“He’s not using me,” I said softly after thinking about it for a second. “I honestly think that it’s still a problem for him that I am who I am. I think he would have preferred it if I wasn’t my father’s daughter. I really don’t think any of this is a ploy against my dad.”
My friend eventually shrugged. “Okay, as long as you’ve taken the possibility into consideration. I just wanted to make sure you had.”
“I hadn’t thought about it before, but I have now, and I don’t think it’s an issue.” I supposed many people would have thought I was an idiot to trust him under the circumstances, but I did. “Lincoln’s a good guy. He wouldn’t be fucking me to get back at my father.”
“A good guy?” She arched a well-manicured brow at me. “He sounds like a little bit of a troublemaker if you ask me.”
“I think he just follows his own head,” I said. “I’ve thought about it a lot, and I don’t think he likes causing trouble. I just think he’s good at what he does, and he knows it, so he knows what calls should have been made.”
“Then why isn’t he the one making said calls?” she asked, crumbling Danish cheese into the dough that had been resting in the mixing bowl. “You’re not usually one to go for the guys who don’t respect the hierarchy and the service.”
“No, I don’t, but I don’t think he disrespects those things.” I flipped the chicken and coated it in more marinade. “As for why he’s not making the calls, that was the subject matter of the one argument we’ve had. Dad thinks he lacks ambition. He says it’s not that, but he also didn’t explain why he’s not trying to climb the ranks.”
Haley punched the dough down, blowing a strand of hair off her face while frowning at me. “Let me get this straight. This guy wants to do what he wants, defies orders, but can’t bother to try to become the person in charge?”
“Don’t say it like that,” I groaned. “It sounds terrible when you say it like that.”
“I say it as I see it.” She shrugged. “He just sounds like he’s bad news.”
“He’s not,” I argued firmly. “There’s something more to him. Things aren’t just black and white with him. I don’t know how I know, but I can tell.”
“Are you sure it’s not just wishful thinking?” she asked after pausing for a moment. “You’re having fun with him so you’re trying to make up excuses for him?”
“It’s not that.” I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut, deciding to finally admit what I’d suspected for a few days now. “I’m falling for him, Haley. I’ve looked into his eyes when he lets his guard down and I’m telling you he’s not bad news. I think he’s a lot like me actually.”
Brown eyes wide as she came to stand next to me, she turned off the heat on the pan and focused on me. “Do you realize what you just said?”
“Yep.” I winced but then gave her a soft smile. “I’m falling for him. I know I said it, and I meant it, too. There’s so much more to him than what meets the eye. I’ve skimmed the surface and I may have dipped a little below it even. There’s something real between us. I just know it.”
“Okay, but does he?” she asked.
I lifted my shoulders, shaking my head as I bent to retrieve the baguette. The worry in her eyes was really starting to get to me.
“I think he feels it, too. Sometimes when he looks at me, it’s like everything just goes still. There’s this metaphysical connection between us that I can’t explain, but I can feel it in every fiber of my being.”
She blew out a low whistle between her teeth. “You really are falling for him. I’ve never heard you like this.”
“Neither have I.” Probably because I’d never felt anything like this before. “But when I look into his eyes, it’s like I can see snippets of forever. It’s weird.”
“You’re weird,” she countered but smiled at me. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean, but I can hear you mean it.”
“I really do.”
On the counter beside the stove was a spread of sandwich and salad toppings. When Haley and I had been experimenting with the Asian Chicken Baguette before she put it on her menu, she had taught me a cute mnemonic to remember the ingredients.
Reciting it quietly as I assembled the sandwich, my mind stayed mostly on Lincoln. “We’re spending the fourth of July together. I can’t wait for it. My favorite holiday with one of my new favorite people. It’s going to be epic.”
“I thought this wasn’t the beginning of some epic love story,” Haley teased, but there was still a film of worry covering her eyes.
“It’s not. Or I don’t know. Maybe it is.” I caught her gaze after plating up the sandwich. “What’s bothering you?”
Her chest expanded as she dragged in a deep breath. Then she shook her head. “You’ll be careful, won’t you?”
“Of what?”
The corners of her lips pressed in, her gaze soft but dark on mine. “I know I don’t know Lincoln, but you and I both know what those military guys care about. Women usually aren’t high on that list.”
I opened my mouth to argue that Lincoln wasn’t like that, but I couldn’t go through with it. The truth was that I didn’t know where on his list of priorities relationships ranked—if they even ranked at all.
Chapter 27
Lincoln
Children hopped from rock to smooth rock at the tide pools next to the pier. Picnic blankets and umbrellas covered nearly every inch of the beach.
A parade had come past a few minutes ago and live music picked up again at the small beachside bar where Sofia and I had settled. There would be fireworks later, but for now, people were celebrating the red,
