hand as I tried to formulate my explanation. “All of this is only unfolding now. Neither of us knew it when we first hooked up.”
“Sure, but now?” Her lips formed a flat line as she banged a metal bowl down on the counter. “Now you know who he is, who your father is to him. What if he’s only using you as possible leverage against your dad?”
“He’s not,” I insisted, bending over to check on the baguette and drizzling an olive oil mixture over it before placing it back in the oven. “I know it might seem like it’s a possibility, but he’s really not doing that. We hardly ever even talk about my dad. The one time we did, it didn’t end well.”
“It doesn’t mean he’s not using the mere fact that he’s slept with you as possible leverage against your dad to influence the decision,” Haley argued, keeping a close eye on my reactions. “I’m just playing devil’s advocate here. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“He’s not using me,” I said softly after thinking about it for a second. “I honestly think that it’s still a problem for him that I am who I am. I think he would have preferred it if I wasn’t my father’s daughter. I really don’t think any of this is a ploy against my dad.”
My friend eventually shrugged. “Okay, as long as you’ve taken the possibility into consideration. I just wanted to make sure you had.”
“I hadn’t thought about it before, but I have now, and I don’t think it’s an issue.” I supposed many people would have thought I was an idiot to trust him under the circumstances, but I did. “Lincoln’s a good guy. He wouldn’t be fucking me to get back at my father.”
“A good guy?” She arched a well-manicured brow at me. “He sounds like a little bit of a troublemaker if you ask me.”
“I think he just follows his own head,” I said. “I’ve thought about it a lot, and I don’t think he likes causing trouble. I just think he’s good at what he does, and he knows it, so he knows what calls should have been made.”
“Then why isn’t he the one making said calls?” she asked, crumbling Danish cheese into the dough that had been resting in the mixing bowl. “You’re not usually one to go for the guys who don’t respect the hierarchy and the service.”
“No, I don’t, but I don’t think he disrespects those things.” I flipped the chicken and coated it in more marinade. “As for why he’s not making the calls, that was the subject matter of the one argument we’ve had. Dad thinks he lacks ambition. He says it’s not that, but he also didn’t explain why he’s not trying to climb the ranks.”
Haley punched the dough down, blowing a strand of hair off her face while frowning at me. “Let me get this straight. This guy wants to do what he wants, defies orders, but can’t bother to try to become the person in charge?”
“Don’t say it like that,” I groaned. “It sounds terrible when you say it like that.”
“I say it as I see it.” She shrugged. “He just sounds like he’s bad news.”
“He’s not,” I argued firmly. “There’s something more to him. Things aren’t just black and white with him. I don’t know how I know, but I can tell.”
“Are you sure it’s not just wishful thinking?” she asked after pausing for a moment. “You’re having fun with him so you’re trying to make up excuses for him?”
“It’s not that.” I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut, deciding to finally admit what I’d suspected for a few days now. “I’m falling for him, Haley. I’ve looked into his eyes when he lets his guard down and I’m telling you he’s not bad news. I think he’s a lot like me actually.”
Brown eyes wide as she came to stand next to me, she turned off the heat on the pan and focused on me. “Do you realize what you just said?”
“Yep.” I winced but then gave her a soft smile. “I’m falling for him. I know I said it, and I meant it, too. There’s so much more to him than what meets the eye. I’ve skimmed the surface and I may have dipped a little below it even. There’s something real between us. I just know it.”
“Okay, but does he?” she asked.
I lifted my shoulders, shaking my head as I bent to retrieve the baguette. The