A part of Ben was disappointed that he didn’t have an excuse to fire Anthony, even though he really wasn’t in a position to fire staff that wasn’t his. But he doubted his uncle would stop him.
“She walked Havenscourt the whole day?” Ben asked.
“If anything suspicious happens, I’ll let you know.”
“I want a daily report.”
“I’ll confirm when she’s safely tucked in bed every night.”
Ben didn’t feel satisfied, however. He didn’t want her walking Havenscourt or any part of East Oakland again, but he wasn’t her fucking dad.
Eumie walked in at that moment. “Beth got us a reservation, but it’s not for another hour, so we have time...”
She wrapped her arms around his waist.
“I have some things to take care of before dinner,” he told her.
She appeared startled. He doubted few men ever passed on an opportunity to bed her.
“Like what?” she asked.
“You really want to go into it?”
She pressed herself closer to him. “Oh, you mean boring stuff. And you’re choosing to do that over...”
“‘Boring stuff’ still needs to get done.”
She tilted her head to one side as she studied him. “You’re not like the Ben I knew. The old Ben always found time to fit in a quickie, though I love that your quickies are longer than what most guys would call a full session.”
Her hand drifted to his crotch. He caught her by the wrist.
“I’m not in the mood, Eumie.”
“Men are always in the mood,” she retorted.
He saw that she wasn’t going to relent anytime soon. It was a matter of pride more than pleasure right now. It would be a large blow to her ego if she couldn’t successfully seduce him.
“After dinner,” he offered, wanting to check in with Stephens. Earlier, he had asked him to dig up what he could about the article the Tribune was doing on Uncle Gordon. Halting the paper would be easier, and the attorney who’d handled the acquisition had said there would be no problems in doing so.
“You want to pay a bunch of journalists to do nothing, that’s your prerogative. Their guild can’t complain you didn’t give them proper notice since they’re technically still on payroll,” the attorney had said.
Uncle Gordon, who believed Kimani and the Tribune had only honorable intentions, might be disappointed, but it was better to err on the side of caution. They had already been burned. There was no reason to keep the paper going.
Except that Ben was sure Kimani enjoyed her job. She would probably work for free if she could.
“Can’t your boring stuff wait?” Eumie persisted.
She had a point. It could wait. He didn’t want to wait, but maybe he should just do Eumie right now so she would stop pestering him.
Still holding her by the wrist, he yanked her body around. She yelped as she collided into him. He tossed his mobile onto the bed. A brief smile of triumph brightened her expression before he caught her by the back of her neck with his other hand and crushed his mouth atop hers.
“You sure you want this?” he murmured over her lips. “You might regret it.”
She returned a quizzical look, but he wasn’t going to explain himself. She had a chance to back out. When she didn’t say anything, he grabbed her arse through her skin-tight leggings and ground his
burgeoning erection against her.
“Now this is the Ben I know,” she purred.