All of You (30 page)

He reached down and gathered me in his arms
and kissed me deeply. He moved his hands down and grabbed my butt,
lifting me up against him. I clutched at his shoulders before
moving my hands to his hair. He moaned into my mouth as I wrapped
my legs around his waist and hooked my ankles together behind
him.

Lincoln pushed me back against refrigerator
and was kissing me deeply when I heard hoots and hollers from
around us. A handful of popcorn flew at our faces.

“Hey, I don’t want to have to see that!”
Kennedy protested and threw another handful of popcorn at us. But
Lincoln ignored her and continued to kiss me, undeterred by his
sister’s protest. He was creating a yearning inside me, and all I
wanted to do was shift my hips and rub against him.

“Yeah, Lincoln. Control yourself, at least
until you’ve had a few drinks. Then you have an excuse,” Rebecca
said, laughing.

Knowing he had guests he should be paying
attention to, I let my legs drop from his waist and pulled back to
look at him. He gave me a private smile, and I bit my lip, feeling
his love for me.

Sighing loudly, he slowly lowered me to the
floor and gave me one last quick peck. I felt a little
uncomfortable when I looked over at our family and friends and
found them all watching us with curiosity.

I fanned my face with my hand, as if I was
overheated, and laughed. “Whew! I need a drink after that.” I tried
to hide my embarrassment.

Lincoln chuckled and kissed my forehead. He
popped the top on another beer and handed it to me, taking big
gulps from his own. I was surprised to see I had already finished
my second beer, but we were celebrating and the drinks went down
well.

I couldn’t contain my smile as I sipped my
beer and listened to Lincoln discuss the game with everyone in the
kitchen. I leaned into him, and he wrapped his arm around my
shoulder as Kennedy presented a large cake that had “Happy Birthday
#14” written in Blackhawk colors on the top.

“Make a wish, baby,” I whispered in his ear.
Lincoln smiled shyly, blew out the candles, and kissed me intensely
in front of everyone as they sang a horribly off key verse of Happy
Birthday. It was perfect.

Five beers later, I sat on Lincoln’s lap in a
wooden Adirondack chair on the deck near the fire. A majority of
the partygoers had left, and the few stragglers had made their way
to the deck. It wasn’t exactly warm outside, but with the fire and
blankets, it was comfortable.

Lincoln was wearing the hat and scarf I
knitted him, and I felt totally happy snuggling against his chest.
I giggled at something Kennedy said and set my empty bottle on the
deck. I had a serious buzz going on. “You’re such a lightweight,”
Lincoln said, nuzzling into my ear. “You’re drunk, aren’t you?”

“Maybe just a little,” I answered and kissed
his neck as he chuckled at my reply. “Are you having fun?”

“I was. Now I’m going to have to worry about
taking care of your drunk ass.”

I knew he was teasing, but I gasped and sat
up, cupping my hands against Lincoln’s face. “No, no, no. I want
you to have fun at your party. I’ll stop drinking.”

“Princess, it’s fine. I like taking care of
you.”

“But it’s your birthday. You should be having
fun. Drink up. I’ll get you another beer.” I kissed him quickly and
stood up, but swayed slightly on my feet once I was upright.
Lincoln sat forward and grabbed my hips, steadying me. “I’m fine!”
I exclaimed and pulled out of his grasp.

“I got her,” Kennedy said, coming up beside
me and grabbing my arm, leading me into the house. I grabbed
another beer for my man, a bottle of water for myself and made up a
small plate of cheese and crackers. Kennedy grabbed the whole bowl
of popcorn.

I fell back into Lincoln’s lap once I
returned to the fire and handed him his beer before kissing him
intensely.

“Knock it off before I dump this whole bowl
of popcorn on you two!” Kennedy hollered from across the fire.
Everyone within earshot laughed.

“Hey, it’s my birthday,” Lincoln said before
kissing me again.

“Don’t push me, bro,” Kennedy said, trying to
sound threatening.

“You should have brought Brian if you were
feeling left out, Ken.”

“And then what? We’d have one big make-out
party? I think that’s called an orgy and that shit ain’t
happening,” Kennedy snapped back at Lincoln with humor, and I just
about spit out my mouthful of water.

“For the record,” Deacon chimed in. “If we’re
talking orgies, I’d just like to state I’m one of the few single
guys here not related to someone else. Just something to keep in
mind, ladies.” He looked around with an impish leer and puffed his
chest out.

