“Max Lane is about to turn thirty and to settle down is in the forefront of his mind. His taste in women doesn’t make his choices in finding a wife and future mother of his children easy. Wealthy, gorgeous women with long legs and luscious bodies are great until you have to deal with their entitled attitudes which is something the young billionaire neither has nor finds attractive.

Alexis Mathews is a freelance accountant who comes into Max’s life just as he’s ready to make some changes to it. Initially, he takes her on as a project, but soon realizes he’d like to keep her for himself. Alexis’ long time insecurities make it hard for her to believe she’s the right girl for a man of Max’s wealth.”

* * *

Max

The darkness is interrupted by a light as I sit in a dimly lit room waiting for the always late Lauren. She’s my latest attempt to find a woman that I can get along with for the rest of my life. It’s going on a month since we started dating so I’m about to test the matrimonial waters with her this evening. I want to see if she has the same ideas I have for the future. I’m turning thirty in a few days and decided it’s time to move out of the fast lane and slow things down a bit.

Abandoned when I was ten years old by my drug addicted mother, I grew up in a children’s home in the middle of nowhere, South Texas. Divorce is not an option for me. Once I marry and start a family which I’d like to do right away, nothing will tear my family apart. So my choice for a wife has to be someone I can stand, at the very least.

It was my cell phone which lit up, meaning I have a text message. It’s from the freelance accountant I contacted and he’s agreed to work on some accounting issues for me. My least favorite time of the year is coming up, tax season, and I need all the help I can get to hang onto as much of my fortune as I can.

A pair of long, sexy legs topped by a short, red skirt stride into the room. I scan them and move up over a lithe body until her face comes into focus.

I wonder what she really looks like.

“You appear good enough to eat, Lauren.”

She laughs, and the sound makes my face pinch as it is loud and slightly off key. “Don’t I know it, Max,” she says with a southern drawl. “Where are you taking me this evening?”

I hold my arm out and she takes it. “My chef, Hilda, is making us one of her specialties for dinner. I imagined it might be nice to stay in tonight.”

The sound of a heavy sigh meets my ears and I notice her red stained, collagen injected lips form a pout. “And what will we do after we eat this stuff your maid is making, Mr. Billionaire?”

“I thought we could eat by the fireplace in the small dining room. Afterwards we can cuddle on the couch and watch a movie. I’ll even make you popcorn if you’d like me to. And by the way, Hilda is not the maid. If she ever heard you call her that she might have to kick your ass, I’d have to intervene and most likely get mine kicked too.”

I pull the door open and lead her out to my Jaguar where she folds her long legs into the passenger side as she says, “That sounds dull and I don’t do dull, Max.”

After taking a gander at those long, tight, tanned legs I begin to salivate. My weakness is long legs, and it overrules my brain way too many times. I close the door and walk around to the driver’s side. “So what would you like to do?”

She looks into the mirror and applies more red lipstick. “I want to go to a nice club and be drunk by nine o’clock.”

My hands grip the wheel so I won’t grab her and choke some personality into her. “Oh, same as last night and the night before that.”

Her head swivels around, perfectly manicured eyebrows raise, creating wrinkles on her forehead.

“Oh my God, Max!” She goes on as her hands fly around in front of her. “So because you want to be a party pooper, I’m supposed to sit around your big ol’ mansion and piss the night away too?” Pausing to stare back in the mirror, she grabs some mascara and applies even more to her already thick as shit eyelashes. “Well, just drop me off then. I can find another ride home.”

As great an idea as that is, I’m too much of a damned gentleman to do that to any woman.

“No, Lauren, I was just kidding. I want to go to the club too.” I lie.

Suddenly she wears a sweet smile and bats those monster lashes at me.

“Oh! You’re silly.”

No, I’m an idiot!

As I drive along I decide to try out a little of what I had planned to talk to her about if she’d let me take her to my place.

“When do you think you’ll be ready to have kids, Lauren?”

Whoa! Shit! Everything on her face just raised into something that looks like the preceding of a shit storm. Can I take my words back, please?

With a thin finger wagging in my face, she screeches, “Oh no you don’t, Mr. Moneybags! Even you won’t be talking me into messing up this body. So that’s why you wanted to take me to your place. Hear this loud and clear, Max. I don’t want to have your children, nor anyone else’s. Kids add years to a woman’s body and face.”

“I see.”

Her finger trails down my cheek.

“Though you and I would make some beautiful children, sweetheart. I can’t do that to myself. Sorry to let you down, lover.”

I smile at her and give her a wink. I don’t feel let down at all. It is relief I’m experiencing the truth. She’s not the one for me. As I glance over at her, I find that her skirt has slid up and her upper thigh is showing. She’s good for a good time at least. Softly I run my hand over her exposed skin, only to have her slap it away.

“No! None of that.”

“Now who’s the party pooper?” I ask.

Alexis

My head is beginning to ache as I stare at this demon of a spreadsheet. Something isn’t right and I can’t figure it out. I grab my cell and text the old guy I’m doing this freelance work for.

And it’s time for more coffee.

As I walk across the room, I catch my reflection in the sliding glass doors. My bun has come loose and I can’t have that. I pull my hair down and mentally note that I need to go get it cut; it’s just too long. I pull it into a tight bun and notice a slight wrinkle in my khaki-colored Dickies. Smoothing it out, I take the time to make sure my starched, white button down is looking snappy too, and push my glasses further up on my nose.

My dad always told me to dress for the job I want. To rid the world of financial mistakes is my goal, a lot like a superhero. All I need is a khaki cape with a big, white letter, ‘A’ on it and I can get to work on saving the planet, one spreadsheet at a time.

My cell dings and the old dude has responded. He wants to have lunch and show me what he needs done.

I’m not a real social butterfly, hence the work at home gig. But he’s paying me an exorbitant amount of money. At least he gets to know that he has hired an accountant who looks the part. It should give him confidence in my abilities, I think, and perhaps he’ll decide to keep me on long-term.

The restaurant isn’t too far from my apartment so I hop on my bike and pedal on over. I have a car but I prefer not to pollute the air as often as I can. Okay, I’m not really all that into saving the planet. My car is a POS.

I chain my bike up in front of the restaurant, then smooth out my clothes again and notice a scuff on my penny loafer and bend down to wipe if off. My glasses fall off and a piece of broken cement puts a long scratch across one of the lenses. I can see enough to get by. If I’m close enough, I can see everything.

Into the restaurant I go, tapping on the pouch I placed around my waist to carry my small laptop in. It’s all the rage in Paris I’m told. A long mirror is in the entry way and I take a quick glance to be sure that I look good.

Perfect! Just like any accountant in any fine office building, complete with a pocket pencil organizer. This man is sure to be impressed.

A waiter comes towards me. “May I help you?” he asks.

“I’m here to meet Mr. Lane.”

The man looks me up and down as he says, “Do you know his first name, because the Mr. Lane I’m thinking of, well it’s most likely not him.”

“Yes, of course. It’s Max,” I say and the man’s eyebrows move to the very tippy top of his balding head.

“Oh! Please follow me.”

I follow him and peer around trying my best to focus on the surrounding fanciness. I pull my glasses out of my pocket and close one eye to look through the one good side.

Stud alert, front and center!

What a man! Broad shoulders, and a suit that probably cost him a cool thousand or more. Dark waves of luscious hair that falls to his shoulders. Eyes the color of emeralds, oh be still my heart.

I put the glasses back in my pocket protector and follow the waiter dude. Fantasy man is making my panties wet, I need to find the old guy and get back into reality.

The waiter stops and pulls out a chair for me. I smile and plop down as poised as possible.

I blink to try to get my stupid broken eyes to focus. An arm with black sleeves reaches across the table and I shake a hand. It’s a firm hand; it doesn’t feel all wrinkly like I expected it to. “Hello, Miss Mathews. I’m sorry, you surprised me, I thought you were going to be a man. Your first name is Alex.”

That voice is much too deep and sexy to belong to an old man. “It’s actually Alexis, but everyone calls me Alex. I broke my glasses a minute ago. Do you mind if I sit a little closer to you so I can see you?” I ask.

“Let me come to you, don’t move.” I watch him as he gets up and notice that he’s tall.

He sits down and scoots his chair close to mine and slowly he comes into focus.

Oh God! It’s the gorgeous man who made my panties wet!

“Mr. Lane?” I ask.

He nods and smiles. “Can you see me now?”

I nod back and am sure my face is making some awful half smile, half frown thing I’ve been told I do on occasions when I feel awkward, which is often. “How nice to meet you,” I say as I extend my hand to shake his, but pull it back as I realize we already did that. My elbow knocks the plate sitting on the table in front of me and makes a loud clanking sound. My cheeks are most likely red and I may be sprouting beads of sweat on my forehead.

Mr. Lane laughs and places his hand on my shoulder. “No need to be nervous with me, Alex, I assure you.”

His cell rings and he looks at it. He’s so close I can see it too and a picture of a gorgeous blonde woman fills the large screen. A slide of his finger sends the call to voicemail and I say, “You can take the call. I don’t mind.”

“I never take calls when I’m with someone. It’s rude, don’t you think?” he asks as he looks right into my eyes with those gorgeous green ones he has.

“She’s kinda, completely gorgeous. I’d hate for her to get mad at you.”

His laugh is deep, and it rattles my chest he’s so close to me. “She kinda stays mad at me regardless, so no big deal. As far as gorgeous, I have no idea what she really looks like. She’s had so much work done to her whole body that there’s no way to tell.”

The idea anyone does that much to themselves is crazy to me. “Wow,” I say.

He nods in agreement. “So what’s up with the spreadsheet, Alex?”

I lean back to unzip the pouch to remove my laptop and see the gorgeous man smiling like he’s amused, so I say, “Um, I know it sometimes is considered odd, but I heard these things are really popular in other countries.”

He shakes his head and laughs, then finishes unzipping the pouch and reaches in to pull out my laptop. “I’m sure they are and I apologize if you thought I was finding humor in your, ummm, fanny pack, I think it’s called.”

His hand touches my stomach as he gets the laptop out and I nearly fall apart as it sends shock waves through my entire body. He isn’t even trying to be sexy, yet he can’t help it, I guess. “Thanks for helping me out there,” I say as I grab the linen napkin to my side and use it to wipe my now definitely perspiring forehead.

He places the computer on the table and leans towards me, his lips near my ear. Hot breath burns my ear as he says, “Alex, are you always this nervous?”

Honesty resides in my head and I just say it, “You’re gorgeous, sir.”

“Sir?” he asks as he sits back in his chair and thank the Lord his good looks blur in my messed up eyes. “How old are you?”

“Not that is matters, but I’m twenty-five, sir,” I say as I straighten my shirt and find my pocket protector fascinating.

“Don’t call me sir, you can call me Max. You got a significant other, Alex?” he asks and leans back in.

I shake my head and find him smiling at me. “Do you?”

He shakes his head and the smile fades. “Tell me, Alex, what do you do for fun?”

I thought this was a business lunch, but it seems to have gone awry. “Fun?”

“Yes, fun,” he says then turns away from me. “You say it like it’s a four letter word.”

“I read a lot,” I say, inciting a chuckle from him.

The menu in his hand tells me he’s ready to order and get this lunch over with. He says, “Tell me what you normally eat for lunch.”

Before my brain can stop my mouth, I answer, “PB and J’s, mostly.”

The slightest turn of his head shows me small wrinkles have formed on his forehead and he says, “We used to eat those all the time for lunch when I was a kid, growing up in the children’s home.”

“You grew up in a children’s home?” I ask, with surprise. “Did your parents die or something?”

“Or something,” he answers. He turns his whole body to me and leans in. “How about we get out of this stuffy restaurant and go back to my place and I’ll have my chef make us up a batch of PB and J’s with a couple glasses of milk?”

I find myself scratching at my neck as the starched collar rubs my skin, making it itch. “Ummm, I, don’t, umm.” I mumble and stumble with what to say.

He frowns. “Forget about it, you don’t want to go. We’ll eat here. You want a steak?”

Now I feel bad. The guy lost his parents and grew up in a home and just wants to eat a dang ol’ sandwich and I’m being dumb so I say, “No, I want to go. But I’m on my bike and would have to go home and get my car, which might not make it to where you live. Where is that by the way?”

“What’s wrong with your car?” he asks.

I laugh. “What’s right with it is a shorter list than what’s wrong.”

