Sins & Mistrust (37 page)

The next two weeks go by surprisingly fast, and before I know it, I’m in California. Marc will arrive tonight, and I’m meeting up with Lincoln in the early evening for dinner. He has no idea Marc is coming, but I’ll tell him at the restaurant.

A knock on my door brings me out of room wearing only a towel. I make sure it’s Lincoln before pulling open the door.

“Hey,” he says with a mischievous grin. “You wearing this to dinner tonight? Because if so, you may become my dinner.”

He finds the slit in the towel and runs his hand over the curve of my hip and pulls me to him.

“I don’t think the restaurant would find my attire appropriate,” I respond, wrapping an arm around him.

“Fuck the restaurant. We’ll stay here.”

I pull away and playfully swat him away. “You may have me to eat, but I don’t have anything to eat. I’m looking forward to some good Italian.”

“I never told you I’m third Italian?” he asks.

“Not the same,” I grin.

“Well, hurry up and get some clothes on, because I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep my hands off of you. That towel may slip off and my dick may slip inside of you.”

“Lincoln,” I jokingly admonish. “I’m going, I’m going.”

When I get to the room, I put on my white, strapless dress. The hem falls loosely below my knees and a black sash ties around my waist. I slip on some black, strappy heels and put on some jewelry, and head back to Lincoln. My hair was already pinned to the nape of my neck, and my makeup done softly.

“Wow,” Lincoln whispers. “You are absolutely breathtaking,” he says, striding towards me.

The back of his knuckles gently brush over my cheek bone and then across my jaw, until his thumb and forefinger hold my chin. He brings my lips to his and kisses me softly.

“I’m so lucky.”

I smile into his mouth and pull away. “I’m pretty lucky, too.”

Stepping back, I admire Lincoln in his black-on-black suit. He’s draped head to toe in black and looks absolutely stunning. The only color visible on him are his blue eyes. Eyes that are easy to get lost in.

“We better get going, because if you keep looking at me like that, I can’t be held responsible for my actions,” he says, running his eyes up my body slowly.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Once we’re seated in the restaurant, I debate on when the best time would be to tell him that Marc is on his way. I excuse myself to the bathroom after we order our drinks and appetizers, and give Marc a call to see where he is.

“Hey, beautiful,” he answers, bringing a smile to my face.

“Hey, yourself. Where are you?”

“I’m about thirty minutes away.”

“Okay, then. I’m about to tell him now.”

He laughs. “Good luck. See you soon.”

“Thanks. Drive safe. Love you.”

“I love you.”

I hang up and quickly make my way back to the table. Lincoln sits there studying the menu. He glances up as I’m pulling my chair back and gives me a grin like he’s happy to see me back. I really hope I don’t piss him off.

“Linc?”

“Hmm?” he replies, looking back into his menu.

“I have to tell you something.”

As soon as he looks up at me, I see Emilie walking past our table. I give her a polite smile, but know I can’t say much to her right now. I’m not surprised to see her here, since Marc already told me where his friends would be while on vacation.

“What’s going on?” Lincoln asks, giving me his full attention.

“I called Marc. He’s going to be here soon.”

“You what?” he asks, his voice more stern, but still low.

“Well, he knew to come here a while back. I just called him in the bathroom to make sure he was still on his way, and he’s about a half hour out.”

“Why would you do that?”

He looks around the restaurant like he’s looking for somebody.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Looking for the waiter. We can’t stay here and eat dinner now.”

“I didn’t know he’d be so close. We can just order something and have them deliver it to us.”

“That’s fine,” he says gruffly.

“Lincoln, we all know that you two need to talk. He’s coming out here to talk to you, to be with us. Doesn’t that say something? It’s time we get this crap handled already. I’m so tired of feeling like I’m shuffling between you two.”

He huffs and runs his hand over his face, but doesn’t respond with words. The waiter appears at the table, and I decide to speak because I know Lincoln will come off rude if he says anything.

“Hi. I’m sorry. Can we just get our food delivered to our room please?”

“Sure, no problem,” the waiter responds, pulling out his notepad. “What would you like?”

We give him our order and room number and are told the food will arrive shortly. As soon as the waiter takes two steps from the table, Lincoln pushes his seat back and walks away.

“Lincoln, why are you so upset?”

“I’m just not sure why you felt it necessary to do that.”

“Maybe because it needed to be done.”

I know Emilie is behind us, because I saw her coming down our way when I got up from the table. She may be wondering who I’m with, but I know soon she’ll have all the answers. I just need to get these two stubborn men to talk to each other first.

“You know what’s going to happen,” Lincoln sighs.

“You don’t know what’s going to happen, but we’ll find out soon enough,” I say, hoping for fireworks. They’ll fight, I’m sure, but the chemistry they have is undeniable. They’ll be on each other in a heartbeat.

“Only because you decided to take it upon yourself to call him,” he huffs.

