Chapter Eight #2
Twisting her hands in front of her, she forces herself to speak. “Dad was going to walk me down the aisle because it’s tradition. But I’m closer to you anyway and now he’s gone.” She glances up, her eyes watery. “Linc, will you walk me down the aisle?”
I smile at my baby sister, who is clearly no longer a baby. Although I don’t think Owen is good enough for her, the wedding is set, and I want her to be happy. “Of course I will.”
“Thank you!” She pops up from her chair and hugs me, nearly knocking me over in her exuberance.
“Did you think I’d say no?” I ask as she stands up so I can catch my balance.
“No.” She shakes her head. “But I know how you feel about Owen.” Looking up at me with those familiar blue eyes, she all but dares me to say something negative about her fiancé.
I draw a deep breath and take a moment to phrase things so she doesn’t get hurt. “I just want the right man for you,” I say.
“And Owen is that man. We have a lot of things in common. He makes me feel safe, and unlike Dad, he’s a good man who won’t cheat.”
Chloe seems so damned certain and sincere, but I’m not sure. If she’s marrying the man for safety’s sake, the tax attorney might fit the bill, but my vibrant sister needs so much more. I hope she isn’t making a mistake.
Still, I school my features and force a smile. “If you’re happy, then I’m glad.”
Her shoulders drop and she relaxes. “So who’s your plus-one for the wedding?” she asks as I lower myself into my chair.
What a day to ask me when I’m still reeling over Angelica’s unexpected visit. “I’ll be coming with Jordan.”
My sister rolls her eyes. “Of course Jordan is coming. She’s invited but who’s your date?”
I look my sister in the eye and repeat my answer. “Jordan.”
Her eyes open wide. “You and Jordan?” She shakes her head as if she’s misunderstood.
“Oh, I get it. You want to fend off all the single ladies. That makes sense. Smart, Linc. Very smart.” She laughs until she sees I’m deadly serious.
“Whoa. Wait. You and Jordan?” she asks again. “Does she know she’s your date?”
It’s my turn to chuckle. “No, actually, she doesn’t.”
“Linc!”
“She doesn’t know she’s my date to Aurora’s shower either.” I shrug but I have no plans to explain things to my sister. “I’d appreciate it if you’d let me work things out my own way.”
Chloe nods. With one hand, she raises her fingers to her mouth and gestures that her lips are sealed.
“Good to know.”
“Okay, I need to get back to work. Behave yourself, Linc. I have a feeling you’re in over your head.” Chloe braces her hands on the desk and leans in. “Jordan isn’t one of us. Not like you think.”
Narrowing my gaze, I ask, “What in the hell do you mean?”
“Listen.” Chloe sits back down in the chair, and I sense a lecture coming on.
“You and Jordan are best friends and always have been, but you’re a guy.
And you don’t see what girls do. The way women in your social circle look at her because her mother was our maid.
Jordan has access to you, and people in our world resent her. ”
“Again, you mean other women resent her.”
Chloe nods. “Jordan might dress in designer clothes, and she knows how to hold herself and behave at the club, but nobody sees her as anything other than the help’s daughter.”
Anger fills him at the truth of her statement. “What kind of bullshit is this our world?” I ask with quotes around the words.
Sure, her mother and my father believed we shouldn’t even be friends, but I had no idea there were more people who bought into the antiquated notion.
Chloe glances down, her cheeks flushed. “It’s something insecure bitches use to distinguish themselves from smart, beautiful women like Jordan who make their own way in the world and do it well.”
At least my sister doesn’t buy into social class distinctions. What a load of crap, and I grind my teeth in frustration.
“Jordan’s mother feels the same way. She’s always telling her she doesn’t belong with me. Not even as my friend.”
Chloe’s expression turns sad. “What about you? If you had to walk into a charity event or the club with Jordan on your arm, knowing what people would think and say, how would you feel?”
“Proud.” I know the answer without thinking.
My sister’s smile is all the validation I need. “Then go for it and I’ll be right by your side.” She comes around and hugs me again. “Love you, Linc.”
“Love you back. Now go work.”
Chloe walks out and I glance around my office.
Chloe has given me a lot to think about when it comes to Jordan.
So much more makes sense to me now. The morning after we were last together, I walked into the kitchen as she was hanging up the phone after a call from her mother.
I sensed immediately things had changed.
As usual, Tamara had probably filled Jordan’s head with her negative feelings about our relationship.
If Tamara knew I was sleeping with her daughter, she would lose her mind. And Jordan knows it.
On top of that, according to Chloe, Jordan also feels she doesn’t fit in. I shake my head at the thought. As if money makes a person a decent human being. Jordan is worth ten times more than a dense, shallow woman like Angelica. So is Chloe. Money has nothing to do with it.
One thing is certain, I don’t care what anyone thinks.
Now how to convince Jordan?
* * *
Jordan
I pack my things up for the day. I didn’t have a minute alone with Linc.
He had back-to-back visitors throughout the afternoon, which isn’t unusual.
At the moment, he’s on the phone with a potential lender, so I leave him a text on his phone letting him know I’m leaving and I’ll see him in the morning.
I head out and decide to take the subway instead of an Uber or company car, needing the fresh air I’ll get as I walk the three blocks to the station.
I was light-headed this afternoon and a little queasy and attributed it to only eating half my yogurt for lunch.
