Burning Down the Spouse (36 page)
Read Burning Down the Spouse Online
Authors: Dakota Cassidy
Tags: #Separated Women, #Greek Americans, #Humorous, #Contemporary, #Women Cooks, #General, #Romance, #Humorous Fiction, #Fiction, #Cultural Heritage, #Love Stories
Her way.
“Knock-knock!” Maxine called, milling her way through everyone to find Frankie. “I come bearing housewarming gifts for a woman of independent means,” she said on a wide smile. Pretty and always tastefully put together, Maxine gave her a hug.
“I come, too,” Campbell called from behind her. “Because the gifts for the independent woman were too heavy for the other independent woman to carry alone.”
Frankie’s eyes widened as she counted three boxes and two more gift bags. “Oh, no, Maxine. I can’t. It’s too much.”
Maxine’s smile grew wider when Campbell placed his hand on her shoulder. “Well, you might want to wait on that until after you open them. There’s booty to be had, oh, and this.” She handed Frankie a small black tote. “It’s a survival guide for women striking out on their own. You know, coupons for local stores, emergency numbers, suggestions for energy saving, tips on how to get a stain out of your carpet because your maid’s gone the way of the dinosaur. All important stuff.”
Frankie laughed again, giving Maxine a hug. “Thank you. I wish you hadn’t spent so much.”
Maxine tweaked her cheek. “You won’t feel that way when you have coffee already made in the morning. It’s crucial to a single girl’s survival. Besides, you’ll need it for those early morning demonstrations at the mall with the Slap Chop.”
Nikos had given her later hours at the diner in order for her to take on a part-time position at the mall, ratcheting up his supportive factor to the nth degree. He’d offered to give her a raise, but they both knew he was overpaying her as it was, and as it stood, the diner needed another cashier to replace Adara when she’d gone back to college.
Her refusal hadn’t made him angry at all. In fact, instead of trying to save her, Nikos was the one who found the ad for the demonstration hostess and showed it to her.
Which made him crazy irresistible, which was always followed by more of the afraid thing.
Nikos came up behind Frankie, throwing his arm around her shoulder. After almost a month and a half of dating, she was still getting used to her insides always feeling like a bowl of Jell-O whenever he was near. He leaned in, placing his lips against her ear to whisper, “How long before we can get everyone out of here and christen the new homestead in the style to which it’s due?”
A chill of delicious anticipation swirled low in her belly. Nikos created a special kind of fire in her she’d never expected, and it involved more than just the fire he created in her loins. He made her want to succeed at getting on her feet. He made her want. End of.
More importantly, and more and more frequently, he made her smile secretively, when she was alone and it was just she and Kiki.
“Frankie! I brought you some stuff from Voula, who insisted every good girl should have a set of knives and a meatloaf pan.” Cosmos held up a box and several bags. “There’s more in the car, and Mama’s on her way with Papa.”
She took them from him, plopping them in the middle of her living room with a beaming smile. Voula held a warm spot in her heart. She’d coddled and nurtured and encouraged Frankie day by day at the diner until she’d made her feel like she belonged—like she was an integral part of this crazy bunch of unruly clan members and the running of their diner. Even Barnabas had begun to come around with the occasional grunt of approval for her chopping methods.
Each day that passed, each moment she spent with the Antonakases, each lunch shift when she worked side by side with Nikos, had become a soothing balm—a place of respite where she didn’t have to be anyone but Frankie.
In increments, she was becoming more successful at tamping down the idea that something or someone was going to take what she’d found away from her. The notion never failed to make her heart skitter sideways.
Which scared the living shit out of her.
These days, she wasn’t sure what was scarier—how easy it was to be nuts over Nikos, or how easily everything could fall apart. Yet, deeper and deeper she fell . . .
“Oh, look at our Frankie,” Voula cooed, patting Gail’s arm as she arrived a few moments behind Cosmos. “She is leaving the tree, eh?”
“Nest, Mama. She’s leaving the nest,” Nikos corrected, winking at Frankie and leaning in to give his mother a peck on her forehead, his strong, tanned hand cupping her chin.
