Chapter 24
Astrong hand slid up and tangled in her hair as Frankie ducked her head and kissed her again.
The feeling of it, of Frankie pinning her to the door, of warm breath on her skin and the smell of bergamot and leather overwhelming her senses in the most delicious way, was enough to turn Jules into a puddle.
And she was well on her way to becoming exactly that as Frankie’s knee pushed up into her again. She moaned into the kiss and Frankie smiled, gently nipping at her bottom lip with a hunger that was absolutely intoxicating.
She hadn’t seen it coming, definitely not tonight, but finally one of them was willing to make the first move. If it had taken any longer, she was going to spontaneously combust from so much as Frankie smiling at her.
“Fuck, Frankie,” she whined, her fingers moving from Frankie’s shoulders to her face.
She cradled Frankie’s jaw and stroked her cheek with her thumb.
The gentle touch made Frankie draw back from their kiss to meet her gaze again and Frankie’s green eyes were filled with wonder and the unmistakable look of desire.
“Has anyone told you that you’re like…really, really hot? ”
Frankie laughed and the melodic, full bellied sound of it filled the hotel room. Her cheeks warmed beneath Jules' touch, a blush spreading over the bridge of her nose, mixing with her freckles in the cutest shade of deep pink.
“Not in those exact words and not anyone that matters,” Frankie answered. “Not until you.”
Frankie leaned down and kissed Jules again, sweeter this time, slower. She took her time and Jules let it happen, allowing herself to slip into the ebb and flow of Frankie’s touch, of the way lips burned across her skin, leaving behind the promise of more in their wake.
Without breaking their kiss, Frankie tugged Jules away from the door and slowly spun them, walking Jules backwards towards the bed. Her knees hit the edge and she fell back, arms splayed out at her side, her eyes wide as she took in the scene above her.
Frankie’s fiery red hair had come loose from its bun and strands hung down around her face, framing it in the most attractive way.
Her lips were swollen and shining from the kiss, her chest rising and falling as she worked to catch her breath and she was looking at Jules like she were a painting in a museum, a piece of art made to be marvelled at, made to be worshipped.
Jules didn’t think anyone had ever looked at her that way before.
“Knowing someone had you then let you go…God, they have no idea what they lost but I am so glad they walked away, because now I get this.” Frankie climbed onto the bed, laying down beside her, stroking her face with a tenderness that Jules was taken aback by. “I get to have you.”
Kissing Frankie was all she could think to do and she rolled onto her side, sliding a hand around the back of Frankie’s neck to bring her close.
Their lips met again in a hungry fashion, a push and pull that had them both fighting for control and then Frankie flattened her palm against Jules' stomach.
Her fingers delicately toyed with the bottom hem of the shirt Jules had chosen to wear that day knowing the colour complimented her skin tone and when Frankie’s fingers finally met her bare skin, she tensed, her breath catching in her throat.
“Frankie, wait…I —”
The hand immediately stilled and Frankie pulled it out from under her shirt. “What’s wrong? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No, you didn’t, you’re…” Jules looked at her, then lowered her eyes as a wave of embarrassment washed over her. “You’re perfect. It’s me.”
Frankie sat up and looked down at her, her brows pinched. She raised the hand that just barely grazed beneath the shirt Jules was wearing up to her cheek and gently stroked her skin. “What’s wrong? You can tell me.”
“I…” Jules covered her face with her hands for a second to try and push the nerves and uncertainty she suddenly felt aside before she sat up beside Frankie.
She wanted Frankie, she really did, and this was everything she had craved; Frankie’s touch, her lips, being close to her this way, but…
“Jules, talk to me. Please.”
Jules released a shaky exhale then pursed her lips, the same ones that had just been kissing Frankie, and she spoke.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been with anyone and I’m…
well, I’m a little out of practice.” Jules searched Frankie’s face for any sign of regret, any sign of annoyance that they’d come this far just for Jules to pump the brakes, but she found none.
“I don’t think I want the first time I sleep with the woman I’ve had a crush on for months to be in a hotel room in Los Angeles.
I want to be home, and I want to be there with you. ”
Frankie looked hurt but the hurt quickly shifted into confusion and then to worry.
She pulled away from Jules, standing and putting a foot of space between them.
“I hope you don’t think I was going to pressure you into doing anything tonight…
or…or that I came on too strong. I would never go beyond what you felt comfortable with. ”
And the thing is, Jules did know that, she knew Frankie would never push or ask for what Jules wasn’t ready to give her, it wasn’t in her nature and the beautiful thing about becoming friends, about learning who the other person was, meant Jules never, ever had to question that.
Not even for a moment. Frankie cared about her well-being, that much she knew for certain.
But this reaction, the genuine concern in Frankie’s voice, was one more thing on a long list of reasons for why Jules was falling for Frankie.
Correction — why she’d already fallen.
Jules sat up and held her hands out for Frankie to take.
“I know, and that thought didn’t even cross my mind.
” Frankie took her hands and stepped closer, standing in between her legs, linking their fingers together.
