by Jenni Wilder
“This isn’t funny, Jillian. Detective Murray is investigating this as an attempted homicide.”
That sobered me up. Homicide? They thought someone did this to kill me and not just accidentally.
Lincoln sighed. “Whoever did this put enough in your drink to kill you. This is serious.”
“I just don’t understand why anyone would do this,” I admitted quietly.
He lowered his face close to mine again. “You said it yourself a while ago. There are people in this world that thrive on the misery of others.”
“Are you miserable?” I asked him seriously. Maybe he was sick of all this drama.
He exhaled sharply. “God, Princess. No. Of course not. Not now that I know you’re okay.”
“I’m not either. Far from it.” I cupped his cheek to focus his attention. “So we’re not going to let them make us miserable, are we?”
“How are you not mad right now? You should be yelling, screaming, pissed off out of your mind.” He was looking at me in awe.
“Lincoln, I don’t have any room in my heart to be mad. Someone out there is crazy enough to do this, but I’m not going to allow them to defeat me. Not now that I have you.”
“Jillian…” he whispered and lowered his lips to mine. He kissed me with restraint as if he was afraid he would hurt me. When I pushed against him to deepen the kiss, he pulled back and smiled at me. “I love you so much. I was so worried.”
I inhaled deeply, ignoring the slight burn that remained in my throat. “I love you too, Lincoln.”
My nurse returned and kicked Lincoln out of the room while he removed the gross tubes coming out of parts of my body they shouldn’t have been. Lincoln didn’t go without a fight, but I insisted he didn’t need to see this.
Once the nurse was done, he helped me into a comfortable chair and placed a blanket over my legs. I felt like such an invalid, but I hoped being upright in a chair would help me stay awake. I was exhausted, and things were still a little foggy, but the Tylenol helped with the pain.
Lincoln and my mother returned, as did the nurse with my bowl of macaroni and cheese. I still wasn’t hungry, but I didn’t have the strength to argue so I ate as much as I could, which actually wasn’t that much. I wanted to shower, but it wasn’t allowed. I was still too weak.
Rebecca brought Tabitha to visit me. She sat on my lap, and I held her close, trying to comfort her. She had seen my whole episode and had been worried sick about me. I assured her I would be home the next day and that we would bake cookies together after school. That made her happy.
Seeing my sister and niece reminded me of when Rebecca had her nursing clinicals at this hospital years ago. She had been very pregnant and pulling long hours in order to graduate on time. She was constantly forgetting her lunch, and I had to bring food to her on her break numerous times.
“Baby?” I said sleepily after everyone but Lincoln had left.
“Yes, Princess?”
“We should order pizza.”
“You’re hungry for pizza?” he asked me with surprise.
I shook my head. “No. Not for me. For the nurses.”
“What?”
“Can we buy pizza for the nurses? They work so hard.”
“You want to buy the nurses pizza?” He stroked my head.
“I just think they would like it.”
“I know they will.” He kissed my forehead. “God, you have such a good heart. I’ll call the pizza place right now. I’ll order food for them every day this week if you want me to.”
I must have fallen asleep in my chair after Lincoln made his call because I woke to him laying me down in my hospital bed.
“Stay with me,” I whispered quietly and held on to his shirt. I didn’t want to be alone tonight.
Lincoln took off his shoes and pulled my covers back. He crawled into bed with me and wrapped his arms around me gently, holding me close. “Always,” he said with determination.
Chapter Nine
I was discharged from the hospital the next day. Lincoln brought me home and for the next two weeks, I took it easy. Other than the breathing exercises my doctor had given me to prevent pneumonia, I felt one hundred percent back to normal. I spent a majority of my time working on my thesis and e-mailing my résumé.
In the days after I was released from the hospital, I tried to stay as busy as possible, which helped keep me distracted from thinking about how close I had come that day to not waking up at all.
