Heir's Affair

NINE-2

“Where the f**k were you earlier?” Robbie asked, noticing his friend for the first time.

“Cops were in here asking questions,” Ryan said, and a somber kind of mood spread through the group that made her smile.

“Ms. Taylor saved the day,” Mark said, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

All the men did the same, making her laugh. It had become a joke at the poker table. Whenever she’d won a hand, they’d all kissed her cheek in congratulations. They probably assumed she’d be lousy, except, she’d started to clean up, and the frequency of kisses became so ridiculous it was laughable.

“Who?” Max asked.

Her smile fell, and she rolled her eyes as she held up an open hand at shoulder level. “Me.”

“Huh,” Max said, taking a second to look at her.

“Trey kissed me too,” she said, touching her liquor and l*****g it from her finger. “Everyone around here is damn friendly.”

The guys sniggered. All except Max. “Yeah, until you took them all for a bunch of losers at poker,” Robbie said. “She’s a hustler, Max, man.”

“They banned her,” Ryan said. “After Dib was tossed out on his a*s for squaring up to her.”

Max’s brow rose and his shoulders went back. It was like he seemed to grow, and as he tensed up, she sensed danger, so quickly worked to calm him. “It’s okay, I was taken care of and Trey barred him…” Leaning to the side, she tried to seek out the bartender behind the bar. “I think he likes me.”

“I think he loves you,” Mark said. “I think we all do. If Trey’s gone then this place shuts down and then where would we hang out?”

He hugged her and then Robbie did, and she laughed as they each showed their appreciation.

“You fuckers are all drunk,” Max snapped. “What did I tell you about three feet?”

“Hey, you’re supervising, aren’t you?” Ryan said, sliding an arm around her waist.

“Oh,” Tally said, tugging at her skirt. “Not too tight, honey. My skirt rides up over my a*s if anyone holds me too tight.”

The guys jeered and laughed. It hadn’t been deliberate, but her skirt had ended up shorter at the back than at the front when it was ripped off.

“I need a f*****g drink,” Max said and spun around to storm away.

Oops, maybe it wasn’t fun to be the sober one around a bunch of drunkards. The others saw her wince, but she kept her eyes on Max as the guys called after him, mocking him for being grumpy.

After gulping down her drink, Tally began to follow Max, but the guys kept shouting. Walking backward, she tried to tell them to cool it with a gesture, then she hurried over to the bar where Max was braced on two outstretched arms.

In a brief crouching move, she ducked under his arm, putting her back to the bar. Linking her fingers at the back of his neck, she tried to get his attention. “I’m sorry, lover,” she said. “If I’d known you’d be pissed at me hanging out, I’d have left as soon as I got here. I didn’t like the way the cops were sneering at the place and trying to take me home like I was unsafe here.”

He glanced down at her. Trey came up behind her and slid a drink onto the bar. Max tried to offer him a bill, but Trey refused it and ruffled her hair before going to another customer.

“What the f**k happened in here?” Max asked, holding the bill in mid-air.

“You can put it in my b*a if you like,” she said, eyeing her chest, but he scowled at her joke. “My winnings are in there. You didn’t notice I’d gone up a cup size?”

Maybe he was just resigned, but he folded it and tucked it into her cleavage. “That’s the rest of your dress up there, right?”

She glanced back to see Trey had draped her ripped skirt behind the optics like a flag of victory.

Scrunching her nose, she nodded. “It’s a long story.”

“How you came to be here alone on a Saturday night to bail my buddies out of trouble with the cops? How you got to be best friends with the hardest guys around here? How you cleaned up at poker? Lost half your dress? And got us an open bar? Yeah, I guess it would have to be a long story.”

That was a lot, but really, it was simple. “I was worried about you,” she said. “I only came because I thought something might have happened to you… I can leave if you’re angry with me.”

He sealed his lips as his eyes met hers, subtle anger burning in them. “I wasn’t around when my friends needed me, then I find out some cunt thought about putting his hands on you? I’m angry, Boss, but not with you.”

She grinned. “That’s why you’re angry? Because you weren’t here for us?” He nodded. “Oh, you’re so sweet… Do you want to tell me where you were?”

“Tracking down my mom,” he said. “Figured I should tell her about this Stretton shit.”

“Did you find her?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know if you’ll like what she said.”

Too intrigued, Tally had to ask. “What did she say?”

“That I should take him for every cent I could, that he owed me,” Max said, his conversation with his mother probably didn’t put him in the best of moods. “It’s weird, I never really see her, but when she was saying goodbye to me…”

“What?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. It was like she thought it would be for the last time. And I guess she thinks if Stretton gets his hooks in…”

That there wouldn’t be a chance for his mother to compete or that his mother wouldn’t be interested in having a relationship with her son? It saddened her that there might ever be a scenario when his mother wouldn’t be interested in him.

Tally couldn’t even picture feeling that way herself. “I’m here if you need any help.”

But he seemed to have forgotten about his mom already. “Baby,” he said, hooking her loose hair over his fingers to push it over her shoulders, letting it flow down behind her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”

She shook her head because no harm had been done. But this wasn’t the place for them to get heavy or mushy, so she decided to help him take his mind from his troubles.

“It’s okay,” Tally said. “I’ll forgive you if you kiss me.”

