Maximum Dare

by Fewings, Vanessa

  “We really need to go,” he whined again.

  “See you later, then.” I let out a sigh of frustration because there was no arguing with him. “Nice to meet you, Morgan.”

  She fluttered her eyelashes and I wondered if that ever worked on the weak-minded. From the way my brother was besotted, the answer was clearly yes.

  “Phone.” I held out my hand.

  “I’ve already asked Morgan to delete the photo,” said Nick.

  I glanced back at Daisy. “She’s your ex?”

  He nodded. “Have no idea why she came here.”

  Not only was he bailing, he was leaving me to deal with his mess.

  Great.

  “Phone,” I insisted.

  Morgan rolled her eyes and handed it over.

  With a few swipes, I deleted the photo of Daisy. I didn’t trust these kids. If that photo was released with me in them, it could cause quite the scandal. Still, Daisy seemed like a sweet girl caught up in my brother’s emotional baggage. She looked like the type to go away quietly.

  I handed the phone back to Morgan and turned to Nick. “See you tomorrow night. Don’t be late.”

  “Oh, I’m staying for the whole show,” he said with a grin.

  “Our family is not a show.”

  It was a show.

  What with my hotheaded Brazilian mum and Nick’s side of the family, the entire evening promised to be full of entertainment—more like a horror show, actually.

  Nick waggled his eyebrows. “By the way, thank you for taking care of that.”

  “Daisy?”

  He nodded. “This is out of character for her.”

  “Boring as hell,” muttered Morgan.

  “She’s not boring,” said Nick. “She just plays it safe. All. The. Time.”

  I ignored that. “Happy birthday, bro.”

  “Thanks for being here, Max.” He gave me an affectionate glance before reaching over and shutting the door in my face.

  Their car pulled away from the curb.

  I swore under my breath.

  I’d landed at Heathrow a few hours ago and had raced to check into The Waldorf so I could change and make it here on time. So much for trying to beat the Friday night traffic and be the good brother.

  I headed back to Daisy with my game face on. Negotiating with a jilted ex was the last thing I’d had on my agenda for this evening. A nice cold beer had been in my future. A quiet evening fighting jet lag and catching up. Anything but having to deal with this.

  “Hi.” I smiled at her warmly. “Nick sends his apologies for leaving.”

  She looked surprised. “I think Morgan took a photo of me.”

  “Nick had her delete it.”

  “He did?”

  “I made sure of it.” I gestured to Carl. “Can you wait in the car, please?”

  We watched him get comfortable in the driver’s seat.

  “Carl’s a bit overzealous, I’m afraid. Your glasses…perhaps I can give you something for them?”

  She gave me a thin smile. “You must not visit often? I’ve never met you before.”

  I visited frequently—every few months, at least. But Nick had kept Daisy a secret from me, even though they apparently had been living together. It made me wonder why he’d not introduced us. My mother would certainly have mentioned her.

  She seemed nice enough for our family.

  I glanced at my watch. There was enough time to get back to the hotel and put in a few hours of work.

  “I’m so embarrassed,” Daisy said softly.

  “No one saw.”

  “Everyone saw.”

  Not that it mattered now, but I still decided to ask. “Why did you come here?”

  “I needed to talk with Nick.”

  “About?” I suddenly realized she might be a little more challenging to handle. “Are you wanting money?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I’m just trying to figure out why you’re following my brother.”

  She let out an irritated sigh. “Well, it’s been fun, Max, but I think I’ll call it a night.”

  “How are you getting home?”

  “Same way I got here.”

  “By Tube?”

  She looked over at a blue Mini Cooper parked on the curb across the street. “My car’s over there.”

  “Let me give you a ride home. Can you even drive without your glasses?”

  “Probably not. Now, if you’re quite finished accosting young women…”

  Quite the sucker punch after I’d been the only who’d been decent to her. Daisy had this annoyingly cute pouty mouth. I wanted to give it a good hard kiss as punishment for her attitude toward me.

