Clearly, this was something that had happened
to Josette.
Christ.
Franka, already relaxed into his body and his
hold, relaxed deeper while noting, “I never did quite understand
the impulse of the wronged wife going after the lover. If the lover
knew about the wife, all’s fair and I bid her strength in every
pull and as much spittle as she can produce. If she didn’t, why
tear at her hair and spit in her face? The lover was wronged as
well, perhaps not as wronged as the wife, but she was wronged. The
wife should be tearing at her
husband’s
hair and spitting in
his
face.” She tipped her head back and looked to Noc. “Do
you agree? Or are vows of fidelity not practiced here as Cora and
Circe shared they were?”
“They’re practiced,” he replied. “And I
agree. A dude cheats, his wife cuts off his dick, my thoughts, he’s
got no place to complain.”
A sweet, happy light lit in Franka’s eyes at
his words.
“His dick?” Josette stage-whispered to
Franka, she turned to her girl and Noc lost that light.
But he’d had it, he liked it and he was good
with that.
Midnight soul.
Not even fucking close.
“I do believe, with that term, that Noc’s
referring to a man’s member,” Franka stage-whispered back.
And Noc was again fighting laughter.
“They vow fidelity here?” Josette asked.
“They do,” Franka told her.
“Odd,” Josette mumbled.
Noc was surprised. “You don’t in your
world?”
Frannie looked back up at him. “As they speak
an ancient tongue, no one actually knows what the Vallees are
saying during the marriage ceremony, even, in some cases, the
Vallees. But my understanding is, no. Fidelity is not vowed in the
Dwelling of the Gods when a man and woman are officially wed.
Expected by the lower classes, definitely.” Her mouth tightened.
“Expected from the females of all the classes, also definitely.
Expected from the males of the Houses, no.”
“I take it you don’t like that much,” Noc
observed.
“What’s expected for one should be expected
for all,” she replied.
Noc again beat back laughter as he curled her
closer and dipped his face to hers. “Listen to my Frannie, just a
few months ago you were all about class, conservative to the core.
Now you sound like a socialist.”
“I’ve no idea what that means but the teasing
light in your eyes and the grin on your lips I
have
seen on
a variety of occasions. As such, I
do
know what
they
mean and they make me think I should be finding you annoying right
now,” she returned.
“Not today, baby,” he murmured, giving her a
squeeze. “Today started great, it’s going great, and it’s going to
keep going that way so let’s get along.”
“With delight,” she agreed. “But only because
you called me ‘my Frannie’ and it’s the first time you’ve called me
anything, outside Franka and sweetheart, that I like, so it’s put
me in a good mood.”
Noc liked that she liked that.
And he liked that she looked almost as good
in jeans and a designer tee as she did in that unbelievable dress
she’d worn last night. He liked that she wasn’t letting the heels
beat her and she had on another pair (or it could be that Valentine
had only supplied those and she had nothing else, Valentine wasn’t
at her place when they showed that morning and didn’t return before
they left—not that he’d ask about Frannie’s shoes, but he would
express his gratitude).
He also liked that she dug beignets so much,
after she’d swallowed her first bite, she’d kissed him right at
their table at the very crowded Café du Monde like they had their
own private room. She did it long. She used her tongue. And she
tasted of dough and powdered sugar when she did it, which made a
fucking great kiss even better.
Further, he liked having her curled close. He
liked that not only because he liked her curled close, but because
she
was
close and not half a continent away on a parallel
universe so he
could
curl her close.
And onward from that, he liked that he had
his Frannie back so she could act uppity and cute, making him want
to laugh, which he did right then.
But more, he liked all that knowing she’d be
in his bed that night, and after he did what he was going to do to
her there, she’d sleep in his arms again.
Oh yeah.
He liked all that.
A fuckuva lot.
“I’ve heard you chuckle, of course,” she
said, her voice lower, meant only for him, and as she studied him
her eyes were warm. “But I’ve never seen that particular look on
your face.”
