The Forgotten One (The Heirs #2)

Chapter Eighteen

Sarah lifted her glass and watched as Alex topped her off. “I really don’t like wine,” she said.

Piper laughed. “As evidenced by the fact that you’re on your third glass.”

After Sarah had been doctored up by Alex and Piper, Alex loaned Sarah a pair of joggers, and they put her muddy pants in the wash.

Max had chilled out, but every time Sarah caught him staring, his gaze moved to the bump on her face.

The bump felt like fire, but the wine was doing its best to numb the pain.

They’d moved from the formal living room, something that looked like it belonged in a museum and not a house, to a smaller family room that felt cozy despite the fact that the one room could fit two of Sarah’s apartments.

Kiev had called her to see if she was okay, to which she said, “Be sure and tell Patrick I’m considering workers’ comp.” The security guard retrieved her purse for her before her coworker left.

“Dad was an ass, but he had good taste in wine,” Alex said.

No one in the room denied Alex’s statement.

Sarah laughed and asked, “Is that off the record?”

Alex was a little past tipsy. She shook her head. “No. Everyone knew he was an ass.”

“But we didn’t know he had good taste in wine,” Piper said. Not that Piper knew how the wine tasted since she was drinking a ginger ale.

Piper huddled close to Chase, with her dog Kit curled up on the end of a sofa close by. Alex sat cross-legged in a chair next to a twin chair that Max occupied. Sarah had been encouraged to sit in an oversize love seat with a matching ottoman where she could put her legs up, with ice on one knee. Ice that had melted hours before.

Max had nursed two beers, Chase sipped on a whiskey, and Alex and Sarah were on their second bottle of wine.

The evening news repeated the same theme of the day.

Rags to riches.

Billionaire heirs.

Mystery brother.

There was footage of the SUVs leaving the Stone building.

Video of Max’s neighbors talking to reporters. One in particular that had Max frowning.

But it wasn’t until Sarah saw her face on the TV being singled out as Max helped her up that the events of the day clicked. She’d single-handedly thrown this family into turmoil. Yes, with their permission of sorts. But that had been a formality that she’d never requested before. How many times in her career had she written a story that forced people to shelter in place to avoid the media? Even if those stories had been true and factual ... what kind of pain had she been responsible for? Karma put her on the inside of the story and opened her eyes to what it felt like to be on the other side of the news.

In the time she’d been in the Stone Estate, the media outside the walls had found her pen name, her real name, the paper she worked for.

Max’s one sound bite was repeated over and over on every channel.

“Get that thing out of my face!”

Which was quickly followed by a clip of Sarah jumping on the back of his bike and the two of them disappearing behind the gates.

Eventually they turned the TV off.

There was a second security guard Sarah didn’t know was there until he left and returned with the dinner they’d ordered from a restaurant down the hill.

Now they were full, drinking and laughing.

“How weird was it to hear you had a brother?” Sarah asked Chase and Alex.

“I can’t say we were surprised,” Chase told her. “We knew Dad had a lot of affairs.”

“You seem so calm about it,” she said.

“The affairs, or a brother?”

“Both.”

“We could care less who Dad slept with after our mother divorced him.” Chase sipped his drink. “I’m just glad there’s someone else to help keep you in line,” he said to Alex.

“Like I’m so high maintenance,” she tossed back at him.

“She doesn’t need my help,” Max added. “Alex has bigger balls than anyone in this room,” he told Sarah.

“They call her ‘the Tornado’ at work,” Piper chimed in.

Alex rolled her eyes. “That’s off the record.”

Sarah played with the stem of her wineglass. “I know this is going to sound strange, but ... you guys seem ... normal.”

“As opposed to what?” Alex asked.

Sarah shook her head. “Oh, the irony. The way the media has portrayed you to be.”

“And what’s that?”

“When I was looking you up, doing my research on your father and then the two of you,” she said to Alex and Chase, “I found footage of the funeral, the snippets the media caught you in. Chase, you looked like the chip on your shoulder was bigger than Mount Fuji, and Alex gave Queen Elizabeth a run for the money on a resting ...” Her words trailed off.

“Bitch face,” Alex finished for her. “I heard the reports.”

“Sorry.” She sighed. “My point. I don’t see or feel the chip at all with Chase, and Alex ... you’re stunning.”

“That’s sweet, Sarah, but I’m not into girls.”

Chase laughed, and Max grinned.

“You know what I mean.” Sarah glanced at Piper. “Am I right?”

Piper nodded. “You, of all people, have to know that when you don’t give the media something, they’ll make it up as they go.”

True. “I suppose that’s why you guys wanted me to break the story.”

“It is. Thanks, by the way. I’m not sure any of us has said that,” Piper told her.

“You don’t have to thank me. Just tell this one to stop waking me up at an ungodly hour to give me a story.” Sarah glanced at Max, who had been relatively silent most of the night.

“Max. That’s not nice,” Piper playfully scolded. “We women need our beauty rest.”

Max smiled. “Some,” he said directly to Sarah. “Not all.”

Sarah held Max’s gaze. Heat filled her cheeks.

