Kristen Ashley - The Promise

Her hips rolled against his.

It was after two in the morning, after wine, food, cake, friends, presents, and she was ready to go again.

Electric.

He ran a hand over her ass. “I get greedy and make a mess, I got a big shower.”

“Mm,” she murmured, eyes dropping to his mouth.

“You gotta hold that thought, tesorina. I gotta put the dog in the kennel and I won’t be in the mood to leave this bed to do it after I do you.”

“Okay, honey,” she whispered, then leaned in and touched her mouth to his.

He gave her ass a squeeze before he let her go. She swung off him and he got out of bed, found the dog, scooped him up, and headed to the door.

“Ben?” she called when he was almost there.

He turned back and saw her and her hair and her body sitting on one hip, legs curled under her, eyes on him.

“Yeah, Frankie?”

“I’ll give you nighties and chocolate sauce, all you want,” she told him. “But I’m still gonna find a way to give you more so you’ll remember it forever in a way that never fails to make you smile and feel allover happy, like I’m gonna remember tonight.”

Jesus, seriously?

She was giving him that when he was a room away from her?

“Don’t be sweet when I’m naked, got a puppy in my arms, and I’m a room away from you.”

It was then she gave him all the gratitude he needed.

She smiled that smile. That smile that said she had a secret and it was a really good one.

Then she urged, “Hurry.”

Ben turned and moved into the hall knowing Frankie didn’t have any secrets. What she wanted to whisper in his ear wasn’t words.

It was moans.

And he liked hearing them.

So he didn’t waste any time.

I was there and I didn’t even know why I was there. It was the last place I should be.

I should be in my car driving home to get ready for Cal and Vi’s rehearsal dinner and the hour-long drive to get to the lakeside resort where I needed to be.

But unless I hit crazy traffic, I had time. Not much, but I had it. And I didn’t want to hit the scene while they were rehearsing. They didn’t need hangers-on for one. I wasn’t in the wedding party, though Ben was as Cal’s best man. For another, I had enough to do that I didn’t need to be hanging around waiting for them to finish.

That wasn’t true. I had everything sorted, and chilling at a lakeside resort was hardly torture.

The thing I needed to do I shouldn’t be doing.

That was why I was there, using my employee ID to get into our production facility. It was a twenty-minute drive away from our main offices, and although I’d had a tour during my employee initiation, there was absolutely no reason for me to be there.

And if Ben knew I was there, and why, he’d lose his mind. So there was not only no reason for me to be there, I shouldn’t be there.

But that morning, something happened and I just couldn’t seem to stop myself.

This something was Randy Bierman showing up in my office. No knock. No warning. No eyebrows-raised, do-you-have-a-moment, nonverbal inquiry. He just walked right in, crossed his arms on his chest, and stared down at me where I was sitting at my desk.

It was then that all that was Randy hit me.

He was tall and lanky and probably about ten years older than me. He had brown hair that wasn’t light or dark but did have a subtle cast of red to it that wasn’t unattractive. Neither were his features. He wasn’t take-your-breath-away good-looking, but if I was single and he bought me a drink at the bar, I’d have time for him.

That was, I would until it became clear two seconds later when he’d no doubt show he was a huge dick.

I’d been on the phone with my rep in Charlotte and was nowhere near finished talking to her, but I couldn’t keep talking to her with him staring at me. It was uncomfortable, he was creeping me out, and I couldn’t focus on what she was saying.

So I ended up telling her something came up and I had to go.

The instant I put my phone in the receiver¸ Randy stated, “Your rep in Chicago, his numbers are way too low. Markedly lower than the numbers of the rep who was there before you started.”

I had no idea why he barged into my office to share this with me, seeing as I already knew it. I also didn’t much like the “before you started” part, like the problem was me, not my rep. Further, I had a huge team who, besides the Chicago guy, was not only making their numbers, but exceeding them and the numbers they’d made prior to me being employed there. So his insinuation was not only not nice, it was ridiculous.

Further, he was research and development. I was sales. Why he was walking into my office to have a word with me about my Chicago rep was beyond me. It wasn’t like it was none of his business. It was like I had a boss that was on his level, so if he had concerns, he should take them to my boss, not waltz into my office, scowl me off the phone, and give me information I already had.