“That’s a happy look, sweetheart,” he told
her. “Though, I’ve been happy around you so let’s just say it’s a
seriously
happy look.”
One of her brows went up. “Happy to be
home?”
“Happy we’re both home.”
His words made her melt into him, doing it
lifting her hands from where they were sitting light on his waist
to rest them on his chest and giving him a sexy smile that he took
as her being happy too.
“Here they are,” the sales guy cut into their
moment, and Noc tore his gaze from Franka, feeling her turn
slightly in his arms, but she didn’t take her hands from his chest
nor did she turn in a way she’d lose contact with him at all.
He liked that too.
He also liked the glance he caught of Josette
watching them with a look on her face that couldn’t be interpreted
as anything but ecstatic.
He had her best girl’s approval.
He wouldn’t have cared if he didn’t.
But it didn’t suck that he did.
They set up the phone plans and got the
phones, doing it using credit cards in Franka’s and Josette’s names
that Valentine had left behind for them in envelopes that also
included driver’s licenses, social security cards, passports and
debit cards.
The cop in Noc
didn’t
like that. But
there was no way around it. They didn’t exist in this world and
they were going to be living there. This meant it had to be done so
they didn’t have to live off the grid like criminals.
He still didn’t like it.
Regardless, Noc wasn’t a cop anymore.
Valentine had returned him to that world a week ago so he could get
his shit sorted, find a place to live, move his stuff that was in
storage into that place and start his life so he’d have all of that
out of the way when Frannie showed.
But when Valentine had brought him home,
she’d given him a choice. She could pull strings to get him a job
on the force or he could work with a private firm who she
contracted with to do jobs for her. They’d seen his résumé, talked
to his captain in Seattle and received a referral from a valued
client (Valentine). They wanted to meet him.
After he sat down with them, he had an
official offer within an hour.
All this was done within two days of arriving
home.
The pay was three times more than working for
the city, he had a lot more autonomy, his hours were more flexible
and he liked the two guys who owned the place.
He took the job.
He started in two weeks. Two weeks to get
Frannie settled. Two weeks to settle
them
.
And then back to life, one with Franka in
it.
All was good.
Better, the plans he’d made to wine and dine
Franka in order to talk her around to his way of thinking about
where they should take what they had, he didn’t have to spend time
doing because they took it that way the night before.
Now he could spend his time wining and dining
her and end that with her beautiful face, great hair, fantastic
body and adorable attitude in his bed.
Which meant all was
great
.
They were walking out of the store, Frannie
again tucked in his side, arms around each other when she asked,
“What’s next for our day?”
“I’d like to learn to operate one of these
conveyances,” Josette declared, her attention on the cars parked
outside the store.
“Think maybe you should give it a few days
before you get your first driving lesson,” Noc replied, saying a
few days, meaning a few months.
“I’d like a luncheon repast of pizza,”
Frannie announced, and Noc smiled.
His girl liked her pizza. That was not in
question.
And that was something else Noc liked.
“Pizza? What’s that?” Josette asked.
“You have to experience it to understand the
wonders of it,” Frannie answered.
Noc felt his smile getting broader.
“Circe took me to what she called ‘a boil’
last night,” Josette shared. “She said it’s quite the done thing
here. It was very unusual. After boiling the lot of the food, they
drained it and dumped all of it on a table and you ate it with your
fingers. The food was delicious and it made eating fun. Though,
while consuming it, Circe said her favorite food from this world is
tacos. She explained what they were to me and they sounded most odd
but also most delicious.”
Franka had wobbled on her heel when Josette
started speaking.
As Josette kept talking, Noc tightened his
hold and, after she righted herself, murmured, “Good?”
It seemed she wasn’t meeting his eyes when
she replied, “Yes, good.”
