Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Finch
By the time the yacht was heading back to Prickle Island, Frankie had loosened up considerably. Maybe a little too much after five glasses of Champagne, but it was my mission to help her forget she was sailing on a boat. I couldn't believe she didn't know how to swim. I was determined she would by the end of the summer.
We leaned against the back railing away from the crowds, looking out to sea. Most of the other partiers had congregated inside to hide from the cool evening wind.
"Here," I said, taking off my jacket and wrapping it around Frankie's shoulders.
"I'm okay?—”
I ran my hand down her goose bump-covered arm and pointedly raised my eyebrow. "Just take the jacket, Frankie.”
She stuck out her bottom lip but did as I commanded, folding it around herself and sighing.
"This smells amazing," she said. "What cologne do you wear?”
I huffed. "Does soap count?"
"You do not just naturally smell this good. There’s no way,” she said with a drunken chuckle. She rose up from where she leaned to stick her nose against my neck and take a big inhale. I laughed at the feeling of her nose pressed against my skin. “Curse you. You really do just smell that good."
"I think we might have lost track of how many glasses of Champagne you've had there, Goldilocks," I said. “You don’t strike me as the sniff attack type of miscreant when you’re sober.”
I'd been abnormally restrained when it came to drinking that evening. I was originally thinking I'd have to call Hawk to drive us home after a big night of partying. It was what I was known for—drinking people twice my size under the table. But after promising Frankie I would save her in the event of a catastrophe, I’d decided one and a half glasses of Champagne were enough. It had been a surprisingly easy decision.
Frankie hiccuped, pointing her face into the wind. “Why do you always call me Goldilocks?"
I shrugged and lifted a soft lock of her golden hair.
“Right, I should’ve thought of that.”
"That's not the only reason," I confessed. "You know my full name?"
"Goldfinch," she said. "It's a beautiful name." Her hand lingered on my lapel.
"I guess I just liked the idea of our names matching, Finch and Frankie, Goldilocks and Goldfinch," I confessed. "My other siblings ended up with someone with the same first letter of their name. I don’t know, it just felt kind of lucky." I swept a hand through my hair. "I'm going to shut up now."
"No," Frankie said, leaning further into me. "I think that's really sweet."
I hoped she was too drunk to remember that the first time I’d called her Goldilocks had also been the first time we’d met. To give a stranger a nickname that I hoped would compliment my own . . . It had been a spur of the moment decision, just a weird off the cuff fantasy. The idea of someone like her ending up with someone like me had just been a fun delusion. I hadn’t planned on ever telling her the truth. But when she looked up at me with those big blue-green eyes, the truth had a way of just tumbling out of my mouth.
Those stunning eyes drifted over my shoulder and snagged on something. "What? Is Jake watching?" I leaned down, trying to shield her from view of the deck above. “Do you want me to kiss?—”
Frankie bridged the distance between us before I could even finish the question. Her mouth collided with mine and I moved instantly, pulling her into me. God, her body was so blissfully soft, those gorgeous, cushioned curves that pressed into me, and just . . . it was everything. She was everything. Her taste, her smell. I kissed her as if my lips could convey how much she deserved someone to adore her, someone to worship every inch of her, someone so very different than Jake.
I knew that creeping self-doubt in her was his fault, knew that someone like him relished in chipping away at someone like her. It enraged me. The fact she didn’t realize how much she electrified every single nerve ending in my body. My hands fisted in her dress, pulling her closer as her hands lifted into my hair and her mouth grew more insistent.
This was so much more than a kiss to make someone jealous. This was like a frenzy, something that had been building in me for weeks, like we couldn't stop even if we wanted to.
I wanted to devour her.
The boat horn blared, making us jolt apart and snap out of the haze.
"Sorry," she said with an awkward giggle. "I got a bit carried away in this act."
"Believe me, I don't mind," I said, swiping my thumb under her swollen bottom lip to fix her smudged lipstick.
She lifted her hand to my mouth and did the same. I didn’t know if she was aware that she licked her lips as her eyes fixated on my mouth, but my satisfied smile grew wider at the action.
I looked over the side to see we'd arrived back at the dock. When? The night seemed to have just disappeared. I wished we were still out in the harbor, still dancing, still kissing, still connected. Now that this party was over, would we ever even have a chance to do this again? I didn't care that it was all just a game of pretend. Frankie made me want to pretend a little bit longer.