Page 26 of Linc
“Ellie, let’s not scare her off just yet.Remember, Linc wants us to make a good first impression.And I thought you wanted to check out this spa before we head back out to Montana.”Archie tries to rein in his wife, but she just waves him off.I can hear Lisa trying to hold in a laugh from behind the counter and I can’t help but smile.I think I’m going to love them.
“Would you like a tour of the spa before we leave?”I ask.
“I’d love to see it,” she states.“You stay here,” she tells her husband as we make our way down the first hall that I occupy.
“What do you do here?”
“I’m a masseuse,” I tell her.
“So, you’re touching naked bodies all day?”She asks, scrunching up her face in distaste.“I’d hate to see all that flabby skin bouncing around.”
“Their privates are always covered,” I inform her, but my mind goes back to a very naked Linc and how not an inch of that man is flabby.
We walk down towards the sauna and the mineral pools, then back up to the treatment rooms where they do facials, and the medical procedures and injectables.
“I’m starving, let’s go eat,” Eleanor suggests, then grabs for my hand and starts walking toward the front door.Archie falls in line as we make our way outside.
When we get to the parking lot, a man in a black suit is waiting by a town car.When he sees us, he opens the back door.
“Lincoln doesn’t trust us to drive around the city when we come into town anymore,” Eleanor says with a huff as the driver pulls out of the lot.
“That’s because you almost started a riot on the freeway, dear,” Archie shifts so he can look back from the front seat to look at us.
It makes me giggle and I see Eleanor cross her arms over her chest, getting ready to defend herself.Just when she opens her mouth, the driver pulls up to a popular restaurant for celebrities.
“Why the hell did we come to this place?”Eleanor snaps.“The last thing I want is to be photographed while stuffing my face.”
The driver opens our door, and I slide out after Eleanor.
“Your son, or Alice, must’ve picked it,” Archie comes up to her side and wraps his arm around her shoulders.“Let’s just get through the meal, then I’ll take you to get your favorite gelato.”He tries to placate her, and I love how much they banter but also love each other.It’s so rare to see couples stick it out for more than ten years nowadays.
As we stand near the curb, another car pulls up and Linc climbs gracefully out of the car.He smiles over at us, but flashes start to go off and we watch as a woman in a tight, almost see through dress, comes from the restaurant and towards the valet area.
“Linc!”the woman shouts, then waves, turning all our attention to her.She strides over and wraps her arms around his waist.The cameras are snapping away, and I watch as she poses, making comments and laughing as if Linc is saying the funniest thing.
Linc
I’m running late for dinner with my family, who are meeting Everly.When Grandma called earlier and heard that I was behind schedule, they offered to pick up her and bring her to the restaurant.I was reluctant at first, but I know that Grandma and Grandpa will make her feel like family.Dale, who raced across town from a meeting, pulls up to the valet.I hate coming to this restaurant, where you come to be seen and put in the media for a headline.I was hoping for a quiet place to sit down and not be interrupted, so that both my parents and grandparents could properly meet Everly.
As I get out, I see Everly and my grandparents walking up.
“Linc!”I hear my name being called, and when I turn my attention away from my woman I see Blaire.
Blaire and I have a complicated relationship.I took her on as a client when I first opened my firm.She and I have—or had—a mutually beneficial agreement where her modeling agency would supply me with dates to get my face and name out with the media and at functions and in return, I would give her a huge price cut in my fee.Over the years, as I became more well-known and famous, my clientele list became more elite and I continued to win all of my clients’ cases.She and I would hook up a lot throughout the years and, at the time, I didn’t mind but now that I have Everly, I want to make sure the two worlds don’t collide.
“I’ve missed you, babe,” she says as she wraps her arms around my waist, as the paparazzi’s cameras click away.
My hands snag her wrist and gently remove her from touching me.
“Lincoln, are you and Blaire together?”
“Lincoln, we saw Linley yesterday and she said that you and she were still together.Is that true?”
“Blaire, did you steal Lincoln away from Linley while she was in Europe?”
I used to love the attention this brought, and would eat this moment up, but as I look over to where my grandparents and Everly are, I realize how much of an annoyance this is.The disgusting look on Everly’s face shatters something in me.
I hear Blaire’s obnoxious laugh, and it sounds like nails on a chalkboard.Ignoring her and the paparazzi, I make my way over to the group.
