Page 61 of Say You Will

Franki chews on the inside of her cheek, frowning in response to my comment, and I’m struck by an uncomfortable realization. I shouldn’t have waited for her. I should have gotten on a plane and gone to her.

Instead of going through the motions and existing with a Franki-shaped hole in my life for years, reading and re-reading her reports every month, and wondering how she was . . . I should have picked up the phone and said,“You’re important to me. How are you?”

Franki’s father clears his throat. “Then, congratulations are in order. And of course I take her calls. She’s so dramatic if I don’t answer the phone immediately. Franki has been a little spoiled over the years. I hope you’ll forgive me for that. She’ll certainly have high expectations of you. You’ll need to put your foot down, or she’ll treat you like that little trained rat she calls a dog.”

Franki makes a sound of outrage.

“I could only dream of being so lucky,” I say.

He laughs, obviously taking my words as sarcasm. It’s clear that Jonny doesn’t realize he was on speaker earlier. Now he’s scrambling to figure out how he can leverage an “in-law” connection with the McRae family. And he’s definitely worried about what myfiancéemight have shared with me.

“Franki’s not nearly demanding enough. There’s not a thing she could ask for that it won’t be my pleasure to provide,” I say.

He chuckles. “You say that now. But it’s better to start as you mean to go on. You have to be firm with them.”

I’ve got more than enoughfirmnessgoing on behind my zipper when I’m near her.

It will make my revenge easier if he’s confident that he’s in control, so I play along. “I believe I’ll do just that.”

Franki marches over to me, expression calm, but mouth pressed tight, reaches out, finds my nipple through the cotton broadcloth of my shirt andtwists.

Jonny’s laugh covers my yelp as I cup my abused nipple and squirm away from her.

I mouth, “It was a joke.”

She stomps away and searches through her suitcase for something I hope is not a handgun.

“We should definitely make time for that dinner,” he says. I can hear the way the tension has slowly leached out of Jonny’s voice under my pleasant demeanor.

Franki finds what she was looking for. A sketch pad and pencil. She writes me a note that contains two words:“Not funny.”

I nod sharply in acknowledgment and mouth back, “Sorry.”

She’s right that it isn’t funny. Even if I was thinking about something entirely different than what her father implied.

I’m in a confounding place at the moment. My mind is mapping out all the beautiful revenge scenarios I’ll enact on this asshole. I’m cognizant that it’s necessary to lull himinto complacency for my plans to be most effective. I’m also unwilling to hurt Franki’s feelings in the process because then what will be the point of any of it?

I’m strangely giddy because I’ve found the perfect segue into her life, but it’salsoenraging that it’s because her father is garbage. My emotions, which I’m used to having closed off entirely, are not only emerging, but havelayersI’m struggling to navigate. Only years of practice staying cool under fire allows me to maintain a bland, unassuming tone with Jonny. “Hmm.”

“What did you say?” Jonny asks.

“Apologies. Your daughter distracted me for a moment.” How far to go? I run my hand over Franki’s hair and down her thick braid.

She shivers a little, leaning into my touch and peering at me with big, brown eyes wide behind her glasses. The Sexy Librarian in wiener dog pajamas. Who knew this is what would do it for me?

“One thing I need to make perfectly clear. Franki isn’t going to be entertaining any of your business partners. I’m a possessive man. You understand.”

This time, Franki grins and lifts her palm to hover in the air in front of me. At my puzzled expression, she lifts my hand for me and slaps it against her own.

She’s turned me into an idiot.

But context is everything. High fives are friend and sibling behavior. They’re“awesome job making brown belt, little buddy.”Not hot woman in nightwear, standing in her bedroom, and close enough I catch a faint sweet scent that reminds me of the panties in my pocket.

I shake my head and glance at the ceiling. She holds on to the high five, threading her fingers through mine, and I give them a gentle squeeze.

When Jonny grumbles his agreement, we both glance at her phone, brought back to where we are and what we’re doing.

“Francesca grew out of her ugly duckling stage. She’s pretty enough to be a trophy wife now,” Jonny says.

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