Page 62 of The Alpha Dire Wolf
Chapter Twenty-Four
Sylvie
Panic draped over me like a wet sheet, clinging to every inch of my body and locking down my joints and muscles. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. I could barely force my body to breathe. Each aching lungful came in protest.
I had never planned on kissing Lincoln, but I’d just been so darn mad and desperate to get rid of Caidyn that I lost control. Which had nothing to do with the fact Lincoln had been about to kiss me before my ex showed up.
Now, the outlandish fantasy that had only ever been allowed to exist in the back of my head had played out. Not only that, but Lincoln wasn’t satisfied with my hasty action. He wanted more. More ofme. And he was staring right at me, waiting to hear whether he could have it. Not answering wasn’t an option. I had to dosomething. But what? I needed more time.
Stall. That was it. Stall, and … throw it back at him?
Crossing my arms, I stared him down, trying to fake some confidence until I could feel it for real. “Kiss me properly?”
Lincoln nodded.
“Just what are you trying to say with that?” I demanded. “Is this some sort of insinuation that I’m a bad kisser? That I didn’t somehow kissyouproperly, and only you can do it right?”
His eyes twinkled wickedly in the overhead light. “No to the first,” he rumbled. “A partial yes to the second.”
I questioned him without words, letting my eyebrows do the talking.
“You didn’t know what you were doing. It was a frantic response. I certainly didn’t think you were capable of doing something so … outlandish.”
Could he read my mind?
“Safe to say,” he continued, “we were all shocked. Me the most, but I’m more than okay with that, given the result.”
He winked at me, which did terribly good things to that spot below my waist, right between my legs. A spot I was trying desperately to ignore, to pretend didn’t exist at that moment. Thinking clearly would be easier. Unfortunately, it wasn’t so simple. Try as I might, the slow dull pulsing grew stronger by the second.
“Lincoln,” I said slowly, desperate to interject some semblance of control.
“Yes?” he drawled with lazy confidence, knowing full well he had me in his palm, no matter what I was going to say.
“Youareaware that the guy I just kicked out—”
He cleared his throat emphatically. I glared.
“The guyyoujust kicked out,” I corrected to a nod, “was my ex-boyfriend. Right? The one that I broke up with on the day I found out my grandmother was dead, and her funeral was later that day? All of which happened just this week alone.”
Lincoln wasn’t fazed. I hadn’t held out much hope he would be, but I had to try.
“I wasn’t aware of the timeline. But I had heard it mentioned briefly in passing during his visit that you two had dated, yes.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s most definitely past tense.” Shaking my head, trying to refocus, I pushed on. “The point I’m trying to make is that I just exited a long-term relationship days ago, and in a most messy way. I’m not looking. I’m not ready.”
“You’re not ready,” Lincoln countered, “because you think it will be more of the same. That anything you get will be just as mediocre, and not great. You deserve greatness.”
I licked my lips, uncomfortable at his seriousness. “Um, thank you. I agree.”
“Good,” he said with a sharp, short nod. “Because that’s what I’m going to give you.”
“Huh?”
“Greatness. I am going to give you what you deserve. Every hour, of every day, I am going to show you why you deserve nothing but the absolute best. Then I’m going to make sure you get it. No matter what it takes. The things you aren’t even aware you deserve … I will give them to you. And I’m going to prove it, starting with a kiss.”
At some point during his little speech the bottom of my stomach fell out. “I’m, um, I’m not looking for anything,” I managed to force out in a tiny whisper, knowing full well I had to say it that way, and not that I wasn’t interested.
Because I was. I was beyond interested. I wanted. Badly.
