Page 8 of The One Who Got Away

“Welcome to Make A Change, Catherine.”

Chapter Three

I had two options.

I could stand in the break room, gaping at him like he was an apparition from a past I was desperately trying to move on from...or I could accept the fact that for some unknown reason, Lincoln Carraway was here.

In the flesh. In the very sexy flesh.

The last time I’d been this close to him was the night before the wedding. I’d snuck into his bedroom, saying to hell with that whole ‘bad luck seeing the bride before the big day’ thing. He’d been asleep, his handsome face serene, frozen perfection. His hair was cropped short back then, except for the front where a tangle of dark curls spilled across his forehead. I could have stood there for hours, watching him, and I knew that made me a hypocrite because I was one of those people who thought that it was completely odd when Edward watched Bella sleep in Twilight. In that moment, caressing every contour of his face, I got the appeal. I wanted to watch over him, protect him, lay down my life for him. All those things and feelings I thought were only found in fiction.

I’d wanted to kiss him.

So I’d leaned down and pressed my lips against his quivering ones. He’d stirred, his eyelids fluttering like some winged creature. When his sleepy gray eyes had adjusted and locked on me, he whispered, “Hey you.”

I’d clutched him then, burying my tongue between his lips, so filled with love, so delirious by the fact that I’d get to wake up next to him for the rest of my life that when I stopped to breathe, I exhaled, “I love you.”

“You must because my breath reeks,” he’d laughed. “And I must love you because I was having the best dream and I don’t even care that you woke me up. Me, you, and Adriana Lima were on a deserted island...”

Reality cruelly brought me back to now. The dream was done. I ignored that playful gleam in his eyes and the charm that dripped from his smile.

I squared my jaw. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Rosa stepped up beside me. I didn’t let my eyes leave Lincoln because, like every snake, you had to keep your eye on them or they’d bite you right in the ass.

A flash of want flickered through my groin at the thought of Lincoln biting my ass, but I squashed it dead.

“Catherine, what in the world? Uh...” Rosa was at a loss for words, but her hand on my shoulder this time was less friendly and more ‘What the hell?’

I didn’t back down from me and Lincoln’s staring contest.

“I asked you a question,” I snarled, and shrugged off Rosa’s hand.

The slightest bit of worry dimmed his smile but he was otherwise unfazed, reaching for a silver container and a jug of milk.

“Would you like a cappuccino?” He bit his lip in the sexiest way as he carefully poured in the milk, like he was working on a masterpiece and the slightest misstep would spell catastrophe. “If memory serves, you like yours wet.”

I couldn’t stop the blush from invading my cheeks. “Listen, you son of a-”

“Catherine!” Rosa hissed. She stepped between us like a referee, though it was clear who the offending party was. Well, it was clear if you didn’t have the whole story. To the unaware, Lincoln was just being friendly and I was foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog.

Bringing up our sordid past, especially when I didn’t have all the pieces (like, why the hell Lincoln was playing barista at my new job), was the last thing I wanted to do. I drew a breath and finally made eye contact with Rosa. Her face was flushed and her eyes wide with confusion and embarrassment. Poor woman. She was probably wondering what she’d missed, because clearly I was insane.

The petty part of me rushed to the surface. It was the part that wanted to Hulk out every time I saw Lincoln’s smirk at the newsstand, or call into whatever show was singing his praises for whatever magic he’d performed and turned water into liquid gold. I wanted the world to see the Lincoln I knew. He was a selfish, afraid, good-for-nothing boy. He didn’t even have the balls to end things to my face.

I’d believed in happily ever after...then he burned our fairytale to the ground.

But I wouldn’t have a mental break right here. He didn’t deserve to watch me lose my mind.

I held my composure and forced two words from behind clenched teeth. “We’ve met.”

Rosa blanched, looking back and forth between the two of us, still confused. I was fuming. Lincoln was drawing designs in the foam and elevating my blood pressure by the second.

“I-I don’t understand,” she stammered.

“Rosa, do you mind giving us a moment?” Lincoln set his cloudy, hypnotizing eyes on her.

I scoffed when she all but let out a sigh and snapped to follow his command.

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