I pull her back against my chest, cradling her close. “One day at a time, Frankie. We’ll figure this out together.”
After a while, she says, “Tell me more about your family. I want to know who I’m going to meet.”
So I tell her about Emery being pregnant by a fellow hockey player, and how chill my family is being about that baby arriving before their wedding. I tell her about Camden’s failed marriages, and how his third marriage has taken us all by surprise, and how Wyatt and Forrest are still bachelors, but I thought I was going to be single forever, and here we are.
“So maybe they’re next, you never know,” I murmur.
As I talk, I feel Frankie relax against me.
I tell her about our parents, and summers in Two Harbors. I tell her about how fun it is to play a game against one of my brothers, or my soon-to-be brother-in-law, who is coming to my barn soon after we get home for the Hamilton-Buffalo QEW match up.
“What’s a QEW?” she mumbles, fighting to keep her eyes open.
“It’s the name of the highway between Hamilton and Buffalo. The Queen Elizabeth Way.”
“That’s fancy.”
“It’s just a freeway.”
“Still. Pretty name.” She yawns and snuggles in closer.
“You had a long day,” I murmur, pressing a kiss to her temple. “Sleep, baby. I’ve got you.”
“I could get used to this,” she murmurs drowsily.
Everything in me wants to shoutyes, please, get used to this, let me give you this every night.
Instead, I just kiss the top of her head, my hand stroking up and down her spine, and I keep my fierceI love you so fucking muchon the inside as she falls asleep in my arms.
Once she’s gone completely soft against me, I reach for the lamp on her bedside table, but pause when I recognize the book on the far side of the light.
Frankie’s copy ofThe Mist At Dawn’s Edgeis well-read, the spine creased in many places, and colorful tabs peek out from between the pages here and there, marking her favorite spots. Moving slowly so I don’t disturb her, I reach for it and start reading.
It’s fun to see what she’s highlighted and left little doodle hearts on.
I flip back to chapter thirteen, to see if she highlighted the part where the big badass assassin guy throws the fiery little fae main character over his shoulder because she wouldn’t listen to him.
That was my favorite part, anyway.
But what Frankie liked best was apparently two lines after that.
I don’t have a chance against him right now. He’s bigger than me, and more dangerous in many ways. But I know how he looks at my mouth, and given the first chance, I will kiss him just to even the odds between us.
I won’t like it, of course.
Laughing under my breath, I flip the page, and read the kiss every reader of the book—including me—was gagging for at this point.
The fiery fae likes it more than she could imagine, and it makes her so spitting mad.
Reminds me of someone else I know, although Frankie doesn’t have that much fight in her. She’s a lover, through and through. She just had to learn how to be a fighter to protect her heart, because she was hurt by those closest to her.
That won’t ever be me.
I read another chapter before setting her book back in its spot and turning out the light. Morning will come before we know it, and I’ll need to leave my wife. I have to bank every second of having her in my arms before then.
CHAPTER 24
FRANKIE
