Heir's Affair

by Scarlett Finn

  “I just need a few minutes,” he replied. “Go back downstairs, I’ll join you soon. Enjoy the champagne.”

  His room key was still in Tally’s palm, but she tucked it into her bra with the other key as Max ushered Anika out of the bedroom. After she heard the bedroom door close, Tally shut the drawer she’d been rooting in, and turned off the closet lights before sneaking out.

  She crossed the bedroom, ready to dart out as soon as she heard Max getting rid of Anika. If she caught a break, maybe Anika would convince him to go back down the stairs with her, giving Tally a clear route of escape.

  Alas, she wasn’t that lucky. She had just passed the bed when the bedroom door opened, and Max came striding in.

  Keeping herself as loose as she could, Tally tried to sound casual. “I’ll just leave you alone too,” she said, using his excuse of wanting to be by himself.

  Focusing on the door, Tally tried to walk on right past him, but he stepped in her way at the last second.

  “Why did you come here, Tal?”

  She couldn’t answer that, and she didn’t want to look at him, so she pointed past him. “Can we have this conversation out there?”

  His head tilted. “Why?”

  Much as she didn’t want to admit it, she did, “I’m hyperaware that there’s a huge bed behind me.”

  The corner of his mouth tilted. “So am I,” he growled, and his hands slid onto her waist.

  “No,” she said, pushing his arms down. “I didn’t come here for sex. We can’t be doing that anymore.”

  He didn’t let go of her waist, just squeezed and released over and over, his fingers stimulating her memory. “Why not?”

  “You’re dating at least two women,” she said. “You’re on a date right now… Have you slept with Blair yet?” He stopped squeezing and frowned. “Never mind, not my business, excuse me.”

  That had been enough to cool his jets, so when she moved around him, he didn’t try to stop her. He let her go and she could see freedom, she could smell it, she was only ten feet from the suite door when he called out.

  “Have you slept with Trey yet?” he asked, and she stopped walking.

  How did she answer that? Of course she hadn’t, but was that the answer he wanted? Was this easier if he hated her? And she couldn’t admit to how hung up she was on him, not when he was moving on. She didn’t want him to feel guilty about any intimacies he’d shared with other women.

  “That isn’t your business either,” she said and turned to look at him.

  It didn’t take him long to stalk toward her. “Like hell it isn’t!”

  “It’s not,” she said. “We agreed that we would have a clean break. It’s why we agreed no calls, no contact.”

  He had a new cell number anyway. His friends hadn’t even been given it. His mom probably didn’t have it either. Tally didn’t even have it and she was on the company network. His old number was disconnected. She’d seen him check his new phone when she’d watched him from a distance, that was the only reason she knew he had a new device.

  “That was before…”

  “Before what?” she asked and didn’t like the look in his eye when he turned away. “No.” Stepping forward, she grabbed his forearm. “Don’t turn away from me. Look at me, Max. What were you going to say?”

  Examining her face, he went from angry to longing to pain and back to frustration. “I’m dying, Boss.”

  “No,” she said and widened her smile. “You’re doing great. All the reports say you’re being civilized and you’re learning. You’re doing so well. I’m so proud.”

  “You are?” he asked, probing her with his stare. “You’re proud of me?” She nodded. “And you’re happy?”

  Well, that was a different question. Her hand drifted from his arm as she reframed it. “I’m super happy with your progress. You did what you said you were going to do. You’ve thrown yourself into this all the way, no looking back.”

  When he didn’t say anything else, she tightened her smile and began to turn. She could just walk out and she’d be saved from giving him any answers. Except he grabbed her to pull her back and in a swooping move, he scooped her up and rushed her against the wall.

  His mouth stole hers before she could inhale. She whimpered in her struggle for breath. But God, he was amazing, and exactly what she needed. This was Max, her Max being powerful and dominant, and that was all she needed to bring back the memories in their vivid glory.

