Stay With Me (M/L, ADULT)Chpt 5 16/Nov/09

[Janetfl]

A huge thanks goes out to the wonderful Monica who did this awesome banner for me!!!! You are talented sweetie!!!!

Title: Stay With Me
Author: Janetfl (Jan)
Disclaimer: I own nothing that is Roswell ... sadly that belongs to the powers that be!! No infringement is intended.

Pairing: M/L.
Rating: ADULT.

Summary: Max and Liz are co-workers, or rather co-enemies. What happens when their boss sends them to a conference in Vegas?

Author's Note: Keepsmiling7 was runner up in the Support Stacie Auction. She won a 5,000 min word fic ... which might prove to be longer. I'm just going to see where the story leads me. I hope you enjoy.

A huge thanks goes out to my wonderful beta reader Lilloucfer!! Thanks so much for all your help and ideas!!


Prologue.

She started to stir from her deep slumber as the sun shone through the cracks of the curtains. She felt safe, warm and comfortable. She didn't want to wake up; she wanted to sleep for the rest of the day.

As the sun shone brighter she finally groaned and tried to open her eyes. As soon as she attempted to, pain shot through her head and she immediately closed them again.

Another groan left her lips.

"What the hell did I do last night?" she thought to herself ... and then she froze.

She could have sworn she'd just felt something brush against her leg. She tried so very hard to open her eyes but the thumping pain behind them stopped her from doing so. She raised the bed sheets over her head and then opened her eyes.

"Oh good god, no!" she whispered, trying not to wake the sleeping form beside her.

The white bed sheets were a stark contrast to the deep tanned muscular legs that were tangled in them.

She raked her eyes across the beautiful form, starting at those gorgeous legs, moving to a perfectly round, almost peachy, muscular ass and the sexiest back she had ever seen. This man that lay beside her was just perfect in every way.

She quickly whipped the sheets from her head and turned very slowly to see who was lying beside her naked as the day he was born, although a lot better formed, she mused.

All she could see poking out of the sheets was his perfect muscular back and brown hair. She started to get a dreaded feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"No, surely, it can't be," she whispered to herself, raising a hand to her mouth.

She was trying her hardest to remember what had happened last night. She remembered the conference but anything after that was pretty much hazy at best.

She slowly rose into a sitting position and gently leaned over him to get a better look.

A groan left her lips when she saw who was beside her.

This just can't be possible! What the hell happened last night? Why the hell was he in her bed? More to the point, why the hell had she allowed him in her bed? Oh this was so not good!

All of these thoughts and questions ran through her mind like a freight train. She turned around slowly and gently eased off the bed so she didn't disturb him. It was only then that she noticed something on the bedside cabinet.

It was if everything suddenly went into slow motion. She could see her hand reaching for the paper but felt more like she was watching a TV screen than actually living through it. You see her mind had decided to detach itself from her body for a short period of time so it could cope with the shock it was about to receive.

As her hand moved towards the paper, the writing became clear. A Certification of Marriage between one Elizabeth Parker and Maxwell Evans.

"No, this can't be..." she whispered to herself.

It was then that she noticed that she wasn't even in her own room. She rose off the bed, found her bra and top, put them on quickly, slid on her skirt, picked up her shoes and left the room as quickly and quietly as she could ... taking that piece of paper with her.

With a shaking hand she pulled the key card out of her purse and ran it through the scanner. The door opened immediately and she made a beeline for the bathroom.

She slammed the door shut, sat down on the toilet and started to cry. How the hell could she have gotten herself into this mess ... especially with the one person she hated the most on this planet or any other?

It was then an idea struck, surely if she didn't remember then maybe he wouldn't. Maybe she could get this thing annulled before anyone finds out.

********

Max suddenly felt cold and it stirred him from his deep slumber. The light that came through the hotel windows was blinding and he threw the sheets over his face to try and block it out.

He felt like he'd been hit by a sledgehammer and it wasn't going to go away any time soon. He could smell the faint odor of something fruity, like perfume, but shook the thought from his head as he gingerly got up out of bed and went to his bag to get out some paracetamol for his thumping head.

He went over to the mini fridge, grabbed a bottle of still water and took the pills. His arid mouth demanded more water and it wasn't long before the whole bottle was gone.