“Yeah, that shit ain’t happening either,
Deacon,” Kennedy said while throwing popcorn at him, and everyone
laughed.

The laughter died out and Deacon sat forward
in his chair. “All right, all right. If we’re not going to have an
orgy…” He looked around as if hoping someone would volunteer. “No?
Fine. Then we should play a drinking game.”

“Oh God. I haven’t played a drinking game
since college,” Rebecca said, sounding hesitant yet eager at the
same time.

When no one voiced a strong opposition to his
suggestion, Deacon’s eyes lit up and he asked for game
suggestions.

“It’s probably a good thing you switched to
water, baby,” Lincoln said in my ear. Between the two of us, we had
polished off the plate of cheese and crackers and my buzz was
wearing off.

“I’m good now. You drink up,” I said to him
and stood up. “Who wants another one before we start?” I asked to
the circle of people around the fire.

Several people indicated they did and held up
empty bottles. I collected the empties, and returned with
refreshments, passing them out to everyone before grabbing the
popcorn bowl from Kennedy and returning to my seat on Lincoln’s
lap. He wrapped his arms around me and held me close to him.

“Okay, we’re going to play Never Have I
Ever!” Deacon announced, and a few people groaned.

“What’s ‘Never Have I Ever’?” I asked Lincoln
quietly.

“Stupidest game ever.” Lincoln shook his head
before saying, “Popcorn.”

I looked up and saw he had his mouth open
expectantly. I smirked and grabbed a handful of popcorn and tossed
a few kernels in his mouth. He chewed and grinned.

“Good Lord, now she’s feeding him,” Kennedy
said.

Lincoln’s head whipped toward his sister.
“Hey, what’s your problem?”

“Nothing,” she said, snuggling back in her
chair with a grin on her face. “I just like giving you a hard time,
bro.”

Lincoln rolled his eyes but then opened his
mouth to me again, and I fed more popcorn to him.

“Christ, can we play already?” Deacon asked,
and everyone focused attention on him. “Okay, never have I ever
gone sky diving.”

I looked around the circle as Lincoln’s
teammate Matt took a swig of his mixed drink. I turned to Lincoln,
confused.

He moved his mouth to my ear and explained,
“Deacon has never been sky diving, but Matt has so Matt has to take
a drink.”

“Oooh… well, apparently I wouldn’t have had
to switch to water. I haven’t done a whole lot,” I said quietly so
only Lincoln could hear.

“Just wait. It’ll turn dirty in a while.
That’s when most people get slammed.”

“Dirty?”

“Sexual. You’d catch up quick, considering
what we’ve done,” he said with a big grin on his face.

I blushed and watched as the game moved on to
the next person in the circle, which happened to be my sister.
“Okay… never have I ever… um… oh! Never have I ever broken a bone,”
said Rebecca.

Several of the people in their circle took a
drink, including Lincoln. “You’ve broken a bone?” I asked him
quietly.

He shrugged and smiled. “Hey, I’m a hockey
player.”

“Oh,” I simply said in reply. That made
sense. It was a rough sport.

The game moved on. The girl sitting next to
Rebecca, who I thought was named Avery, thought for a moment. She
turned to the guy next to her and pointedly said, “Never have I
ever… hid on a Ferris wheel after being chased by a clown through a
carnival.”

Shrieks of laughter sounded through the
circle. The man next to Avery rolled his eyes and took a long drink
of his beer.

“Oh my God. What?!?” exclaimed another
girl.

The man rolled his eyes again. “There was an
incident… involving a water gun and a psychotic clown,” he said
with humor. Everyone laughed again. “Well, it was his own fault for
wearing those stupid big shoes.” I laughed until my sides hurt.

The game continued around the circle and, as
Lincoln predicted, people’s responses were getting more and more
perverted, and I ended up blushing and taking a swig of Lincoln’s
beer occasionally. And every time I did, Lincoln would chuckle and
kiss the side of my head.

By the time the game got around the circle to
my turn, Kennedy and Carter had left the party. Kennedy wanted to
get home to her husband and kids, and Carter’s excuse was “it was
getting late.”

I saw Lincoln roll his eyes as his brother’s
inability to relax and enjoy the party, but he didn’t give him too
hard of a time. Besides, Carter was being extremely helpful with
the whole Mackenzie photograph thing, so I hugged both Lincoln’s
siblings as they left and promise to be in touch.