Voula pinched Frankie’s cheeks with a fond smile. “Yes. She leaves the nest like a big girl. I am so proud of our Frankie.”
Barnabas followed Voula in, then knelt beside Kiki, scratching her under her chin with an indulgent smile and that little noise of pleasure he made whenever Frankie brought her to the diner to sit in the back office and watch TV with him. He’d even picked up a bed for her to sleep on the desk in. A princess bed with fluffy pink and white marabou fur. “How’s my Kooky today? She is a good girl for Uncle Barnabas? Look what I bring for my good girl.” He dug in his pocket with a grin, pulling out one of Kiki’s favorite new treats.
Kiki preened, her typically solemn approach to almost any situation all but lost when Barnabas paid her even a little attention. Her tail wagged as she burrowed on the chair, giving Barnabas a coy, playful peek from beneath her tiny paws.
His laughter, hearty and rich, made Kiki rise on her haunches to stretch against him and beg to be picked up.
Frankie shook her head at how indulgent he was. “She’ll get fat, Barnabas,” she chided with a chuckle.
He waved a chubby, wrinkled hand at her in dismissal, tucking Kiki into the top of his gray sweater vest. “Ack. My Kooky is a good girl. Good girls get treats.”
Jasmine tapped her on the shoulder. “Okay, sweetie. Gotta run or I’m going to be late to work.”
“Heaven forbid you should be late to Fifi’s,” Simon said with a roll of his eyes.
“Fluffy’s, and that job pays for my playpen. So lay off, poor little rich boy, and let’s go.”
Simon pecked Frankie on the cheek with a grin reserved especially for the kind of crazy Jasmine drove him. “This woman.”
“Cosmos, we go,” Voula directed. “We don’t want to leave Hector alone for too long. Last time he almost burned the whole batch of lamb stew because he flirt with the girls. Frankie? Tomorrow we talk curtains. I make, okay?”
She gave Voula a hard hug and chuckled. There was never any telling Voula no. Whether it was food or curtains. Everyone said yes to Voula. “Curtains. I’m in. I’ll see you tomorrow. And thank you, for everything. You’re too good to me.”
Voula pinched her cheek again with nimble fingers. “You are family. Family needs curtains. Barnabas, come. Put Kooky back and we go see what Hector’s doing.”
Barnabas gave Kiki one last kiss and an ear scratch, handing her to Nikos, then kissing both of Frankie’s cheeks with a wide smile. “
Kalh Tuch
, Frankie. You are a good girl. Not as good at the chopping as me, but a good girl.”
Kalh Tuch
, Frankie. You are a good girl. Not as good at the chopping as me, but a good girl.”
Nikos clapped his father on the back and translated. “That’s ‘good luck’ in Greek.”
“Okay, pussycat. I’m out, too,” said Aunt Gail, leaning in for a hug. “I have a hot date with Mona, Mary, and some bingo. You call me if you need anything. I’ll miss you, sassafras.”
Frankie hugged her hard, forcing back the sting of tears. “What will you miss more, me wandering around in my pajamas with greasy hair, or the big lump in the bed of your guest room?”
Gail gave her a pat on the cheek, buttoning her coat. “But look at you now, huh? That dirty bird didn’t get the best of you. I’m proud of you, kiddo.”
Frankie smiled in grateful satisfaction as Maxine and her husband Campbell left behind Gail. She was proud of her, too.
Now that they were alone, Nikos began to organize boxes and gift bags against the wall. He whistled, putting his hands on his lean hips, clad in stonewashed jeans. “You know, Bennett, I’m thinking this divorced, poor gig is a real racket.”
Her eyebrow rose. “Why’s that?”
“Did you see some of this stuff everybody brought? When I got my first apartment, I had one pot and like a box of dry spaghetti. My own mother didn’t bring me even one set of sheets, but you get two. From Macy’s—and Egyptian cotton, no less. I don’t want to sound petty here, but I’m beginning to feel like my people love you more than they love me.” He pouted his bottom lip.
She giggled. “I am pretty loveable.”
