Living without Frankie would be worse.
When she walks in the exercise room in our condo, my breath stops. She’s not wearing makeup and her hair is a mess from sleep. But she looks so beautiful. She tells me she loves me, and I wrap her up in my arms. The ring on her finger is cold against my back, even though her hands are warm. I breathe in her smell - coconut body wash that lingers from our shower yesterday and that unique smell that is just her. He body, her sex. Every breath is heady. It makes me want to peel her out of this robe and take her right here in the middle of the floor.
“I love you, too, doll.” I lean down and kiss Frankie, a gentle press of lips. She opens her mouth and invites me in. Our tongues swirl together and my cock begins to stir. I don’t know how she does this to me so easily. One taste is all it takes.
“Is he gone?” I ask when I come up for air.
“Yes, we’re alone at last.”
At last.
After the shooting, I spent weeks in the hospital recovering. While I was there, Frankie found this place. I guess the threat of losing me was enough to make her reevaluate her life. With Madison in jail awaiting trial, there was no need to live with Mitch and Lee any longer. Returning to the Savory, or any hotel, wasn’t enticing. Frankie was ready to move on with her life. What better way to start it than to have her own place?
Our own place. Because there was no question in her mind I would live with her when I was released from the hospital. I don’t even care that I didn’t get to help choose it. This place is great. We sit above the city, nothing but walls of windows between us and the sky. If you look carefully, you can see a sliver of the park where I bore my soul to Frankie. You can see a corner of the Savory, where we first met. You can even see the stadium, which looks amazing at night. Frankie’s got her office downstairs. My office - all I need - is this exercise room. And there’s the spare room, which hasn’t been vacant until this week.
Jen all but moved in to help Frankie with me. When my parents came to visit, they stayed there, too. But the room was mostly Jen’s. For months. Though she got a few job offers, to her, family was more important. And we needed her. Frankie could only do so much. She was busy building her new empire, and her people needed her involved. Lee was over all the time, talking business and the case against Madison, until Frankie found a more fitting space for him to office out of. She set him up with his own condo downstairs and offered the same to Mitch when he joined the team. Mitch hasn’t taken her up on the offer yet, but living in their little safe house in the slums gets less and less enjoyable the more time he spends around Lee and Frankie.
My little sister helped feed me, get me my medicine on time, and changed my bandages. She took me to PT and doctors’ appointments. She helped me up and down the stairs and into the cab that took us to the park for some fresh air. I loved having her around. But now, I love having her gone. There’s nothing more embarrassing than sexing up my girl with my sister down the hall.
“Would you like something to eat?” Frankie asks. The way her hands are caressing my skin, food is the last thing on my mind.
“Yes,” I say as I nibble on her ear. “I really, really want to eat you.”
“Corey!” She slaps my shoulder but gives me a giggle I feel in my groin.
“Mmm, maybe later, doll. We haven’t been alone for so long.”
“Does this mean we’re not going to Marco’s for dinner?”
Marco. That man has changed his tune when it comes to me. First, he hated me, for no reason other than I was a guy and I looked at Frankie. Then he found out I was Jen’s brother. If Vinny wasn’t around, I swear Marco would have tried to make a move on my sister. He loves her. He was devastated when Jen asked Vinny for some space after she moved in with us. And if they don’t reconcile soon, I fear Marco will call her up himself. Dirty old bastard.
Knowing I was Jen’s brother wasn’t enough to completely thaw Marco’s feelings towards me. All through that day, before Madison showed up, he eyed me with caution. He didn’t yell at me or threaten me, but even as we were saying goodbye before we meant to leave that night, he was still cool towards me.
He told me, “You so much as hurt a hair on her head, Lucas, and I will find you. You take care of my little girl, you understand?”
What neither of us knew was that I would put my life on the line, mere seconds later, to save his little girl. To save my Frankie. I didn’t even stop to think when I saw Madison pointing her gun. I just jumped. Frankie means that much to me. And Marco realized this before I was even loaded up into the ambulance that night.
Marco visited me all the time in the hospital. He thanked me every time he saw me for saving his girl. He tried to pay for a plastic surgeon to remove the scars from my stomach and chest, but Frankie wouldn’t let him. She wanted those reminders. And I guess I did, too. They remind me of how precious life is and how important it is to enjoy every moment.
One of the things I needed Jen’s help with was for her to bring me to a jewelry store. I knew back in New York I wanted to make Frankie my wife. Each day that passed without a ring on her finger ate away at me. Jen helped me pick out the perfect ring - a two-carat diamond solitaire. It wasn’t extravagant, but then again, neither is Frankie.
I proposed to her in our bed two months ago. She said yes, then made love to me while fireworks blazed out on the lake and the lights of the city shown through our windows. Talk about a way to ring in the New Year. Every night Frankie is with me is the best ever. But that night, with my ring on her finger, was the best yet.
“Corey?”