God, exactly how much had he drunk last night? He remembered meeting Liz at the conference, had a few drinks but after that it all became incredibly hazy.

He decided that it was time to go and see Liz. Maybe she had some answers for him.

He decided to take a shower to wake his tired and very achy body. He stood under the jet spray of the warm water and placed his tired face directly under it hoping that it would in some way wake him up.

As the warmth engulfed him an image of Liz, naked in the shower assaulted his mind. Now he was used to these kinds of thoughts but somehow this felt ... more real, like it had actually happened.


He could feel her small hands skim over the expanse of his chest as he watched the bubbles of the shampoo trail down her skin, through the valley of her breasts and then to the small dark triangle of hair between her legs.

The vision of her standing there with water cascading down her luminescent skin was so incredibly goddess like it literally took his breath away.

His hand followed the soap trail and elicited a moan out of Liz's mouth as he inserted his fingers into her warmth.


"What the hell..." shouted Max to no one in particular as he was shocked out of his reverie.

He'd always thought about Liz in a certain way but never had his imagination been so vivid.

He had to get that vision out of his head otherwise he wouldn't be able to face her this morning without it coming back to haunt him at the most inappropriate time.

He shook his head vigorously in the hopes of getting that incredibly sexy image out of his mind and concentrated on his shower. It was now imperative that he speak to Liz and find out what the hell happened to him last night.

[Janetfl]

Chapter 1.



Liz had just finished getting dressed after her shower when she heard a light knock on her door.

"I'll be there in a second!" she shouted from the bathroom as she twisted her long hair and then pinned it up with some hair grips.

She smoothed down her skirt and took a look in the mirror before she opened her door.

"Sorry about that I just ..."

She had a sudden look of confusion on her face.

Standing by her door with his mouth agape was Max. Her stomach did summersaults hoping that he hadn't remembered what happened last night. There had to be a way of getting out of this mess without alerting him to the fact that they were now married.

A sudden bolt of fear ripped through her body as he just stood there and continued to stare at her, almost looking through her, as if he was remembering something.

Her throat felt dry as she tried to recall what had transpired between them the night before. Whether he recalled anything or not, she put on her usual cool persona in the hopes that he would see that nothing had changed between them.

In a rather cold stern voice she said...

"Max? What can I do for you this morning?"

"I ... I just ... I wanted ... too ..." he couldn't think straight as the image of Liz in his shower came back in full force.

"A bit tongue tied this morning, aren't we?" she asked raising her eyebrow.

He cleared his throat with a small cough.

"I was just wondering if you would like to join me for breakfast, you know and go over some of the notes we made at the conference last night. We have to give in that report as soon as we fly back so we'll have to work on it together..." he almost added 'unfortunately' to the end of that sentence but stopped himself just in time.

For some reason he couldn't bring himself to be his usual pompous ass with her. Had something changed between them ... he wasn't sure.

"Oh right, yeah breakfast. Okay, give me a few minutes to collect my notes and I'll meet you the down there."

"Okay," said Max as he turned away from the door and headed towards the elevator.

She closed the door and rested her forehead on its cold surface. The only way to find out if Max really remembered or not, was to go down there and fish for information. She couldn't remember a damn thing so even if he only had snippets of information it would be more that what she currently knew.

She steeled herself for the conversation with Max, left her hotel room and headed for the breakfast area.


*******


As Max entered the breakfast room his nose was assaulted with the aroma of bacon and eggs and his stomach lurched. The hotel was serving Continental and Full English breakfasts. The urge to gag was strong but he swallowed hard and made his way to the coffee machine.

He got himself a double espresso hoping that would wake up his tired and addled brain. He chose to eat plain old cereal this morning. He didn't think his stomach could take anything else without violently protesting.

He sat down at the first available table and jumped started his body with the bitter tasting, caffeine high, smooth hot liquid. Just as he was about to delve into his cereal Liz walked in with her notes under her arm and a briefcase in her other hand.

She walked over to the table, set her things down and then made her way to the continental breakfast table.

There she picked up two butter croissants, jam and black coffee. She too needed that extra kick of caffeine after the shock she'd received this morning. She could feel Max's eyes follow her every movement and when she turned around to look at him, she noticed a strange look come across his face.

