A First Love to Die For

Chapter Thirty-Six- Falling

(Josie's POV)

He had me at 'wine and dill pickle chips'. I wasn't sure what that said about me, but I couldn't ignore how he continued to go out of his way to spoil me with my favourites at every turn.

The night was getting away from me. First, I had ended up at Hailey's and then I hadn't been able to wait, I had found myself in Lincoln's driveway. On his front step. In his arms.

Was the possibility there that this wouldn't work out? Of course. However, the thing that was hanging over my head was: If I didn't try, if I didn't give this another chance, would I always wonder, what if? 

He had finished his beer, topped up my wine and poured himself a glass as we worked together to put dinner on the table. Watching the way he moved around the kitchen with confidence and skill was a complete turn-on.

As I sauteed the spinach, shrimp and garlic, it was as if we were doing an intoxicating dance. We moved around each other, constantly touching. His hand would touch the small of my back, my arm would brush his, it was magical.

There seemed to be an unspoken agreement between us, to avoid the topic of Harold, our current situation in Fenelon and whatever was happening between us. Instead, we chatted about some of the funnier arrests we had both made.

As I watched him laugh at my description of the naked perp that Lee and I had needed to chase down and how I had dived on him but somehow slipped off because he was covered in some kind of oil, I felt my heart stutter with happiness.

It was as if all of my pent-up emotion and desire had been released and it didn't feel like this genie was going back in its bottle. He snorted and took another sip as he said, "I can top that one..." as I listened and found myself wiping tears out of my eyes I recognized that realistically I didn't want to stuff all these feelings back in, there was something here that I was going to explore.

For the rest of the meal, we talked about the best foods that we'd ever eaten. Somehow, we were talking about a plan for him to come into Toronto, when all this was done and try a few of my 'go to's.' It was both scary and exhilarating that we were making possible plans for our future. Right now, I just didn't have it in me to fight it. 

Once we were done eating, we cleared the dishes together. He put on some music and washed while I dried. It was new yet somehow familiar and when he started to serenade me along Keith Urban I stood there for a moment, feeling like I was free-falling.

I hung the tea towel and walked over to my bag, needing a moment to settle my nerves. I grabbed my phone and looked at the time. "Shit. It's an early morning tomorrow. I should get going. Thank you for dinner."

He walked me to the door, and I turned back to give him one last thank you but he was closer than I had expected. I lost my balance for a second and my hand rested on his chest to keep me from falling. He caught my arm and pulled me a little bit closer.

The magnetic pull was undeniable. I wasn't sure who was moving, maybe it was both of us. All I knew was that our lips were touching, lingering and then the soft touches weren't quite enough.

He pulled back, his pupils were dilated and his cheeks were flushed. Then his lips were back on mine. I was diving in, angling to get closer. My hands found their way to his hair, tugging on his curls.

He nibbled on my bottom lip, pulling it out and then used the opening to touch our tongues. His groan washed over me but seemed to slow him down. He lightly brushed our lips again, just the briefest caress before pulling away.

I backed up, blinking and trying to refocus. His smile met mine and I whispered, "Thank you again."

I walked to my car in a daze and as I caught a look at my face in the rear-view mirror. My beaming smile looked back at me. 

Regardless of everything that happened in the past, it was hard to doubt him now. Was it scary? Yup. But it was also pure magic and my lips continued to tingle as I drove home.

I had said I wanted to test the waters, but as I turned into the parking spot behind the brewery and made my way up the stairs to my apartment, I worried that I had already fallen right into the deep end.