“Mmm?” I halt my kisses down her neck, but her robe is falling off her shoulder and it’s hard to resist.
“Are we going to Marco’s later?”
“Do we have to?”
She slides her hands into the back of my pants and grabs my ass. “You know he wants to see us before we go to Arizona for the month.”
Spring Training. A month of baseball all day and Frankie in my bed at night. Away from Lee and Mitch and Jen. Away from Marco and Vivian and Vinny. It’s going to be heaven. “Why didn’t he come last night to the party?”
“Not his scene,” she says. “Besides, he probably would have invited himself to stay in the spare room.”
I grimace. “That wouldn’t be good.”
“Tell me about it. Now, yes or no? Marco’s or not?”
“We better. Otherwise he might come to Arizona to visit.”
Frankie kisses my throat and runs her tongue along my jaw. “Bianca will be here this afternoon to clean up the kitchen.”
“Is it bad?” I ask.
“It’s a wreck. That’s what we get for having a party here.”
An engagement party. Our closest friends were here late into the night celebrating with us. Mitch served as bartender. Vinny and Jen made polite conversation. The newlyweds, Matt and Ellen Cromwell, came in beaming as Ellen’s rounded belly peeked out under her coat. Ramon brought Emily, and they sat in the corner playing tonsil hockey for a good chunk of the night. The only ones missing were Vivian and Lee.
“We should probably help Bianca out a little,” I suggest.
Frankie slides the other shoulder of her robe off and grins at me. “I was thinking we could do something else.”
I raise my eyebrow at her and smile. Before she can move, I sweep her up into my arms and carry her to our bed. I set her down and lower myself down beside her. Her ring catches my eye. I lift her hand and kiss her knuckles, then admire the sparkling stone.
“I was thinking mid-October,” I say as I nudge the platinum band.
“You don’t want to elope?”
“You don’t want to be a princess?” I ask with a laugh. “Every little girl’s dream, right? White dress, tiara, a thousand people invited?”
“Hmm.” Frankie kisses the tip of my nose. “Not every girl’s dream.”
“No?”
“White dress, small wedding. Less than one hundred.”
“No tiara?
” I laugh at the look she gives me.
“Why be a princess when you can be a queen?”
“You be my queen, I’ll be your king.” I peel back her robe, inch by inch, and cover her skin with kisses. I tease her navel with my tongue, and my cock twitches as she giggles. “So, not October?” I ask as I wrap my arms around her hips and lay my head on her belly. “The season will be over.”
“Well…” There’s a pause, but I don’t rush her. Because I’m in heaven with her here. “I love fall colors. It would be absolutely beautiful. But…”
“But what?”
“I was thinking December.”
“A Christmas wedding?”
Frankie pulls me to her. “Earlier than that. Right after the Series. I think you’ll make it this year.”
I grin up at her. “You think so, huh?”
“Of course. This is our year, baby.”
She pushes me down onto the bed and crawls on top of me. Her robe falls to the floor and reveals sexy lace panties and bare skin. Her golden-blonde hair falls in messy waves around her shoulders, teasing her nipples so they’re hard and waiting for me. Frankie touches two fingers to her lips, then places them on my bullet wound. There’s something so sensual about this new little ritual of hers, watching her perky breasts smile down on me as she caresses my scar. She reaches beneath her and peels my shorts back, freeing my cock. It springs free, and Frankie licks my swollen length as she pulls my shorts off and tosses them aside.
With a kiss to my bullet wound and a lick to the scar across my stomach and chest, Frankie climbs on top of me again. I guide my tip between her folds, then suck one nipple into my mouth as she slides down my length.
“Oh, doll, you’re so wet and ready.”
“Ready for you, baby. Only for you.”
About the Author
Lydia De Luca has been an avid reader her whole life, but a couple years ago she had a dream that she just couldn’t forget. She cultivated the dream into a new obsession and began writing, which became a dream of a different sort. Lydia is thrilled to be able to share her passion with her readers. As an accountant and author, she slings numbers by day and words by night. She’s also a wife and a mother of two amazing little boys. You can like her on Facebook here.
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I want to thank you, dear reader, for picking up this book and giving me a chance. It means the world to me, and I hope you loved reading Playing with Fire as much as I loved writing it.
I also want to thank the following people:
Robb - for answering all my baseball questions. You helped me figure out where I was going.
Bunny - for getting married, and for introducing me to your friend. PWF wouldn’t exist if you hadn’t.
Tricia and Winter, and the rest of the team at Prism Heart Press - thank you so, so much for giving me a chance.
Emily C., Stormy, Emily W., Jaimee, Alex, Angie, and Linda - Thanks for letting me talk to you about my dream and for all the words of encouragement, advice, and criticism. I love you girls! You’re the best!
And last but not least - A huge thank you to my boys, Jer, Isaac and Eli, for putting up with me and allowing me to do this. I love you to a million!
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