Play With Me (12 page)

She’d been sitting in Ron and his wife’s driveway for a couple of hours. It had been too early when she arrived to knock on the door, but she’d had no place to go. 

Last night was a fantasy, a dream best forgotten. Today is reality. 

Reality was doing a predawn walk of shame from Wyatt’s bed to the hotel she usually stayed at in Vegas, flushing as the expressionless clerk checked her bedraggled self in.

Reality was showering and leaving said hotel room to come sit in a driveway, because even the modest suite reminded her of Wyatt’s more lavish rooms. 

Reality was facing her brother shortly, and lecturing him on the stupidity of embezzling funds.  

Reality was not seeing Wyatt anytime in the near future. 

Maybe we can have another one-night stand in a decade.

Oh God. So depressing. 

Her bag was vibrating. Listlessly, she reached for it, but a tap on the glass made her abandon the quest for her phone. Startled, she sat straight up, glancing out the window to find her brother’s surprised, cherubic face. 

When he gestured and gallantly stepped back, she forced a smile and opened the driver’s side door. 

“Tatiana?” he said, pleased amazement written all over him. “What on earth are you doing here?”

“Hey, Ron.” She stepped out and let her long-lost sibling draw her into a bear hug. Ron was of average size, which meant he was still much larger than her. Though he was in his late twenties and a husband and father, he had a bit of baby fat around his face that brought out all of her protective feelings. She pulled back to smile up into his concerned green eyes. Her eyes. 

Ron studied her. “Why did you come out here? You should have called me. Didn’t you understand my text? I worked things out with my boss.”

“Ron… Oh! Tatiana.” Caitlin appeared in the doorway, baby Pete on her hip. Like her husband, the pretty redhead was dressed in pajamas and a faded robe. The strain of the past couple of days had left their mark on the woman’s face and in her bloodshot eyes. “I wondered what was taking Ron so long to get the paper.”

Tatiana smiled at her sister-in-law, but before she could speak, Ron grabbed her arm, all easy affability. “Come in, sis, come in. It’s always good to see you.” 

Caitlin stepped back as they entered. “Tatiana, did you drive out here?”

“I flew in yester— I flew in.” No need to explain where she’d been last night. 

Ron frowned. “You didn’t have to do that. Everything’s going fine.” 

“Yes. Fine.” Caitlin’s tone wasn’t as certain as her husband’s, and she pulled Pete closer to her chest. The four-month-old blew spit bubbles at Tatiana and waved his fist. Tatiana made a face at him, smiling when he did the same. She wasn’t an expert with babies or kids, but she was a fan of this one. 

“Come into the kitchen. We were just about to have breakfast.” 

It was a short walk to the kitchen. The home was modest, yet pleasant, open and airy. Caitlin arranged Pete in his highchair and gave him a spoon to play with. 

“Pete’s still not sleeping in his so-called nursery, so you can have that room, Tatiana.” 

“I got a hotel room.” 

Ron made a shushing noise. “My sister isn’t staying in a hotel room.” 

She gave a faint smile, used to his unthinking generosity. 

“Not that we don’t love to see you, Tatiana, but you really didn’t need to fly out,” Caitlin said, her voice soft. 

She shrugged and leaned against the counter. “Yes. But I wanted to.” Wanted to help her brother. Wanted to see Wyatt again. So many wants. 

“I think Caine’s going to send over the agreement today for me to sign.” Ron cheerfully cracked eggs into a bowl. “The man’s a god. I don’t know what I would have done if he’d pressed charges.”

“You did a really stupid thing, Ron.” 

“I know.” He frowned for a moment, his calm mask slipping. “It was wrong of me. Trust me, I don’t ever want to be in this position again.”

“We’re not home free yet. We still have to pay the man back.” Caitlin dragged a hand through her hair.

Her husband shot her a warning look. “I’m going to get two jobs. Don’t you worry. We’ll make it work.”

Tatiana thought of the useless, torn-up check she’d left sitting on Wyatt’s table. “I’ll give you the money.” 

Ron scowled. “No.” 

Caitlin didn’t protest. But then, Tatiana’d already figured the other woman was the more sensible half of the couple. 

“I have the money, Ron. Let me do this for you.”

“I’m not taking a dime from you. That’s not what this relationship is about.” 

