Chapter Four

“Dude.” Kenneth shot Lincoln a skeptical glance as he readjusted the moving box in his arms. “This is the fourth box labeled computer parts. Are you building Skynet or something?”

Lincoln hefted his own box, also labeled computer parts—dammit—and pushed past his friend. “That doesn’t even make sense. Skynet is a self-aware worldwide neural network. I’d need more than a few boxes of hard drives and RAM.”

“You are such a nerd.”

“Whatever, hipster.”

Kenneth glanced quickly over his shoulder as the two men carefully maneuvered their hauls down the stairs. “Just because I own a coffee shop doesn’t make me a hipster.”

“Dude.” Lincoln shook his head. “You own a coffee shop that only uses fair-trade beans, you only sell organic pastries, you play the banjo, and you have a unicycle.”

“The unicycle is an heirloom from my grandfather. I can’t actually ride the thing. And banjos are awesome.”

He chuckled at his friend’s indignation. “Still a hipster.”

“Hey, Marie!” Kenneth called out as the men entered the basement apartment. “Can we call the landlord and take back our recommendation of Lincoln?”

“Boys, stop fighting or I’m not making my famous margaritas tonight,” Marie answered from the depths of the apartment.

“We’re sorry,” they answered in unison.

Giving his best friend shit was a luxury he hadn’t had in years, since Kenneth and Marie moved from Nebraska to Colorado, but he wasn’t willing to risk missing out on Marie’s delicious—and potent—margaritas. Her promise to make them weekly was half the reason he decided to move out here. Okay, not really, but it had been a plus.

The forces of sheer luck and utter frustration had combined to push Lincoln to make the move. His job had been going nowhere, and Nebraska held nothing but bad memories. As a software engineer, he could pretty much find work anywhere, but Silicon Valley and San Francisco—where the mega-high-paying work was—were too expensive, even for his skill set. Over the past decade, Denver had become the new hot spot for up-and-coming tech companies, so when an opportunity in the Mile High City presented itself, he’d jumped on it. Lucky for him, his best buds knew of a place to rent that wouldn’t blow his budget—Denver might not be the City by the Bay, but rent was still pricey, as he’d come to find out—and it happened to be close to his friends.

Very close.

“How thick is this ceiling?” Lincoln placed his box on the floor, eyeing his friend. “And please tell me your bedroom isn’t right above mine.”

Kenneth and Marie lived in a charming two-bedroom Craftsman-style bungalow right by Wash Park. The basement of the house was a one bedroom complete with tiny kitchen and three-quarter bath. Perfect for a lone person. That lone person being him. The previous tenant was supposed to move out last week, but due to a delay of paperwork on his new place, he had to stay a few days. Lincoln, being the laid-back guy he was, decided to crash in a hotel while the sweet older gentleman settled his affairs. His friends had offered to let him stay with them in the interim, but one night in college still haunted his dreams.

In his defense, there hadn’t been a sock or tie or anything on the door—hell, it hadn’t even been locked. How was he supposed to know if he went into his room that his eyes would be subjected to sights he could never unsee? Namely the naked, bronzed, hairy ass of his best friend. Thank God Marie had been obscured by Kenneth and the sorry excuse for sheets they’d tried to cover themselves with. He didn’t know if he could have ever looked her in the eye again if he’d accidently seen her naked. As it was, he still had to wash the image of Kenneth’s butt out with a good strong drink every now and then.

After that night, they instilled a strict policy. No nookie without warning the roommate. And he never intended to have that problem again. No roommates? No accidental ass viewings.

Besides, if he hadn’t chosen to stay in a hotel, he never would have met Lilly.

Not true, dumbass. You met her yesterday.

Yeah, and she wanted to pretend they didn’t know each other. Ouch.

“Mr. Stottlemire never complained about any noises.” Kenneth shrugged.

Marie came into the room from the small bathroom. “Mr. Stottlemire was fifty percent deaf in both ears. He wore hearing aids that didn’t work and loved us because we always brought him leftover apple turnovers from the shop. He wouldn’t have complained even if we had stomped around like a herd of elephants.”

Lincoln didn’t care about loud feet. His friends could tap dance for all he cared. As long as they kept other activities from drifting down to his poor ears.

“Lincoln, I unpacked your toiletries and set them all up for you.”

“Babe.” Kenneth wrapped an arm around his fiancée. “You weren’t supposed to unpack anything.”

