“If it’s a pile of rocks, they’ll still be there once the box burns, which will kind of ruin your big, dramatic, burn-the-box plans.”
“Well, actually… the burning was your plan. I said to give it back to the lawyers.”
“Do whatever makes you breathe easier.” He slides the pad of his thumb across my bottom lip, his gaze flickering between mine. “If we never know what he left for you, then that’s the way it’ll go. You might be curious someday. You may not. But no matter what you decide, I support you, Nova.”
Even if he wants to know what’s inside?
Even if I know for a fact his curiosity burns?
Swallowing, I stare down at his lips and nod. “Alright.”
“Alright, what?” He inches back and searches my face. “Are we leaving?”
“Alright, we’ll look. Put me out of my misery. Then it’sbasically the end of the workday.” Sniffling, I reach up and swipe my nose. “Do you wanna hang out? Keep me from curling into a ball and trying out that giving up thing?”
He strokes my jaw with his thumb. “We could go to my place. I can cook a meal and seduce you out of your Spanx.”
“Heathen.” I tearfully giggle. “You think I’m easy like that?”
“I think I’m fucked no matter how this goes down.” He leans closer and presses one last kiss to my lips. Pulling back, he releases my face and slides his hands along my arms. “You ready?”
I look at the box and stare down at the single, thin strip of tape holding it together. “Are you?”
“I’m ready to help you through.” His heart is a steady, heavy beat in the air. His selflessness, palpable. “But…” He exhales. “I think helping you means I should step out and allow you to look alone.”
“What?” I startle and swing my eyes up to his. “Really?”
“I think therightthing to do… the honorable thing would be to mind my business and not know what’s in the box.”
“But what if I want you to stay?” My heart pounds in my chest. Heavy, thunderous thuds that steal the air from my lungs and leave my knees trembling. “What if I don’t want you to leave?”
He drags his tongue over his lips, searching my eyes while a million thoughts race behind his. He’s conflicted. Worried. Sad. Solemn. His hands on my arms are supportive, but his suggestion to leave is akin to abandonment.
“Lincoln…?”
“I’ll be wherever you want me to be.” He shakes his head with jerky, barely there movements of his hardened jaw. “If youneed me here, holding you, then that’s what I’ll do. Or standing in the fucking corner with my eyes to the wall, then that’s where I’ll be. This is your show, Nova, and for the first time in a long time, I want you to be in control.”
“Please don’t leave.” Tears itch the backs of my eyes and form a lump in my throat. But this is me taking control. This is what I want. I turn to the table, close enough to Linc that my shoulder still touches his chest. With trembling hands and a jaw that refuses to still, I pick at the tape and slowly peel it off the box until the top flaps pop open an inch. “You ready?”
“The anticipation is killing me,” he coughs out a chuckle. “Haven’t felt this nervous since a woman took her shirt off in front of me for the first time.”
I stab my elbow into his stomach, a desperate, weak snicker rolling along my throat as his breath escapes on a surprised gasp. “We don’t talk about that. I don’t want to hear about your past conquests.”
He rubs his belly, a teasing smirk curling his lips. “Just micro-dick Justin, then?”
“Exactly.” Tears settle on my lashes, irritating me until I swipe them away. “I swear to God, if he left me a box of rocks, I will riot. Full protest mode. You don’t know that version of me. The one who burns buildings and screams for justice.”
Stop procrastinating. Stop procrastinating. Stop procrastinating.
I close my eyes and hold my breath, then, tearing the box flaps open, I exhale again and find… “A letter?” I reach into the wildly oversized box and snatch out the single flat envelope lying against the bottom. “That was anticlimactic as hell.”
“This could have been an email,” Lincoln growls, massaging the back of my neck and digging his thumb into the tensemuscle. “Why does everyone insist on a whole-ass meeting when it could’ve been an email?”
“Shush.” I turn the envelope over and break the seal. Pulling the single sheet of paper free, I swallow the sob desperately clawing along my throat. “I should sit down.”
“You definitely should sit down.” He guides me into my chair and crouches with his arms resting beside mine. “You don’t have to read it out loud if you don’t want to.” He drops his head, so Iknowhe’s not looking at the words Ryan penned. “I respect your privacy, Nova. I respect whatever you want from this point forward.”
Tears fill my eyes, a constant stream I lost control of almost exactly two weeks ago on the side of the road. Drawing a deep breath, I stretch my lungs until I feel the strain.
