Chapter Eight

“Shit, shit, shit!” Lilly pounded the keys on the office computer, yielding zero results.

“What is it?” Pru asked.

The third member of Mile High Happiness had come back from her time off for her honeymoon just this morning, all glowing and happy and sexually satisfied and adding to the mounting frustration threatening to make Lilly explode. Not fair. It wasn’t her friend’s fault she found the best guy in the world and was now living happily ever after in wedded and parental bliss. Just because Lilly was currently suffering a case of horny-for-a-man-she-couldn’t-have didn’t mean she got to be all surly about her friend’s happiness.

That wasn’t what good friends did.

“This stupid computer froze again,” she complained, smacking her hand against the side of the flat screen.

“Did you try control-alt-delete?” Mo asked from her desk along the far wall.

“Yes, Moira. It didn’t do anything.”

“Turning it off and turning it back on again?” her roommate suggested.

A low, frustrated growl escaped her lips. “I tried, but it won’t turn off. The damn thing is frozen, and nothing I do is helping.”

Mo shrugged. “Well, that’s all I got, sorry.”

Lilly hit the escape button. Nothing. She moved the mouse around on the thick pad with their logo on it. Still nothing. The damn thing didn’t even move on the screen. It stood still. Frozen. Not responding no matter what she did.

“Ahhhh!” She let out an irritated scream. “I hate computers!”

She and technology did not get along. A discredit to her generation, she’d never understood much more than basic programs like Word and Excel. Give her a good old-fashioned pen and paper and she could run the world. Or her world, at the very least. But tell her to put all her carefully laid plans into an operating system, and Lilly was a goner.

“Why does the world have to run on computers?”

“Because it’s the twenty-first century.” Mo chuckled. “Luddite.”

True. And she did love the convenience of certain technologies: her cell phone, streaming services, the internet. But for some reason, computers—this one in particular—had a grudge against her. It taunted her daily. Freezing on her, locking up, losing important documents she knew she saved. One of the reasons she insisted they keep paper files and receipts in addition to having an online system. She didn’t trust this damn computer one bit. It was out to get her.

“Want me to call our tech guy?” Pru asked, reaching for her phone.

Lilly shook her head. “No. He’s out of town this week. Some conference or something.” Figures her computer would break down the exact moment their IT connection was out of reach.

“Oh, dang. Should we call a service or take it to a shop or something?”

“Let me make some calls.” Lilly sighed, but after half an hour on the phone to every computer repair service/shop/tech geek listed online, Lilly’s mood had gone from frustration to despair.

“Crap!” She slammed down the office phone.

“What?” Pru asked.

Adjusting her glasses on her nose, Lilly glared at the stupid, broken hunk of technology in front of her. “I’ve called every place I can find, and no one has any availability until the end of the week.”

“Lil,” Mo said from her desk across the room. “I know you have paper files of everything and all, but we can’t go the rest of the week without a computer. It’ll create some serious issues. We should just replace the thing.”

They should, but even a new computer wouldn’t help their current situation.

“We need a plan C.” She racked her brain, poring through all the possibilities to try and find a solution to the problem. That was her thing. Solutions. A point of pride in herself had always been her ability to find another answer, so why was her brain failing her at the moment?

“I have an idea,” Mo piped up cheerfully.

Dang, how had her roommate, who flew through life on a spur-of-the-moment-type attitude, come up with a solution before her? Maybe she hadn’t had enough coffee this morning. Brain fog due to lack of caffeine. She had been having difficulty sleeping the past few nights. She was just stressed.

No. You’re horny and lusting after a man you can’t have.

Harsh but true. Her past few sleepless nights could be directly blamed on a certain sexy best man and the unexplainable pull he had on her. What was it about Lincoln Reid that made her body ache and crave? She’d already had the man. He should be out of her system. Yet every time she saw him, her desire to rip his clothes off and have her wicked way with him again ramped up even more.

“We know a guy who works with computers who would probably help us out for next to nothing,” Mo pointed out.

Pru tilted her head, brow wrinkling. “We do?”

What? The only other computer guy they knew was— Oh hell no!

“No.” She shook her head, refusing to see this as a possible solution. There had to be something else, someone else.

Mo grinned, an evil glint filling her eyes. “Yes.”

Pru glanced back and forth between the two of them. “I’m missing something.”

“We’re not calling Lincoln.”

“Why not? He’s a tech guy. I’m sure he can fix our computer in five seconds.”

