Page 33 of Too Hot To Touch

My alarm goes off and I jerk my hand out from between my legs, shutting it off and jumping from the bed. I strip my dress off and hop in the shower. I’m going to have to scrub my face to get rid of the makeup that I should have taken off last night.

I hurry through my morning routine and pull on some jeans and my animal shelter shirt. I grab my shoes and head downstairs. I make myself some toast, adding too much cinnamon and sugar to it before shoving my feet in my shoes and my breakfast in my mouth and heading for the door. I lock the door behind me and spin around to find Lincoln standing at the bottom of the stairs.

“Good morning.” He says hesitantly.

“Hi.” I say around a mouthful of toast.

I walk down the stairs and head down the sidewalk towards work and I’m not surprised when he falls into step beside me.

“I wanted to apologize again for last night. I was an idiot. You just looked so beautiful and I don’t think it’s a secret that I’m attracted to you.”

I don’t know what to say so to buy some more time, I shove more toast in my mouth. At this rate, he’s going to lose that attraction pretty quick.

“I know I moved too fast and I’m truly sorry if I scared you or,” He pauses and I hear him swallow before he finishes. “Or if you feel like I took advantage of you.”

“It’s not that.” I say.

I don’t want him to think he took advantage of me, or that I didn’t like his kiss. It just took me off guard.

“Forgive me?” He asks.

“Sure.” I say as I reach for the animal shelter door. “Well, thanks for walking me to work. I’ll see you later.” I say, ducking inside before he can respond.

I go through my usual routine, cleaning out cages and making sure the animals are fed. Lincoln pops into my head over and over again until it’s starting to drive me insane. I try my best to push him from my thoughts but it’s no use.

I am still having trouble deciphering how I feel about him. Sure, the kiss took me off guard but I knew how he felt about me. He made it obvious all last night. He was so sweet and attentive but I’m just not used to being treated like that.

He scares you, my subconscious says. I pause as I realize how true that is. I want a family, what Aspen has with Roman and Flynn so bad, but I’m scared. What if I love like that and something happens? Something like what happened to my parents, and I’m left alone all over again. I’m already so attracted to Lincoln and he’s clearly managed to wiggle his way inside of my heart. It’s happening too fast. I need more time.

I spin around, trying to escape my thoughts and run right into someone.

“Oomph!”

Strong hands grip my upper arms and catch me before I can fall backward. I look up into warm brown eyes. The guy holding me smiles down at me before he makes sure I’m settled and lets me go.

“Whoa, sorry about that, uh Adeline.” He says as his eyes read my name tag. “I wasn’t watching where I was going. Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine and I’m pretty sure I ran into you so I should probably be the one apologizing.” I say as I smile up at him.

This guy is cute with shaggy brown hair and kind brown eyes. His lips curve into a smile as he takes me in and I notice he has a dimple in one cheek.Nice.

“I’m Steve and no apology needed. How about you let me buy you dinner to make up for it?”

I study the guy for a minute. He seems kind, and he’s obviously polite, not pushy.He’s also not Lincoln.I shake my head, trying to push that thought away. This guy, he’s not Lincoln, but he doesn’t make me feel the things Lincoln does either. He’s safe.

“I’d love to.” I say.

“How about tonight? 7 o’clock?”

“Sounds like fun.”

We decide on an Italian place before he says he’ll see me tonight and leaves. I go back to work and spend the rest of the day trying to be excited about my date but the truth is, I’d rather it was with Lincoln.

CHAPTER 6

Lincoln

I peerthrough my binoculars into the restaurant. I’m tailing someone, trying to investigate them but I keep thinking about how I missed walking Adeline home today so that I could do this. She looked so pretty this morning but I frown as I think back to how she couldn’t seem to get away from me fast enough.She accepted your apology, I think.

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