Page 39 of Gravity of Love
He waited for her to say she was kidding, for her to get to the punchline. When she didn’t, he repeated, “Youhid?”
“Yes. I. Hid,” she spoke each word with emphasis.
“Where?”
“Behind the white cabinet in the corner.” Again, her response made it sound like he was the one asking stupid questions.
“Why? Why would you hide from me?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter,” he countered.
She continued, “Thepointis, when I saw you in the hospital, and I heard Taylor and Caleb call youDr. Davies, Ireallywanted to call my friend who owns a private investigation company to find out everything he could about you, but Ididn’tbecause I wanted to respect your privacy.You’re welcome.”
“Thank you?” He wasn’t sure exactly what he was thanking her for.
“But after you left last night, after the day we spent together and finding out… everything, I thought that it wouldn’t be invading your privacy if I did some investigating on my own via Poppy. So, I did.”
Poppy wasveryactive on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. She posted videos and photos and always taggedeveryonein them. If Frankie looked her up, it would be very easy for her to research every branch of his entire family tree. That all made perfect sense, but one thing was still bothering him.
He placed his arm on the roof of the SUV above Frankie’s head and leaned down closer to her as he repeated the question, “Why did you hide from me?”
Her chin tilted up as she held his gaze, almost as if she was daring him to ask again, which he didn’t understand. Therewas so much emotion swimming behind her eyes. He wished so badly he could read her mind or that they still had the relationship that she would tell him every thought that passed through her mind as she had it.
She licked her lips, perhaps in a nervous tick, but he watched as her tongue slid along the seam of her mouth. He felt himself being drawn to her, like a magnet. Closer and closer. His eyes closed, and he felt her breath fanning his face.
“Uncle Liam! Uncle Liam! You’re here!”
His niece’s voice pierced his consciousness less than a nanosecond before his lips touched Frankie’s. He blinked and took a step back as he lifted his head. Finley was standing with a group of her friends at the back gate waving at him as more people arrived. He’d gotten so caught up in his Frankie bubble, he’d been oblivious to the cars that had parked beside him or the half dozen people walking into the party.
“Ready?” He held out his hand to Frankie, knowing that this conversation was not over, wishing that they could go somewhere private to continue it.
She glanced down at herself. “Do I look okay?”
Liam had been doing his level-best not to notice how Frankie looked. It took every ounce of concentration he had in him. Now that she’d point-blank asked, he allowed his eyes to hungrily take her in. She was the sort of natural beauty that always appeared accidental, as if she just rolled out of bed and glanced in the mirror as an afterthought, giving no attention to the way she looked. Her hair tumbled in coppery waves over her shoulders to her elbow, golden strands catching in the sunlight pouring through the windshield. Her sweetheart-shaped face was nearly too small for her oversized, almond eyes and full mouth tinted a deep shade of pink that made him think of other lips on her body.
Tan ankle boots matched an oversized off-the-shoulder camel sweater that slouched just enough to hint at the line of her collarbone, the fabric soft and loose but tucked with effortless casualness into a pair of faded blue jeans. The jeans hugged her hips and thighs in a way that was so flagrantly illegal that when he picked her up, he had to forcibly redirect his gaze away when she walked in front of him. She was quite literally the sexy girl next door, who he wanted to rip the clothes off of.
He’d never been a man to get distracted by beauty. He’d trained himself, at great and grueling expense, to compartmentalize everything in his life, down to the molecule. But nothing about Frankie Costas fit into any box he’d ever built. She overflowed, leaked out, spilled through the cracks, and turned every plan into bright, stubborn chaos.
“Do I?” she prompted once again, breathlessly, gazing up at him with a raw vulnerability that nearly undid him.
He knew he could tell her,yes, but that wouldn’t come close to doing her justice.
“Do you remember that movie you used to watch on repeat with Ben Stiller and Ed Norton?”
“Seriously? I lookthat badthat you’re changing the subject?”
“Who was the girl in it?”
Her irritation at his perceived avoidance of her question was obvious as she sighed. “Jenna Elfman.”
“Do you remember the scene when she’s trying to leave, and Ben Stiller wants her to stay so he stops her in the doorway?”
Her brows knit together.
“God was showing off when he made you,” Liam repeated the line that perfectly encapsulated what he felt about Frankie.