Stooping to merge their mouths, Max’s tongue glided between her lips making everything in both their worlds brighter. Their kiss didn’t get much further than that; it was interrupted by cheers and wolf whistles coming from the other end of the room. They were the focus of everyone in the place.

Tally laughed and he swept an arm around her waist to boost her onto a stool so he could slide himself between her thighs.

“Do you think they’re expecting a repeat of the first night we were in here?” he asked, kissing her cheekbone and her jaw.

“If you keep doing that, they’ll get one,” she said, running her hands over his a*s before sliding them up and inside his tee-shirt to feel the flesh of his back under her nails.

He kissed her neck, and dipped her back against the bar to kiss her throat. With her head all the way back like this, he could kiss her upper chest, but he kept on going south until he was sucking the supple mound of her breast that was plumped over her neckline.

“MG,” he said, lifting his head like it was a question he’d meant to ask before. Dazed by want and endorphins, Tally couldn’t form words to answer. “Why does everyone keep calling you MG?”

“Max’s Girl,” Trey said from behind her as he came over to top off Max’s glass. “I won’t stop you going at it right there, but that girl deserves a bed and some privacy, buddy. She’s a queen.”

Trey disappeared again, and Tally reached for Max’s belt, but he intercepted her hand. “He’s right. Let’s say goodnight, baby.” It was crazy how disappointed she was, and Max must have read the sulk on her face because he smiled and kissed her. “You want me to f**k you?” Her features lit. “Here? In front of everyone?” Biting her lip, she reconsidered. This wasn’t a random audience, these were his friends… and she was with it enough to know that she was too drunk to make smart choices. “Come on.”

He linked their fingers and eased her body in front of his. Bringing their clasped hands up to her abdomen, she held his protective forearm against her as they moved back toward their friends. Max finished his drink just as they got to the group.

“We’re leaving,” she said and there was a collective groan of disappointment.

“You just got here, Max,” Mark said. “You haven’t seen how cool this girl is yet.”

These guys really were drunk if they thought she was cool. The comment made Tally laugh. “Max knows how cool I am, he was sleeping with me before any of you knew I existed,” she said. “Hell, we were having s*x out the back of this place a half hour into our first date—” Her mind caught up with her mouth and she twisted to look over her shoulder at the man she was leaning on, heat flooded her cheeks. “I just said too much out loud.”

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” he said, bowing to kiss her. “We weren’t discreet about it. I don’t think it’s a secret around here.”

Did that make her feel better? Maybe. Yes, because she hadn’t embarrassed him, and she’d hate herself if she ever did. Downside was, every person in the place knew she was a hussy.

Turning all the way around, she buried her face in Max’s chest, and he didn’t grope, just draped his arms around her.

“That’s good,” Mark said. “Take her out back for a service if she needs one, and then bring her back in to play with us.”

“You watch your mouth,” Max said. “I really don’t want to put my fist through my buddy’s face… but I will if he disrespects my girl.”

Oh, this was all going wrong, now there was anger between the friends. Mark was drunk, he didn’t mean any disrespect. But Max was being kind in making sure no one treated her like a s**t.

“Excuse me,” Tally said.

Pushing away from Max, she headed to the restroom, and after going through the motions, she looked at her reflection.

Since meeting Max she’d become a different person. She was wild and confident with him in a way she never had been before. Yeah, she’d always been able to talk to people if she had to, but she wasn’t taught to assert herself in the Stretton house. She was taught to blend in, not to talk unless she was addressed. She was taught to apologize, that everything was her fault if that’s what she was told.

Max was different. He taught her to hold her head up. Made her feel desired for who she was, not who he told her she had to be. He wanted her. Let her be free to act as insane as she wanted to. Being with him made her feel good about who she was, and she trusted him. She couldn’t be too much or take things too far with him. He accepted her no matter what.

She was so lucky to be with a man like Max. Except she wasn’t with him.

It was like there were two Maxs; the Max who lived in his apartment, hung out here, and drank tequila with his friends. And the Max who was Teddy’s son and heir, the one she’d been supposed to track down and persuade to have dinner with his long-lost father.

Except that job was done and she was still here. Why was she still here?

Why had she been so scared earlier when Robbie summoned her to Fitzpatrick’s? Why had she been so terrified by the thought that something might have happened to Max? Why had she hung around with his friends all night drinking tequila and laughing at their jokes when she should’ve rushed back to her boss at his party?

Teddy might have needed her, yet she’d chosen to stay here and risked him finding out that she’d not only abandoned her post, but she’d gotten drunk as well?

It was Max.

Max was the reason she was here. He was the one she wanted to be close to. The one she wanted to be with. The one she loved.

Her thoughts skidded to a halt. She watched her eyes in the mirror widen in horror. She loved him. She loved Max Flynn. Oh God, what a disaster! Tally loved the man she’d said she couldn’t get attached to. The man she’d told not to make her promises.

She had to get out of here.

Pushing away from the sink, Tally stared at herself for another half beat before rushing to the door and into the hallway. To the right was the fire exit that she knew from experience would take her to the alleyway and into the street. To the left was the bar, Max, and his friends.

So what should she do? Go back to the party like nothing was different, or to freedom where she could have some time to come to terms with her major f**k up?

Right.