Bailey, Debbie - Stephanie's Homecoming [Men of Kinsey 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (6 page)

“I want to apologize for my behavior at the meeting today, Miss Morrison. You were right. I was extremely disrespectful to Joe and Tabby, and that is unacceptable. And I didn’t mean to…well, yes I did, but I wasn’t thinking at the time when I interrupted you, and I’m truly sorry about that as well, and if you want to fire my ass, you have every reason to.”

Wow, this was a whole different Francis Kyle from the one in the meeting, but was this the real Frank or just a man sucking up to his boss?

“Well, this is a surprise,” Stephanie told him up front. “I had expected you to come in, guns blazing, calling me every name in the book, and telling me that I could shove your job up my ass. I never expected an apology, and I must say it’s thrown me a bit. I’m not sure whether to take you at your word or not.” The one thing that Stephanie had learned along the way was that honesty was always the best way to go.

“I understand you not trusting me, Stephanie, but I assure you I am sincere. I love Joe dearly for giving me the chance when no one else would, but I’m tired of doing the fluff pieces, and all people think I’m capable of is doing the expose on the ladies’ luncheons or a short piece on some society event. I know I can write better stuff, and I guess, with some of the guys egging me on, I kinda let my anger override my common sense and respect for Joe, and I’ve already apologized to both him and Helen for my stupidity.”

Stephanie was usually a pretty good judge of character, and Frank seemed to be sincere, so she was going to give him a chance. He’d either hang himself or do an incredible job. She just wasn’t quite sure which yet.

“Okay, Frank, you’re going to get your chance, let’s see what you do with it.”

Stephanie smiled, told Frank to wait a minute, and went to speak with Joe. She may have been a pretty good judge of character, but she wanted to bounce this idea off her friend.

* * * *

Joe and his wife, Helen, were sitting in his office having coffee when she knocked on the door. The minute she stuck her head through, there was a loud squeal, and Stephanie was unceremoniously pulled into the arms of a buxom blonde.

“Dammit, Helen, let the poor girl breathe. Those boobs of yours are smothering her.” Joe laughed, pulling his wife into his arms.

“Oh shit, sweetie, I’m sorry, I’m just so excited to see you and to have you back home. I can’t wait for our first girl’s night when we get back.”

Helen Kenyon was one of a kind. A former beauty queen, she’d moved to Kinsey when Stephanie was still in diapers. She moved to get away from what she called “the wolves,” who appeared to think that just because she was drop-dead gorgeous, she didn’t have a brain in her head. It seemed that every time she started working for a company, the only way she would be able to get promoted was on her back, and as a woman raised on a Texas ranch, that wasn’t ever going to happen, but when she told her boss that, she usually got fired, or else a wife or a girlfriend would come into the office for a visit, take one look at her, and insist that she be fired. When Helen heard of an opening as an office assistant at the paper, she had applied. Joe hired her from only a couple of phone interviews. He’d always said that it was her voice that he fell for, so when she arrived to start her first day, he fell instantly for the beauty.

It took him awhile to win her trust and to prove to her that she wasn’t just a pretty face to him, but since then they’d both been very happy. The only downside was that, because of an illness as a child, Joe couldn’t have any children. They both loved kids, so when Helen met Stephanie, she became very special to her and Joe, and they both loved her as if she was their own. Whenever her parents needed a babysitter for a night, or if they wanted to take a “big people’s” vacation, she always stayed with Helen and Joe and had the best time.

“It’s so good to see you, and you’re still drop-dead gorgeous, lady.” Stephanie smiled and kissed her friend’s cheek.

“Knock it off, sweetie, maybe twenty years ago.” Helen blushed.

Joe slapped his wife on the ass and said, “How many times do you have to be reminded that you’re still as beautiful as the day I met you, baby?”

Steph didn’t think she’d ever seen the color of pink that her friend’s face turned or the look of pure adoration in her eyes when she looked at her husband.

“Oh good God, you two, can’t you wait until you’re on your trip to start making googly eyes at each other? It reminds me of what my parents looked like after they had come back from one of their
long talks
in their bedroom. Gross.” Steph laughed, making a shivering motion with her body.

“I need a bit of advice from you two about this Frank guy. I have him in my office, and he seems very apologetic, but I don’t know him as well as you. He looks sincere, but what do you think?” Pulling a chair out, she sat down and waited for the others to join her.

“Frank is usually a really great guy, but lately he’s been spouting off, and I haven’t been able to get him to tell me why,” Joe said, the look of his face one of sadness.

“I think I know why, so I’m going to give him a chance. Do you still have those files on the history of the paper, Joe?” Steph asked.

“Yeah, just a sec.” Joe went to his file cabinet and pulled out three large folders and handed them to her.

“You’re going to get Frank to write the historical piece?” he queried.

“It’s going to be his one chance. I think he’s been waiting to be given something other than the fluff pieces, and I think you were waiting for him to bring you something other than the fluff pieces, so I’m going to start fresh with him and see what he can do.”

“I knew selling you this paper would be the right thing to do. You would have inherited it anyway, but this way I can take my wonderful wife on the cruise she’s always wanted.” Joe looked lovingly at Helen.

Stephanie’s gut clenched when he said she would have inherited it. She’d never thought of her life without Joe and Helen, so she wasn’t prepared for it.

Sniffing back a rogue tear, she left the office with a promise to meet them at their place in an hour.

Back in her office, Frank was still sitting there waiting.

