Free Decadent Master by Tawny Taylor

was too sweet. Thoughtful. Kind.
    Unexpected.
    She folded the ninety-dollar gift certificate and placed it in her wallet.
    Somehow, she would repay his thoughtfulness.
    If only she could find a first edition, first issue of the Lord of the Rings . And if only she had some spare cash lying around. She had a sneaking suspicion that a first edition of Lord of the Rings would cost a whole lot more than she had in her piddly savings account.

6
    “H ey.” Kristy greeted Wynne as she casually strolled into their apartment. Sitting on the couch, legs crossed at the ankle, feet resting on the coffee table, and a Snuggie wrapped around her, Kristy looked nothing like the leather-clad seductress she’d been only yesterday.
    “Hey,” Wynne echoed.
    Kristy hadn’t asked for details yet, but Wynne knew she wouldn’t be able to resist for long. She wasn’t going to volunteer any information if she didn’t have to, partly because she wasn’t sure how to vocalize her feelings. She wasn’t sure what she was feeling about what happened tonight. There were good emotions and not-so-great ones twisting and churning inside, though it seemed like the good ones outnumbered the bad.
    The first thing Wynne did was kick off her shoes and curl her toes into the soft, plush carpet. “What’re you watching?”
    “ Tough Love . I’m in love with the matchmaker dude. He cracks me up. But I hate the chicks. They are all so clueless. If only they’d listen to him.” After a beat, she added, “If he wasn’t out in Hollyweird, I’d hire him to find me a match.”
    “What for? I thought you were in a semiserious relationship.”
    “Yeah, well…” Kristy pulled the Snuggie tighter around her shoulders, and suddenly Wynne realized she’d been totally blind the last couple of days. Kristy had probably been so focused on Wynne’s personal life because her own had fallen apart. And Wynne had been too busy trying to deflect her attention to realize it.
    She quickly abandoned all thoughts of a long, hot shower, and plopped onto the couch next to her hurting friend, and threw an arm over Kristy’s shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it?”
    “Not really.”
    “Okay.” Wynne gave her friend’s shoulder a squeeze and then, feeling like she was invading Kristy’s personal space, she pulled away a little to settle a comfortable distance away, but still close enough to let Kristy know she was there for her.
    In silence, they watched the rest of the program. One girl decided a perfectly nice—though a smidge boring—guy wasn’t the right match for her. A second woman overreacted when her date asked why she was still single at thirty-nine, and a third pitched a hissy fit after the host told her acting slutty was going to put her in danger someday.
    Finally, with the program putting an end to their distraction, they looked at each other, and Wynne knew this was it.
    “How was your session with Master Rolf?” Kristy asked.
    “I guess it was…okay.”
    “Okay? That’s it? Do you want to tell me what happened?”
    “At first, I felt so out of place I just wanted to turn around and run out of there. And making matters worse, he took me to watch two men. It was like driving a knife into my gut.”
    Kristy grimaced. “Oh honey, I’m sorry. But you didn’t want me to tell him the truth.”
    “No, I didn’t, so that’s the price I paid for keeping the truth from him. He didn’t know. But right away he caught on to my reaction and asked me what I was doing there.”
    Kristy’s brows rose. She bent her legs, crossing them on the couch. “Did you tell him the truth?”
    “No.”
    Kristy looked like she was about to jump out of her skin. “Then what happened?”
    “Well…” A few images flashed through Wynne’s head and her face warmed.
    Kristy keyed into her reaction right away. “Wynnie?”
    “He has this way of looking at me, of touching me. And, my gosh, the way he kisses…” She swallowed a sigh and giggled nervously,