Page 32 of Good Girl's Guide to Love
His sentiment warms my body, but I need to temper it down. The key word in that sentence is fake. He was pretending to be my boyfriend last night to help get Jonathan away from me. Today is a new day. Today he’s just a guy I hung out with at a bar and…
“Oh my God, we kissed! Like a lot!”
Devilish. That’s the only word I can think of to describe the smile on Linc’s face right now. It’s just at one corner of his mouth. A mouth I apparently mauled last night, if my hazy memory serves me right.
“We did,” he says. “Actually, you kissed me a few times. The highlight of my night.”
Panic now starts racing through me. Embarrassing myself is one thing. Getting drunk is another. But kissing a guy in public—a guy who’s personal life gets posted on the internet more than most—is something that I never, and I mean never, thought I’d have to deal with.
Especially with a raging headache. How much Advil does a girl need to take to make it stop?
I feel myself starting to breath heavier, but I start to calm the second I feel Linc’s hand on the small of my back. His touch isn’tmuch, just his thumb slowly rubbing up and down, is enough to do the trick.
“Hey,” he says, leaning in close so his words are quiet. Comforting. Gone is the flirty smirk. Gone are the teasing eyes. No, right now is just Linc, the man who stepped in last night when he didn’t have to. The man who I knew I could trust when I knew nothing about him beyond his immense kindness to a special little boy. “I know this is a little insane. And so was last night. I don’t want to tell you how to feel, so I’m not going to tell you to not be embarrassed, but please know, last night was one of the best nights I’ve had in a very long time. And it’s all because of you.”
I want to believe that’s a line. But I don’t know…there’s something in his look that’s telling me he’s serious.
“But, we should probably go over what comes next,” he says with a soberness to his tone. “I’d bet my contract there are going to be pictures. Jonathan caused a few scenes last night, and frankly, so did we. And, I’m not sure if you know this, but I have a certain reputation.”
“I’ve heard a thing of two,” I say, trying to play it off without coming across like I was some sort of crazy internet stalker. I’m not. That’s my sister Stella. “So what do we do?”
“I’ll handle it,” he says. “I pay people a lot of money to make sure things like this are handled appropriately. If pictures do come out, and depending on what the headlines are, we’ll handle them as they come in.”
“Do you think the whole boyfriend-slash-girlfriend thing is going to be a thing?” I ask.
He just shrugs. “Probably. But I’m not a fan of thinking about things that haven’t happened yet. Waste of brain space. I prefer to only think about it when I have to.”
That makes me laugh. “Oh, we are very different people, Linc Kincaid.”
We share a smile, and just as I’m about to take a bite of my sandwich, I hear a phone starting to buzz somewhere nearby.
“That’s you,” he says, getting up and taking it off the charger. Wait…did he plug my phone in for me last night? He must’ve. That is so…thoughtful. “Says it’s from ‘The Siblings?’”
“Oh no,” I say, snatching my phone and sliding the messages open. “Don’t worry about gossip blogs or leaked pictures. I have a feeling what wereallyneed to worry about is this group chat…”
Quinn
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK AINSLEY.
Stella
I was JUST about to send the same text. What the hell were you doing out with Linc Kincaid? And he’s your boyfriend? When the hell did that happen? Wait! Did he ask you out after the hospital visit?
Maeve
Were you drinking? Ainsley Mae!
Simon
Can we go back to the part where Ainsley is dating Linc Kincaid? What the fuck happened between you not knowing his name and being his squeeze?
Quinn
Fuck Linc. Wait…did you *fuck* Linc?
Maeve
Jesus Christ Quinn…
