All of You
man. Lincoln raised his hand up and shouted
for the group’s attention. “Everyone! Hey! This is Jillian!”
Lincoln announced as I shyly tried to hide behind him. Most of the
group waved to me and shouted words of greeting before going back
to their conversations. It seemed everyone knew each other, but
there were definite cliques within the group. Lincoln leaned down
and spoke quieter, directly in my ear. His closeness and breath
against my cheek made me shiver.
    “This perv is Deacon.” Lincoln motioned to
the man who had wanted to kiss him at midnight but who was now
talking to a pretty redhead. “He’s on the team with me.”
    I pulled away from him slightly and looked at
him, confused. “Team?” I asked.
    “Um… yeah. And that’s my sister, Kennedy,”
Lincoln said, not stopping to clarify my confusion, and pointed to
a woman on the other side of the table. “Most people call her Ken
or Kenny…” Lincoln trailed off as I took several small steps
backward away from him. Oh shit. “Jillian, what’s wrong?” he asked,
looking at me with concern.
    “Kennedy and Lincoln. And you have a brother,
Carter?” I asked as the pieces of the puzzle fell together. Lincoln
nodded with a sad but concerned look on his face. I pulled my hand
out of his. “Your father is Senator Monaghan, right? You’re Lincoln
Monaghan? THE Lincoln Monaghan??”
    Lincoln exhaled, obviously frustrated, and
asked, “Will you let me buy you that drink before you freak out?
Please?”
    I shook my head and looked down. My emotions
were getting the better of me. This was not good. I couldn’t be
involved with any guy, especially Lincoln Monaghan.
    Lincoln grabbed my arm and pulled me with him
as he walked toward the bar. When we were a safe distance away from
his friends, I dug my heels in and refused to go any further with
him. He stopped and turned back to me. “All right. Go ahead.”
    “Go ahead?! Go ahead with what?!” I said
while trying not to freak out.
    “Go ahead with your freak-out. It’s nothing I
haven’t heard before,” Lincoln said sadly. I stared up at him. What
did he mean, he’d heard it before? I highly doubted this gorgeous
man had ever had a woman refuse him as I was about to. He couldn’t
know what I was about to say yet he had a resigned look on his face
as if this was inevitable.
    Before I could start my list of all the
reasons why I should walk out of the bar right now, Lincoln started
talking. “I was just hoping we could get to know each other before
you realized who I am.” He looked so sad.
    “I don’t understand,” I admitted to Lincoln.
That’s not what I expected him to say.
    “You don’t understand why I wouldn’t want you
to know who I am?” Lincoln asked doubtfully. “I barely convinced
you to let me watch the parade with you. Would your reaction have
been the same if you knew who I was then?”
    I realized he meant he didn’t want me to
think of him as Lincoln Monaghan, the senator’s son, the
professional hockey player, and the celebrity.
    “That doesn’t really have anything to do with
anything, Lincoln. I didn’t know who you were, and I didn’t think
we should be together, and it’s even clearer to me now. I should
go.”
    “Go??” he asked, confused. “Why would you go?
We just got here.”
    “Lincoln…” I didn’t want to try to explain
this to him in the middle of a bar.
    “I owe you a drink,” Lincoln said,
interrupting me. “And an apology. And I’m not letting you leave
without either one.” His face was serious but friendly. I didn’t
understand why he wasn’t taking no for an answer, but he wanted me
there and would not be happy if I left. I nodded and walked toward
the bar with Lincoln following behind.
    The bar area was swamped, but Lincoln quickly
made his way up to the edge and ordered a beer for himself and
asked me what I wanted. I scooted in closer to the bar and shouted
for a peach sunrise. The bartender turned to make my drink, and I
looked up

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