Page 110 of Christmas in Coconut Creek

“By some saving grace they all survived with minor injuries. Broken bones, a few concussions, nothing fatal. Taken safely into US custody to be reunited with their families. I got tossed around the most, lost almost complete feeling in my back and was pretty sure I was paralyzed, but it was actually the shock that froze me. I truly thought I’d be seeing my dad that day.”

The emotion I’d wrangled before stung my eyes and Frankie laced his fingers through mine on his knee, swiping his thumb back and forth.

“So I had to have what’s called a posterior lumbar spinal fusion, to correct fractures and herniated discs in my lower back,” he explained. “That’s what those scars are that you love to touch when you think I’m sleeping.”

“I’m a little obsessed with what you look like naked,” I admitted quietly. Frankie’s dark eyes softened on cue and I was pleased with myself. “You are so much more than you give yourself credit for. It’s fucking cliché, I don’t care, but you’re ahero. You know that, right?”

“Not flying away from endangered children isn’t heroic, O, it’s human. Unfortunately I’m not as robotic as the military expected me to be. Or Cap, or Sam, or Tyler. We paid for it though, I guess.”

“To those kids you are. I doubt those mothers go a day of their lives without thinking about you. Would you? If it were your kid?”

Frankie’s throat bobbed up and down, the veins in his neck lengthening with the tilt of his neck as he turned toward me. “No,” he conceded. “I wouldn’t.”

“You were meant to be there that day. There’s a reason for everything.”

“Technically, if I didn’t get injured that day I wouldn’t be sitting here right now with you, so maybe you’re onto something, Trouble.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I got home and immediately went into recovery, which for me was a fuck ton of time lying on my back in bed, feeling sorry for myself. I needed help doing the most basic things, and even shit I could manage on my own became impossible because my mental health was in the gutters. I was convinced I’d never fly again, and honestly afraid to try. Still afraid to try.” Frankie’s voice tapered off. “I was a lot to deal with. Not my proudest moments, and Vanessa suffered for that.”

A chill crawled up my spine and bit into my skin. “Don’t you fucking dare.”

Frankie’s eyes darted to mine, surprise creasing his forehead. “What?”

“Shecheatedon you.”

“It’s more complicated than that.” He shook his head.

“There’s nothing complicated about it,” I fired back. “You trusted someone with loving you. That doesn’t get a dismissal when things gettoo hard.You needed her and she fucking gave up on it.”

“I wasn’t therefor herlike she needed me to be. I was useless for a while.”

“You were fucking hurt! You don’t need to be everyone’s wall, Frankie. I know you now. I know you try so hard for everyone around you all the time and never for yourself. You’re worried about your mom and sister, you’re worried about your friends. You don’t want to leave here and chance someoneneedingyou. But what aboutyou? What happens when Frankie needs something, and everyone else has already gotten what they wanted out of you?”

My chest rose and fell harshly. I’d worked myself up into an embarrassing emotional outbreak and Frankie looked just as perplexed by it. He continued brushing his thumb across the back of my hand softly, tracing my tense body with his eyes. The silence around us roared.

“Are we having our first argument?” he finally replied with a touch of amusement.

I snorted, the thud of my heart relaxing again. “I’ll fucking fight you on this any day of the week.”

“Come here.” He pulled me carefully against him.

“Why?’ I pouted disobediently, giving him a lazy amount of resistance.

“Stubborn woman.” He pulled harder, until I had no choice but to fall into his lap, resting my thighs on either side of his hips. Despite the sincerity of the conversation, our centers connecting beneath the warm, bubbling water demanded its own attention. “Because it hurts when I can tell that you’re mad at me, but it also sadistically turns me on a little bit. So this fixes both of those things.”

His charm continued to emotionally castrate me. “How did you find out?” I asked.

Strong forearms tightened at my lower back and rocked me gently. “I’m pretty fucking sure she wanted me to. She left her emails open on the counter one morning and went out for brunch with some friends. I’m not the guy that’s gonna snoop but when I see names popping up in her inbox that I know—mychain of command.” His lips thinned into a straight line. “Something was off. Vanessa came home and I asked her about it, and she didn’t even deny it. She lookedrelieved, honestly, and the worst fucking part? I didn’t even ask her to leave. She just did.”

I leaned down and left a short peck on the tip of his nose, then whispered against his lips, “She didn’t deserve you.”

Frankie’s hands whispered like silk up my spine and to my shoulders, curling around the sides of my jaw and tucking the sweat-slicked curls of my stray hair behind my ears. “You make me believe that.”

“Good,” I answered, closing the short distance between our lips and claiming his mouth and tongue instantly.

We’d learned each other so well. He held me against him, asking for more of my attention without words, commanding our movements with the same amount of care as he did passion. I was swollen with his kiss, breathless and eager for as much of himself as he was willing to give.

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