She coughed nervously and then sat down opposite Max.

"So this report Max, how are we going to handle it?"

For a moment he just stared at Liz and it was starting to make her feel uncomfortable.

"Max?"

He shook his head slightly and blushed.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Look is something wrong Max?" asked Liz.

"Wrong? No, why would anything be wrong?"

"Seriously Max are you feeling okay?"

"No to be honest I'm not ... I ... I can't remember much about last night," he stumbled with his words.

"Well you were pretty far gone when I left you Max. How long did you stay drinking after I left?"

"Y - You l ... left?"

"Don't you remember? I said that we had a flight to catch today so I left you to it."

A slight groan left his lips.

"Max, what's wrong you're acting really strange?"

"I ... well ... I woke up this morning and ... I could have sworn someone had stayed with me last night ... I"

Max was interrupted by Liz holding up her hand.

"Look Max do I really need to hear this. I don't want to know about your sex life!" Liz whispered harshly.

Oh she was on a roll now. As soon as he started stuttering she knew he didn't remember. Maybe, just maybe she would be able to get away with this.

"What? No, it's nothing like that ... well at least I don't think it is. Look would you just hear me out for one second," he was starting to get frustrated with her as usual.

This is how it had always been between Liz and Max. From their very first meeting they seemed to get on each other's nerves ... well actual truth be told ... from Liz's side there was irritation ... from Max's side there was pure lust. He loved getting her all riled up because she looked beautiful when she was feisty, almost like she'd been ravished.

Liz rolled her eyes...

"Go on, explain away but I swear to god if I hear anything about sex in there, I'm out of here, understood?!"

"Yes UNDERSTOOD," said Max doing the 'quote' sign with his fingers.

"Well I must have had way too much to drink last night because when I woke up this morning I could have sworn I smelt perfume in the room and I ... well I found this and I've never seen it before."

Max showed Liz the earring.

"GOD DAMN IT" she thought to herself.

"Why the hell didn't I notice it was missing? How am I going to get that back from Max now?"

"It looks like a real diamond as well, expensive ... but ..."

"There's no need to spell it out Max. You are trying to tell me that you believe you brought a woman to your hotel room last night, probably had sex with her and then she upped and left in the morning without waking you. Is that about right Max?"

"I'm not like that though Liz. I don't normally bring women back to my home or hotel room. I ... well I just don't do it. I like to get to know a person first."

Max felt like he had to explain ... if he had any chance with Liz, he believed he'd just blown it.

"Right, well shall we get back to the report now Max. Like you said earlier, we have to hand this in today. How do you want to do this? Work on it together and then I type up the report?"

"Yeah, whatever, that's fine."

Now this was the first time that Max had ever agreed with Liz, without fighting her on it.

"Oh right, okay. Well let's get down to business then.”

[Janetfl]

Chapter 2.


The flight had been delayed which gave Liz a chance to type up the report that had to be handed in today.

As the car, that was sent to pick them up, drove through the busy New York streets, Liz took a moment to look out of the window at the great city.

She loved living here after moving from her small town of Roswell, New Mexico. She'd worked very hard to get to where she was today, worked hard all through High School, went to Harvard, passed all of her exams with distinction and yet somehow she ended up having to work with someone like Max.

When she was first introduced to him her first initial thought was that he was hot! A gorgeous looking guy who just screamed manly, that was, until he opened his chauvinistic mouth.


FLASHBACK.

"Liz, it's good to have you on board. We are going to pair you up with our best man in marketing. He will be able to show you how things work around here. I have no doubt that you can handle our clients on your own but we do have a certain way of doing things around here. Max will be able to show you. He's a nice guy once you get to know him."

"Thanks Miss Harding," said Liz while shaking her hand.

"It's Tess by the way, come on let me introduce you to him."

As they walked through the open planned office, Tess stopped at an office that was open.

"This will be your office Liz; it is right next door to Max's so that you can work together easily. They also have adjoining doors."

Liz was very proud to see her name in gold letters on the door.

"Thanks Tess."

"No problem Liz, I'm expecting great things from you."

Tess stopped at the door next to Liz's office and knocked loudly then said...

