Her hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail, and she’d changed into a heavier sweatshirt. It was huge on her, and it took me a minute to realize it was one of mine. My own lips pulled into a wider grin. I had no issues with her stealing my clothes. They kind of dwarfed her more slender frame, but I liked seeing her in my clothes.
“Sorry,” she said, her gaze skipping from me to the guys then back. “Rachel and I were talking.” She held up the phone. “And it went a little long.”
“It’s all cool,” I said. “We have plenty of time.” I’d booked the studio for the next four hours. I’d struck a deal with the owner because the studio time was getting pricier by the day. “You ready?”
Those startlingly green eyes of hers warmed when she fixed on me again. “Yep. Just need my coat.”
Jake rose, but I beat him and stripped off my own letterman and held it up for her. He snorted before he dropped back on the sofa. Once she was in the coat, I grabbed my guitar case. “Don’t wait up,” I suggested as I motioned Frankie ahead of me.
“Remember, home by eight-thirty,” Archie said, his grin teasing.
“Eight,” Coop tacked on. “Then we have time for a movie before bed.”
Frankie didn’t slow a step, but she did raise her middle finger and flipped them all off as she walked, and I grinned. Their laughter followed us out the door. It had definitely turned cold and damp. We’d get back to the seventies, but it would not be this week. It was a balmy fifty-two and dropping at the moment.
Current forecast said we’d have freezing rain the following week, just in time for Turkey Day.
At her car, she opened the back door for me, and I slid the guitar case inside. Like me, she glanced over at my bike. I’d thrown a plastic cover over it for the rain. “You should put it in the car port when I pull out.”
“Nope,” I told her. “It won’t melt, and I’d rather you parked your car here.” I tried to keep my tone soft, because at the moment, telling her no took actual effort on my part. I never wanted to tell her no to anything again. “But thank you, Angel.”
The smile she gave me sent all my blood pumping south, and I started doing scales in my head or this would be a real short trip. “Is it hard?”
Yes it was, but no way she was asking about my dick. “Is what hard?” It came out a little thicker than intended, but without any wavering. So, point to me.
“Riding the bike with your ribs.”
“My ribs are fine,” I told her. They still twinged and would. I’d had bruised and cracked ribs before. They sucked. As long as I could take a mostly deep breath, I just ignored them. I slipped around her to open the driver’s side door for her. “And it’s fine to ride it. Not really riding for fun at the moment, anyway.” At least my bike was fixed. “I’ll save that for when you’re up to riding with me.”
Turning, she stepped right up into me and rose up on her tip toes. She didn’t have to ask, I slid a hand to her hip to brace her and then dropped my head and met her kiss with my own. The first brush of her lips was cool on mine, and I almost ruined the moment by grinning.
The minty taste of her breath told me the other reason she’d been running behind. Angling so I could block her from most of the cold breeze, I teased my tongue along the seam of her mouth. She opened more fully to me, and I had to swallow a groan.
Frankie kissed with her whole body. It wasn’t just her lips. She planted her left hand on my chest to balance herself, pushing into me as if she wanted to be as close as possible. Damn, it was like that first kiss in the pool, all the bare skin brushing me as we kissed.
Curling my fingers against her hip, I tugged her into me as I twisted my tongue around hers. The barest scrape of her teeth washed heat through my system and chased away even the potential of chill. It didn’t matter that layers of clothes separated us, the claim she had on me went far deeper than skin, and