Muffin Top

Like he was going to tell him. He could barely think about how fucking lucky he was with Lucy. Truth was, he was scared shitless of doing anything to fuck it up, so keeping everything on the down low just made more sense. If no one knew about him and Lucy, how could he fuck it up?

Stuck at a stoplight, he glared at his mirror image—well, if he had dark hair, no freckles, and was a full half inch shorter. “You know everyone thinks I’m the hotter twin.”

“No worries,” Finn said with a shrug. “I’m the mysterious one—everyone always wonders about me.”

The light turned, and Frankie floored it. “Just because they have no clue what an annoying weirdo you are.”

He drove the last few blocks to Marino’s accompanied by his brother’s laugh. He sounded like a hyena after it had taken sixteen hits off a helium balloon. Seriously, it was a weird-ass sound coming from someone who looked like he spent his days cutting down trees in a forest to build a log cabin from scratch. How some women found the sound attractive, Frankie had no idea. Not that he cared. Finn could have his pick of the women in Waterbury. Frankie only wanted one, and as soon as he found a parking spot in Marino’s crowded lot he was going to get see her.

Normally, he tooled around a parking lot a few times to find the most protected spot for Scarlett. Tonight? He pulled into the first spot he laid eyes on and killed the engine. Ignoring the oh-really look his twin was sending him, he got out of the car and hustled across the parking lot to Marino’s beer garden behind the bar, which had been reserved for Gina’s and Ford’s engagement party.

He spotted Lucy right away.

How could he not when she was wearing his favorite color and looking face-of-the-sun hot? Of course, it took longer to get to her than the drive from Antioch to Waterbury.

First, he had to say hello to every member of his family—and there were a million of them. Then, he had to wind through the equally huge number of Gina’s family members. Even her brothers had flown in from a still-undisclosed location to surprise their sister. Finally, he got to where she stood with Gina and Tess, who gave him and Lucy a bemused look and started whispering in each other’s ears.

“Hey there,” he said, leaning in close because there was really no way he couldn’t.

She looked up at him and smiled. “Hello yourself.”

Holy hell. Every nerve in his body was attuned to her as if he was a volcano about to erupt, and if he didn’t do something to relieve the pressure and soon, things were going to get really graphic in the middle of his by-the-book brother’s engagement party.

“I need your help real quick,” he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward Marino’s main building. “I need to ask you a question about Gina’s and Ford’s wedding gift.”

Yeah, that didn’t pass the smell test, but he didn’t care. His only concern was getting her somewhere private. They made it as far as through Marino’s door and into a dark, empty hallway. Spinning her around so her back was to the wall next to the supply closet door, he put his hands on the wall on either side of her and went in for one kiss. At least that’s all it was supposed to be. The minute his lips touched hers though, one kiss turned into a dozen long, drawn-out, breath-stealing, mind-melting, dick-hardening kisses that made the rest of the world disappear—and he never wanted it to end.

The insistent tap on his shoulder had other ideas. He broke the kiss, tore his gaze away from Lucy’s beautiful, slightly kiss-dazed face, and got ready to tear a new one in whichever one of his brothers had the balls to interrupt.

The person standing behind him wasn’t one of his brothers, though; it wasn’t even a relation. Shannon the bartender, his former good-time companion.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Shannon said with a friendly smile.

“No worries.” Lucy started smoothing her hair in that way that women did when they were trying to get themselves back in order. “We were just saying hello.”

“Huh,” Shannon said, amusement plain in her tone. “Usually I just wave.”

Then she stepped past Frankie now that he wasn’t blocking the hall and went into the supply closet.

Lucy’s cheeks were an adorable shade of pink when she looked at him and attempted to give him a censuring look. “You are forever messing up my lipstick, Frankie Hartigan.”

And he didn’t feel even the least bit bad about it. “Can’t help it,” he said, dipping his head down so his lips were practically touching the shell of her ear. “There’s just something about that mouth of yours that is begging for someone to kiss it hard and good.”