Chapter 23
CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
TESSA
Somehow we manage to drag ourselves out of bed and finish the sanding. Every few minutes Linc stops what he’s doing to take his mask off and kiss me, and I find myself melting into his arms.
He takes over the big sander when my arms start to ache, and tells me to sit down and watch him be manly. By seven, the floor is finished. I can’t clean it up because we have no water, but I’m still happy with what we’ve achieved.
In fact, I can’t stop smiling.
“Go pack a bag for you and Zoe,” Linc says when we walk out of the living room.
“I’m not moving into a hotel because we have no water,” I tell him. “It’s fine, I’ll ask the neighbors if I can use their bathroom for a couple of days.” They already offered to help while the bathroom is being updated. I’m pretty certain they won’t mind me extending it a few days earlier. “And anyway, Zoe’ll be at her dad’s after tomorrow. ”
“You’re not staying here without water,” he says again. “Not when I have an apartment big enough for all of us.”
“Are you asking me to move in with you?” I ask, fluttering my eyelashes at him. “That blow job must have been better than I thought.”
“It was perfect.” He kisses me again, smiling at the memory. “But no, not yet. I’m just offering you somewhere with water for a couple of nights.”
I tip my head to look at him, the ‘not yet’ echoing in my ears. “And where exactly will we sleep?”
“My apartment has three rooms,” he tells me. “Enough for all of us.”
I press my lips together. It’s a kind offer. One I would jump at if it was Angela making it. And if I called her now, she probably would offer. “I was thinking of asking Jared if Zoe could go over there tonight,” I tell Linc.
“And miss out on your Sunday with her?”
Oh this man gets me. My heart does a little leap. “He’ll throw a fit if he finds out I kept her here with no water.”
“What’s it got to do with him?” he asks.
“He’s her dad,” I say. “He does get to have an opinion.”
“Hmm.” Linc doesn’t look impressed. “Well either way you’re staying at mine. Until the bathroom is done. Think of it as Exuma part two. But without the pigs.”
“I loved the pigs,” I say smiling.
We argue good naturedly for another five minutes, and then he chases me into my room where I pack my bags. I message Zoe that we’ll meet her at the pizza place where Maisie’s mom has taken them. Luckily, she’s already packed her bag for her dad’s – and she has a lot of stuff that stays there – so she tells me the few things to add to it, and then Linc is taking her bag and mine and carrying them to his car.
“Are you sure about this?” I ask him. Because I’m not.
“Deadly. It’s either this or I drive over every hour to supply you with a bucket of water. ”
“How would you stop it from spilling in your car?” I ask as he pops the trunk open and loads our bags in.
“I wouldn’t. That’s how much I want to keep you hydrated. Now get in the car and let’s get Zoe.
The pizza place is jammed when we arrive. Linc stops at the counter to pick up the order he had me place online as we drove because in his words, he’s ‘fucking starving’. And I walk over to where Zoe is sitting. She grins at me as I say hi to Maisie’s mom.
“Where is he?” Zoe asks me.
“Just picking up some pizza for us.”
Actually he’s already walking over, carrying two giant boxes. “Hey ladies.”
I introduce him to Maisie’s mom, who blushes profusely as he leans down to kiss her cheek.
“Are you ready?” he asks. “I can wait in the car if you’re not.”
I know he wants to eat some pizza. I remember from Exuma that the man loves his food, plus he’s been very active all afternoon.
In every way.
“I’m good,” Zoe says jumping up and hugging her friends. I try to pay for her dinner but Maisie’s mom refuses. “Already got it,” Linc murmurs to me as we leave.
“The tab?”
“Yeah. And the tip. All good.”
“I thought you told Zoe to never let a man buy her dinner,” I say, trying not to smile because is this man for real?
“I wasn’t buying her dinner. I was buying her and her friends dinner. And Maisie’s mom.”
“Are you expecting Maisie’s mom to put out?” I ask, feigning horror. “Because she’s a married woman.”
He hands me the pizza boxes and opens the door for Zoe, who’s too busy checking the messages on her phone to listen to us, and then for me .
“Smooth,” I say.
“I like to think so. And no, I wasn’t planning on calling in favors with Maisie’s mom.”
Our eyes catch.