Handing the files to him, she said, “I want you to write a story about the history of this paper. Those folders have some of the information you’ll need, but a lot of it is in the archives downstairs. Some of the information you’ll find online and at city hall.

“You give me a good story, and you keep your job, give me a fluff piece, and your ass is on the curb. I’m not bringing you back upstairs until the story is finished, and if it’s good, you’ll get a two-page spread. I want you to understand something, Frank; things will be different around here in some respects. I want everyone to enjoy coming to work here every day. I don’t have a dress code, so unless you’re asked to wear some business attire, be comfortable at work. Jeans are acceptable. But no sweatpants. I hate sweatpants.”

“I’ll give you the best damn story about this paper ever, Stephanie. And thanks for this opportunity. I won’t let you down.” As he got up to leave, he turned back when he heard her call his name.

“When and if you do a great story, you and I will sit down and renegotiate your contract. If you’re as good as I think you are, I want to keep you around. Now go and apologize to Tabby and then get started.”

The next three employees were easy. She’d read their files, and the only reason they still had jobs was because of Joe’s loyalty to their families. Well, she had no such loyalty, so it was easy to fire them. They all bitched and complained and threatened her with a lawsuit, but after showing them, in their own contracts, where it stated that any new ownership of the paper would have the authority to renegotiate any contract with its employees, her negotiations with them were just short and sweet. Their services, what little they had given the paper in the last two years, were no longer required.

Shayne came into the office and said, “It’s time to stop for the day, Stephanie. You can do the rest tomorrow. I know you’re eager to get this over with, but you hired me to help you keep your life balanced, right? So I’m telling you it’s time for you to head over to Joe’s and get some rest, boss lady.”

Stephanie knew he was right and told him to tell the women that were waiting that she’d speak with them in the morning, and not to worry, their jobs were safe, for now. If she hadn’t said something to them, they all would have spent the night worrying, and that wasn’t fair to them or their families.

Chapter 4

Kane and Turk sat in Kane’s F-150 just down the street from the
Kinsey Pictorial
. They’d been there for about an hour, and she still hadn’t left for the day.

“It’s her first day, you’d think she’d want to get settled and rest after her long drive,” Turk said, fidgeting in his seat like a little boy.

“She’s already accepted that she’ll be moving in with us tomorrow, so she doesn’t have to unpack tonight. She’ll go to Joe and Helen’s, eat, visit, and then go to bed so that she’ll be well rested to deal with the two of us tomorrow.” Kane couldn’t wait to get his angel eyes in his bed again, only this time he wouldn’t have to hide his lifestyle from her. Shit, he was hard just from the thought of seeing their woman tied naked and available on his St. Andrew’s cross.

After their little dustup with Jenny in the diner at lunch, he could see in Stephanie’s eyes that she knew she had made a huge mistake. She’d been so young then, and although it hurt him like hell, he understood how she came to be so hurt. He was more experienced than her, and he should have seen Jenny for the conniving bitch that she was, but that realization came too late. Now that everything was out in the open and he knew she still had feelings for him, and now for Turk, too, there wasn’t anything short of a nuclear war that would keep him away from her. She was theirs, and after tomorrow she would know it.

“There’s our girl, Kane,” Turk said, pointing at the lone female to exit the building. As they watched her dig for her keys, Turk noticed a man that had also been watching for her. He slapped Kane on his arm and showed him the man he’d been watching.

“How long’s he been waiting, Turk?” Kane asked, his hand already on the door.

“He got there just after we did. At first I didn’t think anything about it, but he hasn’t moved since parking his ass at the corner. At least not until now.” Turk opened his door and stood beside the truck, watching the man as he approached their woman. They couldn’t just run up and beat the crap out of him, could they? No, it could be just an innocent meeting of an old friend.

Turk heard Kane growl as the man got closer to Stephanie. Before the person had a chance to get within arm’s length of her, Kane was on the move. They’d both seen the flash of a knife, and they just hoped they could get to her fast enough.

“Hey, Steph,” Kane yelled as he ran toward her. The person looked in his direction and took off running in the opposite direction with Turk on his ass.

Kane grabbed her, pulling her against his body, and held her tightly. His heart had almost stopped when he’d seen the knife in the man’s hand.

“What the hell is going on, Kane? Who was that idiot, and was that actually a knife in their hand?” She couldn’t stop shaking. When she’d first noticed the stranger, she’d also seen the knife in their hand and froze on the spot like an idiot. Thank God Kane and Turk had been there.

“It’s all right, baby, I got you. I won’t let anyone hurt you,” he whispered against the top of her head.

He couldn’t stop fucking shaking.

Turk came back around the corner a few minutes later and walked straight over to Steph and pulled her from Kane’s arms and into his, sighing heavily the moment she snuggled into him.

“Did you get a look at him, Turk?” Kane asked.

“No, whoever it was had their face covered, so I didn’t get a good look. There was another person sitting on a Harley right around the corner, so I couldn’t catch them, but I got a good look at his tags.” Stephanie felt so fucking good against him, so right.

Turk kissed her forehead then her cheek before handing her back to Kane for him to cuddle for another minute.

“We’re going to follow you to Joe and Helen’s and let them know that you’ll be moving in with us tonight.” Pressing a finger against her lips when she tried to say something, he continued, “Someone just tried to kill you, angel eyes, and I, for one, am not going to give him another chance, so please don’t fight me on this. It’s a day early, I know, but there’s no pressure, baby. Turk and I can wait for you until hell freezes over, or until Turk ties you to the bed and pleasures you into admitting your feelings for both of us, whichever comes first.”