  “Daisy, may I advise you to stop finding yourself in the same place as my brother. These things can get out of hand.”

  She gave me a what the fuck look that may have scorched a lesser man, and pulled her broken glasses out of her purse.

  When she put them on, I pointed at the spider-webbed lenses. “Surely you can’t see through those?”

  She pivoted away from me and headed off.

  And then walked right into a lamppost, smashing her face against the pole.

  “Can I get you anything else?” asked Max.

  He sat beside me in the back of his SUV, throwing glances of quiet contempt my way—unless I was misreading his broodiness.

  “I’m fine, thank you.” The driver had found a cold pack in their first aid kit and it was making my face numb.

  The humiliation was endless.

  I should never have had the brief thought earlier, after seeing my boyfriend at Isobel’s with Morgan Hawtry, that things couldn’t get any worse.

  Things had gone downhill so fast I was still spiraling. Having to be driven home by Nick’s arrogant brother had rounded out the evening’s fuckery quite nicely.

  Nick had mentioned he had a Brazilian half brother. Though he’d not shared how dreamy he was. This man was so hot I could feel the burn coming off him. His foreign accent was doing strange things to me. Making me all flustered. Or maybe it was because Max had asked the driver to turn the heat all the way up.

  I’d had to peel off my coat and set it aside.

  Max may be devastatingly attractive, but I could never fancy someone who acted this formal and stuffy.

  “You’ll be home soon,” he muttered more to himself than me.

  Other than the ache in my throbbing nose from hitting that lamppost at warp speed, I was actually feeling better. Max was a pleasant distraction—even if he was distant and cold and obviously hating every second of doing the right thing.

  He was doing his brother’s dirty work by getting me out of the way, so I didn’t make a bad scene worse.

  He’d been right about my glasses. They were toast thanks to his driver thinking he’d stepped out of a Keanu Reeves film.

  But my pride had suffered the most, seeing Nick with her. I was still trying to ignore the crushing pain in my chest.

  I lowered the cold pack and gently touched my bruised nose. At least I hadn’t broken it after walking straight into a lamppost—the one with a sign proclaiming that spot as the most fun place in London.

  “I live in Bermondsey,” I said.

  “Carl knows.”

  But apparently they’d had no idea I’d been living with Nick. There were so many possible reasons why he hadn’t told them. Maybe it was to protect me from his weird family…though clearly Morgan was being proudly showcased to them and the rest of the entire world.

  This did nothing for my confidence. I was merely the shop girl who worked at Harvey Nichols in the evening gown department, ironically selling dresses I’d never be able to afford.

  Rubbing my forehead, I fought back tears of frustration at the endless rejection I had to face.

  Max shot me a look of concern.

  I rested the cold pack on my lap. “You want only the best for Nick.”

  “We all do.” He tugged at his scarf and pulled it off.

  I w
atched as he unbuttoned his coat and peeled it open to reveal a T-shirt that showed off his toned abs. His jeans clung to his thighs, showing off their muscular strength. This man looked like he hit the gym frequently.

  My consolation prize for a horrible evening was sitting in the back of an SUV with Nick’s big brother and savoring this man candy. I mean, even his chiseled bits were chiseled. That five o’clock stubble on his perfect jaw had a hint of grey that gave him a sophisticated edge. This man had playboy written all over him.

  Quite literally…

  I stared at his T-shirt, which had “Playboy” written across it. “Bit on the nose.”

  “Excuse me?”

  I gestured at his shirt.

  He peered down at it. “This is a band from São Paulo. They’re called ‘Playboy’.”

  “Right.” I gave him a skeptical look and he returned my cheekiness with a heart-stopping grin.

  “They’re like Pearl Jam,” he added.

  “Okay, the name rings a bell. I think Nick has their latest album.”

  “Because I bought it for him.” He paused, staring at me. “How’s your…face?”

  “Why?”

  “You hit that pole pretty hard.”

