Risk It All (Risqué #2) Read Free Page A

enveloping trance, she shook her head. ‘No, I should probably go. I have some errands to run anyway.’
    Lyssa stood up and reached for her hand. Bri bounced up off the couch that stood opposite Lyssa’s angled armchair.
    ‘I’m really grateful that you chose to come here,’ Lyssa said.
    ‘I’m not sure you could say I chose it,’ Bri said, trying to keep things light. ‘Since Gary went to jail, since you and Colt got engaged… well, Blaser just raves about you and it was very generous of you to offer your services.’
    ‘Did you tell him that you were coming?’
    ‘Blaser? No,’ Bri said. ‘I wasn’t sure I was coming myself. I just… I felt awkward using the phone and I wanted to check you out for myself I guess.’
    ‘Well I’m glad you did,’ Lyssa said. ‘I know this is off the books, but would you like to make a proper appointment? I would really like to continue working with you… there’s no harm in making the appointment, you can always cancel.’
    Although Bri was reluctant to formalise this arrangement, she didn’t find it easy to say no to people; she’d never been the most assertive person. Perhaps that flaw stemmed from her history with Blaser and Gary. If there was a situation where someone had to be told no, then one of them always stepped in for her and so it wasn’t really a skill she had ever learned.
    Still, she made an official appointment believing that she could cancel it if she had to. But she really didn’t want to chicken out. Bri had ended up in session with the doctor because she’d come so late in the afternoon that Lyssa had just dismissed her last patient of the day.
    The idea had been to come and get a lay of the land, check out the doctor, and make an appointment in person so that she knew what to expect when she came for real. Except as soon as Lyssa answered the large front door of her townhouse, and Bri had identified herself, the doctor had brought her inside, which was how they got talking.
    Bri felt strangely liberated after saying goodbye to Lyssa and getting out onto the street. She had expected that therapy would leave her feeling exposed and used; instead she was pleased to have taken another step toward recovery.
    Other than picking up something for dinner she didn’t really have any errands to run. But as part of her own personal therapy plan she bought a sandwich and went to the park to eat it. Throughout the last year, she had taken steps to teach herself to enjoy being outside again. At first she had been aware of every shadow and concealed corner. She had been jumpy and unwilling to turn her back to any open spaces.
    A year after the event she was much better at being outside in the open, but she didn’t want to be complacent about that ease, so Bri was always careful about maintaining her schedule. So she ate her sandwich and watched a couple of squirrels in a tree before she started the long walk home.
    Erika’s apartment, where she was staying, was more than an hour’s walk from Lyssa’s, but Bri didn’t mind the exercise. With evening encroaching, she hoped that getting home meant getting to bed; all she had to do was get there and then she could relax.
    As soon as she got to her floor in the apartment building she knew that dream was gone. The apartment door was open. Creeping forward, Bri got a peek at the disaster area that was supposed to be her home. The whole place had been trashed and the open plan living space didn’t have an inch of floor on display.
    Picking her way through the mess, she was standing dumbfounded when the door flew further open and banged off the wall. Startled, she pounced back and almost fell into the chaos before she caught sight of Mr. Lieberman, the apartment landlord.
    ‘You’re gonna get your shit and get the hell out, today!’
    ‘No. No! I’m sorry, Mr. Lieberman. I’ll have it all fixed and cleaned up. I promise that—‘
    ‘No, no more of your promises, Brianna Wilcox! You are trouble! I want you