Page 27 of Eight Seconds to Fly

I managed to avoid everyone on the way out of the building, dragging my gear like a lodestone. I loaded my crap into the back of a cab, and the mute cab driver got me to the hotel in half the time as my prior trip.

My truck still sat out the front, and I sucked in a deep breath. I was… nervous. What if he’d decided that I was too hard. That he couldn’t handle me dating other guys. Because, I was going to be honest with myself now, which was a new one for me. Normally I stuck my head in the sand and pretended shit was okay even if it was all burning down around me.

The truth was what happened with Beau wasn’t the same as those faceless guys in dark alleyways who scratched an itch, no matter how blasé I was about it last night. He was a little piece of my past. He saw me, the real me. Tessa May Everett, not T.M. Moore.

But Frankie was like another limb to me. Vital to my survival. So what the fuck was I meant to do with that?

I scanned my key on the card reader by the door and pushed it open slowly. I peeked around, and when I saw Frankie sitting on the bed, a relieved shudder rolled through my body. He was still here. He was freshly showered, his hair still damp and a little messy, like he’d been running his fingers through it.

When he looked at me, his face was soft. He opened his arms and my body was moving before I thought about it. I launched myself from halfway across the room into his arms and he caught me easily. Of course he did. He was always there to catch me.

I just curled into his chest for a moment, sucked in the familiar smell of him. He held me tight, and I let him. Eventually, I relaxed a little and settled into his chest, arms and legs around him like a koala.

“I’m sorry,Querida. I shouldn’t have dropped that on you out of jealousy.”

I nodded, but I didn’t look up at him. Talking into his chest was easier. “I was a bit shocked.”

He chuckled against my hair and then stiffened. “I can imagine. My, uh, delivery was off, but it was the truth.”

“I know.”

“We have to talk about this. It will, err, fester?” He gave that little nod he always did when he thought of the correct word in English. “You cannot ignore it like you do other things that hurt too much.”

I sighed heavily against the hard muscles of his shoulder and pulled back enough that I could see his face for this next bit. “I honestly thought you loved me like a sister. The way you loved Luiz.”

His laugh vibrated beneath my palms. “Very much not how I love my sisters or Luiz,Gatinha.”

I slapped his arm. “I get that now.” I sobered. “I love you too, Frankie. So damn much. The thought of you leaving me makes my soul hurt. We were buddies when Luiz was here too, just three friends. And when Luiz left, I didn’t want to rock the boat. Because I need you. If you left, I don’t know…” I shuddered. “It didn't occur to me that I should make that leap from friend to something more, even though now I could see how we were in a relationship without the fun parts. The signs are all there. I hated when you went home with other girls. You were my rock when I felt like I was drowning. You’re the first person I want to find when I ride a bull or any other important moment.”

I searched his eyes, looking for something, and his bottomless green eyes laid his soul bare. There was a world of promise there, which made this next bit harder. So instead of saying the words, I surprised us both and kissed him. His lips were full and pillowy, soft in a way that should be illegal. He sipped at my lips, tasting them, his tongue sliding between them and curling into my mouth in a way that was completely mind blowing. Because you could just imagine where else he could do that.

My brain fritzed at the thought.

His arms banded around my waist and pulled me tight to his chest, and I could feel the hard length of his cock against the seam of my jeans.

My body had a mind of its own as I ground down on his cock. He groaned into my mouth, snapping me out of my hormone-induced haze. I pulled back. I couldn’t take this further without finishing what I had to say. “Wait, wait. I have to finish.”

My lady bits disagreed wholeheartedly. The talking bit could wait till she finished. Luckily, I had a bit more self-control than that. Barely.

Deep breaths through the nose.

“Obviously we have chemistry.” In spades. “The problem is, that thing with Beau the other day didn’t mean nothing.”

Frankie frowned, then he gave me a half smile. “I know.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your friend Branch tracked me down last night. Dragged me along to visit your other friend Beau. Then he punched him in the eye.”

I was off his lap and on my feet in a flash. “He did what?” I screeched, wincing at the pitch of my own voice.

He was grinning now. “Not going to lie,Gatinha,it was kind of satisfying. But your boy Beau, he just stood back up, looked at me, and said ‘You get a free shot, but I am not giving her up’. So I nailed him one in the stomach, because I am a lover not a fighter. Now we are good. We have a gentleman's agreement that we will not stand in your way and you will decide when you decide.”

“You and Beau decided that?”

He nodded, a sly grin on his face. “And Branch.”

“Pardon me?”

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