The Art of Seduction (AU, M/L, K/T ADULT) COMPLETE

[Janetfl]

A HUGE thank you goes out to my lovely friend Monica who spent her valuable time creating this for me!!


Title: The Art of Seduction
Author: Janetfl (Jan)/Killjoy
Disclaimer: I own nothing that is Roswell .. sadly that belongs to the powers that be!! No infringement is intended.

Pairing: Max/Liz, Kyle/Tess, Maria/Michael, Alex/Isabel.
Rating: ADULT.

Summary: Max is a lawyer, fresh out of school, when he goes to work for his father's firm. Liz is the daughter of a very powerful business man, Jeff Parker. She is a very wild, spoiled rich kid who is always used to getting what she wants. What happens when she sets her sights on Max Evans?

Author’s Note: I am co-writing this story with Killjoy due to a challenge he set out (the link given below). He had so many wonderful ideas that I thought it would be best if we both got the credit for this story ... after all it wouldn't exist if it wasn't for his brilliant mind!! Although I will be writing the main bulk of the story Killjoy will be putting just as much effort into it by adding his thoughts and witty humour as well. This is our first time working together so feed back would be most appreciated!!!

Challenge 298#


I am apologizing in advance for any grammatical mistakes. Grammer is not one of my strong points!! Please forgive me. I just had to get this story out there!!!



Here we go ....................................................................



Chapter 1


Max Evans … the most by the book, follows the rules type of guy you’ve ever met in your life. A conservative among conservatives. He is the type of guy who has a daily routine one that he never breaks from, up at five, jogs till seven, always at work by 9am or earlier, never later.

He had just finished his law degree at Harvard and passed the bar on his first try. He was now on the fast track at his father’s law firm, Evans, Davenport & Sears. Although Phillip Evans did have partners, he held the majority of shares in the company.

His father had placed a lot of confidence in him by giving him a fairly high paid, high end job. He had his own corner office and secretary to help him deal with his work load.

Now his desk was clear from any clutter and he worked in a very methodical way. He was currently perusing one of his client’s files and taking copious notes on his yellow legal pad when the phone on his desk disturbed his concentration.

“Evans, Davenport & Sears, Max Evans speaking, how may I help you?”

“Max its Phillip”

Now Max’s dad always insisted his first name was used whilst Max was working for him which suited Max just fine. Although everyone knew he was the great Phillip Evan’s son they still liked to keep their working relationship strictly professional. So Phillip always called his son by his first name also.

“Hi Phillip what can I do for you today?”

“I’ve got caught up in huge case over here at the court and it looks as if it could possibly go on all day. My secretary has some documents that one of our most prestigious clients wants to get signed today and I won’t be able to make it. This client is none other than Jeff Parker so I want you to get the files off Monica immediately and go over to their mansion and get them signed.”

“Jeff Parker as in the most important client we have Jeff Parker?” gulped Max.

“That’s the one. Now get the address off Monica, take the Mercedes and drive over there straight away. Now Max I don’t need to tell you how important this client is to us. He puts all of his business through our company and as you know there are other firms out there swimming around like sharks in the water, chomping at the bit, just waiting for us to make a mistake so they can take his business away from us. So if he says jump you ask how high. Got it?”

“Yes don’t worry Phillip I won’t let you down.”

“I know that’s why I’ve put you in charge of this matter. I trust you know how to handle yourself.”

“Yes sir” said Max replacing the receiver.

His hands started to sweat under the pressure. He knew that this client could make or break a firm like his father’s and there was no way he was going to be responsible for losing his dad’s biggest client.

So he stood up, took his Armani suit that was hanging on the back of his office door, collected his toiletries bag and went to the executive bathroom to get changed.

He sprayed on fresh deodorant, put on his new white crisp shirt, followed by his black Armani suit. He placed his gold cufflinks through the cuffs of his shirt and finally tied a Windsor knot in his very conservative blue tie.

He checked himself out in the mirror and he looked damn fine or so he thought. He splashed on a light layer of Hugo Boss aftershave and he was ready to face the BIG man himself.

He took everything back to his office and then went to get the documents from his dad’s secretary, Monica.

“Good morning Monica.”

“Good morning Mr Evans. Here is the paperwork you are going to need for Mr Parker and here are the keys to the Mercedes. You have an appointment booked with Mr Parker in an hour so that should give you plenty of time to get to the mansion. The address is on the front of the file. Please drive carefully, Phillips words not mine” smiled Monica.

“Right, fine” said Max getting more nervous by the minute.

He walked out of the office, collecting his briefcase on the way, heading for the car park.

Once he reached the car he pressed the central locking mechanism and placed the folder of documents on top of the car. He opened the door and threw his briefcase on the passenger seat and then collected the documents from the top and got in.

He opened the file, memorised the address, punched it into the GPS system and off he went.

[Janetfl]

Chapter 2


What was wrong with the world? Every idiotic driver on the planet seemed to be crossing his path today. This, the most important day of his entire life, is the day he is supposed to prove to his father that the Ivy League education he had received was worth it … and what does he get … dickhead drivers trying to smash up the company car.

As he reached yet another traffic jam he decided to take off his suit jacket so it didn’t get rumpled and creased.

So … here he was taking off his jacket when the jam suddenly clears and he is left with his jacket half way down his back, both arms still stuck in the sleeves. He fought with his jacket whilst the driver behind him started to blast his horn.

“Since when did Armani make straight jackets” he thought to himself as he continued to fight the jacket off his body.

Finally breaking free he carefully placed his jacket on the back of the passenger side seat and started to drive. He glanced in the rear view mirror and saw the obscenities, the occupant of the car behind, was currently mouthing and gesturing towards him.

He followed the instructions of the talking GPS system and finally turned the corner onto the street were Mr Parker lived. As he pulled up outside the electronic gates a guard came out of a tiny booth situated at the side.

“State your business here please” said the 6’2”, built like a former NFL linebacker, guard.

“I’m Max Evans from Evans, Davenport & Sears. I have an appointment with Mr Parker at 10:30 am.”

The guard ran his big beefy finger down the page attached to his clip board.

“Right Mr Evans have you been here before?”

“No”

“Okay, go up the driveway and follow the road around to the right. That will take you to the front door. If you branch left you will be going towards the servant’s quarters at the back of the house. I will announce your arrival and someone should meet you at the door.”

With that the beefy guard, whose name was Cliff according to his name tag, went back into the booth and press something.

The electric gates started to slowly open.

Max drives the car up the long driveway which is completely covered by trees giving the air a cool feeling despite the rising temperature outside. As he eventually clears the tunnel of trees he is amazed at the sight before him.

There in the middle of well kept grounds stood the Parker mansion. It looked like it belonged in one of those period dramas, like Pride and Prejudice. It stood three stories high with four massive stone columns at the top of marble stairs.

In the middle of the circular driveway stood a huge fountain with what could only be described as a cupid statue situated in the middle spewing out water from its mouth.

Max pulled around the circular driveway and parked outside the impressive marble stairs. Standing by the double, solid oak, front door was the butler.

“This is it Max, your big chance, don’t fuck it up” he thought to himself as his palms started to sweat.

He grabbed his jacket from the passenger seat and put it on. He bent down, got his briefcase and documents, closed the car door and pressed the button on his key to lock the doors. He placed the keys in his briefcase and wiped his sweaty palms on his trouser legs. It would not be wise to show his fear in front of Mr Parker.

As he walked towards the butler he tucked the folder of documents under his arm ready to shake hands. The butler just bowed his head slightly.

“This way please Mr Evans. Mr Parker is aware of your arrival sir but is on a very important business call. Would you please wait in the hall and his assistant will call you in when he is ready.”

“That’s fine, thank you” replied Max.

“Okay here we go” thought Max as he stepped over the threshold.

The butler gave another slight bow and disappeared from view.

[Janetfl]

Chapter 3



Jeff Parker was a famous business man. He was number two on the Forbes Worlds Richest List. Beating people like Bill Gates and Donald Trump. He had some of the worlds most powerful men eating out of his hand, like US Senators and he even knew the President on a personal level.

And the heiress to this vast empire was none other than the infamous Liz Parker, his one and only child. Liz’s mother had died in childbirth and Jeff was so devastated that he never re-married. He was never short of beautiful women wishing to adorn his arm but he never took it further than that. He never wanted Liz to feel as if he was trying to replace her mother.

So of course Liz grew up into a very wild, spoiled, rich daddy’s girl who is always used to getting what she wants. Although Liz is like this, everyone she meets seems to love her. She is never rude and is always polite to the people around her, even the servants.

She is constantly in the newspapers, along with her best friend Tess Harding another heiress to a vast fortune, for partying and what not but not once have they ever embarrassed their fathers by un-lady like behaviour.

Tess was Liz’s best and only trusted friend. They met on their first day at an all girls boarding school and instantly hit it off. Everyone around them knew who they were and they either got the gold digging friends or the envious bitches who just wanted to associate with them and get their names in the papers. So they had joined forces and made a formidable team. They became best friends and room mates.

Now their names were synonymous with all of the popular places to hang out. If they decided to grace your establishment then your clientele was guaranteed to go up market.

*******

As Max was taking in the luxurious surroundings he started to get really nervous. He felt a little intimidated standing in the grand entrance of the Parker mansion.

There was Italian white marble everywhere, the floors, the stairs and even a full sized marble replica of Michelangelo’s Statue of David standing by the spiral staircase.

He decided then that he had to get this first initial meeting just right so he started to run different scenarios of his greeting through his head.

“Hello Mr Parker it’s a pleasure to meet you” he thought.

No! No! That’s not right … try again ... okay…

Max was so intent on getting it right that he started to practice his greeting out loud and pacing the room.

"Hello Mr Parker sir, nice to finally meet you....no, no, no ... not formal enough!" he says to himself.

He shakes his head and than once again stops his pacing, smiles and sticks his hand out.

"Mr Parker it's a great honour to meet you...." Max rolls his eyes "now you sound like you're talking to a judge or something!"

As he turned around to start his pacing again the folder dropped from underneath his arm spewing the documents all over the marble floor.

“Oh Shit!” muttered Max bending down, gathering up the paperwork trying to get it in order and back into the folder.

He was so intent on getting the papers that he did not hear the bang of the front door behind him.

*******

Liz came charging through the front door intent on finding what she was looking for and then getting the hell out of there as quickly as possible.

She and Tess were going shopping today for a new outfit for the party that was being held that evening and she didn’t want to waste too much time. Finding just the right outfit, that was cut low enough to show some skin but no too low to flash the whole world their panties … or lack thereof … as they get out of a car, took a lot out of them normally.

Just then she heard a loud car horn and Liz rolled her eyes in frustration. She stuck her head out of the door and shouted ….

"Gees Tess would you chill! I told you I forgot my cell phone! It's not like Rodeo Drive is going anywhere!!!”

She turned back around to go and find her phone when she stopped dead in her tracks. She was awe struck … there in front of her was a man with his rear end stuck up in the air as he was trying to pick up what looked like a pile of papers.

“Whooa boy” she thought as she continued to stare at the man’s muscular rear end.

“I wonder if the face is as nice as this view?”

She was still standing there staring when Tess entered behind her to see what was keeping her friend. Nothing ever took Liz’s attention from going shopping.

"God Liz what in the hell is taking you so.....whooooa....I see" said Tess taking in the sight before her.

Liz still not breaking her stare, from the fine piece of ass wiggling with each movement of his arms, she whispers in Tess’s ear ….

"Yes isn't it a nice see?"

"One of the best sees I've seen in a long time!" smirked Tess.

Just then the man, after finally picking up all of the papers and placing them back in the folder, stood up.

Liz’s mouth fell open as she took in the sight of the man standing before her. Okay so she couldn’t see his face but she could tell he had a damn fine body by looking at the way his suit fitted his back perfectly.

Jeff Parker’s assistant, Serena, came out of one of the rooms and said ….

“Mr Parker is ready to see you now sir” said Serena showing him into the office.

Liz strained her neck to try and get a good look at the man’s face but he never turned around.

As Serena came back out of the office Liz ran up to her.

"Serina! Serina!"

"Yes Ms. Parker?"

"Who the hell was that?"

"What? Oh you mean the young man who just went in to meet your father?"

"Yes him?!" Liz rolled her eyes.

"His name is Max Evans. He works at the law firm your father likes to use."

"Max Evans....huh?" Liz's smile turned predatory.

[Janetfl]

Chapter 4



“I take it we’re no longer going shopping now?” Tess asked as she looked at the predatory smile that was spread from one end of Liz’s face to the other.

Finally broken out of her sexual fuelled dream world Liz turned a puzzled look at Tess.

“ … huh … what …?”

“Sorry” Tess smirked, doing her very best not to laugh at her best friend “more than likely you didn’t quite hear me over your drooling. But what I asked was … I take it we’re no longer going shopping now?”

“Oh we are going shopping Tess! That's for certain!” Liz shook her head “We … I … need to buy quite a few more new outfits than I was planning … I just want to get a look at his face before we head …”

She never got the chance to finish her sentence because the door to her dad’s office opened.

Liz grabbed Tess by the elbow and pulled her away from the door and around the corner. They both slowly popped their faces around the wall to get a good look at this Max Evans.

Tess made a quiet whistling sound with her mouth.

“Now isn’t that a fine specimen of the male human physique?”

Liz found that she could only nod her head a second or two at Tess's comment before she was finally able to get her mind and her mouth to work together "God he’s absolutely gorgeous Tess”

“So about that shopping?”

“Yes, yes we’re going shopping" nodded Liz "Like I said I need to get myself some new outfits.....some sexy 'Come Fuck Me' outfits!”

“Uh huh...and this wouldn’t have anything to do with … what’s his name again?” whispered Tess.

“His name is Max … Max Evans” the name just rolled off her tongue with perfection “and yes this has everything to do with him.”

“Oh hell," sighed Tess "I’ve seen that look in your eyes before Liz. You’re not going to stop until you have him are you? And when I say 'have him' I mean in every literally sense of the words.”

“Watch and learn the art of seduction Tess. I’m going to make Max Evans mine” whispered Liz with determination.

Max was so busy trying to impress Mr Parker that he didn’t notice two sets of eyes staring at him. One with a look of pure lust in them and the other … well with a look that can only be described as pity for what was in store for him.

“It was a pleasure to meet you sir” said Max shaking Mr Parker’s hand.

“Please Max you can call me Jeff. I’ve known your father for quite some time now and I hold Philip and his company with quite high regards” said Jeff patting Max on the shoulder.

“Well I look forward to meeting you again sir...I mean Jeff” said Max taking his leave.

Liz quickly pulled Tess back around the corner as Max made his way past them and out of the front door.

“I see he’s already made quite an impression on your father.” said Tess.

“Yes he has … and that is no easy task” said Liz the cogs of her brain already working overtime.

“Liz what are you up to now?” asked Tess practically hearing Liz’s brain coming up with some sort of scheme. She knew her friend very well.

“Just go and wait out in the car for me a few minutes would you?”

“Alright Liz but don’t be long you know how much I hate waiting. Not to mention my credit cards are just itching to be used” replied Tess walking towards the door.

“I promise you Tess I won’t be long.”

With that Tess went to the car to await Liz’s arrival.

Liz walked up to her father’s office and knocked on the door.

“Come in!” she heard her father shout.

She opened the door and stepped inside the office.

“Good morning daddy Tess and I are just about to go shopping to get a few new outfits for the party tonight.” said Liz.

“Well that’s good honey. I’m sure that whatever you choose will be perfect.”

Liz stood there with her hands behind her back and slightly swaying side to side. She put on her best puppy dog wide eyes and said ….

“Daddy, who was that man that just left your office?”

“Oh that was Max the son of Philip my lawyer” said Jeff.

“Well daddy you know you said that you wanted to make your company more hip and bring it into the 21st century?”

“Yes at the moment we’ve some how got ourselves an old fashioned, stuffy sort of image” Jeff shook his head "Hard to bring in new money with an image like that."

“Well how about having a young fresh faced lawyer representing your company? Although Philip could still do most of the work behind the scenes you could make Max the spokesperson for the company. I think having him in the pictures with you will make people see that you are serious about changing the image of the company. You know fresh young blood and all of that” Liz crossed her fingers behind her back and mentally began a 'please oh please listen to me' chant in her mind.

Jeff took one look at his daughter and realised that she was being serious.

“Do you think that will work?” asked Jeff.

“Well look at it this way daddy. I’m young and if I saw him pictured with you I would be interested......" oh boy you have no idea how interested I'd be in him "...You know he maybe the key to bringing in new business. He might encourage the younger entrepreneur to take your company seriously.”

“You know what sweetie? You just might have something here” said Jeff thinking over what his daughter had just mentioned.

“You know if you got involved in the company a bit more it might actually help our image as well.”

“Well maybe if this … what’s his name again … ah yes this Max person is involved then maybe I can help you also. With the two of us making a team maybe we can improve that old stuffy image the company has.”

“It would mean you working quite closely with Max. What if you two don’t get along?”

“Oh now daddy since when have I ever NOT gotten along with someone?”

“True, that’s very true. Leave it with me and I will think it over some more and then I will let you know.”

“Okay daddy. Well I’m just going to go shopping now okay?”

“Alright sweetheart” said Jeff.

Liz went and gave her dad a massive hug and planted a big kiss on his cheek.

“Don’t worry daddy I’ll make sure Max and I will get along.”

Ohhhh I'll make sure we'll get along.

With that Liz left his office with a huge smile on her face. God she was good!

“You look like the cat that got the cream!” smiled Tess from the driver seat of her car as she saw Liz walking toward her

“Oh operation 'Snag me a hottie’ is well on it’s way” said Liz as she opened the passenger side door to Tess's convertible and climbed in..

“What have you done Liz?” asked Tess unable to hide her smile knowing that Liz would stop at nothing to get what she wants.

“Oh I think I’ve just persuaded daddy to hire Max and have him work closely with me!” beamed Liz.

“You are evil Liz do you know that? Evil but extremely clever! That's why I love you.” laughed Tess “Max Evans is not going to know what hit him!!”

Tess started the Porsche and zipped out of the driveway. They had a lot of shopping time to catch up on.

[Janetfl]

Chapter 5



Max found himself fiddling with his napkin as he sat at a rather lavish table at the Parker mansion. He couldn’t believe what had happened over the last couple of days.

********

After his meeting with Mr Parker he returned to the office only to find his father had returned from the court case apparently it didn’t take as long as he had expected. Just as Philip called Max into his office to discuss how the meeting went with Mr Parker he was interrupted, via his intercom, by his secretary Monica.

“Mr Evans I’m sorry to interrupt you but Mr Parker is on line one demanding to speak to you.”

Philip threw a look at his son as if to say “What the hell did you do wrong?”

Max just shrugged his shoulders and closed the door in order for Philip to have some privacy.

As he walked back to his office he started to worry. He thought the meeting went well but by the urgency in Monica’s tone of voice he may have thought wrong.

He went through the whole meeting in his mind and couldn’t find anything that would have upset Mr Parker. Hell he’d even told him to call him Jeff. He sat down at his desk and put his head in his hands. What if Mr Parker took his business elsewhere? His fathers company would be ruined.

His bad thoughts were broken and he jumped when the intercom buzzed.

“Hi Max, Philip wants to see you immediately” said his secretary Carrie.

He always got Carrie to call him by his first name otherwise it would get confusing plus the fact he had a really good working relationship with his secretary. She was one of the best in the firm second only to Monica.

She always knew what he needed before he did.

“Did he say why Carrie?”

“No Max. He just wanted you in there PRONTO, his word not mine” laughed Carrie.

“Tell him I’m on my way”

“Yes sir”

Max took a few minutes to compose himself, squared his shoulders and prepared for the butt chewing of his life!!!

As he walked into Philip’s office he noticed the smile on his fathers face.

“Take a seat Max”

“Okay here we go” thought Max.

“I’ve just got of the phone with Mr Parker and I have to say that you made quite an impression on him. So much so he wants you to be the spokesperson for his company.”

“What does that entail?” asked Max slightly worried, he did not like surprises.

“Well we will still be doing all the work behind the scenes with your help of course but you will have to work closely with his daughter Liz. You will also have to attend any photo shoots on behalf of his company. His company at the moment has rather an old fashioned type of image and he wants to improve that. He thinks that if he gets you and his daughter involved in the company then it will improve their image and bring in new young blood!”

“I don’t think I’m comfortable with that Philip. You know I hate having my photograph taken” said Max.

He didn’t want to get so involved with Mr Parker or his daughter just in case he made a huge mistake and lose Mr Parker as a client.

“Don’t be ridiculous Max. This has to be done! If you don’t then we will lose him as our client and that would finish the company. Mr Parker spends about $400,000,000 with us so don’t think for one moment you have a choice in this matter!”

Max was not a happy man.

“But what if I don’t get along with his daughter or I screw up some way. I don’t want to be responsible for losing the biggest client you have and how do the partners feel about this?”

“They aren’t happy about putting a rookie on the job but they realise, as I do, that we would lose him anyway if we didn’t do this.”

“Great so now I have all of the partners hating my guts and the other more qualified lawyers we have as well.”

“Don’t worry about them. Mr Parker has invited you over for dinner at the mansion on Wednesday evening. I suggest you leave now and go and buy a new suit. The company will cover the expenses.”

Max knew he wasn’t going to be able to talk his father out of this one.

*******

And this is how he came to be sitting at the dining table in the Parker mansion in his very expensive new suit.

He never liked surprises in fact he HATED surprises. He had always prided himself on planning his life out weeks ahead and to the very finest detail. He was the only teenager at his high school with a day planner. Oh yes people used to laugh at him for it but most of those ended up working at the cheese factory!

He was pulled out of his thoughts when the starter was placed in front of him by the serving staff.

“So Max how do you feel about being the spokesperson for my company and working with my daughter Liz?”

How does he feel about working closely with “Oh hi just call me Liz” bumping into him “oh excuse me” Liz? Dressed in a short skimpy, tight black dress? His boxers started to tent as he thought about her. God she was simply breath taking. She had tanned long slender legs, gorgeous brown hair that he just wanted to run his fingers through and the most beautiful big brown doe eyes he had ever seen.

She was sitting directly opposite him, staring at him all the time. It was really starting to make him uncomfortable.

He coughed as he shook those thoughts out of his head.

“I can’t thank you enough for giving me this opportunity sir” said Max with as much sincerity as he could muster.

God why does she keep staring at him like that?

At that moment Max started to feel something against his leg. He looked up at Liz who was smiling widely at him.

Oh my god she was running her foot up and down his leg!!

He couldn’t believe it and she just sat there smiling at him. He started to get really nervous. Why was the temperature suddenly rising in this room? He started to sweat profusely and used his napkin to wipe his face. He took the glass of water that had been placed before him and took a massive gulp to help his now very parched throat.

Mr Parker noticed how red Max was, watched as he wiped his face with his napkin and then take a gulp of water. Maybe he was nervous about being in front of HIM. He did have this sort of affect on people.

“Max are you okay?” he asked concerned.

He was about to answer Mr Parker when he felt Liz’s foot move further up his leg.

“I’m …” he voice came out very squeaky so he coughed.

“Uh I mean I’m fine thank you Mr Parker” whilst shooting Liz a warning look. If it was possible her smile got wider and there was a glint in her eyes.

He started to concentrate on eating his starter trying to ignore Liz’s foot up his leg. He placed a hand under the table and pushed off her foot. Liz just pouted and then smiled again. She did a little wriggle.

Just as Max was about to put his prawn salad in to his mouth and chew he felt Liz’s bare stocking feet go directly to his crotch, causing him to jump, smacking the table hard. Everything started to rattle.

Max scraped his chair back and jumped up making an awful noise.

“I have to go to the bathroom, please excuse me?” he said turning quickly in order to hide his obvious arousal away from the onlookers.

“Of course” said Jeff none the wiser. Max was rather a jittery person.

*******

Max entered the rather lavish bathroom. White marble and gold surrounded him. He put his head against the cold mirror trying to calm his rapidly beating heart down. He moved his pants around trying to make his erection more bearable.

“Okay Max think of something that will help like … Rosie O'Donell … Ellen … Rosanne Bar … that’s it … Rosanne Bar … Rosanne Bar in a bikini ... Rosanne Bar in a bikini wanting me to rub her down with suntan lotion." he chanted like an mantra.


He leaned over the wash basin and ran the cold water. He cupped his hands filling them with water and then splashed the cool liquid against his very hot, red face. He looked back up to the mirror and started to talk to himself again.

"She's the daughter of your firm's biggest client ... but she's hot ... NO ... NO ... NO TOUCHING!”

The heat in his body started to rise again so he leaned down, cupped more water in his hands and splashed his face. As he came back up to look in the mirror he was shocked to find Liz standing in the doorway with a massive smile on her face.

"Feeling a little hot and bothered there Max?" her smile grew even wider.

Max turned around as Liz made her way toward him, trapping him against the wash basin counter. She placed her hands either side of Max and pressed her body hard against his.

He looked down at her with panic in his eyes and started to squirm. She just laughed bringing her lips closer to his.

My god he just wanted to kiss those candy pink lips. He wanted to ravish her just to show her that she did NOT have the upper hand … but then his sensible brain kicked in.

“You know Max I think I’m going to enjoy working underneath you! You’re going to have all the power you know? That might make things rather … hard ... don't you think?” she said seductively blowing slightly in his ear.

Realising that his resolve was slipping Max jumped so hard that he knocked her back a bit and broke free of her grasp. "I ... I ... I've got to get back to the table ..." Max stammered out before brushing by her and quickly making his way out of the bathroom back towards the dinner table.

*******

Liz stood frozen in the bathroom in shock. That had just not happened! Max Evans had NOT just blown her off and managed to escape her. Nobody has ever done that to her and it made her mad. No scratch that ... it made her furious! How dare he! That’s it … she was now even more determined to get him.

Storming out of the bathroom Liz made her way back to the dining table. Oh she was going to make him pay for that rebuff.

[Janetfl]

Chapter 6



"I ... I ... I've got to get back to the table ..."

".....and he spent the rest of the night sitting across from me and didn't ONCE look at me! He even scooted out of the way where I couldn't reach him with my foot!" Liz ranted to Tess.

Tess had come around to see how her friend was getting on with her so called seduction but when she heard the story and saw how mad Liz was she was trying so hard not to laugh.

“That was a couple of weeks ago and that’s not the worse part” said Liz.

“Oh please tell me there’s more!” Tess said bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet and clapping her hands with glee.

“Oh there’s more alright!”

Liz proceeded to tell Tess about what happened between her and Max earlier on today.

*******

Jeff had called Max to the mansion for another meeting but when he arrived he was on another important phone call but this time he was shown into the living room to wait and offered refreshments which he refused.

“I’m so sorry Mr Evans but Jeff will be with you as soon as possible. This was an unexpected over sea’s call that came in and he had to take it” said Serena.

“That’s alright I don’t mind waiting” said Max.

Serena left the room and closed the door.

Max looked around the living room and whistled. He was sitting on a black leather couch that was so soft you just sank into it. There was another sofa, exactly the same as he was sitting on, situated opposite him. A 60 inch Plasma T.V. was attached to the wall above a very grand fireplace. He stood up and walked around the living room and continued to look around the room taking in the luxurious surroundings.

“What a total waste of money” said Max to himself whilst shaking his head “Just think how many government bonds and saving’s accounts he could have all this money invested in … pulling in at least ten percent interest!”

He was concentrating so much on his surroundings that he didn’t hear the glass sliding door open which lead to the well kept back garden.

*******

Liz had heard the door bell and knew it was Max. She couldn’t wait to get another shot at him. She was so angry that he hadn’t accepted her advances in fact she was furious.

She got changed into her very sexy, leave nothing to the imagination, white string bikini. It had two triangular pieces of material that almost … and the main word to catch here was ‘almost’ … covered all her breasts and tied at the back of her neck and the bottom piece was a sting thong which left her buttocks exposed.

“If this dental floss bikini doesn’t get him nothing will!” said Liz with a smirk on her face.