He smiles and my heart beats a little faster.

“I’ll take you in my car. I’m sure your bike will be safe here.”

I shrug my shoulders and say, “Okay then let’s go get our peanut butter on. I hope you have grape jelly.”

He stands and takes my hand and I get up. My arm is quickly interlocked with his as he whispers, “Hang on to me, so you don’t trip on anything since you don’t have your glasses.”

“Thanks,” I say, and find I have the weirdest sensation in my stomach.

Max

As we ride out to my place, the utterly clueless Alex, keeps me laughing. She’s the most interesting creature I’ve ever met. Tall, with perfect skin, and exceptionally shiny blonde hair, with eyes like blue diamonds that sparkle when she smiles, which is often, but she has no fashion sense at all.

“That was some smancy restaurant,” she says as she looks out the window. “Do you eat there a lot?”

I find myself laughing. “Smancy? Is that a word?”

Her eyes dart to mine and she blushes. “I’m stupid,” she says. “Don’t listen to me, I use a lot of dumb words.”

“No, they’re funny,” I say. “And the answer is yes, I do eat there often. So you find reading fun?”

She nods and looks around at the interior of my Jaguar. “This car is really snazzy.”

I fight the urge to laugh at her crazy words again. “I bet you’d find flying with me in my helicopter more fun than reading.”

Her eyebrows, which are badly in need of a good plucking, raise and she says, “You have a helicopter?”

“Yeah, I got one last year. I devised a seat which extends out of the body of the helicopter while keeping the occupant completely safe with a restraint system I designed. That’s how I made my money. The military bought a bunch of them and now it seems that anyone with a chopper wants one.”

Confusion fills her face. “So you hang out of the helicopter while it’s flying… and just why would someone do that?”

“To shoot at things,” I say and pull up to the entry gate of my place.

Alex looks at the large gate and nibbles at her bottom lip. “That’s a big gate, dude.”

“Yeah, it’s here to protect the even bigger house you’ll see in a second,” I say and press the button to open it.

“This is a lot to keep clean,” she says as we pull up to the mansion.

Okay, that’s not a thing I’ve ever been told before. “Do you like it?” I ask.

She turns to me and smiles. “It’s a blur to me, Max.”

As I park the car and get out, I go to open her door, but she’s beat me to it and waits for me outside the car. I take her hand and lead her into the house. “Follow me, Alex, I need to find Hilda and get her to make us lunch. We can talk about the spreadsheet while she does that.” As I pull her along behind me I feel giddy for some unknown reason.

I find Hilda in the kitchen chopping vegetables. She looks up at me and her face breaks into a huge smile. “Mijo, who is this?”

I pull Alex up to stand next to me. “Hilda, this is Alex. Do you suppose you could make us both some peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches and some glasses of milk and bring them to the pool?”

“Peanut butter, Mijo?” Hilda asks with furrowed brows. “I have a couple of lobsters I can get them ready in a few minutes. Let me make you that.”

“I’d really like what I asked for, Hilda. I used to eat one for lunch almost every day when I was a kid.”

Hilda gestures towards Alex with the long knife she holds.

“Are you an old friend of his from the children’s home?”

“I’m not his friend. I work for him.”

Hilda’s eyes move down to our clasped hands. She wags the knife at them.

“You hold your employee’s hands now?” she asks with a concerned look.

I laugh and hold our hands up.

“She broke her glasses just before our meeting and I didn’t want her to trip, so I grabbed her hand.”

Hilda frowns and goes back to chopping.

“I’ll get the food ready and get James to serve it to you by the pool within a few minutes, Mijo.”

As I lead Alex outside, I’m finding myself bursting with energy. It’s unexplainable to me. Am I so excited to start figuring out the problems on the damn spreadsheet? “Here we are, my smancy swimming pool, complete with a waterfall. Wish you could see it.”

“You stole my word,” she says as I help her sit at the table.

I pull up a chair close to her so she can see me.

“I prefer to say I’m borrowing it, if you don’t mind.”

She smiles and her eyes twinkle.

“It’s okay you can borrow it. I like the way it sounds coming out of your lips.”

My lips? She’s thinking about my lips just as I was thinking about her perfect smile and how her lips are perfectly proportioned all on their own with no collagen!

“We should take a dip in the pool after we have our lunch,” I say and can’t believe I just asked her to do that.

Her eyes grow wide and she begins to stammer, “I, uh, I don’t have, um a…”

I hold up my hand, stopping the stammering that she seems to be so good at. “There are lots of bathing suits to choose from in the pool house. No worries, come on, it’ll be fun.”

She squints at the pool. “Is there a diving board?”

“Naw, I didn’t want one. I like to jump off the boulders I had brought in.”

Her eyes light up and she smiles again. “When I was a kid, we’d go to this river every summer. There was a giant rock we’d jump off of. I loved it.”

“So your answer is yes?”

“No. This is embarrassing to admit, but I haven’t shaved in a while.”

Though I don’t really want to know, I ask out of morbid curiosity, “How long has it been?”

Her narrow shoulders shrug. “Don’t remember. So you see, it’d be better if I didn’t.”

“The bathroom in the pool house is stocked with everything. You can de-fur yourself before if you’d like.”

Her hand flies up and slaps my arm. “It’s not that bad you need to use the term, ‘de-fur’, for the love of Pete.”

“So that’s a yes then?”

“I’d like to jump off that rock.” She squints out at it. “So yeah, it does sound fun.”

“Alex, do you have another pair of glasses or contacts maybe?”

“I have some contacts, but they’re at home.”

“How about I take you to get them after lunch? While in town, I’ll pick up some beer and I’ll get Hilda to make us a pizza later and you can hang out for the evening. I’ll take you back home tonight.”

“You don’t have to spend the whole day with me, Max.” She leans back. “I mean you have to have better things to do.”

“I’d like to be honest with you, Alex. You’re fun and easy to get along with and I’m really enjoying your company. It’s not often I find someone who’s so easy to be around.”

She makes this half smile, half frown thing with her face and I find it adorable. “That’s nice to hear. To be honest with you, I’ve never been told that before. So the answer is yeah, I’ll hang out with you this evening, Max, it sounds like a lot of fun.”

Alexis

A bright red convertible sits in the drive of Max’s house. He took me to get my contacts, and we picked up some beer and apparently he considers me funny and fun to be around.

With my contacts in, I can see the mansion and it’s awesome.

“Now that everything’s not a big blur, may I say, this place is beautiful?”

“Thanks. I like it.” He looks agitated as he parks and looks at me. “That girl who called me earlier when we were in the restaurant is here. That’s her car. She’s quite the bitch so don’t get offended by anything that comes out of her fake mouth. I’ll get rid of her as soon as I can. I’m going to tell her we have to get to work right away, so don’t mention swimming, okay?”

“So she’s your girlfriend then?”

He shakes his head. “No, but she isn’t aware of that yet. She doesn’t want the same things I do. I’m going to break it off with her, but I just decided that last night. Today’s not the day to do it, I’ll most likely do it tomorrow.”

“K,” I say and hop out of the car.

Max walks around the car and grabs my hand, pulling me along with him. As we enter the house, a shrill noise hurts my ears. “Where’s my Maxi baby?”

Max rolls his eyes and whispers, “I’m so sorry for what’s about to happen.”

A tall, thinner than necessary creature comes into view as we enter the large living area. From far away she’s gorgeous, but as we get closer I can see the obvious fake breasts, lips, and cheek implants.

Max lets my hand go and moves forward as she throws out one of her tentacle like arms and wraps it around him in the most awkward hug I’ve ever seen. Her bony finger extends out at me as she asks, “Who are you?”

I give her a smile and find myself happy to know Max is dumping her. He can do so much better. “Hi,” I say extending my hand to shake hers. “I’m Alex, I work for Max.”

She looks at me like I’ve thrown dog feces at her, so I drop my hand to my side as it’s obvious she’ll not be shaking it. The disgust for me infiltrates her voice as she says, “Okay, and what are you?”

Max takes her by her very bony shoulders and looks her in the eye. “No, Lauren. I can’t allow you to talk to her like that.”

The woman’s eyes fall on me again. “It’s a girl?”

I roll my eyes instead of saying some snappy comeback. Max takes care of her though. “She and I need to get to work. It may take us all night to figure out what the mistake is in this spreadsheet.”

One side of her lips move up as she says from the corner of her mouth, “A math nerd, I knew it. Does it have a girlfriend?”

My eyebrows raise and I smile at her. “I’m not a lesbian, but thanks for assuming that, I’m flattered.”

Her attention turns back to Max as she strokes his cheek with a long, red fingernail. “I’ll stop by after the club tonight and slip into your bed, lover.”

“Not tonight, Lauren. I have to work. I just told you that.”

Somehow she makes her bottom lip jut out more than it already does, which seems impossible. “Boo, hiss, darlin’ what shall I ever do with myself?”

Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he begins walking her to the door. “Tomorrow I’ll pick you up for lunch so we can talk, okay?”

Not watching them as the sight of him touching her makes my skin crawl, I hear her say, “That sounds like fun.”

He walks her out and I find myself smiling evilly as I’m pretty sure the lunch won’t be fun at all. I wonder if she’ll shed actual tears or manufactured ones when he tells her it’s over.

The sound of him running up behind me makes me turn around, and he grabs my hand, making me run along with him out to the pool. “I’m sorry you had to deal with her,” he says over his shoulder as he pulls me along. “She’s a horrible person. Why did I ever entertain the thought she might be the right girl for me? Hell, she’s not even pretty, long legs or not.”

I giggle at his rambling as he pulls up short in front of an ornate wooden door near the pool. He opens the door and gestures for me to go in before him. “Marble floors?” I ask as I admire the gorgeous floor.

“Of course,” he says, then points to a door off the large room which has a pool table in the middle of it. “Go in there and shave what you need to, then find yourself a bathing suit in one of the drawers. There’s all sizes.” He looks at me. “No big ones though. I only have up to a size three I think.”

My shoulders slump. “Man! I’m a size five.”

A short burst of laughter comes out of his mouth. “You may be wearing a size five, but I assure you, you’re not that size. Those clothes you have on are swallowing you. Put on a three and see if all your stuff doesn’t fit in it just fine.”

“My stuff?”

He pats my butt and pushes me towards the door. “You know what I mean, scoot.”

I rummage through the drawers and all he has in them are bikinis. I never wear them because my body is so abnormally long and drawn out. My legs are long, my arms are long, even my torso is long. I’m built like a scarecrow. But he’s so excited, almost like a little kid, so I shave and moisturize, and place my boobs in a tiny top and my butt in skimpy bottoms and check to make sure that I had got rid of all the hair I needed to. I’m horrified by what I observe in the mirror, so I grab a towel and wrap it around me.

As I walk out, I find him changed out of his suit and into a pair of board shorts and lounging in the sun already.

“Hey!” I call out as I make my way to him and try not to stare at his completely gorgeous body.

He has to have chiseled abs, doesn’t he? He’s out of my league in every single way possible.

“Really?” he asks as he peers over his Ray-Bans at me.

“What?”

“You still have your hair in a bun, Alex. No one can have fun while wearing a bun. It rhymes so it’s a fact.” He grabs something off the table next to him and tosses it to me.

“Put those on, they’re for you.”

I look down at what I’ve caught and see a pair of Ray-Bans in my hand. “I don’t feel comfortable wearing these, Max. I mean I might break them and I can’t afford to replace them.”

“Why would you need to replace something I’m giving you? Just put them on, take that stupid bun out and drop the towel so then we can swim.”

“Bossy much?” I mumble as I pull the pins from my hair, then put the glasses on and place my towel over the chair near me.

What do I care what he thinks about my scarecrow body anyway? It’s not like he’s interested in me like that, he probably won’t even look at me.

Max

One second I’m looking at easily the most nerdy-looking girl I’ve ever laid eyes on, but she’s sweet and funny so she’s growing on me. The next glance I take at her makes my mind stop.

Time stands still as she shakes out her long, wavy, shiny, blonde hair. The towel flies off her stunning body as she puts the sunglasses on and she’s drop dead gorgeous. Not a bit of make-up on and she’s taking my breath away.

“I wanna take you on my yacht.” The words come out of my mouth without me thinking of them.

“You have a yacht?” she asks, but I can’t form more words so I just nod.

She walks to the edge of the pool and I can’t quit looking at her legs. They’re long, lean, tan, and I need to touch them.