"Max, it's Tess are you free?"

"Come on in Tess."

They both entered the large, spacious office.

"Max, I would like you to meet our new recruit, Liz Parker. Liz this is Max."

Liz held her hand out to Max but he didn't even look up at her.

"Nice to meet you Liz, now could you go and fetch me coffee and then we can get started."

Liz turned to Tess in confusion.

"Oh, don't worry about that Liz. He did that the first day he met me until I told him that if he wanted to come back to work the next day he'd better get me coffee instead! He didn't realize that I owned the company," laughed Tess.

Max finally looked up from his files.

"I'm sorry, am I missing something?"

"Max this is your new partner, Liz," said Tess.

A look of shock crossed his face.

"I'm sorry I thought you just said ... my new partner."

Liz slowly lowered her pro-offered hand and looked hard at Max.

"That's right Max."

"But I thought it was going to be Doug from ..."

"No, that didn't work out Max. Liz is your new partner. I want you to show her the ropes."

"Oh right, well thanks for the warning Tess."

"Do you have a problem with me Mr Evans?" asked Liz.

"No, of course not, I just ... I just,"

"You just thought I was your secretary or something?" offered Liz.

This elicited a laugh from Tess.

"I think you two are going to get along great!" she said leaving them to it.


Oh yes, that was her very first encounter with the GREAT Maxwell Evans and ever since then they had this uncanny knack of annoying one another, plus trying to also outdo each other on the business side of things.

Liz sighed as the car pulled up outside the office.

"Back to reality," she thought to herself.

Max and Liz both exited the car at the same time. Neither of them had really spoken to each other since breakfast. Max seemed to be in a world of his own and Liz was preparing herself for the report they were about to give to Tess.

"Well there's no way he can sabotage this project," she thought to herself.

As Max approached the doors he stopped to hold them open for Liz and allow her to enter the building first.

This gesture, of course, was a shock to Liz. Normally Max would walk through those doors and just let them slam shut again regardless if someone was behind him or not. The fact that he'd stopped for her made her feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Are you alright Max?" asked Liz.

"Huh?"

"You held the door open for me..." said Liz with a smile on her face.

"Yeah ... so?" he looked confused.

"Well you normally let it slam in my face Max. What suddenly changed?"

"N ... nothing has changed ... I just ... I guess, do I really do that?"

"What let doors slam in people's faces?"

He nodded.

"Yes Max, you do it all the time."

"Oh well, sorry if I've done it before to you Liz."

The fact that Max had suddenly turned into 'Mr. Nice Guy' really threw Liz off balance. She wanted to make a sarcastic remark about the GREAT MAX EVANS saying sorry, but decided to keep her mouth shut. She didn't want to rock the boat too much, until she had this mockery of a marriage dissolved.

*******

Liz entered her office and immediately got her laptop ready to print the report.

As the last page was printing her secretary's voice came over the intercom.

"Miss Parker, Miss Harding would like to see you in her office right away."

"That's fine, just tell her I'm printing the last page of our report and then I'll be there."

"Okay Miss Parker."

"Thanks."

Liz stood up and gathered her report from the printer, placed it in a binder and headed to Tess' office.

*******

Max had just sat down in his comfy, black leather, office chair when his secretary's voice came over the intercom.

"Miss Harding would like to see you right away Mr. Evans."

"What, already? We've just gotten back. Get me coffee would you and then tell Miss Harding that I will be with her."

"Certainly Mr. Evans."

Max waited for his coffee to arrive and then made his way to Tess' office.

*******

As Max walked into Tess’s office he could see that Liz was already sitting down waiting for him.

"Max, good to see you," smirked Tess as he walked into the office and sat down next to Liz.

"Sorry, had to get some coffee," he stated as an explanation.

"No problem. Now how did the conference go? Was it beneficial to you or was it a complete waste of money?"

"Well we did a report on it, which Liz has been working on so I'll let her explain."

Now this totally shocked Liz. NEVER had he given her the floor before ... he'd always tried to take the lead with every project they had done. She'd always taken a step back so she didn't look like an idiot in front of Tess but as soon as they went back to the office she would chew his butt off.

