Maximum Risk by Ruth Cardello Page B

not easy to impress. You want to enjoy this experience, but you also want to know his weaknesses. Someone you trusted betrayed you, and now you test everyone.”
    Tara scoffed, “You sound like a long-winded fortune cookie.”
    “But am I right?”
    Tara wanted to say no. She met his eyes and told herself the truth didn’t matter. A lie would serve her better. She could say it was simply a silly game she played wherever she went and then she could ask him the questions and possibly get the answers Maddy sought. She opened her mouth to lie but found she couldn’t. “Yes.”
    A sexy smile spread across his face.
    Half excited, half cornered, Tara said, “You and Maddy have more in common than you know. She also doesn’t hear the word no.”
    Max reached out and took one of her hands, lacing her fingers casually with his. “Is that what you’re saying each time you run your tongue over those luscious lips of yours? No isn’t what I see in your eyes when you look at me. It’s only a matter of time before you give in and admit you want me.”
    Tara’s heart was beating loudly in her chest. She knew she should pull her hand away from his, but she didn’t. When she spoke her voice was husky. “Never going to happen.”
    “Want to bet on that?” he asked and released her hand when the waiter arrived with their dinner.
    Over dinner, Max asked her questions about her family, her friends, what it had been like growing up in the suburbs. He was attentive, reflective, and downright funny with some of his dry comments.
    It didn’t hurt that he was also gorgeous. And the way he looked at her, as if she were the most beautiful woman on the planet, made Tara giddy in a way she thought she’d outgrown. He ordered a bottle of wine, and the two of them toasted the good food and company. It didn’t take Tara long to forget the real reason they were having dinner together.
    Maddy?
    Maddy who?
     
    ***
     
    The next few hours flew by in a blur of drinks and conversation. Max and Tara had switched over to water, but Tara was still riding high on a royal buzz that Max blamed himself for. She’d told him she wasn’t much of a drinker, but each drink had lowered her guard more and more, and he couldn’t resist getting to know the unguarded side of her.
    Tara was slowly sobering up, but she was every bit as amusing now as she had been when she’d been slurring her words earlier. Max threw his head back and laughed at her description of what it had been like for her the first week she’d moved to New York City. “I moved to New York after my parents retired and went South. I thought it would be easier to find work in the city. It’s been quite the learning experience. My first apartment was a ten-by-ten studio with an outrageously high rent that only someone new to the area would pay, given the location. The place was so small with such thin walls I literally learned Portuguese by listening to the woman in the next apartment talk to her Brazilian boyfriend on the phone every night. The worst thing about the place was the number of times I dreamed I was engaging in a threesome. I’d feel all awkward and guilty then wake up and realize it was just the Brazilian stud visiting next door again. On the positive side, I never felt lonely. And I ended up being marginally bilingual, which I suppose is a small price to pay for a few inappropriate dreams. Although, I still don’t see the lure of a threesome.”
    “Good to know,” Max said with a smile. “So, when did you move in with Brigitte?”
    “It’s been three years now. I went to a party with some guy . . . I can’t even remember his name. It was our first official date, if you call taking someone to a place where the food and drinks are free a date. Anyway, he saw Brigitte and completely forgot about me. Brigitte can do that to a man. She has a presence. It’s hard to explain. You know when you watch the History channel and you hear about how wars were fought over certain