I wonder if I can get her to wrap them around my waist!

One toe she dips into the water and my eyes move up her long legs to her perfectly rounded ass, and I want to touch it really badly.

I wonder if she’ll let me do that!

She turns around and waves at me and her perky, one hundred percent natural, breasts move slightly and I want to bury my face in them.

You think she’ll let me?

“Come on,” she shouts.

I grab the beer sitting next to me and chug it. I need to act cool, not like a horny teenage boy. Finally able to speak I say, “I’m coming, Lexi.”

Where’d that come from?

“Lexi?” she asks with a little laugh. “Okay.”

Okay, she said I can call her that. Good cause she ain’t no Alex. Not anymore. I take her hand as I get to her and lead her around to the boulders. “You first,” I say as I stop at the back of the rocks and gesture for her to walk up the stairs in front of me. She smiles and walks past me. Her ass is a sight to behold and now I completely understand why men started this gentlemanly practice so long ago.

She turns and looks back at me as I’ve frozen in place at the bottom stair. “Come on, Max! I wanna jump together. It’s more fun when you do it that way.”

I shake my head to clear it and make the gears move again. As I get to the top, I grab her hand. “Okay, let’s do this,” I say then jump.

As I push my head up out of the water, her giggle hits my ears like magic bubbles and I must be staring at her without realizing it because she splashes me in the face. “You didn’t even count to three. Everyone knows you have to count to three before you jump.”

“Come on, baby. Let’s go again and this time I’ll count to three,” I say as I pull her along with me and swim to the side of the pool.

Pulling myself up on the edge of the pool I reach down to help her out. She takes my hand and I pull her up, finding her light as a feather. “Thanks,” she says as she shivers a little. “Now this time we need to do cannon balls when we jump in.”

She’s unlike any woman I’ve ever known. Not one of my previous girlfriends would’ve ever done this. I watch her climb the stairs in front of me and she looks back, catching me checking out her bodacious bottom. She shakes her head and laughs. As I get to the top I turn to her, about to make my move since she’s caught me looking anyway.

Her arms come out to wrap around me. She pushes her palms against my chest and I’m falling backwards into the water. As I come up for air, I catch her coming into the water, holding her knees to her chest and a wave of water washes over me, knocking me back under.

I swim to the side and pull myself up on the ladder and look around to find her lounging on the Baja bench area of the pool. I swim over and smile. “What was that for?”

“I saw you, Max.” She pulls the sunglasses down and her eyes are wide. “I know I’ve got a wacky shape, and I hoped you wouldn’t make me feel stupid for wearing this tiny thing my butt’s hanging out of. Obviously you were about to come up with a clever joke so I pushed you in before I had to hear it.”

I was going to kiss her, and she thinks I was going to make fun of her. Now that’s just really sad.

As I slide up on the bench next to her I ask, “Why do you think you have a wacky-shaped body, Lexi?”

Her head tilts, and she says, “Come on, I’m not blind. I’m shaped like some kinda scarecrow with floppy boobs and a lumpy bottom.” Her hand goes to her perfectly flat stomach and runs over it. “And my big gut makes this an all the way round wacky body.”

What does she see when she looks in the mirror?

I just stare at her and blink as she’s clearly nuts. Finally, I manage to say, “You should let me take you to my stylist. She can fix what little needs fixed. We can put you in the right-sized clothes then I’ll take you out and you can watch the men fight like wild animals for your attention.”

With a snort, she laughs and I have to laugh too at the ridiculous sound.

“Right! Why do people think it’s funny to be so mean? I know I’m unattractive. I get it, okay?”

“I’m not kidding, I’m being absolutely serious,” I say as I stand up and grab her hand, pulling her up. “That’s it. I’m taking you to her today and I’m going to show you how completely gorgeous you can be.”

I pull her with me out of the pool as she protests, “You’re crazy, Max. I don’t have the money for that and it’s stupid anyway.”

“I’m paying and you’re going to see a new you by the end of the day,” I say as I open the door to the pool house and usher her inside. I grab a sundress out of the closet. I can’t allow her to put those awful clothes back on. I kick out a pair of flip flops that look to be her size and turn to her. “Put this on and do not put your hair up in a damn bun. You need this, Lexi. You need to know what you’re missing.”

“What about the spreadsheet?” she asks as I push her into the bathroom. “We should be working on that.”

“Tomorrow, I promise we’ll do it tomorrow.”

“I’ll let you do this, Max. You’ll see, you can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear,” she says and her eyes droop a little at the edges. “I’m a plain Jane with a horrible shape.”

“You’re wrong, now get dressed.”

How could such a beautiful girl think so little about herself?

Alexis

My eyebrows sting. My feet are in a tub of some kind of water that’s burning them some and a certain amount of heat is building in my cheeks as my new BFF, Max, argues with his stylist about adding some highlights to my hair. He’s against it and she’s for it.

I’ve apparently become his project. He thinks he’s magic and can make me into a beautiful woman.

The stylist looks at me in the long mirror. “I’ll just let her decide.”

Max makes a sound like a buzzer and shakes his head.

“She can’t. She has the most terrible taste known to man.”

“Thanks!”

The stylist whose name is Cake - I know, striper name - but she said it’s the real name her parents gave her, says, “Max, you’ve embarrassed her.”

“No, he’s right. Do whatever he says. I want him to do all the deciding so he can’t make me do this again when I’m still plain and clothes don’t fit me right.”

Cake’s long, elegant hands flow over my face as she says, “Plain? My dear your bone structure is exquisite. Your hair is naturally gorgeous.”

Max interrupts, “Ha, I told you!”

She casts a glare at him then turns sweet eyes back to me.

“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted; your skin seems to have never seen a blemish.”

“I’ve never worn make-up and I wash my face twice a day with ivory soap.”

Cake’s eyes go wide.

“No make-up ever? Surely when you went to your high school prom you wore some.”

I laugh. “I didn’t go to the prom or any dance. I never got asked.”

Cake looks over her shoulder at Max then back at me. She leans in to whisper, “You have had a boyfriend, haven’t you?” I shake my head, and she leans in closer. “Do you still hold your, ‘V’ card?”

I squint at her because I have no idea what she’s talking about. “A what card?”

She asks so quietly I barely hear her, “Are you a virgin?”

My face turns beat red and I stammer, “Uh, umm, I, well, yeah.”

A frown covers her face. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-five. That’s the second time today I’ve been asked that. There’s no age limit on virginity.”

Max sputters and coughs as he walks to my side. “What did you say?”

Averting my eyes, I say, “I’m a virgin. Okay there it is, the topping on the looser sundae which is me.”

Max takes me by the shoulders and looks into my eyes as if he’s looking for something. “Have you ever been kissed?” I roll my eyes and shake my head. I don’t know how much more humiliation I can take. He drops his hands and turns around and mutters something to himself that sounds a lot like, “That’s why.” He turns back to me.

“Anyone ever try to kiss you?” I shake my head and he laughs.

“That’s mean,” I said. I would have walked out of there if I had any idea of where I was and how I could get back home. Which would do me no good as I’ve left my fanny pack back at his house and it has my house key in it.

Cake swats at Max, sending him out of her way.

“Go sit and let me help this poor girl out. Lord if anyone has ever needed my services this child does.”

For what seems like an eternity, Cake plucks, tweezes, cuts, curls, then spoons some stuff on my face and pulls it back off. She gets out some type of monster case full of make-up all while not allowing me to see my reflection in the mirror.

Finally, Cake, smiles at me. “Okay, I hope you’re ready to see a brand new you, Lexi.”

Max jumps up and comes to me. “I don’t want to miss her reaction to this.”

He takes my shoulder and slowly spins me around. The face I see in the mirror is not mine. “That’s not me,” I say as I reach up to touch my perfectly curled hair. “My hair doesn’t do this.” I run my hand over my cheek, which is perfectly pink. “This isn’t my face.”

“Gorgeous,” Max says as he looks at me in the mirror. His cheek is near mine. He smiles and gives me a wink. “We look good together.”

Cake takes off the plastic cape covering me and Max takes my hand.

“Okay, so my head’s done, but here comes the hard part, my wacky body.”

Cake rolls her eyes. “Oh, Lord, precious girl. What do you think is wrong with your body?”

“How about I tell you what’s right about it? That list is much shorter,” I say as Max takes my hand and pulls me from the salon.

He looks back at Cake and smiles.

“You add on a few thousand dollars as a bonus, girl.”

I look at him like he’s crazy and Cake laughs.

“Thank you, baby. You bring her back to me in a month and I’ll make sure she’s kept up. Good luck getting laid, Lexi.”

“What?” I say as Max pulls me out the door.Max

I can’t quit looking at her. She’s more beautiful than I ever imagined. We’re on our way to get her some clothes and she’s eerily quiet.

“So what are you thinking, Lexi?”

Her eyes sparkle as she looks at me. Her pink lips open a bit but she closes them, hesitating before she opens them again.

“This isn’t me, Max. You spent a ton of money already and I realize I can’t talk you out of spending more, but it’ll all be for nothing because I can’t keep this up. I can’t fix my hair like this or put on make-up at all.”

“Lexi, it’s not the exact hairstyle,” I say as I take her hand and hold it in mine. “The haircut will still be great if you just wash it and let it dry. The make-up doesn’t matter because you have a natural beauty. The make-up only enhances what’s already there. You’ll still be beautiful without it.”

Her head drops, and she looks away.

“My goofy body will still be just that. I don’t want to find someone and get laid, like Cake said. Before today, no one has seen that much of my body. When I swim, I wear a one piece and shorts and a T-shirt. No one wants to look at this mess.”

I do!

I rub my thumb over her knuckles and lift her hand to my lips, placing a kiss on it. “Your body is no mess, and I’m not prone to lying.”

She smiles at me and a little part of my heart melts. “You’re too nice, Max.”

I want her to see her true self-worth and how gorgeous she is and in demand she’ll be before I let her know I want her to be with me.

“Tonight I’m taking you out to a club and I’ll leave you at the table alone for a bit. You’ll see men flock to you as soon as I walk away. But you’re coming home with me, understand?”

Her eyes dart to mine as she squeezes my hand.

“Oh, Joseph and Mary, please don’t leave me with a bunch of strange men, Max. I’ll freak out. I mean when my mouth opens they’ll most likely run away anyway if any do come up to me, but in case one of them gets too fresh with me, please interrupt us. I don’t want my first kiss to be with a stranger.”

It won’t be!Alexis

So here I am in a dress that costs more than my car did. It fits surprisingly well and I do have more confidence about my appearance. I sit at a small table in some spectacular club Max has taken me to, and he’s left me alone to see if anyone takes a shot at me. Which I don’t think’s going to… Oh, who’s this?

“Hi, I noticed you when you walked in,” a tall, and completely gorgeous man says.

Another walks up next to him. “I saw her first, Clint.” He extends his hand which I return the gesture and he takes my hand and kisses the top of it. “I saw you when you got out of your car at the valet. My name is…”

A tall man who I recognize as a basketball player from the Rockets steps up and both men look up at him and groan. They step back as he leans down and takes my hand. “Hello,” he says with a deep voice. “I’m…”

“I know who you are,” I say, finding it unbelievable Max was right.

“Dance with me,” he not so much asks, as demands.

I’ve never danced, except alone at home. That ding dang Max didn’t school me on this part. I allow the tall man who smells expensive to lead me to the dance floor. Though the music is fast, he holds me tight to him and moves so slow that I don’t have to worry about my dance moves after all.

“Mmmm. You smell nice. You didn’t tell me your name,” he says.

“Alex.”

He pulls back and looks me up and down. “You are a woman, right?”

“Uh, yeah.”

His brows pull together. “From birth?”

“My real name is Alexis, but people call me Alex.”

“Alexis,” he says in a kinda groany voice. “Can I call you that instead?”

“Sure,” I say as he pulls me back close to him and sways slowly to the fast moving music.

My eyes dart around the crowd to find Max. I’m getting nervous that this man will try to kiss me, and while what a story that would be, I don’t know him and don’t wish him to be my first kiss. I haven’t found that guy yet, though if Max wasn’t so out of my league, he’d be one I might choose.

The song ends and my hand is lifted to his mouth as he leaves a kiss on top. “Wanna get out of here?” he asks as he runs his large hand around my waist and pulls me close.

