“Hey, baby, miss me?”
The guys crowded in behind them and Robbie came close enough to speak in her ear. “Come play pool, MG,” he said.
The others pulled at her. She smiled at Max and shrugged as she retreated from him. Tally had told him they couldn’t be together, so they shouldn’t be canoodling anyway. This was a good distraction, one they needed.
A flare of hope made her wonder if maybe she could keep this even after they were no longer sleeping together. She’d come to enjoy Fitzpatrick’s and the guys in Max’s life. Beyond the Strettons, where even the staff was all dedicated to the family and their rules, she had no life. This felt like freedom, it was fun, and she didn’t want to give it up.
One of the guys brought her drink over. She finished it and got another while the current game of pool was going on. “You’ve never played before?” Andy asked.
The guys were all mulling around the table watching the game. Tally was in the corner where the waist-high tables, that were fixed to the wall, met. Andy was at her side, propped against them too.
“Nope,” she said, sipping her drink.
“Don’t worry,” he said, leaning in to whisper in her ear. “We’ll go easy on you. Doug sucks anyway.”
It felt weird when she realized his arm was behind her. While he wasn’t holding her, his limb was stretched across her back, his hand spread flat on the table top. Shrugging off her weird feeling, Tally kept watching the game. It was a good minute later that she felt his fingers brushing up and down her opposite arm. Yeah, his arm was around her now.
Luckily, she didn’t have to ask him what he was doing, because Robbie grabbed a cue off the guy who’d just lost and thrust it at her. “You’re up, MG,” he said and grabbed another cue. So, her first opponent was a friend? That was good. “You want to break?”
One of the other guys was setting up the balls, and she shrugged. “Sure.”
“Just whack it hard,” Robbie said.
Everyone cheered her on. Their encouragement was inspiring, so she bent over the table and tried to figure out how to rest the cue on her fingers. Mark came over and helped her out, earning her a few jeers. Tally rolled her eyes in good humor and pulled back the cue, then… missed.
Everyone laughed. She stood up feeling like an idiot, but curtseyed, appreciating that everyone was having a good time, even if it was clear that this wasn’t going to be her game.
“Go again, MG. You’re doing good,” Mark said, and everyone cheered to encourage her.
“I’ll help you,” Andy said, coming up behind her. Tally felt uneasy about him standing so close but figured this was all in good fun. They were all friends and she wasn’t going to make a scene. Andy put a hand on her waist and another on her shoulder. “Bend over, darlin’.”
Ok, that weirded her out enough that she shuddered, but no one else seemed to be bothered by him helping her. Tally bent over, and he bent with her. She hated this; she felt pinned down, restricted, violated. He took a long time to show her how to line it up and then used his own hand at the back of the cue to follow through hard. When the shot was done, his other fingertips brushed the back of her thigh.
No, she couldn’t do this.
While everyone else was cheering the break, she stood up and went to her drink, noticing how close Andy stayed to her side. While still grinning, she leaned in to Ryan who was watching Robbie take his shot. No one seemed to notice that she’d gained a shadow who was currently trying to take her hand.
Finding Ryan’s ear, she whispered, “Get Max.” Ryan glanced at her, his smile faltering for half a beat when he read how serious she was and then he glanced past her to Andy who was smiling at the table, she leaned up to whisper again. “Discreetly.”
Ryan didn’t hesitate to put his drink down and disappear into the crowd. She didn’t want a confrontation, didn’t want to start a fight. Everyone was in a good mood and Tally wanted it to stay that way. Andy had just drunk too much and forgotten for a second that he was moseying into another guy’s territory. He wasn’t making a serious play or trying to be an asshole, he was just tipsy and caught up in the atmosphere.
Too soon it was time for her next shot. Everyone spouted their suggestions about which ball she should try to hit, but she was too aware of Andy who was staying glued to her to listen or make sense of them.
“That one,” Andy said and put a hand on her hip to line her up. He pushed her toward the table. “Bend over, darlin’.”
