Bad for You (Sea Breeze #7)(18)

“Do not leave with that bag,” I said, standing up.

Linc set the bag in front of me and put his hand on my waist before pressing a kiss to my cheek. He lingered there and inhaled deeply before pulling back. He had been greeting me this way since our kiss.

“I need to see you outside of this office. I was being patient with you because you seem so easily spooked and I didn’t want to screw this up, but I really want to take you out. Please, go out with me. Tonight, anywhere you want. Your wish is my command.”

I stood there staring at Linc as his words sunk in. He was asking me out on a date. I’d never been on a date. He seemed so hopeful. If I went and I let my guard down, would he run off and leave me too? This thing with him visiting me at work was safe. A date wasn’t safe.

“I, uh . . .” What could I say? I didn’t want to push him away. He was now my only friend, and I didn’t want to mess this up too. Now that I knew what it was like to have friends, I liked it. I wanted friends.

“Please,” he begged, tightening his hold on my waist. “I swear, I won’t push you. You’ll be in complete control. I just want to spend time with you.”

Telling him no would be a mistake. I couldn’t do that. I would just be careful not to be me with him. I would be what he wanted me to be. I could pretend. “Okay. But you need to plan the date. I’ve never been on one.” Oh, crap. I was being me. Crappity crap.

Linc pulled back and frowned at me. I had done it. He was about to leave me too. He was going to see the real me. The ugly inside was going to shine through. I closed my eyes, unable to watch another friend run away from me. I just hoped he did it quickly.

“How?” was all he said.

How? What did he mean how? I opened my eyes and looked up at him while he searched my face. Was he looking for something? What did he see?

I couldn’t do this again so soon. I was already sore from Krit’s exit. I stepped back and sat down in my chair. “It’s okay. Just go. I don’t need excuses.”

The doughnuts in the bag reminded me of the pad Thai that Krit had left me in his great escape. The sweet cream no longer appealed to me. I tried to focus on the papers in front of me.

Linc didn’t move at first, but when he did, I held my breath and expected him to walk away. Instead he bent down. “What just happened?” he asked gently.

I turned to him, and my eyes collided with his. “You’re not leaving?” I asked.

His frown deepened, and he shook his head slowly. “No, Blythe. I’m not going anywhere. I just can’t figure out why you seem to think I would want to leave.”

He didn’t see it. I hadn’t laid myself bare to him. He was still here. I let out a relieved sigh and smiled. “Sorry, I just thought that because I hadn’t been on a date . . .”Shut up, Blythe. I couldn’t seem to stop saying that I hadn’t ever been on a date.

“Was Malcolm very overprotective?” Linc asked me.

Pastor Williams, overprotective? Wait. He thought I hadn’t dated because I hadn’t been allowed to. He didn’t think it was a bad thing.

“Yes,” I lied.

Linc smiled then. “Good. He should have been.”

If he only knew the truth. No. He couldn’t know the truth. He’d run too.

“So, that kiss,” he said, watching my face carefully.

I nodded. “First one,” I admitted.

Linc’s grin got even bigger. “Tonight, Blythe. I’ll pick you up at seven.”

We were actually going to go on a date. “I live at Sea Winds Apartments,” I told him.

He stood up. “I know.”

His dad’s office door opened, and Linc took a step back and stuck his hands in his pockets.

“Linc, visiting again today. If I didn’t know better, I would think you were trying to bribe my secretary with all the sweets you bring her.”

Linc chuckled. “Yeah, well, maybe I am.”

His father shot him a frown before turning to me and smiling. It was forced, but he was still smiling. “I have to leave early for a dentist appointment. Can you lock up when you leave?”

“Yes, sir,” I replied.

Pastor Keenan turned his gaze back to Linc. “Walk me out, Son.”

Linc looked frustrated but nodded. He followed his dad out and then turned back to me, holding up seven fingers before disappearing through the door.

KRIT

I was sitting in my favorite chair, a beer in hand, glaring at the wall, when the apartment door opened and Green strolled in with a smirk on his face. He closed it behind him and looked pointedly at me. “You’re f**king stupid,” he said, then turned to head to the kitchen.

He’d been telling me I was stupid since I had brought back two blondes two weeks ago and held our after-show party here. He was the only person who knew just how much time I was spending with Blythe and why I had moved our parties. I didn’t tell him why. I just let him be pissed at me.

He stepped back into the living room with a bottle of beer in his hand and pointed toward the parking lot outside. “If you get up now, you can see Blythe dressed in a sexy little sundress and a pair of heels, getting into some preppy boy’s Honda Accord.”

What? I stared at him, letting his words sink in, then I jumped up and ran to the window. Sure enough, Blythe was walking across the parking lot. A guy about my height stood beside her, his hand settled on her lower back. Fuck that. Who was he? Blythe didn’t get out enough to know people. She was too damn shy.