Now he was just taking a back seat? This 'changed' Max was really starting to worry her. Maybe he knew more than he was letting on. Maybe he was going to use the whole Vegas trip against her soon. She'd have to watch her back.

"Thanks Max. Tess, it was a very informative conference and there were a lot of high powered Marketing people there but Max and I both felt like it wasn't really worth the time or expense. We've created a report on the reasons why we don't think this would be beneficial for the rest of the group."

Liz stood, handed Tess the report and sat back down in her chair. She stole a glance at Max but he just sat there stoic.

"So did you two have a good time at Vegas?" asked Tess with a slight gleam in her eye.

"It was business," said Max firmly.

"What? You two didn't even have a little fun on the machines ... or blackjack table?" asked Tess.

"No Tess, we just had dinner and a few drinks then went to our hotel rooms," replied Liz.

She couldn't believe that Max was being so ... quiet. She couldn't understand what was going on in his head right now but she was going to find out.

"Well, glad you enjoyed it," said Tess a little disappointed her plan hadn't worked.

"Like I said, it was business," replied Max.

Oh yes, that was it. She knew that something must have happened in Vegas but wasn't quite sure what. This was going to be an interesting couple of weeks.

Max seemed in a world of his own and letting Liz do all of the presentation, was highly unusual. Plus he hadn't really looked at Liz since he'd entered the office.

Her plan was set in motion; she just hoped it worked out otherwise she could lose the two best marketing people she'd ever employed. But if these two got together then they would be unstoppable.

"Well there is a lot of work to get back to so I won't keep you any longer. Thanks for checking out that conference for me. I don't think we'll send anyone else."

Max and Liz stood up and left the office, closing the door behind them.

As soon as they'd disappeared from view Tess smiled a knowing smile.

[Janetfl]

Chapter 3.


One month earlier...

Max and Liz had been working together for nearly six months now. Tess had initially paired them together because she thought that Liz could handle Max, which she could, but she also noticed a growing tension between them.

She knew that Max was definitely interested in Liz because he'd never really bothered with other women before. He'd always been a pompous ass and believed that there was no way they could knock him off his top spot.

But Liz, well Liz was a different story altogether. When they worked together they were hot. Nothing could beat them. They won all business no matter who they went up against but when they fought against each other it was a nightmare.

Now Tess had noticed that Liz always took the high ground. If Max undermined her she always bit her tongue, but chewed him out later in the office. Tess always knew what was going on with her employees; she'd made it her business to. That's why she was so successful.

She knew that there was chemistry between them and if they'd just admit it then they could be a great team. Either they had to have mind blowing sex and get it out of the way or they could actually have a budding relationship. Of course it could go totally the other way and Tess could lose one of them ... but it was worth the chance.

That's when she came up with the idea of sending them to Vegas. She thought the bright lights, big exciting city, would finally get them to relax with each other and maybe they would finally realize that neither one of them were as bad as they thought.

She could understand it from Liz's point of view. Max was an ass from the first introduction, thinking she was his secretary but Tess knew that Liz was feisty enough to deal with his macho ways.

It made her laugh inside when Liz had asked if he had a problem with her. When he finally looked at her ... well he was instantly smitten. Tess could tell, even though he couldn't or wouldn't ever admit that to himself. So she took it upon herself to play matchmaker.

She got on the phone to her secretary and arranged the trip to Las Vegas for them. She used the Marketing conference as an excuse. She almost died laughing when she saw their faces, after she told them they would be taking a little trip together, it was simply priceless.

Liz looked horrified and Max ... well Max looked mildly amused by the idea. That was the only way she could describe the fleeting look that passed across his face.

Now Liz spent most of the month trying to get out of the conference. It was either she was too busy, or a client needed her on that particular date. She tried every trick in the book but Tess wasn't having any of it.

"So Liz, are you ready for the conference next week?"

She knew what the answer was going to be but played along anyway.

"Well I was hoping that I wouldn't have to go. I've just taken on the Howell account and they are going to need my full attention."

"Sorry Liz, this trip is not an option. I need both of you to go. I need to get a good idea whether it's worth sending other candidates on this trip. I'm sure that the Howell account can do without you for a couple of days. They won't even start the project until next month."