I search wildly for my protector and find him nowhere. Then my eyes land on the woman who was at Max’s house earlier and she’s draped all over him. He throws me a wave.

That rat feces is waving me off!

My tall companion takes my lack of an answer as a yes and begins to move me towards the exit. I glance back at Max who shakes his head at me. I shrug because I don’t have any idea of what to say or do. Suddenly he breaks away from the horrible creature and sprints across the room to us. He catches my hand and does some fancy move to get me out of the grip of the giant man.

“Whoa there,” he says as he looks up at the guy. “Sorry man, she’s taken.”

I smile and wrap my arms around Max’s neck and whisper in his ear, “You waited long enough didn’t you?”

“I ran into a bit of trouble. We got to go. I think I’ve proved you’re gorgeous to the opposite sex anyway. Plus a few females I overheard were wondering if you might be into chicks, so there,” he says and takes me out to his car.

I pull on my seatbelt and smile at Max as he gets behind the wheel.

“What do you think of that, Max? A real celebrity was about to take me home with him. Not too bad, I’d say.”

Max runs his fingers along my cheek.

“Not good, either, for the guy you end up with. You’re so gorgeous he’ll be fighting them off all the time.”

I lean back into the soft seat and sigh as I think about the guy I end up with and wish I was in Max’s league. He’s so down to Earth for a rich dude. Not that I’ve ever known any, but I imagine most are some other way, not cool like he is.

“Thanks Max.”

“Wanna have a sleepover?” he asks with a smile. “We can watch a movie and I’ll even make you popcorn if you want.”

“You know what I really want?” I ask as I sit up suddenly excited about hanging out more with Max. “Ice cream. The kind with chocolate and caramel, maybe some pecans or something.”

“I love ice cream, let’s get some and go home. What kind of movie do you want to see?”

“I’d like to watch the first Transformers movie.”

His face lights up and he holds his fist up which I bump with mine.

“Hell yeah, I love that one. Most girls hate that kind of movie.”

“I’m not most girls. But I have to get out of this dress and to be honest the make-up has to come off.”

“That’s cool, baby. I’ll lend you a T-shirt, it’ll cover all the necessary parts.”

I look out the window and smile at how excited he seems.

What a dork I am. I could’ve went home with a sports star, but instead I’m going to hang out with a man completely out of my league and eat ice cream while we watch a cartoon come to life.

Max

Even though she’s washed away the make-up and slipped into one of my T-shirts, she’s still got me captivated. She’s holding my arm and laughing into my shoulder at the movie we’re watching. I want to make a move to kiss her and let her know how I feel about her, but I can’t believe I’m so afraid to. I don’t want to scare her off, she’s so insecure and I can see it in her face that she thinks I’m too good for her. She sees me as a person she can be herself with simply because I’m unattainable.

But I’m completely attainable!

The movie’s over and this is my chance. I turn to her and take her hand in mine. “Did you have fun today, Lexi?”

“I did,” she says as she leans her head on my shoulder. “I’m tired. You wanna show me to my bedroom?”

I want to show her to my bedroom!

I get up and pull her up with me, not letting her hand go. We get to the stairs and I gesture for her to walk in front of me but she looks at me and shakes her head.

“No sir, we walk together, you’re not going to watch me climb stairs again.”

I snap my fingers and smile as I take each step with her. The long hallway I lead her down and go to the bedroom across the hall from mine.

“Here we are, Lexi.”

This is it, my last chance.

I turn her back to the door and place my hand behind her neck, making her face tilt up to mine. “Lexi, can I be your first kiss?”

Her hands move up to my chest, holding me back.

“Max, I’m not someone who takes things lightly. Who I give myself to is important to me.”

“What if I told you I want us to start seeing each other? I find you fascinating and want to get to know you better. Don’t you like me too?”

The blue of her eyes sparkles. “Sure I like you, but, Max, we just met.”

“I already know you better than any one of the girls I’ve dated. You’ve probably let me in more than you have any other man.” I run my finger over her lips and they quiver. “Let me be your first kiss and let’s see where that leads us, please.”

“You’re out of my league, Max. Besides, I’m no party girl.” A tear glistens at the edge of her eye.

I kiss the corner of her eye. “I’m tired of party girls. I want to settle down and you fit in perfectly with that. You and I are a great match. So, what do you say to giving it a shot?”

“Max, please, I’m not ready.”

I lean in and whisper, “You are, Lexi.” Then place my lips on her neck. She takes a deep breath as I glide my lips across her cheek and stop before I touch her lips with mine. “Please say yes, Lexi.”

Her hands run up my arms and she slips her arms around my neck, then says, “Yes.”

Thank you!

As our lips touch explosions occur throughout my entire body. A long piece of her hair I wrap my hand around and pull back so her mouth opens beneath mine. Sending my tongue past her soft lips I taste the sweetness of her mouth. Her body loses all the tension it had carried, and she leans into me, her breasts press against my chest. Our hearts pound in unison. I want to scoop her up and take her to my bed, but I realize I can’t. I manage to pull my mouth from hers though it takes everything in me to do it. My forehead rests on hers as our ragged breaths mingle between our now very hot bodies. I’m certain I’ve found her, the mother of my children, and the other part of me.

Alexis

As I lay in the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in my mind spins out of control. Max kissed me! It was like nothing like I had ever imagined. I wanted the kiss to go on forever. Something aches in my lower regions and leaves me feeling like I need more from him, but I can’t go that far with him, not ever.

I wonder if everyone’s body burns as if it’s on fire when they kiss.

He wants to start dating. I know I’m not what he deserves though and I have to disappear before I really fall for him.

Part 2 Secrets of Attraction

Alexis

Thunder rumbles in the distance as I walk the three dogs that I walk each day. Large, dark clouds are moving in and I begin to make my way back to the van that I had bought to help me in a new career as a dog walker and mobile pet groomer.

Six months have passed since I kissed Max Lane, and while I found that I really liked him, I’ll never be enough for him. He blew up my phone and camped out by my front door for about a month as I hid from him.

A Mickey Mouse set of scrubs I’m wearing as I make my way back to the van to hopefully get the dogs loaded up before the rain begins. Two of the dogs are large, one a Great Dane, the other a Doberman. The third is a tiny Shih Tzu, named Feisty. A deafening clap of thunder sends the dogs pulling in three different directions at once. I struggle to hang onto all the leashes, but the Great Dane gets free and bolts away, going the opposite direction.

“Diggity dang dog, get back here!” I yell out to the dog, but it runs like its tail’s on fire. As I grab up the small dog, I pull the Doberman along with me and run to secure the animals in the van. I take off after the big dog who’s quickly fading from my sight.

The tail end of the dog is all I see as the black and white behemoth disappears around the corner of the building which houses the restrooms.

I come around the corner at full speed and run into a large broad chest. A white shirt is all I see as I hear a man’s voice say, “Whoa there. Did you lose this monster?”

I glance down to find him holding the purple leash which had slipped from my hand. The Great Dane sits on her haunches next to his long legs.

“Sorry,” I say as I back away from him.

My heart stops beating.

It’s him!

“Max!”

His arms go around me instantly, and he whispers, “Lexi, my God! It’s really you.”

The world tilts as his warm breath hits my neck. My body melts into his, and I never want him to let me go. But a voice comes from behind him, making him unwrap his arms, and he takes a step back, leaving me breathless. “Max, who’s this, darling?” a tall blonde woman with too much make-up on asks as she places her hand on his shoulder.

“An old friend,” he answers as he keeps his eyes on mine. “How’ve you been?”

“I, uh, you know, umm, I guess fine is the word I’m looking for.”

Max laughs. “Missed that stammering you’re so good at.”

My entire body aches to go back into his arms and go back to that night and that kiss. It seems my heart is already breaking, so I say, “I need to get back to the other dogs, so can you give me the leash?”

His hand brushes mine in the exchange and my body tingles. I peek up to find him licking his lips.

“Lexi, let me walk you to your bike.”

“I have a van now. I’m in the dog walking and grooming business. Thanks for offering though.”

I pull at the dog and turn away from Max. After only a few steps his hand catches my wrist, stopping my hasty retreat.

“Lexi, please answer when I call,” he whispers. Then out loud he says, “It was nice to see you. Don’t be a stranger.”

I turn back to him, and a lump forms in my throat. I give him a nod and a smile covers his handsome face. With a quick turn, I walk away as tears blur my vision. My heart races as I think about how hard it is to see him again, and how hard it will be to get him out of my mind again.

Max

Lightning crisscrosses the dark sky as I drive Ashley to her hotel.

“Are you taking me back to the room?”

“I have to get to work very early in the morning and need to get to sleep early tonight.”

Disappointment fills her face, and she says, “Why can’t I stay the night at your place?”

A deep breath I take.

“You’ll distract me too much.”

“Oh, I see.”

Ashely is great on paper as the dating website matched us up, but the truth is I don’t have a connection with her like I do with Lexi. Now that Lexi said she’ll answer my calls, I’m not about to let her get away again.

I pull up to the front of the massive hotel and glance at Ashely.

“See you tomorrow.”

“You aren’t even walking me up?”

“Do you need me to?” I ask as the doorman comes and opens the door, reaching in to help her out. “He’ll be sure you get to your room safely.”

“Fine, Max,” she huffs as she gets out of the car, then turns back. “I hope you have this business taken care of by tomorrow afternoon so you can pay some attention to me for a change.” She slams the car door and walks away.

For a change? Really! I’ve been with her non-stop for three days and she has the audacity to say that. Why do I keep picking entitled, needy bitches?

I glance at the clock on the dashboard and find it to be only eight o’clock. I type Lexi’s address into the GPS and start for her house. Tomorrow will not be soon enough. She said she’d answer the phone for me, so hopefully she’ll answer her door.

Alexis

The shower is warm as water runs over my tired body. I’m unsure if I’m so wiped out from chasing the Great Dane or running into Max. His touch took a lot out of me. The woman he was with looked like she had a hold on him she’d not soon let go of. He’s moved on, and it bothers me more than I ever thought it would.

I get out of the shower and dry off then put on Max’s T-shirt I ran off in when I ran away from his mansion that morning. In the beginning, I wore it often to sleep in. It gave me such nice dreams, but after a while it just hurt too much and I put it away in the back of my nightgown drawer. The lacey panties he bought me to go with the expensive dress which I left at his place I put on as well.

Yeah I get it I’m a weirdo! Hasn’t that been established?

The spark he’d incited in me with his kiss has been renewed and I want to revel in the memory if only for a little while. I make my way down the short hallway to the living room, humming as I go. The television I turn to the music channel and dance to the kitchen where I pour myself a glass of wine. Both the glass and the bottle I take back with me to the living room. I flop down on the sofa, then grab the book I’ve been reading off the coffee table, taking a long sip before I begin to read.

A knock comes on my door, and I sit up, nearly spilling the drink. “Now who could that be at this time of night?” I glance at the clock on the wall. “Oh! It’s only a little after eight. Bet it’s old Mrs. Bouchard, needing sugar, or trash bags, or laundry soap. The woman never has anything and does her housework at night. Crazy old bat.”

Without asking who it is, I open the door to find Max standing there with a six pack of beer and a gallon of my favorite ice cream.

“Didn’t know which one you were up for, so I brought both,” he says as he walks into my apartment.

Max puts the ice cream in the freezer and the beer in the fridge as I close and lock the door in stunned silence.

“I see wine on the table,” he says and grabs a wine glass out of the cabinet before he goes over and sits on the sofa. He fills the glass with wine then pats the place next to him.

“Come sit with me. Let’s catch up.”

My words dripping with sarcasm, I say, “Please make yourself at home.” I sit down, leaving plenty of room between us.

Max gives me his million dollar smile and says, “Thank you, Lexi. Now tell me how you got into the dog walking business, and how that’s going for you.”

I take a long drink from my wine glass and refill it to the very top.

“I wanted to make a change, so I did.”

Max watches me pick up the glass and take another long drink. He reaches up after I’m done and takes the glass from my hand, setting it further away from me. He looks back at me and asks, “Nervous?”

“Thirsty,” I answer as I sit back. “Who’s the woman you were with at the park?”

The grin which comes over Max’s face gives me a clue he’s happy I asked. He leans in.

“Tell me, Lexi, are you wearing your contacts. Can you see me?”

“I have them on, I can see you just fine, Max. So who was she?”

