All of My Soul (12 page)

Lincoln tried not to let his frustrations
with the investigation show, but it was easy to see how much he
hated that no one had been caught. I came home from the hospital to
a brand-new security system installed at my sister’s house. I
wanted to protest since I still thought it was more likely that
this was a fluke event. I didn’t think the tainted drink was meant
specifically for me, but when Lincoln said he wouldn’t be able to
leave for away games knowing I wasn’t safe, I relented. Plus, on
the off chance someone was trying to hurt me, I didn’t want Tabitha
or Rebecca to be in harm’s way.

The one bright spot in this whole mess was
that now I had plenty of time to work on my thesis. In the month
that followed my hospital stay, I got so much done. I spent late
nights interpreting data and forming it into a cohesive paper. Not
because I was pushing myself or because I was stressed but simply
because I would get so wrapped up in my work that I would lose
track of the time, and before I knew it, it would be two o’clock in
the morning.

That was how Lincoln found me one night at
the end of April. I had a little over a month before my thesis was
due and had made significant progress, but I still had plenty of
work to do.

I sat cross-legged on one of Lincoln’s dining
room chairs with a blanket draped over my shoulders. I had been
staring at my laptop for endless hours. The only break I took was
to turn on the television to have Lincoln’s game playing in the
background. The Blackhawks had won their game in Minnesota tonight,
and Lincoln was due home sometime after midnight, so it surprised
me when my chair was suddenly pulled backward from the table.

I let out a small scream that turned into a
laugh when I looked back and saw it was Lincoln who had moved my
chair.

“You scared me! You’re home early!”

He crossed his arms and frowned at me
slightly. “Actually, I’m not. It’s after midnight.”

“Is it?” I looked at the clock on the wall.
Holy crap, he was right. I had no idea I had been working so
long.

“You’re working too hard. You’re going to
burn yourself out.”

“I was just working on this one graph before
I e-mail it to my advisor for his approval.”

Lincoln tugged on my hand, pulling me out of
my seat and away from my laptop. “Let’s have a midnight snack and
talk.”

“Okay. Just give me a second to finish this
one thing.” I tried to pull against him.

“Jillian. Step away from the computer. Come
on. Kitchen. Food. Let’s go.” He swooped in and wrapped his arms
around me. Pulling my back up against his chest, he lifted me off
the ground.

“No. No. No. No.” I protested as he carried
me toward the kitchen. “Okay! Okay! Just let me save it quick!” I
struggled out of his grasp as he set me down.

“Fine. But if you’re not in the kitchen in
one minute, I’m coming to get you.” He smacked my butt lightly as I
laughed and scampered away from him.

I needed to finish graphing this data, but
Lincoln was right. I could finish it in the morning before sending
it to my advisor. I saved my latest draft on my hard drive before I
uploaded it to my cloud storage as a backup and shut down my
computer.

Reaching up, I stretched my arms up over my
head and cracked my neck to each side. Lincoln was right; I had
been too wrapped up in my work.

I shuffled into the kitchen to find my man
standing at the counter slicing an avocado for the turkey
sandwiches he was making. Mm… It was good to have him home.
Especially when he came home still wearing a stylish suit from
traveling. He had removed his suit coat, dress shirt, and shoes,
but he still looked good wearing just his trousers and white
undershirt.

I stepped up behind him and hugged him around
the waist, resting my cheek against his muscular shoulder
blade.

“Welcome home,” I said softly.

Abandoning the sandwiches, he turned in the
circle of my arms and kissed me lightly. “Now that is a better
greeting.”

“Sorry. I was distracted.”

“No kidding. You didn’t even hear me come
in.”

“I’m glad you’re home,” I told him as I
rested my head on his chest and closed my eyes.

He rubbed my back gently. “You’re working too
hard. You haven’t taken a day off since you got out of the
hospital.”

“I know. But it’s going so well. I just get
lost in it.”

Lincoln released me and carried the two
plates with the sandwiches to the breakfast bar. I grabbed two
bottles of water and a bowl of cut-up pineapple from the fridge and
sat down next to him on one of the high-top stools.