She placed a white silk robe around her body, grabbed some suntan oil and made her way to the back garden through the kitchen.

She walked around to the glass sliding doors that lead to the living room and sneaked a peak. She saw Max walking around the room looking at his surroundings. He looked even more handsome today because he was wearing a short sleeved white shirt, no tie and black trousers. Her father had insisted that he come casually dressed.

“My god if that’s casual I’d like to see what he wears when he’s slumming it” said Liz giggling to herself.

She could see his tanned muscular arms and firm butt as he moved around the room. Liz’s heart rate increased and her desire reach fever pitch.

“Oh you’re going down Max Evans!” she said to herself.

She slipped off her robe and rubbed suntan oil over the parts that she could reach. She quietly opened the sliding door and walked into the living room.

“Oh my I’m terribly sorry Max I didn’t realise that you were here!” said Liz in a shocked voice, clutching her robe to cover her breasts and doing her best to put an innocent look on her face.

Max spun around and noticed a scantily clad Liz. His face and ears turned bright red.

“Oh no what is she up to now?” his mind groaned.

His eyes roamed over her entire body and she was all shiny with the suntan oil she had put on. Max swallowed hard. Maybe she didn’t realise that he was there because she was clutching her robe to her body.

Liz started to blush slightly and suddenly turned around.

“Oh erm I-I’m terribly sorry Max” stuttered Liz.

Max’s eyes jumped out of their sockets when he viewed the heavenly sight before him.

“Holy shit” thought Max as he took in the view before him “This can NOT be happening.”

A growl of appreciation nearly left his throat before he realised what he was about to do and stopped himself. His eyes couldn’t help but travel up and down her body. Her hair was up in a kind of twist held by a sliver clip. He drank in the sight of her very toned, tanned back and then his eyes reached her butt. He choked as he realised she was practically naked.

Had temperature in the room suddenly risen again or was it his own body temperature? He was finding it hard not to just scoop her up in his arms and carry her to a bedroom.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away from her.

“*Ahem* Liz, your – your not exactly covered up that way either” choked out Max.

Liz smiled as she heard the tightness in his voice. Yep she knew this bikini would come in handy at some point.

“Oh Max I’m sorry” she said in an innocent voice, turning back around and dropping the robe.

Max turned around again thinking that she would now have put on the robe … which she hadn’t. He knew as he stood there, staring at her, that he was now in deep, deep trouble. Once again he could feel the stirring in his groin start to build.

“Oh god why can’t she just leave me alone” he thought “I’m going to get into so much trouble if this keeps on happening”

“Max seeing how you are here I was wondering if you could help me”

“If the Parker’s say jump you ask how high!” Max heard his father’s words echo through his mind.

“Uhhhhhmmmm … sure Liz. What do you need help with?”

“Hook, line and sinker” Liz smiled to herself “Now all I have to do is reel him in.”

“Well I was coming in to try and find Serena but now that you’re here … could you rub suntan oil on the parts I can’t reach” said Liz seductively holding out the oil to Max.

“DANGER, DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!” Max’s mind started shouting at him like a red alarm klaxon.

“I-I c-can’t do that Liz.”

“Why not? I’m only asking for a little help” asked Liz walking slowly towards him as he walked backwards “And isn’t that what you’re here for? To help my family in WHATEVER … we need?”

“Well yes but … but …” Max stammered as she once again pushed her body up against his.

He couldn’t believe he’d got trapped again. Here he thought that he was escaping her and yet she had walked him against the fireplace and his leg was now between her thighs.

“Oh god I don’t know how much more I can take of this” he thought.

“Maxxx” breathed Liz handing him the oil with a small pout on her lips “please.”

He looked down at her beautiful face and the pouted lips. Oh those lips he just wanted a little taste … just a little. He started to bend his head towards hers.

“THIS IS IT! I’ve got you now! You are MINE!” thought Liz as she closed her eyes waiting for Max to kiss her.

Max knew this was wrong, knew it would only lead to trouble but he just couldn’t help himself...all of his blood was running in a more southernly region than his brain at the moment. But as soon as he felt her rapid pants of breath against his lips his blood starved brain snapped out of its lust filled fog. Moving his lips away from Liz’s lips Max placed his mouth next to her ear and softly whispered …

“Do it yourself Liz”

Liz’s eye’s snapped open and her head shot up in disbelief!

Just as Liz was about to rant and tear into Max she heard the click, click of a woman’s shoes against the marble floor. Serena was coming to get Max for the meeting with her father. She ran, grabbed her robe and went to sit by the pool as if nothing had happened.

Max realised he had just gotten himself another lucky escape.

Saved by the bell.....or.....the click, click of a woman’s high dollar shoes! Whichever one Max would gladly take it.

*******

"You mean you wore that skimpy bikini you bought last summer when we were in Cancun?"

"That's the one." nodded Liz.

That was it … Tess couldn’t take any more and burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” asked Liz annoyed that her friend was laughing at her attempts.

“O-Oh god I’m so sorry Liz but it looks like ‘Mr in the palm of your hand...isn't quite as easy as you thought he’d be."

Tess was laughing so hard that she had tears streaming down her face and was clutching her stomach.

This made Liz even madder. She stood up and started to pace the room.

"Oh just you watch he'll be mine soon enough!" she stated with determination.

“I mean come on Tess, just who the hell does he think he is?!” Liz paced, hands clenching and unclenching.

"I mean any man would consider himself lucky that I was interested in him! How dare he just run out of the bathroom ... on ME of all people! Oh and then tells me to rub my own oil on my body. Just look at me Tess … how could HE!"

Tess finally stopped laughing when her friend started her tirade again.

"Maybe he's gay?" Tess smirked.

"HE IS NOT GAY!" replied Liz even angrier.

"Whooa it was just a thought" said Tess holding her hands up in a surrender gesture.

"Sorry but I know for a fact he's not gay. Besides ... a man that hot can't be gay ... should be against the law or something if he was" said Liz calming down a little.

“How do you know for a fact he’s not gay?” asked Tess curious.

“Because when he rejected my advances last week I hired a private investigator.”

"YOU DID WHAT? You hired a private investigator to follow Max Evans around?!"

"Okay...." Liz sighed "When you say it like that you make it sound a tad crazy."

"Liz I think you've gone waaaaaaay past the crazy stage and have now reached stalker territory!"

"I'm not a stalker!" shouted Liz.

“If you say so” shrugged Tess.

“Anyway I know he’s not gay because he was in a committed relationship for three years with a girl from college” said Liz.

“Oh.”

“Why isn’t he interested in me Tess?” whined Liz totally frustrated.

“Well here’s a thought Liz. Maybe just maybe he likes his women to be … now how can I put it politely … erm … a little more conservative” said Tess trying to be diplomatic.

“You mean stop throwing myself at him and use my brain instead of my body.”

“Exactly!”

“The private investigator found out that he spends a lot of his free time at a small bookstore come café down on Tenth Street.”

“I’m sorry but how is that going to help you?” asked Tess confused.

“Well if I can find out what sort of books he purchases then I can buy the same ones and leave them strategically placed around the house.”

“What if he asks you about them?” asked Tess.

“Oh I’m going to read every single one of those books so I can quote them if he asks!”

“YOU? Read a book? The whole thing?”

“Well ok … I might just skim through them and read their summaries on their covers.”

“Now that might just work” said Tess smiling.

“I have a problem though.”

“Oh what’s the problem?”

“You MUST go to the store for me tonight and find out what it’s all about and also dig up some dirt on Max.”

"But....why don't YOU just go?"

"Because Max might be there and see me spying on him!" said Liz rolling her eyes again.

"But....Justin was going to take me to ... Chez Pierre ..."

“You don’t even like Justin!” Liz protested “You told me that yourself last week!”

“Well yes … but he likes to spend an extortionate amount of money on me” pouts Tess.

"Oh please Tess ... do this for me!" begged Liz.

"Ok, ok but you owe me one Parker."

"Thank you, thank you." Liz hugs Tess.

"What’s this place called and where is it again?"

"It's a small place down on Tenth Street. It's called The Road to Enlightenment."

[Janetfl]

Chapter 7



Tess typed the address into her GPS system and then left the Parker mansion to go and find this stupid bookstore Liz wanted her to visit.

After about twenty minutes on the road she turned the corner in to Tenth Street and noticed the bookstore. She pulled into a parking space outside and got ready to go in. She wasn’t quite sure how she was going to find out the information that Liz required but she would give her best shot after all that’s what best friends do for each other.

“Oh god, nice one Liz” said Tess as she got out of her car, locked it and headed towards the store/café.

It was a rather quaint little bookstore or so most people would see it that way but Tess saw it as a hovel.

It had a black sign with white lettering on stating that this was ‘The Road to Enlightenment Bookstore and Café’. Underneath the sign was a red canopy where people, who were sitting in the outdoor area, could take shelter under if it was raining. As she looked into the window she could see books set out on display to attract the customers. There was no fancy arrangement they were just all lined up on a set of shelves specifically designed to fit in the window.

There was a window above the store which looked like it belonged to an apartment and there was a wrought iron surround that went across it.

“God I bet this is the sort of place that has that old, musty smell of books to it. Liz owes me BIG TIME for this” she said to herself before she stepped through the door.

Once inside Tess found that she was actually quite surprised by the interior of the bookstore. Instead of stale books all she could smell was the fresh aroma of steaming hot coffee and baking buns. She inhaled the bittersweet aroma and made her way to the back of the store where the café was situated.

She was even more surprised at how busy it was. There was only one table available but it was quiet because everyone was engrossed in their books and too busy sipping their drinks to talk. There was an oldish looking couple chatting in one corner while two teenagers in the other corner were playing a round of chess at their table.

Tess stepped up to the serving counter and was shocked to see that the girl, who was rubbing down the counter, was sporting tattoos all over her arms and piercings in her nose, one eyebrow and both ears.

“Erm … could I please have a double skinny latté please”

“Cummin’ right up! In or out?” said the girl with a smile.

“I’m sorry?”

“Are ya drinkin’ in or out?” said the girl.

“Oh sorry I’ll take it to drink in please” said Tess smiling.

“You aint been here before have ya?”

“No, first time.”

“Well the books over on that shelf you’s can read whilst drinkin’ ya coffee” replied the girl pointing to a shelf full of books situated at the back of the café.

“Oh thank you. I might just do that.”

Tess paid for her double skinny latté and made her way towards the bookshelf. There were many books to choose from … most of them were some sort of self help books and a lot about Buddhism but there was a small selection of other genre. She chose a crime fiction novel and was reading the back to find out what it was about as she made her way towards her table.

Just as she got to the good part of the description she crashed into something solid and her hand tipped back spilling the coffee all down the front of her new dress.

“Shit, shit, shit!” said Tess as the coffee seeped through her dress and started to scald her.

“Oh my I’m so sorry” said a husky male voice.

Tess looked up to see what or rather who she had bumped into. When she saw the man who stood in front of her she was pleasantly surprised. He was a very handsome looking man with his dark brown hair and eyes. He was wearing blue jeans and a dark red t-shirt with the gold letters USC spread across the front of it. She took a second to admire his bulging biceps that peeked out of the arms of his t-shirt.

“Maybe this isn’t such a bad place after all” she thought whilst smiling.

Tess watched as the man turned around quickly and grabbed some napkins from a nearby counter and then turned back to her. She couldn’t help but to giggle as the man started wiping down the front of her dress running his hand over her ample breasts in the process. Her giggles increased in intensity when the man suddenly stopped realising what he had been doing with his hands.

“Oh – Oh I’m terribly sorry I didn’t mean to … you know” he said taking a step back from her pointing to her chest area whilst his face was turning a beetroot colour.

“Feel me up?” smirked Tess

“Uhhmm yeah...here take these and wipe yourself down” he said offering her more napkins.

“Well since we’ve gotten to know each other … intimately now …maybe you could tell me your name?”

The man blushed even more if that was possible.

“Huh? Oh yes sorry my name is Kyle and you are?”

“Tess”

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you Tess” he said holding out his hand “a-and I’m truly sorry about … that” Kyle said pointing his finger at her chest area again.

“No worries you were just trying to help me besides it was I who wasn’t looking where she was going” said Tess indicating the book and then shaking his hand.

It was only then that she noticed the books surrounding her on the floor.

“Oh did I make you drop those?” she asked bending down to help him pick them up.

“Oh yeah but you don’t have to...” Kyle bent down at the same time as Tess did and when they both reached for the same book their heads bumped together.

“Ow!” they both said in unison as once again the books fell to the floor as they used their hands to rub the spots on their heads that they had just smacked together.

“You know how about you sit down over there...” Kyle smiled and pointed over to the last empty table “...and I will bring you another coffee after I’ve picked up these books. That way we won’t be so dangerous to one another”

“Thank you” said Tess raising up off the floor still rubbing her now sore forehead.

“What were you drinking by the way?” asked Kyle as he picked up the last of the books and stood up.

“Oh … er … a double skinny latté please” answered Tess as she was heading to the table Kyle had pointed out to her.

“Be right back” nodded Kyle heading off to replace the books in the correct positions. Once that was done he went behind the café’s service counter and started to make her coffee.

Tess studied his magnificent form as he worked the latté machine causing his back muscles to stretch his shirt tight across his broad ... “Whoa girl get it under control!” Tess shook her head as Kyle started making his way back to her table.

“Here you go now, one new double skinny latté!” said Kyle setting the drink down on the table in front of Tess and then taking the seat across from her “But you know I was just thinking … would you please allow me to pay for that dress I just ruined?”

“Ok first off it was I who ran into you so it’s totally not your fault and secondly I bought this dress from Gucci and it cost me $800 dollars.”

“Huh? $800 … as in dollars? American? ONE dress?”

“Yep” Tess nodded and smiled as she sipped her latté.

“*Ahem* Well in that case, seeing how I can’t get you a new dress, how about letting me buy you that new latté?” he asked sheepishly.

“Honestly Kyle you don’t have to bother about the dress … really … I can just get another one tomorrow.”

“A-Another one?” choked out Kyle “My bookstore doesn’t make much more than that in a day”

“Oh so this is your bookstore then?” asked Tess.

“Yep all mine!” Kyle said with a huge grin on his handsome face “And I own the apartment above the store as well.”

“Wow I’m really impressed. I mean you don’t look that much older than I do. But here you are already having a business and home that you own. Is this what you always wanted to do, you know, run your own business? Own a bookstore?”

“No, no, no far from it" laughed Kyle "Actually since the day I picked up my first ball I wanted to be a famous pro athlete."

"Just like every other male at that age." smiled Tess

"Well yes" Kyle smiled back "I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging here but I was quite good. Actually I was a famous college football player back in my day."

"Really....who did you play for?"

"Uhhhh… U.S.C…” Kyle ran his fingers under the three bright gold letters that ran across the front of his shirt.

“Ohh…” Tess nodded but then got a confused look on her face “Who’s U.S.C.”

“The University of Southern California…you know ‘Go Trojans’!”

“Ohhh sorry” Tess smiled sheepishly “I’m not real big into sports."

“No problem.” Kyle smiled trying to put her at ease “Got me a national championship my senior year. I even had the chance to turn pro and go to the NFL. But that sort of fell through on me right before graduation."

"What happened?"

"You know what they say a guy needs to stay mysterious so how about I hold that bit of info until our second date?"

"Second date?" Tess's eyebrows raised up "Who ever said we'd have a second date ... and just when did we have our first?"

"We're having it now" a large grin spread across Kyle's face.

"And just how do you call this a date?"

"Well we have a guy … that would be me."

"Obviously"

"Then we have a woman ... that would be you."

"Correct again"

"And here we are sitting at a table, having refreshments..." Kyle pointed to her latté "...and having a meaningful conversation. If that doesn’t scream date than I don't know what does."

"Well now that you put it that way I suppose ...."

"Oh hi Max how are you today?" asked Kyle as he noticed Max making his way towards the table.

“I’m fine thanks Kyle and you?” asked Max looking at Kyle with a raised eyebrow indicating that he’d noticed the blonde sitting opposite him.

“Oh yeah I’m alright you know, same old thing. Listen I want you to meet a friend of mine.”

“Oh god no, no, no don’t introduce me” thought Tess.

“This is Tess. Tess this is my best friend Max.”

“Oh shit, what am I going to do now!” thought Tess.

Max held his hand out to Tess and she placed her small one in his.

“I … erm … it’s … er … nice to meet you Max” said Tess eying the books in his arm.

“Well it’s nice to meet you too Tess.”

“Oh … erm … I see you have some books, are they any good?” asked Tess.

“Actually yes they are. These ones are my favourite but I’m just waiting for one more?” said Max showing Tess.

“Oh they’re all Steinbeck so which one are you waiting for?” asked Tess as innocently as possible, making a mental note of the titles.

Max just gave her a strange look.

“Well I’ve just found this place see and I wanted to read some good books” said Tess as an explanation, smiling.

“Well Steinbeck is my favourite author as you can see. I already have, East of Eden, Of Mice and Men and The Pearl. I’m just waiting for my special edition, hard back copy of The Grapes of Wrath” said Max.

“Well you won’t have to wait any longer Max because it came in yesterday. It’s in the back room, come through and I’ll get it for you” said Kyle.

“Well seeing how you’re busy Kyle I’ll go now” said Tess.

“Will you be coming back?”

“Oh definitely I’m not going to miss out on that second date” Tess winks.

“Great!” said Kyle smiling.

She now knew how Liz felt about Max because she felt the same way with Kyle.

As Max and Kyle disappeared into the back room Tess quickly grabbed the books off the shelf and paid for them. Liz would have to get hold of a copy of The Grapes of Wrath somehow.

Finally she had completed the mission Liz had set out for her.

She escaped the store before Max and Kyle could see her again but what she didn’t notice was the girl behind the Café counter, the one who served her, her first latté saw everything she had done … and she wasn’t happy.

[Janetfl]

Chapter 8


Tess and Liz are sitting in the living room on one of the big black leather sofas. Liz starts to read one of the books out loud.

"All kin's a vegetables in the garden, and if we want a little whisky we can sell a few eggs or something, or some milk. We'd jus' live there. We'd belong there. There wouldn't be no more runnin' round the country and gettin' fed by a Jap cook. No, sir, we'd have our own place where we belonged and not sleep in no bunk house."
- John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men


SLAM …


“Well what the hell does that mean?” asked Liz.

“Don't look at me....you're the one reading it” replied Tess coming out of her bored induced coma.

“God this book is boring as hell!” Liz slammed the book down on the nearby coffee table.

Leaning back on the sofa she began to rub her forehead “And all of this reading is making my head hurt!”

Tess just laughed at her friend “I told you yesterday, when I phoned, that this plan wouldn’t work. I warned you that each one of those books were like two foot thick and would bore you to death.”

“Well I didn’t think you meant literally!” groaned Liz her arm slung over her eyes and forehead.

“Well I'd love to stay and help but I've got to...” said Tess standing up, ready to leave.

“Just where in the hell do you think you're going?! Tess you can't leave me! You have to stay here and help me finish up all these books!” Liz jumped up straight on the sofa and started waving her hands towards the large stack of books that rested on the coffee table.

“Uhhh I'm not the one that has to memorize all of them and be able to call them up on demand so ... bye”

“Oh alright then we’ll stop reading the books and chat for a while okay?” asked Liz with pleading eyes.

“Oh ALRIGHT then” said Tess rolling her eyes but sitting back down on the sofa.

“Thank you. Anyway how did you find out what books Max likes?”

“Oh I took a peek at the ones he was holding in his arms and then asked him about them. It was pretty simple really” said Tess proudly.

“YOU WHAT?” screamed Liz.

“I said that I took a peek ….”

“I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME!”

“Then why did you …”

Liz interrupted again.

“Think about WHAT you’ve just said” said Liz glaring at Tess.

Tess’s eyes looked up in the way people do when they’re trying to recall something from their mind.

Stressed out Liz tried to spell it out for her friend.

“YOU met MAX” stressed Liz.

“Yeah … so … what’s the big deal?” said Tess with a look of confusion on her face.

Liz rolls her eyes “Tess you're over here like all the time.”

“Yeah … so?”

“Max will be over here like all the time, right?”

“Yeah”

“Well, what if you’re both like over here at the SAME time and he SEES you?!”

“Ohhh … well it wasn't my fault! It's not like I went up to him and said HI! Kyle introduced us” said Tess defending herself.

“Who's Kyle?”

“Is that an original dress designed by …”

Just as Tess was about to try and divert Liz away from the discussion of Kyle, by changing the subject, they both heard voices outside the living room door.

“So Max what do you think about this new deal we’re taking on. Thanks to you and my daughter we now have the younger generation falling all over themselves trying to sign up with us. You’re doing an excellent job Max.”

“SHIT” whispered Liz as the door knob started to turn, jumping up off the sofa she grabbed Tess by the arm and started dragging her away “Fuck Max is here you have to hide!”

“Liz where the hell am I going to hi …” but Tess never got to finish her question as the door to the living room swung open.

Luckily for Liz, Jeff’s and Max’s attention was on a document they were studying. Liz forcefully yanked Tess towards a nearby open closet and then proceeded to shove her in it so Max couldn’t see her.

Slamming the door shut Liz turned around to rest her rear end against the door and then bent over at the waist as she tried to catch her breath. It was only when she stood back up, straight, that she noticed both her father and Max were looking at her strangely.

“Ohhh hi … Max” Liz gave him a rather weak wave.

“Uhhh hi Liz …” Max gave his own weak wave in return as he took in the panicked look on her face “… are you okay?”

“Oh yeah I’m just peachy!” said Liz plastering a big fake smile on her face.

“Jesus that was close” Liz thought.

*******

As Liz slammed the door to the closet Tess was plunged in to darkness.

“I swear to Gucci … I’m going to kill her when I get out of here” said Tess having a fight with the coats she’d already gotten tangled up in. The more she fought them the more entangled she became.

“Shit”

Tess stilled herself in order to hear the conversation going on outside.

*******

“So Max how are you getting on with my lovely daughter?”

“Erm … fine thank you Jeff. She’s a REAL pleasure to work with” said Max through slightly gritted teeth, thinking of all the times Liz had tried to seduce him.

He found Liz incredibly sexy but he had to keep reminding himself who he was dealing with … in fact he was surprised to still be there after he'd turned down her request to rub oil all over her body.

Her … totally hot … and sexy … nubile body.

Oh that was it … Max groaned to himself as the vision of Liz in that dental floss thong bikini came floating through his mind like a heat wave. He had to get out of the room quickly before his pants started to tent up and he embarrassed himself.

“Hi Daddy, yes Max and I are getting along REALLY well aren’t we Max” said Liz giving him a cheeky wink.

“Perfectly” Max smiled hoping like hell that Jeff bought it.

“Oh well that’s just great!! I was hoping you were getting on because after all the good work you’ve done for the company so far I have a lot more work coming up for the pair of you” said Jeff smiling.

“*Ahem* Well maybe we could discuss that later Jeff. I really need to get back to the office and work on these papers you have given me.”

“Of course Max, of course, but I want to discuss some other business with you first before you leave” said Jeff turning to walk Max out to the door.

“I’ll see you soon Liz” said Max over his shoulder as he walked out of the living room with Jeff.

“Yeah I’ll SEE YOU soon Max” said Liz turning towards the closet as the door closed.

*******

Liz yanked open the door to the closet and Tess fell flat on her back pulling the entangled coats and about half the coat rack down along with her.

“Get these freaking things off me would you!” shouted Tess as she carried on fighting the entangled coats.

Liz bent down to help and then picked her up off the floor.

“What the HELL was that for?!” said Tess, her face flashing an angry, hot red.

“Sorry but no time to explain right now! You’ve got to go! Max may come back any second!” said Liz as she was pushing Tess towards the sliding doors that lead onto the garden.

“Jeeze … five minutes ago you were begging me to stay here and talk to you now you’re … Liz what in the hell is … okay, okay, would you just stop pushing me!” said Tess getting angrier by the second “I wanted to go back to the bookstore anyway … oh … I … erm … I mean I want to go shopping anyway.”

Liz pushed Tess outside and closed the sliding door just as Max re-entered the room.
Tess darted away and started walking towards her car.

“The bookstore? Why the hell would I have said that?” wondered Tess as she got into her car. She was that focused on those two questions she’d asked herself that she automatically started heading her car in that direction.

[Janetfl]

Chapter 9



Tess found herself standing outside Kyle’s bookstore having a mental debate with herself on why she drove way the hell out of her way to come here.

“Why am I here?” Tess asked herself silently “I mean it’s not like this place is anything special. I could be shopping … buying myself that new dress…”

The mention of her dress sent Tess’s thoughts back to the last time she was here. How her dress had been ruined and how sitting in an old bookstore sipping a latté had been the best first date she had been on in a long time.

“Well I guess stopping in and having one coffee wouldn’t hurt.”

With a smile on her face Tess thanked an older man who was exiting the store and who held the door open for her. As she approached the counter she noticed Kyle was, once again, standing behind it; his back to her busy at the latté machine. He hadn’t noticed her yet so she took the moment to once again admire his rather nice backside.

As she watched him work the latté machine her smile grew even more. But her smile faltered a tad when she notice that the blonde haired girl working the counter with Kyle had noticed her standing there.......and from what Tess could see out of the corner of her eye the girl wasn't looking too happy about it.

“Did that girl just frown at me?” she thought slightly confused.

Just as she was thinking this Kyle turned around, finally noticing her standing across the counter from him, a huge grin came across his handsome face.

“HEY THERE!” he boomed excitedly “What are you doing here?”

Tess placed her hand over her heart in an ‘Oh I am wounded’ fashion.

“You say that like me being here’s a bad thing” pouted Tess.

"Never" Kyle shook his head grinning "A beautiful girl like you being here is always a good thing as far as I'm concerned."

“You will not blush...you will not blush...” Tess ranted over and over in her mind as she felt the heat start to burn in her cheeks. “You are a mature woman who has been hit on by countless guys...sophisticated women like you do not blush just because a nice guy called you.....oh what the hell!”

Tess gave up her inner fight and once again grinned up at Kyle.

"Thank you for the compliment."

“Not a problem. Now tell me to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”

“Oh … erm …well you see I was in the neighbourhood..." Tess started to say while at the same time her mind started to scream... “LIAR, LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE...” “...and I thought if you're not too busy then we might have that second date?”

“NO!” Kyle's booming voice caused everyone in the quiet bookstore to jump and then look his way.

"Sorry" Kyle waved to everyone as they went back to their book reading and coffee sipping.

Turning back to Tess he shook his head vigorously and in a softer tone said "No...I'm not to busy."

"Good"

“Could you watch the counter for me please?” Kyle asked the blonde girls whilst stepping from behind the counter, removing his apron in the process and heading towards Tess.

“Yeah sure!”

“I have reserved our special table” said Kyle leading Tess towards the table they had sat at previously.

As she turned to follow Kyle to the table she noticed the blonde girl giving her the evil eye and could feel her cold stare boring into the back of her neck.

“What is up with that chick?” Tess thought.

Kyle held out the chair for Tess and she sat down.

“Thank you Kyle” said Tess blushing again. She’d never had a man treat her so gentleman like before...she could come to like this.

“Your welcome” he said smiling bemused by the slight blush that had formed on her cheeks “Would you like you usual refreshment?”

“Oh … erm … yes it’s a …”

“A double skinny latté” interrupted Kyle.

“Wow, you remembered?” asked Tess.

“Of course I remembered … why wouldn’t I?” smiled Kyle before turning around to go and prepare their drinks.

As Kyle walked away, Tess stared at the blonde girl, who was busy serving another customer, and tried to work out what her problem was, if indeed there was one.

God knows she and Liz had pissed off numerous girls over their years of partying. Maybe this chick was an ex to some guy Tess had dated in the past.....or the ex to some guy she stole in the past.

“So” Kyle said placing the latté in front of Tess bringing her out of her train of thought. Looking down at the table she noticed that there was something else sitting in front of her other than her double skinny latté.

"What is that?"

“I’ve brought you a cup cake with chocolate covered icing” said Kyle with a huge smile on his face, knowing that most women liked chocolate.

