Free In Your Wildest Dreams by Toni Blake Page B

love."
    To her surprise, Stephanie had shaken her head. "No, more than that. In love with someone who loves you back and who you know would never hurt you or leave you. Ever. Someone truly worthy."
    Tina could only guess her sister had been hurt by someone she'd slept with.
    Well, so had she now—lots of times. Who hadn't? She'd learned long ago that sex was just part of fife and that it was silly to think of it as some sacred act, like Stephanie did. Christ, she'd still be a virgin if she'd waited for a guy as perfect as the one Steph had described.
    And after Russ's rejection, she'd determined—finally, once and for all—that a guy like that just wasn't going to come along. She'd grown tired of waiting around for something fabulous to happen, so she'd made it happen. And now she had it all. Sparkly cocktail dresses, diamonds dangling from her ears, a debonair man who was crazy about her, and best of all—a future.
    She might not be as madly in love with Robert as she had been with other guys, but he was wild about her—and he'd proven it with all he'd given her.
    Of course, Stephanie would probably drop dead on the spot if she knew her little sister was having an affair with a married man, but Robert had promised to leave his wife—as soon as his kids left for college next week, in fact. He just wanted to wait until they were gone, until he could explain to Melissa in a nice, civil way that he'd fallen out of love with her and into it with someone else.
    Robert exited the bathroom fully clothed—only his plum-colored tie hung askew around his neck. When he smiled at her, the skin around his eyes crinkled in that George Clooney way, which made it handsome. She didn't even mind that his dark hair was shot through with bits of silver—it only made him look distinguished, like a man to be reckoned with.
    "Leaving so early?" she asked. It wasn't that she couldn't bear the idea of being without him, but that she'd spent so much time by herself the last few weeks that she'd begun, for the first time in her life, to feel lonely.
    He stood before the dresser mirror, knotting the tie—a perfect double Windsor—but glanced over his shoulder. "I'm sorry, love. But a late business meeting can only run so late." He winked.
    "Do you still sleep with her?" she asked without quite planning it.
    Finishing the knot, he came to sit on the elegant little bench at the foot of the bed, reaching over to play with her toes. "Do you mean sleep in the same bed with or have sex with?"
    "Sex."
    He smiled his warm, winning smile—the one that made her so sure of him, like Stephanie had said she should be. "Of course not, love. Haven't for a long while now."
    "So when you tell her it's over, it won't come as a total shock. I mean, she knows the marriage is failing, right?" It wasn't so much that she cared about his wife, but on some level she did care what his wife thought of her. And what other people would think, too. She would eventually be taking Melissa's place, after all, socializing with Robert's friends, coming to know his children.
    "Yes, darling, she knows. We've never discussed it, but it's clear."
    "Do me a favor?" She let her eyes widen to moon at him in a way she knew he adored. "Anything. Name it."
    "When you tell her about me, don't tell her how we met." That you paid me for sex. "It's not that I think there's anything wrong with it, but some people are such prudes, you know?"
    He nodded, his look assuring her that he understood perfectly. She loved that about him. "No worries," he said as he got to his feet and came around to the side of the bed, bending to kiss her forehead. She liked when he did that. And in time, she'd grow to love him the same way she loved Russ, but better. Because he was worthy. Like Stephanie said he should be.
    "Is that all I get?" she asked.
    He chuckled, smiling into her eyes, then lowered a long, deep kiss to her waiting lips. She wished she felt it inside more—she'd thought maybe she would this