He took her other hand in his and yanked her up onto him, until her face was close to his, and she was seated astride him. His fully erect cock slid lengthwise between her spread lower lips. “Don’t, Tara, because this is all I care about. Just this.”
He rolled his hips back and forth so his length stroked her intimately. Tara ground her hips downward even as she told herself to stop. He leaned forward and took one of her puckered nipples between his teeth. The gentleness of their earlier lovemaking was gone, but the slight pain sent waves of fire through Tara. He kept a rhythm with his hips that drove her wild. He played her body against her, expertly kissing and caressing her breasts until she was beyond caring what he said as long as he didn’t stop.
He took both her hands and held them in one of his behind her back. He dug his other hand into the hair on the back of her neck and pulled her mouth to his. It was a rough kiss, one that was meant to prove something, but it affected him as much as it did her. When Tara sensed that, she gave herself over to the experience and opened her mouth wider for him. He was angry, but so was she, and this was as good a way as any to work through it.
Tara lifted herself up on her knees, positioned herself perfectly, then gasped into Max’s mouth as she thrust herself downward onto him, taking him deeply inside her. He released her hands and shuddered. Whatever control he’d had fell away. He continued to kiss her deeply as she rode him with an abandon that had them both moaning and feverishly running their hands over each other.
They rolled so he was on top. He rose onto his knees, put his hand on her knees and spread her folded legs wider as he pounded into her. Tara gripped the sheets beside her head as wave after wave of heat flowed through her. Still, he didn’t stop. This was not tender lovemaking; it was a carnal fucking. He glared down at her. She glared up at him. He demanded she submit. She did so with pleasure. He took what was his with a wildness that brought Tara to a second climax. She cried out his name, clawing her nails into his forearms as she did. He came with a final thrust and shudder.
Their eyes met as, still intimately connected, they both caught their breath. The anger of a moment before was gone. He looked down at her sadly as if he wanted to say something, but he didn’t. He pulled out of her and rolled away for a moment.
Tara lay on the bed, flushed and dazed. Max sat on the edge of the bed with his back to her. She forced herself up and shifted closer to him until she was kneeling behind him. Following her instincts, she laid a splayed hand on his bare back. He tensed beneath her touch. Quietly, Tara found her words. “I will never lie to you again, Max. Never.”
He shook his head without looking at her. “It doesn’t matter.”
Tara shifted closer to him until she was pressed against his back. She pressed a cheek against his back and wrapped her arms around him. “Yes, it does. It’s okay to be angry with me, but I never meant to hurt you.”
He covered his face with his hands. He let out a long sigh and said, “I am angry with you. I wanted you to be different.”
Tara raised her head. “It was a job, Max, and it was one that was supposed to help your family.”
He cleared his throat. “Did I hurt you?”
Tara hugged him tighter. “What do you think?”
He laid a hand on the one she had on his chest. “I don’t know. I never lose control like that.”
“I hurt you, Max, and maybe you wanted to hurt me, but you didn’t. You couldn’t. You’re not that type of person.”
“And you know so much about me because?”
“Because Maddy showed me a picture of you when she asked me to take the job. You’re why I agreed to do it. Something in your eyes touched me. I wanted to know what had made you so sad.”
He tensed beneath her touch again. “I’m not sad.”
She kissed his back. “Yes, you are. And you have reason to be. But what are you going to do? Go back to pretending you don’t care? Were you happy doing that? I have a theory why you don’t want to tear down this house, Max. Four houses. Four brothers. You can deny it all you want, but you want to work things out with your brothers. You think somehow this island could be your chance to do that.”
Max stood without looking at her and walked out of the room. When he returned he was showered and dressed. He put a pile of her clothing on a chair near the door. “I called for a taxi to take you to the airport. You have thirty minutes before it arrives.”
Tara stood up, not bothering to cover herself and went to stand in front of him. She studied his proud and carefully emotionless face and said, “Okay. I’ll go. But just so we’re both clear, I’m more honest than you are. Maybe I did lie to you, but I came clean, and I’m not ashamed of what I did or why I did it. You are so afraid someone else might let you down you can’t even be honest with yourself.”
When he didn’t say anything Tara shook her head and picked up her clothing. She turned away from him without saying another word. It was only once she was beneath the hot spray of the shower that she let herself cry.
I’m an awful private investigator.
