Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 154525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Not even the lack of light from the settling night sky could hide those green eyes of his driving hard into her down below. Occasionally, she could see those eyes in her dreams, and the rest that had been left unsaid between them haunted her.
“What the fuck do you think that’s going to do?” he asked, nodding at the nozzle.
This wasn’t real. It didn’t feel real.
The buzzing sensation racing over Frankie’s skin only added to the rapid pulse in her veins and the hard pants of breath she couldn’t seem to catch.
“It’s Francesca, right?” he asked.
“Frankie,” she corrected automatically. “I’m only Francesca when somebody’s yelling usually.”
He chuckled at the comment.
“Frankie, right.” He pointed at the next pillar of stone along the fence line, and she followed the gesture to find Stella perched like a stone angel. The cat reached over a meter high when she stood up on her hind legs and stretched. In that moment, the white cat simply eyed the newcomer with a fluffy tail that flicked back and forth as if she found prey. “Is that yours?”
“Yeah. Stella.”
“Didn’t know cats got that big.”
Frankie went about returning the hose and nozzle, explaining while she did, “She’s a Maine Coon. Some are bigger.”
“I bet she keeps down the pests,” he muttered, his attention flicking between the cat and her.
“All kinds.”
Nico nodded and took another drag off his cigarette. “I don’t think she likes me.”
“She doesn’t like anyone. It’s part of her deal. You earn the right to pet her.”
“Ah, I get it. Standard female behavior.”
Nine years had only served to harden and age Nico Russo’s features into that of a devastatingly handsome young man. How old was he now—nineteen? Could that be considered a man? He sure looked like one in black jeans and a black cotton tee. Dark, dishevelled hair fell over his eyes as he tipped his head to the side like he was staring even harder at her. Searching for something.
What could he see?
“So, are you good?”
She blinked. “What?”
“Are you okay?”
He all but spelled it out with the slow tone and a gaze locked on the wet grass from before.
Frankie swallowed hard knowing he saw her little secret. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”
Nico sneered at the question. As silent and still as he’d been up there on the stone wall, it all changed in an instant. He jumped down without hesitation, landing solidly on two feet which brought him the few strides between them in a breath.
“What did you just say to me?”
Frankie made herself stay put, even though he was close enough for the slight breeze to bring his crisp, fresh scent right to her. “Why are you here? Maybe that’s a better question.”
Something burned in Nico that she didn’t recognize. The two didn’t get to be friends. She barely saw him in passing as he made his way through high school. Her father made it his personal mission to keep Frankie as separated from his boss’s family as he could whenever possible. Seeing him here without any warning was a big change of pace.
“Why am I here? Ask Salvatore.”
Her father?
“I’d get better answers from Stella.”
Nico almost grinned, but his face pulled with sarcasm and an edge that stung from two feet away. “I’m fucking great, thanks for asking. They took my phone, my cars, locked me into a house that isn’t my own, and told me I couldn’t leave. I can’t see my baby sister, my father refuses to speak to me, and I have no access to my accounts anymore. How’s life going for you, doll?”
He punctuated the question by gazing beyond her and swinging an arm wide at the large expanse of property stretching behind her.
Ouch.
“Then again,” Nico added, not even missing a beat, “you did just run yourself sick, so that says something, huh?”
She knew better than to ask what he meant. He already proven himself to be mean, and shit, it sounded like he had every reason to be. Just their history gave him enough of one. What came after sounded like an even bigger pile of garbage to deal with.
Frankie still asked, “And what does it say?”
Nico, a half-foot taller than her five and a half feet, stepped closer until she could see the flecks of gold in his green irises when he pointed with the two fingers still holding the cigarette, and said, “Something’s not right inside of you, either.”
“Hey! Get away from her right now! You know the rules!”
Frankie hadn’t heard the approach of security.
“We just went over this less than two hours ago,” Larkin kept shouting the closer he approached, his combat boots tearing up grass on the way. “You’re not gonna pull the type of crap on me that you’ve been trying with everyone else. You know the rules!”
Nico’s curious attention didn’t leave Frankie as he said, “Yeah, yeah. I know the rules.”