“Thanks,” I said, still grinning like a giddy teenager.
With my stilettos firmly planted on the ground, Lincoln slung his arm across my shoulders and held me firmly against his side as he led me into the fancy restaurant.
He hadn’t been lying. The inside was just as spectacular as the outside. The expansive dining area was lit by beautiful crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The ambiance screamed class and romance. The place was packed, proving that it was extremely popular, and the delicious smells coming from the kitchen made my stomach rumble.
“Table for two under Sheppard,” Lincoln said to the hostess.
She led us through the other tables to a booth near the back, and as I took my seat, I stared out the windows at the breathtaking view of the evergreens strung with white twinkle lights.
“So, what do you think?” Lincoln asked, pulling my attention back to the table.
“I think I want to move in here and never leave.” At my response, he let out a delightfully warm chuckle. “Thank you so much for bringing me here. I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere so beautiful before.”
I’d gone on a few dates in my life, but only a few, and all the guys turned out to be losers who never would have considered shelling out the kind of money to take me to a place like this. It just went to show that Lincoln was even more incredible than I could have ever imagined.
Resting his elbows on the table, he looked me in the eyes as he said, “I’m the one who should be thanking you.”
“For what?”
“For sayin’ yes when I asked you out. Trust me, Edie. I’m the lucky one tonight.”
Oh man. This guy just kept getting better and better.
Chapter Eighteen
Lincoln
Christ, that smile. That dress. All that thick, shiny hair. She was fucking gorgeous.
Keeping my hands off Eden took a feat of strength I didn’t know I possessed. I’d been fighting a constant hard-on since that first kiss a few days before, and my desire for her had been growing and clawing at my insides ever since.
And damn if that didn’t make everything I was doing for Hayes that much harder.
My instincts told me she didn’t have anything to do with what her brother was pulling, and Hayes agreed, but she was the best lead we had to catching him before this shit went too far. All I could do was hope like hell that she didn’t find out my part in all of this, because I’d never felt this way about a woman. And once Shepley Brenner was locked up, I had no intention of walking away from Eden.
As she hit me with that smile that lit her entire face, taking her from cute to stunning in a beat, that clawing inside me grew even stronger.
How it was possible for a man not to have snatched her up was beyond me. Every other guy in her past must have been just as big a loser as that jackass brother of hers, but their loss was my gain, and I planned on taking full advantage.
The way her light brown eyes shone as she took in The Groves, like a kid’s might on their first trip to Disney World, made me want to bring her here for every damn meal just so I could see that look on her face every goddamn day.
“Good evening.” Forcing my attention from Eden, I turned to the pimply teenager dressed in a black button-down, black slacks, and a black apron—the standard garb for the staff. “Welcome to The Groves. Could I get you something to drink?” he offered while staring at my girl’s tits the whole time.
Clearing my throat, I got the kid’s attention and gave my head a little shake, making his face blanch at having been caught.
“Beer for me. Whatever you have on draft.”
He gave me a nervous nod before turning back to Eden, this time keeping his eyes firmly on her face.
Eden pulled her bottom lip between her teeth as she scanned the drink menu. A second later, she looked at the waiter with a smile, and it was so goddamn beautiful that the kid’s expression grew dopey. I was willing to bet that if she’d asked him to rob a bank for her right then, he’d have gladly done it.
“I’ll have a dirty martini, two olives, hold the vermouth.”
“You got it,” he swooned. “Can I get you anything else?”
“I think that’s good for now,” I replied, reminding the pipsqueak I was there.
He jolted at the sound of my voice and flung his attention back to me, his eyes going wide. “Oh, uh… yeah. Sure. I’ll get right on that.” He scurried off, and I shook my head on a low chuckle.
“What’s so funny?”
Fuck me. She really didn’t have the first clue the effect she had on the opposite sex, and as crazy as it sounded, that made her even sexier.
“Edie, darlin, that kid was gone for you the second he stepped up to our table. Thought he’d drool all over the fancy tablecloth.”
Her head quirked to the side in adorable confusion. “Huh?”
“He wants you,” I repeated more simply with a laugh.
The expression on her face was downright comical. “What? No way!”
I leaned in closer, lowering my voice. “Oh yeah.” I took a glance around the dining room to find at least five other men with their eyes on my Edie. “And he’s not the only one. I walked in here with you on my arm and at least half a dozen of these guys wished they could be in my place. Trust me.”
She let out a nervous giggle as her eyes darted around the room. “That’s crazy.”
I spotted the waiter with a tray of drinks coming our way and told her, “He’s comin’ back. Shoot him that beautiful smile of yours and see what happens.”
“My beautiful smile?” she asked on a breathy whisper, but before I had a chance to answer, the kid hit our table. He plunked my beer down in front of me without paying a lick of attention, then slowly, oh so carefully lowered Eden’s martini to the table in front of her.
She looked at me questioningly, and I lifted an eyebrow as if to say go for it. Then her lips spread into a smile as bright as a summer day and she murmured, “Thank you,” to the boy.
