And that was what put the smile on his face, not the idea of spending a day and a half on the road with Lucy Kavanagh. Not at all.
Chapter Four
Lucy pulled into the driveway of the bungalow Frankie shared with his brother at six a.m. It was too early to be up. Thank God for Mountain Dew, lots and lots of Mountain Dew. She put her Prius into park, took a drink from her second soda of the day, and then got out of the car so she could move her suitcase over in the trunk to fit Frankie’s bags. She didn’t even get her driver’s side door shut before Frankie’s voice stopped her in her tracks.
“There is no way in hell that I’m going to fit in that toy-sized car.”
She whipped around. Frankie stood on his front porch in jeans he filled out way too well, a Waterbury Fire Department T-shirt that only seemed to make his already broad shoulders seem more so, and an Ice Knights hockey baseball cap that drew her attention to the look of utter disbelief on his face.
“It’s bigger on the inside.” Okay, not a whole lot, but she wasn’t going to admit that.
“Are you kidding me?” he asked with a shake of his head as he strutted down from the porch and toward the driveway. “That is not a Tardis.”
Not the comparison she’d expected from him, and she couldn’t help giving him mental points for the Doctor Who reference.
“I fit comfortably and I’m sure you will, too.” Honesty time. She’d never driven her compact car any farther than her daily commute, but she’d already mapped out the charging stations along their route to Antioch.
“Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but I’m not pint-sized.” He stopped next to her, his shadow practically throwing her entire car into the shade.
She put a hand on one of her hips. “Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but I’m not, either.”
His gaze pivoted from her car to her face. The disbelief in his eyes at the size of her car turned curious as he looked at her and moved on to what looked like—but probably wasn’t—heated appreciation as his focus moved down her body to the spot where her hand was on her hip. Of course it wasn’t that kind of look, though. Even if it was, it was just because Frankie couldn’t help himself. The man flirted the way other people breathed.
Normally, that kind of guy—the player—always left her feeling icky. Really, who wants to be with someone who had more notches on his bedpost than Santa had names on his naughty list? There was just something gross about it.
Still, she couldn’t help but shift under the attention from Frankie and pray like hell that she didn’t match her red V-neck T-shirt right now.
Hypocrite much, Lucy?
“I’ll cover all of the cost of gas if we go in my car,” he said, his gaze back up to her face.
Nope. That wasn’t going to happen. “I invited you. I’ll pay.”
“So glad you agreed to take my car.” How he managed to make the gotcha grin on his face look sexy, she had no clue. “You can park your golf cart in the garage while we’re gone so the neighborhood preschoolers don’t boost it.”
Wait. What? Had she? Damn it. He was already hitting the code on his garage door, revealing a bright scarlet Chevrolet Impala that was waxed to a high shine until it gleamed even in the garage. Oh hell. It just had to be red. She was such a sucker for anything but eyeshadow in that color.
She should put up a fight about it, but…red Impala. “You are way too used to getting your way.”
“It’s because I’m so charming,” he said, crossing his arms across his chest and making his poor T-shirt strain around his biceps.
Something in her head popped and fizzled as she stared at his arms. Not just his biceps, but his thick forearms. The longer she stared, the more she needed to grab her second morning Mountain Dew from the cup holder in her Prius, because she was seriously overheated in the way that sent a delicious tingle through all her most sensitive spots.
“I’ll take your silence as agreement,” Frankie said.
Rolling her eyes, she told her lady bits to chill the fuck out. “You get your way because you’re a bulldozer.”
“That, too.” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Now, pop the trunk so I can get your bags.”
Lucy sighed. The man was driving halfway across the country to go to her high school reunion . She could let him win the battle of the cars. She pressed the trunk release on her key fob.
He ambled over and peeked in. “Two suitcases? We’re only going to be gone for a week.”
“Exactly, I economized to fit everything in only two.” Men never understood everything that went into packing for a week away as a woman.