Chapter Seven: Eye Candy
Sienna
I'm trying to keep it together as I climb into a car with Lincoln Nash, but my heart is racing through the roof. I don't even so much as flinch when his driver wails his horn when a biker darts out in front of us, unable to erase Reed and Lincoln's encounter from my mind.
Reed looked...jealous, which is odd since he's the one that ended things with me. I mean, men are territorial, I suppose. Maybe to him, even though I can't have him, no one else can have me, which is toxic and repulsive.
And Lincoln stepped in to help. He offered me a way out. I'm horrified to think that there might be a good, genuine guy underneath all the layers of asshole. If that's truly the case, I'm in deep shit. I couldn't even step away from his hand for crying out loud. He rubbed in lazy circles across my spine, a tingling sensation spreading all the way down to my toes. If I find out he actually cares? I'm done for.
It's a silent ten minutes into the drive before Lincoln asks, "Who was Reed to you?"
Is it that obvious?
"Does it matter?" I say instead.
"Not if it doesn't to you. I just thought...if you wanted to talk about it..."
From the way his driver is heading, we're going to the Upper East Side. I wonder if he lives near me, and the thought sends a warning signal straight from my heart to my head. This is a client of mine. I shouldn't have let him touch me like that. I shouldn't have agreed to come to lunch. I shouldn't be wondering if he lives near me.
"I don't need to talk to you about anything," I say softly. "You're my client, Lincoln, nothing more."
Lincoln's driver locks eyes with him in the mirror, confusion etched onto his face before Lincoln mutters something and closes the divider up between us. It's a silent rest of the ride to the Upper East Side, and when we stop at 74th street, he thanks his driver and comes around to open the door for me.
The city is alive and bustling from tourist season at its highest. Delivery drivers are zooming through the streets, stay-at-home moms pushing their kids in strollers, and teenagers carrying shopping bags on each arm. I follow him at a brisk pace since there are so many people, clinging closer to his side than I should. He lifts his hand as if debating to place it on my back again but chooses to rest it down at his side instead.
It's not until we turn on 76th street that I dig my heels into the concrete, causing a bunch of people to shout obscurities to pass around us. How did I not think this through when the driver dropped us off? We can't be on this street. This street is where—
"Sienna!" Riley screeches from the floral shop, waving her hand side to side in the air like a lunatic. I let out the biggest groan I can possibly imagine.
Carmen joins her moments after on the street where Riley was arranging bouquets, a knowing look falling on her face as she sizes up Lincoln. He looks incredible today, wearing just a dress shirt and his suit pants that are tailored just right against his body, those buttons of his shirt undone and that serpentine teasing me, as always.
"Come introduce us to your eye candy!" Carmen yells.
Oh.
My.
God.
I make a mental note to kill her later.
"Friends of yours?" Lincoln asks with an amused grin tugging at his lips.
I'm trying to think of a way to get out of this as Lincoln walks toward them. I could fake a fall right here on the pavement and go to the hospital. I could pretend to get a call that a relative has died. I could...
Fuck. I'm too late.
Lincoln reaches his hand out to shake both of theirs to introduce himself, Carmen and Riley falling right under his spell and blinking up at him in awe. In their defense, he is a beautiful human.
"That's Riley," Carmen says and thumbs to her left, "and I'm Carmen. We're Sienna's first clients and best friends. We've heard a lot about you."
Correction: Carmen will have a long and painful death.
He arches a brow, smiling endlessly from how much he seems to realize this is torturing me. "You have, have you?"
"As much fun as this has been..." I say tersely, "we're grabbing lunch before I have to get back to the office, so if you'll excuse us..."
I go to grab Lincoln by the sleeve of his dress shirt, but he places his hand on top of mine to stop me. Good god. The feel of his hands. Large and calloused as they scrape gently against my skin. What I would give to have those hands between my...
"Exciting!" Carmen says, and I can tell from the glimmer in her eyes that she didn't miss the contact between us. "Where are you headed?"
"Uh, Sam's Deli, down the street," Lincoln replies.
"Oh, I love that place! Good choice."
Riley continues to organize the bouquets in silence, analyzing us internally without expressing how she's feeling. Why do I care what she thinks of him? Her opinion doesn't matter, and yet I'm sitting here trying to read her face to see if she'll give anything away.
"Do you guys want to join us?" Lincoln asks.
Both of my friends look at me, and they must see the daggers shooting out of my eyes because they finally back down, Carmen shaking her head. "Oh, no, we wouldn't want to impose. Besides, we have a lot of work to get done here anyways."
Lincoln looks inside the shop, at the heaps of flowers in vases and table arrangements lining the display windows before he says, "You guys' place is beautiful."