“Zoe’s mom though,” he murmurs in my ear. “She’s definitely my type. I’d like to try my luck with her.”
“Holy shit,” Zoe whispers as we walk into Linc’s apartment.
I turn to give her a mom-level stare, even though my reaction was just as shocked, although silent. “Excuse me?” I say, unable to really take it all in with my arms full of our pizza.
“Sorry,” she says. “But this place is huge. You could fit our whole house into this room.”
Yes you could, and we’re only in the hallway. Linc closes the door behind us and carries our bags in. “Want the tour?” he asks Zoe.
“Absolutely I do.” She claps her hands together. “Do you have a swimming pool?”
“No. And I wouldn’t let you near it if I did. You and water aren’t a good combination.” His voice is teasing. She hasn’t stopped smiling since we picked her up from the pizza place.
“Tell me you at least have a hot tub.”
“I have a spa bath.”
“Seriously?” Her mouth opens.
“Yes, and lucky for you it has no faucets. Just buttons.”
She sighs. “We need to get a spa bath.”
“A working tub would be nice,” I say.
Linc puts our bags down on the floor as we step into the living area. There’s a huge L-shaped leather sofa dominating one side of the room, along with the biggest television I’ve ever seen. The sofa faces the window that gives a floor-to-ceiling view of Manhattan.
“I think I’ve died and gone to heaven,” Zoe says, running her finger along the back of the sofa. “Can I watch movies in here?”
“If you’d like.”
“You’re going to your dad’s tomorrow evening,” I remind her.
She wrinkles her nose. “Can’t I stay here?”
“No, you can’t.” Because Jared would probably kill me.
“The kitchen is right there,” Linc says, inclining his head toward a sleek, perfectly proportioned kitchen. He takes the pizza boxes from me and puts them on the white marble countertop. Then he opens the top and takes out a slice.
He already ate two in the car. The man’s an eating machine.
“Guest bedroom number one at the end,” he says, swallowing a mouthful of pizza. “You can have that one, Zo.”
She doesn’t need to be told twice. She practically runs across the room to it, pushing the door open.
Through the doorway I watch as she throws herself on the bed.
“Sorry about that,” I say.
Linc smiles at me. “Honestly, I like her enthusiasm. She’s the first person I’ve brought here who’s thrown themselves on the bed.”
And just like that I’m thinking about all the women he must have brought into his apartment. Beautiful ones. Not ones with teenage daughters and a bathroom that’s falling apart.
When I glance over at him, his eyes are trained on my face.
“Whatever you’re thinking,” he says. “It’s probably not true.”
“Am I that easy to read?” I ask him.
“Sometimes.” He finishes off the slice of pizza and wipes his mouth with a napkin. “You sure you don’t want some?”
“In a while.” I’m not hungry now .
“Where’s mom going to sleep?” Zoe asks, running out of the bedroom. “With me?” Her cheeks are tinged with pink. She looks so excited it’s not funny.
“There’s another guest room on the mezzanine,” Linc tells her. “Just up those stairs.”
I look over. They’re made of wood so highly polished you can see the ceiling reflected in them. The banister is made of glass. The three of us walk up them – well, two of us walk and Zoe runs. I try to ignore the guilty feeling that I’ve made her live in a house with holes in the floor for months, because she’s just so excited here.
“Here,” Linc murmurs, as we reach a thick wooden door with a brushed chrome handle. Zoe opens it and there’s a huge bed inside, made up with the kind of crisp white bed linen that makes you want to roll in the sheets. The floor is polished wood and on one wall there’s a line of mirrored doors, while the other is a floor to ceiling window overlooking the city.
“I’m thinking of renovating,” Linc says. “I hear mattresses on the floor are all the rage now.”
I widen my eyes at him, because if Zoe puts two and two together she’ll know he’s been in my bedroom. He just grins at me, sending a shiver down my back.
“If this is the guest bedroom, yours must be huge,” Zoe says.
Before Linc can say anything I shoot him a look.
“You can go see.” He shrugs. “It’s the next door over.”
Zoe’s speedy tour of Linc’s apartment continues with her rushing to his room.
“There better not be any sex toys in there,” I tell him.
“It’s okay, the housekeeper makes sure to hide them all.” He puts his hand lightly on my back as we follow Zoe to Linc’s bedroom. “Notice something?” he asks.
