He slowly reversed his footsteps and made his way to the front desk. Either he was losing his mind, somehow translating Emma’s voice into Daisy’s, or Emma was impersonating Daisy, but why? Just to torture him?

Lincoln skidded to a halt as his eyes registered the scene in front of him.

Or maybe there was a third option.

Maybe it wasn’t Emma at all.

Maybe Daisy Sinclair—his Daisy—was sitting at the Oxford reception desk, laughing up at a very interested-looking Nick Ballantine.

Chapter 25

Daisy had played this moment in her head about a million different ways. She’d even sweet-talked a reluctant Cassidy into pretending to be Lincoln so she could practice Emma’s direction of “be cool.”

But when she turned and met Lincoln’s blue eyes, there was no restraint, only instinct.

She slowly pushed back her chair, stood, walked to him, and threw her arms around his neck.

“Daisy?”

The word was both question and plea, and she closed her eyes and nodded as his arms very slowly came around her.

“Daisy.” This time it was a whisper against her neck, and she felt her eyes water. So much for Emma’s instructions to play it cool.

She wanted the moment to last forever, but there was a throat-clearing from behind them. She turned, and saw a confused Nick watching them, forearms resting on the high reception desk.

“Oh! Lincoln, this is Nick. He’s the guy who—”

“We’ve met,” Lincoln said, his voice just a touch unfriendly. Daisy frowned at him.

Nick grinned at Lincoln. “I didn’t pee on your desk, Mathis, but you should know I’m about to pee on this one.”

Daisy scrunched her nose in puzzlement at the gross statement. “Wait, what?”

Nick didn’t respond, because he was too busy glaring at the dazzling brunette who approached the desk.

“Lincoln,” Taylor Carr said as she sauntered over to them. “Welcome back. I see you already know our receptionist.”

Lincoln’s gaze snapped back to Daisy. “Sorry, what?”

“Temporary receptionist,” Daisy said.

“Where the hell is Jo?” Lincoln asked, referring to Oxford’s usual receptionist.

“Bed rest,” Daisy explained. “Minor pregnancy complication. Everything’s okay, but the doctor’s playing it safe. It was unexpected though, so they needed someone in a hurry.”

“Uh-huh,” he said, staring at her. “And the only one they could find was in Charlotte, North Carolina?”

Taylor wound an arm around Daisy’s waist. “Well, our girl had already relocated by that point.”

Lincoln’s gaze snapped to the troublemaking Taylor, and then back to Daisy. “Wait. You live here?”

“She does,” Taylor said. “And I promptly made her my new best friend, mostly for the purpose of telling her how to ward off the affections of Bastard Ballantine here.”

“Not sure how you’d have any experience with that,” Nick said in a lazy tone from behind them. “Seeing as you’ve never been the object of them.”

Daisy pulled Taylor’s arm from around her waist and gently shoved her away. “Perhaps you and Nick could take your cat and dog routine elsewhere, hmm?”

“Which is Taylor?” Nick asked. “The pussy or the bitch?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Taylor said, her voice coming out in a purr that implied she associated more with the feline variety.

Daisy lifted her fingers to her temples. “I wish someone would have warned me that this job came with babysitting duties.”

Taylor blew both her and Lincoln a kiss before shooting Nick the bird. “Daisy, we still on for lunch later?”

“Definitely,” Daisy said with a smile, even as she was acutely aware of Lincoln trying to sort all of this out. Perhaps the surprise factor wasn’t the best approach. He seemed…pissed.

“And what about dinner later?” Nick asked. “Are we on for that?”

Crap. Crap crap crap.

She liked Nick Ballantine. A lot. What had started as grabbing coffee a couple times a week had turned into the occasional lunch, then a drink after work. And now dinner was on the table.

Daisy knew Nick was interested in her, and heck, she was pretty sure she was on the verge of being interested back, but it was darn hard to think about another man when Lincoln was right here in the flesh.

Then again, she hadn’t heard from Lincoln in more than a month. Not once had he contacted her since leaving her a half-assed note and running away in the middle of the night.

She was right to move on with someone else. And Nick was nice. He liked her.

Daisy understood why Lincoln behaved the way he did, she really did. But as Emma had pointed out a dozen times over the past month, it was time Daisy looked out for Daisy. She wanted to move forward—had realized that she’d been using her experience with Gary as a shield more than anything else.

If her time with Lincoln had taught her anything, it was that she didn’t want to be alone after all. She was ready to love again—risk again.

And yes, she’d hoped that person would be Lincoln.

But he’d walked away. Not only that, he’d all but sworn up and down that he’d never be what she was looking for.

Maybe Nick was.

Nick Ballantine was steady. He wouldn’t disappear every time things got complicated. And she liked his lack of conventionalism. Liked that he was at home in a suit and high-rise as he was stirring martinis behind a bar.