“So what did you get done since I left?” he
asked me before taking a huge bite from his sandwich.

I explained the latest developments with my
thesis, and he seemed genuinely interested. He was patient with me
as I tried to articulate a certain theory I had, and he looked
proud of me as I related that theory to my research.

“It sounds really great, Jillian. Very
thorough and intelligent and well put together.”

“Thank you,” I said, feeling a little
embarrassed by his praise. “I still have quite a bit to do, but
once I get this graph done correctly, I’m going to e-mail it to my
advisor to see what he thinks.”

“You’re not planning on doing that tonight,
are you?”

I shook my head. “No. I can do that
tomorrow.”

Lincoln chewed the last bite of his sandwich
in silence while I picked at a piece of pineapple. He looked like
he was forming a thought in his mind, so I waited patiently while
he finished his meal.

“I have to be at the rink at noon tomorrow
for practice, but once that’s done, can we spend some time
together? No papers, no computers, no hockey. Just the two of
us?”

My heart clenched. I had tried to balance
everything in my life, but I knew my thesis was overwhelming my
time, but it was only for another month or so. I was far enough
along now though that I could spare some time away from it.

“Of course, baby. I’m sorry I’ve been working
on it so much.”

“Do not apologize for that. I know you’re
focused, and I’m so proud of you for working so hard, but you need
a break.”

I speared a piece of fruit with my fork and
held it up for Lincoln. He smiled and bit down on it, pulling it
off the tines and into his mouth.

“Do you have something in mind or do you want
to just hang out here?”

“Hmm… How would you feel about some
traveling?”

“Traveling?” The last time we had traveled
together was to Boston for Valentine’s Day, and the whole trip had
been magical. I couldn’t contain my smile as I asked him, “Where
to?”

He took my hand in his and began playing with
my fingers. “Well, we have a game against the Capitals on Saturday
night. What if we flew to D.C. after practice tomorrow? We can
spend the evening together and you can meet my parents and go to my
game with them on Saturday?”

My muscles tensed, and my mouth went dry.
“You want me to meet your parents?”

“Sure. Why not? I’ve met your mom.”

I chewed my lip with worry. “There’s a
difference, Linc. My mom is an office manager. Your dad is a US
senator.”

“So?”

“So I’ve never even met the mayor of Chicago,
much less the senator for the whole freaking state.”

“Do you want to meet the mayor of Chicago?”
he asked with a smirk. “I could arrange that.”

“Lincoln!” I cried with exasperation. “I know
you grew up with all this, but it’s a little overwhelming.”

“Hey, I’m sorry.” He grabbed my hand and
squeezed it. “Look, just relax. They’re just my parents, and
they’re looking forward to meeting you.”

“They are?”

“Of course. Kennedy won’t stop talking about
you,” he said with a smile.

I smirked at him. “Kennedy, huh?”

