Page 49 of Recruited By the Billionaire

“He wants to see Robert tomorrow morning in his office.”

“Did he sound angry?”

“He sounded mad as hell. Oh he’s hot!”

Frankie looked at Robert. Could they take his team away from him for what she did? Was it that serious to them?

“You can drop me off somewhere in case reporters are at my house, too, and I can get Taymar to pick me up,” she said to him.

“Don’t be absurd,” he said to her. “Where will she take you?”

Frankie almost said home. Then she realized she could never go back to that place again.

Robert saw her realization too. And his heart went out to her. “You’re going with me,” he said. Then he looked at her with a look that wasn’t trying to be compromising. “You’re staying with me. You understand?”

What a difference morning to night could make. This morning she was turning down his invitation to move in with him as woefully premature. Now, tonight, she welcomed that very invitation. “Yes,” she said. “I understand.”

Robert inwardly smiled. Frankie did too. And he pulled her closer still. But Jerry and Laine were shocked.

But when they pulled up to the gate outside of Robert’s mansion, reporters had blanketed the space there too. But his grounds security was ready for them. They were roped off across the street from the mansion and the limo was able to go through the electronic gate without interference.

“The lawyers are on their way,” Laine announced as she ended a call she had taken. “They want to discuss strategy going forward.”

But Robert was already shaking his head. “Not tonight they won’t,” he said. “Francesca needs her rest. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir,” said Laine. “I’ll let them know.”

And when the limo stopped at the main house entrance, Robert and Frankie said their goodbyes to Laine and Jerry and entered Robert’s home with an urgency to get out of the cold. And then they closed themselves inside.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Last night felt like a dream to Frankie when she woke up the next morning. She remembered Robert running her bath water and then getting in the tub with her. And they bathe all remnants of that jail off of her. She remembered him pacing the bedroom floor on his cell phone as she laid in bed. Although he was talking to different people, the conversation was the same: he wanted all charges dropped. No ands, ifs, or buts about it. Then she remembered him getting in bed with her, and pulling her into his arms.

She woke up a couple times during the early morning hours, but he wasn’t in bed with her either time. But she was too emotionally and physically drained to go and find him. Whatever he was doing, and wherever he was, she was certain it was all about looking out for her. Because that seemed to be what Robert did: he looked out for her. And she dozed right back off.

But when she woke up later that morning and he was still not in bed with her, she was concerned. But she didn’t trip. She didn’t go negative in her thoughts. She got out of bed, brushed her teeth, took a quick shower to make sure there was no filthy jail left in any crease in her body, and then she went into his closet to see if he had a robe she could wear.

But she almost had the shock of her life when she saw that every stitch of clothing she owned had been removed from her apartment and placed in his room-sized closet right beside his own wardrobe. Even her shoes made the trip! She was astounded.

But that was how a rich man rolled, she imagined. A rich man that cared about his lady. Which caused her to pause for a second and think. Her mother wouldn’t believe it even if she saw it with her own two eyes. Frankie was supposed to end up alone and bitter. She wasn’t supposed to ever find true love.

Not that she found it. It was early days in their relationship and she still didn’t know if Robert’s enthusiasm for being with her last night was still as robust today. And seeing her clothes in that closet kind of scared her too. It all felt so overwhelming. It all felt as if she was on a locomotive that had already left the station, and there was no jumping off.

She dressed into a pair of her jeans and an Admirals sweatshirt, placed her hair into a ponytail, and made her way downstairs. If he expected her to be stylish every time he saw her, he had better think again. She wasn’t playing those games with anybody. It took too much work and she was already exhausted.

Robert, to her relief, was seated in a chair in his living room talking. But unlike her, he was dressed in a suit and tie as if his day had long since begun. But when she turned the corner and saw who he was talking to, her heart leaped with joy. And she ran.

Taymar and Royce ran to Frankie too, and the three friends embraced with tears in their eyes. Especially Royce, who had flown down from New York. She looked devastated.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked her best friend. “It had to be dreadful for you.”

Frankie was nodding and wiping tears. “It was.”

“But you’re okay?”

“Yes. I’m good. Thanks to Robert.”

Royce leaned into Frankie. “He just got home. Did he stay out all night?”

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