My only choice of reply was, “I’m aware of that.”

“You’ve been here for quite some time now, Francesca, and he’s been with us for some months, and his numbers are not improving,” he noted.

God.

What a dick.

“That hasn’t escaped my attention,” I shared.

“Is he going to be able to support Tenrix?” Randy asked immediately.

I felt a chill glide up my spine at the mention of Tenrix.

“Of course,” I answered.

“He’s not supporting our current product catalog so it stands to reason he won’t do much better with Tenrix, and Wyler has a lot riding on that product doing well.”

More information I knew.

“I’m also aware of that, Randy,” I returned.

“I prefer those under me to call me Mr. Bierman,” he shot back instantly.

I blinked, then stared, mostly because I’d been working with him for ages, and although I had the occasion to address him directly only a handful of times, I’d always called him Randy and he’d never breathed a word.

But more than that, that was totally an outrageous thing to say.

“And I prefer that my team refer to their colleagues by their given names.” My boss, Lloyd Gaster, was suddenly there and my eyes flew out my wall of windows to Tandy.

She was sitting at her desk, looking over her shoulder into my office, giving me wide eyes and a stretched out “eek” mouth, so I knew she’d heard Randy being a dick and went to Lloyd to tell on him for me.

Totally liked Tandy.

Randy turned to Lloyd. “Did I invite you to this meeting?”

“We’re having a meeting?” I asked fake innocently, giving my attention back to the men in my office, and Randy turned his glower back to me.

“I should hope not,” Lloyd put in. “A director having a meeting about sales and the performance of a member of my team with another member of my team without my knowledge wouldn’t make me very happy.”

I tried not to smile a gloating smile as Randy turned his bad mood back to Lloyd.

“It probably wouldn’t make Travis very happy either,” Lloyd continued before Randy could say anything. “He tends to like it when we follow the chain of responsibility. I do believe he’s also pretty keen on not shoving the hierarchy down anyone’s throats, say, by making them address you formally.”

“She has an underperforming rep,” Randy clipped out.

“Frankie and I are both very aware of what’s happening in Chicago. We’re keeping our eye on it. Taking measures. Hoping for improvement. But if there isn’t any, we’ll be quite capable of making difficult decisions and carrying them out.”

“That’s good to hear,” Randy returned curtly.

“I’m glad you’re pleased,” Lloyd murmured, then his focus on Randy intensified and he stated in a much louder voice, “In the future, if you have concerns about what’s happening in my department, I’ll ask you to bring them to me, as, should I have concerns about how you and your team are performing, I’d bring them to you.”

Randy didn’t reply to that. He just gave Lloyd a dark look, turned it on me, and prowled out.

When he was gone, Lloyd walked to my desk and said quietly, “Sorry, Frankie. That guy’s an ass.”

I pressed my lips together in order not to agree verbally. I managed that (barely), but I couldn’t stop myself from nodding.

“He gives you any more trouble, let me know. Okay?”

“Okay, Lloyd,” I agreed.

He smiled at me, then moved out the door, and Tandy, totally being the shit, waited the exact right amount of time before she wandered into my office with a file I didn’t need.

“Oh my God,” she hissed before putting the file I didn’t need on my desk and sitting across from me. “Randy Bierman is such a dick.”

It probably wasn’t good to talk that way in an office setting, but since she was entirely correct, and our head honcho had just called him an ass, I said not one word to refute her.

“What’s up his butt today?” she asked.

“What was up it yesterday?” I asked back.

“Well, yesterday, Miranda requested to be transferred to someone else.”

I stared at her.

Miranda was Randy Bierman’s assistant.

“She said she didn’t even care if it was a demotion or she had to work on another floor or something,” Tandy went on. “She’s d…o…n…e, done.”

“That’s news,” I noted, though I didn’t note it was news she should have shared with me yesterday.

It probably also wasn’t a good thing to encourage office gossip, but since I was always on the receiving end, not the giving end, I encouraged away. But I liked my gossip fresh, not day-old stale.