Chapter 17

Levi

To my frustration, I turned on the TV and discovered there weren’t any games on. I watched sports highlights instead, but it wasn’t the same. I didn’t feel any calmer, I couldn’t stop my leg from bouncing, and I was staring so hard at the TV it was a wonder my retinas didn’t burn.

I could feel her. Even though I was sitting on the couch and Frankie was several feet away on the window seat, I could feel her. I was acutely aware of her presence, just like this morning when her absence had been my first waking thought. I was dying for another taste of her mouth but I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do. I just couldn’t remember a time when I’d had better sex.

It didn’t make any sense. This girl and I couldn’t be any less alike, and the only reason we had sex in the first place was that we were stranded and apparently that made me lose my mind. I knew better than to get involved with any girl who’d be a fixture in my life for longer than one hot night. This went extra for Frankie, yet I hadn’t been able to keep away from her. I was still struggling with it now. It was a one-time thing, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how good it was, how much she turned me on, how many things I still wanted to do to her.

The fact that Frankie snuck out of bed first thing in the morning told me all I needed to know about where she stood. At least one of us was being smart about it.

I got up to make myself a coffee and caught Frankie peeping at me over the top of her book. She snapped her eyes back to the page when she saw me catch her. Maybe I wasn’t the only one who was a little distracted today.

“You want a coffee?” I asked.

“Uh, sure.”

I started up the machine and pulled two mugs from the cabinet. “Cream or sugar?” I asked.

“Just a little cream please.”

I returned to the living room a couple of minutes later with our coffees and held Frankie’s mug out to her. She was bundled up right to the neck, and only her hands poked out to hold her book. It was adorable.

“Thanks,” she mumbled, taking the mug from me.

“No problem.”

I walked back over to the couch and resumed my previous activity of pretending to watch TV while trying not to think about Frankie. At least now I had coffee.

Most problematic of all, my reasons for disliking her were crumbling around me like dry leaves. Who would have thought that spending some time with the girl would give me a better understanding of her character? Crazy.

She was genuine and thoughtful, and behavior that I found annoying before suddenly didn’t bother me so much. It was harder than ever to distance myself. All I wanted to do was hoist her off that window seat, toss her over my shoulder, and carry her into the bedroom to have my wicked way with her. At least then we would have something to do.

I did everything I could to distract myself. I channel surfed, I messed around on my phone, I even tried to have a nap, but I could still feel Frankie like I’d grown an antenna that solely picked up her frequency.

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. My own company was not enough to distract myself. I flicked off the TV and got up, pacing over to the kitchen and opening the cupboard I’d shoved Garrick’s “care package” in the day before.

“What are you doing?” Frankie asked.

I grabbed the Monopoly box. I couldn’t believe I was resorting to such a thing.

“I’m bored. Let’s play Monopoly.”

“Did you just say what I think you said?” Frankie asked.

I walked back into the living room and stood in front of her, holding up the box. “Garrick sent this up for us yesterday.”

“And you want to play it?” Frankie’s book was still open in her hands and she seemed to keep one eye on the page while she spoke.

“Yes,” I replied. “Come on.”

She didn’t move. “I don’t want to play Monopoly.”

“Why not?”

“I’m reading.”

“You’ve been reading all day. Humor me a little here.” I locked eyes with her. “Please?”

Frankie let out a gust of breath. “Did you just say please? Jeez, I knew I should have started taping our conversations. Nobody is ever going to believe me.”

I rolled my eyes and extended a hand to her. Frankie eyed it suspiciously, but eventually something gave and she allowed me to help her up.

“I’m telling you right now,” she said, “if you’re one of those ugly competitive types that toss the board when they’re not winning, I do not put up with that kind of bullshit.”

“You’ve got nothing to worry about,” I said, even though I could think of several times when Garrick and I were younger when I did just that.

We set up the board in front of the fireplace. I took the top hat as my piece, which Frankie frowned on for being predictable. She took the dog.

Frankie may have agreed to play to shut me up, but I could see the cogs in her head turning with strategy. She wanted to beat me.

She wouldn’t, but I’d let her figure that out for herself.

“Ugh! You’re joking me!” Frankie complained. “How much do I owe you this time?”

I grinned. “Five hundred. Hardly worth getting your panties in a twist over.”

“Yeah, five hundred isn’t a big deal if you’ve got it,” she grumbled. “Capitalist pig.”