I know he’s happy. Somewhere deep down, he’s excited to see Marc again. Something akin to excitement passed over his features when I told him Marc was on his way.

I turn my head around and notice Emilie is closer than I thought. “Men,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Nice to see you again, Emilie.”

“You too,” she responds. “Good luck,” she calls, gesturing towards an angry Lincoln who has stormed ahead.

“Thanks,” I laugh.

We get to the elevators and the silence is deafening. He won’t look at me, but it doesn’t bother me. This thing between us three is getting figured out tonight, no matter what.

As soon as we’re in the room, he goes straight for the liquor and downs a shot. I roll my eyes and go to the room to change. So much for wearing my nice dress tonight. I end up in some gray leggings and an off-the-shoulder white shirt.

Lincoln has pulled off his coat and tie, and they rest across the back of a chair. He’s holding a highball glass with a dark liquor. Scotch, if I know Lincoln. A few minutes later the food is delivered to us, but we don’t even bother eating.

We know Marc will be here any minute.

I pace through the kitchen with my scotch in hand, waiting for Marc to arrive. I’ve been avoiding talking to him for a while now, knowing damn well that’s all I’ve wanted to do. I’ve been pissed off, though. We were being generous in giving him time to get his shit together, and yet he takes several months without word of what’s going on. Our brief encounter on Christmas was fantastic, but I had hoped that he would have had made a decision shortly after. Clearly, he was still interested in keeping things secret; afraid of what his friends thought, or more concerned about being an escort.

While he was out of the picture, Thalia and I continued our relationship, but we both felt his absence. Thalia and I love each other, and our friendship is stronger than ever, but I can see the sadness in her eyes sometimes. She misses him. I miss him, but I don’t say anything. I fear what will happen between Thalia and me if the thing with Marc fails to develop into what we had hoped for.

I know she loves him, and I know she loves me. Would she be forced to choose one of us? Or would she be with both of us at the same time? I don’t know if I would be okay with that. I suppose I understand Marc’s apprehension to get involved in the first place.

My pacing comes to a halt when several knocks on the door echo through the room. Thalia and I share a glance before she begins walking to the door. I down the rest of my drink in one large swallow, place the glass on the table, and put both hands in my pockets.

“Hey,” Thalia greets sweetly, stretching up to her tiptoes to give Marc a kiss.

He rests his hand on her lower back and returns the kiss. When he pulls away, they share a smile, and then he looks up and I wait as he looks around the room. His eyes find mine and we’re locked onto each other.

I barely notice as Thalia makes her way back to the couch, because Marc slowly begins walking towards me. His facial expression doesn’t give much away, but he never breaks eye contact.

He stops about a foot and a half in front of me. “Linc,” he says in way of greeting.

I only lift my chin slightly, unsure of what he’s about to say.

“I’m sorry.”

His apology catches me off guard. I wasn’t expecting that to be the first thing he said, and while my initial reaction is happiness, I don’t let on. I still don’t know what’s going to happen.

“For what?” I ask.

He sighs. “Everything. For putting my job before yours and Nathalia’s feelings. For not telling me friends as soon as I developed feelings for you both. For…everything.”

The breath that I must have been holding rushes out. “Feelings?” I ask, too chicken shit to ask him out right what his feelings for me are.

Marc turns and looks at Thalia, who’s watching us from the couch. He stretches his arm out and signals her over. When she reaches us, he puts an arm around her and looks at me.

“I told Nathalia that I love her.” Thalia places her hand on Marc’s stomach and looks up at him and then smiles at me. “She loves me too, and I know she loves you.”

Nathalia reaches her hand out, and I release mine from my pocket and entwine my fingers with hers. I can’t help but smile as I look at her smiling face.

Marc clears his throat getting my attention, but he looks nervous, and that sparks my own wave of nervousness. “I wasn’t anticipating falling in love. I’ve known the chance of me meeting someone and falling in love, and having that love reciprocated, was going to be hard to find in my career. But, if it wasn’t for my career, I would have never have met Nathalia and never fallen in love with her.” He pauses and so does my breathing. “And if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have met you.”

My heart thunders rapidly in my chest.

“I didn’t expect to find myself in love when I did, and I definitely didn’t expect to find myself in love with two people at the same time, but I couldn’t have found it with better people.”

Thalia steps back, giving us room as I step forward. My hand instantly goes to the back of his neck, and I rest my forehead on his. “Marc,” I say in a low whisper. “I’ve loved you for a while now.” He backs up, looking straight into my eyes; questioning me without words. “I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure of where your head was at.”

Wrapping his arms around me, he pulls me into him and kisses me. “I’m so sorry,” he breathes against my mouth. “I love you, Lincoln, and I should have told you a long time ago.” He doesn’t give me a chance to respond because he slips his tongue into my mouth and caresses my tongue passionately.