And then like the proverbial knight in shining armor, a second hand touched her hip and she looked over her shoulder to see Max edging Andy aside. “I’ve been in training for this position, buddy,” Max said, making everyone laugh.
She appreciated that he’d chosen to make a joke rather than to punch Andy in the face.
Yanking her hips, Max lined her ass up with his pelvis and gave her a reassuring squeeze. Tally rocked into him, pushing back and squirming against his groin in appreciation for him coming to her call. Already she felt better, more relaxed, and could focus on the cue ball.
They bowed over the table and his breath warmed her cheek. “How am I doing?” she asked, turning her face toward his.
“You’re looking the wrong way,” he said and though the music probably hid their words, everyone was laughing at the couple’s exchange.
“Oopsy.”
Opening her mouth, Tally dragged her teeth over his cheekbone and he turned his face to kiss her ear. He ran his tongue around the shell, making her shiver. “Can I knock him out?” Max murmured.
Maybe he wasn’t as relaxed as she thought, but she arched her back, forcing her ass deeper against the prominent ridge nestled against it.
“Oh, man, now they’re on the foreplay,” Robbie called out.
“This is gonna be a long game,” Mark said.
Max whispered a couple of tips into her ear, but she was too aware of him to really listen. He stayed wrapped around her to take the shot for her and sank three balls in a row this same way. They were both holding the cue when they stood up straight.
Tally kept herself against him, not only to conceal his boner, but because she didn’t want any other guy to have an excuse to sneak into his place.
They backed away until Max was seated on a stool by the waist-high table with her between his legs. She twisted to look at him over her shoulder while Robbie considered his shot.
“I’m messing with your head,” she said, roiling in guilt. “I’m sending out mixed signals, telling you we can’t be together then asking you to rescue me.”
But he just blinked cool amusement at her and looked back at the pool table. “Obviously you didn’t hear what I said when we were dancing at that shindig,” he said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy and you’ll always be my girl.”
“What happened after I left?” she asked. “Was there a fight?”
“No, I didn’t say much.”
And he still wasn’t saying much. “Did Teddy ask you to move to the house?” she asked. He didn’t respond, he just rubbed his hands up and down her belly then up over her breasts. But Tally needed an answer. Curling her hand around his face, she drew it around to make him look at her. “Max, what did you say?”
“You told me to, didn’t you?”
When his eyes fell she felt his sorrow like he really didn’t want to be giving up his independence and she understood his grief. Leaving his old life behind would be difficult, and it would be hard for him to see the positives until he took the leap.
Turning in his arms, she coiled hers around his neck and pulled herself as close as she could, holding him to reassure him that he would be ok, that he’d done the right thing, that she appreciated him. He squeezed her so tight that her heart broke. He was using her for comfort, as an anchor, and she wished she could take his anxiety away.
His head moved down to urge hers aside until he could look her in the eye. “Give me this weekend,” he said, begging her with his intense gaze. “No talk of whether
we’ll make it or not. I told him I’d move on Monday. So, give me this weekend, baby… please.”
He’d be her Max all weekend, and it would be his last weekend in the life he knew; the only life he’d always known.
Nodding once, Tally was honored to be a part of his farewell.
His lips curled before he leaned forward to take her mouth. It had been a week since they’d kissed like this, more than a week, and she’d missed it so much. As she coiled her tongue around his and felt his hands drift down her back, she wondered how she’d go the whole rest of her life without feeling this.
After this weekend, he’d belong to Teddy Stretton and she’d be consigned to memory. Truth was, Tally needed this farewell as much as Max did.
FOURTEEN
Tally was on Max’s couch, wearing his tee-shirt, when the guys showed up at the door the next day. Since her lover had left to get breakfast quite a while ago, she’d thought it was possible that he was carrying so many things that he didn’t have a free hand to open the door, hence the knock.
But it wasn’t her lover, it was his friends.
