All of You (14 page)

“Hmm… what time do you have to work
tomorrow?” he asked.

I licked my lips and sat back on my legs,
trying to clear the fog in my brain. “Um…six?”

“SIX A.M.?!?” Lincoln sounded shocked and
offended. “You work at six in the morning every day?”

“Yeah… some of us have to work normal hours.
We can’t all be hockey players,” I teased and Lincoln growled.

“Normal hours are like, nine to five. Not six
in the morning,” Lincoln complained.

“Actually, I usually get up around four
thirty if I want to be at work by six,” I clarified, and Lincoln
groaned. “Not a morning person I take it?” I asked him while
laughing.

“No. Not at all. Why do you go in so
early?”

“Well, if I go in that early I can be home by
the time Tabitha gets off the bus. If Rebecca is working, someone
needs to be here,” I explained, and Lincoln was quiet. “It’s only
for this semester. We’ll see what happens after I graduate,” I
added, hoping he didn’t find my early morning routine too
offensive.

Lincoln grabbed my hips and pulled me so I
was sitting across his lap. “What about your mom?”

“What about her? She works too,” I said with
a shrug. My mother had become the sole breadwinner in the family
after my father died. She had a good job and now that all her
children were grown she could look forward to retirement, but I
thought that was probably still a few years away.

Lincoln ran his hand down my hair. “This is
what I mean when I say you are amazing. You put everyone before
yourself.”

I shook my head. “You’d do the same for Ben
and Madison.”

“Hmm…not at six in the morning,” Lincoln said
with a chuckle, and I laughed.

“Do you have a game tomorrow?” I changed the
subject and snuggled into his chest.

“No. I should give you my itinerary so you
know when our games and flight times are.”

“Mm… that sounds good,” I said
absentmindedly. He was holding me close and had started rubbing
small circles on my back.

“Are you tired?” he asked softly.

“A little bit. But this is nice,” I admitted.
I didn’t want to move from this spot.

“Can I come over tomorrow after you get off
work?”

“I have to watch Tabitha.”

“Can I watch her with you?”

I smiled. I was worried he was going to burn
out on me, but I was done trying to push him away.

“Yeah. I’ll even cook you dinner,” I said,
looking up and giving him a peck on the lips.

“Mm… now you’re talking,” Lincoln said with a
smile and kissed me back.

Chapter Ten

I sent a quick text to Rebecca as I got off
work to make sure it was okay with her if Lincoln came over to
watch Tabitha with me. My sister still had another three hours
until she got off work at the earliest, but I knew she would be
able to check her phone between patients.

I rushed out of work and to my car. I still
needed to stop at the grocery store before I could go home. I
wanted to make Lincoln something better than a meal out of a box,
and I needed supplies. I managed to make it the quickest trip
through the grocery store I ever had, throwing cans and containers
into my basket without checking for bargains or if I had coupons. I
needed to get in and out quickly and make it home before Tabitha’s
bus beat me there. I pulled my car into the driveway with fifteen
minutes to spare and mentally breathed a sigh of relief. I grabbed
the grocery bags and ran into the house, being careful not to slip
on the newly fallen snow. I set the groceries on the kitchen
counter and pulled out my phone to text Lincoln only to discover he
had already texted me.

“
Have a good day, Princess?”
he
asked.

“
I did. Just made it home. Come over
whenever.”
I replied feeling giddy.

“
Be there in a half hour.”
he texted
back.

“
Be careful
—
it’s a little slippery
out.”

“
Will do. See you soon.”

“
*kiss*”

Tabitha and I were sitting at the kitchen
counter looking over her homework when there was a knock at the
door.

“Keep working, Tabby Cat. I’ll be right
back,” I told her. I tried to contain my giddiness as I held myself
back from running to the door. I opened it and saw Lincoln with a
huge grin on his face that must have echoed my own. He was wearing
his blue puffer coat, jeans, boots, and sunglasses and was covered
in snowflakes from his walk from his vehicle to the house. They
were quickly melting, leaving him glimmering with water drops. He
looked mouthwatering.

