Page 74 of The Best Man Problem
“Lincoln. This looks exactly like…”
He shrugged, a sheepish smile curling his lips. Lips she’d been desperately missing.
“I know. Kenneth and Marie said groveling goes better with a gift. So I asked Mo for your mother’s number and—”
“You spoke to my mom? Why?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I, um, didn’t know Curt’s last name, and it’s hard to do a search of someone without their last name.”
He called her mother to get Curt’s name. Why? She glanced back at the machine, the reason staring her in the face, taking up a significant portion of her office. Tears gathered in her eyes as she turned back to Lincoln to ask, “Then this really is his? The old pinball machine?”
He nodded. “You were right—the guy is really nice. When I told him about how much the machine meant to you, he was more than happy to send it your way. He lives in Wyoming now, so I had to rent a truck and drive up to get it.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “And there’s also this.”
Lilly took the piece of paper, her fingers trembling as she glanced down at ten scrawled-out numbers.
“He said you can call him anytime if you want to catch up. Said leaving you was the only thing he regretted about the divorce.” Lincoln grimaced. “He also said he had a large plot of land where no one would find a body if I ever hurt you.”
Lilly laughed as she clutched the paper to her heart. If she ever considered anyone a father figure, it had been Curt. She couldn’t believe Lincoln called her mother and her ex-stepfather just to find the most treasured thing of her childhood.
“You were right, Lilly.”
He took a deep breath, staring at her hand on the glass, lifting his to trace along each of her fingers. One at a time. The touch of his hand, after so many days aching for it, made her body ignite and her heart clench.
“I was living in the past. I don’t have feelings for my ex anymore, but I also never let go of what happened. I held on to the pain, the anger, like a shield. Used it to stop anyone else from getting too close. From being able to hurt me again. But then I met you.”
“Lincoln—”
He lifted her hand, intertwining their fingers. The dark scruff of his beard looked longer. As if he hadn’t trimmed it in a few days. His eyes stared into hers; she could see the distress in them, but she could also see something else. Something she didn’t want to name for fear of being wrong but hoped she was right.
“Our past shapes us. It makes us who we are, but we get to choose how that happens. And I don’t want my past to stop me from being with the woman I love.”
A tear slid down her cheek. Her heart felt so full but wonderfully light in her chest, the heaviness of the past few weeks melting away with Lincoln’s admission. A happy smile curled her lips as she choked back a relieved sob of joy.
“I love you. I have for a while now, but I was too afraid to admit it. Too scared to risk my heart again, and I’m sorry for the way I acted, for hurting you, for even the millisecond of doubt I let creep into my head because of what happened in the past. You’re not my past, Lilly. You’re my now and, I hope, my future. I love you.”
More tears slipping from her eyes, she lifted a hand to wipe them away. “I love you, too.”
“My groveling worked, then?”
She shook her head. “No. It was totally the pinball machine.”
Lincoln laughed, placing a hand on her waist and tugging her into him so he could dip his head and claim her lips. Every inch of her body and soul cried out with joy at the feel of being in his arms again.
“Then I guess there’s just one more question I have to ask you,” Lincoln said when they finally came up for air.
“Oh really? And what’s that?”
Still holding her hand, he went down on one knee. She sucked in a breath. Surely he couldn’t be asking what she thought he was asking? They’d just admitted their feelings for each other, and while she could see a future with Lincoln, she didn’t think now was the time to—
“Lilly Walsh, will you go on a date with me?”
She snorted, slapping her free hand over her mouth as the loud bark of relieved laughter left her. With all her primp and polish, all her rules and propriety, how funny that she fell for a man she hadn’t even had a proper date with. Life really did go its own way. She was just happy she finally learned to go along with it.
“Yes, Lincoln Reid. I will go on a date with you.”
He rose, taking her into his arms once more. “Now, what do you say we break in this machine? Winner chooses date night activities?”
She grinned. “You’re on.”
