He’sdefinitelyattractive.
And I’m going to be in trouble with that fact tonight. The aunts and Gram are going to be all over this poor man, eating up the charming smile he’s casting my way.
“Hi. I’m Lincoln.” With one hand behind his back, he holds out the other, and I put mine in his. A shock runs up my arm at our connection.
When he clears his throat, I know he felt it too.
“Valerie. You can call me Val. Or I guess, maybe you should?”
“Feel free to call me Link, then. Oh, and these are for you.” He pulls his other hand from behind his back and clasped in it is a bouquet of all different kinds of lilies.
I gasp and a hand flies to my mouth. “Oh, you shouldn’t have. Come in, come in.” He follows me over the threshold, closing the door and opening his peacoat, revealing the red sweater that’s tight in all the right places, showing off broad shoulders and a tapered waist.
My attraction to him increases tenfold.
Calm yourself, Val. You just met him.
With a quick shake of my head and heating of my cheeks, I turn away, looping a brown curl behind my ear. “Thank you for these. They’re gorgeous. Shows nice attention to detail. I’m going to put them in some water, so make yourself at home.”
“I hoped you were being serious about the lilies and didn’t just throw a flower in there. Figured I’d take my chances.” His voice follows me down the hall and into the kitchen, where I fill a vase despite my shaky hands.
“No, lilies are my favorite. I can’t pick which one, in particular, but they’re all amazing to me. This really means a lot. It’s been a while since I’ve had fresh flowers.” Far too long since a man bought them for me too, but I can’t tell him that.
“Well, I picked right, then.” His smile is absolutely dazzling. I can’t tear my eyes from it. “You look lovely, by the way.”
“Oh.” My face burns as I look down at my possibly overly festive outfit and run my hand down my body. “Thank you. Um. We should probably get going?” I’m not sure why I’m asking.
“After you, beautiful.” Heat prickles the back of my neck. I dressed too warm for him to keep complimenting me and looking like he does. I’ll be a sweaty mess by the end of the night, especially after I add a few glasses of wine.
After he shuts the door behind him, I lean around him and lock it. He smells good too, like sandalwood and lemon.
I stop short when I see a sleek black Mercedes sitting in my driveway, my mouth dropping open. Even from the outside, it’s gorgeous, and clearly the car of somebody who has money.
“The car’s okay, right? It’s not going to cause any issues or anything? I promise it’s safe if it snows.” Why would it cause problems?
“No, it’s perfect. It’s just, it’s beautiful.” Especially compared to my beat-up Honda Civic that’s thankfully parked in the garage so there’s no comparison. I love my job, but teachers are vastly underpaid.
I follow him down the path and driveway. At the very least, he has good manners as he opens the door for me and waits for me to be comfortably seated before closing it.
The inside is even sleeker than the outside, and it seems like I’m in a foreign location with all the updated gadgets that are in this car.
“Oh! Heated seats. Sweet.” I lean forward to adjust my dial.
A chuckle draws my attention as I hadn’t realized Link getting in the car.
On second thought, maybe cool is better than warm as my face burns yet again.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t be so presumptuous.” I sit back in my seat and fold my hands in my lap.
“No, please, go ahead. Make yourself comfortable, whatever that means. Adjust away.” He’s far too nice. “Okay, so first off, we should solidify where we met. Then maybe we can go into some details about each other.”
“Okay. Um. I don’t know. I’m so bad at these things! This is the last sort of thing I’d normally do.”
“Oh, really? Not one for dating apps?” He turns to look at me with that million-dollar smile again.
I realize that maybe this is a normal thing for him. Maybe he does this all the time.
Oh my God, he’s a gigolo. I’m bringing a gigolo to Gram’s.