“That’s my shirt you have on,” he says as he plays with the hem, his hand brushes my thigh. “Do you wear it often?”

I pull at the bottom, trying to cover more of my exposed legs.

“No, it’s been months. I didn’t realize I was having company. Are you going to answer me or not?”

Only one side of his lips raise in a crooked smile.

“What do you care who she is?”

I lean up and grab the glass again, taking another long drink before I place it back on the table and answer, “I guess I don’t. You can see whoever you want to Max. Why you keep choosing the same type I don’t understand, but it’s not my business anyway.”

Max takes a drink of his wine and puts it down.

“I may ask her to marry me.”

My mouth drops open and I jump up and begin pacing back and forth. “Why?” I ask as I throw my arms in the air. “Why do you want to do that? I realize I don’t know her, and she didn’t say anything mean to me like that last girl, but she’s so, so… Well you get what I’m saying.”

He laughs. “There’s that stammer I love so much.”

I glare at him.

“Tell me why you’re in such a rush to get married?”

“Three days after you snuck out on me I turned thirty years old,” he says as he pats the place next to him, beckoning me to sit. I comply, but not as closely as he directed.

“Guess who I spent my birthday with, Lexi.”

“I have no idea. Probably a bunch of models.”

“Hilda, James, and the guy who cuts the grass.”

I drop my eyes as my heart aches. “No one else?”

“No one else, Lex.” His hand moves over mine. “I wanted you to be there. It’s all I wished for the whole day. I called and texted and begged you to come, if only as a friend, but you ignored me.”

Tears well up in my eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Max. I never thought I was hurting you.”

“Of course it hurt, Lexi.” His hand runs up my arm and around my shoulders as he pulls me to him. I lay my head on his broad chest. His lips touch the top of my head. “Why would you think your leaving without any reason why, wouldn’t hurt me?”

“I’m nobody. A nerdy girl with no real future. I’m not anywhere near good enough for you,” I say then find my hand on his tight stomach. “You’re rich, built like a steal cage, and gorgeous, not to mention brilliant.”

He tightens his arm, hugging me closer.

“You’re not a nerdy girl with no future. I think you’re courageous. It seems you’re quite the entrepreneur, doing the whole freelance accountant thing, which I still need if you care to help an old friend out, then starting your own pet thing.”

“How come you’re so nice to me?” I ask, as I run my hand over his abs.

“Why wouldn’t I be? I find you gorgeous and funny as well as interesting.” His hand runs through my hair. “I’m tired of being alone. I want to start a family. Ashely wants similar things in life. Unfortunately, she’s not ready to start a family. I think I might be able to talk her into it within a year or so though.”

“Do you love her?”

His silence answers my question. He finally says, “Love isn’t everything I suppose. The website I went to matched her and me up and we are kind of compatible. She won’t play in the swimming pool with me, or ride in my helicopter, but she likes to shop and I don’t mind that.”

With his words I pull away from him. “Really? You have got to be kidding me!” I take him by his shoulders, shaking him. “Wake up dude! She’s not the one for you. You can’t ask her to marry you. Gee whiz, she might say yes and make the rest of your life miserable.”

Slowly he moves closer until his face is inches from mine. “Give me a reason not to, Lexi.”

“What are you saying, Max?”

“It’s you I want. With the snap of your fingers she’ll be gone.”

“You don’t really want that, do you?”

He nods and takes a strand of my hair in his hand, twisting it around until my face tilts up to his. “I want you, Lexi. I only want you.”

The warmth of his breath so close to my lips makes mine part and breathe him in. “Max.”

“Say it, Lexi,” his tone stern. “Tell me what you want.” He pulls my hair hard and brings his lips even closer. My arms go around him, but he keeps his lips just out of reach.

“I want you, Max.” I breathe out and find his lips on mine, sending me to the place I’ve dreamt of going to again. In an instant my back is on the sofa as he crushes my body under his. His tongue thrusts through my parted lips and he searches every part of my mouth as I groan into his. His hands slip under my T-shirt and find my naked breasts which he cups in his hands, squeezing and pinching my nipples. His mouth is hard on mine, and I tangle my hands into his dark, wavy hair.

One hand he moves to my bottom, gripping it. He moves the other one down to grip the other cheek and picks me up as he stands, making me wrap my legs around him. He pulls his mouth from mine and says, “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this.”

His forehead rests on mine.

“Max, I have no protection, we can’t… uh, you know, ummm.”

“There you go with that sexy stammering again. You’re making me crazy with it. If we have to slow down, you’ll need to quit talking or I won’t be able to control myself.”

“I’ll shut up then ‘cause we have to slow way down.”

“Lexi, I’m clean. I always use a condom, and you’re a virgin so we can do this without protection, baby.” His hands grip my rear end as he takes a step towards my bedroom.

“I trust you, but there’s more than one reason to use protection, Max.”

“The other reason doesn’t matter to me. I want the other reason, Lexi.”

His words stop me, and I drop my legs to the floor.

“Stop!”

I push against his chest but he refuses to let me go.

“Why?”

With a low and stern voice I say, “Let me go, Max.”

He walks until my back touches the wall.

“No, you can say what you have to say while I hold you.” His lips touch my neck lightly. “Go ahead talk, baby, I’m listening.” Kisses down my cheek he trails to my neck as he runs his hands over my arms.

I shiver with his touch. “You’re going way too fast, Max.” He nips at my neck and my knees weaken. “Umm. Like I was saying, uh, you need to slow. What’s that you’re doing? God, it feels so good. Anyway, like I was…”

Moving his mouth to the other side of my neck his face passes in front of mine where he stops for a second and looks at me. “You’re really beautiful, Lexi,” he says then leans down to kiss the other side of my neck. “Keep talking, baby, I can hear you. I understand what you’re saying. You want me to go slower right?”

“What?” I say as my hands flow over his tightly muscled back. “Dang it, you have a lot of muscles.”

His lips move over my skin as he says, “Yeah, I doubled up on my workouts after you left. It helped me when I thought about you too much. I never really stopped thinking about you, but it took my attention for a little while.” His hand takes mine, and he pushes it under his shirt which somehow has come untucked. “Handle that six pack, you made that happen with your stubborn ways.”

I run my hand over the muscles and sigh. “Sorry I did that to you, but it’s fantastic if that helps at all.”

“You want to really help?” he asks as his lips travel up my neck across my cheek and hover near mine.

I nod as I bite my lower lip and stare at his plump yet chiseled lips, which are the color of caramel and every bit as sweet.

“If you take me to your bed and strip all my clothes off and run your hands over every inch of my body. So you can see just what it is your leaving did to me.”

I giggle. “You are smooth. I’ll give you that, Max.” Pulling myself from his grip, I move back to the sofa and pick up the glass of wine, finishing it off.

“You do realize we have known each other not much over twenty-four hours, right?”

“It’s been six months, Lexi.” His fingers move to unbutton his shirt, and he takes it off, then unbuckles his belt and pops the button on his slacks. “I’m not letting you get away with that crap of barely knowing each other. I know you better than anyone I’ve ever met.”

“What’s my favorite color?”

He hesitates for a moment, then moves towards me. “I bet it’s blue. Mine’s an odd one, it’s a light tan color. Do you want to know why?”

I peek down at the shirt I have on and back up at him. “Cause you’re horny and it’s the color I’m currently wearing. By the way, blue is my favorite color, so that’s a lucky guess.”

His slacks drop to the floor, leaving him in a tight pair of boxer briefs and I find that he’s more endowed than I imagined when he was pressed against me moments earlier. He slips his socks and shoes off as he takes a seat next to me, then leans back and lays his arms over the back of the sofa. “What else do you think is important to know about each other?”

With raised eyebrows, I ask, “Comfortable? Because I’d hate it if you weren’t.”

“You’re in something comfortable and a little revealing so why can’t I be?” he asks then leans over me to get his glass of wine, making sure that his naked chest brushes against mine.

With an eye roll, I gesture to the lump in his underwear. “I do believe yours are revealing more than mine are.”

He points to my chest as he pulls his eyebrows together. “Those perky, plump, bouncy things you’re trying to hide under there are stretching that shirt to the limit, and when you walk the bottom of your lacey panties peek out from underneath. Anyway back to getting to know each other so then we can move on to other things. My birthday is May the ninth, and I Googled you so I found yours is September twenty-third. You’re a Virgo and I’m a Taurus. I found out our signs go well together, romantically.”

“You did what to me? Did you seriously see if our Zodiac signs went well together?”

A deep chuckle he makes as he leans in close and strokes my cheek. “I Googled you, and yes, I checked out if we were compatible. We are, so what else?”

“If we’re really going to do this thing, this dating thing, which I’ve never done before,” I say as I fill my wine glass up and take it as I sit back. “I want to know everything there is about you. Why were you sent to live in a children’s home?”

The sparkle in his eyes dims, and he looks away.

“You sure you want to hear about that? It’s not pretty.”

I take his chin in my hand and make him look at me. “Isn’t that what relationships are all about, knowing the bad along with the good? Pretty or not, it made you who you are, and I’m interested in how you came to be this man who came from nothing and made so much of himself.”

He takes my hand from his chin and places it on his chest.

“No one has ever asked me that before. Not one of the women I’ve dated wanted to know anything real about me. It’s painfully obvious they care more about how I make money and how I plan to keep making it.”

“I want to know everything about you. Your money terrifies me to be honest. It’s what makes me feel so inadequate. Well, that and your rocking bod.” A shy smile he gives me and I add, “And those devastating great looks.”

“I never want you to feel inadequate,” he says as he takes me by my shoulders and pulls me close to him. “Okay then let me tell you my life story so you can see how I’m no different than you are, except for the mountains of money. To say you don’t have a rocking bod is untrue and you’re gorgeous, my dear.”

Max

Bright sunshine fills my eyes as I open them. Lexi sleeps nestled in my arms, we must’ve fallen asleep as we talked last night. She’s the best thing to ever come into my life, even better than the money. If I had to choose her or money, it would be her without hesitation.

I expected her to find my childhood disgusting, but she looked at me with compassion. My mother was a drug addict who must’ve pissed her whole family off so bad that they wanted nothing to do with her. I lived a horrible life with her until I was ten years old.

No grandparents did I ever meet or hear much about. Every once in a while my mother would be on the phone with someone who refused to send her money and she would slam the phone down and rant about how nobody loved her and how her parents were pieces of shit.

No father was never talked about - my last name was the same as hers. I changed my name when I turned eighteen so hopefully I never have to deal with her again in my life. To call my life before the children’s home a nightmare is a bit of an understatement.

The angel that I hold in my arms is all I care about now. The months without her have been awful. I pray she thinks herself worthy of me though it’s really me who is unworthy of her. She’s as innocent as they come, and I love her already. I’ll wait to tell her, because I’ve rushed this thing from the very beginning. She’s as skittish as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs; one wrong word and boom, she’ll be gone.

A firm hold I’ll have to keep on her now I understand how she can be. Her insecurities run deep. While I told her all about my life, she hasn’t opened herself up to me yet, but I’m changing that tonight. I’m taking her back to my place and making her tell me all about herself.

She held me off physically last night, and to tell the truth I’m kinda glad she did. I want this to work with her, and I’ll have to be patient. But crap, it’s hard. Even now I’m experiencing a familiar sensation in my lower regions as I hold her. I have to get out of here before I do something to send her running from me again. Plus I have to send Ashley back to New York, and that should be handled delicately.

I kiss the top of her head and gently roll away. She rolls towards where I was and a slight smile curves her lips. Sleepy eyes open and she says, “Are you leaving me this time?”

I pull my slacks on and laugh. “Never, princess.”

She giggles and runs a hand through her long, blonde locks.

“Princess?” she asks as she stretches. “You are full of sweet words. When will I see you again, Romeo?”

I zip my slacks and lean over her. “Every, single day, I’m never letting you go, baby.”

Her arms extend and I move into them. “Max, you’re so sweet. So I’ll see you today then?”

A kiss I leave on her cheek. “You’re so sweet. Are you doing some of your pet work today?”

“Yeah, I walk those three dogs every day. I have five appointments to groom dogs. I’ll be finished by six.”

“Are the dog walks the last thing you do?” I ask as I play with a strand of her gorgeous hair. She nods and I want to go right back to bed, but not to sleep. “Can I come help you?”

The smile she had blooms. “Be here by five, and you can.”

