And since I'm going to be gone for so long, I've decided to be nice and post two parts for you all!
I hope you're happy!
PART TEN
“Did you always want to be a model, Max?” Liz asked, still glowing from their lovemaking. Her head rested on his chest and she listened to his steady heartbeat.
“I think I did,” he replied, running his fingers through her hair. “I’m sure I also wanted to be a fireman, professional basketball player, President,-“
Giggling, Liz said, “-I get it, I get it.”
“When I was barely a year old, I was already modeling in commercials, you know, those diaper ones. And as I got older, more and more opportunities came up and I accepted every one, so I guess that I never really had a chance to do anything but model.”
“Is it what you want to do with your life?”
“Yes and no. I want to do it because it’s great. There’s tons of money, fame, and I get to travel all over the world.”
“Not to mention the women,” Liz scoffed with a hint of jealousy in her voice.
Max shook his head. “Not really, Liz. I mean, sure, there are tons of gorgeous women around me all the time, but I guess, after a while, I just got kind of sick of them. They’re all the same: obnoxious, bitchy, and self-conceited. I want someone who’s not afraid to mess up her make-up, someone who has
personality, depth.” He didn’t mention that that someone was
her.
Liz was a little astonished over Max’s admission. Why would a guy, as gorgeous and great as he was, not be satisfied with all of the women at his beck and call?
Max continued when he realized Liz wasn’t going to say anything, “But I don’t want to spend the rest of my life modeling. It’s sometimes too much, you know? With all of the traveling, I never get to stay in one place and I’m getting restless. I just need to settle down.” He paused. “What about you, Liz? Did you always want to be PR agent for a ‘spoiled idiot with a playboy attitude’?”
Her blush deepened as she remembered calling him that. God, how wrong she had been! “No. Actually, I never wanted to be a PR; I’ve always wanted to, well, be a, a-“
“-What, Liz? What is it that you want to be?”
“A wife. A mother,” she admitted quietly and then quickly rambled on, “I mean, I know that that’s weird since it’s the twenty-first century and I should want to work, but I don’t. I just want a husband and kids and a home.”
That definitely shocked Max into speechlessness. Liz was so competent, so at ease with her job; it seemed as if she and the job were made for one another. And yet, she actually didn’t want it?
Almost certain that she had shocked Max, Liz let her finger draw little circles on his chest. Dreamily, she shared her dreams with him, “I want to have twins: a boy and a girl. The boy’s going to be Matt and the girl’s going to be Hailey. And my husband’s going to be successful at whatever he does, but he won’t be a workaholic. Our house won’t be big but it won’t be small, no, it’ll be just the perfect size for our family.”
Swallowing, Max couldn’t prevent the images from appearing. It would be him and Liz right after he had come home from work. She would be giving him a kiss and just before it got too hot, their two little kids would come running and shouting with excitement into the room, happy to see him. They would have Max’s hair, but Liz’s beautiful eyes. God, what he would give for that to become reality.
Max chuckled in an attempt to disguise his thoughts. “Wow, you’ve got it all planned out.”
Liz nodded slightly, even though Max probably couldn’t tell it was a nod. His heartbeat had picked up slightly and Liz felt hers reacting in the same way. It was as if her heart was tuning into his, becoming one. “Don’t you have your life planned out, Max?”
Did he? “Nah. I’m just greeting life with open arms.”
She didn’t believe him; everyone had dreams. Propping herself up onto her elbow, her long hair hanging over them like a curtain, Liz asked gently, “Don’t you ever dream of having a wife and children? You can’t possibly not have any dreams.”
Oh, he had dreams alright. Dreams which consisted of Liz, naked and willing on his bed. But telling her
that would be a mistake. “I just want to be happy, I guess.”
“And what will make you happy?” Liz asked, brushing a lock of hair off of Max’s forehead.
He looked straight into her eyes, “You.”
PART ELEVEN
Liz was definitely surprised by Max’s blunt statement. Her cheeks flushed a deep red and she moved so that she was, once again, laying on Max’s chest. “Yeah, well, you’re pretty good in bed, too,” Liz laughed nonchalantly though she knew that she couldn’t really laugh off the seriousness that had been in Max’s eyes.
Max felt as if he had just been kicked in the stomach. He had confessed a deep secret to Liz and she had just laughed it off, as if it didn’t matter. Well, it didn’t, at least not to her. Max was just her in-between while she waited for her “forever kind of guy” to show up. Well, fuck.
“Max? Is something wrong?” Liz asked, raising her head to look into Max’s dark eyes.
Shrugging, Max sat up and leaned against the bark of a tree, forcing a very comfortable Liz to move. “Nah, everything’s fine.”
But Liz heard something else in Max’s voice, something that prevented her from believing his words. It was pain. “Oh, Max!” Liz cried, throwing her arms around him.