Nikos gave her the look when he scooped her up, fitting her against him. The one that was a mixture of smoldering black eyes and playful sinfulness. The one that made her toes tingle and her heart thrash around in her chest with giggly, bubbly joy. “Oh, that you are, but loveable enough to buy you an entire kitchen aisle from Macy’s? I dunno . . .”
Her glance at him was coy, but her body sought his in the arch of her back. “I am. I can prove it.”
Nikos wiggled his eyebrows at her in a lewd response. “Do I have to take you to task, Bennett?”
“Will it involve a cold, hard floor and the potential need for some Tiger Balm?”
His hand slid under her sweater to cup her breast, caressing the underside of it, dragging his fingers along the sensitive tip of her nipple. “If I promise to rub it on all your sore spots, are we a go?”
Like she had the kind of will of iron it took to deny him. The playful, flirtatious side of her, one she didn’t know existed until Nikos, twirled a strand of her hair as she leaned back in his arms. “Oh, I don’t know. You could just be trying to score, and when all’s said and done, I’ll be left to try and figure out how to reach the middle of my back while you brag about your coup over a football game and sliders.”
He ran his tongue along her lower lip, eliciting a shiver of anticipation from her. “I would never brag. Not over sliders, anyway. Maybe peach pie. That always makes me give it up. “
Frankie let her arms slip under his, wrapping them around his waist with more giggling. “Fine, then. Do what you will with me,” she said on a mock sigh, fighting to hide the shudder of need rippling through her.
Nikos’s laughter was gruff when he pushed her back against the wall and popped open the button on her jeans. Jeans that now fit the way they used to thanks to some Antonakas love. He slid them over her hips with slow hands, caressing her skin as he went.
Frankie’s head fell back against the wall when he kissed his way along the side of her hip and down along the inside of her thigh. Her heart almost stopped, much like it always did, when he reached the most intimate place on her body.
Nikos relieved her of her panties and jeans, lifting her feet to pull her ballet slippers off. His hands were hot, untamed, running over her thighs, down along her ankles, and back up again to rest at her waist. His groan was unbidden, muted against the tender skin of her belly. He used a single digit to take a long draw of her swollen flesh, dragging a whimper of a plea from her lips.
The world tilted when his tongue sunk deep into her, swirling the aching bud of her clit with the tip. Her hips bucked against his mouth, hot and all encompassing. The silken glide brought her fingers to knead at his shoulders as his hands pulled her flush to him, kneading her ass in a circular motion.
Her nipples beaded, painfully tight and hard against her sweater, the delicious friction of Nikos’s mouth bringing the white-hot flood of heat she’d begun to allow herself to crave.
When he slid a finger inside her, thrusting it into her with a force that left her gasping, she cried out, her chest heaving forward, her shoulders pushing against the wall as she rose on her toes to consume every last lick of his raspy tongue.
Frankie drove down hard against Nikos’s lips, writhing with blissful pleasure when climax, sharp and sweet, began its upward climb. Her hand gripped his shoulder, the other wound into his hair, gripping the back of his head to keep his mouth as close as she could.
Her orgasm was a flash of brilliant white light behind her eyelids and the molten grip of sweet relief. She gave a final violent shudder before collapsing against him, boneless and replete.
Nikos shimmied up along her frame while clothes were discarded and breaths of need rang in her ears.
Their bodies met, naked, hot, heaving against each other, their skin sticking and pulling apart as they ground together. Like so many times in the past month, Frankie instinctively raised a thigh, curling it around Nikos’s waist. She reached between them, grasping his cock, silken and straining against her hand.
His groan, throaty and low, made her smile, much the way it did when she recalled it when she was alone. The sinful pleasure that single sound brought her left her feeling feminine and empowered as she dragged her body along his to kneel in front of him.
His hiss of pleasure when she cupped his tight sac and enveloped him in her mouth made her sigh around him. She’d just begun to learn what brought Nikos the most pleasure, what brought him as close to the edge as possible. Drawing the tip of his cock against her tongue, Frankie began the slow downward spiral, letting her lips drag over his hot shaft.
Nikos’s hands found her hair, clenching fistfuls of it, thrusting into her mouth until his hiss of need and the tug on her shoulders had her once again, back against the wall.
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