Page 14 of Forever After All

She’d only had Brett, and while he’d been enough, maybe things would have been easier if they’d had someone else on their side. They’d watched each other’s backs without a break for their entire lives.

Did Linc have any siblings? She’d never asked. The topic hadn’t come up, but she suddenly wanted to know the answer.

Jess was beginning to understand the upside of dating. Getting to know someone was much easier when you had nothing to do except talk.

Maybe she should have more casual conversations with Linc. But she also enjoyed the peaceful silence when he was around.

“You have any friends around here?” Hanson asked.

“A few. Aside from my brother, I guess I’m friends with the people at work. I definitely see them the most. And there’s Linc.”

She stopped talking and replayed the last sentence. Why did she want to list Linc separately?

“Who’s Linc?”

Swallowing hard, she tried to push Linc out of her thoughts. Why was she thinking about him when she was on a date?

How did Linc feel about touch? Was he stunned when she fell on top of him a few days ago? Why hadn’t it bothered her to touch Linc when she was laid out on top of him?

“Jess?”

“Yeah?”

“Who is Linc? You just mentioned him.”

“He’s my friend at work.”

Washe her friend? They’d never actually defined the relationship, but she liked him enough. She’d just listed him separately from the others she worked with, and she didn’t know what that meant.

Her mouth was dry all of a sudden, and she reached for her glass of water and took a few gulps.

What would it be like to kiss Linc?

She flattened her palms against the hard wood of the table. They were starting to sweat. Kissing Linc? That was way outside of the safe zone. Was it getting hotter?

Why was she thinking about her kissing conversation with Linc when her actual date was sitting in front of her? She wasn’t thinking about kissing this guy at all.

“He works with the horses too?” Hanson asked.

She could focus on horses and get her wayward thoughts back on track.

Horses were safe. Linc was not.

“Yeah. He leads the pack rides, so I get the horses ready, and he packs the supplies.”

“Sounds like teamwork makes the dream work,” Hanson said, tilting his head from side to side. “I’m not a big fan of horses.”

Jess jerked like someone had just pulled her out of a daydream. “What?”

“They’re huge. And they have big eyes,” Hanson explained.

“Their eyes are proportionate to their size. And they’re big, but they’re not all scary.”

“Tell that to my overthinking brain. There are dozens of ways a horse could hurt me. It’s intimidating, looking up into those big, mysterious eyes.”

Jess couldn’t fight the urge to grin. “I can’t believe you’re scared of horses.”

“I’m not scared. I just don’t want to make friends with them,” Hanson said.

---