“Oh thank you Kyle” said Tess with a slight frown on her face.

“What? What’s wrong, don’t you like cup cakes?”

“I LOVE cup cakes?”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong Kyle” said Tess smiling reassuringly “It’s just that I prefer strawberry flavoured things.”

“I thought ALL women LOVED chocolate” said Kyle "I mean I hear stories about how you women worship at the altar of chocolate."

“Ok your first mistake is believing that all women are the same." Tess smirked at Kyle pointing her finger at him "And second I DO love chocolate it’s just strawberry is my favourite flavour”

“Oh well in that case …” said Kyle starting to walk away from the table.

“Hey!” Tess said gently grabbing his forearm unable to control the slight shiver that ran through her when she made skin to skin contact with him.

“What?” asked Kyle now totally confused.

“Were are you going with my cup cake?”

“Well it’s chocolate but you said you like strawberry. I don't think I have anything strawberry but maybe I can find…” before he could finish his sentence Tess snatched the cup cake off the plate and took a bite.

As she chewed a small moan of satisfaction left her lips.

“Hhmmmmm I may prefer strawberry but I didn’t say anything about not wanting the chocolate cup cake now” said Tess smiling “Those are really, really good, do you make them yourself?”

“No, I can cook but I have a friend of mine who is a baker and he makes these at home for me to sell here.”

“Wow, well you must pass on my compliments to your friend then” said Tess taking another bite of the cup cake.

“I might just do that” said Kyle smiling as he took the seat opposite to Tess “Ok now....seeing how I was the one who told you a little about myself on our last date, how about you share some information with me about yourself.”

“Well I’m twenty years old, my favourite colour is red, I love going shopping....I'm actually pretty good at that, you might even call me a Pro....and I LOVE my car. She's my baby.” said Tess listing the first things that came into her head.

“What car do you drive then?” asked Kyle.

“I drive a black, Porsche GT Carrera”

“Ohhhhh good car!”

“You better believe it mister. So, back to you.”

“Well I’m twenty five years old, my favourite colour is green, I love to watch football on TV or go to my old alma matar to watch them live … oh yeah and I’m a Buddhist.”

“A Buddhist?" Tess's nose scrunched up in confusion "Isn't those the people who like to run around with no clothes on all the time?"

"Uhhh no" Kyle coughed into his hand as he bit back his laughter knowing it wouldn't be nice to laugh at her "...you're thinking of NUDIEST. I'm a Buddhist...it's a form of religion, originated somewhere around China, approximately 400 BC."

"Ohh sorry…" Tess ducked her head embarrassed. She hated when she said stupid stuff like that some times.

"Hey it's okay, no one knows everything about everything."

Kyle reached across the table to pat Tess on the hand, causing the shivers to, once again, shoot up her arm as she smiled at him for trying to make her feel better.

"So what does it mean to be a Buddhist?"

"Well there two main branches but both follow many of the same practices. Buddhism tells us that the world as a whole is suffering, mostly due to cravings or attachments to worldly goods and pleasures. As a Buddhist we should cast out these cravings for material goods and do our best to help others. Only through this will we have a chance at a better life when we die and are reincarnated."

"Does that mean that you believe that you might come back as another person or even an animal once you die?” asked Tess with a look of confusion on her face.

“Yeah that’s right”

“Oh that means you could end up like a gopher or something!” said Tess really bubbly and smiling “I bet you would look so cute!”

"Well thank you for saying I'd look cute...but I was kind of hoping to shoot for something a little further up the food chain in my next life." smirked Kyle “Hey listen we are having a poetry night tonight. Everyone sits around in a circle and then we all discuss the books we are reading and sometimes we read some poetry out loud. I even put on a small little buffet for the customers. Why don’t you come along it’s at eight pm?”

“Ohhh this might be my chance to get more information on Max, for Liz but I don’t want anyone to ask me any difficult questions. I’m going to make a total show of myself” thought Tess.

“Oh no, I-I’m sorry Kyle but I can’t do that. What if they start to ask me questions about books that I read or ask me my opinion on a specific book? I don’t want to embarrass myself” said Tess lowering her head.

Kyle tucked his finger under her chin and gently raised her face so she was looking at him.

“Hey you never have to be embarrassed in front of me okay? Now you don’t have to say anything whilst your there. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the atmosphere okay?”

“Okay” whispered Tess.

“Listen I’m really sorry but I have to go and help the girls now. There is a lot still to prepare for this evening but I’ll see you at eight tonight?”

“Yes I will see you at eight” said Tess standing, ready to leave.

“Good bye Tess”

“Bye Kyle” said Tess smiling.

“Why did I agree to that? I don’t even like poetry!” thought Tess as she stepped outside the bookshop and headed for her car.

[Janetfl]

A/N: Killjoy is a little scared that all you Dreamers out there are going to hurt him because we did two lamptrimming chapters in a row and no Max/Liz. I have assured him that we Dreamers are a friendly bunch and won't boil his bunny just yet!!! : :




Chapter 10



As Tess pulled up outside the front door of the Harding mansion the butler, Charles, was there to meet her. He opened her door for her which she thanked him for and she handed him the keys so he could put the car into the garage.

She walked inside the house and took in her surroundings. The huge, round entrance hall was covered in black and white marble with columns, either side of the room, holding up the massive structure. There was an ornate chandelier in the middle and a spiral staircase that wound around the room.

Now Tess had always loved this room but somehow today she didn’t find any comfort in being here. There was antique furniture placed all over the house and it was like stepping back in time. It looked more like a house that a King and Queen would own. Although her father did have a lot of modern electrical equipment it was all hidden behind antique monstrosities.

The butler came in behind Tess and shut the front door. He watched her for a short period of time feeling rather sorry for this poor young woman. She was always pleasant to the staff and never treated them as if they were beneath her. He knew that she wasn’t happy.

“Will there be anything else Miss Harding?”

Tess was so deep in thought that hearing Charles’s voice made her jump. She turned around to look at him.

“I’m terribly sorry Miss I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Oh Charles, you didn’t, I was just deep in thought that’s all. Thank you for putting the car away for me.”

“You’re welcome Miss.”

Tess started to laugh.

“Charles how many times have I told you to call me Tess?”

“Oh I couldn’t Miss. Your father simply would not allow that and it would be very impolite, not to mention unprofessional, of me to do so” said Charles.

With that remark the smile disappeared from Tess’s face.

“Is my father home?”

“No Miss he won’t be back for another week. He’s still away on business.”

Tess sighed and started walking up the spiral staircase, towards her bedroom.

“Thank you Charles. I won’t need anything for the rest of the day. I am going out this evening and I’m not sure what time I will be back.”

“What time do you want the car ready by?” asked Charles.

“I’m not going until this evening so say around seven thirty.”

“It will be ready for you Miss. I’ll get Dan to wash it for you.”

“Thank you” said Tess disappearing up the stairs.

Charles stood staring at the spot where Tess just stood. He shook his head and made his way towards the servant quarters where Dan would be located.

“That pig headed man is going to lose that wonderful child if he’s not careful” thought Charles shaking his head.

*******

Tess was getting more and more nervous as the hours ticked by. She was sitting in her magnificent room looking at everything she owned. She was trying to figure out why on earth she agreed to go to this poem night tonight.

She started to get butterflies in her stomach when she thought about Kyle but it soon turned to a feeling of sickness when she realised that she was going to be way out of her depth with all the books that were going to be talked about.

Oh she had, had an excellent education and passed all of her exams but the one thing she was sadly lacking in was Literature. She had always found reading a book completely boring, plus having the most monotonous literature teacher in her school didn’t help.

She glanced at her watch for the tenth time and decided it was time to start getting ready. She turned on the water to fill her bath and put a good sized squirt of coconut bath foam in. Once the bath was full she stripped off her clothes and placed them in the dry cleaning basket.

She stepped into the bath and felt the tension of the day slip away. Tess closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, savouring the coconut aroma that filled her nostrils. She let her mind drift back to the events of today. Getting shoved into a closet by Liz and then somehow she ended up inside the bookstore. She remembered the smile on Kyle’s face as soon as he saw her and the fact that he had brought her a chocolate cup cake. What was so special about this guy to make her want to go there tonight?

After Tess had shampooed and conditioned her hair she washed her body and then got out of the bath. She wrapped a fluffy white towel around her hair and put on her bath robe. She went into her walk in closet and set about the task of choosing suitable attire for this evening.

She had numerous designer dresses but she decided to go simple tonight since Kyle had only ever seen her in a dress. She chose a black pair of designer jeans, a pale blue halter neck top and soft black leather, knee length boots to wear for tonight.

She placed the items on her bed and went back into the walk in closet. She pulled out a pale blue bra and panty set along with some black socks. She walked towards the electronic safe, which was behind a door in her closet, and typed in the combination. She had numerous pieces of expensive jewellery that her father had bought her on special occasions.

As she looked at all the jewellery she remembered each time she was given the pieces like it was yesterday. Most of them were guilt presents from her father. Always brought back when he had been away for her Birthday or he had missed something important at her school. She sighed at the memories that were now invading her mind. She couldn’t understand why this was all affecting her now. It had never bothered her before. She selected a simple silver chain necklace and matching bracelet that she had bought for herself.

She closed the safe and headed towards her vanity desk. She applied her makeup so it looked natural and then set about drying her blonde curly locks. Once she had finished she dressed herself and then put on the jewellery. She took a look at herself in the full length mirror and decided she looked natural, not overdressed or underdressed.

She put on her tailored soft black leather jacket, grabbed her purse from the table next to her bedroom door and headed downstairs closing her bedroom door behind her. As she came down Charles was there to meet her with her car keys in his hand. To say he was shocked at the sight before him would have been an understatement.

He was used to Tess wearing some designer dress and her make-up was usually a lot thicker. Tonight she looked more beautiful than he had ever seen her. Her make-up was light giving her a natural beauty look and for once she was wearing a pair of jeans. He smiled at her when she looked up.

“You look wonderful tonight Miss” said Charles smiling.

“Thank you Charles”

“The car is ready for you Miss” said Charles dropping the car keys into Tess’s hand.

“Would you mind thanking Dan for me Charles?”

“Of course Miss I will do it as soon as you have gone.”

“Thanks” said Tess as she walked out the door towards her shiny clean car.



Chapter 11



When Tess arrived outside the bookstore she noticed that all the parking spaces were full except for one which had a cone in the middle with her name stuck to it. She got out of her car, moved the cone and pulled into the space.

She pulled out her compact mirror and checked her makeup before she exited the car. As she walked towards the door of the bookstore she started to get nervous butterflies in her stomach. She took a deep breath and walked through the door.

Kyle was getting more nervous as the minutes passed. He’d started to think that she wasn’t going to show up tonight. He heard the bell above the door jingle and he looked up in hope that it was Tess. The sight before him just took his breath away. There she was a vision of loveliness, in her black jeans and light blue halter neck top which clung to her curves in all the right places. Her beautiful blonde shiny hair was loosely curled and hung around her shoulders.

“Wow you look beautiful tonight, not that you don’t usually … it’s just that there’s something different about you tonight” said Kyle walking up to Tess and gently grabbing her hand.

“Come on I’ve saved you a seat” said Kyle leading Tess towards the unoccupied chair.

Tess sat down next to Kyle and she looked around the group and noticed that Max was there as well. She gave him a slight nod and a small wave in greeting. He just nodded and smiled. Everyone took turns in standing up and reading from their favourite poets books. After each reading there was a short discussion on the meaning of each poem. It took a couple of hours before the final man stood up to read his poems. He had the look of a Literature Professor, tweed jacket with leather elbow patches, glasses and a beard.


Never give all the heart, for love
Will hardly seem worth thinking of
To passionate women if it seem
Certain, and they never dream
That it fades out from kiss to kiss;
For everything that's lovely is
But a brief, dreamy. Kind delight.
O never give the heart outright,
For they, for all smooth lips can say,
Have given their hearts up to the play.
And who could play it well enough
If deaf and dumb and blind with love?
He that made this knows all the cost,
For he gave all his heart and lost.
Never Give All The Heart – A poem by William Butler Yeats



She hears me strike the board and say
That she is under ban
Of all good men and women,
Being mentioned with a man
That has the worst of all bad names;
And thereupon replies
That his hair is beautiful,
Cold as the March wind his eyes.
Father & Child – A poem by William Butler Yeats


He closed his poetry book and turned towards Tess.

“And which poem is your favourite?”

“I … erm … Father and Child” stuttered Tess turning bright red as all eyes turned towards her.

“And what do you think it means?” asked the man.

This was what Tess was afraid of. If she attempted to answer she might just embarrass herself. As the Lit Professor looked at her in expectation, a very nervous Tess grabbed Kyle’s hand and gave him a pleading look. Kyle smiles at Tess and then turns his attention on the Lit Professor.

“Bob this is Tess’s first night here. So why don’t we go easy on her and just let her listen and watch?”

Bob just smiled at Tess and nodded at Kyle and then turned his attention to one of the regulars in the group. Tess threw Kyle a look of gratitude for saving her and continued to listen carefully to what everyone was saying. She was concentrating so hard that she didn’t realise she was still holding Kyle’s hand.

Kyle looked at their entwined hands and a big goofy grin came across his face. This was turning out to be the perfect night.

After all of the discussions had finished the group separated and started to help themselves to the buffet that Kyle had laid on for tonight. Kyle told Tess to grab their usual table while he went to get them some food. As she sat down Max brought a chair over to the table and sat by her.

“So, how long have you known Kyle then?”

“Oh, we only met a couple of days ago” said Tess shyly.

“How did you two meet then?”

“Well it was here actually. I kinda bumped in to him and spilt some coffee down myself and we just sat down and chatted for a while.”

“Well you couldn’t have chosen a nicer guy to know a little better” said Max smiling and gave a little wink.

“Well he seems …” Tess never got to finish her sentence because Kyle came over with two plates piled high with food.

“Hey you guys aren’t talking about me are you?” said Kyle with a smile on his face.

“Yeah we were actually. I was asking Tess how she met your sorry ass” said Max winking a Tess again.

“Hey that’s …”

“Kyle he’s only joking. He asked me how we met” said Tess worried that Kyle would take it the wrong way and think badly about her.

“I know, I know” laughed Kyle when he saw the slight fear in Tess’s eyes.

“We’ve been best friends since … well since about junior year of high school. You see Tess, Max is a workaholic and about the only chance he gets to interact with beautiful women is when he's either with me or when he's...uh well … that is when he's ...uh… well never actually” laughed Kyle “I mean dude you have gone out on a date some time THIS century right?”

Max rolled his eyes "Even I'm not that bad Kyle! I’ve been on a few dates this year!”

“Max no offense....but my Grandpa is like eighty seven, in a nursing home full of a bunch of blue haired old ladies and he still gets way more action than you do!”

“Ha he's so funny isn't he?” Max turned to Tess.

“A riot” smirked Tess.

“Hey now that’s not true!” said Max faking indignation “I'll have you know that I’ve met a very beautiful woman.”

“Oh yeah and who is that?” asked Kyle curiously.

“Her name is Liz, Liz Parker!” said Max with a smug smile on his face.

Tess’s ears picked up right about the same time Kyle’s mouth fell open.

“Come on you have to tell me more!” said Kyle with interest.

“Well I’m currently working for her father and well for some reason she has set her sights on me … you know she’s been doing stuff” said Max blushing.

“She's been doing stuff? What kind of stuff?" asked Kyle with a devilish grin spread across his face " And more importantly is she doing that stuff too you?! Come on man you can't leave me hanging like this....you got to tell me!"

“Well the other week I was at dinner at her house and she started playing footsie with me under the table. About a week later she comes in wearing this bikini which left nothing to the imagination and asked me to rub oil all over her.”

“To which you agreed I hope?” said Kyle.

“NO! I told her to do it herself.”

“YOU DID WHAT!” Kyle could not believe his ears.

“You turned down an opportunity like THAT! Listen I don’t see what the big deal is. You’re single … she’s single…she’s hot…and you’re…well I guess if the light hit you just right some women out there might find you hot…”

Max just scoffed and rolled his eyes at his friends humour.

“....so as far as I can see we just have a whole bunch of hotness going around here. So if I was you I'd just go for it!” said

“It's not that simple Kyle" Max sighed "Yeah I want her.....”


“Ohhhhh wait till Liz hears this” thought Tess.


“But what if her dad found out and wasn't happy about it and took his money out of our firm? What if down the road she gets bored and tosses me to the side? What if....”

“What if a giant comet hit the Earth and killed all of us in the next five seconds...” Kyle rolled his eyes “Max two of the worst words in the English Vocabulary is ‘what if’. This world is filled with a lot of what if’s. What if’s hold us back and keeps us from discovering and enjoying new things that come into our lives. The thing to do here is for you to just say to hell with it and then go for it...life is to short to sit around worrying about what if's. Trust me I know.”


"Of all the stupid....dumb....male things! Oh I have to tell Liz all of this!" thought Tess.

“Listen I’ve got to go. I’ve got another meeting with Mr Parker tomorrow” Max got of his chair and put on his coat.

"Look Max if you want my advice, the next time you see that Liz Parker just grab her and go for it man!” said Kyle.

“No, no, I’m not going to go there … or at least I don’t think I am” muttered Max as he walked out of the store.

“Jeeze Max has it bad. I’ve never seen him like that over a woman before” said Kyle.

“RRREALLY” smiled Tess.

“So are you going to tell me a little bit more about your beautiful self?” asked Kyle.

“Like what?”

“Tell me a little about your family. Like what does your dad do for a living?”

“Well have you ever heard of Harding Enterprise?"

“Yeah....aren't they like one of the top Media companies?”

“No...THE biggest producer of...T.V. shows and Advertisements” replied Tess.

“Ohhh so your dad works there?”

“No … my dad OWNS it.”

"Ohhhhhh no wonder you can afford $800 dollar dresses" teased Kyle his eyes open wide in shock.

“Well all the money in the world doesn’t guarantee you happiness” said Tess without thinking.

Kyle caught the remark but saw Tess’s eyes go wide as if she had revealed information that was TOP SECRET. So he didn’t push her to explain what she meant, he simply changed the subject.

“Well everyone is leaving now so I’m going to have to clean up this mess” said Kyle waving his arm around the café.

“Oh I’ll help you” said Tess standing and picking up their plates; a little shocked that she had offered her services.

“Oh you don’t have to do that Tess. I’m used to clearing up on my own” said Kyle.

“No I would really like to help Kyle”

“Okay” Kyle said smiling.

“So you liked that poem, Father and Child by Yeats?” asked Kyle.

“I really liked that one” said Tess as she threw away the empty cups.

“Really?”

“Yeah” Tess nodded “I really like how he expressed the father’s disappointment with his daughter’s choice of man.”

“Well in that case hold on a second” Kyle held up his finger and Tess watched as he made his way down one of the bookstore aisle before going out of sight. He soon came back carrying a book.

“Here you go” Kyle smiled handing Tess the book.

“What is this?” Tess asked Kyle as she looked down at the book in her hands.

“Ohh it’s just a work of poems by William Butler Yeats. Take it home with you, give it a good read.”

“Ok let me get my money out of....”

“No” Kyle shook his head “It's yours...on the house...a gift. Like I said take it home with you, read it and come back later and tell me about anything you liked about it.”

Once again Tess looked down at the book in her hand. She had been given numerous gifts before...by numerous men....but that had been diamond studded jewellery, furs and anything else you can think of that cost a lot of money. But this was the first time she was ever given a book...the first time anyone had ever thought she was smart enough to be given a book as a gift. Fighting back the tears that gathered in her eyes Tess looked up at Kyle and smiled.

“Thank you.”

“Come on it’s getting late. Why don’t you let me finish up here and you go home and read that book” said Kyle smiling.

“If you’re sure I don’t mind staying to help you” said Tess.

“Well I was thinking that if you read that book then maybe you would come back next week?” smiled Kyle, hoping that she would return.

“Kyle I don’t need an excuse to come here. I actually enjoy your company and I really enjoyed myself tonight.”

“REALLY?” said Kyle.

“Yes really. Now I might be back sooner than you think” said Tess firmly planting a kiss on Kyle’s cheek.

“I hope so! See you soon?” said Kyle with another goofy grin on his face.

“Yeah I think you will. Bye Kyle” said Tess as she exited the bookstore.

Kyle locked the door behind Tess and watched her until he knew she was safely in her car. As Tess pulled away he turned around and jumped pumping both hands into the air.

“YES!”

As quickly as he jumped Kyle hit the ground hard.

"OW!"

Kyle rubbed the side of his bad knee while looking around to make sure there was no one in the store watching him acting all goofy and un-cool. Realizing the coast was clear and he was all alone he got back to his tidying up......whistling a happy tune the whole time.

*******

Tess was smiling as she hopped into bed. Today had been a long day for her. She picked up the book Kyle had given her from her bedside table and started to read.

About three poems in the phone beside Tess started to ring.

“Hello”

“Tess I’m so glad that I finally managed to get you. I’ve been calling for like over an hour!” said Liz frantically.

“What? What’s wrong Liz” asked Tess slightly worried.

“Eh? Oh nothing is wrong. That new club, The Cross, is opening tonight and we are top of the list for the VIP treatment so what do you say?” said Liz knowing that Tess never turns down an opportunity to go to a new club.

“Uh you know what Liz? I’ve just gotten in to bed so I think I’ll pass on hitting the clubs…I’ve got something here I need to do that’s a little more important … bye” said Tess still engrossed in her book. Not realising that she’d just hung up on her friend.

*******

Liz just stared at the receiver in stunned disbelief.

“Did Tess just turn me down on going club hopping?!”

[Janetfl]

Chapter 12



Tess rang the door bell to the Parker mansion with a massive smile on her face. She couldn’t believe how well last night had gone. She honestly thought she would be bored to tears but it was quite the opposite.

She also enjoyed the book Kyle had given her and she made a promise to herself to read it every night before bed. She wasn’t quite sure why the poems in the book had touched her so much but she was determined to read it all before returning to the next poetry night.

She was pulled out of her thoughts as the front door opened, revealing the butler.

“Good morning Miss Harding” greeted the butler.

“Good morning Edward and how are you this morning?” said Tess smiling.

“Oh I am fine thank you Miss and you?”

“Great! Is Liz in?”

“Of course, I believe she is up in her room” said Edward stepping to one side to allow Tess to enter.

“Thank you” said Tess as she walked towards the stairs.

As she reached Liz’s room she started to get all excited. She couldn’t believe the conversation Max had with Kyle last night. Oh Liz was going to love this!

“Liz?” shouted Tess as she knocked and walked through Liz’s bedroom door.

“In here!” came the shout from Liz's huge walk in closet right next to the door.

“What are you doing in there?” asked Tess as she walked toward the closet door.

“I’m trying on a new outfit!”

“Of course you are!” smirked Tess. “What else would she be doing?”

Tess started pacing the room, waiting for Liz to re-emerge from the walk in closet. She just wanted to tell her what happened last night. She had been pacing for what felt like ten minutes so she decided to go ahead and talk.

“Look I know I should have rushed right over here last night to tell you this but I was having so much fun …”

Tess’s mind started to wander back to last night and she was really surprised that she had enjoyed the date. She was used to spending time with men who would take her to fancy restaurants and give her expensive gifts, not ‘average joe’ types like Kyle … but last night just seemed more special.

For one he was not trying to get into her pants every five minutes and secondly she truly knew that he wasn’t after her for her money because he didn’t have a clue who she was or who her father was until last night. Plus the fact he thought she was smart enough to read one of the books.

Tess was so deep in her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed that Liz had stepped out of the walk in closet.

Liz stood there watching Tess pace back and forth waiting for some sort of reaction on her new outfit. When she realised that Tess wasn’t going to snap out of what ever sort of daydream she was having she cleared her throat.

*Cough*

Tess jumped and spun around to look at Liz.

“Oh Liz I’m so sorry I just …” Tess stopped when she looked at the new outfit Liz was wearing.

Now Tess has seen Liz in just about every piece of clothing she owned, very revealing party dresses and dental floss bikini’s but the business suit she now stood in was just too much for Tess to handle. Plus she had her hair tied up in an, oh so serious, bun!

Liz waited for Tess’s opinion on her new outfit but all she saw was Tess’s mouth opening and closing like she was a fish. Getting frustrated with the silence she asked … “Well what do you think?”

Liz watched as Tess started to snigger which then turned into outright laughter. She was laughing so hard that she had tears running down her face and was bending at the waist, clutching her stomach.

“What the hell is so funny?” Liz fumed.

“I'm sorry, I’m sorry!” gasped Tess as she tried to stand up straight, wiping tears from her face "But that outfit makes you look like Ms. Poindexter...our old math teacher from boarding school!" Tess goes back to laughing.

"I so do NOT look like her!" Liz said getting more furious by the second.

“Look I’m trying to go for the sophisticated lady look in order to get Max’s attention. My other strategy didn’t work so I am going to try this. I will behave myself in front of him and wow him with my smarts. That should snare him into my web!” said Liz.

“Oh but listen you don’t have to do all of this” said Tess waving her hand up and down at Liz’s attire.

“What? Why?”

“Well Max was at this thing I went to last night and he started telling….”

Tess was interrupted by a knock on the bedroom door.

“Liz are you in there?”

“Ohh shit it's Max!” whispered Liz.

Liz started to push Tess towards the walk in closet when she heard the door knob starting to turn. She turned to a nearby window, opened it and started to push Tess towards it.

“What the hell....are you nuts! You live two stories up! I'm not going out there!” whispered Tess fiercely.

Liz silently pointed to the door which was slowly opening and then pushed Tess out onto the window ledge and tried to shut the window but it just wouldn’t budge.

“Ohhh shit it’s stuck again!” Liz fumed, as she grabbed the window sash with both hands and with all her weight tried to get it to shut, but the darn thing wouldn’t budge! When Max opened the door and stepped into the room she quickly stopped her yanking and tried to look very professional like, as she stood by the window.

“Oh hi Liz, didn’t you hear me knock?” Max asked giving a strange look towards Liz.

“I … er … I was getting some fresh air!” said Liz pointing to the opened window.

“Well I just wanted to talk to you about …”

“Listen Max I know I have been a total pain in the ass lately but I won’t be any longer I promise you. Let’s just get down to business shall we?” Liz said in her best business tone.

“Oh … erm … okay … er … yeah let’s get down to business.”

Now Max was thrown by what Liz had just said. All morning he had Kyle’s advice running through his head about wasting time on what ifs. He was going to grab Liz and kiss her senseless so she knew just how much she had affected him but now he wasn’t so sure he should do that. She seemed a little cold and standoffish today. He was so confused right now because Liz was giving him mixed signals.

Liz noticed that Max was carrying a pile of books and papers in his arms.

“Oh how rude of me. Why don’t you put those on the desk over there” said Liz pointing to her large writing desk.

“Oh great, thanks” Max said as he walked up to the desk and placed everything on it.

“Okay so what’s on the schedule for the rest of the week?” asked Liz.

“Well we have to produce these documents for Jeff, I mean your father, today.”

“Right well let’s get on with it then.”

Liz pulled up a chair right next to Max but was careful not to touch any part of his body. He had his back to her as he typed out the documents on the laptop so Liz quietly leaned over and with her finger lifted the cover of one of the nearby books...that was on the desk.

She started to read one of the lines, her lips mouthed the words as she read and her head nodded as she was trying to implant what she’d just read into her brain.

“Liz?” said Max turning towards her.

Liz quickly closed the book and started looking out of the window, pretending she was daydreaming.

“Liz?”

“Oh sorry Max I zoned out for a minute. I’m really sorry about that.”

“That’s alright Liz. I asked you to pass me the figures please.”

“Oh, yeah, right, the figures, here you go!” said Liz with a smile, passing the papers he requested.

“Erm ... so Max, read any good books lately?”

Max turned around from the laptop and gave Liz another strange look.

“I mean have you ever read Steinbeck?”

Max looks at Liz in surprise “Well actually yes I have!”

“Finally we have something in common” thought Max.

