Page 114 of Irresistibly Risky

I grin, bumping my shoulder into hers and then rubbing them together up and down. “Too late,” I whisper playfully.

“Asher!”

I laugh at her horrified expression. “I meant with the ideas, not the actual diamond shopping. Relax, ice queen. When I’m ready to pop the question, I won’t tell you about it beforehand. That’s a rookie move, and I am not a rookie.”

She grumbles something under her breath that I don’t have to hear to know isn’t all that kind. She’s mad, but she has a forgiving heart, and I’ll earn her trust back.

“I love you madly,” I tell her, stopping us before we enter Randolph’s office. I turn and hold her gaze, keeping her close. My heart thrashes inside me as I look at her, and a soft, almost incredulous smile curls up my lips. “I don’t know how to describe it. It’s almost beyond words or comprehension. Some things are better felt than expressed, and that’s you.”

“What do you mean?” she whispers, clearing her throat.

“You, Wynter Hathaway. It’s this incredible trick of reality, but you somehow make my soul both hungry and satisfied. There are places in my heart I never knew existed before, but you’ve unlocked them and made them your new home. You and Mason live inside me. There isn’t a part of my day where my thoughts don’t automatically drift to you both and are reluctant to leave. You’ve awakened my soul and taken over my dreams.” I step into her and place my hand over her thrumming heart. “It’s simple, Wynter. You’re my passion, my obsession, my someone I can’t live without. Please remember that. Even when I screw up, which I will likely do again. It’s you and Mason. Forever.”

She leans up on her toes and kisses my lips. “You’re forgiven.”

I grin. “I knew you found me irresistible.”

She rolls her eyes. “Irresistibly risky. Troublesome. Arrogant. Aggravating—”

I shut her up with a kiss. That is until Randolph pops his head out and ruins it with a grizzly growl. “In here now.”

I take Wynter’s hand and lead her into his office. Joe is already here, standing by the window, refusing to turn and face us. He doesn’t know all that’s headed his way, but if he thinks I’m not here to fight him, he’s a goddamn fool.

“What in the fuck happened out there today?” Randolph starts without any preamble. “Joe told me you went rogue. It’s all over the goddamn news. Not even just sports networks, but regular fucking news, Asher.”

“I went rogue because Joe wanted us to lose the game,” I tell him bluntly, taking a seat in one of his chairs even though everyone else is standing. I’m not the one who should be sweating bullets right now. “Well, he wanted me to lose, that is. He wanted me to only hand off the ball and nothing else, and to me, that was unacceptable. But it comes down to one simple fact. I don’t trust Joe. I don’t trust any man who sets out to sabotage another man’s career.”

“What?” Randolph exclaims.

“Do you want to tell them about it, Joe, or should I?” I toss the words casually out to him, just to see how he’ll bite, when really, my throat burns and my skin itches with all the things I want to yell at him for. Instead, Wynter surprises me by walking across the room and yanking on Joe’s arm, forcing him to turn and face her.

“You have cancer?” she questions.

Joe stares down into his daughter’s eyes, and then his head snaps in my direction. I toss my hands behind my head and give him a smug look that tells him I know everything. I warned him on the field. I told him straight up. He should have listened. Frankly, he should have never fucked with me to begin with.

“Don’t look at him,” Wynter snaps. “Look at me. You owe me a million explanations. Start with that one first.”

Joe turns back to her and sighs plaintively. “Yes.”

She exhales a heavy breath, her hands on her hips. “How advanced?”

A palpable pressure settles in the room. “I had surgery and chemo. I’m currently on hormone therapy.”

“Did it metastasize?”

He makes an evasive noise that she’s not having any part of.

“Tell me,” she demands sharply.

His eyes narrow. “Yes. To my lymph nodes and bones. They tell me it’s relatively under control now.”

She shoves him. Not hard but enough to startle him. “And Leo?!”

Now Joe is supremely pissed. His gaze slashes dangerously over to me. “How the fuck do you know all this?”

“What about Leo? The head injury wasn’t Joe’s fault.” Randolph is befuddled, his eyes volleying back and forth between me and Joe like he’s watching a tennis match as he seeks answers.

Joe curses and turns away from Wynter for a beat, only to think better of it and race over to me. He grabs me by my suit jacket, balling it up on his firsts, and hauling me up and out of my chair until I’m right up in his face. “How the fuck do you know?!”

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