He reached a hand up and scrubbed the top of
his head, trying to remove the snow he had collected, and he kicked
his boots against the doorframe in an attempt to not track snow
into the house. But I didn’t care about any of that. I grabbed the
front of his coat and pulled him inside as I stood up on my tiptoes
and reached up for a kiss. He immediately wrapped his arms around
me and pulled me up off my feet. I let out a small squeal and
wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my warm lips against
his. He opened his mouth, and I felt his tongue brush against my
lips. I tightened my grip on him and gave him access to allow our
tongues to dance together.

“Jilly! Who is it?” Tabitha called from the
kitchen.

“Dammit,” I said quietly while breaking the
kiss. Lincoln was still holding me up against his chest.

Lincoln smiled big. “Mm… you can warm me up
like this any day, Princess,” he said and kissed me again quickly
before setting me down.

I had to take a moment to compose myself
while Lincoln took off his coat and boots. This man made my heart
beat fast and my head go foggy.

I grabbed his hand, entwined our fingers, and
led him to the kitchen. “Tabitha, look who came to have dinner with
us,” I said as we entered the kitchen.

“Yay!” Tabitha exclaimed after she and
Lincoln exchanged greetings. “Are we going to have waffles?” she
asked hopefully.

“No, sweetie. We’re going to have a proper
dinner tonight. So I want you to finish your homework while I start
making it, then while it cooks maybe we can go play out in the
snow,” I said and looked at Lincoln to find him smiling.

“What do you want help with?” Lincoln asked
me sweetly.

“Um…” I paused. I hadn’t expected him to
offer to help. “Oh, I know. You can crumble up the bread. Like,
make super tiny crumbs.”

