Indiscretion: Volume Three (Indiscretion #3) (9 page)

“Do you have any idea who would be doing this or why?”

I shook my head rapidly. “None. It makes no sense.”

“I probably shouldn’t say anything because I don’t want you to take this lightly, but I’m not getting the feeling that this person is out to hurt you.”

That was a relief. Sort of. “What makes you say that?”

He pushed up off the car and turned with his hands on his hips, his lips pursed as he looked at my back tire. “Part of it is just my gut talking after being on the force for fifteen years, but if you look at both incidents, neither of them were overtly threatening. There was someone in your house when you were sleeping and yet they didn’t bother you. They just left something they wanted you to see. And then your tires. They didn’t slash them, they took the time to let the air out, and then of all things, they replaced the cap back on the nozzle.”

I hadn’t even realized that. That was strange. “If they didn’t want to hurt me, why go to all this trouble?”

He took a moment to think about it. “Any idea if this Max guy has any enemies?” he asked, crossing his arms.

Truth was, I had no idea. I felt like a complete idiot, but Max and I hadn’t delved too much into his past. What did I really know about him? “I have no idea. I mean, you know who he is…I’m sure Jackie told you. I would assume, with as much money as his family has, that
some
people aren’t happy about it…Right?” I was beginning to realize that I really didn’t know that much about Max. I’d been very open with him about my own past, but he’d been steadily avoiding a lot of my questions. And I’d let him without much protest.

Jamie dipped his head and looked at me from under drawn eyebrows. “Maybe you should ask him.”

I bit my lower lip. “Yeah, maybe.”

Max

That Friday night, Paul wanted to head out for a couple of drinks. He’d suggested Geddy’s, but since Chloe would be there singing, I suggested a pub instead. I was going to have a hard enough time tomorrow night, pretending there wasn’t more between us. I wasn’t sure I could handle it two nights in a row.

As usual, I was running late. I’d been working from the hotel suite today and time had gotten away from me. Walking into Bar Harbor Beer Works, I found Paul sitting at the bar, watching a baseball game on TV.

“Hey. Sorry I’m late,” I said, taking the seat beside him.

He shrugged. “Nothing I’m not used to, man.”

I slapped his shoulder and grinned. “One of us has to make sure shit’s getting done.”

Paul laughed and tipped his beer at me, then took a sip. He slid the other beer sitting in front of him over to me. “I ordered for you.”

“Thanks. I’ll get the next round.”

“I know,” he said, clinking his bottle with mine. “Cheers.”

We talked shop for a few minutes, Paul bringing me up to date on some problems he was having with delivery of some structural steel. It’d been an ongoing issue with this project, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle. He’d already threatened to kick the supplier off the job if they didn’t get their shit together by the beginning of next week.

“If you need me to get involved, just say the word,” I told him, taking a long drink of my beer.

“Will do. I can handle it, though.” We sat in silence for bit, watching the game on the television behind the bar. “So how come you didn’t want to go to Geddy’s, man? That place is a regular feeding frenzy for single guys on Friday nights.”

I knew I shouldn’t tell him anything, but my secret would be safe with Paul. I needed to confide in someone. Not only was I falling for this woman and could use the advice of my friend, but I was concerned for her safety. I’d already taken measures into my own hands to protect her, unbeknownst to her. I didn’t think I was overreacting, but another opinion couldn’t hurt.

I filled him in on everything—our one night stand in New York, the sneaking around, and the threatening activities centered around Chloe.

“Man, you’ve been hitting it regularly here and this is the first I’m hearing of it?” He laughed.

I shook my head in mock disgust at him. “You’ll never change.”

He shrugged. “Probably not.” He took a pull of his beer, then spoke. “You care about her.”

Apparently, I was pretty fucking transparent. “Why do you say that?”

“The way you talk about her. How concerned you are about all the weird stuff happening. Even when you were engaged to Sarah, I never saw you talk about her like that. In fact, you hardly spoke of her at all.”

I reflected back on my relationship with Sarah and realized he was right. When I wasn’t with her, I was content to have time to myself. Even when we’d first started dating. Not with Chloe. With her, I thought of her constantly, wondering what she was doing, was she thinking about me, how long would it be before I could see her again. No, I couldn’t get enough of Chloe, regardless of how much time I spent with her.

“I suppose.” I shrugged, not wanting to show him just how deeply this was all affecting me. “There’s nowhere for it to go, though. I’ll be out of town in a few months, and she has a life here.”

He raised his eyebrows. “You sure you want to continue on with this thing? You could just as easily end it with her and find some other pussy to play with until you leave.”

I shoved his shoulder, nearly knocking him off his chair. “It wouldn’t be the same.”

“Oh, shit.” A slow smirk crept onto his face. “You really have fallen for her. She must have some magic pussy, man.”

I gave him a what-the-fuck look. “Piss off.”

