Heir's Affair

THREE

THREE

If Tally could choose to never face her embarrassment again, she would. Unfortunately, Teddy was losing his patience with her. He’d threatened to put someone else on the case and Tally couldn’t let that happen, not before she spoke to Max and asked him to keep their indiscretion a secret.

He owed her nothing and might tell her to go to hell. And if he did, she’d deserve it. Her stupidity would hang over their heads forever. Max was going to take his place in the family and at the company, so their encounter would become another secret, another thing for the rumor-mill to chew on.

But if Teddy found out about it, he’d fire her for sure and her life was the Strettons. Tally didn’t know who she was without them.

But, God, facing Max was going to be embarrassing.

Deliberately choosing to come to his apartment in the afternoon, she figured there was no way he could try to coerce her into having a drink. So she should be able to keep her head. Tally kept her purse on her shoulder and her chin in the air, reminding herself to be professional and not skanky.

The idea of returning to this apartment building on her own was a bit scary. Her heart was pounding when she stepped into the entryway because she feared finding the gangbangers who had been here before. Luckily, it was empty. She hurried up the stairs and along the hallway to Max’s door.

Lifting her fist to knock, Tally tried to figure out what she should do if he didn’t answer, like he hadn’t last time. Before, when they’d been strangers, waiting was frustrating, but no big deal. But hanging around on his doorstep now might come across wrong, like she was a needy stalker.

Trouble was, she couldn’t put this off any longer. It had been more than a week since their Fitzpatrick’s encounter and she’d fed Teddy every excuse she could think of to delay coming back to Max’s.

The door opened fast, but swung to an abrupt stop when Max registered it was her. His surprise faded to a frown. “Boss Lady,” he said. “Here for another session? ‘Cause the rates for slumming it have gone up.”

Snarky, okay, she deserved that. But she couldn’t care about their personal relationship, she had to steel herself against her feelings on that subject. This was her. Professional.

“No, Mr. Flynn, I came here to talk.”

“ ‘Kay,” he said. “Come in.”

“No,” she said when he took half a step back.

His smirk mocked her. “Don’t trust yourself?”

Actually, yeah, that was the exact reason she didn’t want to go in there, but Tally didn’t admit it. “This won’t take long,” she said and retrieved a card from the front of her purse. “Your presence is required at this address tomorrow night.”

“That right?” he asked, moving his hand from the door to take the card from her.

As he read it, he took a beer bottle to his lips; she hadn’t even noticed it was there. What was he doing drinking in the afternoon? Yeah, okay, it was the weekend, but still, it was daylight outside! Maybe she wouldn’t be so worried about his alcohol consumption if she wasn’t also worried about his hands… his mouth… his tongue… his…

Damn.

She knew he had a job; he and his friends ran a garage just a couple of blocks from here. But from everything the PI had told her, they didn’t keep regular hours and the shop was closed as often as it was open. Tally had considered going to the garage to find him but had been reluctant to announce his family business in front of his friends and colleagues… especially if they were anything like him.

“Yes,” she said. “Dinner will be served at eight.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I’ll show,” he said, tucking the card into the front of her purse again. “But if you want to grab a burger sometime, gimme a call.”

He started to close the door and she stuttered, she couldn’t let him shut her out, she’d have no way back in.

Stepping forward, Tally planted her hand on the door. “Please, Mr. Flynn.”

“Why’d you call me that?” he asked, narrowing his eyes on her. “What do you have to do with a guy before you’ll use his first name?”

She hadn’t thought about how ridiculous it was until he pointed it out. Now her thoughts were a mess again and it took a minute for her to pull them back.

“That’s… irrelevant. I really would urge you to reconsider dinner at the Stretton Estate. I think you’ll find the visit worth your while.”

His eyes scanned her figure. “You gonna be there?”

That question was unexpected; he’d thrown her off-kilter again. “In the building? Probably. At Mr. Stretton’s dining table? No.” Imagine that, her seated at the family dinner table. Tally’s smirk hid a laugh, but Max didn’t like that she was so amused by the idea because he scowled at her. “But uh… you’ll meet your sister, Kimmy.”

