Maximum Risk by Ruth Cardello

Author:Ruth Cardello [Cardello, Ruth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
Published: 2015-01-27T00:00:00+00:00

***

Max took one of Tara’s arms in his hand and pulled her close to him. “You’re coming with me.” His comment was completely out of character for him. Max was a loner. He’d built his financial empire without anyone’s help, well . . . besides the start-up money he inherited from Grandfather Stanfield’s trust fund. For as long as he could remember, even in school, he’d always chosen to fight his own battles. And when it came to weathering his family’s tsunamis of drama, he withdrew from them—alone.

Tara gave him another sweet smile. Max swore and looked away, but he didn’t let her arm go. He’d come back to New York because he’d wanted to see her. He was still there because, after having her once, all he could think about was having her again. He should have whisked her out of the party as soon as he’d seen her.

Despite what he’d said about being willing to leave without her, he knew he wouldn’t have. Even with everything else going on in his life, there was something about Tara he couldn’t resist and didn’t want to, not even when she asked him to do the exact opposite of what he knew he should do.

As they approached Gio, Max looked his brother over with a critical eye. Gio was thinner, and there were circles beneath his eyes. His fiancée was holding his hand and looking up at him with a worried expression on her face. Was it possible Tara was right? Was Gio upset about more than what was presently going on with their mother?

Getting involved was guaranteed to turn out badly. It always did. If there was one thing he could count on with his family, it was that.

Nothing had changed.

Or had it?

A year ago, Nick would have already been drunk and fighting with Gio. Instead he was standing beside him with Rena still tucked against his side. Max expected him to say something sarcastic about his return, but he didn’t. He nodded at Max in approval.

Luke, the one who normally acted as peacemaker in their family, was standing off to one side, as silent as the other two. Max had told himself his brothers would fare perfectly fine without him that evening, but Tara was right—they each looked lost in their own way.

Not knowing what to say, Max went to stand beside Luke, dragging Tara along with him. Together they silently watched as the last of the guests left.

Julia was the first to break the silence. “How about I make some coffee?”

Gio leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I’d love some.”

Rena stepped away from Nick and said, “I’ll help you.” Then she looked across to Tara. “Would you like to join us?”

Tara hesitated. She looked up at Max with a clear question in her eyes. Will you be here when I get back?

Max nodded curtly, and Tara walked off with the other two women, apparently satisfied with his answer. A long painful silence dragged on. Max had told himself he wouldn’t be drawn back into the emotional roller coaster that was his family.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.