Page 13 of Maximum Risk (The Andrades 3)
With deliberate, torturous leisure, he made his way back to her sex. He licked her as he had before then parted her lips. Her clit was a tiny, hard nub eagerly awaiting his attention. He stroked his tongue across it, then up and down, alternating his technique until he found the rhythm and the direction that had her gasping and begging him not to stop.
He had no intention of disappointing her. He continued even as she moved her hands to grip the bed sheets beside her head and opened herself wider for his mouth. He loved how her skin warmed beneath his hands as she became more and more aroused.
He increased the speed of his rhythmic assault when he sensed she was nearing climax. She writhed against his mouth and cried out as an orgasm shook through her. He lapped at her juices greedily, gently sucking her clit as she shuddered again in his arms.
Still panting, she threw out one arm toward the bedside table and whipped open the drawer. She fumbled for a moment then threw a condom at his head. It bounced off his forehead and landed on her stomach. She tensed beneath his hands. “In my head, I handed that to you with a level of sophistication.”
As turned on as he was, he still found her so amusing he chuckled and kissed her inner thigh. “You are a constant surprise, Tara, and one I can’t get enough of.”
He moved higher on the bed and kissed her slowly even though he was raging with desire to sink into her. He ripped the condom package open, sheathed himself, and raised himself above her. She eagerly wrapped her legs around his waist. He lowered himself until the tip of his dick teased her swollen sex. “I want to fuck you until you don’t remember anyone who came before me—until I’m the only one you crave.”
Whatever she might have said was lost in the deep kiss he gave her. He thrust into her deeply, loving how she opened herself wider for him, lifting her hips to meet his. The sweet feeling of her enveloping him sent him over the edge for the second time that morning. He took her with a wildness foreign to his usual style of lovemaking. With her, he couldn’t remain detached. Her head thrashed back and forth. Her hands dug into the muscles on his shoulders. They rolled until she was on top, and she rammed herself up and down, riding him with the same frenzied abandon that had swept through him.
“I’m coming,” she cried out.
He joined her with a powerful upward thrust.
She melted down onto him, and he breathed in the scent of her, shaken by the desire to hold her to his chest and never let her go.
Not today.
Not ever.
Sex had never held an emotional component before, and Max wasn’t comfortable with how Tara made him feel. He rolled over and cleaned himself off. When he turned back she was already beneath the blankets. He slid beneath them and pulled her into his arms.
He never stayed after sex, but he wasn’t going anywhere. He fell asleep with her tucked against his side and slept better than he had in a very long time.
Chapter Seven
Tara slid out from beneath Max’s arm, quietly removed clothing from her bureau, and darted into the hallway, closing her bedroom door softly behind her. She threw on jeans and a blouse, put on enough makeup to conceal the shadows beneath her eyes, and brushed out her long hair.
There was no disguising the freshly fucked glow on her cheeks. A quick glance at her phone revealed it was one o’clock in the afternoon. Shit. I told Maddy I’d meet her at one. Please, please don’t come here, Maddy.
She sent Maddy a text telling her she was already on her way—a lie but one that might save her from the ultimate embarrassment of trying to explain why Max was naked in her bed. Tara grabbed a pen from her purse and left Max a quick note:
Everything was great. Lock the door as you leave. Tara
She made a face as she reread the note. Since she didn’t do casual sex, she wasn’t sure how to say “Thanks for the sex, now get out.” Brigitte didn’t write notes; she left the explaining to Tara.
Tara placed her note on the kitchen counter. If Max were any other man she’d be worried about leaving him alone in her apartment, but what could she or Brigitte have that a billionaire would want to take? Nothing. She’d already given Max what he’d come for, and now that she had he would probably be just as anxious to get out of there as she was to see him gone.
The sex had been great.
Max had been amazing.
But it was over, and it was better that way. She held up the check from Maddy. Fifty thousand dollars was a lot of money, as was the second payout if she completed her job, but it wasn’t worth it. She didn’t want to be the person she was becoming.
Tara had always considered herself a champion for people who were being betrayed. Neither her job nor her lifestyle had ever been glamorous, but she’d always been proud of what she did.
Working for Maddy had Tara all turned around and confused. She was getting used to a lifestyle of nice clothing and expensive things that had never been of interest to her before. Her personal ethics? They were blurring the more she played the role of Maddy’s friend.
Without the money, Tara could justify what she’d done—at least to herself. After all, she’d taken the job because she’d wanted to help the man in the photo. Her mistake had been letting Maddy convince her she could be a different kind of investigator.
It’s not all Maddy’s fault. I wanted to meet Max. I wanted to see what had put that sad expression in his eyes. But not this way. No part of this is right anymore. Maddy will have to understand that.
And Max?
Tara slipped out of her apartment without making a sound. No harm,
no foul. It wasn’t as if he’d be hurt by her departure. He’d probably have another woman in his bed tonight.
And that had to be okay. She and Max were not meant to be together. Without Maddy, they never would have connected. They had nothing in common and, despite how entertaining dinner had been last night or how great sex had been this morning, they couldn’t be more wrong for each other.
Sorry, Max, I was paid to learn more about you, and I did, but not the way I should have. My bad.
Tara’s resolve didn’t waver, not even when she somehow ended up in the back of a town car explaining to Maddy for a second time that she’d torn up the check and was no longer working for her. “So, I’m done. No more meeting your family. No more lies. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you, but I can’t do this anymore.”
“I completely understand,” Maddy said and gave the driver an address Tara didn’t recognize. Maddy looked at her with those dark pleading eyes on full blast. “Adam is feeling better today, but I still hated to leave him with the nanny. I don’t do that unless something is really important. I get that you don’t want to work for me anymore, but could you do one small, teensy-weensy favor for me before you go?”
Say no and run. “What do you need?”
“I need you to meet Patrice.”
“Patrice Stanfield? Max’s mother?” Oh, no. No. No. No.
“Good, you know who she is. What did you find out about her last night?”
Heat filled Tara’s cheeks. “Max didn’t talk about his family.”
Maddy chewed her bottom lip in frustration. “He never does. I was hoping he’d be different with you than he is with me.”
Oh, he was, but not in a way I can discuss with you. Bad, bad Tara. Stop picturing Max naked in your bed and wishing you were still there.
“How was dinner? You have to be careful with Max. He’s a heartbreaker.” Maddy’s expression filled with sympathy. She took Tara’s hand in hers. “Oh, you like him, don’t you? I am an insensitive idiot. Last night went badly, didn’t it? I’m sorry. He seemed interested in you. I should have known better. Max tends to date the double-D Vegas variety, if you know what I mean. He’s always surrounded by flashy displays of skin and cosmetically perfect women. You can’t expect to compete with that. When all this is over, I’ll find the perfect guy for you.”
