Chapter Five #2
"Hanover," Audrey murmurs, her expression ten degrees cooler than it was before I introduced myself. "Your company is working on the modernization project downtown, right?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Lilah's bookstore is downtown."
"Ah, yes, ma'am."
She stares at me for a long, silent moment. "Lilah is family as far as we're concerned. Her bookstore is quickly becoming an important part of this town. It'd be unfortunate if anyone tried to take it from her."
She doesn't come right out and threaten to make my life a living hell if the store closes because of me, but I hear the warning, nonetheless. She's basically telling me to stay the fuck away from Lilah's store, or the Goodson family will make sure I regret it.
Fucking hell.
"It's a beautiful store," I murmur, trying not to piss her off. The last thing I want to do is start a war with her husband and the rest of the Goodson family. They have influence in this town that I will never have. If anyone can kill this project, it'll be them. "And she's an incredible woman."
"Her father agrees," Audrey says, still staring at me like she's trying to laser her warning into my brain.
Lilah hears it, too. "It's okay, Aunt Audrey," she says softly, touching her aunt's arm. "We're good. I promise."
Audrey glances at her, holding her gaze for a long moment. I'm not sure what she sees on Lilah's face, but she sighs, touching her cheek. "Sweet girl," she says softly. "We're here if you need us."
Lilah swallows hard, nodding. "Thank you."
Audrey glances at me again with worry in her eyes, before she clears her throat. "Do you know what you'd like to eat?"
"I want a hubcap with chili cheese fries and a chocolate shake," Lilah says without hesitation.
"I'll have the same."
Audrey nods, sweeping our menus off the table. "I'll have them out soon," she says, hesitates for another second, and then strides away.
Lilah and I sit in silence for a moment before she huffs out a breath.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know she was working tonight," she murmurs. "When the previous owners died, they left the diner to Aunt Audrey. I guess she worked here for a long time, and they were always close. Her dad helps her run it. She isn't usually here."
"It's fine, sweetness."
"She's protective."
"I can see that."
"I think they promised my dad that they'd look out for me."
"Lilah." I place my hand over hers, forcing her to look at me. "I'm glad you have people here who treat you like family. You deserve to be surrounded by people willing to fight for you and the things that matter to you."
Her bottom lip quivers. "Stop making me like you, Lincoln."
"What?"
"Stop making me like you," she repeats, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip to still it. "I can't afford to like you, not when we both know the only reason you're here right now is because you want me to leave my building without a fight."
"Fuck the building," I growl, my eyes locked on hers.
I don't give a fuck about the building, not right now.
It's the least of my concerns when she's sitting across from me, looking utterly fuckable and sweeter than someone who reads straight-up hardcore porn with hearts and flowers has any right to look.
"I'm here right now because of you, Lilah.
Because there's something about you that's made it impossible for me to think of anything else since I met you. "
"You want to sleep with me."
"Yeah," I admit, not lying to her. "I want you wrapped around me, moaning my fucking name and coming all over me.
But that's not what this is, sweetness. I'm here because there's nowhere else I'd rather be.
Even when you're insulting me and telling me to fuck off, even when you're bribing hordes of readers to chase me out of your store, I want to keep standing right there, listening to every fascinating word out of your mouth. "
She stares at me for a long moment, her lips slightly parted, and I desperately want to haul her over the table into my lap to kiss that look off her face. I want to know what wonder tastes like on her lips, and what it sounds like against mine.
"I don't trust easily, Lincoln," she finally whispers. "Or at all, really."
"Someone hurt you before."
Her shoulders bounce in a telling shrug. "Maybe someone just taught me that sometimes, it's safer to guard your heart and keep a distance than to be drawn in by someone who is just playing games."
"Who?" I grit out, gripping the edge of the table because, yeah, I want to hunt down whoever he was and plant my fist in his face.
Part of me wants to hunt him down and thank him for being a fucking idiot, too.
She's here right now because he was a worthless jackass.
That's a double-edged sword right there—infuriating because she got hurt, relieving because I have a chance.
She licks her lips, eyeing me across the table. "Just some guy I went to college with," she mutters. "I thought I mattered to him. Turns out, I was just a pawn in his bid to win back his ex."
