Roswell Fanatics

A/N: Thanks for all of the awesom feedback. You guys have been incredible. I really appreciate it!

Now to say thank you, here's the next chapter!



******************

Chapter 11


As soon as the healer had left and Max had started to feel almost ‘human’ again, he’d sat down to try and piece together the puzzle that had become the night before. A shower had gone a long way towards clearing the jumbled grogginess out of his system. As he’d started to get dressed, his eyes had happened to glance at the floor by his bed. An empty bottle of Antarian alcohol lay on the floor, half under the bed. The sight of it caused Max to shudder with renewed nausea. He’d never drink again.

Despite that, maybe touching the bottle would cause a flash that could stir his memory. Max bent to pick it up, but touching the bottle produced no residual memories. As he moved to throw the offensive thing away his foot brushed something on the floor.

He tossed the bottle into the trash and went to pick up this other thing from the floor only to be assaulted with myriad of flashes. They hit quickly and forced his memories back into focus.

He saw Liz in the hallway laughing over sneezes…..his mother’s chamber as she told him about the ball and then handed him a magazine…..

The flashes ended, leaving Max crouched on the floor staring at the magazine he recognized from the flash. He sank down into the lush carpet, resting his back again the side of his bed and looked at the pages held in his hands.

Liz’s beautiful smiling face stared up at him. Mentally he kicked himself as he remembered the reason for last night’s drinking binge. He’d been extremely upset over the discovery of Liz’s subterfuge. For some reason he’d been almost disappointed by the idea that, after all the time they had spent together, he didn’t know the real Liz. If she could change her clothes and her appearance so drastically then maybe she’d changed her personality as well.

Of course there were other issues as well. The Liz he knew now was special. Despite his plans at the beginning, he enjoyed being with her. He enjoyed her sarcasm and dry humor. He enjoyed laughing with her and debating with her. His gut instincts were telling him now that he was seeing real Liz in those moments.

So, why the deception?

The only thing he could even think of was Liz’s very obvious aversion to ‘Zan’ and marrying him. Comments Liz had made convinced him that she was against the match, mostly due to everything she’d see and heard about him on TV and in the tabloids.

It still didn’t make sense though. She of all people should understand that they weren’t true. She was in the same position as he was, although she’d admittedly managed to keep the press away from her much better than he’d been able to. Although Maria had said that Liz had done everything she could, even becoming a boring recluse to keep the media away, Max had not done the same. In fact he’d gone so far as to invite the press along on his travels and adventures.

Maybe if he’d been smarter about those things, he wouldn’t be in his current situation. If Liz didn’t have such a negative opinion of him, maybe she wouldn’t have chosen to lie to him and try to make him dislike her.

Her negative opinion of him was troublesome. It wasn’t really even deserved. Those closest to him knew that those tabloid stories were grossly exaggerated and twisted to the point of being unrecognizable. At the time, when the distorted stories came out, he hadn’t really cared. He was young and had an entire world, his whole kingdom, at his disposal. He’d wanted to see it, to explore it, to take advantage of the opportunities available to him. Of course the press presented that as taking advantage of the women around him. The women followed him, hounding him constantly, wanting him only because he was a prince and not for the man he was. And Ava was the worst one. She still hadn’t let up.

At first she’d been amusing; a celebrity/debutante who made no excuses for her purpose. She wanted to be in the spotlight and what better way to accomplish that than by being seen with the prince. He’d allowed it, thinking that maybe if they saw him with someone consistently, the press would back off. That had not been the case. If anything, they had followed him more. But he went along with it. Ava was attractive and she paid attention to him. It was an ego boost to have her panting after him, even if it was only for his crown. At least she was honest about it, he thought. But he’d never wanted to touch her; he’d never even come close to being tempted.

Being seen with Ava hadn’t stopped women from throwing themselves at him. Even when he was on official Antarian business, they hounded him. Of course the photographers only got the shots of them pressing up against him, trying to kiss him. They never showed him politely pushing them away and trying to keep his distance.