He was flirting with her.

She felt it.

Everyone in the room felt it.

Words dried up on Sarah’s tongue.

Then her smile made her cheek throb, and she covered it with one hand. “I’m going to need it after today.”

The slight grin on Max’s face faded slightly.

Sarah’s phone rang and pulled her out of his orbit.

She saw Teri’s face on the screen and started to stand. “It’s my roommate.”

“Don’t mind us,” Alex told her.

She stepped away from everyone to answer.

“Hey.”

“Oh my God. Where are you?” Teri asked in a rush.

“I’m still at the Stones’.”

Chase and Alex started talking.

Sarah moved out of earshot.

“Are you with him?” Teri asked, referring to Max.

“Max is here with the rest of his family.”

“Good. I started to worry. You’re all over the news.” Teri sounded worked up.

“I know,” Sarah told her.

“Are you hurt? A reporter said you got clubbed in the face.”

“It was a cameraman, and it was an accident. Not that the black eye I’m starting to sport knows the difference.”

“Bummer. When you come home, be sure and cover your face, or that black eye is going to be all over the news. Your colleagues are parked in front of our building.”

“How many?” Sarah asked a little louder than she meant.

“A couple, and a half a dozen people standing around with cameras.”

“Dammit.”

Max walked up behind her. “Is everything okay?”

“There’s a bunch of reporters out front of our place,” Sarah explained.

Max scowled.

“Not just outside. They’re inside, too. They knocked on the door twice.”

Max heard what Teri said and shook his head.

“All right. Thanks for the warning.”

“Are you coming home?” Teri asked.

Sarah looked at Max.

He continued to shake his head.

She covered the phone with her hand. “What?”

“You should stay here.”

“Why?”

Max slowly started to smile.

Heat moved back into her cheeks, and her body started to warm.

Sarah snapped out of his tractor-beam eyes and turned back to the phone. “I’ll let you know when I leave here. I’ve had a couple of glasses of wine—I might just stay.” Sarah couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth.

“Cool. Keep me in the loop, okay?”

“No worries . . . and, Teri?”

“Yeah?”

“No comment. Okay? Don’t tell anyone we talked, or if we didn’t talk. Just ‘no comment.’”

“I know the drill. I live with a reporter.” Teri laughed.

“See you later, then.”

Sarah ended the call and turned to face Max.

His smirk told her he’d won.

Their eyes locked. “Now why should I stay here?”

Max tilted his head. “Because you want to.”

“I do?”

“Are you going to pretend you don’t?” he asked in a whisper.

Sarah glanced behind him, saw the others deep in conversation.

Her belly started to tingle.

She swallowed.

Dammit, she was staring at his lips.

Max placed a hand on her waist and guided her out of the room.

Her knees shook, no longer feeling the pain and burn from her fall.

Max pulled her into a room, an office, and closed the door behind them.

“Max, I—”

She didn’t get out any more than that before Max backed her against the closed door and lifted his hand to the part of her face that didn’t hurt.

He carefully removed her glasses and set them on a table right by the door.

Everything burned, from the tips of her fingers to the wiggling of her toes.

Max lowered his lips to hers slowly enough that she could have backed away. Not that the thought ever crossed her mind. He was annoying and demanding, just this side of cocky, and damn, the man could kiss.

Warm lips that opened against hers, silently asking for more.

Sarah leaned into him, one hand on his chest, the other on his waist, and whimpered with the pure joy of his embrace.

His palm slid to the back of her head, and the other cradled her neck. His thumb stroked the edge of her jaw in a way that made her feel like a prize he was slowly discovering.

Intoxicating.

Max was mystery and magic wrapping around her and making her want so much more than a kiss.

His tongue danced with hers, starved one minute, sated the next. This was a wonderful crazy Sarah was certain she’d never quite felt before.

Slowly, Max pulled away, his breath just as rapid as hers.

Her eyes fluttered open to find him staring into them.

He then looked at what would be a black eye in the morning and gently placed his lips for a brief kiss to her cheek.

“Now that we cleared that up,” he whispered.

Sarah licked her lips, swallowed hard. “You’re very sure of yourself.”

His lips moved close again but didn’t touch. “Do I need to clear it up some more?”

Yes.

No .

He nipped at her lips and pulled away quickly.

“I got the message,” she said.

Max took a deep breath, looked directly into her eyes. “Good.”

He pulled back enough to cause a rush of cold air that replaced the feel of his body pressed against hers.

He handed her back her glasses.

“I’ll ask Chase what rooms he wants us to use.”

“Rooms?” As in two? She was confused.

“I don’t sleep with a woman the first time if she’s been drinking.”

“Oh.” That was a little too responsible for the pent-up desire he’d zapped her with in his kiss. “I’m not drunk.”

“I know.”

Her words had no weight on his armor. Sarah saw the resolve in his eyes that he was sticking by his intentions.

How could she fault him for that?

“Okay,” she murmured.

Max released his hold on her and reached for the doorknob.

Sarah ducked under his arm to leave the room and said, “But it sucks.”