CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Dani
He'd finally left. Not that I wanted him gone, I just needed some time alone to process the fact that, in the last two hours, I'd said more sentences than I'd manage to accomplish in the past year.
Deep breaths. That's what my therapist always said. "And when that fails, try counting to ten while envisioning yourself walking along the beach and watching the waves."
Sometimes it felt like psychobabble crap.
But right now? I needed something — anything — to center me. I quickly glanced out the window and started counting the waves as the tide rolled in, my hand clenching my cell phone.
I felt guilty that the first time I'd talked was with a Hollywood actor who was basically paying me to get his coffee, while I couldn't say one thing around my sister or brother-in-law, or even my best friends.
My brain hurt from trying to figure it out.
Was this just a special one-time thing? Or was I suddenly going to be completely fine? Was it the whale? Lincoln? The kissing?
Maybe that was it. He was my long lost prince, and I was the princess. His kiss was magic. Ha. Only in fairy tales. And in those, the mute girl didn't star or win the hot guy — she was usually the best friend to the princess or the maid.
My phone buzzed in my hand. A text from Demetri, because why call when he wouldn't be able to hear my voice?
"Just do it," I whispered to myself, staring down at the phone. Some part of me needed to test it to see if it was real. But I knew if I tried with Jay or Pris, they'd just freak out that I was calling. That was another thing. If I called, it meant I was basically dying.
If I called twice.
I was already dead.
Taking a deep breath, I pushed Demetri's number and brought the phone to my ear. It felt natural. Like it should. It rang, once, twice, three times.
"Holy shit, Dani. Are you okay? Just start yelling if you need me to call 911. Or play loud music. Shit, shit, shit. Clap your hands, you hear me, Dani? Clap one for ass dialing. Clap two for cops!"
"And if I clap three times?" I joked.
The phone went silent.
"Demetri?" I frowned and brought the phone down to see if I'd gotten disconnected, but he was still on the line. "Demetri."
"D-Dani?"
"Oh sorry, she can't come to the phone right now. Can I take a message?"
"You always were a smart ass." He chuckled and then laughed so hard I had to pull the phone away from my ear. "Holy shit, you're talking! I've missed that sexy voice of yours."
I rolled my eyes. "Seventeen."
"Please tell me that's not his nickname for you? Damn, I should have backed off with the whole seals are going to eat you if you seduce her thing."
"Wait, what?" Sometimes it was hard to keep up with him. And now that he was talking, not texting, I found it almost impossible.
"Linc." Demetri said his name like an expletive. "I basically told him if he touched you, I was going to throw his body to the starving seals, and they'd kill him."
"Seals like fish, not humans."
"He's an actor. It's not like he's the brightest crayon in the box."
"This from the guy who cried when a seagull landed on his head last year."
"HE KNEW MY NAME!" Demetri shouted.
"Heeee…" I drew out the word. "…was making normal seagull noises. Not once did he utter a D."
"Whatever. I'm not arguing with you over that seagull. He freaking stalks me, you know this. He has white on his head."
I sighed. "All seagulls have white… You know what? Never mind."
He was silent for a minute and then, "Dani?"
"Yeah?" My heart pounded against my chest.
"Don't go away again, okay?"
Tears welled in my eyes, threatening to spill over. "I'll try not to."
"I won't ask now… but I will ask later… about how this happened, because it matters to me, and it should matter to you, but the most important thing is you're talking. Want me to tell Jay and Pris?"
I wiped the tears from my cheeks. "I'll tell them, if I can. When I get home."
"Hey," Demetri said softly, "none of that. You'll be able to. I promise."
My throat clogged with more tears, tightening so much it was painful to breathe. "And if I can't?"
"Then we figure it out. But at least now you know one thing."
"Oh, yeah?"
Demetri laughed. "Yeah, apparently all you needed was a nice, hot kiss from Lincoln Greene to loosen those lips of yours."
"Two kisses."
Silence.
More silence.
"What the hell?!" he screamed. "That bastard! I'll kill him!"
Lincoln made his way out of the bathroom.
"Oops, gotta go. Love you!"
"He touch you? If he even lays one fing—"
I hung up on him and shoved my phone in my back pocket.