“Sister?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yes, she’s… eager to meet you.” ‘Please say yes’ was all she could think while he looked at her. “Your father will send a car—”

“That will ditch me.”

“Oh no,” she said, worrying that her comments might have given him the wrong idea. “You will be taken care of in every way. Your father has already hired a full staff for you. You’ll have your own suite and a full fleet of cars at your disposal.”

“A full fleet, huh?” he asked, leaning on the doorframe.

Being that his main trade was working on cars, she figured that would be a good way to get through to him.

This was going well, he was getting it, she was making progress. “And you’ll have access to the corporate jet and accounts with all major retailers and entertainment venues.”

“Entertainment venues?” he asked. “Like for baseball?”

She nodded. Could sports be what persuaded him? It didn’t matter, she’d take it. “Tickets for the best seats.”

He tipped his head and clucked his tongue. “Shame, I already have those.”

Reversing, he turned into the apartment. Throwing the door wide, Max walked away from her to continue on into the kitchen. Tally was shocked to find that the television above the fireplace to the left was displaying a baseball game right now and there were four guys seated around his living room watching it. Seeing beer bottles on the table and a pizza box next to a couple of open packs of chips, she realized she’d stumbled on a party.

The guys glanced over at her one at a time but didn’t say anything. Another guy came into the apartment behind her, forcing her inside. While she’d been ignored, the new guy got a cheer and conversation. As he answered his friends, he urged her deeper inside to shut the front door.

That was it. She was in the apartment where Max was entertaining. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t have picked a worse time, Tally couldn’t leave without convincing him to go to the dinner tomorrow night. But she didn’t know how complete his focus would be while he was having this get together.

Instead of standing gaping at the guys in the living room who were ignoring her in deference to the game, she chose to head into the kitchen after Max. Tally found him leaning against the counter, typing something into his phone.

He did a double take and kept typing. “You want a beer?” he asked and opened the fridge, leaving the door swinging on its hinges, implying she should help herself.

“No, thank you,” she said, pushing the door closed.

“Why is it he tells you not to drink?” Max asked, locking his phone and sticking it in his pocket. “He must be a controlling fucker.”

“No,” she said, because it was her job to make Teddy sound appealing. “Technically, I’m always on duty. He likes to know he can call on me any time and I’ll always be sober, you know? Ready for him. For whatever he needs.”

He swiped his beer from the counter and slugged some down, peering at her so intently that she squirmed under the scrutiny. “Do you f**k him?”

Shocked, Tally was struck dumb for a minute. “Wha…? Excuse me?”

“Stretton, that’s his name, right? Do you have s*x with him?”

“No!” she exclaimed and glanced back at the living room beyond the breakfast bar before going to him to murmur, “I don’t make a habit of doing… what we did. Before that, I hadn’t had s*x for… months.”

More like years, but she wasn’t going to admit to that. Any guy she’d be interested in having a relationship with wouldn’t understand her commitment to Theodore Stretton.

Max pushed away from the counter, swinging his beer down from his lips as he started toward the living room.

En route, he twisted to whisper in her ear, “Figured. You’re too tight to be a whore.”

Oh God, her heart sank into her guts as her eyes closed. He wasn’t making this easy for her and what was worse, every reminder of that night aroused her as much as it mortified her.

When Tally shook herself back to reality, she spun around to find him in the living room, sitting in the armchair nearest the bedroom door, the one with its back to the window, perpendicular to the TV.

Taking a fortifying breath, she went into the living room and tried to block out the other men, who were chatting, eating, and commenting on the game. She went over to stand right in front of Max, but instead of acknowledging her, he curled his fingers around the inside of her knee and looked past her at the TV to comment on the latest play.

“We have to—”

“Relax, Boss,” Max said and sank back in his chair. “I’m not having any conversation while the game’s on.”

