groan.
“Dice it.”
“Right. Yep. Dice,” she mutters, rolling it around and holding the knife as if she’s about to stab it.
“You know how to do that, right?”
“Of course, I’m just…you know…warming up.”
“Warming up?”
“Uh-huh.”
Making a decision, she grabs it and moves to cut it through the center.
“Why don’t you try it this way?” I say gently before turning the onion so she’ll cut through the root. “It’ll help keep it all together.”
She nods and does as she’s told as I move in behind her. Being close to her is too tempting.
Her fresh-from-the-shower scent hits my nose and I sigh, my breath making her drying hair flutter over her shoulder.
A groan rumbles in her throat as I press in behind her, and her eyes fall closed.
“Watch, Parker. You have a sharp knife if your hand.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t distract me,” she warns, sticking her ass out and wiggling it against my cock.
“Pretty girl,” I groan.
“What do I do next, Chef?” she teases.
Unmoving from her back, I talk her through how to dice an onion while having an arm wrapped around her stomach, pinning her against me.
“Peppers next,” I tell her, reaching out and placing one on her board.
“And what jobs are you doing?”
“Teaching, babe.”
She shakes her head but doesn’t complain as she chops the pepper.
“Anything else?”
I happily talk her through chopping up everything else we need for our ragu before passing her a garlic press.
“You know what that is, right?”
“Duh, of course.”
“Perfect,” I say as I tip the onions into the pan. “You can crush two cloves into her.”
She blinks. “Cloves?”
“Yeah.” I fight the smirk that wants to appear.
“Aren’t they a holiday thing that go in mulled wine and candles?”
“Can’t say I’ve ever had garlic in my mulled wine or candles before, but to each their own.”
Parker purses her lips, her face burning as she reaches out and smacks my shoulder.
“You’re a jerk.”
“And you’re cute.”
“Incompetent, more like. I feel like an idiot.”
“It’s never too late to learn how to cook, babe.”
“Who taught you?” she asks.
“Myself. I didn’t want to live on takeout or have a personal chef like some of the guys do. But I needed to be eating healthily. So I learned.”
“And there I was thinking you were partying every spare second.”
“I had my moments. But partying was always at the end of my list. My career always comes first.”
“I’m learning that.”
“The press likes to blow shit up,” I mutter as I break into a bulb of garlic and hand her a clove.
“Just like this?” she asks, hesitating.
“Yep, flip that over and then pop it in.”
Her eyes darken as the innuendo floats between us.
“Is that right?”
I chuckle and watch as she completes her next task.
Just over an hour later, we’re sitting at the dining table with our homemade ragu in front of us and a fresh green salad in a bowl.
Parker’s stomach growls loudly as she stares down at it. “This looks amazing.”
“You did a good job, babe,” I praise, smiling at her across the table.
“Pretty sure the only credit I can take is for not cutting a finger off.”
“I wouldn’t have allowed that to happen; I need those fingers too much.”
Her face drops at my words. “What’s wrong?”
“I need to go to HR and get you moved off my treatment list.”
Reaching across the table, I take her hand. “It’s all going to be okay, Parker.” She looks into my eyes. “We’ll just turn the third bedroom into a personal trainer’s room and—”
“Whoa, I don’t remember agreeing to being your personal servant.”
“It was in the fine print of this agreement,” I tease.
“And what is this agreement, exactly?”
“That you’re mine.”
She pauses and looks down at her dinner.
“And what does that entail exactly? I don’t want to be the woman asking what this is and where it’s going, but—”
“It’s okay, Parker. You can ask anything.”
She nods, but no words come.
“I want this. Us. I always have. Am I scared? Absolutely. Am I terrified of fucking this up and hurting you? One hundred percent. But I’ve waited so long for this chance. I can’t do it any longer.
“Having you here…you’ve turned this apartment into a home. I love my job, it’s everything I’ve ever wanted, but for the first time ever, I’m excited to finish for the day. I want to come home to you. When I’m at the arena, it’s all I can think about.”
“Linc,” she whispers.
“I can’t promise you that I’m going to be perfect. I think we both know that I’m not. I’ve never had a relationship before, and I have no idea what I’m meant to do. But I want to…with you.”
Tears fill her eyes as she stares back at me, absorbing my words.
“I said I’d never have a relationship with a hockey player ever again.”
“I’m not just a hockey player, though, am I?”
She shakes her head. “No, you’re so much more than that, Linc. So much more.”
“So is that it? Are you my girlfriend now?” I ask. The word feels weird rolling off my tongue, and not just because I’ve never called anyone it before, but also because it doesn’t feel serious enough.
Previously, that thought would have terrified me. But not now.
Parker was always destined to be mine. And now I have her, I never want to let her go.
A nervous laugh erupts. “Lincoln Storm’s girlfriend,” she muses.