“Well I think she’s just wonderful!” Liz said pleased with herself that she finally had something to discuss, on an intellectual level, with Max.

Max’s face creased in confusion.

“Uh don’t you mean him, Liz? John Steinbeck is a man.”

Liz’s cheeks turned bright red because she felt totally stupid.

“Uh yeah that’s what I meant! It was just a stupid slip of the tongue. I was reading a book that was written by a female author this morning.”

“Well so much for impressing him with my reading skills!” thought Liz.

“Oh okay then” said Max as he turned back towards the laptop and started to type again, shaking his head.

“Phew, I think he just might have bought that!”

*******

Meanwhile out on the window ledge ………………………………


Tess was holding on to the gargoyle statue, above her head, for dear life. She only had about a ten inch foot hold and when your wearing heals it’s pretty hard to balance on such a small space.

She was listening intensely to the conversation going on inside the bedroom and groaned when Liz offered Max to work at her desk.

“Jeeze, you would think she would get him out of there considering I am out here on the fucking ledge!” she whispered to herself.

Just as she said that, a pigeon started to fly around her head and then landed on the ledge next to her.

“Shoo, get out of here”

The bird didn't move.

"I said get out of here you diseased carrying..." Tess stomped her foot at the bird.

Dodging her foot the pigeon flew up and landed on the head of the gargoyle that Tess was currently holding on too. The bird was just a few inches from her head. It was looking down at her, with its head cocked to the side.

Tess stared at the bird and with a cold voice she said …

“If you poop on me I swear I'll kill you myself and have you turned into a hat.”

The bird flew off as if he understood what Tess had said and she sighed with relief.

*BANG*

******

“Did you hear something, Liz?” Max asked as he got up and started walking towards the window.

Liz jumped up, ran past Max and slammed the window shut.

“NO! Uh I mean no, I didn’t hear a thing.”

“Liz you’re acting really strange today, are you alright?”

“I’m fine!” croaked Liz as she saw her friend fall.

*******

Tess watched with a smile on her face as the bird flew away.

*BANG*

Tess jumped at the noise of the window being slammed shut and grabbed her poor little heart with both of her hands and then realised her mistake.

She started to feel her foot slipping and waved her hands around frantically, trying to get her balance. She made one final grab for the gargoyle and missed, when her foot slipped.

“Ohhh SHIT!” shouted Tess as she fell off the ledge.

*******

Max couldn’t understand why Liz hadn’t made one of her usual moves towards him. Oh he had heard what she’d said earlier but he just assumed it was another one of her games. Well this time he was going to take control.

He walked up to Liz who still had her back against the window and positioned himself right in front of her. He marvelled at the way the sun shone through her hair creating a sort of glowing effect. She just looked beautiful.

With the advice Kyle gave him last night, ringing in his ears, he decided to go in for the kill. He cupped her face and inched closer to her, never taking his eyes of her luscious lips. He was so close to her that he could feel her warm pants of breath on his lips and then …

“Hold on I’ll be right back!” said Liz, much to Max’s shock, as she rushed out of the room to go and check on her friend.

Liz ran down the stairs at lightening speed, ran through the living room and out of the glass sliding doors. She ran around the side of the house to find Tess missing.

“Oh my god, where can she be?” asked Liz looking around the grounds of the estate.

*******

Lucky for Tess, or as lucky as a person can get when they fall two stories, there was a huge pile of leaves and grass shavings that the gardeners had piled up. Tess landed right in the middle of it and it broke her fall. She came out of the pile, leaves stuck all in her hair and her dress coated in grass shavings. She also had some of the gross stuff in her mouth and started spitting it out.

She glared up at the now closed window and headed towards the fountain so she could clean herself up.

*******

Liz looked at the pile of grass and leaves she noticed the other day, except this time it had a massive hole in the middle. As Liz looked up she could see her bedroom window and realised that Tess might have just survived the fall without breaking anything … well that’s what she hoped anyway.

Oh Tess was going to be mighty pissed with her right now!

“Where could she be?” wondered Liz.

*******

As Tess made her way towards the fountain she happened to walk past two of the gardeners that were tending to the garden.

“Don’t say anything!” said Tess through gritted teeth.

The gardeners just shook their heads and carried on tending to the garden.

*******

Max just stood there, still shocked that Liz had bolted out on him. He was so confused and frustrated that he didn’t know what the hell she wanted anymore so he decided to go after her.

When he finally got outside he saw Liz running towards the back of the estate and decided to follow her.

*******

Liz finally reached the fountain and found Tess cleaning herself up

“Are you ok?” asked Liz nervously.

“I just fell two stories into a grass pile....of course I'm NOT okay!”

“I’m soooooooo sorry Tess, really I am.”

“Well you can just…”

“LIZ!” shouted Max as he was about to turn the corner.

“Shit Tess I’m so sorry!” said Liz a she pushed Tess into the massive fountain.

“What the fu… ahhhh!” Tess screamed as she flipped backwards over the huge stone wall of the fountain and came splashing down in the icy cold water.

Liz sat down in front of Tess just as Max came storming towards her. She could hear Tess coughing and spluttering so as soon as Max was in front of her she pushed Tess’s head under the water.

Max started pacing out his anger whilst trying to talk some sense in to Liz.

“Over the last couple of weeks you’ve done nothing BUT attack me. So when I finally submit to your advances you run off like a scared little girl. I mean I don’t know what you want anymore Liz!” shouted Max.

Each time Max spun away from Liz she let Tess up for some air but each time Max turned back towards Liz she pushed Tess back under again so he couldn’t see her head.

“Look Max I’m getting slightly cold can we please go inside to discuss this” begged Liz.

“Go inside, GO INSIDE, she says. We WERE inside just two minutes ago, until she came running out here like the hounds of hell were after her or something! What do I do? Yep, like a moron I chase after her and I am now standing here trying to pour my heart out to her! Oh and NOW she suddenly wants to go back inside!” he said more to himself than Liz.

“You know what I’ve had enough of your games!” said Max spinning on his heels and storming off back toward the house.

When Liz saw that he had turned the corner and was out of sight she reached down and helped haul Tess over the huge stone wall of the fountain.

Once again ANOTHER one of Tess’s high dollar dresses was ruined, plus the water was freezing and she had one of those green long reeds hanging down in front of her nose. She stood their shaking with the cold and glared at Liz.

“Tess I am SO sorry about that … I’ve got to …” said Liz pointing towards the direction that Max had gone.

“Go, just go” Tess sighed.

Liz ran off towards the direction Max had gone in leaving Tess standing by the fountain.

Tess started to blow the reed out of her face … she tried several times but the green slimy thing wouldn’t move. Snarling Tess reached up to yank the offending item off her face and threw it onto the ground.

“Liz had better be glad that I love her so much … otherwise I would never put up with this kind of shit!”

Tess made her way towards the mansion wanting to dry off before she even thought about getting in to her car.

Once again she passed the gardeners and this time they had a smile on their faces, as they took in the drowned rat look she was currently displaying.

“Laugh and I will have you fired!” snapped Tess.

The gardeners looked at Tess with shock on their faces she had never, ever spoken to them like that before. They just shrugged their shoulders and carried on working.

“Great now I’ve turned into the bitch from hell!” muttered Tess to herself.

Tess managed to sneak into the house and dry off, without anyone seeing her, before getting back into her car and driving home.

[Janetfl]

Chapter 13



"Achooo!..Achooo!" Tess sneezed into her tissue again and then gave Liz a dirty look "I think you have given me pneumonia!"

"You don't have pneumonia" Liz rolled her eyes "It's the middle of spring!"

"Damn water was...ACHOOO!...still cold!"

"Have I told you how sorry I am about what happened yesterday?" Liz sat down on the bed next to Liz.

“Yes you have, about a million times! ACHOOO!”

“Well I made a complete ass of myself yesterday!”

“What! Why?” Tess sighed. She was angry at her friend right now but the look on her face made her cave.

“Well I was trying to impress Max with the knowledge of those books you brought me.”

“Well did it work!” asked Tess getting excited.

“Erm … no not exactly.”

“Oh Liz what happened?” asked Tess looking at her friends crestfallen face.

“Well I opened one of his books while he was working on the computer. I memorised a passage out of it so I could quote it. It was all going well and I asked him if he’d read any good books lately. He kinda looked at me funny and I explained that I had read Steinbeck that morning. Oh you should have seen him Tess he was so pleased, surprised but pleased.”

“So what went wrong?” asked Tess in confusion.

“I said she was a good author!” said Liz burying her face in her hands in shame.

“You said SHE was a good author?”

"Well how was I supposed to know Steinbeck was a man?!" Liz threw her hands up in the air "I thought she was that feminist woman! You know the one who protest against EVERYTHING!"

Tess rolled her eyes "You're thinking of...Gloria Steinem not Steinbeck!"

“Oh god I’ve made such a fool of myself” said Liz once again burying her head.

“Well I have some … ACHOOO … news that might cheer you up!”

“Oh?” said Liz whipping her head up to look at Tess.

“Well I went out the other night and bumped into Max. He was talking to a friend of his and I overheard their conversation!” squealed Tess in excitement.

“And?”

“Well the topic of conversation was YOU!!! He told Kyle how he thought you were totally hot and that he really wanted you but he was afraid that you would get bored with him and toss him to one side. The only thing he is afraid of is if you two got together and your father found out, he would pull his business out of his fathers firm which would ruin him.”

“Oh that’s just great!” said Liz getting frustrated.

“Huh?” Tess’s confusion showed on her face. She thought her friend would be happy with the news that Max liked her.

“Well that means that he will never cross that line then. If he is worried about offending my father and he also thinks that I would toss him to one side then what chance do I stand!” cried Liz.

“Well I didn’t really look at it that way. Kyle told him to just go for it!”

“He did try to kiss me yesterday but I was too interested in trying to find you after you fell off the window ledge! You know what? I don’t think I’m going to bother any more. I don’t think he will ever risk his fathers business just to be with me” said Liz a little depressed.

*******

Later that evening ……


Max was in his kitchen putting the final touches on the dinner he would be sharing with Isabel and Alex tonight. The fact that he was actually a very good cook, would have come as a big surprise to anyone who had, had the pleasure...or in this case displeasure of trying any of his mother’s diabolical attempts at cooking. Back when they were kids every time she would find a new cook book at the store and brought it home it was always them…the family...that suffered for it.

She would try to make one of the pretty dishes she'd see on one of the book's pages, thinking that this would some how help improve her cooking skills. Most of the time Max had to wash the foul tasting food down with mouthfuls of orange juice, milk or ANYTHING he could get his hands on in hopes of washing the god awful taste out of his mouth. Isabel on the other hand, well she just waited for her mother to turn around and would then slip hers under the table to the family dog.

“I think we were the only family in the history of pet owners to have to take our dog to the vet due to food poisoning!” thought Max.

When their dad's firm finally took off and started making lot’s of money he decided to hire a cook/housekeeper to take the pressure of Diane. At first Diane was a little miffed about the idea of some 'strange' woman coming in and taking over her role in the home. She had even said so to Philip but their father had just smiled at their mother and insisted. The day the new housekeeper had arrived, Isabel and Max couldn’t be more grateful to their father for suggesting it, when they tasted their first sumptuous.....not to mention non-life threatening meal.

After Max finished the final touches to his meal he stopped to take one last look around his apartment. He had spent the day wondering around it cleaning and tidying it up here and there. Not that, that was much work mind you. His apartment was always spotless, scrubbed to a shine, with nothing out of place. That was how he liked it and that was how he always kept it. No way would he allow anyone to enter his living quarters without it being pristine. This is something he was completely anal about so everyone that knew Max well would always phone ahead before they showed up. He never got unexpected visitors.

His apartment was a small affair. The living room and kitchen were combined to create one large room and then three doors at the back lead to the bathroom and two double bed rooms. Although he could afford a much grander place Max liked the simple things in life and didn’t feel the need to waste all of his hard earned money on some flashy apartment when this one was just fine for him. In fact staying here at this cheaper one allowed him to put an even larger chunk of his money into security bonds which were now giving him a good return on his investment!

Just as the buzzer on the cooker went off to signal that the dinner was ready, the door bell rang announcing that his guests had arrived. Wiping his hands on his apron Max gave his apartment one last quick going over and then opened the door to his guests.

Isabel took one look at her brother and threw her arms around him in a tight hug.

“God Max I’ve missed you so much.”

“How is my favourite little sister? Alex?” asked Max smiling at Alex, his good friend and sister's fiancé, over Isabel's shoulder as she squeezed the life out of him..

“I’m fine thank you Max. Everything is going really well for us at the moment.”

Isabel broke out of the hug and moved so Alex could walk in. Alex took Max’s extended hand and shook it.

“Here you go Max. We asked the clerk at the store which one he would recommend since we didn’t have a clue” said Alex handing him a bottle of wine.

“Oh you didn’t have to do that. I have plenty of wine here for us to drink” said Max closing the front door “Can I take your coats?”

Max placed the coats on the pegs by the door and then went over to the dining table to hold the chair for Isabel to sit in.

“You always were a gentleman” said Isabel smiling as she sat down.

“Well mom taught me that a little bit of manners, goes a long way” said Max winking at his sister.

Alex took the seat next to Isabel and started to open the wine while Max went to serve dinner.

Once they were sat down, with the delicious meal in front of them, they all raised their glasses and said cheers. Max had just got his knife and fork in his hands and was preparing to eat when Isabel struck!

“So Max I’ve got this perfect girl for you to meet!” beamed Isabel.

“Oh lord not again” thought Max rolling his eyes and groaning into his roast beef.

“Isabel!” sighed Alex

“What?” she asked with an innocent look on her face as she looked between her brother and Alex.

“You promised me last week... NO... more matchmaking! You know how they always turn out … complete and utter disasters!” said Alex.

“My matchmaking does NOT always turn out to be complete and utter disasters!" huffed Isabel "And besides I promised you that I wouldn’t try to fix up any of your work colleagues anymore. I never said ANYTHING about Max.”

“Well what ever you did or didn’t say doesn’t matter because I’m not going on yet another one of YOUR fix me up blind dates again!"

"And just what is wrong with my blind dates? Huh?"

"You remember that first girl you tried to fix me up with? The one when we were in college! The one you said would be oh so perfect match for me!"

"Ohh for the love of...." Isabel rolled her eyes "You are never going to let me forget that are you?!"

"Ok I have to admit you've got me hooked on this one." smiled Alex "What was wrong with the girl?"

"Turns out she was a total drunk. She threw up all over my best set of clothing while on the date, not to mention all in my car when I tried to get her home! It took me three weeks of scrubbing and cleaning to get the puke smell out of my car!"

“Well how was I supposed to know that when the sun went down the girl turned into a binge drinker? She seemed perfectly normal to me during the day, while in class!” Isabel defended herself.

"And let's not forget that ooh so nice girl you tried to fix me up with last year! You know....the one from your aerobics class! She was the one who was so sure that aliens were chasing her that she spent the whole date hiding in MY closet!"

“Aliens?” asked a confused Alex.

"Hey how was I supposed to know Laurie quit taking her meds?!"

"Look Isabel I have way too much on my plate right now with work. I’m just not interested right now” replied Max.

“Oh for crying out loud Max, all you ever do is work or sit around the house reading. You need to get out of your apartment and get a life!” said Isabel in frustration. She was sure that if Max would quit be so pig headed and stubborn he would actually like the date that she had chosen for him.

“Hey I have a life! And I get out of my apartment other than to go to work!” he defended.

“Max getting up every morning at the butt crack of dawn to go jogging doesn’t count!”

“No Isabel and that is the END of this discussion” said Max forcefully.

Alex quickly changed the subject noticing that Max was getting uncomfortable with the conversation … he needn’t have bothered … apparently the question he was about to ask next, made Max squirm.

“So Max how is working for the infamous Jeff Parker working out for you? We’ve been keeping up with the news. Liz and you are constantly in the papers, gossip magazines and heck we’ve even seen the two of you on TV from time to time.”

Isabel who was still angry about her brother shooting down her ‘get Max a date’ plan was also unhappy about being interrupted and turned to glare at Alex. That was until she saw that Max had gone a beetroot color.

“Hmmm this looks more interesting” thought Isabel looking at Max’s face. He was actually starting to fidget in his seat.

“Well … erm … well its pretty good work and I enjoy working with the Parker’s” said Max praying that no further questions would be forthcoming.

“Oh no Max you don’t get away that easy!” said Isabel “What’s going on?”

“Well the thing is … Jeff requested my services personally so the firm couldn’t say no to him and neither could I. Dad insisted I take on the responsibility of building up his company image. It’s worked out pretty well actually …”

“But?” said Isabel knowing that there was something more lying under the surface just dying to be scratched.

“But … now I’m getting a really hard time at work because I’ve basically replaced all of the partners and even my own father. The other lawyers hate me because I’ve ‘bagged’ the biggest client we have through nepotism and kissing up to dad. They all talk about me behind my back and are starting to do really juvenile things to me.”

“Like what?” asked a concerned Alex.

“Well like the other day I had to go to an emergency meeting with Mr Parker. I went to put my fresh shirt on and low and behold there was a massive pen blotch right on the pocket. So on the way to Mr Parkers I had to pick up a new shirt which made me slightly late! When I returned to the office the other lawyers were sniggering. I mean I feel like I’ve gone back into high school and someone’s going to try to stuff me into my locker again!”

*Phew* He felt kind of good getting that off his chest. It had been bugging him for weeks. Max had never been late for anything so he was flustered when he arrived at the Parker mansion but Jeff never said a word about it.

“Well that’s just ridiculous. I mean how old are they like ten?”

“I know but the worst offender is that new guy Jesse!” said Max feeling sorry for himself.

"Jesse? As In Ramirez...."asked Isabel

"Yeah you know him?"

"Yeah he's a prick" nodded Isabel "He knows I'm engaged but he still tries to hit on me every time I stop in to see you or dad."

“Have you told dad that?” asked Max concerned.

“Max I’m perfectly capable of rejecting the asshole. I don’t need dad to do it for me!”

“I know, I know … but I was kind of hoping that if you had told dad then it might get him fired” smirked Max “I really don’t like the guy.”

“Me neither” said Alex after hearing about some guy who was always hitting on his fiancé “How about I tell your dad about him and get him fired?”

They all burst out laughing after that comment but then Isabel looked Max in the eye.

“But there’s something more bothering you isn’t there?” said Isabel.

She knew her brother too well and could read him like a book. She couldn’t believe the colour his cheeks went when she asked him that question.

“Well okay I’ll tell you about it … but you have to promise me you’re not going to laugh” pleaded Max.

“Oh now this IS going to be good” thought Isabel.

“We promise” said Alex and Isabel in unison … Alex even did the child like ‘cross my heart’ X-motion with his finger.

“Okay, well you know of Jeff Parker’s daughter, Liz right?”

“Know of her? … Jeeze she’s ALWAYS in the papers with that … god what’s her friends name again?” said Alex turning towards Isabel.

“Teresa, her name is Teresa something or other” said Isabel.

“Teresa … Teresa …” thought Max “Why does that name ring a bell?”

Max thought long and hard about it bur realised that he’d probably seen her name in the papers and that’s why it sounded so familiar to him. Shaking himself out of his thoughts he continued.

“Well Liz for some reason has … erm … well she has set her sights on me.”

“HOW is THAT a problem Max?” asked Alex. He might be engaged but he was still a guy and as any guy would tell you, having a HOT woman wanting to set her sights on you didn’t sound too much like a problem he had ever heard of … it sounded more like a dream come true!

“It’s a problem because if Mr Parker ever found out he might fire me, pull his accounts out of our firm and then my dad’s business would be ruined.”

“Max, exactly what do you mean by ‘she has her sights set on you’?” asked Isabel.

Oh he knew it. He knew she wouldn’t just leave the topic there.

“Well when I first went over to the Parker residence, Jeff and I got on really well. He might be a lethal cut throat when it comes to business but on a personal level he's actually a pretty nice guy. Anyway, I was invited to dine with him and his daughter because he wanted me to get to know her before we started working together. Now the evening started off pretty much with the normal...wine and dine business dinner stuff... but that all ended when she walked into the room. All evening she was bumping into me, or patting my leg or stroking my arm BUT that’s not the worst part …”

"Worst part?" smirked Alex "Sounds like a fun night to me so far, Max."

“Max, would you just tell us what happened” said Isabel knowing something juicy was coming up.

“Well when we sat down to dinner she sat opposite me and stared at me all evening. Now this alone was making me uncomfortable BUT the next thing I know is she’s running her foot up and down my leg underneath the table. I managed to push her foot away but a short time after that she plunged her foot straight into my groin!!!”

That was it Isabel sprayed her wine all over the place as she burst out laughing.

“Hey, you guys promised you wouldn’t laugh!”

“O-Oh I-I’m s-so sorry M-Max but that’s g-got to b-be the funniest thing I’ve h-heard in a long time” Alex gasped out in between his laughter.

“Oh but you haven't heard all of it yet!"

"Ohh there's more?!” said Isabel clapping her hands with glee.

“Yes. About two weeks later I was, again summoned to the Parker mansion to do some business. Jeff was on an important overseas call so I was told to wait in the living room which I did. So guess who walks in … yep … Liz in this incredible white, dental floss, thong bikini. I mean it barely covered..." Max began waving his hands around as if to show a female body "...well it DIDN'T cover ANYTHING at all! I mean come on I am a man and she is incredibly attractive. She asked me to cover her in oil and I almost kissed her … but then my good old sensible brain kicked in and I told her to do it herself!”

Alex and Isabel were once again laughing but this time so hard that they had tears running down their faces.

“I knew I shouldn’t have told you guys” huffed Max.

“I-I can not believe you told her to do it herself!” said Isabel laughing even harder.

“Well that’s not the worse part.”

“Oh my god there’s more? Seriously I-I don’t know how much more I can take” said Alex clutching his stomach.

“Guys come on this is serious” said Max getting slightly annoyed.

Isabel could see that her brother was struggling with this situation so she tried her best to stop laughing.

“Okay Max, why don’t you tell us the rest of it then?”

“Well I went to my usual poetry reading night at the bookstore.”

Isabel and Alex rolled their eyes. Max had been doing that on a regular basis since he returned from Harvard.

“God Max you still go there?” asked Alex.

“Hey there’s nothing wrong with it, besides one of my best friends runs the place so I also go there to support him!” Max said feeling slightly indignant.

“Just carry on with the story Max” said Isabel noticing his distress.

“Well like I said I went to the poetry night and told Kyle all about Liz and … well he told me to just go for it. He said life is to short for ifs or buts so with that on my mind I went to the Parker mansion for a meeting that had been set up for the following morning. Once the meeting was finished I went in search of Liz and found her in her bedroom.”

“Oh my god she attacked you didn’t she … you didn’t stand a chance. Did you sleep with her?” asked Alex getting all excited.

“No that was the really strange part … I went to her room to tell her that I wanted to take things further and … well … she was dressed like a school teacher, a very sexy school teacher mind you, but she had on this blue suit, white blouse and a tight bun at the back of her head. When I tried to talk to her she interrupted me and started talking about the schedule we have for this week. Every time I tried to talk to her about my feelings, she would just change the subject! You know I really don’t know whether I’m coming or going with that one!”

“She's a woman Max...they're like ALWAYS changing their minds” Alex smirked “I think that's built into their DNA or something.”

*SMACK*

"OW!!!!" Alex shot Isabel a glare as he reached down to rub the shin she had just kicked.

“Well Max, maybe she finally took your rejections to heart and has realised that you are not interested in her. There is only so much rejection a woman can take before it hurts her feelings” explained Isabel, turning back towards her brother.

“Oh my god do you think I’ve blown my chances with her?” Max asked starting to worry.

“Well what would you do, dear brother, if the woman of your dreams decided to rebuff your advances all the time?”

“I would think she wasn’t interested in me” Max sighed realising that he may have just ruined his best chance at happiness.

“Bingo” said Isabel.

“So what should I do now?”

“The only thing you can do in this situation.”

“Which is?” said Max getting frustrated.

“Oh dear lord” said Isabel rolling her eyes “Are all men so clueless? You show her exactly how your feel. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

“Yeah I should tell her exactly how I feel!” said Max.

“No, dear brother, you should SHOW her exactly how you feel. God seriously Max you need to learn the art of seduction!”

“The what?”

“She said the art of seduction!” smiled Alex.

“Listen up Max because I am going to give you some tips on how to win your lady back!” replied Isabel.



Chapter 14



Also later that evening …….


Amy had just finished putting steaming hot bowls of a variety of vegetables and mashed potatoes on the table when the door bell rang.

“About time” said Amy under her breath.

“I’ll get it!” shouted Jim as he walked through the living room towards the front door.

As he approached the door he could hear a couple arguing and sniggered a little. He opened the door and the voices filled the room.

“I told you that it should have been changed last week!”

“NO . YOU . DIDN’T!”

“See it just shows you how much you actually listen to me! I told you last week that the tire needed changing. It’s not my fault we had a blow out!”

“When, when did you tell me?”

“I told you last week when you were watching the ice hockey game! I asked you if you heard me and you said yes, yes I heard you … change the tire.”

“Well there you go then! No wonder I didn’t hear you. I was watching the gam..”

Maria slapped Michael across the back of the head and cut him off mid sentence.

“Hi dad, how are you?” said Maria smiling and standing on her tip toes to kiss Jim on the cheek.

“Fine, your mom’s got the dinner already laid out so you better get in there quickly” he whispered in a conspiratorial tone.

“I’ll go and head off the fireworks” said Maria heading towards the kitchen.

Kyle, after just having arrived, walked up behind Michael.

“Michael, Kyle I’m glad you could both make it tonight” said Jim shaking their hand.

They walked into the kitchen as Maria finished the story of why they were late. Amy gave Michael a stern look.

“What? She spoke to me whilst I was watching the game!” he said in his defence.

“Maria!” Amy turned her scowl towards her daughter.

“What?”

“Even I don’t try to tell Jim something when he’s watching the game. They NEVER listen to you when they are watching the GAME!”

Maria just rolled her eyes and sat down at the table with the rest of the family.

“I’ve just got to get the meatloaf out of the oven and then we’re ready to eat” said Amy pulling out the delicious smelling meatloaf. She placed it on the serving plate and cut it into thick slices.

Once Amy had sat down at the beautiful oak dining table that Jim had made for them all, they started to grab different bowls and piling their plates with the delicious offerings.

Kyle always tried to avoid going to these family dinners too often because he knew where the topic of conversation would inevitably lead.

Michael owned a very successful bakery which he did all the cooking for. He was known around this area for producing THE most delicious cream cakes and tasty homemade bread. Michael and Maria had been married now for just over three years and there was talk of grandchildren, in the not so distant future, which pleased Amy no end but that means that Amy’s sole focus was now on Kyle’s love life.

Now Kyle loved his stepmom very much and she had always been there for any one of them when they needed it but she would constantly be trying to fix him up with someone, to which of course he would refuse.

"So Kyle sweetie......" said Amy as she put a dollop of mashed potato on her plate.

“Ohhh Buddha here we go!” thought Kyle.

"Yeah mom" Kyle looked up from his meatloaf.

"Ohhh it's nothing much but I was just wondering if you had met anyone nice since the last time I got to talk too you."

Kyle rolled his eyes "Mom....!"

"Well I'm a mother and mothers like to know these things" Amy pouted.

"Well....." started Kyle

"Ohhh my god you FINALLY met someone!" Maria dropped her fork onto her plate making it rattle.

Amy looked excitedly from Maria and back to Kyle.

“Well is she right? Have you met someone?”

“Well yes I have actually” said Kyle smiling as a vision of Tess popped into his head.

“Well who is she? Do I know her? Do I know her family? Does she come from a good family?” asked Amy "She's not like one of those girls who expose themselves on those Girls Gone Wild Tapes is she?"

"Mom how in the hell do you know about those things?" asked a shocked Kyle.

"What I'm still a hip mom! I know what you young kids consider cool now a days" protested Amy "Not that I think flashing your breast to some stranger with a camera should be considered cool."