"He didn't deserve you, sweetness."
Her lips curve into a smile. "I know. And honestly? I'm glad I didn't end up with him. I would have been miserable. But he still made it hard to trust my own judgment." She eyes me critically. "You're making it hard, too."
"Why is that?"
"Because I want to like you," she whispers. "I want to pretend that you didn't serve me with notice that you're trying to take my dream from me. But eventually, that's what's going to happen. You'll win like you always do, and I'll be the one hurt."
Fuck.
For the first time in my life, there is no outcome here that feels like a win.
If I take the building, I lose any chance with her.
If I don't take the building, the whole project may fall apart.
It's a hell of a position to be. But this feels bigger than a property dispute.
Maybe, for once, it's not about winning.
It's about something more important: me and her.
I don't get a chance to say anything else before Audrey returns, placing two plates in front of us. I stare at the burger with wide eyes, trying to wrap my mind around the sheer size of the thing.
Lilah must see my expression because an abrupt laugh spills from her lips, more snort of amusement than anything. "You look terrified."
"I'm going to have a goddamn heart attack right here at the table if I try to eat this," I mutter. "I'm forty-two. My arteries can't handle this much burger."
Audrey chuckles, setting baskets of fries beside the burgers. "I guess you didn't read the warning on the menu."
"There was a warning?" I narrow my eyes at Lilah when she laughs again. "You planning to take me out with a burger, little bookworm?"
"Coward," she says, smirking at me as she wraps her hands around hers and takes a savage bite. I don't even know how she manages it. Her jaw unhinges or something because the goddamn burger is bigger than her head.
"Are you challenging me?"
She just shrugs.
Audrey laughs, taking a step back. "I would wish you luck, but you are not prepared for this fight, Lincoln. She has experience. You don't."
"Have an ambulance on standby," I mutter, picking up my own burger.
"Will do," Audrey says, laughing as she walks away.
"If I die, I'm haunting you," I warn Lilah before taking a big bite.
"You're already haunting me, Lincoln, no death necessary."
Fuck, I love knowing that she can't keep me off her mind, either. It's a damn good indication that she feels the same thing I do. She's just afraid to give in and let herself feel it.
"I still think you cheated," Lilah grumbles two hours later, pouting at me from the passenger side of the SUV as we drive back toward the bookstore.
"Not my fault you assumed I've never had diner food before," I say, grinning over at her. "You underestimated me."
"Clearly," she sniffs. "You ate the whole thing. And your fries."
I'm going to pay for it for the next six months. My stomach is so full I can't even breathe right. I can feel my arteries clogging as we speak. But I'm not telling her that. She's too damn cute when she's pouting.
"We could have gotten the rest of yours to go," I tease.
She glares at me, clearly not over the fact that she couldn't finish hers. Poor baby does not lose well. I file that information away for later.
"I want to know about your diner history," she says after a moment. "Because the only clothes you own are fancy suits. And you have a stick up your butt the size of a redwood. There's no way you've spent much time in diners."
"I have a stick up my butt?" I cock a brow at her.
"Yes. You don't think women should read or dance or do anything remotely fun."
"I never said that," I object.
"You were grumpy because we were dancing."
"I was not grumpy. I was curious why the fuck you were dancing around, singing about sex toys."
I wanted to be your sex toy.
"You were growly."
"Yeah, well, you try hiding a goddamn hard-on for someone whose name you don't even know," I mutter.
"Her name is Jasmine Knudsen," she retorts like she doesn't know who I'm talking about. "And believe me, you can't handle her."
"I'm not talking about your friend, Lilah. I'm talking about you," I say, flicking a glance in her direction. "You looked like you were having the time of your life. I've never seen anything more beautiful than you when you're happy."
"You're doing it again," she whispers, swallowing audibly.
"Doing what?"
"Making it impossible not to like you."
"Good. That's the plan," I rasp, pulling up outside the store. It closed an hour ago, but her car is here, so I promised to bring her back. I'm already regretting it. I want to keep her right here for a little while longer, just talking to her. Every word she says is fascinating.
She hesitates with her hand on the handle and then peeks over at me. "Do you want to come in with me? You still haven't told me about your diner history."