  “Does it look bad?”

  “No.” He didn’t sound convincing. “Do you have a spare pair of glasses?”

  “No, but I have contact lenses, too.”

  Late-night shoppers were scurrying along the pavement, all looking like they were having a much better time than me. Even with the sky pouring down on them.

  He reached into his pocket. “Let me pay for new glasses.”

  I reached for his hand to stop him. “No, thank you.” I wasn’t going to accept cash in the back of a car like a tart.

  “Maybe we can come to an arrangement,” he said.

  “Arrangement?”

  “A financial agreement. I’d like to avoid a lawsuit and keep this out of the press.”

  “What are you talking about? Anyway, we don’t go around suing each other here.”

  “People actually do take legal action in the U.K. all the time.”

  “How would you know?”

  “I’m a lawyer.” He turned his head to look at me. “In São Paulo.”

  “Nick didn’t really talk about you.”

  “We’ve been mysteriously kept from each other.” The way he said it made me think he, too, was feeling stung by Nick’s secrecy.

  I felt sorry for him. He was clearly finding this charade uncomfortable.

  “I forgive you,” I said softly.

  He dragged his teeth over his bottom lip. “Why?”

  “Well, all that was missing was the handcuffs and a nice spanking.” I gave him a wicked smile.

  He went to say something and seemed to change his mind.

  My cheeks flushed. “I’m joking, of course.”

  He gazed at me intently, his deep brown eyes revealing conflicting emotions, and then he slid into a heart-stopping smile and held it.

  My breath caught in my throat.

  I looked away and changed the subject. “Why do you have a bodyguard?”

  He exhaled sharply. “Carl’s my mum’s chauffeur.”

  “Why does she have a bodyguard?”

  When he didn’t answer right away, I turned to face him. He looked confused, as though I should know the reason.

  “I’ve not met her,” I admitted.

  “Mum’s cautious, that’s all.”

  “She’s not famous, is she?”

  “Not in your circle.”

  What the hell did that mean?

  “Nick told me that after his dad died, he stopped speaking to his family.”

  Max shrugged. “My brother acted out for a while, but he’s fine now.”

  “Doesn’t seem fine to me.”

  “Look, if there’s any way I can make up for tonight—”

  “Maybe you can talk to Nick.”

  “About what, exactly?”

  “Everything seemed fine with us, and then one day he just left. It was sudden. I know I sound like a jilted lover when I say this, but he’s making a big mistake with that girl.”

  “My brother seems to have made up his mind. I’m sure the decision wasn’t easy.” He mulled over his words. “I hope you can find a way to move on, too.”

  “I’ve been living with him for six months. I’m worried about him. Morgan can be manipulative.”

  “You know her?”

  “Only from the Internet.”

  He frowned. “What does she do?”

  “Talks about fashion and gives make-up tutorials, mostly. Companies pay her to promote their products. Morgan’s one of the most popular influencers out there. She’s even followed by the Kardashians. She’s like Taylor Swift, only instead of writing a sad song about her ex she changes her looks.”

  “Taylor Swift is misunderstood.”

  I stared at him. “You’re a fan?”

  “I’ve had my moments,” he said, chuckling.

  I reached for my handbag. “I just don’t want Nick to become famous for being her ex and not a talented footballer. These things tend to stick.”

  “That’s why you were there tonight?”

  I nodded. “To show him photos, proof of the way she treats her men.”

  “She seemed serious about him from what I could see.”

  What the hell? He had spent all of ten seconds with her tonight.

  He really did just think of me as the jilted lover.

  I pulled the envelope out of my handbag. “When I ran into you, I was trying to give this back to Morgan.”

  “How did you end up with it?”

  “It fell out of her purse.” If Max was a lawyer, he’d know I was lying.

  He took the envelope. “What is it?”

  “I never looked inside.” I assumed it was an invitation for a fancy event.

  “It was good of you to try to return it.”