I kiss her cheek and stand to find my shirt. “I’ll be here, my sweet. After we walk the dogs, we can go to dinner, or would you rather eat at my place?”

She looks up at me as she rolls onto her stomach. Her blue eyes calling to me to stop buttoning my shirt and get back in that bed. “I like how you call that magnificent mansion, ‘your place’ it’s endearing. I’d love to go back there and eat one of Hilda’s creations, if the woman can make a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich she can probably make anything delicious. Tell her she doesn’t have to go all out and smancy or anything like that.”

“Yes mam. Any favorites?”

“Nope, I trust her choices. Oh, one more thing, Romeo.”

“Anything, baby,” I say then she turns back to me and her face is very serious.

Her fingers snap. “Did you see that?”

I know full well what she means. “I’ll deal with that first thing this afternoon. She doesn’t wake up until ten in the mornings and it takes her until noon to ready herself. So I’ll go to her hotel to pick her up and take her back to my place to let her down easy, okay?”

She chews at her bottom lip with a nervous expression. “Your place?”

“Why? You don’t think that’s a good idea?”

“There’s a lot of beds at your place, Max.”

Lightly I touch her lips with my fingertip. “You don’t have to worry about that, Lexi. I’m not the cheating kind and you and I are together, right?”

“Is that what people call it, being together?”

“I don’t care what you call it. Are you and I exclusive?”

She rolls away from me and says, “I’ve never even dated anyone else. So yeah, you and I are exclusive. If that’s how you really want it.”

I roll her back over. “That’s how I want it.” I press my lips to hers then pull back before I get carried away. “You have nothing to worry about. I’ll be here before five this evening and everything will be rosy from here on out.”

“Smooth sailin’ huh? My life’s never went real smoothly.”

“I hope it’s something you can get used to, princess.”

The lack of a smile on her face makes me uneasy, and I should stay with her, but I have to go. I throw her a kiss and it works, she’s smiling again. “Bye, see you at five.”

How can such a beautiful woman be so insecure?

Alexis

On my way to my first dog washing gig of the day, I sing along with the radio. Last night with Max was the best time I’ve ever had with anyone, and we didn’t do a thing, but talk.

There was a little hot action, but I kept it pretty clean.

I don’t know how long I can hold out on the guy, but I’m shooting for a month at least. He’s in such a rush to get married and have kids that I’m afraid he’ll knock me up before I even get to know him.

He told me about his childhood and it’s a heart breaker. His mother had a terrible addiction, but she made the right decision when she sent him to live in a secure home. Even though his young life was hard, he turned out pretty well.

It’s a mystery to me why he keeps hooking up with these uppity women when he’s so down to Earth. He said he’s telling that Ashley women he got hooked up with online that he’s no longer interested in her. I feel bad for her, but not so bad I’ll pass up a shot with him.

I’ve been an idiot. Leaving him in the first place was a mistake. I can see it all so clear now. Wish I wasn’t such an insecure whack job. It’s now my mission in life to stop this nonsense and let me be me. Dork or not, Max likes me, so I need to stop worrying about what might happen one day, and live this life.

Maybe since I turned twenty-six last month it has made me more mature and thinking of a future. I don’t want to be alone forever, nor a virgin for that matter. Max has awakened something in me that I didn’t realize was asleep.

I wonder if he’s telling her now, and if he is, I wonder if she’s crying or throwing things at him. She’s from New York so I hope she just gets on a plane and leaves so things don’t have to be awkward.

He said he was going to ask her to marry him, he’s such a dope. It makes me think he’s too lonely and grasping at anyone to fill the most important spot in his life. I need to have no doubt in my mind that I love him and he loves me, not puts up with me, not kinda cares for me. He has to love me, want to give up his life for me, not that he’ll ever have to, but it has to be in him.

The lust he has for me is evident, but I need more than that. I want to tell him about what happened to me when I was in school. If he still likes me after that then there’s a chance we might grow something between us. I do care about him that much is for sure. When he told me about his lonely birthday, I nearly lost it. It made my heart ache for him. I felt the same when he told me about his childhood and how even though his mother did all those terrible things, he still loves her and prays for her all the time. He’s a really good man.

There’s the lady whose dog I’m going to wash. Oh great, it’s a sheep dog. This is going to set me back today.

Max

Ashley took the break up rather well. Not a tear one did she shed. I dropped her back off at her hotel and we said our goodbyes. A weight is off my shoulders and I’m on the way to see Lexi and help her with the dog walking thing.

The only thing I noticed as I told Ashley that it wasn’t going to work out between us was a little twitch that her eyebrow made a few times. Other than that, not a thing. She just said she understood, and that she was sorry.

I’m pulling up to Lexi’s and her van isn’t here. It’s five o’clock now. I hope she didn’t go without me. It would be just like her to do that. A quick text I send her telling her I’m here and hope she answers me.

A taxi is pulling up behind me and stopping.

Shit! I thought that went too easy, it’s Ashley.

She’s banging on my window and I notice the taxi is pulling away. I roll the window down. “Tell him to wait for you, Ashley.”

“No, let me in the car. I’m not letting you go, Max.”

“Fuck! Get in, I’ll take you back to your hotel.”

I let her get in the car and take off as fast as I can back across town to her hotel. “Ashley, I get this isn’t easy, but I’m in love with someone else.”

“Is that where she lives?”

“Don’t worry about where she lives. She’s an innocent in all of this.”

“Innocent, my ass,” she says as she reaches for my hand, grabbing it she pulls it to her breast and I yank it back. “You’ll miss these, if you leave me.”

“You need to stop that. This is how you act when someone breaks up with you? It’s a little crazy,” I say, and glance at my phone as it lights up.

Ashley sees it too as it lies in the center console. She grabs it and reads what Lexi sent me.

“Oh my, Max. You’ve set up a date with the tramp before I’ve even left town. She says she’s sorry, she’s running late. She left the key under the mat so you should go in and wait for her.”

She starts to type something back and I yank the phone from her.

“Stop! I won’t let you fuck this up for me. I love that girl and I’m truly sorry I led you on like I did. I was confused, okay?”

“No! It’s anything but okay. You and I are the perfect match. The dating site said so. If you were supposed to be with that girl, you would’ve been already, so why now? I mean, when did you meet her?”

“Six months ago, before you. She’s insecure about my money and ran away from me.”

“What makes you think she won’t do that again?” she asks as her hand runs over my shoulder. “Would you throw away what we have for such a risky thing with her?”

I brush her hand off my shoulder.

“What do you think we have? You shop, I follow you around and pay for the things you want. I have no idea who you really are. I know nothing about you and you know nothing about me.”

Her eyebrows raise and she smirks.

“I know you like it when I put my mouth on your…”

I hold up a hand and interrupt her.

“It’s just sex, Ashley. Everyone likes that. It’s not what makes a relationship though. It’s not what makes a marriage.”

The hotel comes into view and my heart is racing. I can’t get this chick out of my car fast enough.

“Don’t act like that’s all we have, Max. I’m not letting you throw this away on some tramp from the hood.”

“She’s no tramp and whatever it was you and I had, it’s over.” I pull up and the doorman walks to her door. “Goodbye. I’m sorry it has to end like this, but it’s over and I don’t want to talk to or see you ever again. Do you understand me, Ashley?”

“Good evening, ma’am,” the doorman says as he opens the door and extends his hand to her. “Welcome back.”

Her eyes glare into mine. “I understand you. Now understand me, this isn’t over until I say it is, and I’m not about to do that. So let your little tramp know that she’s in for a fight because that’s what you do for someone you love. You fight for them.”

“How can you claim to love me? I don’t love you, doesn’t that matter to you at all?”

“It’s on, Max,” she says then gets out of the car and walks away.

I grab my cell and call Lexi. “Are you home yet?”

“Just about, why are you tired of waiting on me? You can leave if you want, I’ll understand.”

“No!” I shout and find myself a bit over-excited by what’s just happened. “No, I’m running late, please wait for me. I want to go with you. Don’t go without me, promise.”

“Okay then, see you soon.”

She hangs up and I press the gas pedal harder. Something tells me that Ashley is more than capable of starting up something which will send Lexi running from me again. I have to keep her safely tucked away until Ashley calms down and gets over this.

Alexis

As I pull up to the apartment to wait for Max I peek in the mirror and see that I’m a wreck, but I already have the dogs in the van and don’t want to leave them in here while I get cleaned up. I run my hands through my ponytail and grab a wet wipe from the glove box, running it quickly over my face.

His black Jaguar pulls up next to me and he gets out, looking completely gorgeous in blue jeans and a T-shirt and his sunglasses. He looks like a ding dang model and I resemble something the cat drug in.

He pops into the passenger seat.

“Hey there, gorgeous.” He leans over towards me. “Gotta kiss for Daddy?”

I giggle and lean in so we can kiss and stars fill my head as our lips touch. “Wanna tell me how it went?”

He shakes his head and puts on his seatbelt. He sniffs the air and makes a face. “Do I smell dog crap?”

“I think some got on me during that last dog bath I gave, but I can’t find it and don’t have time to change before I walk these dogs, so you’re stuck with smelling it for a little while. Unless you want me to leave you here, you don’t have to go with me. I’ll totally understand.”

“I’ll adjust. I want to go with you.”

His eyes aren’t sparkly like they have been and I sense that things didn’t go well with that woman. “Tell me how it went, Max.” I put the van in drive and take off, making the wheels spin a little on the loose gravel.

“Whoa!” he shouts as he grabs a handful of dashboard.

I turn to him and smile. “Really! That scared you? You hang out of moving helicopters and that scared you?”

“I usually drive,” he says relaxing his Kung Fu grip on the dash. “Take it easy Evil Knievel.”

I slow down some so Mr. Scaredy pants can get some blood back to his face. “I’m dying, Max. Please.”

“It went well, she’ll be fine. How about you take a little vacation and let me take you somewhere for a week or so?”

“I can’t. I have these dogs to walk and appointments all this week and next for grooming gigs.”

With a turn of his head, he stares out the window. “Oh.”

He sounds disappointed so I add, “How about after that, like in two weeks? I can get someone else to walk the dogs and I won’t set up any appointments until we get back.”

With a frown on his gorgeous face he says, “Yeah, we can go somewhere then if you want.”

I’ve never made plans with someone before, it’s kinda nice. I pull into a parking space and jump out of the van. Max meets me at the back and takes both the big dogs out of their kennels.

“I’m taking these two…,” he says. “I’m too much of a man to walk that little bitty thing, whatever it is.”

I place the Shih Tzu on the ground. “Too much of a man. A real man doesn’t worry about such things. I think dainty dogs are too cute. You’d look great walking any kind of animal. With your looks, you could easily get away with walking a skunk and the women would still flock to you.”

A deep chuckle comes from him as he puts both dogs’ leashes in one hand and the other arm he wraps around my waist. What we must look like walking side by side like this. I’m wearing faded blue scrubs that have dog poopy on them somewhere I can’t see, and my hair is a mess from wrestling all the dogs I have today. Max looks like he walked out of a fashion shoot as he always does.

His lips touch my cheek and it ignites something in me. This commitment I’ve made to myself about waiting a couple of weeks before I give into my deep, dark desires for him is going to be hard to keep.

“We should make some ground rules about this physical stuff.”

“Uh, uh,” he says and kisses my cheek again. “No ground rules, control freak.”

“I don’t consider myself a control freak by any means, buster.”

The Great Dane sees somewhere she’d like to pee so we change directions. Max looks at me and smiles.

“Buster? Wow! Harsh words there, little lady.”

I giggle and slap at his chest. “You goof.”

Something freezing cold splashes all over my back and all the dogs begin barking at once as we turn to see the woman Max was with, holding an empty bottle of water. “So this is the tramp!” Her words spew from her mouth.

The dogs lunge at her, barking like crazy, and Max holds them back as he shouts, “Ashley, Goddammit what are you doing?”

The woman’s face breaks into a melting mess as she points at me and says, “So this is what you left me for. It’s not right, Max. I’m better, so much better. Look at her for the love of God.”

Max holds me tight to his side and glares at the woman.

“Ashley, you better get the Hell away from us right now, before I let these dogs do what they want to you.”

The woman falls to her knees, crying.

“Max, please don’t do this to me, I love you.”

“You’re making a fool of yourself. Stand up and stop this. We’re leaving and you had better not follow us or I’m going to call the police.”

