A Little Bite of Magic (Little Magic) by M.J. O'Shea Read Free Book Online Page B

didn’t have breakfast, and I was really hungry.”
    Frankie smiled then, a bit forced, but still a smile. “I’m not going to make you pay for them, silly.” Something flipped in Addison’s stomach at the tease. “We cleared out the date-lunch crowd and closed early.”
    “Why?” Addison took another bite of the pastry. He really wasn’t that hungry, but he couldn’t stop eating. Frankie saddled up closer.
    “Maybe I just wanted to spend some more time with you.”
    Addison was pretty sure it was an evasion, but Frankie’s proximity and his scent mixed with that sexy spicy caramel rum smell were driving Addison wild. He leaned over and kissed Frankie, lips parted. Frankie moaned.
    Addison had planned to tell him about Julia. That he'd break it off with her as soon as he could even if he and Frankie went nowhere. He wanted to tell Frankie about The Phantom too, and how he didn’t want to hurt him, but instead all he could think about was how much he wanted to kiss him. And so he did exactly that—he kissed. And kissed, and kissed, until an embarrassed knocking broke them apart.
    “Um, the dish guy just showed up,” Dom said. “Do you want me to send him in?”
    Frankie blushed. It was adorable. “Yeah, I don’t have much for him today, but he can get an hour or so on his time card.”
    “And what are you going to do?” Dom asked him.
    Addison looked at Frankie. “I don’t know. What are we going to do?”
    Frankie gave him this gorgeous grin. “You’re hungry, right?”
    “Always.”

Chapter Five
    “You want me to come inside when I pick you up?” Addison asked when he called.
    "Yeah. We can say hello and get the stuff I packed for the movie." Frankie didn’t know why Addison sounded surprised. They were going on a date, after all. Their first real, official date. It should be at least a little special.
    The past two weeks they’d hung out six times, meeting at L’Osteria or at the wine bar, and even once outside Addison’s newspaper building. Always informal, never prearranged. It seemed like, although they never made formal plans to see each other, they still couldn’t last more than a few hours without a text or a phone call, and those texts and calls usually turned into them making dinner at the restaurant after it closed, or going to a movie, or even an amazing night of kissing and walking in the park once.
    “Oh, well, yeah, I'll park and come in,” Addison continued. “Of course. I just didn’t expect—”
    “You need my address?” Frankie rattled it off and told Addison he’d see him in an hour or so. Frankie nervously packed a basket with picnic foods and a bottle of wine, set blankets and pillows out to take, and was about to go hop in the shower when his living room shook with a telltale jolt.
    Oh, shi—
    “Hello, Frankie.”
    “Mother. What are you doing here?”
    Another jolt shook the room, this one stronger. A tall, sandy-haired man stood next to Frankie’s couch, glancing around distastefully. Frankie’s brother, Jean.
    “Jean? What is this, guys, some sort of intervention?”
    “Nice greeting for your family. Merde, how can you live in this place? It’s awful.” Jean’s voice grated on Frankie. His perfect existence grated on Frankie. He didn’t have time for their nagging. Not when Addison was coming to pick him up in less than an hour.
    “We know what you’re doing, little brother. It’s an embarrassment.”
    Frankie gritted his teeth. “Why does anyone care what I’m doing? I’m just the family fuck-up. At least I came way out here so you guys could ignore me. It’s not my fault that you choose not to.”
    Frankie’s mother glared at the scattered bills and papers on his dining-room table. They obediently slid into a neat pile, which she moved into the basket that was sitting on an old hutch he’d found in a flea market. “You know just as well as I do that you’re not out here alone,” she said. “Your uncle Albie lives with his partner in