“Wait.” Pru held up a hand, a slight grimace on her face. “Lincoln as in sexy best man Lincoln who Lilly has a thing for?”

“I do not have a thing for him!”

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks,” Mo said in a mock hushed tone to Pru.

“We don’t even have his number.” See? Lincoln couldn’t be the solution to their problem if they had no way to contact him.

“Yes we do.” Mo flipped through the mess on her desk until she came up with a small slip of paper. “Marie gave it to me in case of emergency.”

Well crap.

“What’s wrong?” Her roommate waved the tiny paper in the air. “Chicken?”

Reluctant to admit it but knowing there was no other solution, Lilly rose from her desk and marched over to Mo. Snatching the paper from her friend’s hand, she pointed.

“I’m only using this to get him to fix our computer.”

Mo held up her hands. “Whatever you say. But you better put the number in your contacts just in case. Ya know, for any emergency that might come up.”

Only Mo could make an innocuous word like “emergency” sound like sex. Her friend had a talent—an evil talent, but a talent nonetheless.

“Mo.” Pru shook her head slightly. “Lil is using her brain about this whole…situation. Give her a break, will ya?”

At least one of her friends was on her side.

Heading back over to her desk, she pulled out her cell phone, staring at the ten tiny numbers in stark black ink on the bright white piece of paper in her fingers. She really had no choice. It wasn’t about her needing him; this was about the business needing his specialized set of skills.

And boy does the man have skills.

She told her horny self to shut up. This was about computers, not bedrooms.

Taking a deep breath, she dialed the number and reminded herself she was a professional with strict rules set in place for a reason. This was a business call, not a booty call.

…

Lincoln stared at his phone, debating whether or not to answer. Usually he ignored numbers he wasn’t familiar with. If it was important, the person would leave a message and he’d get back to them, but it was usually just a telemarketer.

The phone rang for a third time, and he almost let it go to voicemail, but something in him kicked. He had no idea why, but he had the strongest urge to pick up the phone and answer. So he did.

“Hello?”

“Lincoln?”

He paused, sure his ears were deceiving him. “Lilly?”

“Yes, um, hi.”

Must be his lucky day. Lilly Walsh was calling him. How did she get his number? Probably from Marie. She’d asked him if she could give it to the wedding planners in case of emergency, and he’d agreed. But what the hell kind of emergency could Lilly have that needed his assistance?

Oh, please let it be the naked kind.

Wishful thinking.

“So, um, I understand you do computer stuff.”

If she meant applying mathematical analysis and computer science principles in order to develop software for companies to use, then yeah. He did computer stuff.

“Need a company computer guy?”

His new job didn’t start until after the wedding. He’d decided to take a few weeks off in between to help Kenneth and Marie and also get a feel for his new city, but honestly, he had been getting bored. His friends didn’t need as much help as they thought, and Lincoln didn’t do great with idle time. He had his entire apartment unpacked within the first few days, and there was only so much exploring he could do before he got antsy. He needed to code, tinker, fix something, or have wild hot sex with a beautiful, poised wedding planner. Since that last one was off the table—for now—he’d go with the first option.

“That’s the thing.” Lilly’s voice carried over the phone. “My computer froze, and nothing I do is working to fix it. The person who normally fixes our computer problems is out of town, and—”

“Say no more. I’ll be over in ten.”

“Are you sure?” Uncertainty rang in her voice, along with something else…edginess. “I wouldn’t want to pull you away from any important work.”

“You’re not.” He’d been installing a new Linux distro on his home server and trying to figure out the driver for his GPU. Nothing he couldn’t attend to later.

“Thank you.”

He hung up, a huge smile tugging at his lips. She hadn’t wanted to call him; that was clear from her tone. But something else had been clear, too. She needed him, and not just for the computer problem. He’d heard the breathiness of her voice, the subtle longing when she said his name. He recognized it because it was the exact same need that colored his voice every time he talked about the woman. She may not want to want him, but she did.

That was something, at least.

Heading out of his apartment, he hopped into his car and drove toward Mile High Happiness, grateful Marie suggested putting the address in his GPS “just in case.” The streets of Denver were a maze of one-way confusion. In the short amount of time he’d been living here, he’d almost driven down the wrong street four times. Who the hell designed this city?

He pulled into the building’s lot a few minutes later. The large, twenty-story building had office space on the first level and apartments above, so the parking lot was filled with mostly resident parking spots, but there were a few visitor spots up front, and he was lucky enough to grab one. Another thing he’d learned about Denver since moving here—the city had crappy parking options. But other than the weird streets and limited parking, he loved it. So far everyone had been really friendly, the restaurant options were diverse and delicious, and the mountains in the distance were breathtaking. He could see why so many people moved to Denver.