“What does she do for a living? How old is she?” asked Maria.

"Is she hot?" asked Michael mumbling around a mouth full of meatloaf.

"What kind of question is that?!" Maria shouted at her husband.

Kyle just kept on turning his head from Maria to Amy as they fired off about a million questions in the space of seconds.

“Jeeze would you give the guy a break! Maybe if you gave the guy a chance to talk then he would be able to tell you!” laughed Jim, rolling his eyes and patting poor Kyle on the back, understanding what it is like to be grilled by both women.

Amy and Maria looked at one another and then burst out laughing at the fact that they were so excited they hadn’t even given Kyle a chance to respond.

After the meal was over Kyle pulled Michael to one side.

“Hey man I really need you to do me a favour.”

*******

Liz was sitting at the table with her father when the butler brought in the delicious meal that the chef had prepared for them.

“So what are we having tonight dad?”

“Venison steaks served with a red wine and currant sauce with a serving of potatoes and vegetables” smiled Jeff.

“Oh that sounds yummy!”

“So you seem to be getting on PRETTY well with Max.”

Liz gave a little cough as she almost choked on what she was currently chewing.

“Yeah he’s alright”

“JUST alright?”

“Well yeah, we get on really well if that’s what you mean” said Liz blushing slightly.

“Well you have been working very closely with him. What do you think of his business acumen?”

“Well he’s very intelligent and he knows what he is talking about. Do you know he went to Harvard?”

“No, but then we don’t really have personal conversations. We just concentrate on the business side of things” said Jeff smiling.

Liz’s eyes shot up to her father wondering whether he was implying something.

“So how’s Tess doing? I haven’t had the chance to speak to her lately.”

“Well she’s fine but she’s got a bit of a cold.”

“I’ll have to make some time to have a chat with her. She’s a nice girl and she’s a very loyal friend” said Jeff.

“Oh dad you have no idea HOW loyal she really is” Liz said as visions of Tess falling off the window ledge came into her mind.

*******

Tess was sitting at one end of the massive, expensive, imported mahogany dining table eating her prime rib eye steak. It was cooked to perfection. She could hardly see her father through the fresh floral arrangement that sat in the middle of the table.

The classical music her father insisted was played while they ate was rather loud and getting on her nerves. God she felt more like she was sitting in some sort of museum than having dinner with her father.

She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to converse with him, she never normally bothered but something was bugging her this evening and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“So dad how’s the business going?” asked Tess trying to use a topic that he would be interested in talking about.

Ed just gave her a strange look.

“Fine, why are you asking?”

“Oh no reason, I just wanted to know how you and the business were doing that’s all daddy.”

“Well I’m fine and we’re getting in a lot of business but I have to keep abreast of things otherwise our competition would just snap the business away from us” said Ed taking a mouthful of his steak.

“Well that’s good daddy. Are you going to need any help there soon because I wouldn’t mind joining the company? Obviously I would start at the bottom and work my way up.”

“What? You, no dear I don’t think you would do very well at the company” sneered Ed. God she was just a stupid woman who knew nothing about his business. Why the hell was she talking about working for him now? Why is she disturbing the only enjoyable rest time he has?

Ed Harding never liked conversation at the table unless it was at a business meeting. What was the point of wasting his time on idle chit chat when he had better things to do?

Sensing her father’s uneasiness about her wanting to join the company, which in reality she really didn’t want to do, she was just trying to engage her father into a conversation, she changed the subject.

“I went to a poetry reading the other night and I had a really …”

Tess was cut off by the ringing of Ed’s mobile phone.

“Yes that’s nice dear, I have to take this” said Ed looking at his daughter and then at the display on his phone.

He started to prattle on about different types of business issues with whoever was on the other end of the phone. Once he’d finished Tess began again.

“Yes so I was telling you that I went to a poetry night the other night and I was given this book to …”

She was interrupted by his mobile phone again but what angered her more was the fact that her father didn’t even bother to excuse himself. He just picked up the phone and started talking as if she didn’t exist.

She looked towards the butler and blushed at his very sad expression. She felt the tears starting to pool in her eyes.

Ed stood up and left the dining room to carry on his conversation. Tess sighed and immediately lost her appetite. She moved the chair away from the table with such force that it scraped along the wooden floor and made a loud noise. She ran out of the dining room and up to her bedroom.

When she was in the safety of her own room she threw herself onto her bed and let the frustrated tears run freely from her eyes.

[Janetfl]

Chapter 15



Tess shielded her eyes from the sun that was shining through the cracks of the blinds on her bedroom window. She looked around her room as if it was the first time she had ever been in it. The sleepy haze was confusing her mind and it wasn’t until she looked at her attire that it all started coming back to her.

She had fallen asleep with her clothes on. She must have exhausted herself with all the crying that she did last night and fallen asleep where she lay. Her head was pounding this morning after the upset last night.

She had finally come to realise that her father just did not love her. Could she really blame him? After all her mother had died in childbirth the same as Liz’s had, in fact that’s what had brought them together as friends in the first place. They had the same sort of background as each other.

Of course Liz’s father had the opposite reaction to her father. Jeff always saw Liz as the only precious thing to come out of that horrible time and he doted on her were as her father hated her for the fact that she caused his wife’s death. Looking at her every day was a constant reminder of what he’d lost.

She got up off the bed, stripped off her clothes and headed towards the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and then stepped into the warm hot shower. As she started to shampoo her hair she reflected on what had been happening over the last couple of weeks.

Kyle was the first man to ever really show her any kindness or friendship without trying to get into her pants. He didn’t even know who she was until she had told him so she knew that he wasn’t after her for her money either. He was just a gentle caring man and she was grateful to Liz for making her go to that bookstore.

As thoughts of Kyle filled her mind she grabbed her exfoliating puff and placed a nice portion of coconut shower gel on it. She started to slowly move the puff around her body making sure that it was well lathered. The white foam ran slowly down her body creating a tingling sensation that felt so good she started to feel an ache between her legs.

She moved the puff slowly across her ample breasts causing the nipples to harden. She moved it around her body, down her torso and to her nether regions. As she moved the puff gently along her soft folds a small moan escaped her lips.

Kyle watched from the bathroom door as Tess started to rub herself shamelessly. He felt himself instantly grow hard as he watched the bubbles run down the valley of her breasts and down her flat, firm torso.

She dropped the little puff, gently cupped her breasts and started to roll her nipples between her thumb and finger. She let out a gentle moan at the sensations her hands were causing to her body. She then ran one hand down to her lower regions and began to stroke her clit in a circular motion.

As Tess began to pleasure herself, Kyle stood motionless as he took in the beautiful sight. As her fingers started to stroke her clit, Kyle couldn’t take it anymore. He quietly stripped off his clothes and slipped into the shower behind her.

“God Tess you look so beautiful when you do that,” said Kyle, seductively into her ear as he pulled her flush against his rock hard body and arousal.

“Is this okay?” asked Kyle as he wrapped his strong muscular arms around her small frame.

“I-I …” Tess couldn’t get her words out because Kyle had started moving his hands softly down her arms. The heat that his touch produced sent Tess’s desire sky rocketing.

Kyle leaned down pulled her wet hair behind and off her shoulder so that her neck was now exposed. He started to place open mouthed kisses on her neck as well as gently nipping and sucking the delicate skin.

“Oh god Kyle,” moaned Tess as images of Kyle kissing her neck flashed through her mind. The sensations he was causing to her body blew her away.

Kyle’s hands moved down her torso and stopped her movements.

“No Tess let me do that for you,” he whispered seductively in her ear, which caused her to shiver with anticipation.

He threw the soapy puff on the floor and started to run his finger along her soft, wet folds. God she was wet for him already. He circled around her swollen nub and gently flicked it. Tess gasped and then felt Kyle’s fingers slide inside of her.

“Oh my god Kyle that feels soooo good,” moaned Tess.

Tess, lost in her fantasy of Kyle, leaned her head against the shower wall, the warm water running down her back as she inserted her fingers inside her wet passage. Pushing her hips down onto her fingers she increased the pleasure tenfold. She started to pump her fingers faster and with each thrust her fingers found her g-spot. In no time, she could feel her fingers coated with her slick essence.

Tess started to ride Kyle’s fingers as he pumped them inside her, matching him thrust for thrust. His other hand slowly skimmed across her skin and cupped the soft, beautiful mound of her breast. He rolled her nipple between his thumb and finger. As she looked back towards his face he captured her lips in a searing kiss. Their tongues danced and dulled for dominance within their mouths.

Tess could feel that she was getting close to her climax.

“Kyle,” she moaned as the familiar tightening in her stomach started.

Tess continued to ride her fingers, pumping faster and harder as she began to reach her climax. She felt her walls starting to tighten around her fingers.

Kyle continued is ministrations on her breast and could feel that she was close to climaxing. He ripped his fingers out of her passage, spun her around, lifted her up against the shower wall and impaled her with his throbbing manhood. He thrust deep and hard into her as he felt her walls clamp down on his cock and her juices started to flow.

“KYLE!” screamed Tess as the orgasm ripped through her body.

A few more thrusts and Kyle emptied his seed inside her. They both waited until each other gained their breaths and then Kyle set Tess down gently.

As Kyle entered her body and filled her, her walls began to tighten around her fingers and she screamed Kyle’s name as her orgasm washed through her whole body. It took her awhile to get her breathing under control and once she came down from her high she said...

"Ohh yeah, I really need to go and see Kyle today."

She wanted to get to know him a lot more. Oh she knew a little about him but she had been wondering lately what on earth made him become a Buddhist. Not that there was anything wrong with that. He seemed very happy with his life and Tess wanted to reach that point in her life too. She was just very curious about this man who had so abruptly entered her life.

She finished getting herself washed, stepped out of the shower and wrapped a warm towel around her body. Yes she had made a decision ... she wanted to get to know Kyle a lot more.

With that thought in her mind she went to her walk in closet and picked out a pair of old jeans, a top which she had bought from a high street store because she liked the look of it and a pair of Timberland boots. She knew that Kyle wasn’t impressed by her wealth and for once she wanted to feel like a normal person, one without a vast fortune behind her and one that had a simple life, instead of incredibly complicated.

As she got ready to go and visit him her excitement grew. Today she was going to let Kyle into her heart with the hope that he wouldn’t stomp all over it like her father had. Tess had always had trust issues with men and she had never laid her self open before but somehow Kyle seemed the right person to do it with.

After she finished dressing she applied her makeup and blow dried her hair. Once she had given herself the once over in the mirror she left her room to go and get the car. As she came down the stairs Charles was there waiting for her.

“Good morning miss, would you like some breakfast?”

“No thank you Charles, I’m off out this morning.”

“Would you like me to get the car brought round to the front for you miss?”

“Actually Charles I wouldn’t. I’m going to do it myself this morning. I will go and get the car from the garages.”

“Are you sure miss I can get …”

“Perfectly sure Charles, it’s about time I started doing things for myself,” said Tess smiling.

“As you wish miss, will you be home for dinner tonight miss?”

“Yes I think I will Charles but from now on I would like my dinners in my room if that’s possible.”

“Of course it’s possible miss but don’t you want to …”

“Don’t finish that sentence Charles. I do not want to sit with my father at the dining table anymore. If he can’t even have a civil conversation with me then I can’t be bothered gracing him with my presence.”

“Finally” thought Charles. “Finally she is going to stand up to that man!”

Charles couldn’t be more proud of her than in this moment. He was positively heart broken when he saw her run out of the dining room last night. She must have felt totally embarrassed by the whole situation. It was about time she stood up for herself she deserved better.

“Very well miss, your dinner will be served in you room from now on,” said Charles with a smile on his face.

“Oh and I will phone you Charles if I’m not going to be home for dinner.”

“As you wish, miss.”

Tess walked out of the house and headed towards the garage that housed her car. There were several garages but she knew which one hers was kept in. She pressed the button to raise the garage door and got into her car. Today she was going to see Kyle and she was really looking forward to it.

When she arrived at the book store she saw the blonde woman by the counter looking at a magazine but couldn’t see Kyle anywhere in the store. Not wanting to wonder around the store calling out Kyle's name Tess walked up to the girl behind the counter.

“Hi, have you seen Kyle around?” asked Tess carefully. She didn’t like the way this girl was always looking at her.

“He’s here,” the blunt reply came from the girl, not once taking her eyes off her magazine to look at Tess.

“Well if you don't mind I would like to speak to him please.”

That was the comment that finally got the girl to slam the magazine down on the counter and look at Tess.....or more accurate...glare at her.

"As a matter of fact princess, I DO mind!"

"Huh....what....?" Tess started to stammer in shock.

“You listen to me!" spat out the blonde waitress as she pointed a black painted finger nail, right at Tess's chest "I'm onto your little game here missy."

"....my little what.....game?"

"Yes your game! I watched you in here that first day. How you bought all the same books as Max did. What? You wanna read the same books as him so that you can impress him and hope he'll notice you. He wouldn’t look twice at someone like you,” spat out the blonde waitress.

“Excuse me?” Tess could not believe the way this woman was talking to her. No one had ever talked to her this way and she was a bit shocked by the outburst!

“What, are you deaf as well as dumb?" the other girl rolled her eyes at Tess "I said I saw what you did the first day you were here! I’ve been waiting for a chance to talk to you. I know these two people very well and I swear if you hurt either one of them I’ll beat you down so fast you won’t know what’s hit you.”

“Ohhh, so you like Max?" Tess perked up finally understanding where this conversation was going "Hey listen I don't …”

“I DO NOT FANCY MAX!” shouted the waitress drawing a few eyes toward them before lowering her voice to hiss at Tess “What I do realise is that for some reason you're playing up to Kyle, maybe in order to get Max jealous I don't know, but what I do know is that I don’t like it or YOU for that matter.”

“Hey look you’ve got it all wro…”

“See, I’m the black sheep of my family and they just about all hate my guts but not Max or Kyle. Kyle was the only one who trusted me enough to give me a job without harping on at me, trying to change me or my ways. I love Kyle and I swear if you hurt him, or Max in anyway, you will have me to answer to, got it?”

Tess was speechless for a second.

“Ohhh, so that’s why you were giving me the evil eye all the time. You like Kyle?”

"Ohhh for the love of..." the woman rolled her eyes at Tess once again "I'm gay honey. I'd hit on you before I'd ever hit on Kyle and besides he's like a brother to me. That means I wouldn't think twice about breaking the knee caps of anyone who would hurt him. So you just remember that ok."

The waitress walked off leaving a stunned Tess just standing there unable to say a word.

After a few minutes the shock started to wear off Tess and she looked around the bookstore to see if she could locate Kyle.

She found him down one of the aisles in the far back, putting a few new books on the shelves.

She watched the movement of his arms as he placed a book on one of the shelves. As he stretched up she saw his muscular arm and the shirt tighten across his muscular broad back. Her mind started to flash back to the shower fantasy that she had this morning. Those arms were rubbing soap over her body this morning making her feel certain sensations in all her fun places. She was so close to letting out a moan as the images invaded her mind, once again, that she had to shake those thoughts out of her head quite vigorously before she embarrassed herself right there in front of Kyle.

"Get with it girl...before you start moaning here in front of Kyle,” thought Tess.

"Hey Kyle!"

Watching as he turned from his work Tess got a tingling feeling in the pit of her stomach as she watched a happy grin spread across Kyle's face.

"Hi Tess!"

"So, what are you doing?" Tess motioned toward the books in his hands.

"Ohhh you know the usual work" Kyle smirked as he looked down at the books and then back up at Tess "We just got a new shipment in and I'm trying to get them up before our afternoon crowd starts coming in."

"Ohhh," frowned Tess a little sad "You're probably very busy and here I am....."

"Now Tess you know I'm never to busy for you." Kyle's smile was back and it made Tess's heart start to beat faster "Now tell me, why are you here so early in the day?"

"Well last night I was having dinner with my father…”

Tess started to tell Kyle everything that happened last night. She followed Kyle around the store while he carried on stacking the selves. He listened to her carefully and spoke up at the right moments but never once interrupted her or made her feel stupid for being so upset.

When she got to the place where she ran up stairs and cried herself to sleep Kyle stopped what he was doing, turned to her and opened his arms.

"Come here," was all he said.

Tess stepped into his embrace and sighed as he wrapped her up in a comforting hug. With her face pressed into his shirt, Tess took in the scent that was Kyle Valenti. It was kind of a cross between Old Spice, books and baked bread. When she snuggled closer into Kyle's chest Tess found that she really, really liked this scent. As his arms wrapped her tighter to him the tears once again stung her eyes, as the pain she felt last night came back full force.

As she started to sob Kyle continued to hug her tighter and then led her towards their table. He sat her down and crouched beside her. He held her face in his hands and wiped away her tears with his thumbs. He hated seeing women cry and the fact that it was Tess, well it made his heart ache.

“Look sweetie it's obvious that your dad is a class A jerk and he doesn’t know what he’s missing out on when it comes to you,” he said as he looked directly into her blue eyes.

“How do you know that?" Tess stared back "You hardly know me."

"Hey I know more about you than you think," smirked Kyle. "You like strawberry a whole lot more than chocolate…"

Tess snorted a laugh out of her tears.

"...not to mention you're also a beautiful, wonderful, intelligent and big hearted person. If your dad can't see that then I say that's his loss and my gain."

“He hates me because every time he looks at me I remind him of what he lost Kyle,” said Tess in explanation for her father’s behaviour.

"Ok first off no one in this world hates you, it's just not possible," smiled Kyle. "Secondly he's never taken the time to get to know you. The fact that you’ve turned out as wonderful as you have, even with all his negativity towards you, is nothing short of a miracle.”

"So you see Tess if you're anything then you're a miracle," smiled Kyle.

As those words slowly sunk into her brain, something inside Tess just clicked. He had always made her feel comfortable, never made her feel inadequate or stupid, always supported her and was ballsy enough to ask her for a second date. She liked his gentleness but also his confidence in himself. In other words she was simply amazed by him. It was that thought that made her realise that she had fallen in love with him. She just hoped he felt the same way about her.

“Listen, stay right here and I will get us something to eat and drink that'll make you feel better and when I get back we can start talking about something else, okay?” said Kyle rising from his stooping position.

“Okay,” whispered Tess as she nodded her head unable to say anything more for she was still in shock over her realization that she was in love with Kyle.

[Janetfl]

Chapter 16



Kyle swung open the door to the store's small kitchen area a little bit harder than he might have needed too. He didn't really care that the door bounced off the wall or the fact he may have dented said wall. For at the moment he was positively seething.

He couldn’t believe how Tess’s father had treated her last night! Slowly he started to mentally chant some verses in his head in order to calm down.

'One must not wish bad things on another human being. It will only bring bad karma down on the one who wishes it.....even if the one you're wishing bad things on is a total and complete jackass!'

Okay maybe that last bit wasn't true Buddhism but it was how Kyle felt at the moment about Tess's father. Truth was he wanted to really punch the guy, which was something highly unusual for him. Normally he was the calm one in his family, the last one to get mad or lose his temper but having held Tess like that, as she cried, had bothered him more deeply than he thought it would.

Yeah why was he so bothered that Tess was upset?

As he opened the small back fridge Kyle paused for a second as he had a flashback back to the time when he had been in third grade talking with his dad one Sunday as they watched football.

"Dad"?

"Yeah son?"

"How do you know if you're in love with someone?"

"Who are you in love with?"

"NO! Uhh I mean no, it isn't me I'm talking about, Dad! I'm talking about a......a....a friend of mine at school!"

"Sure, sure of course....a friend at school. So what's this girl's name that your.....uhh friend at school....might be in love with?"

"Her name is April"

"April huh? That's a pretty name...I can see why your...friend is in love with her."

"Well she helps him a lot with his math and smiles at him a lot in class."

"Wow she sounds like a keeper to me alright."

"Yeah and every time she smiles at him I...I mean he...get's these weird feeling deep down in his stomach."

"Yes well son those are called the love butterflies."

"Love butterflies?"

"Yep they are the first sign a man gets that let's him know that he might be in love with a certain young lady."

"What are the other signs?"

"Well after the love butterflies you get this really warm happy feeling when ever that certain young lady is around you and the knowledge that you'd do just about anything in this world to make her happy and see her smile. Not to mention you're never really happy unless she's there with you."

"Dad?"

"Yeah son?"

"I think my friend might be in love."

"Good for him son...good for him."

Kyle quickly grabbed the two ham salads out of the fridge, one with each hand and shut the fridge door with his elbow. Walking back out into the bookstore area he went over to the food counter in order to make himself a strong coffee and a latté for Tess. He grabbed a tray out from under the counter, placed everything on it and carried it out to Tess.

"Now for the pretty mademoiselle…" Kyle spoke with a very bad French accent as he sat the food down in front of Tess "…we have a wonderful salad, not to mention a hot latté made from fresh Colombian coca beans, picked by Juan Valdez himself and shipped straight to my bookstore just this morning!"

Tess rolled her eyes and tried not to giggle as she watched Kyle take the tray back to the counter area. He was such a nut...she loved it....and him...the new fact that still scared her.

When Kyle came back and sat down at the table Tess gave him a huge smile which warmed his heart. How could anyone ignore and not care about this beautiful woman who sat before him?

"I don't know why I keep letting you take me to such fancy places," Tess smiled at Kyle as he poured a nice helping of dressing on her salad.

"Yeah, I go all out when it comes to you," laughed Kyle. He was so glad to see the smile on her face and the fact that she could still have a sense of humour when she was so upset.

“So what did you mean by you remind him of what he lost?

Tess started tucking in to her delicious salad.

“Kyle, what did you do to this salad? It tastes positively exquisite.”

“It’s an old family recipe for the salad dressing. My mom makes bottles for me at home and I sell them here,” explained Kyle “and quit trying to change the subject.”

Tess sighed and sat her fork down on the table.

“It’s a long story.”

“I have time,” smiled Kyle.

“Well when I was born my mother was the first to hold me in her arms. Apparently she kissed my head, told everyone that she was exhausted and needed to sleep. They took my sleeping form away from her and she started haemorrhaging.”

“I was rushed into the nursery and my father was pushed out of the room as they tried to get the bleeding under control. She was rushed into surgery but she died on the operating table. My father blamed her death on my birth.”

“Ever since that time he’s had nothing to do with me really. I was brought up by two nannies, who he employed and once I was old enough to look after myself he set me up my own bank account, gave me my trust fund and set me loose, basically.”

Kyle was beyond shocked and angry at what he’d just heard.

“You’re telling me that for all these years your father has been blaming you for his wife’s death?”

“Well you see he didn’t really want children right away because he was still building his empire. My mom got pregnant with me by accident and insisted she kept me. There was no way she was having an abortion. So of course when she died I wasn’t even supposed to have been born in his eyes. If she hadn’t of had me she would still be alive today.”

“So you have held this guilt inside you for all this time?”

“No Kyle. I know that none of this was really my fault. It was just a tragic situation but my father needed someone to blame and that turned out to be me.”

“That’s NO excuse for him to act like that!”

“Kyle, can we please talk about this a bit more calmly?”

“I’m sorry” said Kyle, gently grabbing her hand “and I’m sorry that you’ve had to live like that Tess”

“You know what the funny thing is, Kyle?”

“No, what?” asked Kyle.

“I never really noticed it until now. I used to fill the void with shopping or going out all the time. It’s only when I slowed down and started coming here that I realised what had been missing from my life. I came to a decision this morning that if my father can’t give me the time of day then I can’t be bothered either. I’m sick of feeling lonely or trying to win his affections. You know I’ve never done anything wrong or anything to disgrace him. I’ve been the perfect daughter and it still wasn’t enough so I’m done with it.”

“Well Tess you know you are welcome here anytime,” said Kyle, rubbing his thumb gently across her hand which was causing a tingling sensation up her arm.

“Thank you, Kyle,” said Tess blushing at the thoughts racing through her mind.

“Now come on lets finish eating before it goes soggy with the dressing,” laughed Kyle trying to lighten the mood.

As they continued to eat it was Tess’s turn to find out more information about Kyle.

“So Kyle, what made you turn to Buddhism, if you don’t mind me asking that is?”

“I don’t mind,” Kyle shook his head.

“Well, a few years ago back in my senior year of college I had a stellar year, broke a few team records and helped lead my team to a national championship. I had sport’s reporters writing about me all the time and was being called a future top round pick in the draft.”

“What draft? Ohhh, you mean like the Army?” smiled Tess.

“Uhh, no," smiled Kyle. “I'm talking about the NFL... you know the National Football League."

“Ohhh, right I see … hey wait a second … that means like the major league right?”

“That’s right.”

“As in professional, right?” Tess couldn’t believe it. She had to ask again just in case she was wrong.

“Yes, as in a professional football player Tess,” said Kyle slightly laughing at her shocked face.

“WOW,” was all Tess could manage.

“S-so that’s why you’re so fit then?” Tess threw her hand to her mouth in utter shock. She could not believe she had just said that to Kyle. A blush came across her face.

“You could say that,” said Kyle with a sexy smile on his face.

“I-I’m sorry carry on with your story,” said Tess trying to take the attention away from herself.

“Well like I said I’d just come off a stellar last year in college. I had NFL scouts all chomping at the bit to pick me in the NFL draft but then tragedy struck. I was crossing the road, the lights were on red and as I started walking across I heard the screeching of tires. When I turned to look at the noise a car was heading straight for me. I tried to dart out of the way but it was too late. The car impacted with my body, I felt and incredible pain in my legs and then to be honest I don’t remember much after that.”

“Oh my god Kyle!” screeched Tess.

“Apparently there were witnesses that said when the car hit me I was thrown through the air about 20ft and landed like a rag doll. My head hit the pavement and that was it. The driver was so drunk that he swerved and wrapped his car around a lamppost, he was killed instantly.”

Tess had visions of Kyle been launched into the air by a car, she shuddered at the thought.

“I woke up in the hospital with bandages around my head, plaster on my arms and rods and pins in my leg. It took me quite a while to heal and then the doctors came in to tell me the bad news.”

“Which was?”

“My knee had been badly shattered by the accident. It was so weak now that I couldn’t afford to put unnecessary strain on it, in other words no more football. They told me that if I injured that knee one more time there would be nothing they could do for me. So rather than risk paralysation of that leg I decided not to play anymore. Not that it really mattered, after my accident I went from a first round pick to no one even talking to me anymore.”

“So your career was over before it even started? Kyle that must have been hard for you to cope with?” asked Tess quietly.

“Oh, you better believe it Tess. I had to have lots of physiotherapy for that leg and to this day it still gives me pain in cold weather.”

“I saw you limp the other day is that why?” asked Tess.

“Yeah some days are bad, others are good,” explained Kyle.

“I’m so sorry Kyle.”

“Don’t be Tess. I hate that I never got to play football again but I love the way my life turned out. See once I was released from the hospital, I was so upset about losing my chance in the NFL that I started drinking heavily. I then started skipping classes and my grades started to go down hill very badly. To be honest I almost didn’t graduate but one day I ducked into this bookstore because it was raining, my leg was hurting and needed a rest. Also I actually love reading and wanted to escape reality for a bit.”

“You mean this very bookstore?” asked Tess waving her arm around.

“Yes, at the time it was owned by someone else, an older guy who let me come in and read a few books here and there. He talked to me, listened to me and just supported me when I needed it. I started coming back almost daily and the guy helped me get my life back on track.”

“Life has a purpose and destiny for all of us Kyle, even you. You may not understand it or like it, especially right now when you’re halfway through your journey but in the long run everything will work out just fine for you. I know it will.”

“The old man became like a grandfather to me and helped me find my way. I quit drinking, got my grades back up to and graduated, just barely. It was during that time when I was coming into the bookstore that I started reading books on Buddhist books that got me to become one.”

“Wow that’s one hell of a story Kyle. What was this mans name?”

“His name is Morty, Morty Rosenfield. He’s in the retirement home now just outside of town. I go and visit him twice a month if possible. In fact I am going to visit him tomorrow would you like to come along and meet him with me?”

“Oh Kyle I would LOVE that!”

“Well I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning if you like say around eleven?”