Max turns and we walk away as she screams. “I love you, Max! I know you still love me too. Don’t let that bitch do this to us!”

Her words are confusing me and I ask him, “Did you tell her you loved her?”

He shakes his head. “Something’s wrong with her. She never told me she loved me and I never told her those words either.”

We’ve made it some distance from her, but I still hear her yelling. Most of its incoherent, but the last words I hear resonate in me.

“I’ll get you, bitch. I’m not letting you take my man without a fight. You won’t know when or where, but I’ll get you.”

My body begins to shake and Max whispers, “Don’t listen to her. She can’t do a thing to you.”

As we get to the van I find I’m shaking so hard the keys rattle in my hand as I push the button to unlock the doors.

“Max, can you drive?”

“Sure,” he says as he loads the dogs into their kennels. “You go sit down, I can do this.”

As I walk to the passenger side I see the woman coming across the field towards us again and shout, “Hurry, Max, she’s coming over here.”

The back doors slam and he jumps into the driver’s seat, starting the engine and pulling away just as she gets close enough to throw something at my window. A brown bunch of goo which I think is dog poop smashes against the window, leaving a yucky mess on it.

“I thought you said it all went well, Max?”

The van moves down the road as fast as he can make it go.

“The first time it did, the second time it didn’t,” he says, without looking at me.

“The second time?”

“Well, yeah. I thought it was over and done with and I dropped her back off at the hotel. I guess she followed me to your house because right after I pulled into the parking lot, she got out of a cab and that’s when I got to meet the crazy Ashley she’s been hiding.” He glances at me. “I’m giving her a bad review on that dating site.”

“Okay, she knows where I live?” I say to myself, trying to decide what I need to do.

With a shake of his head he says, “Not the actual apartment number, no. It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m taking you to my place. You’ll stay with me.”

“Max, that’s not dating, that’s called living together, and that’s going way too fast.” I begin shaking again as I realize it’s too soon to do that, but I also don’t want her to do anything horrible to me. I know all too well what terrible things people can do to each other.

“You can stay in the bedroom you stayed in before. I promise to respect you, Lexi.”

We drop off the dogs and stop by my apartment so I can pack some things. I throw some clothes into an old bag and Max takes me by the wrists.

“What?”

“Leave all this stuff here. Let me get you some new things. We’ll go shopping tomorrow.” He pulls me into his arms. “Let me spoil you, baby.”

To be spoiled is a thing I’ve never been. I’ve worked since I was sixteen. I search his deep green eyes and for the first time I let my stubborn pride go out the window. “Okay.”

“Good. Now let’s get you home.”

“I should probably take my van.”

Moving me along with him to his car he says, “I’ll send someone to get it later. I want you with me for now anyway, okay?”

I nod in agreement. I don’t really want to be left alone either. After helping me get in the car, he gets in the driver’s seat and I bust out and say, “When I was fifteen a group of girls from school asked me to join them at a park. They never seemed to like me before, they usually said mean things to me.” I hesitate at how hard this is to say.

His hand touches mine. “Please tell me.”

I wanted to have friends like anyone does. So I went. There was a river, and we all went down to it. They were being really nice to me, and I ran along with them as we moved down a steep bank, away from the other people in the park.” I swallow hard to get the lump out of my throat. “One hit me in the face as I turned back to see if everyone was following, and then another one hit me in the stomach. All of them began hitting and punching me, pulling my hair, and screaming bad words at me. One of them picked up a log and hit me across the back of the head. When I woke up, I was face down in the mud. My glasses were gone and my clothes had been ripped off. I only had my underwear on.”

My body is shaking so bad the words are coming out that way too. Tears flow down my cheeks as I remember the pain.

“Jesus, Lexi,” Max’s words bring me back and I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand. He hands me a handkerchief and runs his hand over my leg. “I hope those little bitches got what they deserved.”

“A few of those girls came from families with connections. One’s dad was a cop, one’s a judge, and one’s the mayor. They all told everyone they saw me at the park that day and I had gone with some boys they’d never seen before down to the river. They said it had to have been those boys who did that to me because I was such a slut.”

“I’m very sorry that happened to you. I’ll never let anything happen to you again. Tomorrow I’ll get a lawyer to deal with this crazy bitch. We’ll run her ass out of Texas and back to New York, I swear it to you, baby.”Max

The darkness fills the bedroom as I hold Lexi close to me. The story she told me makes me sick to my very core. I brought her to my bed to sleep tonight, I don’t want her to be alone. How cruel some people can be is mind numbing. I understand her so much better now. What she must have gone through, having to stay in a town and school where everyone thought her something that she wasn’t. The bad things they said about her, and she was the victim. Now someone I brought into her life wants to harm her, and it’s all my fault. I have to fix this.

She wiggles in my arms and turns to me. “Max, can I ask you for something?”

“Anything, princess,” I say as I kiss the top of her head.

“I want to know what it is like,” she says as she moves her body up mine. “If something happens to me, I don’t want to have never known.”

I kiss her cheek. “Nothing is going to happen to you, I promise.”

“You don’t know that.” Her hand runs over my stomach. “Believe me, no one ever knows.”

She straddles me in one quick movement and pulls the T-shirt she’s wearing off.

“Lexi, don’t do this. You’re upset and afraid. I promise you no one can get through me to hurt you.”

“I’ve waited for twenty-six, long years and I don’t want to wait a day more. I trust you, Max. I trust you not to hurt me. Please.” She chews her bottom lip. A sadness fills her eyes. I find all I want to do is take that sadness away.

I pull her to me. Softly I touch my lips to hers. She slips her tongue into my mouth and she tastes like cinnamon. Her breasts rub against my chest as she moves closer. Her hands run through my hair and the kiss gets harder. I flip her onto her back and pull my mouth from hers. She leans up and tries to kiss me.

“I can’t take you like this, Lexi. It’s not right.”

Her eyes dart back and forth as she says, “I want you, and I already love you. Do you feel anything for me?”

“Are you crazy? Do I feel anything for you? I’ve been wanting to tell you I loved you since the first day I met you, but I was afraid I’d scare you off.”

“Okay, I love you and you love me. Isn’t this what people who love each other do?” she asks. “What are we waiting for? A magic number of days? I know now, without a doubt, Max. You’d take a bullet for me, and I would do the same for you.”

“You really love me?”

“I do, but.” She runs her hand down the length of my ever growing manhood. “To get pregnant my first time would be a bummer, so use one of those condoms you told me that you use.”

“You really want to do this?”

She shakes her head and I roll away to grab a condom from my nightstand. I toss off my boxers and roll back to her. Only her panties keep us apart as she lays, waiting for me. She looks so innocent and beautiful.

As I gaze down at her, she wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me to her. “Kiss me, Max.”

Pressing my lips to hers, I find the pulse which has ached for her for six, long months resonates in my body. My heart pounds like it never has before and I know we were meant to be together. This is it for me, she’s mine and always will be. I pull my mouth away from hers.

“Tell me that you belong to me.”

“Max?” Her eyes search mine.

“I have to know without a doubt you’re giving yourself to me, because I will die if you leave me after this. I’ve never felt this way with anyone else.”

“Never?”

“Never, Lexi. So I am begging you not to toy with me. Tell me you’re mine.”

“You’re so intense.”

“This is intense, baby. I want you so fucking bad, but I’m so afraid of you. Your insecurities have to be pushed back and you need to be more afraid of losing me than anything else. So I need you to know where you belong and who you belong to.”

My cock is swelling as it presses against her and I know time is running out to get her to understand the power she has over me. Her hand runs over my cheek and my mouth follows it. I run my lips down her arm, then over her stomach. She has no idea of what hold she has on me so I decide to give her a taste of what I feel. Running my tongue down her stomach I pull her panties off then move back up her body spreading her legs as I do.

“You’ll be screaming that you're mine in just a minute, Lexi.” Her eyes go wide as I smile and press my lips to the sweet little bud that has gone untouched for twenty-six years.

Her hands tangle up in my hair as her body arches up to my mouth. “Oh, holy Lincoln logs, that feels so good.”

Her crazy words I’ll have to learn to ignore. I send one hand to her breast and another to her ass as I massage them both and run my tongue over her clit until it’s as stiff as my dick is. Her legs begin to shake and I know it’s about time for her to scream what I want to hear.

Hot liquid hits my chin as she shakes and shivers and finally screams, “I belong to you, Max. I’m yours and no one else can ever have me. My God, please take me.”

Alexis

I am exhausted, but I can’t sleep. It finally happened and my V-card has been turned in. This man is talented. Who knew that there were so many sensory organs in the human body? I mean he gave me sensations I didn’t even know existed. I wonder if it’s like this with every man or if he’s especially gifted.

I have to pee something fierce so I wiggle out of his arms and trot slowly to the bathroom.

Ouch! I hope this doesn’t happen every time we do this. I’m walking like a penguin. for the love of Springer Spaniels.

He’s dead to the world, so I think I’ll jump in the monster bathtub he has in here and soak a little while. Maybe that’ll help me sleep. I need a towel and it seems he hides them somewhere in this giant bathroom. I open a drawer and there they are. Pulling one out something falls. I have to hold it close to my face to see what it is as I took my contacts out. It’s some kind of paper.

It’s a picture and now I’m about to throw up. That horrible, crazy woman took a picture of Max munching out on her vagina. It looks like she used a selfie stick to get the picture. Max is so busy that he didn’t even look up to smile at the camera or anything. He just kept on munching.

Oh, I have to puke.

One last look I take at the sleeping Max. I can’t stay with him now I’ve seen that. I knew he was no virgin, but to see that after just experiencing what he did with me is too painful and sickening.

I’ll have to go away this time, he’ll beat my door down if I stay in Houston. My heart aches as I go out to my van and climb in. I look back only once at the magnificent mansion I’ll never lay eyes on again.

“Bye, Max. I’ll always love you.”

Part 3 Secrets of Ecstasy

Max

A bird chirps at my window, waking me from the best sleep I’ve ever had. As I rub at my sleep filled eyes I roll over to wrap my arms around the woman I will spend the rest of my life with.

Where the hell is she?

Panic runs through me as I jump out of bed, praying Lexi’s in the bathroom. I throw open the door and hear nothing. She’s not in here and something is lying on the floor.

Oh, God, no!

That damn Ashley took a horrible selfie of me doing some bad stuff to her. Lexi must’ve seen this and freaked out.

I can’t believe that crazy bitch, Ashley. I swear I could strangle her right now.

I need to get dressed and go find Lexi before she does something stupid.

She was aware I was dating Ashley for the love of God. Why does she have to be so damn flighty?

Alexis

Pink stains the sky as I pull into Logan’s driveway in Dallas. It’s a very nice brick home in a suburban neighborhood. I haven’t seen him since I was eighteen when Logan came with Josh, my brother who he was best friends with, to my graduation. He’s the only sort of a friend I have ever had. Not that he was my friend, but he was nice to me.

It seemed smarter to go stay with someone I’m not related to since Max knows how to Google me and find out everything that there is to know about me. I called my mother and told her the deal and for her not to worry, but I couldn’t tell her where I was or Max might get it out of her.

Logan had to leave for work already, so he left a key under the mat and told me to make myself at home and to take the second bedroom on the left. The house is a large, red brick with pretty shrubs in front.

As I enter his house, I can smell coffee he must’ve made before he left. In the rush I didn’t ask him if anyone else lived here with him. The place is really nice, and he has some smancy things in here. I round the corner to the kitchen and find a note that he left for me, along with some donuts next to the pot of coffee.

Alex,

Make yourself at home. Don’t bother looking for a job just yet. I may have something for you. Relax and you can tell me all about what happened when I get home around six. Don’t cook, I’ll bring something home for us to eat. I’m glad you came to me. Don’t worry, everything will be fine.

Logan

Just like a big brother, always there when I need him. I drift through the large house, gazing at his things. Nowhere are there any pictures of a significant other. There’s one of a yellow lab, but no girls.

Logan is thirty-five, and the last time I saw him, he was cute in a tall, skinny, nerdy way. It’s been eight years. I wonder how he looks now.

Down the hall I make my way until I find the second door on the left and open it to find a nice-sized bed in the middle of a good sized room. A dark green blanket lies over the bed and a couple of big, fluffy pillows top it. I fall on the bed, and roll over it.