Liz sighed ... she'd tried all different ways to get out of going. She would have to spend two days with Max and she knew that by the end of it she would be pulling out her hair.

Just lately, Max had done nothing but antagonise her. It's almost as if he enjoyed the fight. She however, was getting rather fed up with it. She was starting to wonder when she could work the accounts on her own.

"That's fine Tess, I'll go. Can I just ask you a question though?"

"Sure go ahead."

"When are you going to allow me to work on my own clients, without..." Liz stopped herself just in time.

"Without?" questioned Tess.

"Well, without the expert guidance of Max?"

"Oh nicely put Liz," thought Tess.

"I don't think that day is too far away now. Maybe once you're done the conference we can talk about it."

"That would be great."

Liz left Tess' office knowing that very soon she wouldn't have to put up with Max's shit.

She could also prove that she is worthy of her position in the company and whip Max's butt at the business side of things. Oh god she would love to see his face when she won an account from him!!!

[Janetfl]

Chapter 4.


Liz popped her head around the door and smiled.

"Hey Tess, I don't suppose I could have a quick word with you."

"Of course, come on in and sit down."

"Thanks," said Liz as she took the seat opposite Tess.

"I know it's only been a couple of days since the conference but I was wondering if you would mind me taking one afternoon off either this week or next?"

"Well, like you said before you left for the conference, you know you have the Howell account to deal with and they want to get started right away. I believe both you and Max are booked to see them all of next week?"

"Yes that's right. We have several meetings with them."

"Then it's going to be difficult to actually give you the time off next week. I really want to do this for you Liz, because I know you've been working really hard and you've never asked for time off. It's just with the new account, I'm afraid it's impossible."

"Is there a possibility I can take an afternoon off or have an extended lunch break this week? You see, something has come up that I really need to deal with urgently."

Tess narrowed her eyes slightly, something about Liz's demeanour was screaming to Tess that she was incredibly uncomfortable asking for the time off. Tess started to get a little worried ... maybe she was going for an interview with another firm. Maybe spending two days with Max finally pushed Liz over the edge.

Tess fixed Liz with a stare.

"Are you alright Liz?"

Liz could feel her face become flush as Tess held her under scrutiny. It felt as though Tess was literally reading her mind. She'd been on edge over the last couple of days wondering how she was going to get out of this mess, plus Max had been acting really strange around her. All this was making her feel incredibly uncomfortable and she'd decided that the only way to deal with it was to organize the annulment as soon as possible.

"No ... no, nothing is wrong Tess. I just have a slight family emergency that needs to be dealt with. Like I said it shouldn't take that long."

"Okay, well as I said earlier you've never asked for time off and have worked really hard, so how about taking an extended lunch break this week. Just let me know what day you want to take it."

Tess could see the relief on Liz's face and she was happy that she could do something to ease the girl's worry.

"Thanks Tess. I'll let you know as soon as I do."

"No problem. If you need more time off after next week, once the Howell account is set up, just let me know and we'll see what we can do."

"Thanks."

Liz released a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding as she exited Tess' office.

*******

Liz entered her office, shut the door, sat down in her chair and immediately picked up the phone to dial the number.

"McKenzie and Wright, how may I help you?"

"Yes this is Miss Parker may I please speak to Mr. Wright?"

"Of course Miss Parker, can I ask what it's regarding?"

"Yes I need his advice on something and possibly a meeting with him."

"Right, just hold the line one moment while I transfer you."

"Thank you."

Liz listened to the hold music until a gruff voice interrupted.

"Liz, good to hear from you, what can I do for you?"

"I'm in a bit of a fix Bob and I think I'm going to need all of your skills to get me out of it."

"What kind of a fix?"

"Oh god Bob, I don't know what to do. I got married a couple of days ago."

"WHAT?!"

Now Bob had been her father's lawyer for years and he'd dealt with numerous situations that had arisen so when Liz had to talk to someone about what happened in Vegas she knew that Bob would be the best one to help her. Even if he didn't have the skills that she needed, she knew he had a lot of contacts that would.

After a few moments of silence on the other end of the phone ... Bob decided to approach this differently.

"I take it you don't want to be in this marriage otherwise you wouldn't be calling me, am I right?"

"Yes, I know you're not a divorce lawyer Bob, but I thought you would be able to at least give me the name of a good one."