“This relationship is about family. Family helps each other out.” 

“Not a chance.” 

“Ron—” Caitlin started.

“No.” 

“We can do it as a loan if you like,” Tatiana offered. “You can pay me back.” 

“I’d rather be in debt to your sister than some man we don’t know,” Caitlin interjected.

Her brother’s jaw was set. “I did something bad and wrong. I have to pay for it, one way or another.” 

“You did it for me. For my family. How do you think that makes me feel?” Caitlin whispered. 

Instantly, Ron abandoned the eggs and walked around the counter to pull his wife into a hug. “Stop that. Right now. You and your mom
are
my family.” 

“I won’t stop feeling awful until we’ve paid that man back. You don’t know how filled with guilt I am. Please, Ron. We don’t have room for pride right now.”

Ron’s jaw worked, and he looked at Tatiana. “I’ll demand the same plan I worked out with Caine. Interest and everything.”

She nodded, relieved that a lecture wouldn’t be necessary. Her brother might have done something stupid, but at least he was trying to man up and be an adult. “Sure. Whatever you want. Pay him back in the installments you agreed upon, though, so he doesn’t think you stole the money from someplace else.” Or more accurately, so Wyatt didn’t realize she’d fronted her brother the money he’d refused to take directly from her. 

“That’s smart.” He looked down at his wife and smiled tenderly. “See? No need to worry anymore.”

The woman sniffled. “Thank you so much, Tatiana. And I swear, I’ll get a job too, and we will pay you back as quickly as we possibly can. As long as I don’t have to keep worrying about us defaulting and Ron being sent to jail, I can actually get some sleep at night.” 

“Wyatt wouldn’t send Ron to jail.” Not now that Wyatt knew they were related. Maybe. Probably. 

Caitlin wiped at her eyes. “You can’t know that. You don’t know him.”

Oops. “Um. Yeah.” 

Ron didn’t appear to have heard her slip. “He’s been surprisingly decent. Furious at first, of course, and he let me sweat things out for a while, but that offer from him was more than I deserved.”  

“He seemed like such a tough boss,” Caitlin mused. “We were both so stunned when he called yesterday.”

“He was a tough boss,” Ron answered. “I’m guessing the deal is partly to keep a lid on publicity. Though he said he was only making an exception for me because we had a mutual friend.” 

Tatiana froze. She straightened. “What was that he said?”

Ron glanced at her. “He said that he thought I had learned my lesson. And he was cutting me some slack because we have a mutual friend he thought very highly of.” 

No. It couldn’t be. “Do you know who the friend is?”

“No idea. It’s not like we move in the same circles. I suppose it could be someone else who works at the casino, but he doesn’t exactly socialize with the people on the floor.”

“When did he say this?” Tatiana knew her tone was sharp, but she couldn’t help it. 

“Yesterday. Yesterday morning, when we spoke.”

Yesterday morning. Before she had marched into Wyatt’s office and revealed her connection to Ron. 

Suspicion pulsed through her veins, followed by anger. Anger…and a tiny, tiny speck of anticipation? No. “Oh.
Really
.”

“Yeah. Hey—where are you going?”

Tatiana stomped toward the door. “I’ll come back later. I have to see someone.”

“Do you want to eat breakfast first?”

“After, maybe.” She might work up an appetite…kicking Wyatt’s ass. 

Chapter Eleven

You ran out on me. We’re not done. Call me back.

Tatiana tightened her grip on her phone.

I was going to wake you up with my face between your thighs, sucking your clit. Tie you down first so you’d have no choice, eat you all day long. Call me back.

The elevator opened. She pressed the button to end her voicemail and shoved the phone into her jeans pocket, holding on to her mad in the face of temptation. They
weren’t
done. But probably not in the way Wyatt meant. 

Esme was the only occupant of the waiting room today. Busy at her desk, she glanced up when Tatiana thundered into the waiting room. The older woman’s look of polite inquiry relaxed into welcome. “Ms. Belikov. How nice to see you again.”

Wyatt’s assistant had been kind to her. That was the only reason she managed to swallow her temper enough to speak civilly. “Nice to see you, too. Is Wyatt in?”

“Yes—ah. Ms….?””

Tatiana waved one hand and strode to the door of his inner sanctum. “No need to announce me. Cancel his appointments.”