With a wide grin he kissed the top of my
head. “Well, I might have mentioned you a few times too. Maybe more
than a few.”

~~~~~~~~

My knees bounced as our private jet sailed
effortlessly through the puffy white clouds toward the East Coast.
It wasn’t the flying that had me nervous. It was the thought of
meeting Lincoln’s parents that made my pulse race. I kept repeating
in my head that this wasn’t a big deal, but I was secretly worried.
What if they didn’t like me? They knew about Mackenzie’s naked
picture of me. What if they thought I was irresponsible for being
in that situation? What if they told Lincoln he shouldn’t be with
me?

Lincoln’s large hand suddenly gripped my left
knee, stopping it from bouncing.

“You need to calm down. This weekend was
supposed to be relaxing for you.”

“Well, then you shouldn’t have suggested
meeting your parents.”

He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Come here,”
he demanded and tugged at my hand.

I unclasped my seat belt and crossed the tiny
aisle that separated my chair from his. There were only four
passenger seats on this plane altogether. The two empty front
chairs faced the back of the plane, and the two rear chairs faced
the front of the plane. Both sets of tan leather chairs were
divided down the middle by a small aisle, barely wide enough to
walk through.

Lincoln pulled me down into his lap, and I
snuggled against his chest, my head resting on his shoulder.

“What are you so worried about?” he asked.
“Is it because they are my parents or because my father is a
senator?”

“It’s kind of a combination.” Both reasons
were equally nerve-racking.

“Okay. Just don’t think about that for now.
Think about all the things we can do tonight. We can tour the
Capitol building or the White House.”

“I thought they didn’t give tours of the
White House anymore.”

He shrugged. “Tour requests have to come from
a member of congress, and I think I just might know of one that
would be willing to get us in.”

Oh no. What if Lincoln’s father wanted to
join us on the tour? I wasn’t prepared to meet him tonight. Well,
to be honest, I wasn’t prepared to meet him tomorrow either, but at
least that was tomorrow and not tonight.

Lincoln must have sensed my hesitancy. “Or if
you don’t like that idea, the botanical gardens are usually
outstanding this time of year. Or we could do a museum? The
National Gallery of Art is always interesting or the
Smithsonian—”

A loud gasp from me interrupted him. “The
Smithsonian? Oh, Lincoln. I would love to see that. I heard they
have the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz.”

He smiled. “They do. Do you want to do that
tonight? We can have a nice dinner once we land and then spend the
evening there.”

I closed my eyes and snuggled deeper into
Lincoln’s chest. “Mm… that sounds perfect, baby.”

“See? Perfect distraction,” he said, and I
smiled.

“No. I’m pretty sure I’m still worried, but
at least this will be fun.”

“Hmm…” Lincoln moved his hand to the zipper
on my puffer vest and began to pull it down slowly. “Well, I can
think of another activity that can be distracting and fun. Want to
join the Mile High Club?”

My eyes flew open in surprise at his sexual
innuendo. “What about the flight attendant?” I whispered. We were
sitting in the middle of the plane, totally out in the open if she
were to walk past.

Lincoln lowered his lips to my ear and softly
whispered, “There’s a bedroom in the back. Completely private.”

“There is?” I sat up slightly to look toward
the back of the plane, but only saw a wall with a door in the
middle. I had assumed it led to luggage storage or something.

“Totally and completely private,” Lincoln
assured me again.

When I looked at him and saw the hunger in
his eyes, desire unfolded inside me. I loved him so much. I didn’t
want to wait until we got to our hotel later to show him how much I
loved him.

Leaning in close to him, I kissed him gently
before pushing against his chest to stand up. He rose from his seat
and took my hand to lead me to the rear of the plane. Blushing
slightly, I wondered what the flight attendant would think when she
saw we had left the main seating area. She must be used to this,
though. Who would fly with their significant other in a private jet
and not make use of the bedroom?

As I walked through the door, I saw it was a
simple, yet classy bedroom. The bed was covered in a cream-and-gold
quilted comforter and sat toward the back of the room. A small
wooden desk was tucked against the sidewall, and floor-to-ceiling
closets stood on either side of the door we had just came through.
Why would anyone need a closet in a private jet? I opened the
closet door a crack and saw six small orange life vests and a
medium-sized kit labeled with a red cross.

A sharp click of metal from behind me drew my
attention back to Lincoln. He flipped the lock on the door and
looked at me with a wicked gleam in his eyes. “Completely private
and soundproof.”

Reaching behind his head, he grabbed the
collar of his long-sleeved polo shirt, and with one quick movement,
he pulled it over his head and let it fall to the floor. No matter
how many times I’d seen him naked, it still sent a rush through me.
My heart beat faster as I allowed my eyes to roam over his muscular
chest, and I licked my lips. He had taken off his shirt for a
reason. He knew his body turned me on. How could it not?

My fingers ached to trace the lines of his
muscles. I wanted to kiss his soft skin and inhale his manly scent.
I took a small step toward him and lightly brushed my fingertips
over the curves and bumps of his six-pack. My fingers splayed out
as I pushed my hand flat against his stomach, trying to touch as
much of him as possible.

I stepped even closer and circled my hands
around the curves of his waist until they met at the small of his
back. With a slight amount of pressure, I slowly drew a line with
my fingertips up his spine as I kissed his neck just below the edge
of his stubble.