So now he was the playboy prince who wasn’t ready to grow up. It couldn’t have been further from the truth. For god’s sake, Antarian royal custom had been drilled into him since birth. He wasn’t allowed to consummate any sort of union unless it was with his wife. It didn’t mean he was without experience, but he wasn’t the lothario he was made out to be. He would never disgrace his family and their traditions that way.

The damage was done though. Liz thought poorly of him and now the only thing he could really do is change her mind about him and his past.

He really wanted to make this work. He needed to know if the feelings he was developing for Liz were more than just out of duty and obligation.

Max smiled at the picture in front of him. He knew she was beautiful, no doubt. But she would never believe that he wasn’t reacting to that beauty if he didn’t reassure her in some way that his feelings had nothing to do with that. That meant that he wouldn’t be able to let on that he knew the truth of her deception. As he thought about her, the picture that came to mind, that made him smile the most, was of her with her horrible glasses and mismatched eyes and even her terrible baggy clothes. Those things had never once diminished the glow of life in her, the natural beauty that just radiated from her. True, he hadn’t recognized it at first, he’d been too shocked and too caught up in his own plans, but gradually, an awareness of her appeal had emerged and he’d been fighting a losing battle on a daily basis, to deny his attraction to her.

Making a snap decision, Max pulled out his communicator and quickly called his sister. He was going to need her cooperation if his plan was going to work. He only hoped that it wasn’t too late to convince Liz to give Zan, to give him, another shot.

Twenty minutes later it was all in place and Max found himself restless with unused energy. It wasn’t anything a little bit of physical exertion couldn’t take care of. The effects of the hangover had long since disappeared and so, throwing off his t-shirt, Max grabbed onto the top of the door frame. He felt it start to give and he quickly secured the elaborate trim and with a grunt, pulled himself up and started counting. Maybe some pull-ups would help work off some steam.

********

When Liz barreled into Max’s room she was expecting to find him…well….she didn’t know what she was expecting but it certainly wasn’t the sight that greeted her.

He was hanging from his bedroom doorway, muscles pulled tight with strain as he maneuvered himself up and down.

Liz couldn’t drag her eyes away and she almost moaned out loud as she took in the way the sweat glistened on the corded muscles of his abdomen.

Oh, God. She was going to have an orgasm just from looking at him. She felt a tightness and warmth in her abdomen and her breath grew shallow as she watched him pull his body up with a grunt before moving down and then pulling himself back up again. His muscles bulged and Liz felt heat pool between her thighs and a loud groan escaped her lips.

The strained look on Max’s face turned to one of surprise when he saw her standing there and his arms went slack before he gracefully dropped both feet to the floor.

Oh God, Liz thought. He moved like a sleek panther, and the closer he got to her all she could think about was reaching out and touching the perfection of his upper body. Her hand started to move on its own accord, all normal brain function having shut down when a throat cleared very loudly.

“Uh, Liz is here to discuss the shopping lessons with Princess Isabel,” Michael’s voice informed Max.

For a second Liz thought she saw Max giving Michael a knowing look. The idea of that look and the mortification of what she’d almost done caused Liz to bristle with irritation.

“You want to talk?” Max asked. He moved to grab his t-shirt from the floor and Liz watched, despite herself, as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. He moved the shirt to his chest and started to wipe the sweat from there as well.

Unconsciously she licked her lips. As she did so, she noticed a flicker of surprise and then heat take over Max’s eyes.

She tried to force herself to be irritated again. “For God’s sake, put your shirt on Max!” she growled.

She heard Michael’s laughter in the distance but it barely registered as Max’s gaze suddenly changed and he stepped even closer.

“Why, Liz? Does it bother you?” he asked huskily. His right hand moved, the backs of his fingers brushing her cheek before he very slowly pushed her hair up behind her ear. Liz couldn’t answer him, not when his body was so close, and the masculine scent of him was overwhelming her. She could hear his breathing; feel the warm puffs of air that were still evening out after his physical exertion.

Was it possible to pass out from arousal? Liz willed herself to remember what she’d come here for in the first place, but she couldn’t, not with Max so close.