Catching her off-guard, he pulled her down into his lap. “I can’t—”

“Sure you can,” he said, and bent to hook her legs with one forearm. Twisting her around, he draped her legs over the arm of his chair and then slid a hand between her thighs, just to rest it there while the other arm stayed around her back, holding his beer on the arm of the chair. “Relax.” He kissed the side of her neck and she tried to get up, but he snaked his arm all the way around her to hold the beer up to her mouth. “Drink.”

Their eyes locked. She had a decision to make, stay and play along until she got a chance to talk, or fight to get away and leave. But if she did that, she’d never have a chance to convince him to come to dinner, and she’d have to psyche herself up to come back here or be prepared to lose her job.

So she took the beer and as his satisfaction almost curved his lips, Max whistled at one of the guys and held up a hand. His friend tossed him a beer and his arms tightened around her when he twisted off the cap, which he tossed to the table.

Tally hadn’t meant to take over the beer, but now she had her own she’d have to nurse it; she couldn’t get drunk, she just couldn’t.

Tally had been there for over an hour and she was learning a lot about his friends. Tomas was a bit slow on the uptake, and the others liked to jeer him for always being behind the curve. Robbie and Mark were brothers, but they didn’t seem to like each other much because they were always making snarky comments at the other’s expense.

Bobby was the joker, he had a great sense of humor; she’d never laughed so much in her life. Ryan was the flirt, too cool for school in a lot of ways. It was obvious he was the preener of the g**g, though he had nothing on the vain men she was used to having around her.

Right now, Tally was sitting on the floor between Max’s open legs, carefully opening the newest packet of chips.

“You just never learned?” Robbie asked her while the others were still intent on the TV.

Robbie was at the end of the couch closest to the chair she’d been sharing with Max throughout the game. But Robbie was less interested in the game and more interested in leaning over to talk to her.

Tally wasn’t much of a sports buff, so she was okay with talking. “Nope,” she said, opening both ends of the chip packet.

“Why not? I thought everyone knew how to drive? Cars are Max’s whole life, he takes them apart, puts them back together. He grew up jacking them and chopping them with us to put food on his mom’s table.”

She shrugged. “My mom didn’t drive either,” she said. “We were living on food stamps in section eight housing. We couldn’t afford heat let alone driving lessons.”

Robbie opened another beer and handed it to her. She’d managed to nurse the last one for long enough, apparently it hadn’t gone unnoticed that she was sans drink. “But you said you went to college?”

She nodded. “My dad died when I was seventeen, he had a life insurance policy. My mom said it just made sense to use the money to get me an education.”

“Wow, that’s… cool.”

She smiled. “It is. She was a good mom.”

“You still close, do you see her a lot?”

She shook her head. “She lives in France now with an art professor who swept her off her feet. He’s twenty years older than her, but it works for them.”

“Cool,” Robbie said and turned to hit Ryan’s chest. “You hear this?”

“Hear what?” Ryan asked, sliding closer to his friend to focus on her. “She’s something to look at, huh?”

Tally wondered if he ever stopped flirting, but she wasn’t threatened by his words. The flirtation felt more polite than calculated.

“Yeah,” Robbie said, like he hadn’t really been listening to his friend. “Her mom lives in France.”

“Wow,” Ryan said, looking impressed. “France, huh? In Paris?”

“Burgundy,” she said.

“Cool, like the wine,” Robbie said.

She laughed. “Yes, like the wine.”

Max was behind her, talking to the other guys who were still focused on the TV. He leaned forward, sliding his hand over her shoulder, down her chest to inside her shirt, where he curved his hand around her breast and gave her a squeeze. It was such an absent move that she didn’t want to draw attention to it thinking that would make it a big deal. He was still talking to his friends and probably didn’t even notice that he’d done it. But it was making her heat in all the right… or rather, wrong… places.

Max reached for the chips with his empty hand, but she hadn’t finished opening out the packet because she’d been too busy talking.

Catching his hand before he accidently pushed all the chips out the bottom, Tally turned it over and scooped a few chips out onto his palm. There. No mess. Easy. His lips disappeared into her hair. He kissed her head then sat back to eat the chips she’d given him.

