Page 112 of Wicked Fantasies

Brian looked at him. “I’m retiring.”

“What?” he and Frankie said in unison.

“I’m not getting any younger. I’ve spent my life making a ton of money. I want to go out now and spend a bit of it. Oh hell, I want to spend a lot of it. I’m gonna travel, find myself a girlfriend, have lots of sex.”

Frankie laughed. “Sounds like a well-laid plan.”

Reed couldn’t find the humor. Brian was retiring. Leaving the company.

“I don’t understand,” Reed said slowly, finding it difficult to form the words. He’d never imagined his uncle leaving The Donovan Group. The man used to joke around that he’d run the company until he had one foot in the grave.

“Apparently there are a lot of things you don’t understand, Reed. And I’m afraid that’s my fault. I’ve never been a patient man and explaining myself sort of falls under that umbrella. I should have warned you, told you this was coming. Maybe then you wouldn’t have felt like I was anything other than completely proud of you.”

“Told you so,” Frankie whispered. Her smug smile started to jar him from his shocked state.

“Nobody likes a know-it-all,” Reed said.

Brian grinned at their exchange. “I sent you to London to give you a sense of what it would mean to be in charge of this company. What it would be like to run it totally on your own. You assumed the reins over there and did a great job.”

“In charge?”

Brian nodded. “I wanted you to understand all the aspects of this company. Obviously there’s more than just the marketing end. You need to know how to manage the employees, deal with any problems that may arise, handle the financial end. You did all of that and more at the London office. I’m leaving The Donovan Group in your very capable hands.”

“Me?”

“You’re my new CEO and when I die, the company is yours.”

“CEO?”

Frankie looked at Brian. “Congratulations, Brian. You’ve left Reed speechless. Quite a feat.”

His uncle and Frankie laughed at his stunned state, but Reed didn’t care. He was still trying to put all the misconceptions of the last few months in proper perspective now that he knew the rest of the story. He was going to run The Donovan Group. Once again, his uncle had looked into his heart and read the desires Reed didn’t even know were lurking there. He’d never imagined the company without his uncle. Never considered a future where he would actually run it. Now he knew there was nothing he wanted more.

“You’ll be a wonderful CEO, Reed.”

He looked at Frankie and realized he was wrong. There was something he wanted more.

“You can’t leave.”

Frankie looked like she might argue, but Brian stopped her.

“He’s right, Frankie. With Reed running the company, he’s going to need a strong marketing partner to handle that part of the business. I hired you hoping you would prove yourself capable of filling that role. You have.”

Suddenly, everything became clear. Brian hadn’t hired Frankie because he thought Reed was losing his touch. He hired her to take his place after his promotion. He laughed at his sheer stupidity. “I think I owe you an apology, Brian.”

“No,” his uncle said. “You really don’t, Reed. So what do you say, Frankie?”

Reed looked at her, saw her struggling to make a decision. “Stay, Frankie. Please. I can’t run this company without you. I’ll beg if you want me to.”

She laughed. “I don’t want you to beg.”

“So you’ll stay. Give this partnership a try?”

She nodded slowly, reaching over to take his hand. “I can’t guarantee you an easy time. I’m pretty headstrong and opinionated. I won’t be a yes-man.”

He gave her a naughty wink. “I’ve figured out a few tricks to get you to say yes.”

“I’m being serious, Reed. I don’t think we should go into this with blinders on. You know as well as I do there are probably gonna be some knock-down, drag-out fights in our future.”

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