“But Ms. Belikov, Mr. Caine said—”

Ignoring Esme, she opened the door, wishing it wasn’t so heavy. She’d give anything to really fling it wide. Maybe with smoke and crashing music announcing her appearance. 

Even without dramatics, her entrance caught Wyatt's attention. The man looked up from his desk and froze at the sight of her. For a second, she caught a flash of something—happiness? Excitement?—on his face before his cool, controlled mask descended. “Well. Hello.”

“Surprise.” She kicked the door closed behind her, keeping her gaze locked on his, though she was tempted to check out the way his broad shoulders filled out his blinding white dress shirt. It was important to never take your eyes off a predator. Especially a sneaky one. 

“You got my messages, I’m guessing.” 

“I got both of them.” 

“Both?” His brow furrowed. 

“Yeah. Nice imagery on the second one there.” Nice imagery, but no sign that he was yearning for anything more than chastising her for running away.

“Are you…okay?” He gave her a quick onceover.  Like an automatic response, her body heated and warmed for him, just as it had the last time she’d walked into his office.

Yesterday, however, she hadn’t known how good of a lover Wyatt had become. Now, her skin was itching to feel his hands on her one more time.
Focus.
“Swell.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” He leaned forward and placed his arms on the desk. His strong forearms were revealed by the rolled-up sleeves of his shirt. He fiddled with a pen between his long fingers. Was it the same pen that had fiddled with her? “Tatiana—”

“How could you not contact me before this?” The words flew out of her mouth, filled with all the anger and annoying lust boiling inside of her. 

He blinked, and the confusion on his face only made her madder. “Before this? I called you when I woke up...”

“I’m not talking about today. Before before!”

He opened his mouth. Closed it again. “I don’t think I get what you’re saying.” 

Fists. Her hands were fists. “I want to
throw
something at you. But I’m scared I’ll miss and hit your window. Can you go stand in front of the wall please?” 

“No. Tatiana. Calm down, and let’s talk.”

Oh, that tone. She
hated
his let’s-be-reasonable tone. How had she forgotten that tone? 

Yet she still wanted to bone him. Argh. “You knew.” 

“I knew what?” 

“You knew Ron was my brother. Before I told you yesterday.” 

He winced, his body deflating in his chair. “Figured that out, did you?” 

That he didn’t even bother to deny it made her anger flare brighter. “Why else would I be here?”

A heavy silence descended before he cleared his throat. “Why, indeed.” His hand fidgeted on his desk. The flash of gold caught her eye. Her necklace was instantly recognizable, as was the familiar stack of papers next to it. 

He followed her gaze. “You forgot something.” 

Funny. She hadn’t realized she’d left the expensive trinket behind. Nor did she particularly care. Tatiana walked to the desk. Instead of reclaiming her jewelry, she went for the letters. 

Wyatt got there before her, his big palm slapping down and sliding the pile toward him. “No.”

“They’re mine.”

“You gave them to me.”

“You gave them to me first.” Tatiana barely resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him. He’d probably take it as an invitation. “Besides, I changed my mind, you lying—” 

Wyatt made an exasperated sound. “You have the same eyes.”

“What?”

His lips tightened. “I was down on the floor one day and see this baby-faced boy dealing cards. This boy with your eyes.”

“Lots of people have green eyes.” 

He glanced down and shifted a paper. “‘I love your eyes. I could spend hours drowning in them, an emerald sea at dusk.’” His smile was wry. “Cheesy, but a twenty-year-old kid can’t be anything but, can he?”

Her heart leapt at the sound of the words he’d written so long ago coming from his very adult mouth. There was naughty stuff in those letters, yes. But pure sweetness was interspersed between the racy promises of sex and kink.

He’d deny it to his dying day, but her tough rebel had been a hopeless romantic. 

Wyatt shook his head at her, as if he was disappointed. “Do you really think I would confuse your eyes with any other human being on the planet? No. He had
your
green eyes. Your coloring. Your nose, the line of your jaw. The similarities were striking enough to investigate.”  

“When was this?”

No longer the image of a powerful and controlled businessman, he squirmed. Like a small boy called on the carpet by his principal. “Two years ago.”

Her legs felt watery. She braced herself on the desk. “That was before he found me.”

“Yes.”

“Wyatt. Did you…did you have anything to do with Ron tracking me down?”