“You coming to The Lounge tonight?” Ryan asked her as she tore the edge of the pack from top to bottom in a makeshift plate for the chips.

She flattened the pack, leaving the chips on top. “The Lounge? No.”

“You should, it’ll be fun,” Robbie said. “Aaron’s band is starting to go places. They’re headlining after open mic night. Max probably told you, but it’s like their favorite venue. The Lounge gave them a chance when no one else would.”

“His band, Horizon, are big in the city now,” Ryan said. “They’re booked every week.”

“Lucky them,” she said, sipping her beer.

“Yeah, they worked hard,” Robbie said. “Do you play an instrument?”

“Some piano,” she said, “but I’m awful. A friend taught me a couple of years ago.”

“Mark plays piano,” Robbie said, pointing past Ryan. “Hey, Mark, you can play with Max’s girl.”

Mark stopped drinking to look at them. “Excuse me?” she asked and laughed at how naughty that sounded. “Play with me?”

Max sat up straight behind her. “What the f**k?” he asked, with enough anger in his voice that she felt the need to rest her head against his thigh for reassurance. He put a possessive hand on her hair. “Listen, you fuckers, she’s hands off. You get within three feet of her without my supervision and I’ll break your f*****g face, get me?”

All the guys held up their hands or nodded as they conveyed their agreement. Great, why was Max putting his mark on her? They weren’t together, could never be together. Tally seemed to have forgotten why she was here.

As if the universe had prepared a perfectly timed reminder, her cell phone burst to life. The shrill ring was set on maximum; she had to be able to hear it at all times, no matter where she was or what she was doing. Crawling around Max’s leg, she unzipped her purse and pulled out the phone.

Clearing her throat before she answered, she used the support of Max’s leg to help her scramble to her feet. “Tally!” Teddy snapped before she’d said a word.

“Yes, sir,” she said, trying to use her body as a shield for the noise of the TV.

Max tapped her leg and she glanced down. He pointed over the back of the chair to the door in the corner. “Use the bedroom,” he whispered.

Climbing over his leg, she was surprised when he smacked her a*s, but couldn’t say anything because her boss was talking in her ear. “Where are you? Have you got confirmation yet?”

“No,” she said, going into the bedroom. The bed was a mess and there were clothes strewn on the only chair in the room while a towel was on the floor, trailing out of the open bathroom door. “I’m working on it now.”

There was a complete weight rack in the corner next to a bench, it seemed that Max worked out right here in his bedroom. His whole life was in this apartment. Moving to the Stretton Estate was going to be a huge adjustment for him. There was a full gym and swimming pool at the estate, everything Max could ever want or need.

“This is a disappointment,” Teddy said. The coolness of his voice made her feel shame. “I don’t understand what is so difficult about this task. If you are incapable—”

“Incapable? No, sir, I… I’m working on it. I promise.”

“You’ve been saying that for days,” he said. She went over to sit on the other side of the bed. “I wasn’t sure you were up to this task. Perhaps I should move you to Kimmy’s detail permanently.”

“No,” she said because she couldn’t think of anything worse than trotting around after the perfect princess who spent her day lunching and melting plastic.

Tally could only spend so many hours watching Kimmy in the spa with her friends before she began to consider self-harm.

“Maybe I should send Ken,” he muttered.

“No!” she exclaimed, though he probably hadn’t expected her input. Silently cursing herself for raising her voice, she closed her eyes. “Mr. Flynn won’t respond to intimidation. He just won’t.”

“Apparently, he doesn’t respond to you either. This is your last chance, Miss Taylor. If my son does not attend dinner at the house tomorrow, I will reconsider your employment.”

“I understand,” she said because what else could she say.

He softened a little. “I like you, Miss Taylor, it would pain me to reprimand you. Don’t disappoint me.”

“Yes, sir.”

The line went dead, and she hung up her end. “Damn,” she bit out and squeezed the phone.

Max’s voice came from behind her, “Sounds like a real charmer.”