@theanswerisno:
Good luck, Pancakes. Maybe after you’ve changed your life, you can change mine
Lincoln loaded everything into his truck, including me. I curled up in the passenger seat and watched him close the door to his childhood home for the last time. He couldn’t hide his feelings from me anymore. I could see the heartache, but there was something else too. Some inkling of peace.
My head lolled to one side and shot upright as he climbed in beside me. He turned the heater on and laid his jacket across my legs.
“You can sleep,” he whispered. “I’ll drive gently and avoidpotholes.”
I wanted to make a joke, but exhaustion stopped me. Today had been too much. The last eight weeks had been too much.
At some point, the seat belt was peeled off me, and I was pulled into Lincoln’s arms.
“I can walk,” I slurred.
“I know,” he replied, holding me even tighter.
I wanted to exist only in this moment with the man I loved in a way I’d never loved anyone else.
And as soon as he got me into his apartment, I wiggled awake. “Want to shower.” I pointed at myself. “Join me.”
Again, Lincoln scooped me up, and then he carried me to the bathroom.
When the water temperature was perfect, we stepped into the shower together and washed off the day. I washed his chest, kissed it too. He lathered my hair with shampoo, taking care to rinse it all out.
It was like a fever dream in the best of ways.
“Do you really love me, Lincoln?”
He nodded.
“Forever?”
He nodded again and emphasized it with a kiss. This was what I’d been waiting for. A moment when I had stopped worrying about this job and he had stopped worrying about everything else. A moment that was only about us. About solidifying all the emotions I had when it came to him.
“I’m not going anywhere. I promise,” he whispered against my mouth. “Nothing you could do, or anything you have done, can scare me off. You’re stuck with me because I’m sure of one thing, Lily—I was always meant to be yours.”
My heart felt like it may pop out of my chest. I leaned into himas we made our way to his bedroom. “Lincoln, I would like nothing more than to mount you but I have to sleep. Don’t touch me. Don’t even look at me with your gorgeous face.” My eyes were already closing. I smiled and stroked lines across his damp chest. “Besides, we’ve gotta worry about your back.”
“You’re so full of nonsense,” he teased, and then winced. “To be honest, it is cramping a little.” Still, he scooped me up and placed me on the bed.
I wriggled my fingers. “Let me massage you and show you what I am really capable of. I held back last time.”
“Tomorrow.” He kissed my nose. “You need sleep, love.”
I curled into the curve of Lincoln’s body. “Who would have thought Link and Lily would lead to this?”
He chuckled. “Link dreamed of it.”
“Lily too.”
The next morning, after Lincoln proved, yet again, that he was the perfect lover, we went to my apartment.
I walked over to my closet and made a show of grabbing my laciest underwear. Lincoln’s breath hitched before he dropped his head back.
“Um…” I started. Despite feeling sure about our relationship, I didn’t want to overstep. “Will I be spending tonight with you? I just want to know what I should pack.”
“Lily, if I had my way, I’d take all your stuff and throw it in the back of my truck right now.”