I look up at him quizzically. “No, what? ”
“There are no holes in my floor. And the boards don’t creak.”
“And?”
He gives me a grin. “And if somebody was to tiptoe along here in the middle of the night, hypothetically, the person sleeping in the guest room downstairs would never know.”
“Holy shit, Mom, you should see the view in here,” Zoe calls out.
“I’m blaming you for her bad language,” I tell him, lifting a brow as we walk inside Linc’s bedroom.
My mouth drops open. It’s beautiful. Like downstairs, the whole wall is glass, with gauzy curtains on either side framing the perfect view. How did he afford this? Not on a PR director’s salary.
“It’s like having the biggest PC monitor in the world,” Zoe says, pressing her nose against the glass. Linc doesn’t seem bothered that her breath is misting the surface so I try not to be bothered either. “I bet you can see everything from here. A real life Grand Theft Auto .”
“You play?” Linc asks.
“She does not,” I say. “It’s too violent.”
The corner of his lip quirks.
“Can I see your tub?” Zoe asks.
Sure.” Linc inclines his head at the door and she rushes inside.
“I’m sorry,” I say softly. “She just hasn’t been anywhere like this before.”
“I’m kind of enjoying it,” he tells me, his hand still pressed against my lower back. “It’s nice seeing it through her eyes.”
“Can I take a bath?” Zoe shouts.
“No!” My cheeks start to heat up. “Zoe, go downstairs and take your things to your room, please.”
Linc is looking at me, his eyes crinkled.
“What? ”
“The expression on your face. It reminds me of my mom. Do they teach that to you somewhere?”
“Yep. They take us aside as soon as we give birth,” I tell him. “We get the facial expression lessons, the tone of voice lessons, and the how to instill guilt with a single eyebrow raise as a bonus.”
His smile widens. “I knew it.” He slides his hand to my waist, his fingers trailing my hips as he pulls me closer. “How long did you say your bathroom was going to take?” he murmurs.
“I didn’t. Because I’m not staying here for the whole renovation. I’m really grateful you’re helping.” He has no idea how grateful. “But I can’t stay here all week.”
His lips brush mine. I tense.
“What’s the matter?” he asks. “You’ve gone all stiff on me.”
“Zoe’s downstairs.”
“And we can hear her talking on her phone,” he replies, leaning down to kiss the sensitive skin beneath my ear. “So what’s really getting you?”
I let out a breath. “You saw my place,” I say, my chest tightening. “It’s very different to this.”
He frowns, as though he doesn’t understand. “I love your place. And what you’re doing to it. It’s fucking amazing that in a few months you’ll be able to sit back and know that everything you look at has been renovated by you. This place isn’t even mine. It belongs to our family trust. I’m the third brother to live in it and none of us have left a mark.”
“Ask Zoe which one she’d prefer to live in,” I say dryly.
“With you. She’d prefer to live wherever you are. That kid loves you to death. I can see it in her eyes. And when I was a kid, I was the same way about my mom.” He blinks, as though a memory has caught him. “She had the small house, my dad had all the real estate you can think of. And it was her I wanted to be with every time. ”
I try to imagine Linc as a kid. “Were you cute when you were little?” I ask him.
“I was a little asshole.” He huffs out a laugh. “But anyway, we’re not talking about me when I was little. We’re talking about us.”
“Are we?”
“Aren’t we?” he asks.
I don’t know. I close my eyes for a moment to center myself. Today has been… a thing. From the renovations to the bathroom fiasco to sexy times with Linc in my bedroom to this.
It’s like a whirlwind. So much for no drama. Except this time, the drama’s all mine.
“Why do you want me?” I ask him. It’s an honest question. I don’t understand why this man – who has all the money and women he could want – is pursuing me. A single mom with a dilapidated home.
“Because you’re the one who keeps me awake at night,” he says simply. “I can’t stop thinking about you and that’s never happened to me before.”
He lets go of my waist and walks out onto the mezzanine floor, leaning over the rail to shout at Zoe.
“Hey Zo, wanna get some more pizza and watch me play Grand Theft Auto ?”
“Hell yeah!”
I take a deep breath. This is going to be a long night.