“Stop complaining and pay your damn rent,” I replied. “I should charge you extra for wasting my time.”

Frankie rooted through her stack of cash and tossed a collection of multicolored bills at me. I tutted and collected the bills, sorting them into neat piles.

“What was that you said about sore losers?” I asked.

Frankie glared, but her expression soon cracked, and a smile like a sunbeam burst through.

“I should have mentioned that Monopoly brings out the worst in me.”

“Monopoly brings out the worst in all of us,” I replied. “Many a relationship have splintered on its cragged shores.”

“I don’t know about that,” she said, pointing to my organized stacks of money. “You seem to be doing quite well for yourself. Must be because you’re a businessman.”

I laughed. “Maybe I’m a businessman because I’m good at Monopoly.”

Frankie handed me the dice, and I rolled, landing on the Just Visiting square of jail. A boring turn for me.

“Do you think Black Mountain and Feisty Fox are going to merge now that Val and Garrick are getting married?” Frankie wondered, smiling. “You know, like bridging an alliance between two great kingdoms?”

My jaw tensed, but I forced a stiff shrug and handed her the dice. Frankie caught my eye. Her smile had vanished, and her brow wrinkled with thought. “That’s your problem with her, isn’t it?”

“What is?”

“You’re anxious about Val’s intentions for your business.”

“It’s not that simple,” I said. “And anxious is putting it on a bit thick.”

Frankie shook her head. “I can’t believe you.”

“That family has been pressing into our business for years,” I replied. “Her parents are ruthless. I think it’s understandable for me to go into this union with a little caution and I’m not going to apologize for that.”

“How many times do I have to tell you that Val is nothing like her parents? If she had to choose between Garrick and her family’s legacy, I know she wouldn’t hesitate for a second to marry your brother.” Frankie chewed her bottom lip and stared at me, and when she spoke next, it was in a gentler tone. “I don’t know anything about business or corporate espionage or even beer, but I know people pretty damn well. Val’s a good egg. If you get to know her a little better, you’ll see that too.”

Normally I would ignore that kind of advice, but I could see how much Frankie believed what she said. More than that, my approval of Val meant something to her. That shouldn’t have mattered to me, but for some reason it did. I filed away a mental note to look a little closer at Val the next time I saw her.

The dice clattered across the board. Frankie groaned.

“Looks like you’ve landed on Park Place,” I drawled.

“I haven’t landed on anything yet. I haven’t moved.”

“But you’re going to.” I gestured to the dice. “Hop to it.”

Park Place and Boardwalk were my crown jewels. I had outfitted each with a hotel that burned a hole through the wallet of unlucky visitors. Frankie was my first guest.

Rather than moving her dog to its doom, however, Frankie stood. “I’m hungry.”

I looked up at her and frowned. “You’re hungry now?”

“Yeah. Starving.”

If I were playing with anyone other than Frankie, I would demand that we finish the game first. I even once wrestled Garrick down to the floor when he tried to cut a game of Scrabble short. But with Frankie? I was beginning to suspect I would have trouble denying her anything. At least for tonight.

“Okay, fine.” I sighed dramatically and rose to my feet.

“I don’t know what you’re grumbling about,” she said. “It’s not like you were going to win.”

Cheeky. I had the sudden image of her bent over my knee with red handprints on her ass. A tendril of heat wrapped around my cock and I forced myself to think of ice baths and cold fish so I wouldn’t go to the restaurant with a raging hard-on.

We put on our shoes and left the room, heading toward the resort’s main restaurant.

“What are you going to get?” Frankie asked as she skipped ahead of me down the hallway. “I can’t stop thinking about a big, juicy burger.”

“That’s the kind of decision I’ll reserve until I’ve seen the menu.”

Frankie looked behind her and stuck out her tongue at me. In a move that surprised both of us, I stuck mine out back. She halted around the next corner and drew close to the large window overlooking the back garden, her cheeks creasing up with a smile.

I pulled up beside her and shoved my hands in my pockets. The scene looked no different to me than the view from our room, but Frankie took it in with fresh eyes.

“It’s a beautiful place to be,” she said.

“Yup.”

“I mean it. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“You’ve never seen snow before?”

She chuckled. “Not like this. It sucks that we’re stuck here, but I still feel lucky for getting to see it all.”

“We’ll see how lucky you feel when I finish destroying you at Monopoly.” I guided her away with a hand on her waist. “Come on. I’m starving.”