“I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself for those two days.”
He taps my thigh twice, and I know he’d love to just rest his hand there, but he doesn’t.
I think I’m getting tired of being in the dark when I want nothing more than to fully embrace Lincoln in the light of day.
Our gate boards and I’m very thankful for the upgrade as we make our way to Vegas. I don’t know why, but this trip feels like a turning point in my life.
The first twodays were easy, beyond easy. As I sat on my ass, accepted overpriced spa treatments from Lincoln while everyone was at the conference.
The only thing I truly had to do was handle dinner in the evenings, and those weren’t even mandatory, though most employees take advantage of drinking and eating on the company's dime.
It’s been nice seeing Lincoln with his employees. They clearly respect him and find some joy working here. I wonder if it’s a Carlson brother trait to be so good at managing people.
But today is the big night. Tomorrow we have some team-building exercises and then the rest of the day is free for everyone to enjoy the last bit of their trip.
I straighten Lincoln’s tie, and he glances down at me.
“You look too good in a suit,” I say and he shakes his head.
“How can someone look too good in something?”
“I don’t know, but you’ve managed it.”
“Can you tie the laces on my back?” I ask, throwing my hair over my shoulder as Lincoln ties the straps to the rose-gold sequin dress that I blessedly got on sale. I know Lincoln would have bought me a dress for the event, but I didn’t want to ask, not when he’s already done so much.
“I think I know what you mean about looking too good,” he says, kissing my bare shoulder.
“Are you excited?” I ask, turning back around and straightening his already straight suit jacket.
“I’ve been coming to this thing for over a decade,” he says. “But this one is special, because you’re here.” He kisses my cheek, not messing up my gloss. “Everyone has said how lovely you are, and how smoothly everything has gone.”
“Lincoln Carlson, are you inflating my ego?”
“Will it get me laid tonight?” He smirks.
“Most definitely. Now, let’s go get your employees and rack up those awards,” I say, grabbing the camera that Krystal gave me to take better pictures of the event and the employees. She stressed that posting about this on the company website and social media would look good for clients.
Lincoln blessedly carries my ID, lip gloss, and credit card in his pockets, so all I have to worry about is the hefty camera.
We head down to the lobby, waiting for all the employees to arrive. One by one they trickle in, looking like a million bucks. I take headshots and pictures of them smiling and mingling.
“Where’s Jacob?” I ask, looking around.
He’s up for an award based on his volume of sales and if he’s not there to accept the award, that will look bad on the company, on Lincoln, on Krystal. I’ll get a key to his room and drag him down here by his hair if I need to.
He comes running around the corner with windswept hair and his suit out of place.
“I’m here. Sorry, lost track of time,” he says, catching his breath.
“You look a fucking mess,” Paula says, helping him fix his hair and Lincoln leans into me.
“I saw the look of murder in your eyes.”
“You saw no such thing. Alright, the cars are here,” I say, leading everyone to the underground garage. The ride is only afew minutes, but we make our way through the hotel to their banquet hall.
I can tell Lincoln wants to stay at my side, but I push him away as I take pictures of everything and watch as an observer.
I take more pictures of Lincoln than I should… I’ll just save some for myself and delete the others before I return the camera to Krystal. He just looks so good, so in his element. He commands respect and just has a swagger to him that I find too enticing.