"What are the circumstances Liz? Has the marriage been consummated and what conditions where you married under?"

Liz felt totally embarrassed having to explain what happened but she had to if she was going to get the help she needed.

"I went to Vegas with ... with a colleague of mine. We ended up getting incredibly drunk ... and this is where it gets really embarrassing Bob."

"It's okay Liz, anything you tell me is strictly confidential so don't worry, just give me the details."

"Well, I woke up the following morning ... in his ... in his bed and that's when I found the marriage certificate."

"So the marriage was consummated then?"

"Erm ... I ... I ..." Liz stuttered.

Suddenly all the pieces clicked into place for Bob.

"You're not sure are you? You can't remember."

"No but I'm pretty sure it was," came the whispered response. God this was so embarrassing for her.

"Pretty sure?"

"Erm ... well I could just tell."

"Oh, erm ... okay ... right," now it was Bob's turn to be embarrassed. By what he could make out from the bits of information Liz had provided, there must have been some sort of evidence to confirm that they did sleep together.

"What am I going to do Bob?"

"Well I'm no expert Liz but I know one thing," replied Bob in a grim tone.

"What?" whispered Liz.

"Max will have to be informed if you want an annulment. The law states that even if you were both intoxicated you still need both signatures on the annulment papers."

"Oh god, no this is worse than I thought. What am I going to do?" she asked almost begging.

"There is nothing you can do Liz, unless you get his signature."

It was then that an idea started to formulate in Liz's mind.

"Bob get the annulment papers drawn up and I'll get him to sign them. Will he have to appear in court?"

"I don't think so. As long as both of you sign it and no one contests the annulment then it should go through pretty quick."

"Great when can I pick up the papers?"

"Can you fax over the Marriage Certificate?"

"Yes, I can do that now."

"Once I have that I can get Lance to draw up the papers for you. He will deal with your case. I'll warn him that it's urgent and you should be able to pick them up in a couple of days. Once he's signed them, return them to us along with the original copy of the Marriage Certificate and we will deal with it from there."

"Thank you so much Bob."

"No problem Liz."

Liz replaced the receiver down with a smile on her face ... maybe Max wouldn't have to know at all.

[Janetfl]

Again ... a HUGE thanks to LilLoucfer who is my wonderful, hard working beta reader!!!!! You're the best!!!!



Chapter 5.


As soon as she replaced the receiver she immediately went to her purse and got out the Marriage Certificate.

“This has simply got to work!” she said to herself as she walked towards the fax machine in her office.

“What’s got to work?”

Liz literally jumped out of her skin, spun around and held the Certificate behind her back.

“No... nothing ... I mean ... what?”

“Having problems speaking today are we?” asked Max raising one eyebrow and a small smirk appearing on his face. She looked flustered and when she was like that, she was sexy as hell.

“What are you doing here Max?” asked Liz, finally getting her brain and mouth to work together.

“I was just coming in to see if you were ready to get started on the Howell account, but I can see you are obviously not quite ready yet.”

“What do you mean I’m not quite ready yet? I’ve been preparing for this the last couple of days. I have all the reports prepared,” she said indignantly.

“No I just meant ... that you seemed a little jumpy, am I interrupting something, I can come back later if you like.”

“What? No, no it’s fine come on in and we’ll get started.”

Max entered the room and sat down in the chair opposite her desk. She quickly shoved the Certificate under a mound of papers on top of her filing cabinet and came around to sit back at her desk.

“That was a close call,” thought Liz to herself.

“Look Liz, I think we got started off on the wrong foot here,” said Max preparing to say more before he was interrupted.

“No, WE didn’t get started off on the wrong foot Max; you literally shoved yours in your mouth.”

He gave a small chuckle, much to the annoyance of Liz.

“Okay, I think I really deserved that comment. I was a bit of an ass when I first met you and I haven’t really apologized since. I didn’t know my new partner was going to be a woman. Tess had told me that Doug was going to get the promotion but obviously that didn’t work out. When she introduced me to you I was still looking for a secretary at the time, so I naturally assumed ...”

“You naturally assumed because I was a woman, I was there for the position of your secretary?”