“Ah, come on. You can’t tell me you haven’t dreamed of having the position,” I tease.
She thinks for a moment. “You know, I’m not sure I have.”
“You’re such a little liar.” I laugh.
Picking up my fork, I stab a piece of pasta on my plate.
“It was all I ever dreamed of when I was a teenager, Linc.”
“And yet you walked away that night,” I mutter.
“I had to. It wasn’t our time.”
“I know. Our time is now,” I state confidently.
“I’m still scared,” she confesses as she also picks up her fork.
“I’d be worried if you weren’t.”
“Oh my god,” she moans as she tastes our dinner. “This is incredible.”
I beam with pride. “Of course it is. We made it.”
She smiles at me across the table, and my brain fast forwards us a few years with her pregnant and me chasing a little hockey-obsessed terror around.
Suddenly, that kind of image sends a rush of excitement through me instead of fear.
“I’ve got a surprise for you,” I confess after we’ve loaded the dishwasher and tidied up the kitchen.
“Oh?”
Taking her hand, I tug her from the room and lead her in the opposite direction to our bedrooms.
“Linc,” she warns from behind me. “There is no way I can work out after all that pasta.”
Twisting the handle, I throw the door open to my home gym and pull her inside.
“Holy shit, you weren’t joking.” She gawps, her eyes falling on the trainer’s table in the corner.
“That’s not actually your surprise; that one is all for me.”
“Unbelievable.”
“You want me at my best, don’t you, babe?”
She rolls her eyes. “So what is my…” Her words trail off as I spin her by her shoulders and show her what I really brought her in here for.
“O-o-oh.” She laughs, staring at the two brand new reformers I had delivered while we were at work. “Now I get it. I get the job of breaking you on one of those before I have to fix you over there.”
“I thought you’d like it.”
“I am going to have so much fun with this,” she exclaims as she spins in my arms and stares up at me, her eyes glittering with mischief. “And this way, you don’t have to embarrass yourself in a class with other people.”
“I didn’t embarrass myself.” I totally did.
She quirks a brow. “Uh-huh, sure.”
“Did you want to test it out?”
“The reformers? Not a chance. But if that’s your way of asking for a massage, then I guess I could be convinced to get my hands on you.”
I smirk, desire heading straight for my dick.
We are going to have so much fun with that table.
“Go on then,” she says, gently shoving me toward the table. “What do you need?”
“My groin area. It’s feeling all kinds of hard.”
“You’re funny.”
“Trust me, there is nothing funny about having to hide a semi all day and night because you’re everywhere I turn.”
“You’re a nightmare.”
“Your nightmare.”
She mutters something under her breath as I climb onto the table and lie on my front, much to her surprise.
“My shoulder,” I confess.
“I knew you were lying,” she chastises.
“I didn’t want you worrying.”
“Linc, that is literally my job. That hit was brutal. Never hide how much pain you're in from me again,” she says fiercely.
“Okay,” I mutter, feeling like a little kid getting told off for missing curfew.
“I’m serious. I don’t care about your macho bullshit. I want you healthy and in top form. We’ll spend all night every night in here if we have to because you’ve been lumbered with fucking Mitchell as your trainer.”
“He’s on borrowed time,” I blurt.
“What? Why would you say that?” she asks as she picks up the oil I left on the side for her and warms it between her palms.
“Because he’s an asshole who treats you like a piece of shit. We’re a team, Parker. We don’t stand for someone belittling one of our own. Ow, fuck,” I cry when she digs her thumbs into a sore spot.
“I don’t need anyone fighting my battles for me.”
“Is that why you haven’t told me how bad it is?”
“His bullshit opinions aren’t anything I can’t handle.”
“But you shouldn’t have to. He’s a jerk, Parker. And his time as a Viper is coming to an end.”
She wants to argue, but knowing it won’t get her anywhere, she falls quiet as she works.
“Oh god,” I groan as she digs into a knot.
“Just because we’re at home, that doesn’t mean you can make sex noises while I do this.”
“But I’ve been holding them in for years. Do you have any idea how hard it was when we were teenagers and you used to do this? Fuck, Parker. The other night wasn’t the only time I’ve come in my pants from your touch.”
“You’re lying.” She laughs as she comes to stand at my head.
Her bare, toned legs appear before me, and I can’t stop myself from reaching out and running my palms up her thighs.
“I’m trying to focus.”
“And I’m enjoying the experience,” I shoot back.
I relax into it, loving having her hands on me.
We’re both so distracted by each other’s bodies that we don’t hear someone entering the apartment.
Nor do we hear footsteps moving closer.
But we both jump apart the second a deep voice booms through the room.
“What the fuck are you two doing?”
Turning to my side, I find my gigantic best friend filling my doorway with a murderous expression on his face.
His eyes move between mine and his little sister behind me.
“I asked you two a question.”