Locking his car, he headed straight to Mile High Happiness. He opened the glass door with the etched frosted flowers and saw three women huddled around a computer: Mo, a woman he didn’t recognize, and, sitting right in the middle, the woman who starred in every single one of his recent dreams: Lilly Walsh.

“Did you try this button?”

“Yes, Moira.” Lilly shook her head, a frown marring her beautiful face. “I tried every damn button on this thing. It’s broken, okay?”

Since none of the women realized he’d come in the door, he cleared his throat. “Mind if I take a look?” That was why she’d called, after all.

Three heads popped up with varying expressions filling their faces. Mo broke out into a bright, welcoming smile. The woman he didn’t know tilted her head to study him with a smaller, uncertain smile. Lilly glared at the computer in front of her, but when she spotted him, he swore he saw a bit of relief filling those beautiful eyes. As much as he wished that happy gaze was for him, he’d bet his last bit of RAM it was for his tech skills.

“Lincoln.” Mo hurried from behind the desk to greet him. “Thank you so much for coming. Another few minutes and I think Lilly would have hurled the computer into the wall.”

“Don’t put it past me yet,” the seated woman muttered.

He laughed softly. “Before you ruin your lease by damaging property walls, let’s see if I can be of help.”

He stepped around the desk to Lilly’s free side. The woman standing beside Lilly held out her hand.

“Hi, I’m Pru. The third member of Mile High Happiness. And you must be Lincoln, the…best man.”

“Prudence,” Lilly growled under her breath.

He shook the woman’s hand, wondering at her emphasis. How much did Lilly’s partners know about what happened between them?

“Thank you for coming. Now, can you just fix this damn thing before it gives me a stroke?” Lilly pushed back from the desk, rising from her seat and motioning for him to occupy it.

“I’ll do what I can.” It would probably be an easy fix. Most computer issues were operator error. He’d bet it would take no time to sort out whatever the problem was.

“Hey, I have an idea,” Mo said a bit too cheerfully. “Why don’t Pru and I go grab everyone dinner while you and Lincoln fix whatever issue this is?”

Why did he hear something other than computer issue in that offer?

“We don’t need dinner right—”

Mo cut Lilly off. “Yes, we do. I’m hungry, and I know Pru is, too.”

“I am?” the other woman asked with a raised brow.

“Yes, you are. Besides, we need to show Lincoln we appreciate his help somehow.”

Lilly narrowed her eyes at her friends. “We can pay him.”

“Dinner sounds like a perfect payment to me,” he chimed in with a grin.

She sent a death glare his way, but he was having too much fun to be intimidated by it.

“Perfect, then we’ll just head out and let you two figure this out.” Mo grabbed Pru by the arm and practically dragged the other woman out of the office despite her soft protest. “Bye!”

The moment they left, he released the laughter he’d been holding in. “She’s not subtle, is she?”

“About as subtle as a Mack truck,” Lilly grumbled.

He tapped away at the keys, but the screen remained frozen. “So, I can assume the no-sex-with-wedding-party-members is a personal rule and not a company-wide policy?”

“You can assume whatever you like.” Her haughty voice sounded in his ear as she leaned in close to see what he was doing. “You know what they say about assuming.”

Yes. He was familiar with the saying.

After trying a few more key combinations, he realized that whatever happened to this computer, it needed a hard reboot. Nothing else would bring it back from the frozen screen of death. He held down the power button, noticing the main reason it might be malfunctioning was because it had to be a solid ten years old. A dinosaur, in computer terms. His fitness tracker probably had more RAM than this thing.

Once the computer started back up, he went into the system console and scanned for any new errors, happy to see there were none.

“There. All done.”

“You fixed it?”

“I fixed it, but you might want to think about upgrading to a newer computer soon.”

Lilly leaned over him, staring at the screen as if it held the answers to life.

“Just like that? You came in here and solved my problem with a few clicks of the keyboard?”

Not quite so simple, but basically. He’d figured it’d be a fairly easy fix; what he couldn’t understand was why she seemed upset by it.

“Yup. Happy to help.”

With a huff, she pushed herself up and started to pace back and forth from the wall to the desk, frustration fueling her every step.

“Of course you’re happy to help. You’re always happy to help. You’re just one helpful, happy guy.”

“Um, did I miss something?”

