“My new fish,” he said.
“Right.”
I had paid for a subscription to his videos, and if he was always around, I’d never get a chance to watch them. The real thing was of course better, but there was something to be said about the way he played for the camera that really got me going. Even the video he’d made for me in the shower was something special from the way he acted when we were face to face. On camera he was less restrained, and that was saying something.
But I wanted to tell Lincoln not to worry about rent, that I could easily afford my apartment, and I wanted him and all of his things inside of it. That we could make a spot for Feeny in whatever room made him happiest, but we’d already confessed we were in love and that was on the cusp of being too much, too soon. Lincoln was the kind of man who valued his independence, even if he hated it, and I didn’t want to take that away from him.
“Okay,” I said instead, trusting there would be a time and a place, and neither of them were here and now.
“Friday nights are my nights with Silas, by the way,” he said. Our mouths were still so close, his fingers still so strong around my forearms. “Since you’re with your brothers.”
“Every Friday?”
He nodded. “Sometimes we go to Rapture. Does that bother you?”
I pulled back enough to see his face, to stroke my thumbs across the stubble on his cheeks.
“Are you doing something there that would bother me?”
He swallowed hard. “Sometimes Silas and I kiss, but it’s not…not the way I kiss you.”
I knew this about him already. I knew the way he chased affection in any and all forms. It wasn’t for me to question or doubt his intentions. That wasn’t what love was about, and it was surely not the love I was going to show him.
“I know,” I reminded him. “Nothing about you bothers me.”
Except the fact you’re not here all the time.
He smiled up at me, eyes narrowing into slits until he looked like a cat. I kissed the tip of his nose, then gave his face a squeeze.
“We have three days until Friday, and I need to get to work.”
“Would it be bad if I asked you to call in sick?”
I bit the inside of my cheek, forcing myself away from the minx at my feet. “It would be very bad for me to call in sick the day after I was made partner, yes.”
Lincoln was up like a flash, grabbing me by the biceps and pulling me to a stop.
“I almost forgot all about that. I can’t believe you snuck it in last night, but now that I remember, this calls for a celebration!”
I huffed out a laugh, nodding my agreement. “Tonight?” I asked.
“Tomorrow,” he said, chuckling when I frowned. “Don’t be greedy. I need time to get it ready.”
“This sounds like you already have a plan.”
“Of course I do,” he said, grinning and taking a step away from me. He was giving me the space I needed to go to work, which was patently unfair because the last thing I ever wantedto do was leave him. But Lincoln understood I needed to go, and that was the way he loved me.
Respectfully and wholly.
CHAPTER 23
LINCOLN
Idid go home eventually and film some content. After editing the new videos and my backlog, it was barely three in the afternoon, which meant everyone I wanted to spend time with was still busy at work. Hunter would be wrapped up the entire day, and even though I very much wanted to spend every night with him, I didn’t want to come off as being clingy or possessive. I’d stay home at least until the weekend, even if it killed me. But he was at work and so were Smith and Silas, which left me to my own devices for the rest of the afternoon.
I started off by spending an irrational amount of time staring at Feeny to make sure he wasn’t going to die on me like Cassandra had done. He seemed happy, at least as happy as a fish could, even though I did briefly feel bad about stealing him away from his fish friends just to bring him to my tiny apartment and leave him there all alone for hours on end.
“It wasn’t like he could talk to the other fish,” I assured myself, which only made me feel moderately better.
