Linc: How was your day, Miss Bennet? I have all my ingredients set out in front of me and I’m ready to go when you are.
“I can’t believe you’re cooking. How long have you known this chick? Days? And you’re cooking?” Russ had joined him in the shared kitchen and was heckling him from the dining room table.
“Keep sounding off, asshole, and you won’t get any.”
Russ dragged his index finger and thumb across his lips. “I’ll say no more. But know this, I’ve already clocked where the fire extinguisher is, and I’m ready to dial 9-1-1 if you fuck this up and burn the place down. If by some miracle you make the freakin’ pasta though, Jude will want some.” He patted his stomach and licked his lips.
Elizabeth Bennet: I wasn’t sure I’d hear from you again.
Linc: A gentleman always keeps his word, m’lady.
He smiled, but something about how she was speaking about herself tugged at his heart.
Linc: You really don’t have many friends, do you?
Elizabeth Bennet: I don’t, it’s pathetic.
Elizabeth Bennet: You’ll wanna bring a pot of water to the boil for your pasta.
He filled the pot with water, set it on the stove and turned it on.
Linc: It’s not pathetic. It’s easier to talk to me because I’m just some faceless guy on the phone. There’s no judgment here. It’s kinda freeing.
Elizabeth Bennet: Is that why you talk to me? Because it’s freeing?
Linc: I can be myself.
Elizabeth Bennet: And you can’t beyond the phone?
Linc: Not really. And I’m semi convinced I’m gonna flunk out and disappoint everyone in my life.
Linc: This got heavy quickly, sorry. You don’t need my baggage. Tell me this, what am I supposed to do with these 6lbs of shredded cheese?
Elizabeth Bennet: No need to apologize, I get it. I feel a similar way. Not about the flunking though. If I flunked, my mom would literally disown me. I have questions about the quantity of cheese.
Linc: I figured I’d rather over buy than come up short. Size matters.
Elizabeth Bennet: Are you feeding the entire dorm?
Linc: It’s a possibility.
She texted him through the various steps of creating a mass batch of mac and cheese. She never once made him feel foolish for not having an ovenproof dish to bake it in. It cooked just the same in a roasting pan he borrowed from one of the freshmen and it even resembled gooey, creamy baked mac and cheese when he served a heaped plate to himself and Russ.
Russ speared some pasta onto his fork and took a bite. He let out a satisfied moan. “Shit. I dunno who she is, man. But she sure does make a mean mac and cheese. You gonna talk to her again?”
Linc swallowed a mouthful of the most delicious mac and cheese he’d ever tried. What was the harm in talking to a girl he didn’t know over text? “Yeah, I think I am.”
Chapter 4
Lincoln
Few things in life made Linc’s dick harder than a fine ass in the air. Hot damn. Whoever was attached to that ass was about to get the Lincoln Scott VIP treatment, and maybe later she’d help him out with the throbbing cock about to burst out of his pants.
“Car trouble?”
The little yelp and gasp from whoever she was made a chuckle rumble deep in his chest. He propped his forearm on the edge of the open hood and crossed his legs at the ankle as he took her in. Well-loved chucks, yoga pants hugging her thighs and the curve of her round ass, and a blue t-shirt riding up so a sliver of skin was on show. She straightened her spine as she stepped out from under the hood.
His eyes stayed glued to the still-showing strip of skin at her midriff before drifting up over her ample cleavage. Thick, wavy, chestnut brown hair was pulled into a low loose ponytail draped over her shoulder.Oh God.Cleo Martinez turned to face him, eyebrow arched and a smear of oil under her right cheek. Piercing hazel eyes sparkled under a deep frown. She folded her arms. At half a foot shorter than him, she was all curves and sass. Nothing good could come from lusting after that ass. That ass was out of his league. If only he could somehow tell that to the unyielding boner in his pants.
