The Promise
Page 137

I collapsed on top of him, my hair flying everywhere, I knew, but I didn’t care. Two orgasms first thing in the morning, I didn’t care about anything.
He slid his hands from my h*ps to wrap his arms around me, one going higher to gather my hair at the side of my neck.
Turning his head, he whispered, “Love you, Francesca Concetti.”
I felt my lips tip up and made the Herculean effort to raise my head and look into his eyes.
It was worth the effort.
Seeing those beautiful eyes happy and satisfied were worth any effort.
“Love you back, Benny Bianchi.”
He kept my hair gathered at my neck, even as he extended a thumb to stroke my jaw and asked, “You want donuts?”
Oh yes, I loved Benny Bianchi.
“Absolutely,” I answered.
He grinned. “Good, babe. Kiss me. Climb off me. We’ll walk Gus and then we’ll go to Hilligoss.”
“Can you walk Gus, then go get donuts while I stay here and make coffee?” I requested, using these words to mean Can you walk Gus, then go get donuts while I stay here, bask in my orgasms, and maybe have a short snooze?
I suspected Benny knew my translation, but he still asked, “You want that?”
“Yeah,” I answered.
“You got it, but I get the kissing part.”
I smiled at him because I got to kiss him, and also because he was Benny. He was awesome. And he was demonstrating his awesomeness this time by giving me my way, hauling himself out of bed, taking care of our dog, and getting donuts while I got to be lazy.
I was bending my head to give him the kissing part when my phone on the nightstand started ringing.
I turned my head that way as Ben ordered, “Ignore it.”
Since I liked that idea better, I did as ordered.
Mid-kiss, my phone stopped ringing. Then Ben took over the kiss and it became a make out session, where I found myself on my back with Benny mostly on me. This lasted a happy while until my phone rang again.
Ben broke the kiss, and this time, it was him that looked to my phone.
“Ignore it,” I repeated his order.
He looked down at me. “Two calls in five minutes on a Saturday morning?”
“I’m indisposed,” I replied. “That being I’ve got panty marks around my thighs. My panties are fubarred since they were stretched so tight, the elastic is probably broken. You’re leaking out of me. And you have our dog to walk and powdered sugar, chocolate-cream-filled donuts, three of them at least, to go out and buy for me. All that being the definition of indisposed.”
My phone stopped ringing as Benny’s brows rose, his eyes lighting with humor, giving me that, and fulfilling promise-part-three of the day and we hadn’t even been awake an hour.
He did all this asking, “Fubarred?”
“Fucked up beyond recognition,” I explained.
“I know what it means, honey,” he replied. “I just didn’t know anyone outside Tango and Cash said it.”
I felt my eyes get squinty. “Don’t make fun of me when I’m post-orgasm. I’m happy-drained when I’m post-orgasm and I don’t have any good fight in me.”
Ben grinned. “You should never have given me that, baby. Knowin’ that shit, from now on, I’m totally f**kin’ with you post-orgasm.”
My eyes got squintier before I informed him of something he should know by now, “I recover quickly.”
His hand glided over my hip, back, and in to cup my ass as his face got closer to mine. “Bet I can set you back.”
He so totally could.
“Gus? Donuts?” I prompted.
“Is your detail on which donuts you want me to buy your order?” he asked.
“Yep,” I answered.
“They run out of those quick, Frankie.”
“Wait for them to make more.”
He didn’t grin that time. He smiled.
Then he said, “I might be pu**y-whipped, honey, but I’m not that far gone.”
I felt my brows shoot up. “You’re pu**y-whipped?”
“Babe, I’m makin’ deals with Sal, away from my home, my restaurant, watchin’ your ass while you go about something undoubtedly worthwhile but makes me all kinds of uneasy, and you’re surprised I’m pu**y-whipped?”
He had a point, and although his words gave me a heady feeling of power, they also bothered me.
So I wrapped my arms around him and reminded him, “We’re doin’ this with Wyler because it’s the right thing to do.”
“We are. We’re also doin’ it because I like to f**k you, eat you, and watch you ride me, and I can get all that, and often, I keep you happy.”
Suddenly, I didn’t feel bothered.
I felt annoyed.
“That’s it?”
“There’s also the fact I like lookin’ at you, seein’ you smile, and doin’ what I can to make you happy. It’s insane, but I’ve learned to own the insanity because you’re you. You’re crazy. Fearless. Willin’ to put yourself out there doin’ something you know is dangerous because it’s the right thing to do. And I love all of you. The insane part is that I love all of you, including that.”
I screwed up my face and declared, “You’re being sweet again when I’m annoyed.”
He lowered his lips to mine, eyes still smiling. “You gotta learn to get over it, baby. It’s gonna happen a lot.”
I got over it right then because I had the happy feeling he was going to kiss me again, but he didn’t because my phone rang.
This time, we both turned our heads to it.
“Fuck,” Ben muttered, reaching across the bed and tagging it. He looked to the display, then to me, his face unreadable when he said, “Cat.”
That could mean anything from the happy news she was carrying Art’s baby to the news that she fell off the wagon, got arrested for doing something stupid, and needed someone to bail her out.
Ben knew this and that was why his face was unreadable.
I slid my phone from his hand and took the call.
When I had the cell at my ear, I said, “Love you, but you’re delaying donuts.”
“Frankie,” she whispered.
Oh God.
At the tone of her voice, my eyes flew to Benny as I pushed up to sitting. He rolled off to let me do that, and I didn’t tear my eyes away from him as I sat on a hip, pulling the covers to my chest and holding the phone tight to my ear.
“What?” I asked.
There was a moment of silence before she said, “Okay, last night was a bad night.”