He just chuckles and does it again before slowly backing off, his hands still tangled in my hair. His green eyes are dark, his expression feral as he stares at me. My whole body ignites, my core clenching so hard I almost whimper. Almost.
"I'm not giving up my building," I growl. But…the sad truth is, soon, it'll be his. He'll win this fight, like I'm sure he probably wins every fight. There's no way I'm telling him that, though. If I have twenty-seven days left to make an offer, I fully intend to make him sweat for every single one of them.
"Then I guess we'll just have to fight it out, little bookworm."
"I guess we will."
The way he smirks at me is so damn predatory, I shiver in response.
He leans forward, brushing his lips across the corner of my mouth. "See you soon."
He turns without waiting for a response and then walks away. I stand right where I am, watching him go, absolutely certain that he's the devil.
Unfortunately, I'm no longer sure he's the kind I can resist.
Chapter Four
Lilah
Ipull up at the restaurant my brother-in-law owns with his siblings and cousins bright and early the next morning, feeling like death. I tossed and turned all night, and it's entirely Lincoln's fault.
Why did he kiss me? Why did he have to be so good at it? And more importantly, why do I want him to do it again?
He's turning me into a crazy person.
I force thoughts of him from my mind, check my expression in the rearview, and then climb from the car to have breakfast with Lucy. There's no way I'm telling her about Lincoln kissing me. She'll be planning our wedding in 0.2 seconds if I do.
She's a hopeless romantic who thinks everyone should be as blissfully happy and in love as she and Oliver are. No, thank you. I'd much rather read about it than deal with the complicated feelings myself. It's safer that way. I get to live a thousand lifetimes, experience love in a thousand different ways, and the heartbreak always ends before the story does, unlike in real life, where the heartbreak is often how it ends.
"Lilah!" my sister cries as soon as I step through the doors, beaming like she hasn't seen me in months instead of just days. That's Lucy, though. She's as exuberant as our mom. I think I'm more like our dad, suspicious and generally cranky.
"Hey," I mutter, dropping my bag on the bench before sliding into the seat across from her. She's at our usual table in the back corner, as far from the bar and the kitchen as possible. There's no one else here. The restaurant doesn't even open for another hour, but the chef comes in early just for us. Well, just for Lucy, anyway. He adores her.
Her eyes widen at my tone. "Rough night?"
I grunt in response, which makes her chuckle.
"I ordered you coffee. We can wait until you're human to talk."
I shoot her a look and then grab the mug, taking a long sip. She spiked it with something, Kahlua, maybe. God, I love her. "It's good."
She just grins at me, tucking strands of hair behind her ears. "Landon brought me the Kahlua last time he was here."
"Have you heard from him and Link lately?"
"No, but Mom said Landon called her the other day. And Link just got back from the Middle East. He's probably holed up with Denver somewhere." She giggles. "It might be a while before they come up for air. How did it go last night?"
"The reading was great," I murmur, cradling my hands around the mug to inhale the rich scent. Something about the smell of coffee is soothing to me. The Kahlua isn't bad, either. "I think we had 250 people show up."
Her brows climb. "Oh, wow. That sounds like a lot."
"It was." I grimace. "I need to hire extra help for the next one."
"I can help," she says. "You don't even have to pay me."
"You could have helped last night," I tease, just because I know she was dying to meet Cassia, but couldn't because they had a wedding happening here.
"Don't remind me," she groans. "I'm so jealous you got to meet her, and I didn't. The wedding was a shitshow. I'm pretty sure the bride and the best man were having sex behind the winery."