“Hear me when I say that I want more but if all you wanted was one night with me away from our real lives, I can’t give you that and it’s better to know now. ”
The look on Frankie’s face changed again and when she smiled, it made the whole room brighter. Her eyes were sparkling and she let go of one of Jules' hands then brought it up to her face. She cupped her chin and ran a thumb along her bottom lip.
“You really don’t know, do you?”
Swallowing hard, Jules took a deep breath and gave her head a little shake. No, she didn’t know why Frankie was looking at her the way she was or what Frankie even saw in her. It had been a long time, even before the breakup, since someone looked at her the way Frankie was looking at her now.
“If you think all I want is one night with you, you’re wrong.”
And just like that, Jules needed her again. She gripped Frankie’s wrist and pulled her down onto the bed on top of her, their bodies flush, a leg slotting between her own as she reached down to grip Frankie’s hips.
Maybe they wouldn’t sleep together in a hotel room in Los Angeles, but there were plenty of things they could do to take advantage of their time together before they had to fly home to their real lives.
“Kiss me again,” Jules begged, pawing at Frankie, pressing herself against the strong body lying next to her.
And Frankie did.
When their lips met, Frankie kissed her the way every woman deserved to be kissed, with hunger and want and need. Electricity crackled between them, their connection undeniable and when Frankie moaned into her mouth, Jules knew that nothing was ever going to be the same.
She stirred hours later, blinking open her eyes in the darkness of her hotel room and glanced at the clock on the bedside table. It was five in the morning and she had a flight to catch at eight.
Frankie would be flying to Dallas with the team later in the day but Jules had her own flight back to Halifax in a few hours.
As much as she wanted to stay in bed with Frankie for as long as she could, her own west coast trip only went as far as California and she knew she had to get up or risk missing her flight entirely.
The events from the night before almost felt like a dream and Jules wouldn’t have believed that it were real if not for the arm around her midsection and the feeling of warm breath tickling the back of her neck.
They didn’t have sex, but they did spend an inappropriately long amount of time making out like teenagers who just discovered how good it felt to kiss for the first time.
Jules was embarrassed to admit, even to herself, how close she came to tipping over the edge simply because of the way Frankie’s leg pressed against her centre and palmed her breast over the fabric of her shirt.
And then, as the night dragged on into early morning, as the events of their day and the rush of their evening activities caught up with them, they both seemingly agreed that Frankie would stay.
Because Jules wasn’t ready for this time with her to end and they’d each taken their turn in the washroom to freshen up.
Frankie had used the hotel provided toothbrush while Jules used her own and then they stripped down into their underwear and t-shirts, slid under the covers and clicked off the light beside the bed.
It was quiet for a few moments, the stillness in the room and the ambient noise of the hotel settling around them but then, like it was the most natural thing in the entire world, just like they were designed for it, Jules curled into Frankie’s body and fell asleep with fingers brushing through her hair.
“Go back to sleep,” Frankie mumbled, somehow managing to pull Jules closer to her.
Jules smiled and allowed herself to melt into the comfort of the embrace for a moment before she sighed. “I have to get up and pack.”
“Change your flight.”
It was definitely something Jules considered for a moment when Frankie pressed a kiss just below her ear.
”Frankie…I can’t…”
The warm hand holding her waist slid lower and when fingers slipped under her shirt and teasingly glided across her stomach in a featherlight touch, she didn’t tense like she’d done hours earlier. This time, Jules melted into the touch, pushing back into the body behind her.
The feeling of Frankie’s lips on her skin was enough to make her body come alive and she could feel Frankie smile against her neck.
“Five.” Kiss. “More.” Kiss. “Minutes.”
With the last kiss, Frankie pulled her shirt aside to expose the top of her shoulder and gently sucked her skin.
Jules was a goner. She rolled over in Frankie’s arms and in the darkness of a hotel room lit only by the sliver of light coming in from behind the curtains, she saw the hint of a playful smile on Frankie’s face.
“You’re trouble,” she whispered, tucking a strand of red hair behind Frankie’s ear.
“A bit of trouble is fun every now and then, isn’t it?”
They laid together quietly until Jules broke the silence with a question she’d been wanting to ask since she fell asleep the night before.
She needed to know, so she could prepare for whatever came next with them. She knew Frankie wanted more from her, and she wanted that too, but how they got that she didn’t know. They weren’t breaking any rules by being together but it was still something they had to navigate.
“So…what now?” Jules asked.
“Well,” Frankie said as she gently stroked her fingers up and down Jules’ arm in a way that made her shiver. “I was thinking…”
“Uh-oh, maybe you should leave that to the hockey rink.”
“Hey!” Frankie laughed and teasingly shoved Jules before tugging her close again. “Don’t be rude or I won’t kiss you again.”
“And we can’t have that.” Jules turned her head slightly to kiss the inside of Frankie’s wrist.
”As I was saying, I was thinking that maybe, if I’m lucky…
” Frankie’s voice trailed off and she was genuinely bashful.
It was ridiculously cute considering more often than not, she was the strong, stoic type.
Jules found it so endearing, it made her heart skip a beat.
“Maybe you’d let me take you out on a date when we get home? ”
”Frankie Stevens, asking me out on a date? Wow, I must be pretty special."
"Jules, if you didn't already know, I think you're more than special."