“What do you think for next?” Josette carried
on. “I agree with luncheon. As delicious as those morsels were at
the café this morning, I’m
starved
. So this pizza? Or tacos?
And I should make it be known that I’d be happy again with a boil.
The shrimp here are exceptionally succulent. And their
petites
homards
are almost as flavorful as home.”
“Tacos,” Noc decided, watching Franka’s
profile, all he had since she was keeping her face averted.
She didn’t only seem to be avoiding his eyes,
she was also suddenly stiff, and he didn’t get it.
“I’m happy with that,” Josette decreed.
“Franka?”
“Fine,” Franka said softly.
Noc beeped the locks to his SUV and Josette
skipped to it excitedly.
She dug riding in cars, as in
really
dug it.
Franka didn’t feel the same.
He steered Frannie to her door but didn’t
open it.
He turned her into him in a way she had no
choice but to look up at him.
When she did Noc knew she was hiding
something.
“Everything okay?” he asked quietly.
“Fine,” she repeated, moving to pull out of
his hold and turn to the car.
He curled her closer and her gaze that had
skidded away came back.
“Babe, you sure?” he pushed and added, “Cars
are safe, sweetheart, and I’m a good driver.”
She nodded but made no verbal reply.
He looked into her eyes.
She was totally lying.
“Frannie, what’s up?”
“Nothing, Noc, though I am hungry so perhaps
we can move along to luncheon?”
“We have that word, Frannie, but it’s mostly
called lunch here.”
“Ah,” she murmured, her gaze again sliding
away.
He didn’t like her weird change of mood, the
suddenness of it or the fact she was lying about it. It could be
she was nervous about taking another ride, she hadn’t taken to
being in a vehicle like Josette had done. It could also be she was
embarrassed by her misstep on her heels. Frannie didn’t make many
missteps. She wore her dignity like armor and didn’t do
embarrassment very well.
It could be something else.
But Josette was in the car. It was time for
lunch. Then he had to get them somewhere they could charge their
phones and he could teach them how to use them.
After that, he’d be leaving them so Frannie
could get ready, and he could go home and do the same, because he
was taking Frannie out to dinner.
Noc decided to give her her space now and
talk to her then.
At that moment, he moved in and touched his
lips to her temple.
His touch got him her eyes again and the
remoteness he’d seen a moment earlier wasn’t totally gone, but some
of the warmth had come back and he knew it’d all be good.
Franka could go into her head. He’d find a
way pull her out.
He reached beyond her as he shifted her out
of the way of the door, muttering, “Climb up, sweetheart.”
She did.
He shut the door behind her, rounded the hood
and took his two other-world girls to find tacos.
Not surprisingly, tacos were a hit.
* * * * *
The door to Valentine’s place opened and Noc
stood still, staring down at Frannie.
Jesus, but Valentine had good taste.
“Fuck, baby, you look beautiful,” he said
quietly, staring at her dress.
It was a little black one made of lace. One
shoulder had lace over it. The other was bare. The material under
the lace looked nude. And the fitted skirt was short so her
long-ass legs went on forever, especially in those pumps that
showed her toes and had bows.
Her hair looked amazing, poofed out and
falling over her shoulders in big soft curls.
And she’d become a master with makeup in a
very short time.
“Josette is enamored with the gadgets called
‘curling irons,’” she declared when his attention fixed on her
hair. “We have something like this at home, but of course they’re
not heated through a string that’s pushed into a wall.”
Noc shook himself out of it, moved into her,
rounded her waist with an arm and shuffled her in, grabbing the
door and throwing it to behind them.
“Encourage that obsession, Frannie,” he
advised, dipping his face to hers.
“My hair is extremely…” she seemed at a loss
for words but settled on, “
large
.”
He grinned and dipped the half an inch he had
left for his lips to hit hers.
“You work it,” he murmured there.
“I assume that’s good,” she murmured
back.
“Mm-hmm,” he replied then he pulled her close
with both arms and took her mouth.