"Thanks to this lovely specimen," Carmen beams at me. "She helped us launch this place into what it is. We wouldn't be nearly as successful without her."
"You always say that, and yet it's the other way around," I reply with a laugh. "This floral shop jump-started my entire career, despite what you think."
She rolls her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Think what you want."
I'm still clutching onto Lincoln's shirt, and my cheeks burn with embarrassment before I remove my grasp. He could have stepped away, yet he only seems to have moved closer in proximity to me.
"Will I be seeing you two at Sienna's party tomorrow?" he asks them.
Carmen nods and narrows her eyes as Riley gets swept away to help a customer. "I told her I'd come so long as Reed keeps a ten-foot distance away from me at all times. If I so much as see that fucker look in my general direction—"
"Carmen," I warn, but unfiltered as she is, she doesn't stop her rant.
"What? I'm just saying. And if he brings that new bitch I'll tell him where to shove it. You don't deserve that."
I gulp loudly and stare down at my feet as I feel Lincoln stiffen beside me, piecing together every second of the interaction earlier in my office. He's figured it out because of Carmen's loud mouth, but, truthfully, he probably would have figured it out regardless. He already assumed there was a history between us.
"I'll shut up now," Carmen mutters, realizing she's said too much, "but be warned, Lincoln Nash. Don't mess with my best friend's heart."
"Carmen!" I shriek. "We are not—I mean, he is not..." Words are failing me, and thankfully Lincoln steps in, chuckling lowly.
"Duly noted. We'll see you ladies tomorrow."
My mouth is still wide open as he leads me in the direction of the deli. Carmen is unbelievable. I told her I wasn't going to screw Lincoln Nash, and yes, we're having lunch together, but that doesn't mean I want him.
"So, what exactly was it that you said about me?" he teases. "That you wanted to jump my bones? That I'm the best-looking man you've ever laid your eyes on and you wanted to climb me like a tree?"
I roll my eyes. "And here I was thinking you might not be as arrogant as I thought you were. Glad to know my instincts were correct."
He laughs and shoves his hands into his pockets. "All jokes aside, they seem really nice, and I'm sorry about Reed. Anyone that cheats shouldn't have a girlfriend in the first place."
"Fiancée," I mutter, not even realizing I said it until it slips out.
Lincoln stops in the middle of the street, tugging on my elbow so we get out of people's way. "You were engaged to him?"
I nod. "And he didn't technically cheat, but a month after he got promoted to my AD campaign manager he ended things with me, and then two weeks after that he started dating someone else, so..."
"What a prick. How long ago was this?"
"Three months," I say, but it comes out more as a whisper.
Lincoln stares down at me, and those crystal blue eyes are filled with an emotion I can't decipher. He's panting heavily, and it's not until now that I realize we're on a tiny side street, just the two of us. "You didn't deserve that," he breathes out, "and that clause...wasn't to ward me off, was it? It was to make sure that didn't happen again to you. To have someone use you for your company."
I scoff. "You thought I made the clause to ward you off? Despite what you think, Lincoln Nash, you aren't the center of every girl's world."
"It'd be the first time anyone's ever said it." He laughs.
"Then I guess I'll be the one to knock you down a notch, huh?"
"Maybe so, Sienna."
He takes a step closer just as my phone starts to ring in my purse. I fish it out and see Rachel's name flashing across the screen, so I answer it and rest my back up against the brick wall of one of the buildings. She informs me of a client that we might possibly have a deal with in Paris, but they'd like to meet in person to go over whatever changes I see fit before they agree to a contract. I put her on speaker and pull up my calendar, scrolling until I find an available span of days that seems open. I don't typically like traveling, but I did just say how I was missing Europe...
"Schedule my jet to leave early that morning," I say into the speaker, "and e-mail the client back to let them know I'm available at the end of next month if that works for them."
Thanking her at the end, I hang up and toss the phone back into my bag, catching Lincoln staring at me with a smile on his face. "You have a jet," he says.
"Only for trips to different countries and such. I don't like to use it often."
"Hm." He continues smirking, and it's so contagious that I can't help but smile back, earning a fake gasp in return. "Sienna Stone, are you smiling at me?"
I try everything in my power to wipe it off, but Lincoln looks...happy. His eyes are bright and shining as he stares down at me, taking another step closer. One more and he'll almost be pressed against me on this brick wall.
What am I doing? Lincoln is supposed to be a client. I'm not supposed to be telling him about my past relationships when I know absolutely nothing about him. If anyone's crossed a line here it's been me.
"Take a good look," I say, biting my lip to keep from laughing, "because this is a one-time thing."