He actually stumbled. He was standing completely still, but at that smile, he stumbled and bumped into the table. “O-of course. It’s my pleasure. Uh, can I—” He cleared his throat. “Can I get you anything else? Anything at all. Just name it.”
Eden’s wide gaze came to me as she pulled her lips between her teeth as if to keep from laughing.
“We’re good,” I answered for her. “We just need a few more minutes to look over the menus.”
With a crestfallen expression, his shoulders slumped and he muttered, “Okay,” before turning and walking away.
“Oh my god,” Eden whispered once we were alone, then clamped her hands over her mouth and giggled like crazy.
“Told you,” I said with a grin of my own, lifting my beer and taking a pull.
She scrunched her face in a playful glare, murmuring, “Whatever,” before opening her menu. I should have been doing the same, but pulling my attention off her was downright impossible.
“This all looks so great,” she said, scanning the menu. “I don’t know what to pick.”
“You trust me?”
Those honey-brown eyes came back to me with a warmth that burned in my chest. “Yeah,” she replied softly.
For reasons I couldn’t even begin to understand, hearing that made my dick stir behind my fly. “I’ll do right by you, darlin’. I promise.”
Her cheeks took on a rosy hue as she responded, “Like I said, I trust you.”
The waiter came back a minute later, and I ordered Eden the eight-ounce filet with a bourbon mushroom sauce and got myself the porterhouse. Once that was done, I sat back in the booth and drank my beer while Eden sipped on her martini.
“So how’s work goin’?” I asked with a smirk. “Those historical romances keepin’ you entertained?”
She grinned and shook her head, her cheeks staying that shade of pink that always took over whenever she got nervous or shy or embarrassed. “It’s good. Slow, but good.”
“Slow?” I asked
with curiosity.
She swirled the olives around her glass aimlessly, and even that looked sexy as hell. The way she rested her elbow on the table and popped her chin in her hand as she stared over at me, how she held that little toothpick delicately between her thumb and index finger and stirred her drink. It was casual and feminine. The anxiousness that usually locked her muscles tight in my presence had melted away, and seeing that she was now comfortable enough around me to loosen up made pride swell deep in my gut.
“Yeah. I used to be all about work, but since moving here I just can’t bring myself to stay inside when there’s so much beauty to be seen all around town. I think I’ve walked almost every inch of Hope Valley since I moved here, and I still feel like there’s so much more I’m missing.”
“You tried any of the hiking trails?” I asked.
She sat up straighter, her eyes glimmering with excitement. “Hiking trails?”
“Oh yeah. You think what you’ve seen in town in beautiful, just wait ’til you hike one of those mountains. Nothin’ more beautiful than standing on the edge of a cliff and staring down at everything God created. It’s like Heaven on Earth, baby. You find the time, you just let me know and I’ll take you,” I offered, needing to be the one to show her those sights, to see the wonder on her gorgeous face when she took everything in. The thought of anyone else giving that to her stung like alcohol in an open cut. It had to be me who gave her that.
“Really?” she asked exuberantly. “You would?”
“Absolutely.”
Our food arrived a couple minutes later and we both dug in, keeping the easy conversation flowing between bites. Eden finished her martini and ordered a second, getting more talkative as the alcohol lowered her inhibitions with every passing minute. I found I was enjoying the hell out of myself, so when an unwelcomed voice interrupted us, it wasn’t a surprise that it pissed me right the hell off.
“You have got to be kidding me.”
Son of a bitch.
* * *
Eden
“You have got to be kidding me.”
Turning my head, I saw a familiar blonde standing at the foot of our table, looking really pissed off. Thanks to the alcohol—and the fact that I was a serious lightweight—my brain was a little slow on the uptake, so it took me a second to remember where I knew her from.
Then it dawned on me. This was the blonde Lincoln had been taking out the evening of my trash bin mishap.
Well this is just great. The last thing I needed was one of Lincoln’s supermodel exes reminding me of just how inferior I really was.
“Crys, this isn’t the time or place to make a scene, so I suggest you go back to your table and let us finish our dinner.”
“You have got to be kidding me!” she squeaked, and I had to bite my bottom lip to keep from laughing at her reply. She might have had looks and height on me, but judging from her snappy comeback, I at least had the brains out of the two of us.
“Crystal,” Lincoln gritted. “Not gonna say it again.”
Clearly too dim to get the importance of heeding his warning, she crossed her arms beneath her ample breasts that were barely contained in her skimpy red dress that, I had to say, was totally inappropriate for a place as classy as The Groves. “I asked you over and over to bring me here, and you always said it was too stuffy for you. So, what?” She threw her arms out to her sides. “Now it’s suddenly your scene? Now you don’t mind wearin’ something other than your grubby jeans and old t-shirts? What the hell, Linc? You mean to tell me that this chick’s worth The Groves, and the best I ever got was that crappy diner?”
First of all, The Evergreen Diner was anything but crappy. The food was amazing, as were Sally and Ralph, so hearing her insult the place didn’t sit well with me. Secondly, the fact that this woman would find Lincoln’s jeans and t-shirts lacking showed just how stupid she really was, and I was done listening to her spout her idiocy. I’d been in the middle of the best date of my life, drinking a killer martini, and eating a filet that practically melted in my mouth, and I’d be damned if I let her ruin any of that.
