Page 83 of Wicked Fantasies

His uncle nodded slowly, suspicion covering his face. “Do you two know each other?”

Frankie shook her head quickly and Reed was thankful for her secretiveness, appreciated the fact she understood they needed to keep their prior acquaintance confidential.

Reed walked forward and reached out his hand to her. “Only by reputation. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Carlyle.”

He stressed the Ms. and watched her stand up straighter. She recovered quickly. Frankie took his hand and he was impressed by the strength of her grip, the steadiness of her hand.

“The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Donovan. I’ve admired your work for quite some time.”

He smiled magnanimously, the entire façade an act for Brian’s benefit. “Mr. Donovan is Brian’s title. I’m just Reed. So, Frankie? That must be short for?—?”

She narrowed her eyes briefly. “Francesca.”

“Pretty name.”

She smirked. “Named after my grandmother.”

Brian moved forward, giving Frankie a firm handshake as well. “Welcome to The Donovan Group, Frankie. I can’t tell you how happy I was to be able to lure you away from that blasted Wilkerson Team. Your talents were wasted there.”

Frankie laughed lightly, and Reed had to do a quick adjustment to his pants at the sound of it. Clearly, one night in her body wasn’t going to be enough. However, he could tell by the set of her shoulders, the shrewd look on her face, she wouldn’t be an easy mark. He could already imagine her arguments against resuming any sort of affair. Needless to say, she’d try to take the high ground, plead professionalism.

Pity for her, he wasn’t going to make refusal that easy.

Though her attention was focused solely on Brian, Reed would bet his entire retirement fund on the fact that she was perfectly aware of every breath he was taking, every slight movement he made. He adjusted his pants discreetly once more for her benefit. Sure enough, she flushed slightly.

“You made an offer that was hard to refuse.”

“I made an offer that was impossible to refuse.”

She nodded in agreement.

“So, I was explaining to Reed how excited I am about this new partnership. His former partner has cleared out, so you’ll be moving into the office next to Reed’s.”

Reed took a step closer. “The offices open to a main reception area where we’ll share a secretary, but they are also joined together with an inside door. Makes collaborating quite easy.”

He stressed the word collaborating, but Frankie never flinched.

“Wonderful,” she replied.

“Why don’t you take Frankie down to the office, Reed? Show her around. Explain the ropes to her.”

Reed considered exactly what sort of ropes he’d like to show Ms. Frankie Carlyle. There were some silken ones in his bedroom he’d be more than happy to?—

“I’d like that,” she said, interrupting his wayward thoughts. “I have several boxes in my car I need to have retrieved.”

“Give a word to the man at the security desk in the lobby,” Brian said. “He can help you with those.”

She preceded Reed out of the office. Reed had nearly made his own escape when Brian caught his upper arm and held him back.

He turned to face his uncle, not surprised to see the annoyance and frustration on Brian’s face. His uncle clearly suspected something was up and he didn’t like not knowing what.

“Frankie’s a very lovely woman,” Brian said in a low voice.

Reed nodded.

“I expect you to maintain a professional distance, Reed. You will behave like the gentleman you were raised to be.”

Reed swallowed the bark of laughter that threatened to explode from his chest with that statement. He’d watched his womanizing uncle’s ways since the crib. Brian wasn’t setting the bar very high.

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