“You guys won’t let me carry any boxes. How else was I supposed to help?”

He smiled. “Thanks, Marie, but you don’t need to help at all. You were the one who convinced the landlord he should rent to me when there were five other people putting in offers on this place. You did enough. You’re awesome.”

She raised one dark eyebrow. They all knew why Kenneth was so insistent his fiancée didn’t do any heavy lifting. Though she’d been in remission for a year, the cancer that almost took Marie’s life had scared them all and taken strength she was still trying to regain.

“I know I’m awesome. I’ve been saying it for years.”

He laughed along with her and Kenneth. The cancer might have taken her strength, health, and nearly her life, but damn if it hadn’t been able to take away her spunk. He’d never gotten a better call in his life than the day Marie and Kenneth rang to inform him she’d gotten the all clear from the doc. He’d been elated for her—and Kenneth. The guy had been a massive wreck from the moment she’d been diagnosed. But those two stuck together through thick and thin. They’d already seen sickness; now he hoped their marriage would be filled with a lifetime of happiness and health.

Someone’s should be.

He shook off the morose thought. He was here for Marie and Kenneth and new beginnings. Not to wallow in the crap show that had been his love life. It had been two years since Jessa left. Time to move the fuck on. That’s why he was here. New state, new life.

“Was that the last of the boxes?”

He nodded at her question.

“When are they picking the pod up?”

“I’ll call the company tonight. They should be grabbing it before morning. Is it okay in the driveway for that long?”

Kenneth shrugged. “It’s fine. Street sweeping day isn’t until Tuesday. The cars will be okay parked on the street another night.”

Great. He was here. All moved in—mostly. He still had a lot of unpacking to do, but this was it. He had a new job starting in a few weeks, a place to live right under his best friends, and a woman who was fascinating to figure out. Lilly Walsh. Just thinking her name made his heart beat faster. She might want to pretend they never met, but he’d seen the racing of her pulse, heard the uptake of her breath. She remembered every detail of their night together.

Fondly, he could only hope.

It was the best damn night he’d had in a long time.

“I believe the proper payment for helping a friend move in is pizza and beer.” He dug his phone out of his pocket. “Should I order in, or do we go out?”

“Let’s order in.” Marie snuggled into Kenneth’s arms. “There’s a great local place on Broadway that delivers.”

“They deliver beer, too?”

“Sadly, no, but I think…” She turned her head to look up at Kenneth. “Babe, do you still have that new lager we got from Renegade?”

One thing Lincoln had learned in his short time in the city: small craft breweries were a dime a dozen. Denver was a hops lover’s paradise.

“Yeah, I think so. You two order the pizza. I’ll go check.” Kenneth kissed his fiancée on the cheek and headed up the stairs, calling over his shoulder, “No pineapple!”

“Got it. Extra pineapple.” Lincoln laughed as his friend flipped him off behind his back, disappearing out the door. “The man has terrible taste in pizza, Marie. I can’t understand why you’re marrying him.”

She nudged him with her shoulder. “Not everyone appreciates the finer delicacies in life, like pineapple pizza, but I can forgive him and his uncultured palate because he’s got a huge—”

“Ahhh! Stop right there before I have to wash my ears out with acid.”

“Heart, pervert. I was going to say heart.”

Sure she was. Marie might look all sweet and delicate, but the woman had the sense of humor of a twelve-year-old boy.

“Uh-huh.”

“Oh, shut up and give me your phone. I’ll download the pizza place app for you.”

He handed over his phone, contemplating how to word what he wanted to ask her as she downloaded the pizza app.

“Lilly seems nice. I mean, I’ve never met a wedding planner before, but she was friendly.”

Marie didn’t look up from what she was doing, but a smile tilted her lips. “She is. She came highly recommended by a regular customer who worked with her for her wedding. All the women of Mile High Happiness are great.”

“It’s more than just Lilly?” He should have guessed. Running a business was hard, as his friends always liked to say—doing it alone would be almost impossible.

“Yeah, she runs it with her two best friends, Moira and Prudence. Mo is a hoot, and Pru has the most adorable little twins. She had them in the office one day, and I got to hold them.”

He smiled at the joy in his friend’s voice. “Sounds like you know the women well.”

She handed his phone back, pizza app downloaded and opened. “We’ve bonded over a coffee here and there. I’ve spent the most time with Lilly, though; she’s the one who handles all the client requests, she says.”

