I’m clenching the bright-white sheets against my chest, nervous to hear what he has to say.
“Well, Grace and Macy could hardly stand by the end of the night. Macy started vomiting. Grace told you to take your time in coming back to the room because she had Macy under control. You forgot your room number, room key, and ID, which meant the front desk would not help you until you came back with an ID. I tried to get them to make an exception but they won’t break their policy. So—”
“Oh my God,” I sigh, running my fingers through my knotted hair.
“It was either sleeping in the lobby which is frowned upon, bringing you back to Lover’s Beach, which didn’t soun
d like the best idea, or letting you have my bed for the night.”
“Where did you sleep?” I counter.
“Where would you have liked me to sleep?” He’s playing with me, and I’m wondering if I’ll find out the actual truth.
“I—” don’t have an answer because this is his room, and I feel bad thinking he might have slept in a hard chair all night because of my irresponsible behavior.
“I slept right here. Don’t worry,” he says, grinning.
I’m a jerk. “I’m sorry,” I tell him. “I should have been more careful last night.”
“I left Grace and Macy a note under the door, telling them what happened. I left my phone number too.”
I title my head to the side, taking a long glance at him. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
“Life’s short,” he says. “Oh, and you yakked all over your clothes from last night. I rinsed them in the sink and hung them on the shower rod.”
I place my hands over my eyes, embarrassed, once again. “I even held your hair. Women like that sort of thing, right?”
I laugh against the palms of my hands, wondering why this man is trying so hard to be a good guy when I won’t see him after Sunday. “Thank you,” I mutter. “Sorry for that too.”
“I ordered breakfast to be delivered to this room and your friends’ rooms. It’s a variety of hangover-wellness food. We actually have a secret menu item for it.”
“I hope it works, or those ATVs won’t be seeing the best parts of us today.”
Lincoln stands from his chair and stretches his arms above his head, showing off some artwork on his right side. I should stop staring at his body, but he’s asking for the attention as he saunters over to me and sits down at the edge of the bed. The slightest movement feels like a tidal wave trying to knock me down.
Lincoln places his hand on my bare shoulder, and though it’s a warm sensation, chills are firing through my body. “You tried to take advantage of me last night,” he utters.
My eyes grow wide. “What?”
He leans down to the ground beside the bed and lifts his hand, showing me a condom pinched between his fingers. “Recognize this?”
My safety condom. The condom that was in my clutch. The condom that has been sitting in that clutch for three years. “I pulled that out?” I ask, squeezing at the back of my neck.
“Not only did you pull this out of your purse, but you were jumping on the bed, waving it in the air, singing “Fly me to the Moon, Lincoln!” He replays, mocking me, in however I must have sounded like last night, and if he’s even remotely close to what I sounded like, I want to go bury myself six feet under the burning hot sand.
“I take it I passed out following my song and dance?”
Lincoln chuckles. “If only you were that easy,” he says, winking. “I told you 'no’ because you would regret it in the morning. You then replied with, ‘What happened to living in the moment?’ You used my words against me.”
“I don’t know why you didn’t bring me back to Lovers Beach and just leave me there. I’m a total asshat.”
“No, you’re not. You’re pretty much the cutest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on before.”
“You’re a gentleman,” I tell him. “Thank you for being a good guy. I don’t find many like you in Boston.”
“Anytime,” he says.
We’re interrupted by a knock on the door, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. I recover my chest with the sheets as Lincoln tends to the door, returning with a cart covered with plates of food.