  Closing her eyes, Tally opened her mouth and her body to this experience. He was hard against the softness of her center and the feel of him grinding himself against her made her push back.

  And that mouth. Clasping his face in both hands, Tally scratched her fingernails through his stubble and a squeal of need accompanied her pulling at his tie to loosen it and rip open the top buttons of his shirt. Without permission, she pushed his head up with a sure hand and closed her mouth around the notch in his throat. Licking her way north, she dug her teeth into him, trying not to suck as hard as she wanted to because she couldn’t leave a mark. Except that was all she wanted to do, to claim him, to beg him to be hers again.

  Grabbing his hair, Tally pulled his vision into line with hers. “Why aren’t you fucking me yet?” she panted.

  He growled through grit teeth and pulled back enough to loosen his pants. In a slick move, he pulled the crotch of her panties out of the way and slammed into her. It had been six weeks since he’d been here, and the resistance made her blow out a breath of discomfort, but he pulled back and his next advance took him to the hilt.

  He wasn’t as coy about not leaving his mark on her, he sucked her neck beneath her ear as he slammed into her. She gasped at the union of pleasure in her pussy with the pain in her neck.

  “I’ve missed you, baby,” he said, capturing her mouth again.

  She’d promised herself not to be intimate with him again. They were supposed to be apart. This was supposed to be a no-go. So why was her pelvis meeting his thrust for thrust? She didn’t care, didn’t care about anything except his thick cock fucking into her, sating her need.

  Tossing her head back, she gritted her teeth and resisted the urge to scream when she came all over him. It only got harder on the next climax when he grabbed her hips and drove into her, filling her with his seed.

  Hot, confused, and at peace for the first time in six weeks, Tally closed her eyes and her head bumped against the wall as they both tried to find their sanity again. He kissed her chin, her jaw, her neck, was he being reassuring or expecting round two?

  Pushing his shoulders, she gave him the signal that she wanted her feet again and he complied but kept her hand and kissed her knuckles. Blinking at him, Tally recognized the light in his eyes. She saw the love and then she felt the sorrow.

  She’d broken the rules. This was exactly why she’d avoided being alone with him because they just couldn’t do this. They couldn’t be in the same room without crossing the line.

  Taking her hand back, Tally sidestepped, and his satisfaction became concern as she began to move faster toward the door. With an apology in her eyes, she turned and bolted.

  SEVENTEEN

  Persuading the guys to stay until the party was over and everyone was in bed, wasn’t that difficult. Tally gave them the key and after that, they seemed to relax, so much so that she had to keep reminding them to keep their volume down. They traded stories about Max and while she got sucked in and laughed along, she was repeatedly stung by memories of how she’d messed up.

  To say she was melancholy was an understatement, but she did her best not to let the guys know. She snuck them out while it was still dark out and then went back to bed to grab a couple of hours sleep. Though that was near impossible when all she could think about was Max.

  When she couldn’t take it anymore, Tally got out of bed and went down to the pool. No one was ever down here at this time in the morning. It was as close as she could get to freedom; she had no place else to go.

  S
wimming a length and then another, she thought about her own future. Maybe it wasn’t here with the Strettons. Since Max had come to join the family, she’d felt stifled. It wasn’t his fault. It was just that being with him had made her see how many possibilities existed out there in the world. She’d become so used to Teddy Stretton’s rules that she didn’t even stop to figure out if they made sense or were even rational.

  At the shallow end, she stopped and stood, but gasped when she noticed a figure in shorts standing on the edge of the pool. “Jesus, Max,” she exhaled. “You scared me.”

  He dropped to sit and dangled his feet into the water. “I’ve come down here a bunch of mornings hoping to see you.”

  “You really should get more sleep,” she said because he shouldn’t be up at this hour of the day while the rest of the house slept.

  This was the time for the rich to get beautiful and dream big, maybe he hadn’t gotten that memo yet.

  The nature of the conversation changed when he braced on one arm and slid down into the water. “You dropped your socks.”