He laughed at my expense. “Seriously, though. That shit going on with her is messed up. Are you really concerned that she’s in danger?”

I sighed. “I don’t know, but I’m not willing to take any chances. I hired a body guard to keep an eye on her.”

Paul smirked at me. “Does she know?”

“Fuck, no. She’d never be cool with that.”

He let out a low whistle. “Better hope she doesn’t find out.”

“Don’t I know it.” I took a pull from my beer. “It’s for the best, though. Even if she does find out.”

Chloe

The remainder of the week had flown by as I tried to catch up on all things real estate, as well as get all the last minute arrangements together for the charity gala. I was stressed to the max with everything going on, and thinking of the acting job I was going to have to pull off tonight wasn’t helping. Pretending to be indifferent to Max’s presence was going to prove challenging. It would be worth it, though. Max had proved instrumental in helping me relieve stress, not to mention the fact that I really felt like I was coming into my own.

When my sister had left for college, my entire role in life had been a big question mark. I was no longer responsible for her day-to-day. And while I had at first resisted the temptation to live for myself and what made me happy, Max was helping me to see that fulfilling my own needs didn’t make me a selfish person.

I smoothed the front of my dress as I walked up the front steps of the country club. I’d chosen to wear a one-shoulder red silk chiffon dress that belted at my waist. Crystals adorned the upper half of the dress before tapering off just below my waist. It was a floor length gown, but the material was light and airy so it would be easy to run around and attend to everything this evening.

As I stepped through the doors to the country club, an hour before the event was to start, my nerves started to set in. I needed to get through tonight without tipping anyone off as to the nature of Max’s and my relationship. He had only filled me in that his father would be coming after we returned from Portland, and the thought of meeting him was weighing heavily on my mind. I knew from the little we’d talked about him that Max didn’t feel like he measured up in his father’s eyes. I wasn’t sure how I’d hide my reaction if I witnessed his father treating him poorly. Despite the fact that Max and I weren’t in a relationship, and I’d never see his father again, I couldn’t help feeling like I was meeting my boyfriend’s family.

The first thing I did was check to ensure the room was set up properly. Everything appeared to be in order. The circular tables were spaced out around the room, with the tables containing the silent auction items lining the back wall. Each table had four mason jars filled with local wildflowers in the center of the table, all wrapped together in burlap. A podium and microphone were at the front of the room on a raised stage.

Satisfied, I dropped my purse at my table and decided to go find the country club’s event manager to make sure everything was on track with the menu. I left the room, my four inch heels clicking down the large hallway toward the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the water at the back of the country club. As I was nearing the windows, Max came in through one of the glass doors. He spotted me immediately and made his way toward me. I stopped to take him in as he made his way over.

His tuxedo hugged his body perfectly, hinting at his pectorals and biceps beneath the black fabric. His hair was slicked back, more than I’d ever seen it before, and his five o’clock shadow was perfectly trimmed. He looked utterly fuckable. And I had to keep my hands off of him all night. Super.

Before I could say a word to him, he pulled me through a door and shut it quickly behind us. The space was dark and felt small. He released my hand and I could hear him running his hand along the wall, searching for a light switch.

“Bingo,” he said, and the room was flooded with light.

I looked around, realizing we were in a supply room. Towels, toilet paper, and other sundries lined shelves on the back wall, while boxes of supplies lined the other two.

“Well, hello handsome,” I whispered, smiling up at him.

He stalked toward me, his intent clear in his eyes. When he reached me, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into the firmness of his body. “You didn’t expect me to be able to keep my hands off you all night, did you?” His mouth crashed down on mine, and I had a moment of panic that my lip gloss might be smeared, but it quickly dissolved into the ether as Max’s tongue moved against my own. Hands roamed with one ending up on the nape of my neck, the other on my ass, pushing my pelvis into his hard cock concealed underneath his tuxedo pants.

He pulled away and cupped my face in his hands. “You look phenomenal tonight. Perfection, really.”

My chest warmed at his words, and I smiled. “You clean up pretty well yourself.”

Max leaned forward and we stood there for a moment not speaking, with just our foreheads touching. His thumb rubbed my cheek. “How am I going to get through an entire night not being able to touch you?”

“I feel the same,” I said, feeling dreamy and frustrated at the same time. “But we have to.”

Max’s hand swept over top of my breast, causing a shiver to run from my core up to my chest. His lips trailed open-mouthed kisses along my neck and collarbone.

“I have an idea,” I said, playing with the waistband on his pants.

“Do share,” he replied, his voice low and husky. His hand moved down and across to my back, rubbing over top of my ass, back and forth at a leisurely pace.

“Maybe if we get it out of our system, it’ll be easier on us tonight.” I moved my hand down and gripped his hard cock, rubbing over top of the fabric.

He bit down on my earlobe and moved his hand up to tweek my pebbled nipple through the material of my dress.

I moaned. “I can’t look freshly fucked when I come out of here, though.”