Promised (8 page)

I sneak a look back at Linc. He’s standing by the table, watching me as he pours the sparkling apple cider into our champagne glasses. I see the love he has for me clearly etched on his face. We haven’t said those words, but I know he does as surely as I know I love him.

He’s worth the tarnish to my good girl reputation.

I walk directly to him, take the bottle out of his hands and place it on the table. I take his face in my hands and pull his mouth down to mine. My tongue slides across the seam of his lips and he opens his mouth to offer me what I want. I slip into his mouth to join our two tongues together in a sensual dance. His hands grab my waist and pull me so we’re touching from hip to head. I feel every hard ridge of his body, and I do mean
every
hard inch. And still, I can’t make myself pull away. I want to stay connected to him like this forever, or the next five months. Or at the very least, all night.

He pulls back and I swear to God I whimper like a baby at the loss of his body against mine.

“How’d you know what I planned for dessert?” He asks, breaking through my sex clouded thoughts and making me laugh.

“I thought I was bringing the dessert.”

“Oh, you brought the dessert alright and it was…”

“Sweet.” I complete his sentence for him.

“I was going to say hot, but sweet works too.” He says around a grin, which happens to be ten times better than his
drop you to your knees gorgeous smile
because his lips are swollen from kissing me.

“What’s for dinner?” I ask as I change the subject, hoping dinner will rid my brain of the very bad thoughts I’m having about his lips.

“Salad first, then I have steak and roasted potatoes with asparagus. And even though your dessert was much better, we have sprinkle cupcakes to finish the meal.”

At the mention of sprinkle cupcakes, my eyes light up and I make an O face. Those little cakes of sugary goodness are my greatest weakness and better than any anti-depressant on the market.

“Can we start with dessert?”

********************************************

Ok, I was completely wrong about dinner stopping the dirty thoughts. If anything, it increased them by a trillion. We made it through the salad and main course fine, but as soon as he brought out those cupcakes, I was a goner. And I haven’t even touched my own! The first swipe of his tongue against the white icing froze me solid. Or I guess a better description would be, melted me to a puddle in my seat. Needless to say, it was
hot
! I ignore my own cloud of deliciousness to take in the sexy floor show that is Linc.

He takes his time licking the icing around the edge of the cupcake before he finally peels away the wrapper and takes that first, satisfying bite of the moist cake inside. A few crumbs stick to his bottom lip and his tongue darts out, making a painfully slow swipe to catch them.

OH.

MY.

GOD!

I wish I could be a cupcake. Ok, not any cupcake. I wish I could be Linc’s cupcake!

“Are you full?” Linc asks, drawing my eyes from his lips.

“What?”

“You haven’t touched your cupcake.” He states, trying to hide his grin. He so caught me ogling his lips.

Real smooth, Wyn, real freaking smooth!

I grab my cupcake and take my first bite to hide my embarrassment. As the sugary sweetness hits my taste buds, I let out a soft moan. “Oh my…….that’s so good. Did you make these or did you pick them up in heaven?”

“I’ll forward your compliments to my mom.” He says chuckling.

“I do believe you gave away one of your secrets, Mr. Tatman.” I grin around another bite of my dessert.

“And what secret did I give away?”

“Your mother fixed our dinner.” I say after swallowing another bite.

“Oh, I guess I did. I had to enlist her help or we’d be having frozen burritos and store bought cookies.” He explains as he picks up his apple cider to take a drink.

“You can give her my thanks. This was a perfect meal.” And a perfect night, but instead of saying that, I sit my now empty cupcake wrapper back on my plate and check out my fingers to make sure I didn’t miss any stray icing.

“I’m glad you liked it. She’ll be happy to hear it too.” He sets his glass down, picks up our dirty dessert plates, and carries them to the kitchen. On his way back in, he stops and turns on the stereo. The piano starts the song and then slowly, Adele’s voice fills the room singing the opening lines of “Make You Feel My Love”.

Standing in front of me, Linc holds out his hand. “Will you dance with me?”

I nod and take his hand. As soon as my feet are under me, he pulls me tight against him. My arms slide around his neck as his circle around my back. We sway together with our eyes locked, but by the second verse, my head is on his shoulder and he’s singing the words in my ear. And I know he chose this song on purpose. The words are his plea and promise to me wrapped up in one heart wrenching song. When he whispers the line “I know you haven’t made your mind up yet”, I want to tell him I have, because I know everything he’s trying to tell me with this song is the truth. He’d do anything to make me feel his love.

It’s not that simple and we both know it. But tonight, I’m going to force myself to forget the barrier keeping us apart so I can enjoy the memory he’s creating for us. Adele sings the last two lines and the song fades out. I pull my head from his shoulder so I can look into his eyes.

“I love you, Linc.” I quietly confess.

He searches my face and then his voice is full of hope as he whispers. “I love you too, Wyn.”

A loud boom breaks through the silence, causing me to jump. Linc chuckle as he guides me to the glass wall. He points at the sky above the tree line and says, “And that’s our final surprise of the night.”

“How?” I ask, admiring the firework display lighting up the sky.

“There’s a resort on the other side of the mountain. They always set off fireworks for the New Year.”

I turn my attention back to him and ask shocked. “It’s after midnight?” The night has gone by way to fast, but it always does when you’re with someone you love.

He looks down at his watch and then back at me. “It’s 12:01.”

I circle my arms around his waist and press my lips to his. Pulling back to look into his eyes, I smile and say. “Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year, Wyn.” He whispers against my forehead before placing a kiss there. Circling his arms around my back, he holds me tight as we watch the rest of the fireworks light up the night sky.

