Page 27 of Maximum Risk (The Andrades 3)
A horn blared in the driveway announcing the arrival of the car he’d called to take her to the airport. He and Tara stood in a silent standoff, their ragged breathing the only sound in the large foyer. Outside the car b
lared its horn again.
“Is your name actually Tara?” he asked softly.
“Yes. Almost everything I said to you was true. The only part that was a lie was how I met Maddy and why I was spending so much time with her.”
“Dyson?”
“He’s Brigitte’s . . . whatever. If last night went how Dyson hoped, they’re having breakfast together right now.”
“I won’t make you any promises.”
Tara said, “Do you know what I do for a living? Normally, I mean? I follow unfaithful men around and provide photographic proof of their infidelity to their wives. I probably wouldn’t believe any vows if you made them.”
Max frowned. He didn’t like her answer. He didn’t know what he wanted her to say, but he knew that wasn’t it. He needed to somehow get back in control of the conversation. “We’ll keep things casual.”
For a moment he thought she wasn’t pleased with that idea, but she said, “Casual. Perfect. We both do what we want when we want and don’t worry about what either of us are doing when we’re not together.”
Max liked that comment even less. “You’re not sleeping with anyone else while you’re with me.”
Tara put a hand on one hip and cocked her head to the side. “Casual means you don’t have a say in what I do, or who I do, when I’m not with you.”
Max glared down at Tara.
She glared up at him.
He couldn’t take it anymore; he picked her up and started carrying her back up the stairs to the bedroom.
She wrinkled her nose at him, her eyes warming as the same need that had overtaken him began to spread through her. “The car is going to leave.”
“Good,” he said, breathing in the heavenly scent of her hair and imagining how it would feel on his thigh as those luscious lips of hers closed around his cock.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered, “Is this your way of asking me to stay?”
He grinned down at her. “No, I’ll ask by licking that pussy of yours until you come in my mouth.”
She hid her face in his neck, but he saw her blush and smile as she did. “That works for me.”
They spent the rest of the day making love and napping in each other’s arms.
Chapter Twelve
The next day Tara sat across from Max at one of the island’s restaurants. The waitress had just cleared their plates and left the bill. Tara and Max had initially snacked on what was in the kitchen, but it wasn’t enough. Sex marathons made a person hungry. Eventually they’d donned the clothing Max had ordered for them and ventured out: simple jeans and sweaters, along with coats, hats, and gloves necessitated by the cold winter breeze.
Max reached out and took Tara’s hand in his, raising it to his lips. Their eyes met, and it didn’t matter who they were or what they’d argued about the day before. For a moment they were simply two people who had intimately explored every inch of each other and, rather than being sated, wanted more. The bond between them was as exciting as it was scary. Tara could have gladly spent eternity looking into Max’s eyes.
This is how forever is supposed to feel, Tara thought, then reprimanded herself. But it’s not forever. This could last a day more. Or a week. Don’t forget that. No matter how this feels. This isn’t love.
***
“What would you like to do now?” Max asked as he laid his credit card down by the bill.
“I think we’ve seen the whole island.” They had just finished a driving tour of the area after strolling hand in hand through the downtown. Many of the shops were seasonal and closed, but enough were open to make it interesting. Not that Tara cared where they were.
A sexy grin spread across his face. “Not quite. We didn’t find the hardware store.”
Tara leaned across the table and gave him a saucy smile. “If I do let you tie me up one day, it will not be with the type of rope you’d buy in a hardware store. Do you know how much that would chafe?”
The waitress smiled, cleared her throat loudly behind Tara, and retrieved the bill and card. “I’ll be right back with this.”
Tara’s cheeks heated, and Max threw his head back and laughed. Tara leaned forward and swatted Max on the shoulder. “You are trouble, do you know that? I used to have the reputation of being the good girl in the crowd. Now look at me. I said something just as bad in front of half of your family. I can’t even imagine what they think of me.”
Max’s expression sobered. “They like you. They told me at Gio’s dinner.”
Tara didn’t know how to interpret that. “Is that a bad thing?”
Max took her hand in his again. “I have a question for you.”
“Ask me anything.”
Max nodded at the waitress. “Have you noticed how friendly people are on this island? They know who I am. They know what my plans are for the land I bought and how it will most likely change this place. Why don’t they hate me?”
