Page 29 of Good Girl's Guide to Love
Where am I? How did I get here? Am I being held captive by a morally gray man who doesn’t talk, only grunts, but is secretly in love with me?
Or worse…did I go home with Jonathan?
I don’t know why this is the first thing I think to do, but I pull the covers up, checking to see what I’m wearing. I let out a sighof relief to see that I’m wearing the same dress as last night. And you know what, while I’m here and successfully hiding from the world, I’m just going to bury myself under said covers and think about what the heck happened last night.
Why did I drink? Why did I think that I was the kind of girl who could handle that? I can’t. I know who I am as a person, but apparently seeing my ex—and one sexy football player—is enough to make me forget that I’m not the person who does scary things.
Because scary things put you in a stranger’s bed and make you want to chew a bottle of aspirin.
As much as I’d like to stay buried under this blanket for, let’s say eternity, my bladder is telling me that possibility isn’t on the table. I let out a groan as I sit up, doing my best to steady myself before going on this adventure. My head is spinning, so I take a second and close my eyes to get my bearings.
Which is when I almost pee my pants.
“Hold on. Let me help you.”
“Ahhhh!”
I jump out of my skin, which because I have the balance of a toddler trying to walk for the first time, sends me falling back into the bed.
“Oh shit, I’m sorry.”
I register that it’s Linc’s voice, and I try and calm down my racing heart. When I sit back up and see his shirtless self walking toward me, I’m lightheaded all over again. And it has nothing to do with the alcohol.
Holy tattoos…
They’re everywhere. A full sleeve on his right arm. A large one on his chest that I can’t make out. But the one I can’t stop staring at is the one on his thigh, half covered by the tight shorts he apparently slept in.
Mia’s talked about slutty thigh tattoos before, and I always had to nod like I knew what she meant.
Now I know.
Oh boy, do I now know…
“Here,” he says as he sits next to me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you hadn’t seen me.”
I shake my head. “I…how…where?—”
My inability to form a sentence, combined with Linc holding me up, is reminiscent of our first meeting. Frankly, I don’t know which one is more embarrassing.
“You were pretty drunk,” he says. “I didn’t feel right about you going back to your apartment by yourself. And since Mia was going to be two floors up with Wyatt, doing God knows what, we all agreed it was best if you crashed here.”
“Oh,” I say, trying to piece together what happened last night. “Did…you…we…”
I don’t know what I’m trying to ask him, but he gives me a small smile and shakes his head. “You passed out on the car ride here. I wanted to give you a T-shirt and shorts to sleep in, but you were out cold. I put you to bed and slept in the recliner in case you needed anything. Or, you know, to scare the hell out of you in the morning.”
“Thank you,” I say softly, hating that he needed to take care of me, but also kind of loving that he did. Also, how many ways can one man save me? “And I’m sorry you had to do that. I swear I didn’t think I was that drunk.”
This makes Linc laugh. “You weren’t. Until you were.”
“Touching you!”
This song is so fun! How did I forget this song was so fun! It’s going to become my go-to karaoke song, because I think this is my new favorite thing to do.
It helps that we’re singing this song with the whole gang, Linc and me and Mia and Wyatt and the other Fury football players that came out tonight. I’ve learned some of their names. But I don’t remember them. I also don’t remember how many drinks I’ve had.
But they were all delicious.
“Woo!” I scream into the microphone before we all exit the stage, smiles and laughs all around. “We’ll be here all night!”