"Hey." Lincoln wiped some of the excess water from his neck and moved the towel down his chiseled abs.
Mouth dry, I didn't know where to look. If I made eye contact, it seemed like I was trying too hard not to stare at all of those tightly corded muscles just ripping around his midsection. And if I stared, then he'd know it.
I settled on an awkward flinch, a guttural moan, and turned around to watch the rain pound the window. "It was Demetri."
I knew the minute Lincoln made his way over to me; it wasn't just the smell of fresh lavender soap or the fact that he towered over me — it was him. His heat, his magnetism, his everything.
Swallowing my nerves, I turned to glance at him out of the corner of my eye. Still shirtless.
Still sexy.
I swallowed a gulp and met his amused gaze. "What?"
"I asked what he said."
"Oh…" Probably while I was checking him out for the second or third time. "… he was excited then started getting off topic. You know Demetri. One minute I can talk and a miracle occurs, the next he's yelling about seagulls and calling you a bastard."
"Me?" Linc's grey eyes twinkled. "Why me? What did I do? Aren't I the great healer in all of this?"
I snorted. "You wish."
"It does make me feel better about my life's accomplishments. Think I can put that on my resume?"
"Wow, never knew your ego was as big as Jay's." I pushed past him, a smile tickling the corners of my mouth.
"All things are bigger where I'm concerned," he said in a low voice.
Ignoring him and the goosebumps popping up all over my skin, I motioned toward the kitchen. "Didn't you say you were going to cook crabs?"
"Yup." He walked past me and opened the fridge door. "Didn't you see them in the bucket?" He pulled out a blue bucket and set it on the counter. Still shirtless.
I wasn't sure what I was supposed to concentrate on. His abs, the crabs currently fighting for their lives, or the buzzing sensation of my lips as they recalled his mouth in painful detail.
"Shouldn't you put on a shirt?" I blurted. "Don't want the crab to turn into some sort of nipple clamp. It may ruin your night." I pulled a barstool out.
"Or…" Linc dropped the crab and gave me a sultry glance, licking his lips. "… it may just give our night the added spice it needs."
"We're spicy enough," I said confidently, even though my mind whirled at his implication. "You know what? I think I'm just going to go—"
"Oh, sorry." He motioned toward the hall. "I had an extra set of clothes brought in for you along with some shoes. I wasn't sure on sizes or anything, so if they don't fit then I apologize. I can't vouch for style or flair since it was the limo guy grabbing stuff for us, and shopping in Depot Bay is slightly… limited."
"That why you aren't wearing a shirt?"
"My shirt—" Linc shook his head and laughed. "—has a picture of a giant whale on it."
I joined in laughter. "What are the odds?"
"Right?" He put his hands on his hips.
My eyes zeroed in on the V of his abs.
"I'd steal yours, bu
t I imagined sporting a seal T-shirt that was five sizes too small might get people talking, and the last thing I need is a rumor that I dress in tight women's clothing in order to get my rocks off."
Please. The T-shirt would probably go out of stock within minutes if he posted something like that. I pointed at his abs. "Pretty sure that's the last thing anyone would accuse you of."
He flexed. "Think so?"
"Right. And I'm the immature one."
"Hey, I never said immature. I said seventeen."
"I can count. And your crab—" I pointed at the counter behind him. "—is trying to make a quick getaway. I'll go freshen up while you wow me with your culinary skills."
"Shit." Lincoln reached for the crab just as it was trying to find its way off the counter and onto the floor.
Laughing, I walked into the bathroom and shut the door.
Only then did I allow myself to actually process what was happening. I was alone. In a romantic setting with Lincoln Greene. And he was shirtless.
And I was…
I sighed.
… still seventeen.
Still damaged, too, at least in my mind.
And still stupid for being hopeful that he would look at me and see anything but age, and the fact that I was still struggling to get over my parents' death. Still going through the stages of grief. And still trying to figure out my place in the world among the stars, when every day I felt more and more like my own star had stopped shining.
Maybe this was the beginning of something. The talking? Maybe, he was just what I needed to finally start walking back on the path I was always meant to be on, which didn't help things. If anything, it made me more nervous. I only hoped it wasn't Lincoln who held the key, because my chances with someone like him? They were laughable.