A little shocked, it was all Max could do to catch her. Ah, she felt so right in his arms; he never wanted to let her go. “What is it, Liz? What’s wrong?” he asked, resting his chin on the top of her head.
Pulling away slightly, Liz looked up at Max with concern in her lovely eyes. “Me? I’m fine, but you, well, I heard pain in your voice, Max. Are your burns getting to you? Oh, maybe I wore you out. I mean, you were really injured from the crash and I, I didn’t even think once about it!”
Max chuckled… although that was the exact opposite of what he wanted to do. He wanted to lie somewhere and do something unmanly like cry. Since when had someone really cared about
him? It had been so long since someone had worried about him. His parents hadn’t been extremely loving people; Max had always felt that the only reason they stuck around was because of the money he was making. And, well, that was the case with all of the women, also. But not with Liz. Even though she was his employee, he knew that her concern was genuine, that she actually cared about him. It felt good knowing that someone cared enough about him to worry.
Liz could tell by Max’s silence and the distant look in his eyes that he was thinking heavily about something, something that she wanted him to share with her. But then again, Liz wanted Max to share everything with her just as she wanted to share everything with him. Releasing her hold on him, Liz snuggled between Max’s legs and rested her back against his chest. Closing her eyes, she relished the feel of his arms wrapped so strongly around her. “Whatever it is Max, you can tell me.”
How could she read him so easily? He hadn’t said a thing yet Liz still knew that he needed to talk. After a few moments, he said quietly, “It’s just that nobody’s ever really been worried about me before.”
“What? Of course people worry about you, Max!”
But Max was shaking his head. Leaning down to nuzzle her neck, he forced Liz to turn back around, taking her piercing gaze with her. “No, Liz, people don’t care about me; they care about my money, my fame. But not about me.”
“I care about you, Max,” Liz whispered as she enjoyed Max’s ministrations.
Max’s heart clenched. “I know and that’s why you make me so happy, Liz. It’s not because of the sex, although that is great,” he grinned cockily, “It’s because you’re so sweet and caring and…
you.”
“Oh, Max,” Liz sighed, turning slightly to capture his lips in a soft kiss.
But the kiss that started out softly quickly became much more. Passion exploded with each swipe of Max’s tongue and the heat rose to an unbearable level as Liz nibbled at the corner of Max’s mouth.
“Max, make love to me,” Liz pleaded in between gasps.
“Yes,” he replied simply.
But as his hands crept under her shirt, a loud shout shattered the glass surrounding their passion-drugged world. Max immediately covered Liz’s mouth with his hand, not wanting either or them to make a noise or draw attention to themselves until he was sure that the guy out there was a good guy. Listening, he could hear the voice shouting again and then several more voices answering.
Shit, there was more. It would have been easy for Max to take out one guy, if he had proven to be a danger to Liz, but, judging by the voices, beating up four guys and being alive afterwards to celebrate didn’t seem likely.
“Damn. Where the fuck is he? He was supposed to be here five fuckin’ minutes ago, that bastard,” a rough voice stated angrily.
“Don’t worry. When he gets here, we’ll give him a few presents,” a second man sneered, then a loud gunshot rang in the air.
Liz gasped, the sound fortunately muffled by Max’s hand. These men were dangerous; she could practically feel the evil radiating from them. Trembling, Liz closed her eyes.
Max could feel Liz shaking in his arms and anger boiled up inside of him. Those damn men had scared her! He could hear them moving further away, and a few moments later, when he was sure they were gone, he whispered into Liz’s ear, “Stay. I’ll be back.”
“No!” Liz gasped, grabbing Max’s arm before he could leave. “Don’t leave me, Max,” she pleaded, panic etched into her voice.
Turning towards her, Max brushed her hair back behind an ear. “Liz,” he whispered, “listen to me. I’m not leaving you; I’ll be back, I promise. I need to see what they’re up to.”
Her eyes were pleading with him, “No, Max, it’s drugs. They’re exchanging drugs, Max!”
Quickly, Max leaned down and gave Liz a quick, hard kiss, enough to distract her, but not enough to distract him… much.
One moment, Max’s lips were warm on hers, and the next, he was gone. Biting her lip to keep from crying, Liz crouched and hid under the leaves. Panic clutched at her heart, fear choking her. With nothing to do, she couldn’t help but think the worst. What if Max got hurt? What if those men found her? What if she and Max died?
A single tear rolled down her face, landing beyond her in the darkness. She didn’t know what to do. What if Max was hurt right this moment? Oh, God, her heart stopped at that thought. Liz couldn’t wait here for ever! Swallowing the lump in her throat, Liz slowly and quietly got up. Without making a sound, she stepped out of the shelter.
A large hand grabbed her arm.
Opening her mouth to scream, she found the sound muffled by another large hand.
Struggling, Liz could only see a large figure loom in front of her as darkness invaded her mind.
