Glossy white side tables and a dresser sit at odds with the historical foundations, a stark reminder that money doesn’t equal taste.
I miss the warmth and color of Lincoln’s apartment. I miss squeezing onto my ratty sofa watchingToo Hot To Handlewhile he works— until he gets so invested he puts his laptop away, and I finally get to curl up under his arm.
I’ll miss it all more when it’s gone.
Darcy perches on the end of the bed I’m avoiding, rolling her eyes when Lincoln shoos her off it again. “They had you in the terrace room right next to Kyle, so I moved you here. If you need me, I’m right across the hall.” She strides over, giving me another hug before disappearing through the door.
The only other mansion I’ve set foot in was Emma’s parents’ old place next door, which is a ridiculous term to use for a building located miles away. “You really must have hated it here to walk all the way to the Conways.”
Lincoln’s standing at the dresser, unpacking. “I think you answered your own question. Although technically I only went to keep an eye on Darcy.” He sets a pair of dress shoes on the floor. “We were given free rein while we were here, but it was lonely. Our friends were an ocean and a time zone away, so we spent a lot of time escaping when we could or haunting this place when we couldn’t.”
“I can’t imagine being here as a kid.” There are marks carved into the edge of the mantel; the kind I remember doodling in the corners of textbooks in school. I trail my fingers over the grooves. “This place is more mausoleum than home.”
“That was Deacon for you. More myth than man,” he says, hanging up his dinner jacket. It’s all very civilized for a guy who works topless most of the time. “He didn’t really know how to talk to children, so he wouldn’t. Mum was always his favorite, but he never approved of Dad, and he never hid how happy he was when they split. I expected him to leave everything to her, to be honest.”
I can’t imagine anything Astrid would hate more. “Do you think Reed asked for it? To keep it from going to anyone else?” I can only imagine the damage if it had gone to Richard instead. Reed can be a stick-in-the-mud, but it doesn’t feel like a stretch for him to swoop in and rescue the company away from greedier hands.
Lincoln only sighs. “I’m not sure what to think, but I can tell you it’s caused nothing but problems.”
Once I finally give in, I can’t stop staring at the bed. It looks sturdy, like it could handle itself if, say, two people were to really go at it. Not that I’m imaging such a thing. Or wanting to test it out.
I’m definitely not picturing Lincoln hovering over me in a white mask, wearing nothing but a smile.
“Darling?”
I snap myself out of it, dropping onto the chaise so I can’t see the bed anymore. “I’ve been thinking,” I say, and he stops unpacking to face me, crossing his ankles and leaning casually against the dresser. I don’t know when it happened, but the top two buttons of his shirt have come undone. My heart skips a beat.
“Maybe if we got some dirt on Kyle, we could counteract his blackmail. A guy like that definitely has skeletons in his closet. If we can get something big enough, we can turn the tables on him.”
He considers it while I make eye contact with the snake on his collarbone. “I’m not convinced it would matter. Kyle’s fuck-ups are a badly kept secret. He won’t care if anyone knows about his skeletons. But he knows I do.”
“This is bullshit,” I say, slipping out of my sneakers and socks. I need to change before dinner, even if I’d rather see if I can make Richard’s veins pop by showing up in jeans.
“You won’t find an argument here,” Lincoln says, and when I look up, he’s pulled his shirt out of his pants, revealing more of his toned body with each button he pops open. The sight of it is wreaking havoc on my nervous system. “I should pay him off. I don’t know what amount will satisfy him, but it’s an option.”
It’s enough to get me off my ass and in Lincoln’s business, pressing my finger to his chest (and if I happen to notice how hot and firm it is while I’m there, it’s just a bonus). “You can’t pay him off. Then he’ll win. And even if you don’t care about that— which you should— he’ll never stop. As soon as he knows he can get money out of you, he’ll keep coming back for more. The only way to beat him is to either destroy the leverage he has over you by telling Reed about the job yourself or find something Kyle wants more than the money.”
He smooths his hands down my arms. “Then I suppose we’re shit out of luck, because there is nothing Kyle cares about more than that, and Reed will never go for it. I’ve already tried.”
It’s enough to make a girl scream. “So you’re just going to give up?” I don’t know who I’m angrier at right now, Lincoln for rolling over, or Kyle for generally being the worst. Scratch that, it’s more like The Worst (™).
“I’m not giving up,” he says with the edge I’ve been waiting for, the one I remember from that night. Finally.
“I could key his car. It won’t change anything, but it’ll make me feel better.”
My pulse skips when his eyes drop to my lips. Then again when he licks his own. There’s no way I’m sleeping tonight. “That’s not very sporting of you.”
I step away, fishing a dress out of my bag for tonight and willing the heat out of my cheeks. “I think we passed sporting a few miles back. Somewhere around blackmail boulevard?”
“Fair point, darling.” He catches my wrist before I can slip into the bathroom and kisses my cheek. “Let’s call that plan B.”
CHAPTER43
LET’S GET THROUGH TONIGHT
IVY
This is so not my scene. I’d rather be debating with Manny over whichDextervillain is superior (we’re at a stalemate because while Manny is right, Trinity is brutal, I fully believe that if Brian were still alive, he and Dex would be a fatalistic duo).
