Page 3 of Mr. Risky

So many times I had tried to argue with myself.

It wasn’t all my fault. He had seduced me.

But who had been the one to follow him? Who had been the one to take his hand? Who had been the one to take that first wicked step into the hotel room?

Because I had wanted it. Wanted that man more than I wanted to breathe. Wanted him badly enough to throw away all my morals for him.

And after all that?

Now he was trying to have a baby with another woman.

She had won and I had lost. That was all.

“How many months have you been trying?” I asked, because I knew something more was expected of me.

Was that a weird question? Asking how long the man I’d thought was the love of my life had been taking her raw?

“Like ten months now. We’ve already both been tested, too, nothing wrong with either of us. Obviously, Granger has plenty of that good seed and my uterus looks fabulous. The doctor just said to keep trying. And of course no problem there.”

The way she said the words sounded almost obscene. His seed. Yes, I wouldn’t know anything about that would I. . .

I tried to concentrate on the path, the way the sea air smelled after so many years away, fresh and salty and a bit wild.

Like you never knew what was going to happen.

“I’m sure you’ll have a positive test soon,” I said.

Since when did she even want to have a baby?

That had always been my dream. Not hers.

The little white guesthouse was neat and tidy, and pleasingly private, tucked away into the steep beach cliffs, and hidden from view from the big house.

The soft pale pink sand came up to the door, and it was ringed with a low white fence. For a minute I desperately wished something like this was really mine.

But I couldn’t afford dreams like that. I had to focus on my job as a Siren.

Inside, the space was small but cozy. A living area/kitchen, then a series of steep stairs up to the second floor, where there were two small but tidy bedrooms.

“And how are you doing, Sosie?” Pippa asked as I dropped the heavy suitcase on the floor with a sigh of relief. “I haven’t heard much from you.”

Her eyes were bright and sharp.

“Oh. Yes. I’ve been—busy at college, of course.”

“Some of my messages even got returned.”

“I—got a new phone,” I said lamely. “I lost all my contact information. It sucked.”

She said nothing for a minute, worrying her overlined lips with her teeth.

“My brother is back in Oystar Bay for the summer. I always thought you two should have gotten together.”

Yes. Everyone did. But I only had eyes for one man that summer. . .

“I was just so focused on getting into graduate school,” I said.

But that wasn’t it at all.