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“I am. Who the hell is she?” Frankie raised a trembling hand to her cheek, only to hover there, afraid to touch.
“She is one of the strongest, most confident, most beautiful souls I know. I can make your hair curl and your eyes pop, but that doesn’t change who you are on the inside. No one worth loving would ever be ashamed to be seen with you.”
The kind sincerity in Nat’s voice almost undid her hard work as tears welled up in Frankie’s eyes. She lowered her hand to rest on Nat’s which was still gripping her shoulder as if she could will Frankie into having faith. Frankie chose her old standby, humor, to deflect facing the rising emotion in her chest.
“Is that glitter on my face?” She squinted at the mirror comically and poked her cheek.
Natalie laughed on cue. “No darling, it’s just a little shimmering BB cream. Your skin is too gorgeous to cover up. Just a little tinted moisturizer with an SPF thirty built into it.”
“Oh, I use SPF fifty every morning.”
“Is it made for your face or the beach?”
“There’s a difference?”
Natalie covered her face with her hands and let out a little scream, before turning to the camera and speaking directly to her viewers. “We are launching a new series. I’m calling it ‘Educating Frankie,’ where I will go over the basics for our new viewers just dipping their toes in the makeup game.”
The look on her face dared Frankie to argue, but Frankie couldn’t. She looked back at the polished and pretty version of herself in the mirror.
She’d spent years learning the foundations of building and now she was damn good at transforming basic houses into gems. Maybe a little education and practice would help her fix her own curb appeal.
“It’s a date.”
Frankie’s head was still spinning when she retrieved Buster from his tea party and made her way back up to her apartment to get ready for her actual date. He nudged her hand with his snout, and she looked down and laughed. She unhooked his leash and stowed it before wiping her hands over his brow.
“Did you get a makeover too, big guy?” She’d have to tell Natalie that Daisy had a stash of blue sparkly eye shadow and pink lipstick that Buster was currently trying to lick off his muzzle. “That must’ve been some tea party.”
She refilled his water bowl and stretched her back. How was she this exhausted from sitting still for half an hour?
As she walked back to her bedroom to change clothes, Frankie’s mind raced. Not only had Natalie nailed the laid-back sexy look, but she’d nailed Frankie with her list of requests for the event space. She had until the October weddings to figure out how it would all happen, but her brain insisted on starting now.
The list of changes to the vineyard plans spun through Frankie’s filter of building plans and codes and deadlines as she swapped outfits. Fresh black T-shirt and clean jeans in place, she double-checked the mirror to make sure she hadn’t screwed anything up. Fluffing the big, sexy curls Natalie had coaxed from her normally dead-straight dark brown hair, she conceded. It was a fair trade. She’d figure out how to make it all work. The plans. The deadlines. This thing with Jake.
She'd just keep working at it until she figured it out.
CHAPTER20
When Jake openedthe door for dinner, Buster greeted him first with paws to his gut and kibble-scented kisses.
“Oh God! Down! Get down, Buster! Off!” Frankie called out as she hustled in from the kitchen.
Buster dropped to all fours and began to aggressively sniff Jake’s crotch.
Frankie was trying to get a grip on his collar but was laughing too hard to be effective. Jake handed her the wine he’d brought and grabbed Buster’s collar himself so he could save his junk from the ardent puppy love.
“He’s feeling frisky. He just finished his dinner.” Frankie turned back to chopping veggies.
“How much time before our dinner is ready?”
“Maybe forty-five minutes?”
“Okay, I’ll be back. I’m going to take him for a—"
"Don't say it!" Frankie blurted.
"W-A-L-K.”
Buster jerked free from Jake’s grip and began sprinting in excited circles around the living room, barking loudly every time he passed Jake.