“You know Liz, we’ve been getting on each other’s nerves ever since and to be honest, I’m tired of it, so can we please just start over and try to get along. We will be working together for some time and I don’t want it to be this difficult all the time.”

“I appreciate the apology Max, I really do, but it’s not just that one time that you’ve proved that you’re a chauvinistic pig. On more than one occasion, during a presentation I was making, you either interrupt or take over. You’ve spent the last six months trying to put me down in front of the clients and Tess. If you think it’s going to be that easy to gain my trust, you have another thing coming. You have to earn it first.”

“Wow, I really didn’t realize that I’ve been that much of an ass. I was really only trying to show you the ropes and how we handle things here.”

“No, what you wanted was for me to slip up somehow, so that I wouldn’t have a job as your partner anymore, well I’ve worked way too hard to let someone like you spoil it for me Max.”

“You know what? You’re right. That’s what I started out to do. I didn’t like that fact that some fresh faced college kid happened to land one of the biggest jobs out there when I had to work my way from the very bottom up. It took me a lot of hard work, time and effort to get to this stage Liz, and somehow you just walk in here and take a job that one of my co-workers has been working to get most of his career, BUT and it is a big BUT, since working with you, I now know what Tess saw in you and you are definitely the right person for the job. Plus I’m getting tired of constantly butting heads with you ... so please can we put the past behind us and start over again?” he asked holding out his hand for her to shake.

Liz looked at him for a moment and tried to assess what his motives were. Was he just doing this to throw her off guard ... or was he being genuine?

She decided to give him a chance but made a mental note to keep a close eye on him. She firmly shook his hand and smiled.

“Okay we’ll start afresh, Hi I’m Liz Parker, it’s nice to meet you.”

Another small chuckle left Max’s lips ... “Max, Max Evans, pleasure to meet you.”

“Let’s get started with the Howell account, shall we.”

“Okay, here are my findings on the company, their marketing strategy and finances.”

“Here’s mine on previous advertisements, what failed and what worked, which companies they’ve used and which ones they thought were the best, also who their main competitors are and what position and percentage of the market they hold,” replied Liz.

They spent the next two hours in silence going through each other’s reports getting up to speed on everything they needed to know before the big meeting in a few days.

After sitting still for almost two hours, reading the reports, Max’s body felt stiff as a board so he placed the report on the desk and stretched.

Liz secretly watched Max from behind her report, glancing up at him occasionally. She could see the tight form of his muscles as he stretched the fabric of his shirt to almost tearing point, at that impromptu moment in time, a vision of his hot, sweaty, muscular body, moving languidly against hers as they made love, decided to invade her mind. Then the vision suddenly turned to him slamming himself inside of her, his eyes, holding hers hostage as he made hard, passionate love to her, finally ending in her screaming his name and him whispering that he would, and always has loved her.

Her wondrous thoughts were interrupted by his very sexy, deep voice.

“Okay, look it’s getting really late, how about I take you out to dinner. We discuss the reports while filling our stomachs with much needed sustenance and then hopefully we’ll have something tangible to work with tomorrow.”

She couldn’t believe how frustrated that vision caused her to be. As he stared intensely into her eyes, the vision of that night came back to haunt her. Her face flushed a bright shade of red and she avoided eye contact with him at all costs.

“Liz?” asked Max, slightly confused by her now, standoffish body language. Did he say something wrong? Oh maybe she thought he was coming on to her somehow, well actually that’s exactly what he was doing, but he didn’t want to spoil the bridges they’d just built.

“Okay look maybe asking you out to dinner, even if it was a business dinner, was a little too soon after just putting the past behind us. I’m going to prove to you that you can trust me Liz. I promise.”

With that he got up and left her sitting there with the vision of his body, grinding against hers, bringing her to the heights of pleasure that no other man has ever made her reach before. What was it about this man that she obviously couldn’t get enough of that night? Even with all the hatred running through her veins for him, she had still given him her mind, body and soul that night ... or was it really hatred that she felt for him?

That one single thought was enough to scare the living shit out of her. She frantically searched the papers on top of her filing cabinet for the discarded Marriage Certificate she’d placed there earlier. The sooner she had faxed that damn document, the better.

The only problem was ... if she was starting to remember ... was he?