It’s soft and comfy and begging me to sleep. I am exhausted after running from the mansion and throwing my things in the van and driving four hours. A familiar scent wafts up to me, and I realize I still have on the T-shirt Max lent me to sleep in.

Max

She’s gone. Her things are gone, and she’s vanished. Her cell’s been turned off and I have no idea of how to find her. My only hope is she’ll calm down and realize she made too much out of the damn picture. I tore that thing to pieces and flushed it. After that, I scoured my whole place to be sure the psycho, Ashley, didn’t hide anything else which might ruin my life further.

My bedroom was too lonely so I am lying on another bed in another room, drinking Jack Daniels straight from the bottle and watching the weather channel for some strange reason.

Where ever she is I hope the weather’s nice. The sun should always shine on her. With the story she told me about getting beat up by a bunch of mean girls when she was a teenager, it’s no wonder she doesn’t trust my feelings for her. It’s no wonder she saw that picture and thought that I was just using her and would drop her right after I had her.

I wasn’t though. I was going to keep her with me forever. The whisky burns as it hits my empty stomach, but I don’t care. In a little while I won’t feel anything. I won’t feel the crack in my heart she’s left or the continuous urge to bawl like a freaking baby.

The cruelty of not at the very least letting me know she’s okay is not a thing I thought her capable of. Sweet and sincere though she is, her insecurities have a way of making her do things she doesn’t understand are hurtful and mean.

Just one phone call from her is all I need. I need to know she’s alright.Alexis

Some tapping sound wakes me up and I open my eyes and wonder where I am.

Oh, yeah, Logan’s.

I stretch and realize the sound is coming from the bedroom door. It must be Logan. “Come in.”

The door opens, and some man is standing there. “Hey, little Alex.”

I blink and rub my eyes which burn because I fell asleep with my contacts on. The blurry man comes into focus and I see tiny resemblances to the Logan I used to know.

He’s no longer thin and tall, he’s buff and tall. His usually unkempt, wavy hair is cut in a neat short style that enhances the sandy blonde color. “You filled out.”

I had pulled my hair out of the ponytail before I fell asleep and he runs his hand through it. “So have you, Little Alex. You’ve turned into quite a woman.”

I blush and glance away. “Thanks for letting me crash here.”

“Yeah, no problem. Well, get up and meet me in the kitchen and we can eat and you can tell me what all’s going on with you.”

As he walks away he turns back and smiles as he shakes his head and chuckles to himself. Then he leaves me alone and I pull the T-shirt up to my nose and take the last sniff of Max I’ll ever smell.

It’s time to move on, I’m not in his league and that’s that. He’s a playboy and I’m a good girl who doesn’t do those things he wants. No matter how great they felt. He does it to all the girls. I was no one special to him. He’ll have me replaced by tonight, I have no doubts about that.

Changed into a pair of shorts and one of my own T-shirts, I follow the sound of music playing softly. I find Logan sitting on a stool at his bar and sipping some kind of drink. “There she is,” he says and stands holding his arms open. “Come, let me hug the misery from you, poor child.”

I fall into his arms and let him hug me as I hug him back. It’s been such a long time since I had a platonic hug and I’ve missed them. “You’re already making me feel better, Logan.”

Finally he lets me go and motions for me to take the stool next to his. A takeout box sits in front of me and a tall glass with some dark liquid sits next to it. “I hope that’s Mr. Pibb.”

He nods. “I picked it up just for you, Alex. I remembered.”

“I bet you did. I bugged you enough to always bring me one when you came to visit Josh when I was a kid. I was quite the pain.”

His eyes light up. “You were no pain, you were a sweetie pie.”

A giggle comes out of me and I blush as I remember having a crush on him when I was really small. Before he got all gangly and turned into a pimple faced teenager. “I see your acne cleared up.”

A jab in the ribs he gives me. “I see your whole body cleared up. What happened, did you find some magic pills to take while you were in Houston. Some hot mama pills?”

“You’re hilarious,” I jab him back. “What about you? Is that your real body or a body by steroids?”

“Hey!” he says as he pulls me under his arm and puts me in a fake choke hold. “This body has no drugs of any kind in it, thank you very much.”

I giggle and wiggle out of his arms. “Okay,” I say as I pull my hands through my now messed up hair. “No ‘roids I get it, touchy subject.”

As he opens the box of takeout in front of me he looks at me and asks, “Do you still like Chinese?”

“I sure do, thank you very much.” I take the plastic fork and stick a piece of sweet and sour chicken with it and pop it into my mouth.

With a pat on my back he says, “Good, you still have an appetite. Whatever sent you flying out of Houston must not be that bad.”

“To most it probably would be a dream come true, but I’m not most people.”

His fork loaded with noodles he waves it as he says, “You are not most people, Alex. So let me have it and tell me whose ass I have to kick.”

“There will be no booty kicking necessary. Max is who he is. I was aware of his past romances and I made the mistake of getting caught up with him while his latest one was too fresh.” I pause to place another chunk of chicken in my mouth and take a drink. “My V-card, as Cake put it, has been cashed in and it seems I gave it to the wrong man.”

A choking sound comes from beside me and I turn to see Logan spewing his drink from his lips. “Did you just say you barely stopped being a virgin?”

“A dirty skanky ho since last night,” I say as I shake my head. “I kept it all intact, waiting for Mr. Right, then went and threw it all away on a playboy who does the same thing with all the girls.”

Logan’s eyes roll, and he slaps his knee. “Damn girl, you held onto that a lot longer than most. Don’t go calling yourself such names just yet, darlin’. I mean you have to do a little more than trust the wrong guy to go that far.”

“Well, what if I told you I only really knew him for two days before I gave it all away to him?”

“I’d say he must’ve been something special for you to do that, Alex.” Logan draped his arm around my shoulders. “As far as him doing the same things to everyone else, you may not be aware of this, but there’s only just so many ways you can do with that act. He was bound to have done the same things with other women.”

“The pain I felt when I found that picture was something I’ve never felt before and never want to feel again,” I say as I lean my head on his shoulder. “It was like something got jerked out from under me and I was falling forever into something I didn’t know existed. It’s just too hard, I can’t do the love thing.”

“So you loved this guy? You think you really loved him, Alex? I mean you just said you only knew him for two days.”

“Two really full days. They seemed like a lifetime of them. It was weird between us, but now I think it was just because he’s an awesome player. He made me feel special to him, and he told me he loved me too.” Tears are forming and I have to stop them because I’ve already cried too much.

Logan kisses the top of my head and hugs me. “I’ll help you get through this Little Alex. Come on, let’s eat, afterwards we can take a swim in my pool.”

“How’d you get to be rich, Logan?” I ask as I cram more chicken in my mouth.

“My nerdy mind worked for me and I develop software. I’m not rich though, just well off.” He takes a gulp of his drink.

“Max is a billionaire,” I say before I take a drink.

Logan chokes again and looks at me as if I’m insane.

“You blew off a billionaire?”

I nod and place an eggroll in my mouth. Logan laughs so hard he nearly falls off his stool. “I bet I’ve heard of him then, who is it?”

“Max Lane.”

“Oh, shit!” he says as he stands up. “That man is so cool and looks like a fucking model and you ran away from him! I bet he’s done a bunch of girls, but a dude like him can.”

“So you see why I couldn’t be in a relationship with him?”

“He wanted an actual relationship with you? He told you that?” Logan asks with his eyebrows pulled way up.

“He did, he’s looking uber-hardcore for a wife and wants to have kids right away. I had to ask him to use a condom so I wouldn’t get pregnant and he said he didn’t care if I did, he wanted that.” I sip my Mr. Pibb as Logan stares at me with his mouth open.

“Wow! I mean wow! Is this guy crazy?”

I think about what he’s asking me and I really don’t know the answer. “He had a bad childhood and I guess that’s why he wants kids so bad. He’s a really good guy, and sweet, and funny, and sexy, and hot, and a great kisser…”

Logan’s hand goes up. “Whoa, there, Alex. You’ll have to stop right there, because as much as I want to help you, I don’t want to hear any of the gory details about your physical stuff, okay, girl?”

I nod and take another sip. “Wanna go swimming now?”

“Yep, let’s change and I’ll give you a piggy back ride out to the pool just like old times,” he says as he takes my hand and pulls me with him.

“A piggy back ride, I’m too big for that,” I say with a laugh.

He looks at me and says, “No you’re not.”

I smile as I follow him and think how much better I’ll feel soon, now I have him to help me get over Max.

Max

A month has passed and still she has not called. I suppose she’s alive and not missing as the news hasn’t said anything about a missing woman or finding a dead body.

She doesn’t want me, it’s obvious. If she can walk away again after what we shared, her feelings for me are not as strong as mine are for her. I should move on, but I can’t seem to. No one interests me. I want no one else but her. I told her it would kill me if she left and she left anyway.

My only companion now is the bottle of Jack Daniels I keep constantly by my side. If I let it wear off, the pain may cut me deeper than it already has. No one wants me, not my mother, not Lexi, not anyone. Sure those gold digging bitches will take me. Put up with me, allow me to spend my money on them, but no one wants me, the injured boy who turned into a man.

I need some air, and where better a place to find that than in my helicopter. “Come on, Jack, let’s you and I take a ride.”

My shades I grab and cover my eyes as I make my way outside. “Oops, it’s dark already. How did that happen? Oh well, come on, Jack, we can still go. Riding at night along the coastline will be fun. Just what the doctor ordered to get over a girl with insecurities and a habit of running away after mind-blowing kisses and life-altering love-making.”

Loud noise fills the air as I turn on the chopper, and quite frankly it helps to drown out the constant thoughts I have of Lexi, and her long legs, and tight little ass, and perky, plump breasts, and pink luscious lips which have only ever been touched by mine.

The lights of Galveston loom ahead and I’ll be over the water in no time. I look over at my only friend, Jack, and pick him up and take a long tug from his dark bottle. That’s much better, I was beginning to see her in my mind again and that makes me want to cry.

“Whoa, I must have missed something there, the water is underneath me now and the moon shines over it, making a perfect path for me to follow. Hi Jack, glad to see you’re still with me. Oh, that’s right you have no legs otherwise you’d probably run too.”

Two moons? How are there two of them? When did this happen?

My friend, Jack, looks at me and I pick him up. “Damn it, Jack, you’re empty. I didn’t bring another one. I’ll have to turn back now.”

With a quick motion, I turn my chopper around and…

Shit! I’m too close to the water! Oh, I’m fucked.

Alexis

The aroma of basil fills the house as I simmer a sauce for the spaghetti I’m making for us tonight. Logan gave me the job of his housekeeper and cook. So I’ve been staying in and finding recipes while I keep this big house clean. He’s really saved the day for me, and I only think about Max on days that end in, ‘y’ so that’s better.

Who am I kidding? It’s been a month and still he fills my thoughts all day every day.

I’m such a sad case, I even sleep in his T-shirt almost every night. I’m a pathetic looser. The sound of the door opening brings me out of my funk and I find Logan with one hand full of flowers, a bottle of wine in the other and a huge grin on his face. “Guess who got a raise?”

I jump up and down as I clap. “Me?”

He rolls his hazel eyes at me. “No, me!”

“You bought flowers for yourself?” I ask as he hands them to me and I turn to grab a vase for them.

His hand grabs my arm as he pulls me back around and into his arms. “They’re for you, Alex.”

His lips are close to mine and I can barely breathe.

I belong to Max.

“What are you doing, Logan?”

His tongue flows over his bottom lip. “I’m tired of pretending I don’t want you, Alex.”

As I try in vain to wiggle out of his arms, I say, “Oh, Logan, you don’t really mean that.”

His arms hold me tightly to him. “Today I walked into my boss’s office and told him if he wanted to keep me he had to give me a raise. And I told him I didn’t want some tiny raise I wanted a big one because I need to buy a certain woman a ring sometime in the very near future and she deserves a big one.”

“Logan, I had no idea. You haven’t made any moves on me at all…”

He interrupts me. “You, my sweet little innocent, do not know when someone is making a move on you. I have been, but you’re oblivious to them.”

Maybe that’s because I belong to someone else!

“Logan, I can’t. Um, how can I, oh, gee whiz, Logan.”

“Alex, don’t get all flustered now. I know it’s only been a month, but we’ve known each other for a damn long time.”

“But, Max, Logan. What about him and me and how I made promises to him?”

My chin he pulls at to make me look at him. “If you were going back to him, I think you would’ve went already.”