The Promise (The 'Burg #5)(125)

Once positioned, she pulled Gus right out of his arms, lifted him up in front of her face, and cooed, “Who’s Mommy’s special little boy?”

She was being cute and dorky, which was also cute, but Ben had frozen.

This was because Frankie had skipped out of the bathroom, hopped into bed, and bounced across it.

Frankie, after hours with family, friends, food, presents, and unlimited wine. After digging her heels in his back hard and riding his c**k harder.

And there she was.

Electric.

“Is Gus Mommy’s special little boy?” she asked, and he had to jerk himself out of his freeze to lift his hands and rest them on her hips.

“Babe, don’t talk to him like that,” he ordered, trying to ignore the warmth in his gut at the happiness written all over the woman astride his hips.

She looked down at him and curled Gus into her chest. “Why?”

“’Cause he’s an English bulldog,” Ben explained.

“And?” she prompted as Gus made a successful escape attempt, which meant he successfully landed dead weight on Ben’s chest, something that made Benny grunt.

Frankie scooted the puppy to Ben’s gut and gave him scratches there, her eyes on Ben, waiting for an answer.

Benny got his breath back and continued to explain.

“He’s a male English bulldog. In other words, he’s a badass breed. A chick baby talks him, his ears might start bleedin’.”

She grinned. “His ears won’t start bleedin’.”

“Don’t look at me when you coo at him and that shit happens.”

She rolled her eyes, rolled them back, and declared, “Just so you know, you being annoying is not gonna kill my buzz. I mean, you got Cat there, and Art, and old lady Zambino, who was still so pissed I bailed on you, she hadn’t talked to me in months, but she showed too.”

He tipped his head to the side and asked, “You work that out with Mrs. Zambino?”

She nodded but said, “She busted my chops about how I went off half-cocked and didn’t walk across the street to” —she lifted her hands and did air quotation marks— “‘get some wisdom.’ But I had your pie and a ton of wine in me, so she couldn’t kill my buzz either.”

He took in her shining eyes, squeezed her h*ps with his hands, and asked quietly, “Happy?”

“Yes and no,” she answered.

He felt his head jerk with surprise. “What’s the no part?”

“You kicked this birthday’s ass. I mean, Ben…” She scooped up Gus and cuddled him to her chest again. “You closed the entire restaurant. Cake. Flowers. Balloons. A surprise party. A sisterly reunion.” She cuddled Gus closer, finishing, “And a freakin’ puppy.”

“And there’s a part of that that doesn’t make you happy?” he pushed when she explained no further.

“Yeah, seein’ as it’s gonna be practically impossible to one-up you on your birthday and I have barely a month to plan.”

At that, Benny burst out laughing, did an ab crunch, and confiscated the dog. He also put an arm around his woman, twisted, leaned to the side, and put the dog on the floor. Then he lay back, taking Frankie with him the way he wanted her, with one arm still around her, the other hand in her hair, holding her close.

“My birthday’s easy, baby. You, a couple sweet nighties, and a bottle of chocolate sauce.”

Her eyes got big and she asked, “Chocolate sauce?”

“Yep.”

“That’ll be sticky,” she declared, but in a tone that said it might be sticky, but it was far from out of the question.

“That’s the point, Francesca. You get sticky, I make you unsticky.”

Her h*ps rolled against his.

It was after two in the morning, after wine, food, cake, friends, presents, and she was ready to go again.

Electric.

He ran a hand over her ass. “I get greedy and make a mess, I got a big shower.”

“Mm,” she murmured, eyes dropping to his mouth.

“You gotta hold that thought, tesorina. I gotta put the dog in the kennel and I won’t be in the mood to leave this bed to do it after I do you.”

“Okay, honey,” she whispered, then leaned in and touched her mouth to his.

He gave her ass a squeeze before he let her go. She swung off him and he got out of bed, found the dog, scooped him up, and headed to the door.

“Ben?” she called when he was almost there.

He turned back and saw her and her hair and her body sitting on one hip, legs curled under her, eyes on him.

“Yeah, Frankie?”

“I’ll give you nighties and chocolate sauce, all you want,” she told him. “But I’m still gonna find a way to give you more so you’ll remember it forever in a way that never fails to make you smile and feel allover happy, like I’m gonna remember tonight.”

Jesus, seriously?

She was giving him that when he was a room away from her?

“Don’t be sweet when I’m naked, got a puppy in my arms, and I’m a room away from you.”

It was then she gave him all the gratitude he needed.

She smiled that smile. That smile that said she had a secret and it was a really good one.

Then she urged, “Hurry.”