After listening to Angelica’s play for Linc, I didn’t feel like eating.
Knowing I’m too tired to prep food, I stop at the grocery store near my apartment and pick up a couple of precooked meals before going home.
At least I’ll have them for the week. Once home, I put the meals in the fridge and change into a pair of soft sweats and the tee shirt I stole from Linc.
Nobody has to know I sleep in it whenever it doesn’t need to be washed.
I microwave and eat the pasta I bought and settle myself into my couch, suddenly tired. When my cell rings, it wakes me, and a glance at the phone tells me I fell asleep for over an hour.
I answer the call, which is my doorman. “Hello?”
“Good evening, Miss Greene. Mr. Kingston is here.”
I really should put him on my permanent list, but I like the heads-up before anyone comes over. It gives me a few minutes to … whatever. Clean up. Look in the mirror. “Send him up, please. Thank you.”
Knowing I don’t have much time, I choose the look-in-the-mirror option, see the sleep line on my cheek, and groan. Just wonderful.
I run my fingers through my tangled hair and can’t do much more before he knocks on my door. I’m not surprised he’s shown up. Not after the scene with his ex.
I let him in and shut the door behind him.
“We need to talk,” he says without saying hello first.
I smile grimly. “If it’s about Angelica, I can live without the details.”
“But I need you to know a few things.” He shrugs off his jacket and lays it over a club chair, making himself at home.
I sigh as he pulls on his tie, releasing the knot and unthreading the ends. He tosses it over his jacket and proceeds to undo the top two buttons on his shirt and roll up his sleeves.
Dammit, why does he have to be so sexy?
“Are you hungry? I picked up a couple of dinners on my way home.”
He shakes his head. “I grabbed something first. You don’t need to feed me,” he says, his lips lifting in a wry grin.
“So you had a busy day.” No point beating around the bush, I think, striding over to my favorite corner of the couch before he can beat me to it.
He settles in right beside me, half facing me, his knee on the couch, touching my thigh.
“Yes, I did. And I want you to know I haven’t been with her in over a year.
Frankly I haven’t been with anyone, because I’ve been over having meaningless sex.
Angelica called the night I showed up at your apartment drunk.
I was on my way over and I made it clear I wasn’t interested.
Obviously she needed me to be harsher than I was, because she didn’t buy it. ”
I have to admit I’m relieved to hear there hasn’t been anyone else in a while.
“I know she’s a stage-five clinger.” It really is my favorite expression, I muse.
He tips his head back and laughs. “Great description.”
“It does fit.”
“Chloe’s excited about the baby shower this weekend,” he says.
I smile. “So is Aurora. She’s nervous about meeting so many strangers, but she’s looking forward to it, too.”
His warm gaze meets mine. “Do you talk to her often?”
“Every day, every other day, depends. I check in or she calls. She’s a wonderful girl given all she had to live through. She hasn’t been hardened by life, and she’s open to her new family. It’s been great to see.”
He stretches an arm over the back of the sofa, his fingers running over the skin on my shoulder. A light touch but my entire body tingles, awareness shooting through my veins and my nipples puckering beneath my cotton tee shirt.
“So about the party,” Linc says. “It starts at eleven a.m. I’ll pick you up around ten.”
“Can you fit the huge horse rocker you bought into the back of your SUV?” I ask, grinning. He’s such a sucker for buying Aurora and the baby things and having them delivered to the house.
“I already had Max drop it off at the club. Does ten work for you?”
I nod. “Perfect. I appreciate the ride.” Otherwise I’ll have to take an Uber and that wouldn’t be fun at all.
“Jordan.”
At the gruff sound of his voice, I jerk my head up. “What?”
“You don’t thank your date for picking you up to go somewhere.” He grips my arm in his hand, firmly but without hurting me. “Make no mistake. You’re my date.”
I open my mouth to argue. To tell him we can’t show up and act like a couple in front of his family when nobody has any idea we’re dating, let alone have any kind of intimate relationship. Not to mention, we haven’t had a discussion laying out the parameters of said relationship.
But I can’t deny we’re involved in a deeper way than we were before we slept together the first time.
“Linc, we don’t want to give your family the wrong impression.”
His father would roll over in his grave if Linc walked into the country club with me on his arm. I have no idea what his mother would say. And though I can handle whatever people dish out, I don’t want to embarrass his family during a day that belongs to Aurora.
“You’re right. And we won’t.” He rises to his feet, leans over, and presses his mouth to mine, parting my lips and sucking on my tongue.
I moan and kiss him back, unable to resist him even when he’s his pushy self. By the time he pulls back, I would agree to almost anything he asks.
“Good night,” he says. “Sweet dreams.” He strides past the chair, grabbing his jacket and tie.
I’m still lost in that kiss, wrapped up in his masculine scent, and my head spinning when the door shuts behind him.
Dammit! He played me. He knows I won’t argue if he kisses me into submission.
I have to find a way to deal with our new relationship, and I decide here and now it’s a temporary thing.
I’ll sleep with him when it suits us, be with him and try to enjoy the time we have, but when it’s time to move on, I’ll let him go.
Because our worlds don’t mix, and that isn’t something I can change.
As for the shower, we’re both invited, so it isn’t unusual for us to show up together. Or so I convince myself because I have no other choice.