Chapter 101 CHAPTER 101
Amelia POV:
"So, tell me, how did you know I had a crush on you that summer?"
Linc is seated across from me, we are right in the middle of the dimly lit high end restaurant with its modern art decor and luxury architecture, beside us is a stunning high rise view of downtown Manhattan. We are the only people in here tonight. Linc rented it out. Looking at the design of the place and how huge it is, I don't want to guess how much that must have cost him.
We are attended to by just a couple of staff. Linc must have emphasized the need for absolute privacy. I love it. I love him. He told me I looked beautiful when he saw me walk down the stairs, I was thinking the same of him. I don't know what he did differently to his appearance, or maybe he didn't do anything, but I find him smolderingly hot tonight. His aura is confident and yet light and relaxed. When he pins me with his dark eyes, I feel a tingle run down my spine at the impossible heat that flushes through me.
We have spent five days in complete bliss and it brings tears to my eyes to acknowledge that it wouldn't last. We have managed to shut out the outside world but for how long?
Not hearing from Tyler or finding him yet is a dangerous loose end. And every time Hernandez comes to report to Linc about their fruitless search, I watch him get into a bad mood. He tries to keep it under wraps, but I am in love with him, I know him, and we spend a lot of time together for me to be blind to his temperament.
"You weren't as subtle as you think you were." Linc smirks. The golden light of the chandelier above our table reflects on his features making him look devilishly handsome. He would be considered a silver fox if he had white hair. When he becomes one, would I still be in his life? That will be in like ten to fifteen years. I don't enjoy looking into our future.
I want to go back home right now just so we can have sex. It is almost all I think about lately. Sex is great between us. And each time, it feels like it would only get better. There is no peak. It is all top experiences that leaves me thirsty for more. I want him with a kind of fierce need that scares me sometimes. It feels like I wouldn't survive without him and that is so dangerous. Amidst my bliss, I am clear headed enough to admit that.
"Or, maybe you were interested in me too. That was how you managed to notice. Because you were very aware of me. I remember feeling your eyes on me when I walked into a room you and Kathryn happened to be in. I shoved it aside as my delusion, but I know better now." I say, I roll a piece of spaghetti with my tongue, eyes hooked on him. He watches me heatedly, dark promises swirling in the depth of his smoky eyes. It is for the best that we have the place to ourselves. Tonight is all about the art of subtle seduction. I want him to be the one to cut the dinner short so we can race home to fuck like horny rabbits, though I want it just as badly.
"Well, maybe I wasn't the subtle one. You were nineteen, it could have been considered cute for you. But not for me. I was a forty one year old man, being aware of his nineteen year old stepdaughter with her mother being my wife? Even the most depraved of my acquaintances would judge me." Linc says, the light teasing in his tone puts me at ease. The rich sensual baritone pulls at my heartstrings.
"Ha. Three years appears to be a lifetime ago." I say. Eager to drop the topic.
"Appears so." Linc raises his glass of rich red wine at me, I do the same and we share a smile as a toast.
"Did you date after Kathryn?" I blurt out in the companionable silence that follows our toast. It is something that has gnawed at me since I came back and we started getting intimate. It is not like it mattered. But my insecurities wouldn't let me let it go.
I want to know. I dated in college too. But it was all really shallow connections. Unremarkable sex. Boyish men. Forgettable experiences. Nothing even remotely close to what Linc and I feel like.
"Why?" Linc peers at me, fork midway to his mouth. His face is neutral, but I can detect the slightest lift to his lips, the upward curve of it indicates teasing.
"Nothing. I guess, I just want to know." I try to sound casual but his hesitation can only mean one thing. It shouldn't bother me, really, it shouldn't but I can't help the cloud of jealousy that sprouts up at the thought of some random faceless woman spending time with him at the mansion.
It is horribly familiar to what I used to feel with Kathryn. Some older more accomplished, confident woman on Linc's arms is literally the stuff of my nightmares. My jealousy is irrational and borderline psychotic but it is what I feel and I can't help myself.
"But why is it important?" Linc asks.
"It is not." I say quickly. Defensively. Fuck, am I about to ruin this dinner over something as dumb as my insecurities?
"Okay." He smiles airily and put his forkful of pasta in his mouth.
"Linc, just answer the question." I say, I drop my fork. The creamy seafood pasta suddenly doesn't interest me anymore. I eye my glass of wine, I am already quite tipsy and it is just the first glass. I hold off the impulse to take another sip.
"Well, yeah. I did." He says casually and I hate to feel it but my heart fucking drops.
"Immediately?"
"Amelia..." A gentle warning in his tone.
But we are already there so I am going all the way.
"How long did you wait before getting into a relationship? Who was it? How long did it last? How many other women have you dated since?" I vomit the ugly impulsive line of questions and I wince at myself. The lack of self control is unsightly. So embarrassing.
I can't meet his eyes across the table but as ugly as I sound, I still want to hear the answer to the question so I raise my head to meet his eyes, defiantly.