TIGERLILLY- THE BRAVO BOYS [book two]

Chapter FORTY

River O'riley

Frankie sets her oversized stuffed monkey down to lean over the boardwalk railing, watching the waves lapping at the piers down below.. Her pretty bubblegum hair floats in the warm afternoon breeze and her pale-pink dress catches splinters as she climbs up onto the first rung in her bright white sneakers..

"Don't ye' fall in, Frankie!" I chuckle, leaning against the post beside her, devouring her beauty and day dreaming of all the ways I could devote myself to her..

"Don't throw me in to see if I float!" She pokes out her tongue mockingly, a cheeky smirk on her soft, kissable lips..

I grin, holding my hand to my heart to swear the god's honest truth.. "Never!"

"If I did fall, would you come after me?" She turns those curious big brown eyes my way and my heart catches fire..

Fuck..

Every fibre of my being fires up, every nerve burns and every muscle aches for her..

Each passing second it becomes increasingly impossible to ignore the truth..

The way I feel about Frankie is dangerous.. It's stupid and suicidal.. But I can't help it.. I can't control it..

She owns me.. Body, mind and soul.. Im am utterly possessed by her every command, her every direction gives my life a new meaning and if the way she looks at me tells me one thing, it's that she knows it..

I nod assuredly.. "Surely.. I'd bloody have to, wouldn't I?"

"Oh?" She tips her head to one side in intrigue.. "Can you swim?"

I laugh at her ridiculously adorable question.. She is intuitive and insightful, whip smart in so many ways.. But then there are these wide gaps of missing knowledge, things she wasn't allowed to learn and never had a chance of knowing.. "I'm a Marine, Frankie.."

"So.. Yes?" She steps down from the railing to dust off her hands on the front of her sundress..

"Aye.. I can swim like a shark." I wink at her and she giggles a silky song.. "Can you?"

She shakes her head with a determined spark in her eyes.. "Not yet.. But you will teach me.."

"Sure.." I grin.. "It's easy, baby.."

"Easy.. Just like you?" She steps forward to poke me in the chest.. "Now I know what easy means.."

"Aye.." I chuckle, catching her hand in mine.. "Does it bother you that I have been so bad? That I'm not pure, like you?"

"Hmmm, no?" She wrinkles her nose..

If she is lying, it doesn't show.. "Not even a little?"

She chews at her bottom lip.. "Well.. Something does--"

I pull her closer, the scent of flowers filling my head and making me feel like a fool.. "Tell me, maybe I can fix it?"

"Amberley--" She whispers, as if saying her name too loudly might summon the devil herself..

"Aye?" I cock my head curiously..

"I just-- wonder-- why you would like her.." Frankie struggles for the right words, as though she is worried about upsetting me.. "Cherry doesn't.."

But I can't bring myself to begrudge her wanting to understand.. Nor can I blame Cherry for her honest contempt..

So instead, I smile playfully.. Unsure exactly what it is the willowy Wallflower is trying to say.. "Aye.. She isn't very likable.."