  So that was his excuse? He’d come down here to give her back the socks that she’d dropped at some point during their session in his suite.

  Tally began to back away. “You could’ve just brought the socks, you didn’t have to get in the water.”

  “To give you back the socks,” he said, advancing on her. “No, I didn’t.” Lunging forward, he caught her arm and stopped her from going any deeper, the water was already over her breasts. When he strode forward, her legs lifted, and he grabbed them to wrap them around his hips. He was hard already and didn’t hesitate to push her against the side wall of the pool. “I had to get into the water to do this.”

  “No,” she said, putting her wet fingers to his lips when he moved in for a kiss. “Max, we screwed up. We can’t do this here.”

  “In the pool?” he asked and nuzzled her neck. “I need you, Tal.”

  Max had always had a voracious sexual appetite, taking on two women wouldn’t be beyond him. “Did you leave Anika sleeping upstairs?”

  He kissed the corner of her mouth. “Baby, only you, remember? I haven’t been with anyone else, I swear.”

  Ok, that surprised her, but after she got over that and her brows relaxed, she slid her hands up over his shoulders and into his hair. “You didn’t sleep with Anika?” she asked. He shook his head. “Probably best, I mean, family politics and such. I’d only sleep with a woman like her if you plan to make a commitment… I can get you a casual girl, I mean, if you want me to send someone to your room I—” What nonsense was she babbling? Tally scowled at herself, was she offering to hire him a hooker? “I… forget I said that, that’s just weird, right, I—”

  “There’s been no one but you, Boss.”

  “No one?”

  “No one,” he said.

  This time, she let him kiss her. Her hips began to move; she smiled and whispered, “I’ve never done it in water.”

  His next smile told her that he knew he had her. He bumped his forehead on hers and brushed his lips over hers. “That’s why I’m here, to fulfil your every fantasy.”

  And running her hands over his defined torso, she could tell he’d been working even harder at it. “You are my fantasy,” she whispered and pulled his kiss to hers.

  This time was slower, more like making love with the motion of the water enhancing her pleasure as it lapped her breasts and buoyed her body. He moved slowly. The slide of his dick inside her satisfied the desperate need she’d neglected for six weeks.

  As soon as he was done, her legs loosened from his hips. Grateful to have the water holding her up, Tally had been left weak and couldn’t think of maintaining her balance.

  Sliding downward, she reached over her head to grab the pool edge, and she exhaled as her lips touched the surface of the water. “That was amazing.”

  He bent his knees and came in close to kiss her with their mouths half in the water, half out. “You’re amazing.”

  Losing herself in the hypnosis of his kiss, she almost didn’t see the overhead lights go on. But when their glare hit the water, Tally opened her eyes and Max backed off to look at the door. Spinning in the water, she peeked over the edge to see Teddy striding in wearing his satin pajamas.

  Max’s arm curled around her waist to pull her to him. “Oh no,” she murmured.

  Teddy’s disapproval was written all over his face. “I can’t blame you for not understanding how women manipulate rich men, son,” Teddy said. “Miss Taylor, please explain yourself.”

  “I—”

  “Hold up,” Max said. Putting himself in front of her, he held her with an arm twisted around to her back, pressing her chest into his spine. “I came down here, I seduced her. If you want someone to blame? Point at me.”

  This was exactly what she didn’t want. How could someone have known they were together in the pool? Max’s new assistant hated her, Mandy had probably been told to keep an eye on her and report any suspicious behavior.

  Tally had been asked more than once about her relationship with Max. People were curious after the stories of their behavior at the Walker Benefit got around.

  It had been obvious that while she was avoiding Max, there were efforts to keep her away from him too. Teddy didn’t want them to have a relationship and she was the one he was closest to, at least she had been when he got here.

  Max’s assistant, Mandy, had been given a bedroom on the same floor as her. The woman was never called at night; Tally wasn’t sure if Max ever called her at all. That lack of trust, the lack of a connection, had upset Mandy, who wanted influence. At least, that’s what Sean had told her. Mandy did her best not to talk to Tally at all.

