Oh, you’re my favorite
“I’d love a cup of coffee,” Lincoln said from the other side of the divider.
“Oh. Me too. I’ll make it,” I replied, spinning around in my chair. “I think it’s my turn.”
It had been about two weeks since I begged Lincoln to teachme, and he had. Every night. And every night I imagined what would happen if we were alone. Most times we weren’t. But next week, we’d be on-site together for three entire days.
I needed to constantly remind myself that Lincoln was still my boss for at least a week and a half, and if all goes well, he’d be my boss for a lot longer. I couldn’t let this crush consume me. I couldn’t give in to the Gray women weakness Gran had warned me about.
“Do you want it in your plain white mug or your other plain white mug?” I hopped to my feet and peeked over the divider.
Lincoln’s shoulders shook with quiet laughter. His soft brown eyes, now bright, glanced upward. “Um… Claire, I’ll call you back.”
My eyes popped wide. “No. No! You weren’t talking to me?”
He tugged down his headset and shut his eyes. His mouth twisted in a concealed smile. “Not this time.”
I threw my head back. “I hate your stupid headset. I didn’t hear you say hello or anything, so I assumed…” I covered my face.
“I’m sorry. Claire jumped straight in with a question.”
Claire? Who was Claire? A girlfriend?
Nauseating jealousy swirled in my stomach.
A warm hand grazed my elbow. I lowered my palms, and Lincoln’s fingers shot into his pocket. He offered me that bashful half smile and looked away seconds before my legs went weak.
If an elbow touch did that? A kiss may kill me.
Link or not, Lincoln Carden was everything I wanted.
And while he was shy and blushed generously, he didn’t want me. I knew what desire looked like. I’d been on the receiving end of it plenty of times. Lincoln Carden studied me like a project he needed to master, not a woman he wanted to devour.
It didn’t help that my Link (was hemyLink?) hadn’t replied to me after I’d asked him to meet up. He’d barely been online since I’d asked, and theOverpowerLAN was two days away.
I wanted to be one of the early players, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to be there with him, without beingwithhim.
The sting of rejection was painful. Link and I lived in our own world, with our own games, and being ignored wasn’t part of any of the levels.
But maybe our world never existed.
Or it did. And I ruined it by bursting our bubble and trying to make real-life contact.
I’d considered, multiple times, whether I could delete the message or send him a game request and pretend I’d never asked to meet. I also considered lying and saying that I sent that while being deeply medicated… or I suppose I could come clean and confront him and tell him that it was okay, that we didn’t need to meet or put pressure on this thing we had going on.
But I needed to know if he was Lincoln Carden.
Still, I wanted my friend back. Even if that was all he wanted to be.
Even virtually.
Turning away from Lincoln, I pointed at the drawings on my desk. “Are we working on these tonight?”
His smile dropped, and he sighed. It reminded me of when I first got here. “Shoot. I forgot to tell you. I can’t stay late tonight. I have somewhere to be.”
“Oh,” I said, ignoring the solid stone of disappointment landing in the depths of my belly. “That’s okay. It’s not like you have to.”
“I know.” He dropped below the divider, and I could hear him packing up his laptop and other belongings. “To be honest, I wish I could stay. I don’t know what this says about me, but I kinda enjoy it. I’ve never really taught anyone before. I feel like I’m learning something new as well.” The genuine excitement in his voice made my heart swell.