“Super tiny crumbs. Gotcha,” Lincoln teased.
I smiled and started on the rest of the preparations for making
chicken parmesan.

~~~~~~~~

“Okay!” I announced as I put the meal in the
oven. “We’ve got forty-five minutes until we need to check on this.
I think Rebecca should be home by that time,” I said as I closed
the oven and turned to face Lincoln and Tabitha. “Do you want to
play outside or do something else while we wait?”

“Play outside!” Tabitha decided.

“All right – outside it is!”

We bundled up and headed outside. Lincoln
grabbed a shovel that had been propped against the house and began
shoveling the sidewalk as Tabitha and I started rolling snow to
make a snowman.

Forty minutes later, the sidewalk and
driveway were clear of snow and Lincoln and I were placing the head
on the top of the snowman’s body. Lincoln picked up Tabitha and
held her close to the snowman. She draped an old scarf around the
neck of the snowman and shoved a carrot in for the nose. I pushed
two stones in for eyes and smiled big as I watched Tabitha run off
to the backyard to find sticks for his arms. I turned to look at
Lincoln. He had a serious look on his face, and he embraced me in
his arms and pulled me close to him.

“You are so amazing,” Lincoln said and kissed
me softly.

“Because I made a snowman?” I asked him
dubiously.

“No. Just because you’re you,” he said,
looking down at me.

I shook my head. “No. You are amazing. Thank
you for shoveling the sidewalk,” I told him as I brought my gloved
hands up and rested them on the front of his coat.

“You’re welcome,” he said and leaned down to
kiss me again. But this kiss was slow and building. Our lips pushed
against each other with force, and I felt warm all over. I was sure
the snow around us had to be melting with the heat of this kiss. He
moved one hand to my upper back and the other to the curve of my
hip. For a brief moment, I felt like flinching away, but I knew he
would never be able to feel my scars under my coat so I allowed his
hand to stay there. He pulled my hips closer to him and moaned
softly. The sound ignited my passion. I brought a hand up and
clutched at his short hair on the back on his head, scrapping my
nails lightly on his scalp through my thin gloves. I felt him
shudder and moan and he cupped the back of my head, holding me to
him.

A car horn honking close to us pulled me out
of my passionate daze. Rebecca had pulled into the driveway and was
staring at us with a smug look on her face.

“Mommy!” Tabitha called as she ran out from
the back of the house. Rebecca got out of the car and scooped
Tabitha up, kissing her face repeatedly as Tabitha giggled.

“Should we go inside, Tabby Cat?” my sister
asked her daughter. “Oh don’t mind us, we’ll just be inside,” she
said to Lincoln and me. I blushed and hid my face in Lincoln’s
chest as he chuckled and rubbed my back.

The four of us sat around the dinner table
joking and laughing while eating dinner. Lincoln, Rebecca, and even
Tabitha gave me praise on a delicious meal, but it was Lincoln’s
praise that meant the most to me. His laughter echoed through the
house as we ate and I felt as if my heart was going to burst. He
fit in well with our little family and I couldn’t have been
happier. We had ice cream for dessert, and afterward we all did
dishes and cleaned up the kitchen.

“Come on, Tabby Cat. Let’s go watch a movie
in my room,” Rebecca said as she held out her hand for her daughter
to take. Rebecca gave me a look, and I knew she was subtly giving
Lincoln and me some alone time.

“Thanks, Becca,” I said as mother and
daughter left Lincoln and me alone in the kitchen. I felt Lincoln
come up close behind me while wrapping his arms around my waist. He
kissed my neck softly, causing chills to go through my body.

“What do you want to do tonight?” he asked as
he pulled me against his chest.

“Mm… what do YOU want to do tonight?”

“Just be with you,” he said sweetly and
kissed my neck again. I closed my eyes and leaned back into his
hard chest. I let my head drop back on to his shoulder and tipped
it to the side to give him better access to my neck, and he took
full advantage. He attacked my neck with his lips, and I got lost
in pleasure. I had never experienced these feelings before, and
when he began nibbling on my earlobe, I sighed and tried to compose
myself.

“Do you want to go for a walk?” I asked. I
was worried Lincoln would want to take things farther, but I needed
to go slow. We hadn’t even known each other for a week yet, and as
enamored as I was with Lincoln, I knew things were moving too
fast.

“A walk?” he repeated, breaking the contact
of his lips against my skin.

“Yeah. Just around the block or
something.”

Lincoln sighed. “Whatever you want,
Princess,” he said and kissed me quick once more.

We bundled up and made our way down the
sidewalk away from my house. It had stopped snowing, but a fresh
coat of fluffy snow covered the bushes, trees, and mailboxes that
lined the sidewalk. We held hands and walked in silence until
Lincoln cleared his throat. “I never did replace your coat,” he
said.

“No, you didn’t. It’s okay, though. I think
I’ve permanently claimed Rebecca’s.” I looked down at the coat I
was wearing and ran my free hand down the front.

“That’s not your coat?” Lincoln asked.

“No, it’s Rebecca’s.”

“You don’t have a coat of your own?” He
sounded concerned.

“Well, yeah. I have my everyday winter coat,”
I said, looking up at him. “Don’t worry about my coat,
Lincoln.”

“I do worry. You deserve someone to worry
about you,” he said and squeezed my hand.

I sighed. He didn’t know me well enough to
worry about me. I decided to test the waters. “Can you believe we
didn’t even know each other a week ago?” I asked with a breezy
tone. Lincoln didn’t answer, so I tried again. “I almost didn’t go
to the parade. Did I tell you that? Imagine where we’d be right now
if I hadn’t gone.”

Lincoln stopped walking, and I turned to look
up at him.

“Stop it, Jillian,” he commanded.

“Stop what?”

“Are you worried we’re moving too fast? Is
that what this is about?” he asked and I looked down without
answering. “Okay. I know it’s been less than a week, but I just
want you to know I care about you and I want to get to know you
better. That’s all I want. I just want to spend time with you.” I
looked up at him and saw the truth in his eyes. He brought our
linked hands up and rubbed my cheek with the back of his gloved
hand. “I’m just asking for a chance.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” I said to him.

“Stop freaking out,” he teased. I smiled and
nodded. “Now come here,” he said with a demanding smile and tugged
me closer to him. I stepped closer and bought my arms up to his
shoulder. I ran my fingers through his short hair at the base of
his head. He smiled and brought his lips down to mine. The kiss
started off sweet and light and, despite my fears that we were
moving too fast, I pushed back hard against him. It was inevitable.
I was becoming addicted to kissing him.

He brought his hand up to my head to hold me
against him as he opened his mouth and pushed his tongue against my
lips. I responded, opening my mouth and pulling his tongue in to
meet mine. He moaned into my mouth and wrapped an arm around my
waist, pulling my hips up against his. I gasped and broke the kiss
but didn’t move away from him. We looked each other deep in the
eyes and remained there, just enjoying holding each other while
trying to slow our breathing.