You Can't Hurry Love

Chapter Fifty

His car lights appear in the dark and within seconds Lincoln was pulling into his space and climbing back out and when he finds me leaning against the low brick wall outside of Angelo's, bundled up inside a thick woollen blanket, a flash of surprise crosses his features.

'Hey, what are you doing out here in the cold?'

'Waiting for you.'

I'd been here ever since he'd left to drop Roland and his family back to the flat, hoping to have a little one on one time with him without everybody else gawping at us but now that he was here, I was feeling a little bit unsure of myself. It was the first time we'd been completely on our own since Henry had interrupted our near kiss last night and I was curious to know if that thought was crossing his mind too.

'Thank you, by the way.' I nod bashfully at his car, shivering involuntarily when his fingers move to graze the bare bit of exposed skin on my arm.

'Don't worry about it.'

'Did he get in okay?'

'Yeah. Put up a bit of a fight though. Said he's never missed out on a good party yet so why should he stop now.' Lincoln laughs and I roll my eyes.

I'd been expecting it to be honest. Roland hadn't actually wanted to leave, but after I'd caught him trying to have a sneaky snooze when he thought no one was looking, I'd insisted. It had been a long day for him and I didn't want to push our luck after everything that had happened this past week.

'He was kicking off the entire way into the flat but I'm pretty sure he was already snoring by the time I'd closed the door.'

'Of course, he was. The man is an absolute legend.' I shake my head in amazement. 'How did I ever not see that?'

'Sometimes we let our first impressions of people get the better of us, I guess.'

'Talking from experience, are we?' I nudge him playfully with my shoulder, expecting him to hit back with a smart remark but instead he turns to me with a frown.

'What are you talking about?'

'Oh, come on, you were hardly Mr Inviting when we first met, were you? You couldn't stand me!'

Lincoln pushes off from the wall to face me, his blue eyes sharp and focused.

'How did you come up with that?'

I gape at him in astonishment, amazed that he could think himself so innocent when, if I remember correctly, it was him constantly going out of his way to be so sour and unapproachable whenever he came into contact with me.

I take a deep breath as I start, doing my best to try and remain calm.

'That first night . . . did you, or did you not, insinuate that I should leave because you thought I wasn't spending enough money.'

'Are you for real?' he bites back gruffly, looking flabbergasted. 'I didn't want you to leave! In fact, I very much wanted the opposite, but I was hardly going to clamber over the bar to confess I thought you were hot when I'd only just met you, was I? Excuse me for trying to play it a little bit cool.'

'Play it cool?' I laugh sardonically. 'You can say that again! I had absolutely no idea you even liked me like that. You can hardly blame me for getting confused.'

'I tried on multiple occasions to let you know I was interested but you kept shutting me out.'

'HOW did I?'

'Well for starters I bought you a drink that night and asked you questions about your work-'

'You asked me to do a review of the restaurant!' I cut him off, feeling utterly incensed. 'For a bit of free publicity-'