“Excuse me,” I said politely, placing my knife and fork on the edge of my plate, “but we’re kind of in the middle of something here, and you’re interrupting. I don’t mean to be rude, but, well, would you mind leaving so we can get back to our dinner?”
The woman turned to me with a catty scowl and mimicked, “Excuse me,” in a high-pitched nasally voice, “but I wasn’t talkin’ to you.”
I looked over to Lincoln with a roll of my eyes. “Wow,” I muttered flatly. “She’s a peach.”
Lincoln’s lips twitched like he was fighting a grin, but when she snapped, “Why don’t you mind your own business, bitch?” all humor fled his expression, and the anger that took its place sent a shiver down my spine. Unfortunately for Crystal, she was too dumb to notice and continued, “Really, Linc? Her? She’s not even pretty, for Christ’s sake.”
“I warned you already, and you were too fuckin’ dense to listen,” Lincoln rumbled in a deep, scary voice. “So now I’ll spell it out. Class gets class. Trash is lucky if they get a meal at all. Eden’s class. That means I’m willin’ to shell out the cash and put on a suit for our first date to show her she’s worth it. Took you three weeks of naggin’ and bitchin’ to get a trip to the diner outta me, so what’s that tell you, Crystal?”
Oh damn.
“How dare you,” she seethed, but before she could get another word out, a fourth voice spoke up.
“Uh, is everything okay over here?”
Lincoln and I both glanced over at the newest addition to our table. The man was in chinos and a baby blue polo shirt and looked to be in his forties. He was average height and, with the exception of the small spare tire around his waist, was a little on the bony side. His brown hair was seriously thin up top, and his glasses sat on a nose that looked too small for his face but framed kind eyes.
“And you are?” Lincoln asked on a sigh at the latest interruption.
“Uh, I’m Bob.”
“Can I help you with somethin’, Bob?”
“I was… well, Crystal and I are… or were kinda on a date. I just, um, wanted to make sure everything was okay.”
“Oh my god,” I blurted on a shocked laugh. “You were on a date with this guy and decided that was a good time to come over here and crash mine? Seriously?”
“She came over here to crash your date?” Bob asked, his face going hard in a way I hadn’t thought a wimpy-looking man like him capable of. “She said she saw an old friend and wanted to say hello.”
“Well you can tack liar on to her résumé,” Lincoln grumbled, draining the last of his beer, “along with gold digger, vain, and bitch.”
Crystal’s face grew red with embarrassment and fury.
Our waiter chose that moment to make a reappearance, asking, “Is everything okay over here?”
Lincoln dropped his head back and sent a curse up to the heavens while an uncontrollable laugh worked its way from my throat.
“What the hell are you laughin’ at?” Crystal sniped.
Ignoring her completely, I looked back at Lincoln. “I totally get why she didn’t meet The Groves’ standards.”
“You have got to be—”
“Kidding you?” I interrupted, having officially had enough. “Yeah, you’ve said that about a million times already. And no, sweetie, we’re definitely not kidding you. So please, for the love of god, stop asking that.”
Her chest heaved with each inhale as she silently fumed and tried—and failed—to come up with a witty comeback.
When thirty seconds passed and we got nothing in return, Bob decided to speak up, shocking the hell out of me and making me see that maybe there was more to the man than met the eye. “I think it’s time we go.”
Crystal’s head whipped in his direction. “But… but we haven’t even ordered dessert yet,” she sputtered in consternation.
My god, the woman was unbelievable.
“But—”
“I’ll be right there,” he repeated sternly, giving her no more room to argue.
With a huff and one last murderous look at me, she turned on her sky-high heels and stormed off with an exaggerated sway of her hips.
“Uh, is there, um, a problem?” our waiter repeated on a stammer.
“No, everything’s fine,” I answered, giving him a gentle look. “But I could really use another martini if you have a moment.”
“Right away.” He spun and hotfooted it to the bar like filling my order was the most important task in the world, leaving Lincoln and me alone with Bob.
“I sincerely apologize for the interruption,” Bob said with a tilt of his chin toward Lincoln. “If I had any idea—”
“Not on you to apologize,” Lincoln offered. “You weren’t the one who came over here gunnin’ for a fight. But word to the wise, steer clear of that one. She’s not worth the trouble.”
He nodded and took a step back but stopped when I called his name.
“I know we don’t know each other, but for what it’s worth, you can do so much better than a woman like that. You seem like a really nice guy. Don’t settle, okay?”
His face grew soft as he grinned down at me. That was a really good look on him. If he did that more, he’d have no problem finding a woman worthy of his kindness.
“I appreciate that. Enjoy the rest of your evening…”
“Eden,” I informed him. “And this is Lincoln.”
He gave Lincoln one of those chin lifts only men did before looking back at me. “Then enjoy your evening, Eden. It was a pleasure meeting you.”
“Pleasure’s all mine, Bob. Sorry your date didn’t turn out better, but at least you got to enjoy some amazing food.”
Out of My League: a Hope Valley novel Page 13