He stared at the menu, glancing through the pizza selection. “Makes sense. She’s a very take-charge kind of person.”

“Huh?”

At Marie’s mutter of confusion, he realized his mistake. “I mean, she seems that way. From what I saw meeting her the other day.”

“Hmm, and what did you see?”

He kept his eyes firmly on his phone. Had to concentrate on his order. Pizza selection was a very serious business. “What? Oh, nothing much. I just met her.”

Not true, but if Lilly wanted to keep their previous meeting a secret, he would respect that. Didn’t mean he wouldn’t remember it, dream of it, and fantasize about it happening again. But he wasn’t some kind of asshole who shared intimate stories of his sexual exploits.

“Really?”

Crap. He’d forgotten Marie had a bullshit meter a mile wide. The woman could always tell when someone was lying. Too damn bad. He wasn’t spilling anything. He glanced up from his phone to stare his friend directly in her dark, knowing eyes.

“Veggie lover’s okay? You’re still not eating meat, right?”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes and yes.”

They stared at each other in silence. Ha! That trick might work on her loving fiancé, but not on him. Lincoln’s cousin, Aimee, used to pull the silent treatment on him all the time. Immune.

“I got beer!”

Hallelujah! Saved by the beer.

He pressed the order button on his phone, grinning at Marie. “Pizza’s ordered.”

She cocked her head to indicate this conversation wasn’t over but dropped it for the moment in favor of accepting a beer and kiss from her future husband.

“You guys wanna play some Smash Up while we wait for the pizza?” Kenneth held the tabletop game he’d brought down with the drinks.

Lincoln took a beer and headed with his friends to his small kitchen table that would probably also be his desk until he bought a new one. He’d arrived with the minimal amount of things. Only what he could pack in a moving pod. He didn’t need the trappings of his old life; he was here to start fresh. A new place, a new job, possibly even a new fling?

A vision of Lilly smiling filled his mind. Bright green eyes dancing with humor, full red lips opening wide as a laugh escaped her at one of his corny jokes.

“Okay, just one more.”

Lilly’s lips curled into a wide grin as she shook her head. “How do you know so many pirate jokes?”

He shrugged. “My dad was the king of dad jokes, and pirate-themed ones were his favorite.” And she kept laughing at them, which was making him feel like a god, so he’d keep telling them until he ran out.

With a slight nod, she picked up her glass, finishing off the drink she’d allowed him to buy her. “Okay, lay it on me.”

Reaching into the recesses of his memory for his best one, he rubbed his hands together. “Okay, so a pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel in his pants. The bartender says ‘What’s that doing there?’ The pirate says—”

“Arrrrrr, it’s drivin’ me nuts.”

His mouth dropped open in shock. “Holy cow, you’re a secret dorky-humor aficionado.”

She laughed, the sound heating every inch of his body. When was the last time he’d had so much fun just talking with someone?

“No.” She lifted one shoulder. “I just hang out with a bunch of firefighters from time to time, and they like jokes middle schoolers would tell.”

“Hey,” he protested but could tell she was just ribbing him from the gleam in her beautiful bright green eyes. Lincoln vowed then and there to tell all the bad jokes in his arsenal if it would make this woman laugh.

The woman had a great laugh. When he’d woken the next day to find her gone, he’d felt a slight pang of loss, wondering if he’d ever hear it again.

She might not want to sleep with him again, but they would be seeing each other frequently over the next month. Nothing said he couldn’t try to make her laugh. He would swear the sun brightened when she did. Which was saying something, considering the only time he’d heard her laugh had been during nighttime.

They had amazing chemistry. Even the other day in her office, he’d felt the sparks fly. The shock of seeing her had only intensified, electrifying his entire system the closer he got to her. Sure, the fact that she denied knowing him had killed the buzz a little, but he understood her need for professionalism. She didn’t date anyone in the wedding party. Okay, he could understand that in her line of work.

But I won’t be in the wedding party forever.

By this time next month, Kenneth and Marie would be married, and that meant they would no longer be Lilly’s clients, which also meant he would no longer be connected in any way to her job. Therefore, he had four weeks to get to know the woman and convince her to give him another shot. They didn’t have to have a serious relationship or anything. He wasn’t too keen on doing that again any time soon. But nothing said they couldn’t enjoy each other’s company. Naked company. An entire month of mental foreplay.

A smile curved his lips. He might die getting there, but what a hell of a way to go.