92 Pacific Boulevard - Debbie Macomber [102]
Reluctantly he followed Mack and his sister back to the McAfees’ house to get Noelle, which meant another ten-minute delay.
“What’s this thing my sister has for you?” Linc demanded as they waited in the car. “Can’t you get it some other time?”
Lori gave an exaggerated sigh. “Are you sure you want to know?”
“Yes,” he insisted.
“Okay…It’s a special nightgown for our wedding night. It’s from France and it’s black silk. I…should’ve planned for this—only, well, I didn’t and now I’m sorry.”
“And where exactly did my sister get this?” Frankly Linc didn’t like the idea of Mary Jo passing off some secondhand nightgown to Lori.
“She said a friend gave it to her when it seemed she was going to marry Noelle’s father.”
“Oh.”
“You don’t mind, do you?”
He couldn’t very well broadcast his intention of removing this fancy French nightgown ten seconds after she put it on, so he answered with a halfhearted shrug. “I don’t mind if it’s important to you.”
“Everything about tonight is important to me.”
“Me, too,” Linc admitted.
After Noelle had been loaded into Mack’s car, Linc drove to the duplex on Evergreen Place. Lori hopped out of the truck, ran inside with Mary Jo and was back in less than five minutes.
By the time she returned she was grinning from ear to ear.
“What’s so funny?”
“Your sister. I like her. We’re going to be good friends.”
Wonderful, just wonderful. “You got that nightgown?”
“Got it.” She balanced the box on her lap. “Mary Jo wanted me to tell you it’s her wedding gift to you and me.”
“Great.”
Following Lori’s instructions, he drove to her apartment building and parked in the lot. He came around to help her out, then reached into the back for his suitcase. They walked toward the building arm in arm.
He’d never been to her apartment so he hadn’t realized how delicate and feminine it was, although he probably should’ve expected it. There were floral prints on the walls and the white sofa was decorated with a variety of pink pillows in varying sizes and fabrics. The kitchen was one that would make Martha Stewart proud. That was fine by Linc. He was thoroughly tired of his brothers’ cooking, not to mention his own.
“Should I put this in the bedroom?” he asked, grabbing his suitcase. The idea was to steer Lori in that direction as quickly as possible.
“Sure.”
Linc was in and out of the room in two seconds flat. “The bed’s got a canopy!”
“Yes, I know.”
As far as he was concerned, this should’ve been revealed long before their wedding night. “I can’t sleep under a canopy.” Call him silly or macho or anything you wanted; it was something he just couldn’t tolerate.
Lori said nothing. After a moment she gestured helplessly. “I only have the one bedroom.”
“Okay, fine, we’ll sleep on the sofa tonight.”
She studied him as if he’d lost his mind. Maybe he had. One thing was certain: he wasn’t sleeping in pink sheets with a froufrou canopy over his head. It would make him feel like…like he’d charged into the private domain of some princess.
Without commenting Lori disappeared inside the bedroom and quietly closed the door. Linc didn’t follow. Sitting down on the sofa, he picked up a magazine and started to flip through the pages.
He didn’t notice how many minutes passed before she came back, and when she did, the issue of Home and Garden slipped from his fingers and fell to the carpet.
Lori posed in the bedroom doorway, wearing a little piece of black silk. A little piece of nothing. Something seemed to be stuck in his throat as he tried not to stare. It didn’t work. He couldn’t look anywhere but at her.
“My sofa doesn’t turn into a bed, Linc,” she told him. “If we sleep there, we’ll both be uncomfortable.”
Sofa? What sofa?
“I’ll make sure the canopy comes down in the morning, okay?”
He nodded several times and still had trouble swallowing.
Lori held out her hand and Linc stood and walked toward her. She smiled up at him, her eyes filled with love.
Bending down, he slid his arms around her and half lifted her from the floor before lowering his mouth to hers. She threw her arms around his neck and returned