Damn if he hadn’t been waiting for a year for this. She was a tough one, always avoiding him when he neared. But he’d gotten to know her through Kelli and her stories about their college days, and he wanted to explore that sexy accountant and find out if she was as responsive as he believed she might be.
“If you’ll excuse us,” Matthew grumbled, pushing past Linc and making his way to the bar. Jessica gave him a flirtatious little finger wave as she trailed behind. He shook his head. The two were made for each other.
Truthfully, he never did like Matthew, and it was all he could do not to punch him in the throat for treating Lauren with such disrespect. Matthew owned a sports store that Linc’s company supplied with athletic products, and he’d seen him at the skybox with Lauren in the past. There was something about the guy that had rubbed Linc the wrong way. Perhaps it was the way he always paid more attention to himself than anyone else—especially Lauren. Linc might be a lot of things, but he knew how to treat a woman, and a woman like Lauren deserved only the best. He drove his hands into his pockets, and watched Matthew slide onto a stool. He wasn’t sure why he’d noticed so much when it came to Lauren, only that he had.
What did she ever see in a man who failed to appreciate her, anyway? Then again, he’d sure looked at her differently when he discovered she was with him. What a dick. He didn’t deserve her, and if he knew what was good for him, he’d stay the fuck away from Lauren. She wasn’t his.
She’s mine.
Wait! Where had that thought come from? She wasn’t his. Maybe for this weekend…but she wasn’t his.
Speaking of the weekend…
His cock thickened as he thought about tonight. He couldn’t wait to have her alone. He planned to look his fill before he stripped those sexy, conservative clothes from her body, spread her legs wide, and delved in deep. He’d never gone for her type in the past, and was pretty certain it had more to do with her buttoned-up hotness than the nagging sense that something was missing from his life. Yeah, he was pretty sure that after a weekend with her, he’d be able to get her out of his system and get his head back on straight. Christ knew for the last year she’d consumed his thoughts.
But what the hell did she mean when she said the loss was his?
After a quick stop at his office to sign some papers, he hopped into his car and drove across town to her condo. He parked and then went up the stoop to ring the bell. A second passed, then two. Where the hell was she? Jesus, if she was backing out… He pounded again, and this time the door yawned open. Heat charged straight to his cock when he found her standing there in her sexy blue dress, her long dark hair piled into a tight bun on top of her head. Sweet Jesus. He was the luckiest fucking guy in the world.
She stepped back, her heel catching on the turned up corner of her doormat.
“Whoa.” He hurried into the entranceway, reached out and grabbed her, pulling her against him. “You okay?” he asked, splaying his hand over the small of her back.
“Yeah.” She put her hands on his shoulders. “I keep meaning to replace that carpet.” She extricated herself from his arm. “Thank you,” she said.
“No problem. I wouldn’t be much of a man if I let you fall.”
“You’d still be all man, just not a heroic one,” she teased. “And thank you for earlier, with Matthew, too. I never did get the chance to say that.”
The sound of the other man’s name on her lips brought Linc’s molars together with a snap. He wasn’t a particularly possessive man, but the knowledge that he’d had his hands on her body pissed him off. That he’d intentionally embarrassed and hurt her was unacceptable. “The man is an asshole.”
She grinned. “Did you see his face when you kissed me?” She put her hand over her mouth and stifled a chuckle. Linc grinned at the wickedness she was displaying. Damned if he didn’t like her even more.
“Yeah, he was so shocked he forgot to check himself out in the mirror.”
She shook her head, a few strands of hair slipping from that sexy bun. “Oh, he did. You just missed it.”
Linc laughed then angled his head, his gaze moving over her face. “You want to tell me what that was all about anyway?”
She crinkled her nose and looked at his chest. “Not really.”
He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Did you break his heart or something?”
She laughed, but it was laced with pain…and something else, something he couldn’t quite identify. “He’s the one who broke up with me, actually,” she admitted quietly.