Risk & Reward Read Free Page A

over her bag, and then wrapped his hand around her neck, bringing her in for a deep kiss. “Mmm,” he murmured against her lips. “Pamper yourself for the rest of the day. But don’t touch yourself. I want you crazy for cock by the time we’re done with dinner.”
    She didn’t know if he’d be talking to her after dinner, but she gave him a weak smile. No time now to explain tonight’s surprise to him. When he came home. She’d tell him then. Completely blindsiding him wasn’t an option.
    Even if she feared losing this .
    “I may go shopping.”
    “Good.” He pulled out his wallet and casually extracted a credit card.
    She stared at the platinum piece of plastic, annoyance replacing some of her anxiety. “If you don’t want me to shove that card up your ass, you’ll put it away.”
    He made an irritated sound. “You think too much when it comes to spending your money.”
    “And you think I’ll think less if I’m spending someone else’s money?”
    “Not someone else’s, my— Damn it.” His phone beeped again, and he scowled. “I have to go.”
    “I’m going to buy something ridiculously expensive. With my money.” She settled her bag on her shoulder and reached for the door.
    “That’ll show me.”
    Tatiana threw him a scowl. “Quit being cute.”
    “Impossible, sweetheart.”

Chapter Two
     
    In the short drive to his lawyer’s office, Wyatt struggled to wipe the grin off his face. The goofiness of it might alarm anyone who spied him.
    Smiling when Tatiana was around was nothing new. The past half a dozen months or so had been amazing. When they were together, he felt like…more. A better person, a better human. The sex was phenomenal. They fucked like rabbits on Viagra. She was his absolute equal in bed and out, able to handle anything he threw at her.
    There was a level of comfort that existed simply because they had known each other before they’d achieved professional success. With other women, he felt pressured to maintain a particular image. Tatiana didn’t expect him to be suave and cultured all the time. In fact, he thought she liked him more when he was crass.
    It was a certainty that he liked that part of her. Her sweet, golden appearance had always disguised a dirty, sassy soul that delighted him.
    She had changed over the past decade, of course, as had he. It intrigued him, made him feel like he was putting together a fractured puzzle, reconciling the old Tatiana with the current one. He’d always loved puzzles, and each minute he spent with her gave him something new to chew on and study.
    It had gotten to the point that when they weren’t together…
    Wyatt’s smile faded. It wasn’t just the sex he missed when they were apart. It was her. He resented the phone or computer between them. He wanted to see her when they texted or spoke. When they video chatted, he went crazy with the need to touch her.
    Wyatt didn’t want a repeat of their seven-year-long adolescent relationship. Back then, they’d started talking marriage when Tatiana was a senior in high school. Soul mates, Tatiana had called them, and he’d secretly agreed.
    That kind of thinking had made their eventual breakup that much harder. Because if you couldn’t make it work with a woman you considered the love of your life, who could you make it work with? They’d been young, he’d told himself over the intervening years, when he reflected. They hadn’t even known what love was.
    But he’d never had a relationship half as good as the one he’d had with Tatiana. Granted, that last year had been tense, filled with constant yelling and escalating stress. When Tatiana had finally, bitterly suggested they call it quits, it had been almost a relief to agree.
    Almost. He grimaced, hating that he could still remember the aching throb of losing her.
    When it had been good, though…it had been great.
    Perhaps that was why, when she’d walked into his office that fateful day a little over six months ago, he’d