Page 33 of Maximum Risk (The Andrades 3)
He almost said yes, but he knew the answer she hoped for was no. Without thinking, he said honestly, “I don’t know what to say.”
She gave him a funny little smile and opened the passenger door of her car. “Call me when you figure it out.”
Chapter Sixteen
The next morning, dressed in lounge pants and an old T-shirt, Tara shuffled out of her bed to the bathroom, then off to the kitchen without stopping to look in the mirror. She needed a cup of coffee before she faced the day.
Dyson was at the stove, bare-chested as usual, making breakfast. His presence wasn’t a surprise, but Brigitte happily sitting at the kitchen table watching him still took some getting used to.
“Morning,” Tara said grumpily, sliding into a chair across from an already perfectly made-up Brigitte, wearing silk pajamas that bordered on being obscene and would have been on anyone with a less beautiful body. If Brigitte walked around naked, Tara doubted many would complain. She was simply that beautiful.
Dyson handed Tara a cup of coffee. “Rough night?”
“No,” Tara answered automatically, “why do you ask?”
Brigitte arched an eyebrow and asked gently, “Sweetie, do you own a hairbrush?”
Tara reached up and tried to flatten her wayward hair. “Sorry, not everyone can roll out of bed with their makeup still in place.”
Not at all offended, Brigitte laughed softly. “Dyson, feed her—fast. She gets grumpy when she’s hungry.”
Dyson walked over and filled half of Tara’s plate with scrambled eggs. “Should we tell her now or give her time to wake up?”
Tara sat up straighter. “Tell me what?”
Brigitte stood up and went to stand beside Dyson. They were beautiful together, like a Ken and Barbie set. “We’re taking it to the next step. Dyson asked me to move in with him, and I said yes.”
Tara swayed on her seat. “That’s fast.”
Dyson wrapped an arm around Brigitte’s waist and kissed her cheek. “Not really. I’ve been waiting a year for her.”
Brigitte looked up at Dyson with an expression Tara hadn’t seen on her face before. Brigitte was in love. “I thought I would feel trapped, but I don’t. I feel freer than I ever did on my own. Dyson didn’t make me choose, he waited until I saw no one else mattered. Isn’t it funny? You think you know who you are, then you wake up one morning and realize you want something you never imagined you would. Then everything changes.”
Dyson kissed Brigitte warmly, wrapped both arms around her, and looked over her head at Tara. “You won’t have to move, Tara. We’ll cover Brigitte’s part of the rent for as long as you want to live here.”
Tara forced a smile. “You don’t have to do that. I’ll figure out something.”
Brigitte walked over and gently smoothed Tara’s wild hair out of her face. “We want to. I don’t usually get on with other women, but you’re like family, Tara.”
Dyson ruffled Tara’s hair back into a mess. “The little sister I never had.”
Tara raised both hands and laughed. “I love you both, but you need to stop touching me. Get a puppy or something.”
Brigitte looked up at Dyson. “I’ve never had a dog. What do you think?”
Dyson smiled at her, and Tara had never seen him look happier. “I can see you with a tiny, white Maltese.”
A glow spread across Brigitte’s face. “I’ll name her Tarafina.”
Tara burst out laughing. “After me? Seriously?”
Brigitte pouted beautifully. “Tara, you know I’m going to miss you. It’ll be like having a little piece of you still with us, only Dyson and I won’t have to worry she will be shocked if she walks in on us while we’re showering.”
“Most people close the bathroom door. Just saying,” Tara defended, but she was still laughing. She would miss both of them more than she wanted to admit.
The intercom buzzer sounded. Dyson walked over to the intercom near the door and answered it. He looked back and called out, “Tara! It’s your boyfriend.”
“I don’t have a—” Tara froze in panic. “Max?”
“I buzzed him up.” Dyson gave her a smile that told her he knew exactly what he was doing.
Tara jumped off the chair. “You buzzed him? Oh, my God, he’s coming up.” She looked across at Brigitte for help.
“How fantastic to finally get to meet your Max.” Brigitte looked as happy as Dyson did. How did neither of them get that Tara needed an hour, maybe more, before she’d be ready to see him?