The guys wasted no time making themselves at home, taking over the TV, and raiding the kitchen. She was just grateful that they didn’t evict her from the couch. Robbie sat at the end of the couch beyond her feet. Mark and Ryan were in the armchairs, while Tomas and Bobby sat at the bistro table behind.
She was in the middle of a satisfying stretch when the front door opened. Max came in carrying two coffees in a cardboard tray and a brown paper bag. But he stopped short when he saw his apartment was full of people.
“Look, honey, we have guests,” she said and then yawned.
“That’s like the tenth time she’s yawned like that,” Ryan said, pointing at her. “Did you let her get any sleep?”
“Not much,” Max said, dropping his weight against the door to close it. “What are you bastards doing here?”
“You told us to drop by,” Mark said.
“Yeah, I meant whenever, not first thing,” Max said.
The guys laughed. “It’s like three in the afternoon.”
She and Max had discussed in great detail how he would have to tell the guys what lay ahead for him. It had been daylight by the time they got home from Fitzpatrick’s and sex had been the only thing on either of their minds.
They’d done little else but nap and screw all day, but they had come to the conclusion that it was time for him to tell his friends the truth. Tally had only got out of bed after Max said he was going to get coffee. She’d have been happy to stay wrapped in his sheets all evening and all night.
Robbie patted her ankle. “Your lady has been looking after us,” he said. Max zoned in on the sight of his friend’s hand on her leg. Either Robbie didn’t notice, or he wanted to rile his friend because he slid his palm up her shin. “She has really amazing legs, the guys and I were talking about them before you got back.”
She raised her head slightly to look at Robbie’s hand on her leg. “Max came there this morning… and I haven’t showered.”
Robbie lifted his hand straight up, his face contorting in disgust as the guys laughed. Max smiled at her and winked.
“Bit far south of the mark, man,” Ryan said.
“He came there too,” she said and let her smile turn saucy. “And a few other places.”
“Ok, I feel like I should move now,” Robbie said, pulling himself onto the arm of the couch.
Max came to the back of the couch and bent to kiss her then pulled a coffee from the tray. “Skinny mocha triple shot,” he said, ensuring she had proper hold of it before letting it go.
She breathed in the intoxicating scent of coffee and sighed. “Oh, I love you.”
“Is she talking to the coffee or the guy?” Ryan asked.
Max bowed to kiss her again. “I bought bagels—”
She pushed up higher, hope increasing her heart rate. “Did you get the—”
“Cinnamon raisin,” he said. “Yes, I only had to go to three different stores.”
“Aww,” she said. Putting her coffee on the end table, she climbed to her knees and leaned on the back of the couch to grab his jacket to pull him down for a long, tongue kiss. “Thank you, baby.”
“You feel like we came at the wrong time?” one of the guys muttered as she nuzzled her mouth on Max’s and hummed out her adoration for this man who went above and beyond for her.
“I don’t think there’s a right time to hang with this pair. They seem to be on all the time,” Mark said.
Max put his coffee and the bagels by hers, then shed his jacket and leaped over the back of the couch to take her previous place, managing to scoop her into his lap at the same time. Keeping his lower legs hanging off the edge of the couch, he bent a knee to give her a kind of nest to settle in. Then he returned her coffee to her and handed over the bagels.
“Can you turn off the TV, please, Ryan?” she asked, opening the bag of bagels as Max took a drink from his own coffee.
He drew it down from his lips and squinted at her. “You want to do it now?” Max murmured. “Let them chill a while.”
“Oh, I just thought… I figured it was best to get it out of the way,” she said, the scent of the bagels drifting up to her. “We can wait.”
But as they looked around, it was impossible to miss how intrigued the guys were. Ryan grabbed the remote and turned off the TV.
“Ok,” Max sighed. “I guess now works… I have to tell you something.”
“MG’s pregnant,” Robbie said.
All the guys straightened up.
“No!” Max said then looked at her. “Are you?”