“How about I pick you up and drive you there,” said Tess not wanting her father to know about Kyle.

“Great!”

“So how come you own this store now?”

“Well I didn’t come in to the bookstore for a while because I had a lot of studying to catch up on. I phoned Morty every other day though. I didn’t want him to think that I’d forgotten everything he’d done for me. When I finally graduated the first person I went to see was Morty. He congratulated me and then gave me the shock of my life!”

“What?” said Tess, engrossed with the story.

“Tess you won’t believe it. I walked in and he knew by the smile on my face that I had graduated. He sat me down, put a coffee in front of me, told me how proud he was of me and that it was time for my graduation present. He waved his hand around the store and said to me that it was all mine. Well I was shocked to say the least. I tried to offer him the money to buy the store but he just wouldn’t accept it. He told me that he had enough money stashed away to last him ten lifetimes and seeing how he didn’t have any family left. He considered me a son so he wanted me to have the store. He wanted it in good hands.”

“Oh my god Kyle that’s amazing!”

“I know. To be honest it brought tears to my eyes. He left the bookstore to me a month later when he moved into the retirement home and I’ve been here ever since.”

Even though the mood had been lifted a bit, Tess couldn’t help still seeing Kyle flying through the air as the car hit him. She began to realise that she was so close to never meeting this wonderful man.

“Kyle I can’t believe it, you have been through so much.”

“Yeah but I’m very happy now. So are you going to pick me up at eleven tomorrow and I can take you to meet Morty?”

“Kyle I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

“Great, well I have to get back to work now, otherwise I will be screamed at” said Kyle pointing toward the blonde behind the counter, the same blonde woman who had ripped into Tess earlier.

“Oh okay no problem. Thank you so much for spending time with me today and listening to my problems.”

“Tess I will always be here for you okay, anytime.”

“Thank you” said Tess smiling as she rose up from her seat and giving Kyle a quick kiss on the cheek, before walking out of the bookstore.

Kyle had a goofy grin on his face and ran his hand over the area where Tess had just kissed on his cheek.

“Well after the love butterflies you get this really warm happy feeling when ever that certain young lady is around you. And the knowledge that you’d do just about anything in this world to make her happy and put a smile on her face. Not to mention you’re never really happy unless she’s there with you.”

“TOMORROW AT ELEVEN RIGHT?” Kyle suddenly shouted out to Tess.

Tess turned and winked at Kyle.

“Tomorrow at eleven Kyle, I wouldn’t miss it!” replied Tess.

Tess walked out of the store with butterflies in her stomach. Yes this day was turning out to be a good one……

[Janetfl]

Chapter 17



The following morning …..



BEEP!!!

BEEP!!!

BEEP!!!

BEEP!!!

BEEP!!!

Groaning, Max pulled the covers up over his head in an effort to block out the very annoying noise that was his alarm clock.


BEEP!!!

BEEP!!!

BE....SMACK!!


Rolling over in his bed Max lowered the covers a bit and squinted one eye out at the offending machine he had just whacked.

5:00am.....shined in big bright red numbers.

Groaning again, Max yanked the covers off and swung himself out until he was sitting on the side of his bed. He had not slept well at all last night. In between worrying about what might happen to his job if he went through with today, while awake and then dreaming of a hot, sweaty and naked Liz under him, while asleep....well that led to a very restless night of sleeping.

Knowing that he has to get up, Max pushed himself up and out of bed in order to do his morning business. After using the bathroom and brushing his teeth he threw on his gym shorts and t-shirt. He put his running shoes on, walked into the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water and left the apartment for his morning run.

This was the only time Max could be really free of any stress in his life. The roads were quiet this time of the morning so it was just him and Mother Nature. The slight wind kept him fairly cool as he increased his pace. The pounding of his feet on the tarmac set a soothing rhythm for his mind.

He started to re-play what Isabel had told him, at dinner the other night, through his mind. He was truly wondering if he had the guts to actually follow her advice. Risk losing the biggest client of his dad’s firm, all for the love of a woman he hardly knew.

Yes, today was the day that Max Evans, Mr Conservative Extraordinaire, Mr Never Took A Chance In His Life, was going to throw caution to the wind and grab life with both hands....or better yet...grab one Liz Parker with both hands! He was going to go after something HE wanted for a change, regardless of the consequences. He knew that this was the only possible choice his heart could make. His head, on the other hand, was screaming at him to not be so reckless but to be careful. Most of his life he played it safe ignored what was in his heart and let his calm logical head rule his life.

But not anymore! Not today!

He started running at full pace once the images of Liz invaded his mind. All those times he just wanted to kiss her, the electricity dancing through the air, the chemistry between them both sparking into life. He couldn’t deny his feelings for this beautiful woman any longer but first he had to get to know her.

Today he had a meeting with Jeff and then he would have the rest of the afternoon off, so he was thinking of inviting Liz out to lunch or something. When he started to feel his lungs burn he decided it was time to head back home and take a much needed shower.

He continued to run until he reached the front door of the apartment, only then realising that he hadn’t even taken a sip of his water. Before he entered, he downed half the bottle and then threw the rest in the trash.

He went straight towards the bathroom and switched on the shower, slipped off his running shoes and socks, stripped off all of his clothes and stepped into the steaming hot shower.

As the water hit his skin hard, it reenergized his muscles. He shampooed his hair, then put a good dollop of shower gel on his wash cloth and started to wash himself head to toe. Once he was finished he stood back underneath the spray and let all of the foam rinse down and off his body.

After he had finished his shower and shaved, he took some time in deciding what to wear today. Should he go casual as Jeff had suggested on numerous occasions, after all there was no photo shoot today just some things that Jeff had to look over and sign.

“What the hell” Max thought as he pulled out his black designer jeans and a black silky looking shirt. He also decided to wear a black pair of slip on boots that where shined to perfection.

“There is nothing wrong with smart but casual,” thought Max as he pulled out his socks from the drawer.

He got dressed, splashed on a light layer of his favourite aftershave and brushed his hair. He checked his appearance in the mirror and then left the apartment to go to his appointment with Jeff Parker.

He didn’t need his GPS system to find his way to the Parker mansion anymore because he had been there so many times in the past couple of months.

Since Max had taken over the Parker account, he had already managed to increase the flow of business into his fathers firm by ten percent which worked out to be a lot of extra money coming in. Due to this fact his father had agreed to pay him a substantial bonus at the end of the month.

As he drove up to the mansion gates Max's logical mind started to take control again, he started to wonder if seducing Liz was such a good idea. If Jeff wasn’t happy with the situation he could lose the whole account. Was Liz really worth sacrificing that much for?

As he pulled up outside the double doors he could see Serena patiently waiting his arrival. He got out of the car and walked up to Serena.

“Good morning Serena, it’s good to see you again.”

“You too, Max. Jeff had to pop out for a while I’m afraid. Something very urgent came up but he has instructed me to ask you if you’ll wait for his return. You can have full use of the pool or lounge if you wish and if you need any refreshments then just call for the butler and he will bring you what you need. There are some brand new swimming trunks in the changing room if you do require a swim. Unfortunately I have no idea how long his meeting will take but you can expect to be waiting at least two hours.”

“That’s fine Serena I’ll wait for him. I actually might go for a swim if that’s alright.”

“Of course it is Max. If you require anything else just ring for the butler.”

“Thank you.”

Max made his way to the outdoor pool and changing rooms. It was quite a warm day so a little swimming and sunbathing would do him good. As he stepped inside the changing rooms there was a set of drawers to the left of the door. He had a sneaky peak at what was inside and there he found swimming trunks of every size and color he could possibly imagine.

He chose a pair that still had the tag on and bit it off. He opened the second drawer to find soft white fluffy bathrobes and normal towels. He decided to go for the normal towel since it was fairly warm outside.

He changed into his swimming trunks, left the changing room and dived into the pool using the diving board. He decided that thirty lengths of the pool would be sufficient enough exercise before relaxing in the sun.

Just as Max started doing the crawl, Liz came back from her walk in the garden and noticed someone in the pool. At first she thought it was her father until she noticed the rippling muscles on the arms and the back.

She just stood there with her mouth agape. Never had she seen such a beautiful sight. Each time his arms came out of the water she could see each muscle expand and contract under the tight, tanned skin. It gave him the look of an Adonis. Hell who was she trying to kid, he was an Adonis at least in her eyes.

She stood there for a while longer watching the contours of his body move smoothly, effortlessly through the water. She started to regret trying to seduce him because she now believed that she had scared him off her all together and that caused a slight pain in her chest. To know that this man would never touch her like she wished to be touched.

As she turned to walk away she noticed out of her peripheral vision that Max was about to get out of the pool. She turned around to watch him again. His strong arms came out of the water and he hauled himself up onto the side.

Liz could see the outline of everything, as his wet trunks clung to his body. This caused a slight shiver down her spine and a wetness to occur between her legs.

“No I can’t think of him that way anymore,” Liz thought, chastising herself.

She turned away from Max and started heading towards the living room doors when she felt a warm hand wrap around her wrist.

“Are you going away without saying anything to me Liz,” whispered Max hoarsely into her ear.

Liz tried to reign in her emotions but her body betrayed her and shivered at the feeling of his warm breath on her face. She wasn’t going to allow it any longer though because she had already made a fool of herself so many times.

She turned around to face Max, dressed in her business suit but the sight of his bare chest, dripping with the water from the pool almost took her breath away. God, could she be anymore turned on right now?

Judging by the wetness that was building between her legs.....NO!

“O-Of course not Max but I was wondering what the hell you were doing in the pool,” said Liz slightly annoyed.

Max looked at her funny and stepped closer to her.

“Your father said I could Liz. I have to wait for his return, so he said I could use the pool and facilities. I didn’t realise that would be a problem for you,” said Max slightly confused.

“Well it is when you are half naked Max. I mean it’s just not appropriate. You are here on business not pleasure,” she said the last word as if it was dirty.

She just couldn’t stop herself. The fact that he was standing there with his body on display was causing her great distress and the fact that he wasn’t interested in her. So she dealt with it the only way she knew how, she turned her frustration on him.

“What do you mean not appropriate Liz? Like shoving your foot in my crotch when I’m sitting across from your father is appropriate!” shouted Max, not really understanding why Liz was making such a big deal of this.

Maybe she did only see him as hired help and her infatuation had now turned to boredom just like he suspected it would. That thought made him mad, very mad.

*SMACK*

Liz’s hand connected hard with Max’s face. The look in her eyes was one of hurt and total embarrassment. Her face had gone bright red and tears started to pool at her eyes.

“So you’re throwing that back in my face!!! Look Max you have made it perfectly clear that you are not interested in me, okay? Yes I’ve got the picture! You want to keep this professional which is fine!! So could you please put some clothes on!” shouted Liz.

She turned to walk away but Max spun her back around and brought his lips crashing down on hers. At first Liz tensed and then relaxed into the kiss. Max brushed his tongue lightly across her lower lip, begging for entrance.

She opened her mouth to him and the kiss deepened. He laced his fingers through her hair and wrapped his other arm around her waist, pulling her tight against his body. She wrapped her arms around his neck and grabbed a fistful of his hair. The sensations that were running through her body right now almost caused her to buckle at the knees.

She had never been kissed so passionately before and she wanted more. She ran her hands down his wet, slick chest and an involuntary moan escaped her lips, into Max’s mouth.

Only when the need for oxygen became too great did they break the kiss. They both stood there, chests heaving, trying to catch their breath.

“Wow,” was all Liz could say.

Max just nodded and then placed his forehead on hers, looking directly into her eyes.

“Listen Liz, I was attracted to you the moment I laid eyes on you. First of all I thought you were just one of these rich people who toy with the hired help, I thought you would get bored quickly and leave me alone. I kept pushing you away because I thought eventually you just wouldn’t want me anymore and I could risk my dad’s business for that,” explained Max.

“And now?” breathed Liz.

“Now? Now I want to get to know you. The real you not the persona you put on show for everyone. I want to know what is in here and here, Liz,” said Max pointing to her heart and then head.

“Okay Max.”

“Okay?”

“Yes, but would you please put a shirt on because it’s rather distracting,” smiled Liz.

“So that was the reason you started shouting at me? You couldn’t handle the sight of my chest?” laughed Max.

“Jerk!” said Liz playfully slapping his arm.

[Janetfl]

Chapter 18



Meanwhile …..


As Tess pulled up to the bookstore she noticed Kyle waiting in the doorway. She took time to drink in the sight of him behind her sunglasses. Today he looked particularly sexy, okay that was a lie he looked sexy every day, but even more so today. He was wearing blue jeans and a maroon colored tight t-shirt which moulded to his physique perfectly.

As he started to walk towards the car she could see the muscles in his arms move and the images that flashed through her mind during her shower, the other day, came back full force.

"Right on time Tess, good morning," he said to her as he got inside the car, leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. As his lips touched her skin it sent small little shockwaves through her system. She had never had a problem with men being interested in her before but somehow with Kyle it was different. Her face flushed slightly but she gave him her best smile.

What she really wanted to do right now was just grab him and kiss him senseless but she didn’t want to scare him off.

"So can you give me the address of the retirement home and I will program it into the GPS system," said Tess.

"You don’t need to do that Tess, I know the way so I’ll give you the directions," replied Kyle, smiling.

Tess started the car and headed in the direction that Kyle pointed out to her. After a bit of time on the road and small talk had passed between them Tess turned to grant Kyle a big smile.

"I’m really looking forward to meeting Morty, Kyle. He seems like such a special man."

"Hmmm special might be an understatement," replied Kyle.

Tess just looked at Kyle and wondered what he meant by that comment. They started chatting away in the car again as Kyle gave directions in between.

It wasn't long before they were parking up outside the retirement home. Tess turned off the car, undid her seatbelt, reached for the car door but suddenly stopped.

"Kyle … what if, what if he doesn't like me?"

"WHAT? What would make you say something like that? How could he not like you? Of course he’s going to like, no he's going to LOVE you, Tess. I guarantee it"

"Well I don’t have a very good history with older men."

"Oh," Kyle nodded his head finally understanding where this was coming from. "Tess I know you’re talking about your Father and the relationship, or lack thereof, you have with him. Tess trust me on this, Morty is nothing like him. He will simply adore you because of the fact you are important to me."

Tess felt her heart speed up as she looked Kyle in the eyes. There was an intense moment where they both sat looking at one another.

"I – I’m important to you?" she asked with tears in her eyes.

"Ohhh...uhhh yeah...sure…of course you are," replied Kyle as he felt his face get hot and wondering if he had said that a bit too soon in their relationship...do we even have a relationship!?

Tess leaned over in the car until she was face to face with Kyle. "Thank you," she whispered as she placed a small kiss on his mouth. When she pulled back Tess saw the biggest most adorable grin spread across Kyle's face.

"Come on, I can’t wait for you to meet Morty!"

"Okay," said Tess, laughing and getting out of the car.

As Kyle started walking towards the retirement home with Tess, he gently took her hand in his.

"I think you’re going to like Morty," said Kyle "But let me, let you in on a bit of a secret with him okay?"

Tess just nodded her head.

"Morty can be a tad cantankerous some times but deep down he's an old softie. His bark is worse than his bite and seeing how his teeth are all fake, now his bite is not what it used to be."

"Kyle!" Tess laughed as she swatted him playfully on the shoulder.

"Sorry, sorry." Kyle smiled enjoying the sound of Tess's laughter.

"I’ve been really looking forward to this!" replied Tess, excited.

They walked into the beautiful old colonial mansion which was now the retirement home.

Once inside Tess took a good look around and realized that it was a really nice place.

"Wow, this must cost a bit of money to stay here," she whispered as they walked up to the reception area.

Kyle just smiled and nodded.

"Kyle, it’s good to see you again, how are you?" asked the receptionist.

"I’m fine thank you Rachel and you?"

"Great!"

"Well we're here to see Morty if that’s okay," said Kyle.

"Of course it is Kyle, just sign you and your guest’s name into the visitors register and then you can go through," smiled Rachel.

Kyle walked over to the visitor’s book and began to sign Tess and him in.

Just as he put pen to paper he felt someone pinch his rear end, rather hard and then heard a fit of giggles.

"Whoooooa hey now, watch out!" Kyle spun around to find an elderly woman behind him giving him a big smile.

A pair of nurses came running up the hall to the elderly lady.

"Now Ms. Armstrong what did we tell you about touching people like that in inappropriate areas?" said one of the nurses.

"But I can't help it, he's just too cute!" the elderly woman told the nurse and then turned back to Kyle with another big smile on her face "Hi! My name is Lissa, what's your name stud?! I bet you would look nice shirtless!"

Ohhh my god I just got felt up by someone's grandmother....hell great grandmother! Kyle blushed but then smiled at the little old lady.

"Well my name is Kyle ma’am and it’s really nice to meet such a young and beautiful woman as yourself," replied Kyle as he took the old lady’s hand and placed a small kiss on it.

Ms. Armstrong started to laugh and blush as she was being led away by one of the nurses. The other one turned to look at Kyle.

"I'm so sorry about that. She's not all there anymore” said the nurse pointing her finger to her head. “Sometimes she thinks she's younger and..."

"It's okay really I understand" Kyle smiled and nodded his head right before the nurse took off down the hall to take care of her duties. Turning back to Tess, Kyle found her almost turning red as she was hit with a fit of giggles.

"What?"

"I think someone has a new girlfriend," said Tess in between giggles "Should I be jealous?"

"I guess so," laughed Kyle before turning back to the receptionist "So Rachel where is he this morning?"

"Try out on the garden patio. He normally plays cards with the rest of the group on a Tuesday."

"Okay thanks Rachel," replied Kyle as he gently grabbed Tess’s hand again and led her towards the garden.

When they stepped out of the double doors in to the garden Tess gasped. There was a huge garden area with well kept lawns; flower beds all around the side, next to the buildings, a miniature fountain feature in the middle and a few fur trees giving it total privacy from the outside world.

"Oh wow Kyle, this is beautiful."

"There they are!"

Tess turned toward where Kyle was pointed and followed him as he started walking towards the group of men sitting by the card table, playing poker, under the gazebo.

When they stepped into the gazebo the men around the table noticed them.

"Kyle!"

"How are you boy?!"

"I'm fine guys," said Kyle before turning to Tess and putting his arm around her shoulder "Guys I'd like to introduce you too someone."

All four of them took notice of Tess and stood up from the table. The ones wearing hats took them off as Kyle brought Tess closer to them for introductions.

"Tess, this here is Sam."

"Very nice to meet you sir" Tess shook the hand of the elderly black man.

"Ah, no need for this sir stuff." Sam shook his head. "Just call me Sam."

"Okay, Sam." Tess smiled at the man just before Kyle turned her towards another man.

"Now this old feller here is Mike."

"Watch who you're calling old boy," Mike grinned at Kyle before turning to Tess "It's very nice to meet you ma’am."

"Like wise," said Tess as she shook the man's hand.

"Now this here is Don," Kyle turned to the next guy at the table "But you have to watch out for this one. He's the Don Juan around here. The nurses keep on having to run him out of the women's rooms."

"Hey, can I help it if I still go it?" Don smiled as he shook Tess's hand.

"And this…” said Kyle as he gently moved Tess forward even more "...is Morty. Morty this is Tess."

"It is very nice to meet you Morty, I mean sir..." Tess quickly took the man's hand and shook it hard. When she let go of the hand Tess watched nervously as the man looked at her for a second before breaking out in a big grin.

"Wow, damn Kyle you was right! You said she was a looker, nice too see you was telling the truth."

Tess felt herself start to blush at the comment and noticed that Kyle was also blushing just as hard as she was.

"Yeah...I tell you if I was about forty years younger!" nodded Don pretending to fix his hair with his hand.

"Don, forty years? You old coot try fifty years younger!" replied Morty.

Everyone at the table laughed along with Kyle and Tess.

Kyle’s mobile phone started to vibrate and ring in his pocket. When he checked the caller I.D. he gave Tess an apologetic look and mouthed to her that he had to take the call. He walked away from the group and started to talk to whoever was calling him.

"So, Tess is it?"

"Yes," Tess smiled.

"Well what do you think about my boy there?" Morty motioned his head to where Kyle had gone off to talk on his cell phone.

"I … er … I … well," stuttered Tess, rather embarrassed with the forwardness of the question. How the hell was she supposed to answer that? If she gushes too much about him, she might scare him off and if she doesn't say enough then he might think she is not interested.

Morty gave a slight laugh.

"Don’t worry kiddo I’m not expecting an answer to that question although I didn't think it was going to be that hard."

"No, it’s just …"

Morty just winked at Tess and raised his hand to his mouth in a conspiratorial manner.

"I know, you don’t want to scare him off," he whispered to Tess.

Relief spread across her face and she smiled at Morty.

"Yes, that’s exactly it," she replied.

"Okay I’ll change the subject. What do you think of the bookstore?"

"I love it. I seem to be spending a lot of time there recently."

"You know, I knew as soon as I saw that boy he was closet reader."

"I beg your pardon..." Tess's eyebrows burrowed in confusion "A closet...what?"

"A closet reader" smiled Morty. "Someone who likes to read but keeps it a secret because...how do you kids put it...Oh yeah...it's not the COOL thing to be doing now a days."

Morty shakes his head.

"I don't know what's happened in this country but back when I was young being a reader was something to be proud of...showed some intelligence. Now, it's all of this...MTV or VH1 or whatever other alphabetical music channel garbage that's out there."

Tess laughed and nodded her head.

"I remember the first time that boy started on the right path," said Morty, getting a far away look on his face.

"Oh and when was that?" asked Tess.



FLASHBACK



Kyle was helping Morty stack a new delivery of books onto the correct shelves. He looked around to make sure no one was looking at him before he held a book up to Morty.

"What about this one? Is it any good?" asked Kyle.

"Ah, Joyful Living by Mingyur Rinpoche, a very excellent book! Take it home with you if you want."

"I don't have any money on me right now..."

"Don't worry about that, take it home, read it and bring it back when you feel like it. Maybe it can help you."



END FLASHBACK



"You know he took that book home and read it within a couple of days. When he came back to the store I could see the difference in him. Something in that book made him realise that his life wasn't over just because of his injury, he just had to take a different path to the one he was expecting."

"Wow, so that’s when he decided to become a Buddhist?"

"Yes and he read every damn Buddhist book he could get his hands on in my store!" laughed Morty.

"What was that Morty?" asked Kyle as he walked towards the group again, after finishing his conversation.

"Oh I was just trying to talk this gorgeous young thing into dumping your sorry butt and running away with me to some tropical island some where."

Tess snorted in laughter.

"You know the sad thing is, part of me actually believes you'd try that Morty," laughed Kyle.

"Oh Kyle, Morty was just keeping me entertained by telling me some old stories about the past," replied Tess with a smile.

"Yeah, besides with the way my gout is I couldn't go running off with any pretty girl no how."

Tess smiled as Morty winked at her and then winked back at him. Oh yes she wanted to learn more about Kyle from Morty. She was starting to see him in a whole new light.

*******

Morty suddenly looked up from his cards. "I'm thirsty! I'm going to head back into our room and get me a beer out of the fridge, anyone else want one?"

"Yeah!"

"Grab me one, Morty!"

"Hey yeah, me too!"

From where he and Tess were sitting on the side of the gazebo, watching the card game, Kyle cleared his throat. "Now Morty you know what your doctor said about you and drinking alcohol..."

"Boy I'm eighty two years old," Morty rolled his eyes as he laid his cards face down on the table and got up from his seat. He motioned for Kyle to take his place.

"I spent my childhood growing up during the Depression where we didn't have food half the time. I served my country for three years as a US Marine, fighting in the Pacific during World War II. I got me a purple heart for getting wounded at Iwo Jima! So if I want to go in there and get me a beer then, by God, I'm going to go in there and get me a beer! I don't care what some, wet behind the ears, doctor who's younger than the bunions I have on my feet has to say about it!"

"Okay, okay" Kyle shook his head as he took Morty's spot at the table. "Just promise me you won't have too many."

"Sure, sure I promise I'll only drink just one" Morty nodded at Kyle. "But now you have to promise me, that while I'm gone, you won't lose all of my chips like you did the last time I let you play my hand for me."

"Hey that was only that one time!"

Morty turned to look at Tess as he held out his arm for her and shook his head sadly. "The poor boy.....can't bluff at cards worth a damn....sad is what it is. What do you say my dear? Want to help an old man get some nice cold refreshments?"

"I'd be glad too," smiled Tess as she wrapped her arms around Morty's and let him lead her back into the house.

"Only one beer remember that Morty!" Kyle yelled at their backs.

"Yeah, yeah scouts honour" Morty waved his free hand and arm up in the air to acknowledge Kyle's words but not turning around as he and Tess reached the back door to the nursing home.

"Were you ever really a boy scout?" Tess leaned into to whisper to Morty.

"Nahhhhh" Morty smiled and patted Tess on the arm. "But he doesn't know that."

Tess's giggles could be heard by all the men at the table, as the duo entered the house.

"It must have been so hard for him you know." said Morty as he and Tess made their way into the kitchen area of their small room. "To have the goal you work so hard for your entire life, have it almost in your reach and then to just have it snatched away like that due to an idiot behind the wheel."

"You're talking about his accident?" asked Tess.

"He told you about that?" Morty asked a bit surprised as he opened the fridge and took out four beers

"Uh yeah...why? You act like he shouldn't?"

"Oh no it's nothing like that." said Morty as he used his side to shut the fridge door "I just know the boy doesn't like to talk about it much."

"You know it’s actually nice to finally meet you missy," Morty smiles as he handed Tess two of the beers to hold as they made their way back outside. "I mean after hearing Kyle talk about you so much..."

"Kyle talks about me while he's here?" asked Tess.

"Does he talk about you while he's here? That's like asking, does a bear take a dump in the woods?!" Morty rolls his eyes. "Every other word out of that boy's mouth when he's here is 'Tess this' or 'Tess that' or 'Tess came to the shop today looking all kinds of hot'! All he does is talk about you while he's here! I tell you that boy is one hundred and ten percent in love with you my dear."

Hearing laughter from the table Morty and Tess turn to look. They both watched as the older guys at the table ribbed Kyle about something. Kyle laughed and then looked up to see Tess watching him and smiled at her.

Tess smiled back at him and then finally realized that this was the person she wanted to be with. She just knew, no matter what, that Kyle would look after and cherish her. Yep she was one hundred and ten percent in love with him also.

[Janetfl]

Chapter 19



As Liz pulled into the apartment building car park, which Max had given her directions to; she couldn’t help the shock that hit her. This part of town was nowhere near the place she thought a man that made as much money as Max did, would live. This was what she’d heard on TV called ‘middle class’.

To be honest she thought that Max’s place would be a lot bigger and flashier than this.

“Maybe he has the penthouse apartment and lives on the top floor or something,” she thought to herself, as she parked her car, yes that’s right, she had to park HER OWN car, this place didn’t even have valet parking for Christ sakes!!!!

She took one last glance in the mirror to check her hair and makeup, got out of the car, locked it and started making her way to the door that lead to the entrance of the apartment complex. After walking inside she noticed the deserted front desk and looking around she couldn’t see anyone in sight.

“Hello?” Liz called out, getting no answer to her yell. Walking up the counter Liz noticed the small bell and rang it once.

BRIINNNNNNNNG!!!

Suddenly a small man, with a very bad comb over, jumped up from below the other side of the counter brandishing what looked like a giant fly swatter in his right hand.

"Hi there can I help you!!??"

"SHIT!!!" yelled a startled Liz as she jumped back in fright, holding up her four hundred dollar Gucci purse as if it was a shield.

“Oh sorry if I spooked you Ms,” said the man trying to reassure her with a smile, but it did nothing to settle Liz’s already frayed nerves. In fact for Liz, that smile screamed ‘crazy serial killer!’

"No, no it's okay." Liz shook her head while trying to get her rapidly beating heart under control as she edged herself back toward the counter..

"Are you here to see someone Ms?" said the man as he looked at Liz but then started to glare at a fly that was buzzing around the counter "Because if you are...." the man stopped in mid speech and suddenly took a swing at the fly with his flyswatter but missed by a mile before turning back to Liz ".....you got to tell me in order for you to go up."

