Before she could open her door, I motioned for her to wait and dashed to her side. But by the time I reached the handle, she had already swung the door open.
“I was going to open it for you, you nut.” I smiled, looking down at her. She was still sitting, but her legs were swung halfway out the door, making our proximity tantalizingly close. On instinct, I licked my lips as I gazed down at her. Without even realizing it, I was inching closer toward her face.
She didn’t back away, and I found myself unable to resist temptation any longer. Just like muscle memory from that first night, I kissed her. It felt a hell of a lot like coming home.
Despite this being our second kiss, she moved more hesitantly this time, her mouth moving slowly over mine. It was sweet. I nipped her bottom lip and she smiled against my mouth.
After a minute, I pulled away reluctantly.
“What was that for?” she breathed.
“Because it was too hard not to.”
Instead of breezing by me, she lingered there, in the passenger seat of my car. “Oliver?”
“Hmm?” I couldn’t stop staring at her lips.
“You said…You said you might bounce around to different cities after this.”
“Right.” My head was still high from the kiss.
“Do you ever worry about it getting lonely? Living that way?” Her voice was soft.
My jaw froze for a second as my gaze drifted from her mouth to her eyes. The tendon in my neck pulsed. “No,” I said plainly, hoping she’d drop this.
Instead, she gnawed at her bottom lip. “I’m kind of lonely,” Frankie whispered. “It’s sad, but I didn’t even realize it until I came out here to stay with Mattie. Being so busy with my job meant I never noticed it, but my life was so…lacking.”
My hand squeezed the top of the door. Her words were almost physically painful. Both because I fucking hated the fact that she felt lonely, and because I hated the unwanted self-reflection her words were now causing me.
Where the hell did this girl get off, being vulnerable like this? Had I given off the impression I wanted to dissect these things?
My face must have been contorted into one of aversion, because Frankie’s cheeks reddened before her eyes dropped to her lap.
“Look at me. Feeling sorry for myself again.”
“Hey, no self-deprecation on my watch.” I tried to make my voice sound lighter than I felt. But Frankie still wore a small frown. Shit. We were rapidly wandering into uncharted territories for me. I didn’t know how to help Frankie work through her crisis any more than I knew how to help myself and my own suffocated emotions.
I was the guy for a laugh. Not a shoulder to cry on.
But the last thing I could handle was how alone she looked right now. So small in front of me. Right here, yet so far. I hated it. I’d already given her so little of myself, despite the fact that she clearly wanted more. Which was maybe why I said what I said next. Something I’d barely thought. Something I never dreamed I’d say out loud.
I leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. When I pulled back, I said, “I get lonely too.”
FOURTEEN
Frankie
“I’m bored,”I whined, my head draped over the arm of the chair, hair splayed out and brushing the wood floor. I had no interviews scheduled today, Oliver was busy with lessons, and for once I wasn’t working at Marie’s tonight. I was completely restless.
My sister sighed with contentment. “And isn’t that a lovely feeling?”
I turned my head so that I could make out her right-side-up figure, curled up on the couch, pouring over a book.
My phone vibrated on the coffee table and I scrambled to a seated position, almost toppling over, before snatching it and opening the notification. I sighed in defeat when I saw that it was my mom checking in. “It’s just Mom,” I groaned.
“I’m sure she would be thrilled to know that’s how you react when you receive her messages.”
I ignored Mattie, firing off a quick response.