And now I know I also suck at casual sex.
How can something that feels so good leave me feeling this bad?
It’s not like I love Max.
I’m not that stupid.
***
Max paced the large foyer of the house. Tara wasn’t who she’d said she was. Hell, he probably should have asked her if her real name was actually Tara. Just like everyone else in his life, she wasn’t who she appeared to be. He supposed it was better he found out early.
He frowned as he remembered in painful detail how he and Tara had ripped each other’s clothing off and made love in the alcove beside the stairs. And on the stairs. And against that railing.
It may have been a mistake to trust her, but that mistake had been more enjoyable than even he would have predicted. Sex with Tara was better than anything he’d ever experienced. Hot, eager sex. Tender morning lovemaking or angry fucking. It didn’t matter. It all left him wanting more.
If all she made him feel was that, he wouldn’t be sending her away.
Tara also had the most annoying habit of getting under his skin and making him uncomfortable with choices he’d previously been perfectly fine with. Of course he fucking wanted a normal family, who didn’t? Unlike in business, when it came to family, wanting something was not enough to fucking make it possible.
Tara was no one to him. He didn’t have to prove anything to her. He definitely didn’t need to keep her around now that she’d revealed the reason she was with him in the first place.
A private detective? I would have known that if I’d done a background check on her the day I found out her last name. But no, I believed she was Maddy’s friend.
What a fucking joke.
She said she wasn’t married. She said the man in her apartment was not her boyfriend. She’d lied about many things; those could also be lies.
I don’t fucking care because she’s gone as soon as her car arrives.
He turned when he heard Tara walking down the main staircase. She was freshly showered, back in the gown from the night before, and her cheeks were pink. Her face was void of makeup. Her eyes looked puffy as if she’d been crying, but she carried herself proudly and met his eyes without shame. She was easily the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
And he’d never felt like more of an ass.
“I told you I don’t do relationships,” he said and couldn’t believe the words had come out of his mouth.
“You did,” she said simply, and walked past him to look out the window for the car.
He went to stand beside her. “I never lied to you.”
She shrugged and continued to look out the window.
Fight it as he did, he couldn’t deny how much he wanted to turn her around, pull her into his arms, and kiss her until they found a way past this. He didn’t, though. Instead, he muttered, “I have nothing to feel sorry about.”
She turned back toward him, her eyes flashing with temper. “You think I want an apology from you? Please spare me. I’m not angry with you. I’m angry with me. You are the same man I met in this very foyer and told myself to forget about. You’re right. You told me who you were and what you wanted. I am the one who made up an entirely different and completely fictional version of you.” She waved her hands sarcastically in the air. “I absolve you of all wrongdoing. Are you happy now?”
“No,” he growled and grabbed one of her arms. “I’m not happy with any of this.”
She leaned in and growled right back at him, “Good, at least you’re willing to admit that much.”
“I don’t want you here,” he said angrily.
“Then let go of my arm,” Tara snapped back.
“But I don’t want you to leave,” he said just as curtly. He tightened his grip on her arm.
“Then ask me to stay,” she said, her tone still angry.
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 blared 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.
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 good 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.”
She turned away again and this time didn’t stop. He watched her hire a taxi and get into the backseat—all without looking back at him once.
The chill of the winter air drove Max back into the restaurant to get his coat, but the cold he felt wasn’t only from the weather. He told himself he was glad she was gone. He returned to the main house half convinced she’d return and apologize.
She didn’t.
He called the island airport. She had flown back to the mainland shortly after leaving him at the restaurant. She was probably halfway to New York already.
Tara’s words had stung. What did she mean, he was better than this? Better than what? He could buy and sell the whole damn island without making a dent in his finances. He was a powerful man. A respected man. What part of that wasn’t good enough for Tara?
He regretted lashing out at her when she’d informed him that she, too, had lied to him. If he could go back in time, he wouldn’t have said the words she had thrown back at him. He wasn’t a cruel man. It had never been his intention to hurt her.
The more he thought about it, the more Max decided Tara’s leaving was for the best. She was obviously looking for more than he was willing to give. That would have brought an ugly and swift conclusion to their relationship regardless of when they realized it.
Max called for a car to drive him to the airport and had his pilot ready his plane. It was already dark, but he didn’t want to spend another minute on the island. As he stepped into the back of the hired car, he took one last look at the row of palatial homes dimly illuminated by the light of the moon and shook his head in disgust. He called Dale as soon as he was on the way to the airport and told him to move forward with the resort project. “Start the demolition phase ASAP.”