Tara let his question sink in. She was beginning to understand if Max asked such a question, it meant he had been thinking about it for a while. The answer was important to him. “I don’t know the answer to that, but I know who does.” The waitress returned with Max’s card. Before she walked away, Tara said, “Excuse me. Marla, right?”
“Yes,” the woman answered.
Marla looked about Tara’s age. Tara hoped that gave them enough in common that she’d be frank with them. “Could you help me with something? My friend here bought property on this island—”
“We all know who Mr. Andrade is.”
Tara chewed her bottom lip for a moment, then pushed forward. “That’s the point. If you all know who he is, why is everyone so nice to him? Do people like the idea of a resort coming here?”
“Hell no,” Marla said and folded her arms at her waist, just above her apron. She looked back and forth between Tara and Max, directing her answer to both of them. “But we’ve done all the talking about it we’re going to do. We tried to block the sale. We fought the permits. Mr. Andrade’s army of lawyers won on both counts. The resort is going to happen regardless of what we do, but we can’t let it change who we are. My family has been on this island for four generations. We’re not seasonal visitors here. This is our home. And our neighbors feel the same way. We stick together. Mother Nature throws more at us than Mr. Andrade and his resort ever could. We survive by relying on each other. We’re a community. No resort will change that.”
“What would you say if I told you Mr. Andrade is considering keeping the homes as they are and using them for a family retreat?” Tara ignored the look Max sent her.
Marla’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “I’d say I’ll believe it only if I see it.”
Sending Tara a warning glare, Max said, “My plans haven’t changed.”
With a final quizzical look at both Max and Tara, Marla said, “That’s a shame, Mr. Andrade. We’re not an easy community to break into, but those who do are part of something bigger than themselves. That’s what a community is: family and friends, taking care of one another.”
Max looked away coldly. Tara sent the waitress an apologetic look.
Alone again, Max turned back to Tara and asked, “That couldn’t have sounded more staged. ‘Part of something bigger than themselves’? What a load of shit.”
Tara stood and started to put her winter coat back on. “You’re an ass.”
Max moved to stand beside her. “And you’re naïve. If you want to know why anyone does anything, figure out what they’ll gain by doing it. People put their own interests first. Every time.”
Tara crammed her hat back on and stuffed her hands back into her gloves. His comment sent a wave of cold panic through her. No matter how good she felt while with him, they were like a speeding train headed toward a wreck. Max had never pretended to be anything but what he was. That was suddenly painfully clear to Tara. She would have no one to blame but herself when he eventually walked away and broke her heart. “It’s sad you’re so jaded by your past you can’t see go
od in anyone. I don’t feel sorry for you, Max. You have a life most people would kill for and more money than any man should have. Instead of doing something important with it, you build hotels to hide in and lament everything life didn’t give you. That’s no way to live. Take a risk for once, Max, a real one and believe in something. Anything.”
Without waiting for him, Tara walked out of the restaurant.
Max stood there for a moment watching Tara leave, then ran out the door after her. He caught up to her across the street from the restaurant. “Tara,” he grabbed her arm, bringing her retreat to a halt.
She turned back toward him, anger flashing in her eyes. “What are we doing, Max? What is this?”
“Come back inside.” He didn’t know what else to say.
She shook her head. The wind blew one long tendril of her hair across her face. He reached out to tuck it back in, but she pulled back from him and did it herself. “I can’t do this anymore. Being with you has been wonderful, but you hurt me when you said I was nothing to you. I know you were angry at the time. And I’ve been telling myself you didn’t mean it, but maybe you did. It’s not fair to you to keep hoping you’re better than you sound, and it’s not good to be with a man who doesn’t value me. I’m a good person. I deserve to be with someone who believes I’m the center of his universe. I’m sorry. I thought I could settle for less than that, but I can’t.”
She was slipping away from him. He could see it, but he didn’t know how to stop it. “I don’t handle ultimatums well.”
She laid her hand on his. “It’s not an ultimatum. It’s goodbye.” She pulled his hand off her arm and let it drop.
Years of closing himself off from his feelings kept his voice cool and dismissive as he said, “Then goodbye.”
She spun on her heel and strode several feet away before halting. She turned back, walked up to him, and said, “You’re better than this, Max. I’ve seen it. I’m just sorry you believe in yourself as little as you do in everyone else.”