“You have to stall him. I need—” Tara stopped, imagined how her scantily clad roommate and her lover would stall Max, and halted before leaving the room. She waved a finger at Brigitte. “You, go put a robe on.” Then at Dyson. “And you, don’t throw him out before I get back.”
Dyson opened the door. “Too late, he’s already here.”
He was. Looking every bit as delicious as Tara remembered, Max stepped through the open door. He shook hands with Dyson, then walked over to Brigitte. Tara held her breath. She’d seen many otherwise calm and collected men reduced to tongue-tied puddles of adoration at Brigitte’s feet. Max held out his hand and introduced himself to Brigitte as if she were conservatively dressed and much, much less attractive. He said it was nice to meet her or something along those lines. Tara wasn’t listening; she was holding her breath and waiting.
With nothing more than a polite nod of his head, Max turned and walked to where Tara was standing. He had an oddly determined expression in his eyes. He took her face between both his hands and kissed her soundly. He kissed her until Tara forgot they weren’t alone in the room, until her knees buckled, and she was clinging to his shoulders for support.
Then he raised his head and said, “You want to date, Tara? Let’s date. I’ll take you to every goddamned movie theater, every romantic restaurant; I’ll even break out my old ice skates and spin you around at Rockefeller Center. Anything you want, but I’m not leaving here without you.”
Between gulping breaths, Tara tried to sort through the wave of emotions flooding her. “What changed since last night?”
He gathered her to him and tipped her face up to his. “Everything. I went back to my hotel room without you and realized the only thing stopping you from being there with me . . . was me. I thought about what you said. I wouldn’t describe anything between us as casual. I want to take you to my bed every night. I want to wake up and see you smiling down at me. You said we don’t know each other well. So, show me your world. And come see mine. But don’t ask me to take it slowly with you, because you’re all I can think about.”
In the background, Dyson said, “Oh, he’s smooth.”
“If she says no, don’t let him leave until after I talk to her,” Brigitte said in a loud stage whisper.
Tara chuckled nervously, then she looked up into Max’s dark eyes, completely awed that she could inspire the burning desire she saw there. “I need a shower before we go anywhere.”
“Sounds like the perfect way to start our day together,” Max breathed into her ear. He picked her up and started carrying her toward the bathroom.
“Close the door,” Dyson called out.
“Or leave it open,” Brigitte said with a laugh. “Both ways are fun.”
Chapter Seventeen
A month later Tara and Max were holding hands in an elevator on the way up
to Gio and Julia’s apartment. “Tell me again why we’re all dressed up,” Tara said playfully. Max was up to something, and one thing that Max wasn’t was subtle.
“Gio and Julia invited us over for dinner,” Max said with a smirk on his face.
Tara narrowed her eyes at him playfully. “No different than last week or the week before. You didn’t buy me a new dress for either of those visits. What’s really going on?”
The door of the elevator opened to Gio’s private hallway. “Your parents are in town, and my brothers wanted to meet them.”
Tara’s mouth dropped open. She was frozen on the spot. “And you didn’t think this was something I should know?”
He hugged her and kissed her temple. “Our families meeting was on your list of what was important to you. I knew you’d worry if you had too much time to think about it. It’s better this way.”
Reeling, Tara clung to Max absently. “I told my parents your name and that we are dating, but that’s it.”
She felt rather than heard Max’s chuckle. “I filled them in on the rest.” Tara’s eyes flew up to his. “Your dad said he was perfectly okay with you living with me as long as I understood that if I didn’t marry you, he might kill me.”
Tara laid her head down on Max’s chest. “Oh, my God.”
Max lifted her face up and kissed her lips gently again. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
Tara looked over at the closed outer door to Gio’s apartment. “My parents are really in there with your family?”
“Gio said they arrived this morning. He and Julia took them to lunch and settled them in a room at my uptown hotel. The plan was to have them back here before six. So, yes, I believe they’re in there.”
The enormity of what Max had done sunk in, and Tara went from shocked to teary. “You invited my parents.”
Max was suddenly concerned. “Don’t cry. This is good, right? You get along with them.”