“Think of a good one, Jillian!” Deacon
shouted to me from across the fire as the game continued.

I thought for a moment, biting my lip. “Ok…
never have I ever been skinny-dipping.”

“Now we’re talking!” Deacon exclaimed and
took a long swig of his beer. I look around the circle and saw
several people drinking, including my sister.

“Rebecca!” I exclaimed with surprise.

“What? It was no biggie. Remember that summer
I went to camp? We all went skinny-dipping in the lake.”

“The all-girls bible camp?!” I shrieked while
laughing, and Rebecca nodded.

Everyone in the circle laughed, and Deacon
spit his beer out with shock.

“Oh. That’s hot. Please tell me you practiced
kissing with each other too?” he said, licking his lips and eyeing
Rebecca.

She threw her head back with laugher and
smacked Deacon on the chest. “No, we did not.”

“Damn. I’ll just have to use my imagination
then,” Deacon said and leaned extremely close to my sister and
waggled his eyebrows. Rebecca rolled her eyes but didn’t pull away
from him.

I smiled and looked to Lincoln to get his
opinion of his friend, but found Lincoln was just setting down his
beer. “Did you take a drink? You’ve been skinny-dipping?”

“Yeah. I mean I have this nice private beach
and a hot tub right there.” He pointed to the end of the deck.

“Hot tub?! Let’s go!” one of the girls said,
standing up.

“Hells yes!” Deacon replied and rushed over
to pull off the insulating cover from the hot tub. “All right,
Linc?”

Lincoln shrugged. “Wanna go?” he said quietly
into my ear.

I shook my head frantically as I watched the
girl strip down to her bra and panties while shrieking about how
cold it was.

Deacon hit the buttons and bubbles erupted,
and mood lighting glowed from within the tub. Another couple stood
up and began removing all clothes except their underwear as well.
My eyes flashed to my sister in panic.

“Let’s go inside, Jilly,” Rebecca said,
standing and holding her hand out for me. Rebecca understood my
panic.

“Rebecca! Aren’t you going to come in? Plenty
of room! And if not, you can always sit on my lap!” Deacon called
over to Rebecca. He had stripped down to his boxer briefs and was
currently leaning his naked torso over the side, ushering for my
sister to join them.

Rebecca looked back at me, and I could see
the conflict in her eyes. “Go ahead,” I told my sister as I stood
up to go back inside.

“Where are you going?” Lincoln asked me as I
left him sitting by the fire alone.

“I’m cold,” I simply said and retreated
inside.

When Lincoln found me, I was cleaning the
kitchen, putting food in containers and positioning them
Tetris-style in the refrigerator. I was attempting to find a lid
for a certain odd-sized bowl when Lincoln wrapped his arms around
my waist from behind and nuzzled my neck. I pushed out of his arms
and stepped away from him, trying to ignore him.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked me as he moved
close behind me again.

“Nothing,” I replied, irritated.

“Jillian…” he said slowly. “When I ask you
what’s wrong, it’s ’cause I want to fix it. Whatever it is.”

I turned around and looked up at his face
full of concern. I didn’t know how to articulate my feelings. I
felt embarrassed, insecure, and jealous over the girls in the hot
tub. Not because they were half-naked around my man, but over the
simple fact they were comfortable enough with themselves to be
half-naked in the hot tub.

“You can’t fix everything, Lincoln.”

“Maybe I can,” he said, smiling arrogantly,
causing me to roll my eyes at him. “Will you please tell me?” he
asked again and I rested my forehead on his chest but didn’t answer
him.

He circled his arms around me and pulled me
close to him. “Should I guess? Are you mad Deacon is hitting on
your sister?”

I snorted. “No. I actually think they’d be
good together.”

“Me too,” he said and kissed the top of my
head. “Are you mad I wanted you to stop drinking?” I shook my head
against his chest. “Are you mad I ate your popcorn?” I rolled my
eyes and shook my head again. “Are you mad I keep asking
questions?”

I exhaled with frustration. “I’m not
mad.”

“Well, you’re not happy either. And that
needs to be fixed. Do you want me to keep guessing?”

I pulled out of his grasp and walked a few
feet away, standing with my back to him. “I was…
uncomfortable.”