She huffed and scowled at him. “You don’t think I’d tell you that before I told him?” she asked, pointing at Robbie.
“I don’t know,” Max said, and his attention fell to her stomach. “Maybe we should do a test, just in case.”
Curious, she left the bagel bag on her lap to twist toward him. “What part of this situation makes you think a baby would be a good idea?” she asked. “I don’t even know how we would make that work. I’d have to…” She thought about it a second and a strange parallel struck her. “Wow, that would be history repeating all over again.”
“Ok, so she’s not pregnant, what is it?” Ryan asked. “We hitting Vegas next weekend?”
“For a wedding?” Mark asked.
Tally was excited by how excited they seemed. “No, we’re not getting married either,” she said, not looking at Max or giving him a chance to get any other crazy ideas. “It’s not us news, it’s just Max news… Something amazing has happened and… it means him and me won’t be seeing each other anymore.”
“What?” The shocked horror brought them all to the fronts of their seats. Tomas and Bobby came around to stand in front of the TV and all eyes were on them.
“You’re incredible together,” Robbie said.
“Yeah, we’re jealous as hell,” Ryan said. “You seem into each other.”
“Our buddy has never been happier,” Mark said.
“It’s ok,” she said, smiling at them all to show she wasn’t upset. “We’re good until Monday morning.”
The guys all looked at each other. “You put an expiration date on your relationship?” Robbie said like it was the weirdest thing ever because it was the weirdest thing ever.
She sagged back and looked at Max. “I’m not explaining this very well. Do you want to start at the beginning?”
He caught a length of her hair on his index finger and swept it back. “You’re sexy as hell, you know that?”
Pulling his hand from her hair, she tore off a piece of bagel and stuffed it into his mouth. “No dirty talk,” she said. “Tell the guys what’s going on?”
“Ok,” he said and exhaled. “Tal works for a guy.”
“Theodore Stretton,” she said, eating her bagel and drinking her coffee.
“Right, and it turns out…” He looked at her, he wasn’t happy about admitting this, but eventually
accepted that he had to. “He’s my father.”
“What the fuck?” Robbie said, which was similar to everyone else’s shocked reaction.
“That’s not the most surprising part,” she said, slipping more of the bagel between Max’s lips; he caught her hand to suck her fingers clean. “Tell them the most surprising part, baby.”
“He’s worth a shit ton of money,” Max said, tilting his head to run his tongue down the length of her finger.
His mouth was mesmerizing. Each touch, each kiss and lick, sapped some of her energy and some of her sanity. The guys were talking, but all she could see was Max’s mouth nibbling on her as his hooded eyes stayed trained on hers.
“You’re rich?” Ryan asked. “How rich?”
“He has a company,” Max said, sliding his fingers from her wrist to link them between hers. “It’s worth a few billion.”
The guys were out of their chairs, gasping and swearing, cheering and rejoicing over this news. Max got a few smacks on the shoulder and she tore her eyes from his to join in with the celebration. It was nice to feel vindicated, Tally had said that these guys would leap on the chance Max had been given and they were proving that she was right by their reaction; this was like winning the lottery.
Robbie bowed to hug her, and she got kisses and hugs from all the guys who were still babbling, exchanging ideas and praise. “This is fucking amazing,” Ryan said. The men began to settle again. “Guess we won’t be seeing you at the garage anymore.”
All the guys were part owners of the garage, Max included. “Yeah, man, we’ll do what we can to buy you out as soon as possible,” Robbie said, glancing at her. “You still going to look at the books for us, MG? You remember promising us you would last night?”
She nodded. Accountancy had been her major, but she’d let that fall by the wayside when she picked up with the Strettons. When she’d talked to Robbie about how much she’d like to return to it, he offered her a position keeping their books as it was a messy job that none of them really understood.
“I remember, and I’d be honored. I can figure out what you can afford,” she said. “Maybe come up with a payment plan.”
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