"Yes, yes I am,” nodded Liz while reaching ever so slowly into her purse in order to get her hand around the can of mace she had hidden in there. If this creep made the slightest move toward her she was going to spray him right in the face with it "I’m here to see Max Evans."

"Your name Ms?" the man asked as he pulled a large book out from underneath the desk and slammed it down on the table.

"My name? Oh it’s Liz, Liz Parker."

"Parker, Parker..." the man ran his finger down a page in the book before stopping "Ah there you are! Liz Parker!"

Liz watched as the man looked up and gave her another creepy smile.

“God I had no idea teeth could turn such a lovely shade of brown like that and still be able to stay in one's mouth,” she thought to herself.

"Mr Evans called down and told me to expect you around this time. I just need for you to sign....."

The creepy man once again made Liz jump back when he swung his flyswatter down causing a small pop to be heard as he hit the fly that had just landed on the book

".....this book."

Liz tried not to gag as the man turned the squashed fly covered book her way and handed her a pen. Doing her best to not touch the fly guts that were smeared all over the page, Liz signed her name on one of the lines.

"Can you tell me which room number Mr Evans is in please?”

"Room 225" the man pointed to a nearby elevator with the flyswatter "just take the elevator to the second floor, take a right and go down the hall until you get to the bend, Mr Evans is the one on the right, just past the bend."

"Second floor?" Liz shook her head in confusion "Don't you mean the top floor? Like, as in the Penthouse suite?"

"The Penthouse suite, here?!" laughed the man.

"The only Penthouse we have around here is the magazine's I got back in my office." the man jerked his thumb back toward a small room in the back. "Nope Mr Evans lives on the second floor."

“Uh yeah, okay, thanks.” Liz backed her way out of the lobby as the creepy guy once again started a war with another buzzing fly. Liz made her way towards the elevator, once or twice looking over her shoulder to make sure the weirdo behind the desk, stayed behind his desk.

When the elevator doors finally closed she released the death grip she had on the mace in her purse, not to mention a deep breath that she hadn’t even realised she was holding. For some reason she felt safer inside the elevator which was kind of strange considering she didn’t like them much.

But right now being in the elevator was a whole lot better than talking to the creepy man who ran Max's building. As the elevator started its way up her mind started to wander about the events that had happened over the last couple of weeks.

She and Max had been getting on really well lately. He had taken her out to a few fancy restaurants but they spent most of their time either having a picnic under the stars or going for nice long walks through the woods.

Very sweet and romantic...and that was what was driving her freaking insane with sexual frustration!

Oh at first she thought these little outings where sweet and going to lead to something more, like hot sex under the stars or up against a tree but it only ever ended with a heavy make out session.

So tonight was THE night, Liz had decided. He had invited her to have dinner at his apartment which she was very happy about. Max was a very conservative guy, he more than likely didn’t feel comfortable doing stuff like that out in the open. Yes she should have thought of that before, but now once in his apartment she could get his clothes off, get her clothes off and then have her wicked way with him.

*DING*

The sound of the elevators arrival at the correct floor pulled her out of her ever frequent 'naked Max' thoughts. Following the instructions ‘Mr Weirdo’ had given her, she soon found herself standing outside Max’s apartment. She raised her hand to knock on the door when much to her shock it suddenly flew open.

For the second time in the last fifteen minutes Liz jumped back in fright!

“Jesus Max you scared the living shit out of me!” said Liz.

“Sorry Liz, I knew you were coming. Clifford called me and told me that you were on your way up!”

“Uh Huh,” nodded Liz distractedly, her fright quickly forgotten as she drank in the sight of Max.

He was standing there with a black, what looked like, silk shirt with the top three buttons undone so she could see that fine sculptured chest that she so longingly wanted to feel with her hands.

The vision of his tight, wet muscular body came into her mind’s eye. She remembered exactly how he had looked when he had come out of the swimming pool and she also remembered those swim shorts that left nothing to the imagination when wet.

A sudden pool gathered between her legs and she clamped them shut as she continued her lusty gaze over his amazing body.

*Ahem*

The cough brought her back around and she looked back up at Max’s face which was masked with confusion.

“Erm ... I said would you like to come in Liz?” said Max waving his arm towards the inside of his apartment.

“What? Oh well erm, yes of course I want to come in!” said Liz blushing at the fact that she had been caught practically drooling over him.

Secretly Max was pleased that his appearance had, had this effect on her. He was aiming for that kind of reaction when he chose what he was going to wear for this evening.

Okay that was a lie of course. He hadn't chosen what he was going to wear this evening. All he could think of was to thank his lucky stars for the fact that Isabel was his sister! She had turned his closet inside out and found him the perfect, in her own words, quote 'perfect ensemble for you to wear for your date tonight Max' unquote. She had even given him a few pointers on how to win back Liz and it already seemed to be working!!

Max took Liz’s coat and hung it up on the coat rack by the door. As he turned around to do this Liz couldn’t help but take a look at the one thing that had attracted her to him in the first place, his amazing, and tight little ass. There it was in all its glory, well sculptured by his trousers.

Liz let out a small groan as an image of him in his swim shorts invaded her mind again. How was she going to last this five minutes without jumping his bones was beyond her. Yep tonight Max Evans could possibly drive poor Liz Parker insane!! Did he not realise what sort of effect he had on her? Would he ever make the first move, or would she have to do it?

Max showed Liz to the dining table and held out a chair for her to sit down in. Once he had placed her at the dining table he went into the kitchen area to serve their meal.

For starters he had prepared a fresh crab salad with a light lemon and olive oil dressing.

For the main course he served fillet of beef medallions with a roasted honey sauce dressing, fresh seasonal vegetables, cooked to perfection and small sautéed potatoes.

Finally for dessert he served a homemade lemon tart with ice cream or cream.

During the meal he had served a variety of wines to go with each course and by the time they had completed the meal both of them were a little tipsy to say the least.

“Wow Max did you cook that all by yourshelf?” asked Liz in awe.

“Yes I did Liz,” laughed Max at her expression.

“You know what? I ‘ave to shay that I don’t really cook. Just thought I would give you that little bit of informashion,” said Liz swaying in her seat slightly. Oh now Liz was used to drinking a lot but she usually steered clear from the wine and that was simply because it had this awful affect on her mouth. In other words she didn’t know when to keep it shut when she had been drinking wine.

“Well thanks for telling me that Liz,” said Max with a goofy grin on his face. Although he wasn’t as far gone as Liz was, he was getting pretty close.

“Well you kinda needed to know that for the future right?” asked Liz with a confused expression on her face.

“Erm .... yeah I suppose so,” said Max not really sure what she was getting at. His brain just wasn’t in the mood to play ‘connect the dots’ tonight.

“Ha!!! I know, why don’t weeee play truth or dareeeee!” smiled Liz in triumph knowing that they could ask each other quite personal questions doing it this way.

“Liz, what are you like six or something?” asked Max.

“Oh Max don’t be such a spoil sport!! Come on let’s try one round and see how it goes. This could be a fun way of finding out about each other!”

“Okay my turn first though! Truth or dare Liz?”

“I’ll go for truth!”

“Okay, have you ever been in love?”

“Ha! Nope, never” she wanted to add until now but couldn’t bring herself to do so.

“Okay my turn, truth or dare Max?”

“Erm... okay truth!”

“Are you still a virgin Max?” asked Liz looking at him intently.

“What the ... what kind of question is that Liz?” asked Max slightly confused.

“A good one!” shouted Liz as she threw her head back and laughed. The way Max was soooo stiff upper lipped and all; damn he could have come from England for all she knew!!

“Okay, no I’m not a virgin!” said Max in triumph and Liz’s face dropped. She would have sworn that he was. They way he spurned her advances, that was the only possible reason Liz could come up with....well okay she might have thought he might have been gay once...but that thought quickly was dismissed.

“Huh?”

“I said I’m not a virgin Liz. I have been in a relationship before you know!”

“ ‘A’ relationship?” asked Liz pronouncing the A.

“Well yes, I met a girl in college. Her name was Estelle. She was in the same year as me and we had the same kind of interests. I courted her for a long time and then we decided to commit to the relationship.”

“You mean have ssssssex?” said Liz, reading between the lines.

“No, I mean we made love!” said Max with sincerity.

“How long did you *ahem* ‘court her’?” asked Liz with a smile on her face. She couldn’t believe he still used that word.

“Oh, about six months!”

“WHAT!!” shrieked Liz.

“I courted her for about six months before we ...”

“Had ssssex,” said Liz finishing off the sentence he was finding hard to.

“Well yes before we had ssssexxxx if that’s how you want to put it.”

SIX MONTHS?! Liz's mind screamed at her....there was NO way in hell she could wait six months for him to have sex with her! Hell she didn't think she'd ever gone six days, dating a guy, before they had sex!

“Six months, wow! So what happened then?” asked Liz genuinely interested in the conversation now.

“Well we stayed together for another few months before we parted ways.”

Again Liz reading between the lines and watching his facial expression she carefully asked “parted ways?”

“Well yes, we broke up and never saw each other again. In fact she left campus and went to another college.”

“Oh I’m sorry Max, what happened?” the curiosity getting the better of her, rather than just leaving it there.

“She was sleeping with someone else,” said Max in a bitter tone.

“OH MY GOD! NO WAY!” screeched Liz. Was the girl blind or stupid? How could she not realise what was right in front of her but then her loss was Liz’s gain.

“Yes way!” he knew somehow that he should stop right there but his tongue decided to do the talking. “She said that doing it in the missionary position and always in bed was getting boring. She said she needed to ‘broaden’ her horizons!”

Max then flushed a deep red and held his hand over his eyes "I CAN NOT believe I just told you that."

Liz nearly spat out the wine that she had just taken into her mouth. She swallowed hard and gathered her composure to ask the question...

“M-missionary position?” Liz stuttered in shock "You mean...only in bed?"

“Yes.”

“Never in the shower?”

“No.”

"Never in the back seat of a car?"

"No."

“How about the pool?”

“No.”

“The hot tub?”

“No!” shouted Max as he started to get annoyed.

“On top of the pool table, maybe?”

“Jesus Liz, just how many people have you had sex with?"

“...you know what Max? This conversation isn't about me right now..." now Liz was the one blushing "...so uh let's not go there right now!”

“No let’s not!” agreed Max not really wanting to know the answer to his question.

"Okay let’s change the subject. What do you like to do for fun Max?"

"Well on my days off, I like to work the crossword puzzle in the New York Times and time myself to see how long it takes me to finish it."

"Oh for joy..." Liz said under her breath.

"What?" asked Max

"Oh I said how interesting." Liz had to fight hard not to roll her eyes but smiled instead.

“Damn I’m going to have to get him to loosen up a little! No wonder he hasn’t tried anything with me when we’ve been sitting under the stars. He’s used to his freaking bed!” she thought. How can a man that oozes so much sex appeal, be so freaking reserved?

Yes Liz was going to make it her mission to get Max to loosen up by any means necessary.

[Janetfl]

Chapter 20



Tess was practically bouncing off the walls with joy. She couldn't help it! She was so excited this evening. It was the first time that she and Kyle would be going out on an actual date! She wasn’t sure what he had planned for the evening but she decided to dress, smart casual so she could fit in to most environments.

As she parked outside the bookstore, her stomach did flip flops when she saw him standing by the door. He was dressed in black trousers and a deep blue, short sleeved shirt, which exposed his muscular arms. It was a sight that she was definitely getting used to.

Kyle stepped out of the store and waved at Tess before he turned around to lock up. He walked towards her car and smiled. She could tell that he was trying to hide something behind his back for her.

“Good evening Tess,” said Kyle as he pulled a bunch of wild flowers from behind his back “I picked these for you this afternoon.” He had spent a good part of his day going around the local woods trying to find just the right flowers to pick for her.

Tess looked down at the beautiful assortment of wild flowers in her hand and then back up at Kyle with a shocked look on her face.

"You mean you went out and picked this for me, as in actually going into the woods and all?"

"Yep" Kyle smiled as he nodded his head "Even got a bee sting or two out of the deal. And I've kind of been hoping that the green stuff I stumbled into sure wasn't poison ivy. I break out something bad."

Tess took another moment to look down at the flowers in her hand. He’d done an amazing job, arranged them well and wrapped them in special paper, finally finished off with a big red bow. The fact that he had obviously spent time making this special for her filled her heart with joy.

"You know every other man I've dated would have spent an obscene amount of money to buy me a large bouquet of red roses...." Tess looked back up at Kyle in horror over what she had just said.

She had meant to make that a compliment but the way she had said it made it sound like an insult about his lack of money. So she quickly tried to make amends for her words ".....not that I'm saying I don't like the flowers! Or that I wanted you to spend large amounts of money on me! I mean I know you don't have that much money...." Tess winced once again at her bad chose of words and what she just said "..NO! ....what I mean is...."

"Tess...Tess...." Kyle put one of his hands on each of Tess's shoulders and gave her a small smile "Just slow down and take a deep breath okay. I understood what you meant to say."

Tess could only nod her head and do as Kyle asked, grateful that he had understood and not been insulted.

"Okay, first off let me say that I may not be rolling in the dough as most of the guys you dated in the past but I'm not as broke as you think I am...uh ah" Kyle shook his head and placed a finger tip on Tess's lips when she started to protest, this caused an electric shiver to travel up and down Tess's spine "...I could have gone out and bought you a dozen or so roses but, well buying red roses for a date is so passé and ordinary, two things you are clearly not. So the way I see it, I needed to get you something as special as you are."


Tess blinked back the tears that were pooling in her eyes and watched as Kyle leaned in towards her.

OMG this was it. He was going to kiss her. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his warm hands cupping her face. Her heart started beating rapidly as she felt his warm breath against her lips. This is what she had been waiting for.


*******


Kyle had wanted to kiss Tess for quite a while now but didn’t want to scare her off. Somehow tonight was different though. He needed to kiss her no matter what the outcome would be. He felt like this was a do or die moment.

He leaned into her lips and gently grazed them with his. He pulled away slightly to make sure she was okay and then brought his lips crashing down on hers. He traced her lips with his tongue begging for entrance into that sweet mouth.


*******


As Kyle brushed his tongue along her lips she immediately knew what he wanted and opened to him immediately. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her in deeper. As their kiss grew in passion so did the tightness in his trousers and this made him gently pull back.

“WOW,” was all Tess could manage.

“Yeah pretty much,” replied Kyle with a smile on his face.

“Erm … where are we going tonight?” asked Tess.

“Oh I know this great little place. The food is simply wonderful, as is the atmosphere. I will give you the directions as we go along.” said Kyle offering his arm to Tess and leading her to her car. As he opened and held the driver side door for her a small smirk played on his lips “You know you are going to have to let me pick you up at some point, it’s not very gentlemanly of me to keep letting you drive?”

“I – I …” as she slid into her car Tess wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She knew her father would never approve of Kyle simply because he didn’t have enough money. Even though he owned his own business and would look after her, her father would not see it that way.

“Hey, it’s okay I’m kidding,” whispered Kyle after getting in on his side and noticing the look of horror on Tess’s face “I was kidding, okay? Well, I am as long as you are willing to drive me but what I mean is; if you ever want a break from driving then I will come and pick you up. You don’t have to drive all the time you know,”

“Okay, thanks,” said Tess, starting the car. “Which way Kyle?”

“Take a left and keep going straight until I give you other directions, okay?”

“Okay.”


********


As they pulled up outside the restaurant Tess took a look around.

“Where is this place then?” asked Tess slightly confused.

“It’s in front of you Tess,” laughed Kyle at the scrunched up look on her face.

The way her nose crinkled up like that in confusion was just so adorable!

It was one of those tiny little places that people liked to call, a hole in the wall. Unless you were looking for it or knew it was there, you'd miss it from the road. It was an old brick building which was built so long ago that it had faded over the years and lost most of it’s glorious color.

Now Tess was used to having the best, restaurant’s where you have to book weeks in advance, dress appropriately and prices that could bankrupt you if you weren’t rich enough. But this place excited her more than any other. Why? Because it’s probably where Kyle came to eat sometimes and this small gesture meant more to her than any fancy restaurant ever would.

Watching Tess look at the building Kyle mistook her feelings for apprehension.

"I know it doesn’t look like much on the outside but I swear this place is great and has the best Mexican food ever. Come on I reserved us a table at eight.”

Kyle got out of the car and ran around to the passenger side. He opened the door for Tess and held out his hand to assist her out of the car. After Tess locked up the car they headed, arm in arm, towards the restaurant.

Kyle again walked ahead slightly and opened the door for her. Making sure he stared at her rear end as she walked through the door. WHAT? He was a man after all and Tess did have the nicest ass he had ever seen, so why shouldn’t he look.

As soon as they stepped through the door Tess was instantly engulfed by the sounds of Spanish music being played by the over head speakers, not to mention the wonderful smells. It was sort of a combination of meat cooking, somehow mixed with the smell of cheese. It was hard to explain but smelled so good it made her stomach rumble.

"KYLE!"

Both Kyle and Tess watched as a huge man began weaving his way through the crowded restaurant. As soon as he reached them the man engulfed Kyle in a big man hug and started slapping him on the back

“Kyle welcome back! I haven’t seen you here in awhile. Rosa thought that maybe we’d upset you or given you food poisoning,” the big man started to laugh whilst patting Kyle on the back rather hard.

“Come, come my friend and sit at your usual table."

"You have a usual table here?" Tess couldn't help but to ask.

Turning toward Tess the man gave her a huge grin."Why my dear, Kyle has been coming here with his family to eat with us since he was no taller than this!" the man held his hand down in the universal 'since he was a kid' gesture. Turning back to Kyle the man put his arm around his shoulder. "So Kyle my boy, just who is this lovely lady you have with you today?”

Both Tess and Kyle blushed slightly.

"Pedro, this is my lovely, erm... girlfriend Tess, Tess this is Pedro” Kyle watched Tess nervously to see what her reaction would be to the term ‘girlfriend’.

As she smiled and shook hands with the big man Tess couldn't help but to think he looked a lot like that coffee bean guy on those TV commercials, Jan Valdez or something. He was Hispanic looking with dark skin and a huge belly that stuck out from the waistband of his trousers. He had a tight white t-shirt on, along with an apron and chef’s hat. But the main thing Tess noticed about him was the man's huge smile and the way his happy go lucky face just screamed ‘I'm a friendly person and you'll just love me!’

“It’s very nice to meet you Pedro.”

“Come let me show you to the table. Rosa will be out to take your order soon. I just popped out to say hi and now I’ve gotta get back to the kitchen otherwise my wife will think I’ve eloped with that young new waitress she hired!”

“Thank you Pedro,” said Tess and Kyle in unison when Pedro sat them down at the table.

Pedro than made his way towards the kitchen shouting his wife’s name the whole way.

“Rosa! ROSA! Kyle is here!”

“What? Who’s here?” said the voice from the kitchen.

“Kyle is here!”

“Really?!”

Tess couldn't help the giggles that escaped from her over the commotion the couple were making by yelling back and forth at each other and the way Kyle was shaking his head at their antics. Another thing that was tickling Tess was the fact that no one else in the restaurant seemed bothered by the yelling either. On the contrary everyone there either seemed to be going about their business of eating or getting the same kick out of the yelling as she was. This was all new to her, where she went to eat no one would dare raise their voice like that.

Tess watched as a small, well rounded woman came through the swinging kitchen doors and made her way toward their table. She stepped right in front of Kyle, crossed her arms and shot him an ‘oh so serious’ look.

"So you stay gone for weeks, no word, no phone call saying 'hi Rosa I'm okay' and just expect to stop in out of the blue and for me to feed you?"

Tess watched as Kyle stood up and shot the woman his most charming smile ever.

"Well, to be honest yeah."

"Hummmph" Rosa grunted but then her frown turned into a huge smile as she also engulfed Kyle into her own huge hug. But when the hug was over she cuffed him on the back of the head.

"OW! What was that for?"

"Don't stay gone for so long next time! You made me worry!" Rosa shot him a glare.

"Yes ma’am." Kyle nodded while rubbing the back of his head.

"Now that that's over let me look at you." Rosa placed her hands on Kyle's shoulders slightly turning him from side to side to have a good look at him "You are still too skinny. You need to eat more!

“And who is the lovely lady he has with him?” she asked, with a smile on her face whilst looking at the pretty blonde girl.

“Rosa, this is my girlfriend Tess.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you Tess. Now we look after our man Kyle here. He’s been coming here since he was like … what, Ten, Kyle?”

“Yeah Rosa, I came here with my family for my tenth birthday meal and we liked it so much we've come back many times over the years,” he turned to explain to Tess.

“Yeah he comes here for the excellent food and the atmosphere,” smiled Rosa.

“Well that and let's not forget you have all you can eat taco nights” laughed Kyle.

“Anyway here are your menus. Can I get you both a drink while you are deciding what to eat?”

“Would you rather have wine Tess or something else?”

“Well I’m driving so I’ll just have a cherry coke please.”

“Make mine a sweet tea no lemon please Rosa,” said Kyle.

Rosa nodded her head and then left to prepare their drinks.

After a few seconds of going through the menu Kyle noticed the look on Tess's face as she studied her menu.

"What's wrong?"

Tess looked up from menu and blushed.

"Well, I've never heard of half the stuff on this menu. I mean I've never eaten at a place like this. I know what a taco is but I've never eaten one before. Some of this other stuff like I don’t even know, like what is a Chalupa?"

"Oh those here are good!" smiled Kyle "You want me to order for you. I don't mean to be rude and say you can't order, it's just over the years I've eaten everything they have here and I know what's good."

"That would be great." Tess smiled in relief as she sat the menu down on the table.

When Rosa came back with their drinks Kyle ordered their meal. A small taco salad with chicken for Tess and for himself, the usual, which Tess found out meant the enchilada platter.

They made some small talk during the time it took their meal to get there. Tess watched in shock as Pedro sat two plates down in front of Kyle. She had never seen so much food in front of one person before. So shocked by the amount of food in front of Kyle she hardly noticed when Pedro sat her plate down in front of her.

"Are you really going to eat all of that?" Tess watched on as Kyle began to dig into one of his plates.

Having been raised by one Amy Valenti, Kyle had the good manners to swallow the food he was chewing and wipe his mouth off with his napkin before answering Tess.

"Yep I sure am. I know it looks like a lot....."

"A lot" Tess shook her head "You could feed a small family of five, for a week with what you’ve got in front of you!"

"Well my sister doesn't call me the ‘Bottomless Pit’ for nothing." Kyle laughed as he once again dug into his food.

Shaking her head in disbelief Tess picked up her fork and looked down at her food in order to start eating but stopped in mid motion. She could only stare at her food.

Looking up Kyle noticed Tess staring at her food.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know, there seems to be something...GREEN...on my food. Is that normal?"

Looking at her plate Kyle bit back a laugh, as he explained.

"Uh yeah, that's guacamole dip. It's very good if you give it a try. I love it."

"Ooooookay" said Tess, hesitantly, as she took a small bite of her food. Chewing ever so slightly Tess was shocked at how good it tasted. Kyle was right; this green dip stuff was great. It didn't take her long to have all of it eaten off her taco salad. Grabbing a passing Pedro as he walked by Tess asked him.

"Excuse me, could I get some more of this green Guatemala dip please?"

Pedro looked at Tess for a second before a huge smile came to his face."Of course you can my dear!" Turning to look at Kyle before he headed into the back to get some more 'Guatemala dip' for Tess, Pedro gave him a big wink "I LIKE her, she makes me laugh!"


*******


After Pedro had gotten Tess some more dip, she and Kyle dug into their wonderful meal. Once finished they sat at their table and conversed about everything and anything that came up between them. After they had finished the wonderful deserts Rosa had brought them, Tess started up the conversation again.

“Kyle this is such a wonderful place. The meal was exquisite. I’ve never tasted anything like it.”

“Well Pedro and Rosa were born in Mexico. Their parents moved to America when they were both very young but the family recipes have been past down from generation to generation. So what you’ve just eaten is a traditional Mexican meal. That is why this is my favourite place in the world to eat Mexican food.”

“Well my complements go to the chef,” smiled Tess.

“I’ll let him know,” said Rosa as she was passing the table.

Tess and Kyle just laughed as they watched Rosa head off to the kitchen. Soon they got back to their conversation.

Kyle told Tess about his favourite birthday. He’d wanted a skateboard since he was about eight years old but he was always told that he was too young to have one. Finally on his eleventh birthday his mom and dad relented and bought him one as a gift. He then went into elaborate detail telling her how the first thing he did was take it up to the highest road in their neighbourhood and zoomed down it.

"...and then there was mom, chasing behind me fast as she could, arms all waving around like this..." Kyle started waving his arms back and forth in front of his face crossing them "...the whole time yelling at me! Kyle James Valenti! When I get my hands on you you'll be so dead mister! I said NO going down the road on your skateboard! Once she caught up with me, at the bottom of the hill, she grabbed the skateboard with one hand and then grabbed me by the ear with the other one. She then proceeded to drag me, by my ear, up the hill whilst giving me a lecture on the dangers of not only playing in the road but not wearing my safety gear while doing so. It was three weeks before I got to ride that skateboard again ... or got the hearing back in that ear, after mom damn near ripped it off!”

Tess was so sure she was about to die. Her sides were hurting and she had a hard time catching her breath due to the fact she was laughing so hard. It was not only the fact that the story had been funny but the way Kyle had used his whole body to tell it had just killed her. She was holding her napkin up to her face to catch the tears of laughter that were rolling down her face, not to mention cover up her most embarrassing ‘pig snorts’ that happened when she started laughing so hard she could hardly breath.

But Tess was soon startled out of her laughter when a man carrying a guitar suddenly walked up to their table.

"What's going on.....?" Tess turned her head back and forth between the man standing next to her with the guitar and a smiling Kyle.

"Looks to me like you are about to start getting serenaded."

"No, no, no, no," Tess shook her head but it was too late as the man started strumming his guitar and singing to her in Spanish.

Es tarde en la noche
Ella es lo que pregunto a llevar la ropa
Ella se pone su componen
Y cepillos de su largo pelo rubio
Y entonces ella me pregunta
¿Me veo bien
Y digo que sí, te ves maravillosa esta noche

Tess flushed a bit in embarrassment. It wasn't that the guy was bad, no in fact for Tess he had a most wonderful singing voice and could play the guitar quite well. What was getting to her was the fact that now everyone in the whole restaurant was looking right at her.

Vamos una de las partes
Y todo el mundo se vuelve a ver
Esta bella dama
Eso es caminar conmigo
Y entonces ella me pregunta
¿Se siente bien
Y digo que sí, me siento maravilloso esta noche

"What's he singing about?" Tess whispered across the table at Kyle.

"About how beautiful you are." smiled Kyle.

If it was possible Tess blushed even more. After a few minutes the man finished his song and Kyle, not to mention everyone in the restaurant started clapping loudly. As Kyle dug into his wallet to tip the man, Tess thanked him for the lovely song and soon the man was off at another table singing for someone else.

"Oh my god that was so embarrassing."

"Oh I don't know I think it fit you well." smiled Kyle "Especially the whole beautiful bit."

A warm feeling spread through Tess at Kyle's words and she smiled at him "I believe we were talking about birthday gifts before we were interrupted."

"Yes we were" smiled Kyle "We were talking about best birthdays gifts we ever got. And now it's your turn to share."

"Oh okay...." Tess thought for a moment before saying "Once when I turned fourteen my dad got me a brand new credit card for my birthday. Even let me take it too the mall all day to buy whatever I wanted."

"A credit card?! As a birthday gift?! For a fourteen year old?!"

"Yes" nodded Tess "For my dad there is no problem that money, or at least a credit card with no limit, can't solve."

"Are you telling me your dad see's your birthday as a 'problem'?"