January

Chapter 11 – Linc

~Kiss You Myself~

“What would you really like to do after school?” Wyn and I are sitting with our backs to the arms of the couch, feet on the cushion between us, facing each other. A large afghan is thrown over our legs. We lost our shoes not long after Wyn helped me clean up the dishes from dinner. I told her she didn’t have to help, but she insisted and I, of course, gave in. I can’t deny her. She could ask for the moon and I’d work till the day I die trying to invent something to get it for her.

“I wish I could go to nursing school.” She replies, rubbing her cold feet against mine. She does it every time I ask her a question, like she needs to warm them or she can’t think straight. But I haven’t said a word about it because I’m enjoying this tiny way we’re staying connected.

“Have you tried to talk to your parents about it?”

She turns her head towards the window before she explains. “No. It’s been a battle to finish high school, so I know they won’t agree to college. By then I won’t be their problem anyways…” She trails off and I get the feeling once again she’s keeping something from me.

“Have they made it official?”

She faces me and I can see the turmoil in her eyes. “I don’t want to ruin tonight.”

Damn!

They’ve set a date.

How much time have they given us? A couple months? A couple weeks? A day? Could this be the last time I see Wyn? Was tonight her telling me goodbye? She wouldn’t leave me that way; she’d at least tell me. She said she’ll tell me in a few days and I’m going to choose to believe that and not push it now.

I swallow down my fear and force myself to say. “Okay.”

“Have you applied to any schools yet?” She asks, changing the subject.

“Truth?” I ask, clearing my throat.

She looks at me questioningly and says. “Truth.”

“I’m not applying to any colleges. I plan on enlisting after the summer is over.”

“But the counselor…”

“I was going to tell her, but then she brought you in and all I could think about was that I’d get a chance to spend time with you.” I confess, scrubbing my face with my hands to hide my embarrassment.

She pulls my hands from my face and keeps them in hers. “Don’t be embarrassed. I’ve never had anyone do something like that to be near me. It’s sweet. You’re sweet.”

I use her holding my hands to my advantage and I pull her to my side of the couch, positioning her with her back to my chest, my arms wrapped around her waist and my face in her neck. “You make me sweet.” I mumble against her neck, causing her to softly moan.

“Tell me about your parents.”

“Well, you know Dad’s in the army. He’s been in since I was little. I think he’s like you in the sense that he likes to help people. Mom helps at Aunt Kelly’s bakery. That’s my cousin Nate’s mom and she’s Mom’s sister.”

“Nate’s the one who rear ended the police car, right?”

“I guess everyone heard about that, huh?” I chuckle.

“I think he told everyone about it himself.” She giggles. I should’ve known Nate spread the story around himself. He loves being the center of attention; good or bad, it doesn’t matter to him.

“How does your mom handle your dad being gone so much?” She asks, snuggling closer to my chest and resting her head against my shoulder.

“I won’t lie to you. It’s hard on her. I’ve asked her the same question before because I’ve watched her cry every time he leaves. But she told me she understands that he’s doing what he thinks is right and she supports that because she loves him.”

“She sounds like a strong lady.”

“She is and she’d like to meet you.” Wyn tenses in my arms and I give her a gentle squeeze to relax her. “Don’t worry. She’ll love you.”

“I-I-I…” She stammers.

“Calm down. I’ve told her all about you and she really wants to meet you. Just consider, please.”

“I’ll meet her.” She agrees softly.

“Thank you. So tell me about Dani. You two are close and I don’t know anything about her.”

“Dani’s been my partner in crime since we were little. She married my youngest brother, Adam, last year and they’re having a baby girl this spring. They’re naming her after me.” She turns her head and smiles up at me.

“Really?”

“Ok, it’s only the middle name. But I’m still going to call her Lil’ Wyn.” I enjoy watching her face light up at the talk of her unborn niece, but it’s bitter sweet because I know this little girl is another reason why she won’t be able to leave her gypsy life behind for me.

I press a kiss right below her ear and tell her. “This world could use a few more Wyn’s.”

She turns around and straddles my lap. “One of me is enough. I don’t need the competition.”

“Competition?” I ask, arching one eye brow.

“Well, any version of me is going to want you, so I’m glad there’s only one of me. That way, I won’t have to kick my own butt to keep you.” She explains, causing me to laugh.

I tickle her side as I tease. “You’re such a dork.”

“Then you must be one too, because you love me. And dork attracts dork.” She giggles, tickling me back.

“If loving you makes me a dork, then I’ll gladly take that title.” I say, grabbing her hands to stop the tickling.

Leaning in, she sucks my bottom lip in between hers and nibbles on it, the same way I’ve watched her do with her own lip when she’s nervous. I release her hands so I can hold the back of her head, deepening the kiss. Her hands fall to the buttons of my shirt and she slowly unhooks them. Then, pulling my t-shirt free of my pants, she slips her hand up my abs. Her fingers trail along each sculpted ridge of my abdomen and I hear myself take a sharp breath. She’s trying to torture me.

Grabbing her wrists, I grumble. “I’m not sure I can handle this.”

“I only wanted to see what you felt like under that shirt.” She pouts.

“Oh, I’m enjoying it, but I know you don’t want to do more. And if you keep touching me like that, I’m going to want to touch you like that. And that’s going to make me want to do more.” I explain, releasing her wrists.

“Oh.” she exclaims as her face lightens up with innocence.

Running my hand over her hair to soothe her, I explain. “I’ll never push you. But you need to know there’s only so much I’ll be able to handle before we’ll have to pull back, so I can calm down.”

“And you’ll let me know when you need to do that?” She asks from behind her lowered lashes.