Page 94 of Christmas in Coconut Creek

My body stirred awake like a loud knock on the door in the middle of the night. Warmth blossomed down my spine, between my legs. A train of need passing through me fruitlessly without Frankie there to bring me some type of release.

I crawled to his headboard, easing my exposed body against the dark wood. Then, I unhooked my bra and tossed it to the floor.

Ophelia:Does it turn you on to know I’m naked in your bed?

I slid my thong I’d found in his drawer up my legs, adjusting the thin straps high on my hips.

Frankie <3:You know the answer to that. Show me

My fingers shook as I took another photo, vulnerable, yet grossly unabashed. I’d never felt so confident with a man, and it was because I knew Frankie was reallylookingat me. I was trusting him with all of these parts of myself, knowing he wouldn’t ever betray them.

Framed in yellow light, the silhouette of every last curve on display, a teasing smile, waves of my hair falling like a curtain around my face as I untied it. There was a woman that lived somewhere idly inside me staring back at the screen, like she knew a secret I wasso closeto uncovering.

That poised, elusive woman, no matter how much I wanted to take her back home with me, belonged to him. No one had ever had that version of me. She was his.

Ophelia:Finally wore them for you

I attached the photo.

Frankie <3:Fuck me, you’re so lucky I can’t drive right now

Ophelia:I wouldn’t call that luck

A minute passed as I watched him type with my thumb between my teeth.

Frankie <3:I’m going to give you everything you want when I get home, Ophelia. Bet on that

The sentiment was physical, but I pretended for a feeble moment that it was more. A man promising me the world, and me wanting nothing more than to take it from him.

The pressure of my teeth sinking into my lip mixed the perfect amount of pain with the stomach sinking feeling of arousal. I was coiled like a spring. Even the small grazing of my knuckles down my body gave me chills.

Ophelia:Distracted?

The soft murmurs of our friends from down the hallway prompted me to stand and reluctantly dress myself again, recentering without any relief. Frankie’s clock on the nightstand read half past nine, it was almost Christmas Eve, and I was another day closer to the end of a trip that I wished more than anything had a pause button.

My phone lit up again.

Frankie <3:You are the most distracting thing that’s ever happened to me.

“Goodtalkwithyourmom?” Nat drew a line of pearls with icing across a graham cracker and stuck it with so much force to the rooftop of her gingerbread house the entire foundation shifted.

Mateo was attempting to construct a walkway of mini candy canes with amusing focus, a furrowed brow and his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth. I plopped down in the dining room chair across from them and stared at my untouched cardboard platform.

“It’s been snowing there for a week,” I said. “That’s all you guys are missing here, white Christmas.”

“I could do without,” Mateo replied, sliding the box of crackers across the table to me. His attention darted to my neckline and he smirked. “How’s Pike holding up?”

I shrugged, blasé. “What makes you think I’ve talked to him?”

He pointed the end of a candy cane directly at my chest. “Your shirt is on inside out and fucking backward, babe.”

I pulled my scoop neckline away to find the tag dangling. Every ounce of dignity left inside me crumbled as I unceremoniously ripped the fucker clear off and took a sliver of fabric with it.

“Chic,” Mateo added. “People pay money for that look.”

Nat giggled. “I’m surprised he didn’t come home tonight.”

“He’s drunk.” I reclined in my chair with a sigh, crossing my legs on the cushion underneath me. “His mom’s boyfriend must have been at dinner.”

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