  I turned my head, hoping he hadn’t noticed the guilty look on my face. “You’re in London for Nick’s birthday?”

  “Yes, I can’t believe he’s turning twenty-five.” Max tucked the envelope into his coat pocket. “I’ll give this to him tomorrow. We’re having a party—” He bit his lip as though he regretted revealing this bit of information.

  “Will Morgan be there?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know.”

  “Tell him I said happy birthday.”

  “What do you like to do for fun, Daisy?”

  “You don’t have to do this.”

  “Do what?”

  I looked out the window as we pulled up to a terraced house. “We’re here.”

  “Let me see you to the door.”

  “That’s very old-fashioned of you.”

  “I’m an old-fashioned guy.”

  “You’re Nick’s opposite then.” As I stepped out, I realized how that sounded. I quickly met Max on the pavement. “That came out wrong.”

  “Trust me, I was like him once. All fun and foolishness.”

  “You’re not fun now?”

  “My clients need a man who appears reliable. Being sensible comes with the territory.”

  I smiled. “You must do something for entertainment when you aren’t at work?”

  “I dabble in pleasure.”

  My heart fluttered in my chest. I scurried on ahead down the pathway to hide the fact I was blushing again.

  He joined me at the front door and waited patiently as my trembling hands fumbled for the keys in my handbag. Looking at him was half the problem. This man had me feeling all sorts of things and none of them were acceptable. He could have been my brother-in-law.

  And he was so good looking, with a hint of charming, that it was hard to hate him completely. I liked knowing that Nick had a big brother to look out for him. Max would be there when things went wrong.

  I pulled out my keys. “Here we are.”

  “You’ll be all right?”

  “Of course.” I forced a smile. �
��Oh, Nick left something behind. Should I give it to you?”

  “Sure.”

  I led him into the sparse sitting room and turned to watch his reaction. Max scanned the room as though trying to figure out what kind of life we’d lived here.

  Had he visited the month before, Max would have seen how lovely I’d gotten the place. It had been a home. Now it was empty, other than the lone couch in front of us and a stack of boxes in the corner.

  “Six months?” His tone sounded incredulous, as though he found it hard to believe I’d lived here with Nick that long.

  “We were happy,” I whispered.

  “I never came here,” he admitted. “Nick always met me at my hotel.”

  This made me feel even worse.

  Nick had told me he felt like the black sheep of the family and that was why he kept me out of their way. But there had been something else going on. Maybe he thought I wasn’t good enough for them? I knew his dad was the late David Banham, but he’d never made a big deal about it. Nick had always wanted to make it on his own.

  “Are those his?” Max pointed to the boxes.

  I shook my head. “They’re mine.”

  He gave me a sympathetic look as I bent down to pick up the shoebox Nick had left behind.

  I handed it to Max. “This is his.”

  He gave it a shake. “What’s in here?”

  “His pet mouse.”

  Max held it at arm’s length. “What the fuck?”

  I giggled. “Just joking.”

  “I’m just going to take a look.” He lifted the lid. “Oh, it’s Pelé!”

  “Yes, his Brazilian toy.”

  “Pelé is not a toy. He’s a figurine. Edson Arantes do Nascimento is the most talented goal scorer in the world.”

  The Brazilian football player was on a stand, posed at mid-kick with his leg in the air, his foot striking a ball.

  “He’s your favorite player?” I asked.

  “Yes, even though he retired forty years ago, he’s still a legend. This is a collector’s item. I thought Nick would like it.”

  “Maybe you should keep it.”

  “Already have one in my office.” Max looked incredulous. “Nick must have forgotten it.”

  “It was hidden behind a bunch of stuff.” I tried to make up a reasonable excuse.

  Max’s eyes crinkled in a warm smile, as though he knew I was trying to save his feelings. He seemed like a man who could be compassionate…someone who’d be good in a crisis. My life was crumbling and here he was like a knight in shining armor, making sure I got home safely after my hellish night.