The words haven’t even left my lips before Lincoln’s expression turns hard. The intense look catches me off guard for a moment.
“First,” he growls, “there’s not a damn thing going to happen to you.” His features soften when he leans down and presses a gentle kiss against my lips. “Second, as much as I want to give you that promise, I can’t.”
“Lincoln—”
He places his finger against my lips to silence me.
“The only happiness I’d ever be able to find if you were gone is with our kids. There will never be another woman for me. Don’t ask me to find someone and pretend. It wouldn’t be real, and it wouldn’t be fair to her or me.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to argue with him, but I refrain from doing so. As much as the thought of him being left alone in this world without a woman to love and care for him saddens me, I feel the same as he does. It would be wrong of me to expect another man to live in the shadow of my one true love. How can I ask him to do the same to another woman?
“Just promise me you won’t leave our kids. They’ll need you, no matter how old they are. No matter if they find the person they are supposed to spend the rest of their life with, and you know they’re in good hands. They’ll still need you.”
When I think about no longer having my parents around, a hollow feeling forms in my chest. I may be a grown woman and have been away from home for seventeen years, but I would be lost without my parents.
Lincoln looks at me solemnly. “I’ll always be there for them. No matter what.” He tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. “Now give me the same promise.”
“I promise.”
Seemingly satisfied, he flips the laptop closed. “We’re done with this kind of talk. Neither one of us is dying anytime soon. We’re both going to live so long we’ll be shitting in our diapers and the kids will have to change them. It’s their payment for all the ones we had to change of theirs.”
I wrinkle my nose at that visual. “Those poor kids.”
When I move to climb from Lincoln’s lap, he holds me still by my hips. Swiveling his chair around, he hauls us both up from the chair. With his hands on my butt, he stalks across the room to the door.
“Where are we going?” I ask, running my fingers through his thick hair.
“The kids are in bed, the house is quiet, and I’m in need of a distraction from talking about death. I can’t think of a better way than having you naked in my arms for the rest of the night.”
I grin and tighten my legs around his waist, making sure to grind down on his erection that’s growing beneath my butt.
“I like the way you think, Mr. Bradshaw.”
Chapter Nine
LINCOLN
“Yes, Mr. Fischer. I’ll have a few pieces ready at the beginning of next week.”
“Good. That’s good, Lincoln. I can’t wait to see them. While you’re in the city dropping them off, dinner will be on me. Bring your wife. Melanie, my beloved, is here visiting for the week. She doesn’t know many people here, so it would do her good to have a female to talk to.”
“We’d be honored, sir. See you then.”
Ending the call, I drop my phone on the workbench in front of me. Excitement and anticipation have flutters buzzing around in my stomach. The first few pieces I’ve been working on for Benjamin Fischer are almost done. He selected me out of the three contractors who applied for the job, and I know my work is good. Damn good, if I’m honest. But knowing that still doesn’t take away the nerves gripping me. I already have the job, but it’s still important to me to impress him. Especially since a couple of these pieces will be in his home.
“What day are you going into the city?” Owen asks, pulling me from my thoughts.
I turn just as he tosses a rag down on the workbench across from me.
“Tuesday. I’ve got an appointment with Mr. Fischer at three. He wants to take Molly and me to dinner afterward.”
His brows jump up. “Dinner with the big man, huh?”
I shrug like it’s no big deal, when it really is. Or it has the potential to be a big deal. The more impressed Mr. Fischer is, the higher the chance he’ll use me again and pass my name off to his billionaire friends. My initial impression of him when I met him several weeks ago was not what I expected. He was a hell of a lot kinder and down to earth than I thought he would be.
Owen looks around the space we’re working in. “Looks like you might need to upgrade to a building in the city.”
“Not happening. I like my shop right where it is.” One of the benefits of owning my own business is having the choice of working from home. I love that my shop is in the backyard. The space is big—about the size of a three-car garage—but my workload has increased over the last year, and I’m running out of room. I refuse to move to the city, so my only choice would be to build another building or add to the existing one. We’re sitting on two acres of property, so finding the room to expand isn’t a problem. “I’ll either build onto this one or put a new building up. I enjoy being here too much to move the business to the city.”
“I miss living out here.” Walking to the small fridge I have in one corner, he opens it and pulls out a couple of beers before tossing me one. “I’m trying to talk Nina into moving out this way, and I think I almost have her convinced.”
Owen and Nina have been married for five years. They met when she walked into his art gallery looking for a piece for the apartment she had just leased. A year later, they were married, and he moved into her apartment. It made more sense for him to move there versus her move to Barre Vale because the commute from here to the city was an hour each way on a good day.
I pop the top to my bottle and take a pull. “How’s the baby-making coming?”
“Very satisfying,” he answers, grinning cockily. It falls a moment later. “But unsuccessful as of yet.”
“Give it time, man. It’ll happen.” I tell him the same thing I told Molly when she found out we weren’t pregnant with our third child yet. I hated seeing that sad look on her face.
“We have an appointment with a fertility doctor in a couple of weeks. Just to rule out any issues she or I might have.” After setting down his bottle, he hops up on the workbench. “How’s Molly doing?”
I turn away and start putting away my tools. “Stressed. The same as me. I fucking hate not knowing what’s going on with her.”
“When does she go back to the doctor?”
“Once the results come in. They’re supposed to give us a call.” I never mentioned the genetics test. It’ll only cause more questions we don’t have answers to yet.
“You know Nina and I are only a phone call away if you need us.”
“We appreciate it.”
He’s quiet for a moment. “You know everything’s going to be okay, right? Even the hounds of hell couldn’t keep Molly away from you or the kids. Whatever’s got her off lately, she’ll get through it.”
Sighing, I turn and lean back against the bench. “She’s the strongest woman I know.” I look up at my best friend and let him see the worry that’s been gripping me over the last few weeks. “It scares the shit out of me when I think about what could be going on. I know it’s stupid to think the worst when we have no clue what we’re dealing with, but something doesn’t feel right, Owen. No matter how much I try to push it away, I can’t get rid of the foreboding feeling.”