After a few minutes of seeing nothing suspicious, I had enough and decided to just use my speed and zip inside. Just as I was preparing to run, the door to her building opened and a man stepped out.
It was G.R.
My breath hissed out between my teeth and I ducked back into the opening when what I really wanted to do was beat his ass. But then my anger dissolved and fear spiked through me. He had been upstairs, inside that apartment with her for a long time.
What if she was hurt?
What if she was dead?
His car pulled down the road and I flew across the pavement. I don’t even know if my feet touched the ground. I stopped only when I came to her door. I tried turning the handle to just barge right in, but it was locked.
I pounded on it. “Frankie!” I yelled. “Frankie, open the door.”
Storm appeared behind me.
“You need to go in there, unlock the door.”
The lock on the door slid free and the door swung wide.
“Frankie,” I said, relief making my voice weak.
“Olly?” she said, her eyes going wide as she stared at me.
I nodded. “I know I look different, but it’s me.”
“You look…” Her voice trailed away as she just stood there and stared.
I wanted to snatch her up, to crush her against me, but I wasn’t sure if she would want that. I finally knew exactly what I wanted, but I had no idea if she wanted the same.
“Can we come in?” Storm said.
Frankie stepped back, allowing us in and then closing the door. I stopped short seeing Piper was here. There were too many people here… too many eyes.
I turned my back on them and looked at Frankie. “I saw the Reaper leaving. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“Your eyes are still green,” she murmured, staring at me.
I smiled.
“He tried to kill her,” Piper announced. I spun around. “What?”
“He was going to touch her. Got a couple inches from her face.”
Bile rose up in my throat and my hands fisted at my sides.
“But he didn’t touch me. Piper stopped him.”
“How could Piper stop him?” Storm asked.
“She touched him first.”
I swung my head in the direction of her words. “Come again?”
Frankie nodded. “Piper touched the Grim Reaper and she didn’t die.”
Everyone stared at Piper. Her cheeks turned pink. “I really need to be going. I have to work.”
“You mean to tell me G.R.’s touch didn’t kill you?” Storm said.
Piper nodded. “It’s because he already promised not to kill me.”
I wasn’t sure that was entirely it, but I wasn’t about to start an hour-long discussion. I wanted to be with Frankie. Alone.
Piper grabbed up her bag off the floor and went to the door where Frankie hugged her. “Thank you. Why don’t you stay here tonight after work? You probably shouldn’t be alone.”
Instead of answering, Piper glanced at me.
I nodded. “Thank you. For saving her life.”
Her cheeks bloomed pink again and she hurried out the door.
“Is she safe?” Frankie asked when Piper was gone. “I mean, obviously the Reaper can’t kill her, but I mean… that’s kind of rare, isn’t it?”
“I’ve never seen this happen my entire career as an Escort,” I replied.
“Won’t that kind of make her… I don’t know… interesting to certain people?”
I had no idea what it meant. I could barely think about it with her standing so close yet so far away.
“How about I keep an eye on her while she’s at work?” Storm volunteered.
Frankie expelled a breath. “Would you?”
“Yeah.” Storm looked at me. “You got my number.”
I nodded.
He didn’t wait for someone to open the door. He just went right through it.
And then we were finally alone.
Chapter Forty-Four
“Suspenders - fabric or leather straps worn over the shoulders to hold up trousers.”
Frankie
His eyes were green.
The same exact green they were before. The same green that matched the rolling hills of Scotland.
I didn’t know what it was going to be like the first time I saw him in his body, but it was better than I thought it would be. Seeing a body on a hanger was nothing compared to seeing it alive and breathing in front of me.
“Are you okay?” he asked, concern darkening the eyes I was so glad hadn’t changed.
“Yeah.”
My answer must not have been very convincing because in three great steps he was standing before me, gripping my shoulders and bending down so we were eye to eye. “Are you really okay? Did he hurt you?”
I shook my head. “No. I—” I lost my train of thought. “You’re taller.”
The corner of his mouth pulled up and he stepped away. “I’ll give you one minute to get used to this new body.”
“Only one?”
He grinned.
“What’s with the khakis?” I laughed as my eyes perused his body.
He scowled. “I didn’t dress myself today.”
I watched as he glanced down at his body, like he was just seeing it for the first time, and make a face. Then he yanked the sweater vest up over his head and tossed it onto the floor.
Holy hot suspenders.
I never ever in a million years would have dreamed that I would ever think a guy in suspenders was attractive.
Apparently, Olly was attractive in anything he wore.
They were pulled taut across his wide shoulders and hugged his body all the way down the sides of his chest until they stopped at the waistband of his pants, which encircled a narrow, trim waist. I couldn’t look away. I wanted to slide my hands beneath them, starting at that waist, and move up his solid chest until my hands wrapped around his neck and buried in his blond hair.
“I’ll find a pair of jeans later,” he muttered. I suppressed a smile.
“What about you?” I asked seriously. “Are you okay? What happened?”
He blew out a breath and sat down on the couch, leaning back against it lazily. “It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got time for you.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Come here.”
I really had no clue how he could be so calm after everything that happened. My heart was still pounding just a little bit too fast. Of course when he looked at me like that it didn’t help.
As I stood there and tried to figure him out, he crooked a finger at me and curled it toward him as if I were on a string and he could pull me closer. Maybe I was because my body obeyed the command of his finger and I found myself directly in front of him.