Irresistible (Cloverleigh Farms #1)(43)

“Mmhm. With roast beef and caramelized onions. Can you grab a can of beef broth from the pantry? I’m pretty sure I saw one in there last week.” She turned the oven on to preheat. “Oh, and I’ll write my number down on that notebook by the phone. That way it’s there in case of an emergency.”

As I stood there watching her, my heart began to feel like a jackhammer in my chest. Clearing my throat, I headed for the pantry before I did something crazy like tell her I loved her.

But honest to fucking God, I almost did.





*



Frannie sat at the dining room table with me while I ate, slowly sipping her beer and telling me about the conversation she’d had with her sister Chloe about starting her own business.

“You already know I think that’s a great idea,” I said between bites of the delectable roast beef sandwiches. “I’ll help you any way I can.”

“Thanks.” She smiled gratefully. “I still have a lot of research to do, but I’ve been working on it here and there over the last few days.”

“Have you talked to your parents?”

She sighed. “I brought it up with my mom and we argued about it. She trotted out her same old arguments about my health and the stress, blah blah blah. In the past, I’ve always backed down, but this time I won’t.”

“What have you asked for in the past?”

She pulled one leg up, wrapping her arms around it and setting her chin on her knee. “Mostly I just wanted to be like other kids. Go to school. Run around at recess. Play soccer.”

I paused with a slider halfway to my mouth. “You didn’t go to school?”

“I was homeschooled.”

“Ah.”

“Later I wanted to go away to college. Backpack around Europe like my sisters had. Do you know that I’ve never even been out of the United States?”

“No?” I asked, surprised.

She shook her head. “No. I have a passport and everything, gathering dust in a drawer.”

I reached for the last slider. “Where would you go first?”

“Hmmm.” She thought for a moment, pressing her lips together. “France. I’ve always wanted to go to Paris, of course, but I’d also like to visit other places. We had a French pastry chef at Cloverleigh years ago, before you came on, and he was from a little town in the Loire Valley that has the castle that inspired the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes. Chateau d’Ussé,” she said with perfect French pronunciation. “He’d tell me all about it, and I’d dream that one day he was going to pluck me from my humdrum life and whisk me away to his enchanted castle, where we’d live happily ever after.”

I laughed as I stuck the last bite in my mouth. “Didn’t happen?”

Giggling, she shook her head. “Alas, Jean-Gaspard did not prefer women. Eventually, he moved back to France, leaving me alone and heartbroken. But I learned a lot from him.”

“Well, I’m no French pastry chef, but I have total confidence that you can start your own business.” I sat back and tipped up my beer. “Christ, that was good. Thanks for making dinner for me.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiled happily. “The bride from the wedding at Cloverleigh last weekend offered to help me, did I tell you that? She’s a commercial real estate agent, and she said she sometimes invests in female-owned small businesses. When she gets back from her honeymoon, she’s going to get in touch.”

“That’s awesome,” I told her. “See? The universe wants you to do this. All signs point to success.”

She laughed. “Maybe. We’ll see.”

I finished my beer, picked up my plate and took it to the sink. “I should go check on Winnie.”

Frannie rose to her feet too, stifling a yawn. “Yeah, it’s late. I should get going.”

“Wait, don’t go yet. I’ll be right back down.” I touched her back as I passed her on my way to the stairs.

Hurrying up to Winnie’s room, I looked in on her, double checking that she was breathing easily and her lip hadn’t started bleeding again. I picked Ned the Hammerhead from Shedd up from the floor, tucked him in next to her and pressed my lips to her forehead a moment, thanking God again that she was okay. I’d never take the health and safety of anyone I loved for granted. I’d seen too much for that.

Quietly I left her room, leaving the door all the way open and the nightlight on in the hall. I’d sleep in Winnie’s room tonight just in case she woke up and called for me. But first I wanted to say goodnight to Frannie and walk her to her car.

Downstairs, she was loading dishes into the dishwasher. Affection and gratitude for her overwhelmed me. What had I done to deserve the kind of devotion she showed me? I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist, burying my face in her sweet-smelling hair. “You’re the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time, you know that?”

She placed her arms over mine. “That makes me feel good.”

“And I wish you didn’t have to leave.” I kissed her shoulder.

“Me too. But it’s late, and you’ve got—Mack … what are you doing?”

One of my hands had wandered beneath her sweater, and the other had moved between her legs. The feel of her warm bare skin, of the heat beneath my palm, sent blood rushing through me. The crotch of my pants was growing tight. “Don’t go,” I whispered, rubbing her through the tight-fitting denim. “Stay with me a while longer.”