Detective Murray had zero leads. The normal bartender had been on break when it happened, and the bartender who was covering for him was helping someone at the other end of the bar and had no idea who had served Carter. It was as if some mysterious bartender appeared solely to wait on Lincoln’s brother, poison my drink, and then disappear.
Carter felt awful about what happened, although I assured him on a daily basis that it wasn’t his fault. He was being as helpful as possible; he sat with an artist and helped make a sketch of the woman who waited on him, but no one recognized her.
Lincoln tried not to let his frustrations with the investigation show, but it was easy to see how much he hated that no one had been caught. I came home from the hospital to a brand-new security system installed at my sister’s house. I wanted to protest since I still thought it was more likely that this was a fluke event. I didn’t think the tainted drink was meant specifically for me, but when Lincoln said he wouldn’t be able to leave for away games knowing I wasn’t safe, I relented. Plus, on the off chance someone was trying to hurt me, I didn’t want Tabitha or Rebecca to be in harm’s way.
The one bright spot in this whole mess was that now I had plenty of time to work on my thesis. In the month that followed my hospital stay, I got so much done. I spent late nights interpreting data and forming it into a cohesive paper. Not because I was pushing myself or because I was stressed but simply because I would get so wrapped up in my work that I would lose track of the time, and before I knew it, it would be two o’clock in the morning.
That was how Lincoln found me one night at the end of April. I had a little over a month before my thesis was due and had made significant progress, but I still had plenty of work to do.
I sat cross-legged on one of Lincoln’s dining room chairs with a blanket draped over my shoulders. I had been staring at my laptop for endless hours. The only break I took was to turn on the television to have Lincoln’s game playing in the background. The Blackhawks had won their game in Minnesota tonight, and Lincoln was due home sometime after midnight, so it surprised me when my chair was suddenly pulled backward from the table.
I let out a small scream that turned into a laugh when I looked back and saw it was Lincoln who had moved my chair.
“You scared me! You’re home early!”
He crossed his arms and frowned at me slightly. “Actually, I’m not. It’s after midnight.”
“Is it?” I looked at the clock on the wall. Holy crap, he was right. I had no idea I had been working so long.
“You’re working too hard. You’re going to burn yourself out.”
“I was just working on this one graph before I e-mail it to my advisor for his approval.”
Lincoln tugged on my hand, pulling me out of my seat and away from my laptop. “Let’s have a midnight snack and talk.”
“Okay. Just give me a second to finish this one thing.” I tried to pull against him.
“Jillian. Step away from the computer. Come on. Kitchen. Food. Let’s go.” He swooped in and wrapped his arms around me. Pulling my back up against his chest, he lifted me off the ground.
“No. No. No. No.” I protested as he carried me toward the kitchen. “Okay! Okay! Just let me save it quick!” I struggled out of his grasp as he set me down.
“Fine. But if you’re not in the kitchen in one minute, I’m coming to get you.” He smacked my butt lightly as I laughed and scampered away from him.
I needed to finish graphing this data, but Lincoln was right. I could finish it in the
morning before sending it to my advisor. I saved my latest draft on my hard drive before I uploaded it to my cloud storage as a backup and shut down my computer.
Reaching up, I stretched my arms up over my head and cracked my neck to each side. Lincoln was right; I had been too wrapped up in my work.
I shuffled into the kitchen to find my man standing at the counter slicing an avocado for the turkey sandwiches he was making. Mm… It was good to have him home. Especially when he came home still wearing a stylish suit from traveling. He had removed his suit coat, dress shirt, and shoes, but he still looked good wearing just his trousers and white undershirt.
I stepped up behind him and hugged him around the waist, resting my cheek against his muscular shoulder blade.
“Welcome home,” I said softly.
Abandoning the sandwiches, he turned in the circle of my arms and kissed me lightly. “Now that is a better greeting.”
“Sorry. I was distracted.”
“No kidding. You didn’t even hear me come in.”
