Page 30 of Maximum Risk (The Andrades 3)
It was, however, where he was told he’d find the New Holmes agency. And Tara.
Max had spent the earlier part of the week telling himself he didn’t care if he ever saw her again. He’d flown out to meet Dale and gone through the motions of evaluating possible alternative sites for his next hotel. Midweek, he’d flown to Vegas, hoping the entertainment and companionship out there would put him in a better mood. It hadn’t. None of the women, not even the ones he’d been with previously, piqued his interest in the slightest.
There was only one woman he wanted, and he hadn’t even tried to convince her to stay. He wasn’t proud of how he’d treated her or how accurately she’d called him out on his shortcomings. He was used to assessing himself in terms of his achievements and not by the amount of emotion or trust he was willing to invest in anyone. He’d never thought of himself as a negative person, and in business he wasn’t, but now he saw he was in his personal life. He could blame it on the way he was raised. He could cite how many countless ways he’d been punished for caring, but Tara was right—how he lived his life today was his choice.
The memory of how hurt Tara had looked when he’d told her she was nothing to him haunted him. In that moment, he’d been as hateful as his mother, and it wasn’t a comparison he was proud of. When he looked at himself through Tara’s eyes, he didn’t like what he saw.
As much as he wanted to see her again, he also needed to apologize. He couldn’t sleep at night, remembering she’d said he was better than the man he’d shown her. He needed a second chance to prove he was.
He had just stepped inside the building when he saw her lock the door to her office and step away from it. “Tara.”
She turned slowly in the dim hallway. “Max?”
He closed the distance between them in a few long strides. “I’m glad I caught you.”
She looked down at something in her hand and stuffed it into her purse. “I was just heading out.”
He took his time looking her over. She was every bit as beautiful in jeans and a loose shirt as she’d been in the expensive clothing he’d always seen her in. “We need to talk.”
She looked like she considered it for a moment then shook her head. “I can’t right now. I have somewhere I need to go.” She gave him a sad smile and moved to step around him. “You’re welcome to call me later.”
He blocked her path. “Where are you going?”
A funny expression filled her eyes. She looked like she was inwardly debating something important. “Do you care? And I don’t mean are you curious. I mean, if I told you I was about to do something important, would you allow yourself to get involved even it could potentially be dangerous? Or would you rather not know?”
“What are you talking about, Tara?” he demanded. “What are you involved in?”
“Answer the question first. Because I promised I wouldn’t lie to you again, so that only leaves me with two options: I can either tell you the truth or tell you nothing. Don’t ask me for the truth if you don’t want to get involved.”
A thousand possible scenarios rushed through his head—everything from her being wanted by the police to her being pregnant with another man’s baby. None of them was enough to make him walk away. “Whatever trouble you’re in, tell me. We’ll figure it out.”
“I’m not the one who’s in trouble.” She looked up and down the hallway to make sure they were alone. “We should go back into my office for a minute. No one else can hear what I’m about to say.”
He followed her into her office. He was fairly confident she was overdramatizing what was likely a small issue that could easily be resolved—at least by someone with his financial resources. If helping one of her friends would prove to her he cared about her, then he was prepared to do just that.
His eyes lingered on her jean-clad ass, and his thoughts flew back to the weekend they’d shared on the island. There was a slim chance she wanted to be alone in her office with him for all the same reasons he would want to be, but when she glanced over her shoulder at him, she looked nervous instead of excited. He’d help her first, then he’d coax her back into his bed.
Once inside her office, she asked him for his phone then proceeded to remove the battery and place it on her desk. He couldn’t help but smile at how seriously she took her private investigator role. It was adorable.
She told him to sit. He did. She reached into her purse and took out a flash drive. “Do you remember I told you something was bothering Gio? Well, I figured it out. Your brother is being blackmailed, and he needs the information on this drive to stop the man who is doing it.” She took out a business card that only had a phone number on it and handed it to Max. “And this woman is willing to help him remove every shred of evidence the blackmailer could use against him. We have to get this to him but in a way that no one knows what we did. The blackmailer can’t find out we know. First we remove the evidence. Then we go after the blackmailer.”
Max was glad he was sitting because he felt like the floor dropped out from beneath him. “You’re serious?”
“Very.”
“Evidence of what? What are you suggesting Gio is guilty of?”
“Trying to cover up the fact that someone has been embezzling money from Cogent.”
“That’s a serious accusation.”
“It’s not an accusation. It’s a felony. One we need to make sure no one else can prove he was involved in.”
“If any of this were true, how did you find out about it?”
Tara sat down in the chair next to Max. “I can’t reveal my sources.”
Max stood and started pacing. “Can’t reveal your sources? What is that? You expect me to believe this wild story without knowing how you even came up with it?”
Tara turned her earnest dark brown eyes on him. “Yes, I do. I expect you to trust me.”
“How do I know what’s on that drive?”
“Because I told you what’s there.”
Max thought about the countless times he’d trusted something his family said only to find out they’d lied. Tara had admitted to lying to him while working for Madison. He looked into her eyes and asked himself if he could trust her. On the island she’d told him he needed to believe in something—anything. Could she be that something? “Where were you headed when I walked in?”
“To give this to Gio.”
“Let’s go then. He’s probably still at his office.” Max didn’t know if he’d regret the decision, but he followed his instincts and picked up his phone. He almost replaced his battery, but looked at her first. “Is there a reason I can’t use my phone?”
Tara walked past him and opened her office door. “Someone might be listening in. You should have your phone checked for spyware.”
He looked down at his phone and then at the very serious expression on her face. He put his phone, still disassembled, into his coat pocket. “I can honestly say I’ve never thought of that.”
“Me, either, before today,” Tara said, locking her office door again. “But, trust me, it happens more than you’d think.”
Chapter Fourteen
A few hours later Tara’s head was spinning from the turn of events. Just as she and Max had discussed during the drive over to Cogent, they had walked into the building holding hands, pretending to be a couple. It was a good cover, even if Tara painfully wished it were true. They met with Gio and said they’d love to have dinner with Julia and him that night—at his place, if it worked for both of them. Gio had spoken to Julia briefly, then beamed a smile at them.
Gio was so happy about Max being there and wanting to visit with him that Tara hadn’t been able to look him in the eye. She exchanged a meaningful look with Max. He’d nodded. They both felt awful in the face of Gio’s enthusiasm. Tara reminded herself he might be disappointed to hear why they wanted to meet with him, but eventually he’d be grateful for the information.
As Tara took her seat at Gio and Julia’s dining room table, she looked at Max, who was taking
the seat beside her. It still felt unreal to have him at her side, helping her break the news to Gio. Tara was half waiting to hear her alarm clock go off and realize all of this—from Alethea’s visit to Max’s show of support—was nothing but a dream. She gulped the first glass of wine Gio poured for her to prove to herself it wasn’t.
Once they were all seated, Tara said, “Cell phones are so great, aren’t they? I carry mine wherever I go. Do you have yours with you, Gio?”
Gio gave her an odd look then shook his head. “Julia has a rule about cell phones not coming to the dinner table. I leave mine in my coat.”
Tara swallowed hard. “Sounds like a good rule.”
