Royal Ruse - Emma Lea Page 0,35

complete blank as I took her in. My heart pounded wildly in my chest and my gut squeezed painfully.

“You look beautiful, honey,” Adam said beside me, and I nodded.

“You look incredible,” I choked out and Frankie’s cheeks flushed as she looked at me.

I cleared my throat and sucked in a breath. I needed to get control of myself. I adjusted my glasses and stepped toward her, holding out my arm. She smiled and tucked her hand through my elbow. God, she smelled incredible and I could feel the warmth of her body through my suit.

“Are you ready?” I murmured, turning my head to look down at her.

Frankie tilted her head up toward me and we were so close I just needed to lower my head a fraction and I could brush my lips against hers. My eyes dropped to the red of her lips and I couldn’t help but wet my own.

“I’m ready,” she whispered and the puff of her breath brushed across my lips making them tingle.

“We’ll meet you there,” Olivia said, breaking the trance between Frankie and me.

I looked up at Frankie’s parents and tried to smile. They were eyeing me strangely, and I didn’t quite know what the look on their faces meant.

“Okay, great,” I said, my voice brusque.

Frankie and I walked out of the house and down the stoop to where my car waited. I opened the door for her and helped her to slide in. Her hand was warm in mine and I may have let my touch linger.

I took a deep breath before I walked around the car and got into the driver’s side. It seemed I did that a lot lately; take a deep breath before looking at Frankie. Seeing the way she was changing, seeing her in a different light, was playing havoc with my mind and sanity. I’d put Frankie very firmly in the friend box years ago, but suddenly—seeing her in that dress—my brain and body could no longer reconcile her as just a friend.

Which was bad.

Very Bad.

Wasn’t it?

“Are you okay?” Frankie asked me as I pulled out of the parking space and headed toward my parent’s estate.

I forced a smile to my lips and looked over at her. God, she looked good in my car…she looked good, full stop. “I’m good,” I replied.

She exhaled slowly and nodded. “Okay, so tell me what to expect tonight,” she said, turning back to the front.

“I honestly have no idea. Mother kicked me out of the house earlier today and told me to get ready at the office.”

“Your mother was with me all day,” Frankie said, biting the corner of her lip. “Why did she need you out of the house?”

“She had the decorators come in,” I replied.

“Decorators? I thought this was just a cocktail party.”

I huffed out a laugh. “Nothing is ‘just’ a cocktail party when it comes to Mother,” I replied. “You should know that by now.”

“But it’s just going to be the family, right? That’s what you said originally. Just an intimate cocktail party with family.”

“She hasn’t said anything to the contrary,” I replied.

“But that doesn’t mean she didn’t invite five hundred people and not tell you about it,” Frankie replied.

I chuckled, despite the glare Frankie shot in my direction. “She wouldn’t have invited five hundred people,” I assured her.

“Ri-ight,” Frankie drawled. “I’ve spent enough time with your mother over the last month to know she does nothing by half measures.”

“Five hundred people wouldn’t fit in the reception room at the house,” I said.

“That wouldn’t stop your mother,” Frankie replied ruefully. “She would find a way to fit five hundred people into a college dormitory if it somehow benefitted her social media profile.”

I reached over and took Frankie’s hand in mine and squeezed it gently. “It’s not too late to call this off,” I said. “I never expected it to get so out of hand and for Mother to be so bull-headed. You’ve changed so much, all for me, and I never intended for that to be a consequence of you pretending to be my fiancée.”

Frankie dragged in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I really hated it at first,” she said. “But, I don’t know, it’s kind of fun and absolutely fascinating to see how changing the way I dress changes the way people treat me.”

“So this is like one big social experiment?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

Frankie laughed, and it hit me right in the chest.

“Yeah, it kind of is,” she replied and beamed a gorgeous