She ignored him, continuing to pace.

“You can’t even have the decency to be an asshole or have a bad habit. No, you’re just so damn helpful and sweet and sexy.”

That got him to smile. “You think I’m sexy?”

He kind of figured she didn’t find him hideous, since she had slept with him. But it never hurt a guy’s ego to hear an insanely beautiful woman found him attractive. He rose from the chair, risking life and limb—or at least the very real possibility of a knee to the nuts—by moving into her pacing path. She didn’t slow down, didn’t even notice he moved, merely crashed into him. He reached out to grab her arms, steadying her when she would have tumbled.

“Ugh! You even smell good. This isn’t fair, Lincoln. You’re impossible to resist.”

His brow rose as it dawned on him that her anger stemmed from sexual frustration. And he was the source of it. That went a small way to easing his bruised pride from waking up the morning after their amazing night together to find her gone.

“Really?” His gaze roamed over her face, pausing on her lips. Lips he tasted once, lips he tasted every night in his dreams, lips he burned to taste again. “You seem to be doing a pretty good job of resisting me so far.”

Her hands came up—to push him away, he’d bet—but he bet wrong. Lilly grabbed two fistfuls of his shirt. With a frustrated moan, she tugged, pulling him down as she lifted her chin. Her mouth crashed against his, those sweet lips colliding with his own, tasting even better than he remembered.

Surprise kept him immobile for all of 0.1 seconds before he came to life, tugging her by the grip he had on her arms, pulling her into him until he could feel every inch of her soft, heavenly body pressed against his.

Yes! This was what he’d been missing, been craving. This passionate, fiery woman who knew what she wanted and took it. This was the Lilly he met that night at the hotel. The one who brought him to his knees. He’d known she was there, hiding under all that prim and properness. Though he had to admit, the prim and proper thing was hot as hell too. Seemed no matter what this woman did or how she acted, it never ceased to get his motor running.

She moaned, low and deep, the sound causing him to harden to the point of pain. She backed them up, lips still fused as if their lives depended on it, until he felt his back hit the hard, solid wall. He didn’t care. She could bash his head against all the walls she wanted as long as she kept kissing him. Because kissing Lilly was the best damn feeling he’d ever experienced.

Second best.

Being inside her held the honor of the first.

“Dammit!”

Her muttered curse reached him through a fog of lust. One second she had her tongue halfway down his throat, and the next she was gone. Pulled out of his embrace and standing a foot away. Felt like a million miles to him.

“Lilly?” Her name came out shaky, because he was feeling damn shaky. The woman had that effect on him.

Her dark hair was mussed, clothing wrinkled, glasses slightly askew on her sharp nose. She adjusted her frames with a single finger, then pointed that finger at him.

“That did not happen.”

“Okay…” But it had.

Any further discussion was halted by her friends coming back, arms filled with bags.

“We got burritos from— Hey!” Mo stared in confusion as Lilly hurried past her. “Where are you going? We have food.”

Lilly stopped, her gaze swinging back to him. “I’m not hungry for food.”

She was hungry for him and not happy about it. He read that clearly in her gaze.

“I need some air.” And with that, she stormed out the office door and was gone.

“Okay.” Pru headed to the back desk, setting her bag on it and taking food containers out. “That was weird.”

You could say that again.

Mo made her way to Lilly’s desk, giving him a soft smile. “You’ll have to be patient with her. She’s not used to being attracted to a guy she considers off-limits. It’s kind of messing with her head.”

Fair enough—she was messing with his head.

“But, Lincoln?”

He tore his gaze away from the door where Lilly had stormed out and focused on her friend. Mo’s smile slipped, a deadly calm entering her honey brown eyes.

“If you hurt her, I’m going to make you a special batch of my nonna’s laxative brownies. Got it?”

He nodded. He got that—solidarity in friendship and all—but her friend had him and Lilly all wrong. They were about the physical connection, not an emotional one. Right? He thought he’d been pretty open with Lilly about what he could give to a woman, but maybe he should clear the air again. Maybe she was resisting so much because she thought he wanted more of a commitment—which he sure as hell did not—and worried what would happen when everything went south.

Nothing would go south, because Lincoln didn’t want more than another night or two, or twenty, in Lilly’s bed. She wanted the same, right? His stomach tensed. Maybe he should take a step back from all this until he and Lilly had a real talk about what they wanted. Of course, that would mean the woman would have to sit down and actually have a conversation with him without either biting his head off or kissing the daylights out of him.