Page 27 of Gravity of Love
She nodded, her eyes wide as she sucked in a sharp breath. She seemed surprised that he knew what she was talking about.
“No, I haven’t. I thought it was a show for kids or teenagers?”
“No!” She shook her head. “You’re an ageist!”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are! That’s ageism!”
“No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is!” she maintained angrily.
“Being under the impression that a show is for a certain demographic isnotageism.”
She considered his response, then sighed with a dramatic roll of her eyes. “Ugh, fine, it’s not.”
The corners of his lips twitched. Frankie would always admit when she was wrong, even if she’d made a big deal aboutsomething. She would always listen to reason, he loved that about her.
Her eyes narrowed as she slurred, “Don’t get that smug smile on your face.”
“I’m not being smug, you’re just…” He stopped himself from saying cute.
He couldn’t say she was cute. She was engaged to his brother. In fact, he shouldn’t even be dancing with her.
“Whatever, well,Ireally relate to the show.”
“Do you?” He had no clue what it was about.
“Yep.” She popped the P loudly. “You know what they say, life imitates art, well, it’s like they read my diary.”
“Is it?” he asked as the song ended. “Okay, well, we need to go.”
She dropped her arms to her sides, her heels dangling precariously off of her fore and middle fingers on her left hand. “Fine.”
“Are you going to put your shoes on?”
“Sure.” She nodded, her head hanging down. Then she looked up at him. “When pigs fly!”
Okay, she was in that sort of mood. He scooped her up, carrying her like a groom would on his wedding night over the threshold. The way Tristan would be carrying her. He needed to remember that.
“What are you doing?!” she squealed as her arms flew around his neck.
“You’re not walking on this floor with bare feet.”
To his surprise, she didn’t protest, or kick, or fight. In fact, it was quite the opposite. On the way out of the bar, she relaxed into him. Her head rested on his shoulder, and she snuggled into the crook of his neck.
When they got outside, into the quiet of the night, he heard her audibly inhale. Her nose and lips grazed his neck as she whispered against his skin, “Mmm, you smell like you.”
“Thanks.” He wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not.
He did know that feeling her in his arms, feeling her lips against his neck, was sending messages to other parts of his body that they should not be sending. Between the dance and her neck whispers, his jeans were growing tighter by the second. He was doing everything he could to get himself under control, even picturing her walking down the aisle to his brother.
By the time he got her to his SUV, she was softly snoring. He gently put her inside and pulled the seatbelt across her body, clicking it in place as quietly as possible.
He was still leaning across her body when her eyes fluttered open and a soft smile appeared on her face. “Hi,” she breathed.
“Hi.” He smiled, he couldn’t help it.
