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She put down her tools, lowered the les as sheit open, Frankie silently cursed

"Hello, Francesca"

She forced a srave, and there was a griht him here Vance had obviously called hi aside, Frankie invited hiet you coffee?"

"Please"

Frankie headed to the kitchen, knowing he’d follow She pulled the goggles off her head and placed them on a stool As she handled the coffee lances Her atched him carefully, distrustful of this man who’d lied to Frankie

"It’s been a while since I’ve been here" He glanced out the"Your backyard is still in good shape Do you spend ainst the counter "Some"

"It occurs to me that I’m not quite sure how you spend your ti"

"I still do, whenwith your free ti at Oh, that was Geoffrey He’d ask inane questions, lead the conversation exactly where he wanted it, and then pounce

Well, she wasn’t interested in playing games with him "Why don’t you say what you really caot a call from Vance He said he saw you at the movie theater"

Her wolf snarled at thefrom the cupboard and placed it on the countertop "He did"

"He also said you were on a date"

"I was"

"Vance claims that the man you ith at thepoured coffee into the , she set it on the island between her and Geoffrey "And I noticed that you didn’t come here to ask me if it was true You took Vance’s word for it So why have you corandht So much so that she wouldn’t even come with me to see you"

Which hurt, but"It’s not the first tiiven me the cold shoulder It won’t be the last" That only added to the hurt

"We lost Caroline to one of those savages We will not lose you to one too"

Irritation tightened her muscles "I’m sure Vance told you how he knows that Trick is a shifter, which means you know that Trick recently defended a wo to overlook that and paint hiood person For all we know, it was a setup, a publicity stunt"

"You don’t truly think that"

"I want your word that you’ll end this relationship It’s not as if it has a future" He dismissed the very idea of it with a flick of his hand and adjusted his tie "Shifters will only co about that, but she wasn’t sure whether he was ignorant as to how things worked or he hoped to shake her faith in Trick and as growing between them "If you don’t think it has a future, why does it bother you?"