“I’m glad you’re home,” I told him as I rested my head on his chest and closed my eyes.
He rubbed my back gently. “You’re working too hard. You haven’t taken a day off since you got out of the hospital.”
“I know. But it’s going so well. I just get lost in it.”
Lincoln released me and carried the two plates with the sandwiches to the breakfast bar. I grabbed two bottles of water and a bowl of cut-up pineapple from the fridge and sat down next to him on one of the high-top stools.
“So what did you get done since I left?” he asked me before taking a huge bite from his sandwich.
I explained the latest developments with my thesis, and he seemed genuinely interested. He was patient with me as I tried to articulate a certain theory I had, and he looked proud of me as I related that theory to my research.
“It sounds really great, Jillian. Very thorough and intelligent and well put together.”
“Thank you,” I said, feeling a little embarrassed by his praise. “I still have quite a bit to do, but once I get this graph done correctly, I’m going to e-mail it to my advisor to see what he thinks.”
“You’re not planning on doing that tonight, are you?”
I shook my head. “No. I can do that tomorrow.”
Lincoln chewed the last bite of his sandwich in silence while I picked at a piece of pineapple. He looked like he was forming a thought in his mind, so I waited patiently while he finished his meal.
“I have to be at the rink at noon tomorrow for practice, but once that’s done, can we spend some time together? No papers, no computers, no hockey. Just the two of us?”
My heart clenched. I had tried to balance everything in my life, but I knew my thesis was overwhelming my time, but it was only for another month or so. I was far enough along now though that I could spare some time away from it.
“Of course, baby. I’m sorry I’ve been working on it so much.”
“Do not apologize for that. I know you’re focused, and I’m so proud of you for working so hard, but you need a break.”
I speared a piece of fruit with my fork and held it up for Lincoln. He smiled and bit down on it, pulling it off the tines and into his mouth.
“Do you have something in mind or do you want to just hang out here?”
“Hmm… How would you feel about some traveling?”
“Traveling?” The last time we had traveled together was to Boston for Valentine’s Day, and the whole trip had been magical. I couldn’t contain my smile as I asked him, “Where to?”
He took my hand in his and began playing with my fingers. “Well, we have a game against the Capitals on Saturday night. What if we flew to D.C. after practice tomorrow? We can spend the evening together and you can meet my parents and go to my game with them on Saturday?”
My muscles tensed, and my mouth went dry. “You want me to meet your parents?”
“Sure. Why not? I’ve met your mom.”
I chewed my lip with worry. “There’s a difference, Linc. My mom is an office manager. Your dad is a US senator.”
“So?”
“So I’ve never even met the mayor of Chicago, much less the senator for the whole freaking state.”
“Do you want to meet the mayor of Chicago?” he asked with a smirk. “I could arrange that.”
“Lincoln!” I cried with exasperation. “I know you grew up with all this, but it’s a little overwhelming.”
“Hey, I’m sorry.” He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “Look, just relax. They’re just my parents, and they’re looking forward to meeting you.”
“They are?”
“Of course. Kennedy won’t stop talking about you,” he said with a smile.
I smirked at him. “Kennedy, huh?”
With a wide grin he kissed the top of my head. “Well, I might have mentioned you a few times too. Maybe more than a few.”
~~~~~~~~
My knees bounced as our private jet sailed effortlessly through the puffy white clouds toward the East Coast. It wasn’t the flying that had me nervous. It was the thought of meeting Lincoln’s parents that made my pulse race. I kept repeating in my head that this wasn’t a big deal, but I was secretly worried. What if they didn’t like me? They knew about Mackenzie’s naked picture of me. What if they thought I was irresponsible for being in that situation? What if they told Lincoln he shouldn’t be with me?
Lincoln’s large hand suddenly gripped my left knee, stopping it from bouncing.
“You need to calm down. This weekend was supposed to be relaxing for you.”
“Well, then you shouldn’t have suggested meeting your parents.”