"Well not only is my birthday a yearly reminder to him of my mom's death it is also always falls in the middle of his most important business deal time. So many times on my birthday he would send me a new credit card or an expensive gift in the mail from where ever in the world he was at the time..." Tess shrugged not really knowing why she was feeling bad explaining this to Kyle. She was a big girl now she was used to her dad being a no show in her life.

Kyle shook his head after hearing the story and seeing the sad look on Tess's face. Once again Karma forgive him but he really did hate that bastard.

"I have a question for you?” Kyle suddenly spoke up.

"Yes" Tess smiled back up at him.

"Back when you were a kid what was the main thing you always wanted as a gift and never got? And you can't say anything dealing with credit cards or money. I'm talking about something childish and fun."

Tess thought for a second before answering honestly "I’ve always wanted a mood ring.”

"A mood ring?"

“Yeah" nodded Tess "I saw one on TV once, as a kid and I thought they were the coolest things ever. I wanted to get one so badly.”

"Why didn't you?" asked Kyle.

"My dad, when I asked him for one he just gave me a cold look, rolled his eyes at me and said...'Tess we are Harding's and we don't wear useless trash like that’ and that was the end of the discussion.”

“Really, wow,” Kyle couldn’t believe how ridiculous that sounded “so he didn’t want you to be seen with a cheap ring on?”

“Exactly.”

“So what did he buy you instead?”

“A white gold ring with encrusted diamonds,” said Tess, sadly.

“Well, I suppose that’s better than a mood ring, isn’t it?”

“Not really because he always bought me something that HE thought I should wear rather than what I wanted to wear. God I sound so ungrateful.”

“No, no you don’t Tess. You’ve just never got what you needed from your father.”

"And what is that?"

"Love" Kyle explained as if it was the most simple thing in the world and maybe it was.

"Family is not about how much money you have, or how many credit cards, or big flashy diamond rings they can give you. Family is about loving each other and being there for each other. Did I ever tell you my mom is not my birth mother?"

After Tess shook her head Kyle continued.

"Nope, she's was an old high school classmate of my dad. They met again when she moved back home after her divorce, not long after my own biological mom skipped out on me and my dad. You see Amy may not have given birth to me but as far as I'm concerned that doesn't matter. She was the one who cooked my favourite meals and took care of me when I was kid. She was the one who rushed me to the hospital the day I fell off my bike and broke my arm. She was the one who would worry and stay up with me all night when I was sick. So as far as I'm concerned she IS my mom."

“Oh you don’t know how lucky you are Kyle.” whispered Tess.

Kyle wanted to kick himself for putting that crestfallen look on Tess's face ruining what had been a great mood they had been having on their date. Trying to up lift the mood he quickly made a suggestion.

"You know there's a walkway that trails along the river that runs behind this place." Kyle motioned with his finger out the window "It's a nice night, big full moon out there. Fancy a romantic walk in order to work off all this food we ate?"

Kyle's reward was the return of a smile on Tess's face.

"I'd love too!"

Tess reached into her purse for her credit cards.

“I’ve got this,” Kyle shook his head as he motioned Rosa over and handed over his credit card to her "A man should always pay for everything on the first date. On later dates if the woman wishes to pay something towards the bill then that can be worked out, but on the first date, the man pays!”

“Thanks Kyle.”


*******


He watched as her car came through the massive double cast iron gates. She pulled around the back to park her car in the garage and then he watched as she walked across the courtyard and let herself in through the servant’s quarters.


*******


After their arm in arm walk along the river she had dropped Kyle off at the bookstore. They had shared another, very passionate, kiss in the car. Tess knew that she was falling in love with Kyle but the only problem she had now was convincing her father that Kyle was a suitable match for her.

She knew that if her father didn’t like Kyle that alone would cause them some trouble. She knew that he would have him investigated to ‘make sure’ he was above board and not just going after her for her money.

She understood that her father was only trying to protect her from the male gold diggers out there but what he didn’t give her credit for was the fact that she was actually a very astute young woman and could spot the gold diggers a mile away.

She lost count of the times a man had gone to pay for a meal at an expensive restaurant only to find his credit card ‘didn’t work’ or ‘was declined.’ She had also heard every excuse in the book for this happening...

“Oh the bank must have missed my payment or something.”

“I could have sworn there was enough on the card to pay for the meal.”

“My payment must not have gone through yet...”

Oh yes she had heard them all, so she found it rather refreshing that Kyle didn’t need to put on airs and graces in order to impress her.

As Tess entered the servant’s quarters she was still in a daydream when Charles blocked her path.

“Ms your father wants you to meet him in the study right away!” said Charles.

“Huh? What?” asked Tess finally coming out of her thoughts.

“I’m sorry Miss, but the master is requesting your presence in the study and he doesn’t seem too happy I can tell you.”

“Do you know why Charles?”

“I think he’s mad because you left without telling him where you were going or who you were going to see.”

“Well he’s never taken any interest in what I’m doing before!” snapped Tess.

“I know Miss but something has definitely irked him this evening. Tread carefully Miss,” replied Charles, trying to warn the pretty young woman in front of him what a foul mood Mr Harding was in tonight.

“Thank you Charles, I will.”

Tess walked into the study and prepared herself for a grilling.

“Oh so she finally returns,” her father sneered.

“Yes I’m here daddy, what’s wrong?” asked Tess innocently.

“Why did you leave this evening without telling me that you were going out? Who were you with and what the hell are you wearing!” shouted Ed, in a rage.

Tess couldn’t quite work out where all the hostility had come from. Not once in her entire life had he ever worried about what time she was home, or where she had been or even who with.

“I went round to Liz’s daddy, which is what I normally do. Why are you so angry?”

“What the hell are you wearing Tess?” asked Ed, as his face flashed red.

“Daddy I’m wearing a pair of jeans and a top. What’s wrong?” asked Tess, starting to worry.

“You, young lady are acting out of character. You don’t go out with your jewellery on anymore, you dress like the common folk and you’ve started to ANSWER ME BACK! Now I want to know what the hell is going ON!” shouted Ed as he poked his daughter in the shoulder.

Tears sprang out of Tess’s eyes, she turned and ran out of the study, up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door shut. Her father had been drinking and when he was like that she didn’t stand a chance. Nothing she could say or do would ever be good enough for him and the best way to deal with him was to avoid the whole confrontation in the first place.

She quickly changed into her pyjamas, locked her bedroom door and got into bed. As she was just about to drift off to sleep her father started to bang on her bedroom door.

“Don’t think this conversation is over Tess, just because you locked yourself away!! I’ll still be here in the morning!” he shouted as he moved towards his own room.

“Yeah but you won’t remember this conversation in the morning you prick!” was, Tess’s last thought before she fell into a fitful sleep.

[Janetfl]

Chapter 21


“So where did she say she was taking you again?” asked Kyle with a smile on his face.

“Somewhere called...Bagels, no Bentleys, no Bagley’s, yeah that's it,” replied Max.

“Oh, she taking you there!” sniggered Kyle.

“Oh lord," Max closed his eyes and let out a small sigh. "Okay what’s so funny Kyle? Is it some sort of sex club were women dance around a pole and then ask to take you to the back room for lap dances or something else risqué?”

With that sentence Kyle just burst out laughing, causing most of the patrons at the coffee shop to stare at him. Max began to blush a deep shade of red at Kyle's laughter.

Finally getting himself under control Kyle smiled at his friend. "Risqué?"

"It means..." Max started to say.

"I know what it means," smirked Kyle. "I'm just shocked you actually used that word in a sentence. Why I'm shocked I don't know, knowing you..."

“Where the hell is she taking me Kyle!” demanded Max.

“Jesus Max would you just chill out. It’s just a normal dance club she’s taking you to. There aren’t going to be any strippers or stuff like that.”

“Well what the hell where you laughing at then?”

“Well, just the idea of you in any club is funny. You realise that she is going to want you to dance with her?”

"I can dance!" said Max in an indignant tone. "I’ve taken lessons and stuff!"

Kyle just rolled his eyes, “Max I don't believe those ballroom dancing lessons you're mom made you take back in high school will be the type of dancing you'll be seeing at the club. Speaking of which have you ever actually been to a club before?”

“Well not really...does going to my local country club count as going to a club?" asked Max, who then rolled his eyes at the shocked look Kyle gave him. "Look when I was younger I was too busy at Harvard to go....now what’s the words? Ah yes, club hopping! I didn’t have time for that kind of thing and ever since I got out of school the firm's taken up too much of my time!”

“Oh well I’m sure you’re going to find it good fun anyway!" smirked Kyle. "All I can say is just let Liz take the lead in the dancing and keep your tongue up off the floor when you see the all the girls in the short clubbing outfits."

“Well I still say I’m a fairly good dancer, we’ll just have to see how it goes,” he said as he looked at his watch. “Damn it I’m going to be late picking her up if I don’t get a move on!”

“ENJOY!” shouted Kyle, as Max ran out of the bookstore and jumped into his car.

“THANKS!” mouthed Max out of the car window as he pulled away from his parking spot.


*******



As he pulled up outside the Parker mansion he was praying that Mr Parker wasn’t there. He didn’t think it would be agreeable for Liz to be going out with the hired help. Okay so he wasn’t a servant or anything but this woman had the pick of practically any man she wanted. He was sure Mr Parker would want her with some sort of high powered business man, some one more her equal than he was.

“Don’t wait up for me. I’ll be gone most of the night,” said Liz, as she stepped outside and closed the front door.

“Shit, Mr Parker is here! Damn it! He’s not going to like the fact that I’m taking his daughter out for most of the night!” thought Max as he watched Liz make her way towards the car.

She was looking particularly gorgeous tonight. She had done her eyes so they had a smouldering look to them. She had a lighter brown on her lid which sparkled when it caught the light correctly and her lips were covered with a pale, almost beige lip gloss. Her soft silky hair was left down for this evening and was curled into perfect waves. In short she was freaking beautiful and it took his breath away.

She was wearing a white, fitted trouser suit, which had splits up the side to show off her beige high heeled boots. Under the jacket, which moulded to her figure, was nothing but a bra. Well that’s the only way Max could describe it. It certainly couldn’t be called a top surely. Not with that amount of flesh being exposed.

As Liz got closer to the car, Max got out and ran around to open the door for her.

She kissed him on the cheek and entered the car.

“Erm, Liz did you forget to put a top on tonight?” he asked pointing to her bra clad chest.

First of all Liz burst out laughing thinking he was joking. When she opened her eyes she realised that he was actually being quite serious.

“Oh good lord!” said Liz as she rolled her eyes, “Max this is what everyone is wearing at the clubs now.”

Shaking his head and muttering something about 'going around public indecent' under his breath Max shut the door once Liz was safely inside the car and ran around to the driver’s side.

“So exactly, where are we going again?” asked Max as he turned the ignition on.

“Just drive Max and I will give you the directions to get there.”

Liz was extremely excited about this evening. It was the first time that Max would be going to a venue of her choice rather than his. Not that she minded of course because Max’s idea’s always seemed romantic, until it came to the end of the night and still she didn’t get any action. Her sexual frustration was at an all time high.

She had made it her mission tonight to get him to loosen up a little. How was she going to do that? She wasn’t quite sure yet.


*******



As they pulled into the club’s parking area, Liz gave Max directions to a space around the back. It was marked with a sign saying Reserved – Liz Parker. Now Max was impressed.

“So you have your own reserved parking here?”

“Well I have reserved parking at most of the clubs around here Max. It’s good business for them to do it. If I go to a club apparently the following week it’s full to capacity, so they try to keep me coming back by offering things to make it easier for me. Like my own parking space ...”

“Wow, so it’s true what they say then?”

“Which is?”

“When you have money you seem to get everything for free,” stated Max.

“Well, yeah to be honest. I have quite a few of the top designers wanting me to wear their dresses when I go out and I get to keep the them afterwards, so I suppose you are right.”

“So is that a designer outfit you are wearing now?” asked Max as he pulled into the reserved space.

“Well Kind of,” said Liz cryptically.

“Well either it is or it isn’t Liz.”

“It was designed by yours truly!” stated Liz with a proud smile on her face.

“You mean ... you ... you designed that skimpy looking top?” asked Max as he pointed to her bra covered breast.

“Yes, come on let’s go inside!”

They both exited the car and walked around the building, straight to the front door of the club.

“HEY,” shouted a girl that had been standing in line, for hours, to get in.

“There is a line here you know,” shouted another girl.

“Erm, Liz don’t you think we’d better get to the back of the line. People aren’t going to be happy if we just step in front of them,” whispered Max.

“Hi John, Liz Parker, can you let me and my friend in please?” Liz asked the bouncer on the door.

“Of course Ms Parker, it’s good to see you here again. I will do my best to keep out the journalists but no guarantee!”

“Thanks John, it’s much appreciated and I’m sorry if I cause you any un-necessary problems.”

John removed the red rope that blocked off the entrance to the club. As Max and Liz walked through the door there were numerous shouts from the people in the line. The bouncer just glared at the ones creating a scene, a look that immediately subdued them into talking amongst themselves.


*******



“Two please,” said Max as he approached the ticket booth.

“Yes sir, that will be a total of one hundred and twenty dollars please,” said the blond who was eyeing Max with admiration.

“What the hell! Uh, uh...there was no way in hell he had heard that right!" thougth Max.

“How much did you say?” inquired Max not sure he’d heard the lady right.

“I said, that will be one hundred and twenty dollars please sir.”

Max started to mutter something under his breath as Liz reached inside her purse. She pulled out a little gold V.I.P. card and flashed it to the woman. She immediately stamped Max’s hand with the club’s logo and also Liz’s hand.

"Please go through right away. If you need to go outside just show security the stamp on the back of your hand and you will be allowed back into the club, no questions asked."

“What about the money?” Max asked waving a fist full of dollars.

“All been taken care of sir, just move along now,” said the girl, already starting to serve the couple behind Max.

He had a rather cute, confused look on his face and Liz leaned it to explain that she had shown her V.I.P. card which means they didn’t have to pay for entry.


*******



As Liz walked through the doors of the V.I.P. lounge she noticed most of the gorgeous women stop chatting to their partners to turn around to stare at Max. God she could see them practically drooling over him!

An involuntary growl left her throat as she gritted her teeth. No way in hell was his attention going to be diverted from her tonight. She gently let go of his arm and un-buttoned her jacket, letting it fall from her shoulders and into her hand. She then looped it over her arm and continued to walk in stride with Max.

As Max turned to look at Liz his eyes bulged out of their sockets. The bra type top thingy was made of some sort of shiny material, maybe satin and had Swarovski Crystals sewn around all of the edging of the bra and along the straps. Each time the light hit the Crystal’s a rainbow of colors would dance around the walls of the club.

Max was certainly not comfortable with the amount of flesh she was showing. Not because he didn’t find it attractive, quite the opposite actually, it was more to do with the amount of men that were now looking in her direction. He resisted the urge to place his jacket over her shoulders.

“Jack Daniels and diet coke please,” said Liz as she stepped up to the bar.

“Certainly Miss Parker and your gentleman friend?”

“Max, what do you want to drink?” asked Liz.

“Erm, just a coke please,” replied Max.

A look of confusion came across Liz’s face, “Coke?”

“Well I am, uh well you know driving tonight!”

Liz just rolled her eyes, “You know Max, I can have my driver pick us up later tonight if need be so you can drink all you want.”

“Uh well we can’t do that Liz because I need my car for the morning.”

“Well this club has a service were if you’ve driven here but then decide you want to drink then a limo will take us both home and a qualified driver will take your car to any destination you require. I’ve used the service myself on numerous occasions. That’s why the entrance fee is so extortionate, plus I want you to have a good time tonight!”

“Why hasn't Paris Hilton ever heard of this? Might have saved her some jail time,” thought Max before smiling a bit and saying to Liz, “Okay fine I’ll have what you are having then!”

“Same again please,” Liz said as she turned towards the barman again.

Once they had their drinks Liz chose one of the reserved tables by the dance floor and placed her drink on it. She then did the same for Max and started to drag him towards the dance floor.

“Oh I love this tune! Come on Max, come and dance with me!” shouted Liz over the noise of the music.

“No, I can’t,” shouted Max as he gently pulled himself out of her grasp.

“What, you can’t dance?”

“Well yeah, my mom insisted that I take ballroom dancing lessons when I was thirteen, but that...” said Max pointing at the heaving masses on the dance floor “...I can’t do.”

Liz pulled Max fully on the dance floor and started to grind her body into his.

“It’s easy Max, just like sex ... you just have to find the right pace and ... work with it!”

Liz turned to face Max and grabbed hold of his hips. She started moving them in time with the music until Max has a steady rhythm going. He was, in fact, an extremely good dancer once he’d loosened up a bit.

As the evening continued the dancing got more and more risqué. Max broke away from Liz and mouthed to her that he had to go to the bathroom and then the bar to get more drinks. She nodded her head but continued to dance on her own.

Max watched her for a little while because she had this slight sheen of sweat on her body and her dancing just mesmerised him but soon the force of nature was too strong and he left to go to the toilet.

He did not notice the creepy man that had wormed his way behind Liz, dancing just inches apart from her.

Liz was so entranced in her dancing that she didn’t notice the man behind her until he was forward enough to put his arm around her waist and grind his erection into her back. He leaned his head and whispered in her ear.

“My god you are the most beautiful woman in this whole club! Fancy coming home with me tonight and I’ll guarantee you a good time,” he said as he started to kiss her down her neck.

Liz froze for a second not really believing that this was happening. A man was grinding his erection in her back, had propositioned her like she was a whore and was now kissing her neck. She suddenly shuddered at the thought of it and this awoke her from her stunned state.

She spun around and punched the man in the face as hard as she possibly could. He staggered back a few paces with the force of the punch but it wasn’t enough to stop him in his tracks.

“How dare you talk to me like that!” yelled Liz.

Meanwhile one of the other dancers on the floor had realised what was happening and gone to get security. This man obviously didn’t know who he was dealing with.

“How dare I talk to YOU like that? Look at the way you’re dressed you little whore!” shouted the man as he threw a glass of beer all over Liz.

Liz stood there in shock for a few seconds as the icy liquid seeped through her clothes. She couldn’t believe the nerve of this guy. She was about to go for him full force when he was suddenly spun away from her.

“HEY! Didn’t you hear the lady? She’s not interested!” shouted Max as his fist connected to the man’s face.

Max suddenly thought that maybe this man was someone Liz knew and he’d just overstepped some kind of mark. He turned quickly towards Liz, “Sorry Liz I ....”

The man who had been knocked to the ground was now charging towards Max. Liz was about to warn Max when two security men came out of the crowd and grabbed the man.

“What the hell, he hit me first!” shouted the man, pointing at Max.

“Miss Parker, are you all right?” asked one of the security men.

“Well no not really. I was minding my own business when this pig of man stuck his erection in my back and propositioned me like some kind of whore. If it wasn’t for my friend here I don’t know what he would have done.”

With that the security guards gave the man a disgusted look and marched him out of the club.

Max turned to apologise to Liz again.

“Liz I’m sorry I shouldn’t have...”

Liz just grabbed his jacket lapels, pulled his body hard against her own and whispered in his ear ...

“God you were so hot just then!” and started to kiss him passionately.

When Liz finally let go of Max he stood there with a completely dazed look on his handsome face.

“Come on Max let’s get out of here!”

She grabbed his hand, made her way to one of the security men and whispered something in his ear. He nodded and she led Max outside the back of the club where a limo was waiting to take them to their next destination.

“Just drive please,” instructed Liz. The driver nodded his head in confirmation.

Although Max was wealthy in his own right he would never waste money on a car such as this but he did enjoy the comfort that it provided, plus there was a fully stocked bar which both he and Liz made a sizable dent in.

“So where should we go next?” asked Max.

“Oh I don’t know Max, in here is good for me,” said Liz, with a wicked smile on her face, as she raised the partition between the driver and the back.

Oh yes, tonight Liz Parker would show Max Evans how to have a good time!!!

[Janetfl]

Chapter 22


Max watched over his shoulder as the dark, smoked, glass partition started to rise between the driver and himself. Turning back around to face Liz you could almost see his Adams apple go up and down, in fear, as he took a big gulp.

For Liz was sitting across the space from him staring at him like a starving lioness about to pounce on her helpless prey.

Fidgeting with, his suddenly very tight, collar Max pointed toward the shielded glass that separated them from the limo driver.

“Erm ... L-Liz, I ... I d-don’t think here is the right place...well for us...to be..."

“Oh don’t worry Max, he can’t see or hear us,” said Liz as she slid out of her seat and crawled across the carpeted floor on her hands and knees.

Max took another audible gulp and his cheeks flushed. Okay so he wasn’t a virgin but doing it in the back of a Limo with a stranger up front was not his idea of fun, or normal...or anything he'd ever thought he'd do. Although by the predatory look on Liz’s face, that was exactly what she had envisioned.

He had to stall her...or even better...get her mind off having sex in the back of this limo!

“Seriously Liz, I ... I,” his voice trailed into silence as he watched Liz’s hands being placed on his knees. She then opened them slightly and crawled seductively up his body until her hands rested on his chest and her lips were mere inches away from his own.

“Seriously Liz, what?” asked Liz as she started to undo his shirt buttons.

“I ... I don’t think here is t-the ri...” he slapped her hand away from his shirt buttons when he realised what she was attempting to do.

Think Max Think!!!

Quickly reaching over to the nearby small bar Max grabbed a large bottle of champagne and thrust it into Liz's face.

“Hey, how about having some champagne?”

Jumping back slightly to miss the bottle that was shoved into her face Liz slowly sat back on her heals and just looked at Max. When was this guy going to give it up? How hard does she have to try? Gritting her teeth she gave Max a very fake smile.

“Champagne, why of course,”

While holding the champagne bottle with one hand, Max leaned over and took two glasses from the stand with the other. He placed the glasses on the back seat next to him and proceeded to open the champagne.

He grabbed hold of the cork and slowly twisted the bottle, just like his father had taught him. The only problem was that the damn cork wasn’t budging. It was in there tight.

Max was too preoccupied with opening the bottle to realise what Liz was up to. He could see movement out of the corner of his eye but didn’t really pay attention to it. A dangerous move, for he should have known never to take his eyes of Liz.

“Ohhhh Maxxx!” shouted Liz trying to get his attention on her instead of the bottle. She knew he was only using it as a stalling tactic and tonight she wasn’t having any of it.

Max gave another mighty twist of the bottle as he looked over to where Liz was on the floor. There kneeling in front of him he took in the sight of a topless Liz as she smiled at him, she arched her back a bit to shove her chest out toward him and was using her fingers to spin her removed top around and around like some...uh...well like his mother would say...like some scarlet woman working at a Go Go Lounge.

Yes no one would ever deny that Max's mother wasn't a tad old fashioned and a tad out of date with the times.

POP!!!

The stubborn cork suddenly popped out of the bottle shot out across the limo.....but it wasn't the only thing that was about to pop and shoot out!

Poor Max looked like a deer caught in the headlights as his huge eyes could only stare at Liz in shock...well to be honest, stare at her breasts in shock. It was only when the freezing cold contents of the bottle started to spill into his lap that he realised the cork was finally free.

"SHIT!" Max jumped around trying to find something to clean up his now soaked lap.

Liz immediately recognised this as her chance to move things forward.

“Here let me help you Max,” said Liz with all sincerity.

She then proceeded to go straight for his trouser button and zip. Within seconds they were open and she was tugging on the legs of his pants.

“Liz, what the hell are you doing!” shouted Max.

“I’m removing your trousers silly. They are wet.”

Now this, under normal circumstances, would have sounded reasonable ... but Liz was certainly NOT reasonable.

Max grabbed the waistband of his trousers and tried to grip onto them as if his life depended on it. Unfortunately Liz was quicker than he thought and before he knew it his pants where down by his ankles.

“There now isn’t that better but ...”

“... but what Liz?” Max asked confused.

“Something is missing,” said Liz with a smile on her face.

“Huh? What’s missing?” asked Max.

“Why me of course!” said Liz as she jumped up and straddled his lap.

She started to grind her lower body into his as she captured his lips in a searing kiss. She pressed her naked chest to his and he could feel the hardness of her nipples through his shirt. God he was so turned on right now.

Liz pushed him down on the seat so he was kind of laying flat and just as it seemed that Max was going to lose control and go for it, another part of his body took control.

For you see the problem was that Max's pants were still around his ankles, this left his upper body twisted on the seat while his legs were still dangling in midair off the floor. This had a very bad side effect of cutting off a large supply of blood to Max's calf muscles and as many will know a calf cramp is not anything to laugh at.

As Liz ground harder into his body, he started to feel an odd sensation in his leg. It was that first minor pain, the one that normally wakes you up in the middle of the night to let you know a more massive pain was about to hit your calf.

“Oh god now I’ve got about two seconds before the pain really hits!” thought Max

“Ohhh shit here it comes!” shouted Max.

“WHAT?” shrieked Liz not able to believe that it was over before it had even started.

It was then that the white hot poker pain hit Max as the cramp hit his calf muscle.

“OW, SHIT THAT HURTS!!!” shouted Max as he jumped up in pain.

His jumping threw Liz up off his lap and smacked her head, hard, on the roof of the limo. She then was unceremoniously dumped on the floor as Max made a grab for his calf muscle and did his best to hobble around the limo trying to work out the cramp...a hard fact to do seeing how his pants were still around his ankles.

“FUCK MAX, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?” asked Liz rubbing the sore spot on her head.

“C ... I’ve got ... cr... CRAMP in my leg!” shouted Max as another wave of pain hit his body.

“CRAMP! HE SAYS! ANOTHER EXCUSE MORE LIKE!” shouted Liz finally snapping at Max’s reluctance to her attempts at seduction.

“Shit seriously Liz I have got CRAMP and it really fucking hurts!!!”

Max could hear Liz mutter something under her breath about excuses, excuses.

“Look Liz, I’m not lying to you. I do have a cramp." Max massaged the back of his calf "But even if I didn't I'm not going to have sex with you in the back of some Limo, like some sort of ...” just before he said it he managed to stop.

But he had said enough, for Liz’s eyes narrowed and her face became a scowl.

“Like some sort of WHAT Max?”

“Nothing, I’m just in pain,” said Max quickly trying to change the subject.

“Like some sort of CHEAP TRASHY SLUT?! Is that what you were going to say, MAX?”

“WHAT, NO, OF COURSE NOT!”

Oh now Liz was positively furious. She quickly put her top and jacket back on.

“Put your pants back on Max,” instructed Liz angrily.

“Now I’ve blown it!” thought Max as he pulled his trousers back up.

Liz grabbed what was left of the champagne and poured herself a glass. She sat on the seat opposite Max and opened the panel between the driver and herself.

“Take me home please” she instructed the driver.

“Certainly, Miss Parker.”

“Liz, I wasn’t going to say that ... I just wanted to ...”

“Don’t Max, I’m not interested,” said Liz as she turned away from him and looked out of the now open window.

He’d finally done it. He realised that he’d finally blown his last chance with Liz. There is no way that she would forgive him for that remark ... but he really didn’t mean it the way it sounded. He just wanted her first time with him to be something special. He wanted to plan the perfect night for her.

As the limo pulled up outside of the Parker mansion the driver got out of the vehicle so he could open the door for Liz but was too late.

He watched as Liz jumped out of the car and her man friend was trying to follow.

“LOOK, LIZ WAIT!” he shouted as he tried to exit the car to follow Liz. She turned and fixed him with cold stare.

“Don’t you wait LIZ ME!!! All along you’ve been avoiding me!!! Then you ... then you turn up looking all hot and gorgeous in my pool, kiss me, tell me that you want me, avoid having any intimate time with me and then basically call ME A SLUT! WELL IT ENDS NOW!” screamed Liz slamming the door just as Max was about to exit.

The door hit him in the face and he fell backwards onto the floor of the limo. The driver, who had been highly entertained for a short period of time, ran over to the car and helped Max off the floor.

“Are you alright sir?”

“NO! GOD DAMN IT! I’m not alright. I think she broke my nose!” replied Max grabbing his throbbing organ.

“Maybe I should take you to the hospital then Sir,” suggested the driver rather amused.

“Just take me home, please.”