AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK
FRANKIE
“Go back to your room, Lucia.”
She yawns and stretches like a cat. Not a house cat but like a tiger or a leopard or something. Seriously the woman is tiny, shorter than me, and probably weighs less too, but yet she somehow manages to take up more than half the California king. “Nope.”
I glare at her in the mirror as I look over my outfit. “Okay. Then go to Nick’s room. I’m sure he’s got some morning wood you can polish.”
Lucia sits up. Her eyes wide, her mouth open about to spit out some words of fake disgust or denial.
“Shut up. I have known for a while you two are fuck buddies.”
Her mouth closes. She rolls her eyes, which is Lucia’s version of a shrug. “Whatever. He’s single. He’s hot. He doesn’t want commitment.”
“Don’t hurt him because I need him,” I warn.
“Don’t change the subject,” Lucia replies and finally drags herself out of my bed. She slept there last night, hogging the covers and the space, because I wouldn’t spill the beans on what was going on with Billy on the roof. “You are trying to slut shame me so I’ll leave and then you can go back to naked water sports with Billy James.”
“I was not naked,” I remind her.
“Not at any point?” Lucia questions, her eyebrows raising.
“Not once was I completely naked,” I reply and smile because I’m damn proud of the way I manipulated the truth.
“I want details. Lots of them,” Lucia demands in a whine she hasn’t used since we were pre-teens. “Come on! I’m the one who has been pushing you to do something—anything—with Billy James, and now that you have clearly ventured into the Australian outback, you aren’t going to tell me?”
“Lucia, I’m about to be his boss,” I argue back lightly. Too lightly. It’s clear I don’t take the argument seriously, so it isn’t going to make her take it seriously either.
“One small detail.”
She’s on her knees now in the center of the bed making praying hands. It’s like she’s twelve years old and begging me for details of my first kiss. Back then she was a timid little thing who followed me like a shadow and used to have nightmares a lot, so I would find her sleeping beside me in the morning. I used to complain until our mom died, and then I learned to live with it. Lucia has always needed me, and I definitely need her.
“We didn’t have actual sex,” I relent, giving her something.
Of course she wants more. “What did you have?”
“A mind-blowing orgasm courtesy of his hands and mouth,” I whisper, like the room is bugged, and she squeals so loud I’m not surprised when Nick knocks on the door to my suite.
“Frankie! I’m coming in!”
The door opens a second later, and his imposing frame is filling the entryway to the bedroom. He looks stern and fierce until he catches sight of Lucia in her pajamas, hair wild from sleeping, and a flash of something softer slides over his face. Shit. She is going to ruin him.
“Sorry! My bad. I got excited over some newly acquired information. No one is being attacked or anything.”
Nick frowns but nods at her and turns to me. “Frankie, you have that meeting with your dad before we head to the airport.”
I nod and twirl, my skirt billowing out, and my silky camisole top lifting to show a sliver of my abdomen as I lift my arms. “Unlike Lucia, I’m ready.”
“I have nowhere to be,” Lucia replies and flops back down on the bed. Her curls fan out on the pillow like silky springs. Nick is forcing his eyes to stay focused on me, not her. I can tell it’s a struggle. “Dad isn’t giving me the keys to the kingdom. Hell, he won’t even give me the keys to a race car.”
“Not true,” Nick counters. “You’re on the F2 team.”
“And if I’m not on the F1 team by next year, I’m switching teams,” Lucia announces. Her words are light and casual in tone, but her eyes say she is dead serious. “I’ve gotten offers. I’ll entertain them if I’m not moved up, Frankie.”
My stomach gets queasy just thinking about it. I know she has dreams, and I fully support them as a sister. But as a Team Principal? Is she the best option next year? Billy is better than her. Antonio isn’t necessarily better, but he’s as good, and he’s already on the team. “Cutting De Luca loose to make room for you won’t look great. People will say you didn’t earn it.”
“Fuck people,” Lucia replies flatly and pulls herself up to a sitting position, her back against the ornate headboard.