He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Come here,” he demanded and tugged at my hand.
I unclasped my seat belt and crossed the tiny aisle that separated my chair from his. There were only four passenger seats on this plane altogether. The two empty front chairs faced the back of the plane, and the two rear chairs faced the front of the plane. Both sets of tan leather chairs were divided down the middle by a small aisle, barely wide enough to walk through.
Lincoln pulled me down into his lap, and I snuggled against his chest, my head resting on his shoulder.
“What are you so worried about?” he asked. “Is it because they are my parents or because my father is a senator?”
“It’s kind of a combination.” Both reasons were equally nerve-racking.
“Okay. Just don’t think about that for now. Think about all the things we can do tonight. We can tour the Capitol building or the White House.”
“I thought they didn’t give tours of the White House anymore.”
He shrugged. “Tour requests have to come from a member of congress, and I think I just might know of one that would be willing to get us in.”
Oh no. What if Lincoln’s father wanted to join us on the tour? I wasn’t prepared to meet him tonight. Well, to be honest, I wasn’t prepared to meet him tomorrow either, but at least that was tomorrow and not tonight.
Lincoln must have sensed my hesitancy. “Or if you don’t like that idea, the botanical gardens are usually outstanding this time of year. Or we could do a museum? The National Gallery of Art is always interesting or the Smithsonian—”
A loud gasp from me interrupted him. “The Smithsonian? Oh, Lincoln. I would love to see that. I heard they have the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz.”
He smiled. “They do. Do you want to do that tonight? We can have a nice dinner once we land and then spend the evening there.”
I closed my eyes and snuggled deeper into Lincoln’s chest. “Mm… that sounds perfect, baby.”
“See? Perfect distraction,” he said, and I smiled.
“No. I’m pretty sure I’m still worried, but at least this will be fun.”
“Hmm…” Lincoln moved his hand to the zipper on my puffer vest and began to pull it down slowly. “Well, I can think of another activity that can be distracting and fun. Want to join t
he Mile High Club?”
My eyes flew open in surprise at his sexual innuendo. “What about the flight attendant?” I whispered. We were sitting in the middle of the plane, totally out in the open if she were to walk past.
Lincoln lowered his lips to my ear and softly whispered, “There’s a bedroom in the back. Completely private.”
“There is?” I sat up slightly to look toward the back of the plane, but only saw a wall with a door in the middle. I had assumed it led to luggage storage or something.
“Totally and completely private,” Lincoln assured me again.
When I looked at him and saw the hunger in his eyes, desire unfolded inside me. I loved him so much. I didn’t want to wait until we got to our hotel later to show him how much I loved him.
Leaning in close to him, I kissed him gently before pushing against his chest to stand up. He rose from his seat and took my hand to lead me to the rear of the plane. Blushing slightly, I wondered what the flight attendant would think when she saw we had left the main seating area. She must be used to this, though. Who would fly with their significant other in a private jet and not make use of the bedroom?
As I walked through the door, I saw it was a simple, yet classy bedroom. The bed was covered in a cream-and-gold quilted comforter and sat toward the back of the room. A small wooden desk was tucked against the sidewall, and floor-to-ceiling closets stood on either side of the door we had just came through. Why would anyone need a closet in a private jet? I opened the closet door a crack and saw six small orange life vests and a medium-sized kit labeled with a red cross.
A sharp click of metal from behind me drew my attention back to Lincoln. He flipped the lock on the door and looked at me with a wicked gleam in his eyes. “Completely private and soundproof.”
Reaching behind his head, he grabbed the collar of his long-sleeved polo shirt, and with one quick movement, he pulled it over his head and let it fall to the floor. No matter how many times I’d seen him naked, it still sent a rush through me. My heart beat faster as I allowed my eyes to roam over his muscular chest, and I licked my lips. He had taken off his shirt for a reason. He knew his body turned me on. How could it not?
