I headed back the way we came in, alone this time, but that didn’t mean Max wasn’t waiting there for me, in the exact spot I had run from. He held a hand out to me, and we left the garden together, but I was pretty sure I had left a little piece of my heart behind with it. My fingers slipped between his, and he helped me inside the town car to head todinner.
Maybe this date really wasn’t such a bad thing after all, but what would Max want after this? What would he want later? I could feel the heat rise between my legs. I knew what I wanted, but the sensible part of me was wondering if it was a good idea or not. Max had made it a point to say multiple times that he would make me his, even if it wasn’t right now. Did I want to beanyone’s?
“What are you thinking about?” We were driving towards the restaurantnow.
“Nothing.” I put on my best smile and looked out the window. When the car stopped, though, I realized we weren’t pulling up to a restaurant but to a house. A gorgeous Victorian house, with brick walls and bright white trim. I almost lost it when my eyes landed on the balcony. “Where arewe?”
“Just come withme.”
I followed him all the way to the front door. He hadn’t said another word or touched me, not even to hold my hand. When I stepped into the house and Max closed the door behind him, I could feel the electricity between us spark to life. We walked into the living room. Soft music was playing, and there was an array of sushi on the coffee table. He brought dinner to us instead of going to the restaurant. “I thought after you ran at the park we could just eat here, since it’s more neutral ground, not sopublic.”
I looked around, seeing photos of Max, a few of him with some other women. They had to be family, they had to be. I tried not to let the jealousy surge through me as I moved my attention back to him. This must be the summer house that Max had mentioned before. I didn’t see any sign of someone having been here in a while. I didn’t expect it to be thisextravagant.
“I don’t see how your house is neutral ground for anyone but you.” I laughed it off as I headed towards the couch. “Why is your summer house so close to the city anyway? Isn’t it supposed to be fartheraway?”
I stopped just before sitting and turned back to look at Max. I couldn’t read his face, but I knew he was thinkinghard.
“I call it my summer house, but it’s more than that.” Max’s hand caught mine and turned me around. It was the first contact we had since we stepped into the house, and the spark wasn’t just figurative this time. A shock went through my fingers and I pulled back. I looked from my hand to Max, and the fire that was between us could be seen clear as day in his eyes. “It’s the house I bought years ago. The house I bought because I thought I would put a family in it oneday.”
I could feel my eyes bugging out of me as I stared at Max. He was equally as shocked by the words that came from his mouth. I don’t think either of us were ready for these kinds of confessions tonight. He took a step closer tome.
“I need to do this at least once more.” Max didn’t kiss me right away. He took a big enough step that we were now almost touching but not quite there yet. His lips hovered just above mine as he moved closer to me, and I stepped back, leading us backwards to the couch. He laid his hand on my back, helping me down onto the cushions, with himself between my legs. His lips were on mine only seconds after we became comfortable. My hands were constricted between us, resting against his chest, so it was Max who had all the control. He went soft and then fast, moving his lips down to my neck before bringing them back to mymouth.
I could feel him harden between my thighs and rub up against me a little more. I teased back with a little push, and a groan escaped his mouth. He stilled, then straightened himself at the other end of the couch. He didn’t bother to pull me up with him, so I fixed myself up on myown.
“Would you like me to put a movie on?” He was already at the Blu-ray player, looking through themovies.
“Choose whatever you would like.” The tension in the air was building between us again. It seemed that every time we kissed it was going to be a problem. He clearly didn’t want it to go too far, but then why had he kept me along if he didn’t feel what I felt? I was still craving his touch, even though he was only a few feet away. The connection I had with this man scared me, especially with it only being a month since Adam left me, but was that too soon to move on? Even with Adam, he had waited a year before leaving me. I needed more time to work out what exactly Max and I were moving towards by going on this date. As much as I had thought about it over and over again that Max could break me, it was my first time realizing that I could, in fact, break him, and that didn’t sit well withme.
He popped in an action movie and came back to the couch. We were on opposite sides now, and I served myself some dinner as we sat and watched the movie in silence. I looked over at him periodically, and it seemed every time I did, I caught him staring at me. This went on until the movie ended. When the last credit rolled, he moved to put the leftover food away. I didn’t want to sit in the living room alone, so I followed the sound of slamming doors to thekitchen.
“Fuck!” The word came out as a shout when I rounded the corner and watched Max slam his fist into the counter. He hadn’t seen me walk up yet. I watched as he laid half his body against the top of the counter and knocked his head againstit.
“What are youdoing?”
Max’s body shot up straight and the broken man I had just seen turned back into the confident Max I knew, the one I had met the first day of work. I liked seeing Max uninhibited, but there was also something in his confidence that made my kneesweak.
“Do you want me to take you home?” His question confused me, because I didn’t want to go, but I also didn’t know what was happening here between us anymore. For the past two months, all Max did was pursue me, and now that he was able to—I was even allowing him to—he wouldn’t. I knew I had said to take it slow, but that didn’t mean to start something and not finishit.
“I don’t know.” This answer seemed to rattle him abit.
“I’m going to take you home.” It wasn’t an option anymore. Max had clearly decided for us both that this was overtonight.
“Fine.” I didn’t wait for him before I went to the front door. I was already texting Lilly to send an Uber for me. Before my hand could grasp the front door handle, Max’s hand covered mine. We both stood there in limbo, neither of us opening thedoor.
“I don’t want you to go, but I can’t have you stay here any longer, Alexa.” His words were whispered my hair, next to my ear. My heart sank. After all this time he was the one backing down. The challenge was over now. That was what it had to be. He finally got the date he wanted, the kiss he wanted, but he didn’t want anything more than that. My shoulders sagged and my grip on the door handleweakened.
“If you were over the amusement of the chase, you could have just said so.” I knew I didn’t want anything from Max, but I couldn’t help but think I was being kicked to the curb again. He spun me around and my back was pushed against the frontdoor.
“Don’t undermine my want for you by tossing baseless words around.” His body was pushed up against me. He growled the words at me, sending a shiver straight down to my core. “I want you. Now. Against this door. On the floor. On the couch. In my bed first, though, but I’m not going to dothat.”
Now I was the one to be caught off guard. If he wanted me so much, why not just take me? Granted, I was fragile right now, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t have a good time, and from the looks of tonight, I thought we were having a good time. I just didn’t know what Max wanted at this moment, and that scared me, because that was the main reason why Adam had left me. I couldn’t fulfill his needs, and clearly I wasn’t able to do the same thing for Max. But the next words that came out of his mouth were just as serious as the ones that came out of his mouth the night I showed up to his penthouse, and I didn’t know which scared me more. Max telling me over a month ago that I would fall for him, or tonight’sdeclaration.
“I’m not going to be my typical self with you. I won’t just take you when I want to. I want to make sure that you want it as much as I do. I want you begging for me. What I want most is for you to know that I want more than just to fuck you. I want all ofyou.”