  “This is an important lesson for both of you,” Teddy said. “Miss Taylor, you have until the end of the day to move your things out of the house.”

  She gasped and closed her mouth over the tattoo on the back of Max’s shoulder to keep herself from sobbing. “No fucking way,” Max said. “If she goes, I go.”

  Teddy’s pitying humor only brought more shame. “I don’t think so,” Teddy said.

  “Well, I fucking do,” Max said.

  Teddy took a breath and wore a haughty look that made her nervous. “I think you’ll change your mind when you find out she spent last night with another man,” he said. Tally couldn’t have been more shocked. Max’s silence was conspicuous. “That’s right, I’m sure he’s still in her bed. Voices were heard in her room through the night; sounds, you understand, grunts and moans. Go check for yourself. I’m sure he’s still there, unless she snuck him out before coming here.”

  Max said nothing and Tally couldn’t even argue. She had spent the night with a man, three of them actually. There had been talking, and the noises were probably the guys telling stories or roughhousing.

  Even if she were to break her friends’ confidence and her promise to them, it wouldn’t matter, she’d broken the rules by having them here whether she had sex with them or not.

  Mandy had to be the one who’d betrayed the visit. She was in a prime position to be listening through walls.

  Teddy carried on, “We tried to check her room, but the spare key is missing. She is forbidden from bringing strangers to this house. Even if you defend her now, you can’t defend that behavior,” he said and tipped up his chin before turning away.

  “It was me,” Max said. Tally’s arms sank in the water, though his arm remained behind her, keeping her close. “You can’t fire her because she spent the night with me, in her room. I’m no stranger and she didn’t sneak me in. It was me.”

  Teddy turned back, all stuttering shock. “You… you what?”

  “Yeah, this wasn’t an accident,” Max said. She recognized that determination in his voice, he was daring the other man to contradict him. “You think this is the first time I’ve been intimate with Miss Taylor? I’ve been pursuing her. Get it? I’m the one chasing her fucking tail.”

  “You’re… you’ve taken h
er as your mistress?”

  She knew Max didn’t know what that meant in this family. “That’s right. That’s what rich fucks do, right? They pick a girl and hound her until she gives it up. Just making you proud.”

  But Teddy didn’t look proud, he looked confused and angry. “Very well, I will see to it,” he said and turned to storm out of the room.

  She stood in the water behind Max, wondering what was in his mind. “Lover—”

  “Whoever he is, get rid of him,” Max said, his voice deeper and colder than she’d ever heard it. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”

  His arm fell, and he strode away. Cutting through the water, he swam to the edge and lifted himself out. Marching out of the room without looking back, Max was beyond angry. Anger she would know how to deal with, but she’d hurt him; there was no way to fix that because she couldn’t offer the truth.

  Teddy fired her. Max saved her. But she couldn’t slip back into her usual role, she had to go to her bedroom and pack it up. Then it would be a waiting game to see if she had somewhere to sleep tonight or not.

  EIGHTEEN

  She sat with the lawyers for over two hours.

  Tally didn’t have a lawyer of her own, but even if she had, it wouldn’t have made any difference. The Stretton lawyers were thorough and their contracts airtight. Though she tried to argue a couple of points, nobody budged and nothing was changed for her.

  Tally was told to spend the day packing her possessions and as much as she wanted to linger and put off the inevitable, she had an appointment that she was loathed to keep. Once her things were moved to Max’s suite, she had to go back to SC and have a meeting with Teddy, which wasn’t a fun experience.

  Teddy had been ready to terminate her employment, but Tally had argued to keep her job. After some back and forth, Teddy had acquiesced, if she agreed to some additional guidelines. If those were not met, she would be terminated immediately and permanently. She had to agree.

  Her fight was gone by the time she left his office; her body and mind were exhausted. Descending in the elevator, she got a call from Robbie.