Page 26 of Recruited By the Billionaire

They were heading to the stadium to work. Taymar, who worked in Human Resources, had just picked up her friend after Frankie’s car wouldn’t start,again, and Taymar was shaking her head at Frankie’s logic. “You are too practical for your own good,” she said. “It always has to make sense for you to do anything. But me? I change cars every year.”

“You make the big bucks in HR. I’m one of a dozen assistants to the Vice President in the recruitment office barely getting by. You can afford to splurge. That’s the difference.”

Taymar didn’t look at her, and she chose her words carefully. “Maybe Mr. Marris can get you a more lucrative position within the organization,” she said.

Frankie looked at Taymar. Where did that come from? “Why would you say something like that?”

“You want the truth?”

“No, lie to me. I love lies. Of course I want the truth, Tay! What have you heard?”

“That you went to Oregon with him yesterday on his private plane.”

Frankie’s heart dropped. Had the rumors started already? “I went, yes, but so did his three assistants and his Chief Operating Officer. It wasn’t just him and me on that plane. But why? What about it?”

“I heard others were on that plane, true enough, but I also heard that you were the only one he took to his bedroom on that plane.” Taymar looked at Frankie when she said it, praying that it wasn’t true.

But she could tell it was true because Frankie didn’t deny it.

“I heard you were sleeping your way to the top.”

“Oh, I love that song!” Frankie declared as the McMurray/Jones/Sawyer-pennedIf I Were Your Womanon a Gladys Knight soundtrack Taymar was playing in her car began to play.

“Frankie, don’t deflect!” said Taymar. “Did he or did he not take you to his bedroom?”

Frankie frowned a frown more of regret than anger. “What if he did? What does that have to do with anything? I’m a grown-ass woman and he’s a fully grown-ass man. And how could you know anyway? It just happened yesterday.”

“Somebody on that plane told somebody else and that somebody else called and told me. “Get your girl,” she said. “Mr. Marris is not the one to fuck around with.”

“I know that,” said Frankie. “You aren’t telling me anything I don’t already know.”

“Then why did you fuck around with him, Frankie? I don’t understand that. You know how he is. He’s awful with women. And for you of all people to be so reckless.”

“It was a one-night stand and that’s it. Why are you making a federal case out of it, Tay?”

“You don’t do one-night stands.”

Frankie didn’t dispute that. Because Taymar knew her so well. “It’s no big deal. That’s all I’m saying.”

“But what if he wants more?”

“More? Why would that man ever want a relationship with me? He’s not that kind of person. You just said so yourself.”

“I’m not talking about any relationship. He doesn’t have relationships. He has bed partners. What if he wants you in his bed again?”

Frankie hadn’t told Taymar about the full extent of that marathon sex they had the day before. Nor the condom that broke. Nor the painful fact that he ignored her afterwards. Nor the fact that he showed up at her door in the wee hours of the morning looking for more. “That was a one-time thing,” she said.

“I just don’t want you hurt again, Frankie,” said Taymar. “That awful scene in that motel with Devin still haunts me, so I know it still haunts you. And the miscarriage. You’re just getting back on your feet. Don’t let some smug billionaire knock you off your stride again.”

“That’s the worst part about it,” Frankie admitted.

Taymar looked at her. “What’s the worst part?”

“I slept with him! What if he fires me because I’m a reminder of what he did, and those rumors start percolating to the top?”

Taymar nodded her head and then slung her curls behind her ear. “Yeah, that’s a risk to be sure. But if I hear anything, I’ll give you the heads up to start looking for employment elsewhere.”

“I’m doing that anyway,” Frankie said. “I love my job, but I’m not going to become that man’s play thing. That’s not happening.”

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