The decision didn’t improve his mood. Nor did his pilot, who rushed over to meet him at the car and explained he was concerned about the plane’s engine and wanted to have it double-checked. “I can have it looked at in the morning. The shop is closed tonight. It might be nothing, but I’d rather be sure. Would you be okay with staying until then?”
Normally Max would have been. When someone traveled as much as Max did there were bound to be glitches, even when money was no issue. However, it was late, and he was tired. He snapped, “Would I be here at the airport if I wanted to stay on the island another night?”
“I’ll make a few calls. Maybe there’s a plane we can hire here, or I can have one sent over from the mainland.”
“Do what you need to do, but get me off this damn island tonight.”
“Yes, sir.” His pilot headed inside the main building of the small airport.
Max thought he was alone, but the driver spoke beside him. “My mother lives next to one of the guys who maintains the planes here. I can have her run over to see if he can come back.”
Although it was a helpful suggestion, Max still asked, “Wouldn’t it be easier to call him?”
The driver shrugged a shoulder. He was in his early twenties, and Max wondered if he still lived with his mother. “Nah, he turns his phone off at night. Leo has a new baby, and his wife is really touchy about anyone waking it up. If you walk over there real quietly, though, sometimes she doesn’t mind. He’s the best mechanic we have on the island. Kenny’s good, too, but at this hour he’s probably at the bar, and he’s not as good after three drinks. He’ll say he is, but I wouldn’t bet my life on it. I’ll call my mom. She won’t mind.”
His pilot returned and said, “There’s nothing here that can go out tonight. I called a place on the mainland, and they’re calling around to find a pilot. We should be able to find something.”
“Yes, we should,” Max said in frustration. He looked back at the driver. “What’s your name again?”
“Michael, but the locals call me Waffle.”
“Waffle? Like the food?”
“Yeah, like the food. You get it?” Michael said again with slow emphasis and pride.
Max rubbed a hand over his eyes. He didn’t, and he couldn’t believe he was going to actually say it, but he didn’t have much choice: “I’d appreciate it, Waffle, if you’d call your mother and ask her to see if Leo’s awake.”
“Will do,” Waffle said and stepped away to call his mother.
Max’s pilot opened his mouth to ask something, but Max raised a hand to silence him. “Don’t ask, but if Leo does show up, have him look at the engine. I’ll be inside getting a coffee.”
Waffle fell into step beside Max. “Mom says there’s a light on over there, so it looks promising.”
Max looked at the smile on the younger man’s face and sighed. “I’m getting coffee. You want to join me?”
“Thanks,” Waffle said. “I love dropping off people at the airport because it has the only twenty-four-hour restaurant. And do you know what they serve?”
“Waffles?” Max asked dryly.
The young man grinned from ear to ear. “You get me. That’s so cool.” His phone rang. He answered it, said thank you, and hung up. “Leo’s on his way over. Looks like you’ll be flying out tonight. If anyone can figure out what’s wrong with your plane and fix it, it’s him.” He pocketed his phone. “Oh, and Mom’s sending you a piece of pie. She’s on a baking binge. Gets like this every winter. I swear she’s the reason everyone on the island is five pounds heavier come spring.”
“You mother makes pie for everyone on the island?”
“Not all at once,” Waffle said, as if Max had said something ridiculous. “She doles out slices as people need them. Like you. Tonight. She figures you’re stuck here. You’re probably not happy about it. Pie makes everybody smile.”
“You’re serious?” Max asked at the door of the airport restaurant.
“Pie and waffles. Two things no one should live without,” Waffle joked and walked through the door Max held open.
“Can you excuse me for a minute?” Max asked.
“Sure,” Waffle said cheerfully. “I’ll grab us a booth.”
Max walked out of the restaurant, away from prying ears, and called his assistant again. “Dale, hold off on moving forward on the resort. Don’t knock down anything yet.”
“I just sent out an email telling everyone to start shipping equipment there tomorrow, but I can email everyone again and tell them to hold off.”
“Do it.”
“Are you okay, Mr. Andrade? I’ve never seen you like this before.”
“They make pie here, Dale. And they bring it to you when you’re sad. Fucking pie.”