She took a step back, even as her mind fought with her body to stay close to him, to get even closer.

The words stuttered out of her mouth. “Shopping,” she managed to say, as she tried to gather her jumbled thoughts.

“Yes, with Isabel,” Max said with a smirk.

And even though part of her found that particular expression of his adorable, she had to remember the other part of her that was angry with him.

Liz shook her head no, vocalizing the word as emphatically as the gesture. Max’s intense gaze was unnerving her, but he hadn’t made another move closer.

“What do you mean, ‘No’? You don’t really have a choice, Liz. Why is shopping so offensive to you?”

Liz started to speak, then quickly shut her mouth. She was too distracted by his shirtless perfection. “Are you going to put a shirt on?” she finally asked, with a small amount of pleading in her voice. Whether she was pleading for him to cover up or to deny her request, she couldn’t really say.

Max smirked again, but moved toward his bedroom to get a clean shirt.

Liz closed her eyes and sighed loudly, trying to gain back her equilibrium. “It’s not the shopping that’s offensive, Max. It’s the company,” she spoke up so he could her from the other room.

Max’s voice was muffled as he returned to the room, pulling a clean shirt over his head. “What did you say?”

“I said that I don’t care about the shopping. I just cannot stand Princess Isabel. It ought to be against Antarian law to be that stuck up and prissy.”

Max chuckled as he came to stand directly in front of Liz. “However you may feel, you really don’t have a choice. You’re going to have to learn to get along with Isabel once you and Zan are married. You might as well make nice now.”

“Ugh! That’s just one more reason this marriage shouldn’t happen,” Liz exclaimed. “If I have to listen to one more insult directed at my sense of fashion and lack of figure, I won’t be held responsible for the consequences,” she told him defiantly, crossing her arms against her chest.

Liz didn’t realize that the frustrated gesture only served to draw attention to those said lacking curves.

Max noticed.

“Don’t listen to Isabel. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with your figure,” he told her, the words came out husky as his gaze was drawn to the outline of her chest.

Liz froze, her mouth dropping open in surprise as she registered what he was saying and just where he was looking. He didn’t even bother to hide the fact that his gaze was directed at the twin peaks that were being prominently held up on display beneath her shirt.

She dropped her arms to her sides, a blush quickly stealing its way from beneath her shirt up her neck and coloring her face.

She cleared her throat nervously, not used to having that kind of unabashed attention, and Max’s amused eyes finally met her own.

His lips quirked and Liz felt his appraisal like a punch in the stomach. She didn’t want to feel the heat of his gaze. But the amusement that accompanied that appraisal forced her to look at what he was examining.

Her ensemble was interesting, to say the least. She’d been distracted and in hurry and the result had been a pair of Maria’s purple cargo pants, which were too long and too big. The pants were held up with red suspenders that Liz had found at a Goodwill store on earth. Underneath the suspenders was a flowered polo shirt.

It looked ridiculous.

Liz rolled her eyes and pushed her glasses back up her nose. “So, okay, I guess I can’t dispute the lack of fashion sense comments.”

“No, you really can’t,” Max said, shaking his head.

Max started laughing and then Liz joined in, deciding that the smile on Max’s face was worth the torture of shopping with Isabel.


TBC

So yeah, I know you guys all probably think that I am a big fat liar. And you'd be right, because I promised to post at the beginning of December and here it is, January of the new year and I have yet to fulfull my promise to post the next chapter. Well. Here it finally is, better late than never. Now, don't bash me too much. I didn't even send this to my beta first. I just came straight here as soon as it was finished and posted. So any grammatical and stupid typing mistakes that I didn't catch when I edited, will still be present. But I'm still going to get it betaed and then I will come back and fix those mistakes. So I apologize ahead of time if this offends anyone. Anyway, hope you like the new part, let me know what you think.

Carenicole


Chapter 12

Two hour after the shopping extravaganza had begun, Liz found herself praying for death. Never before had she realized that shopping could be a form of very painful torture, but indeed it was. To make matters worse Maria had turned traitor very quickly by agreeing with every single one of Princess Isabel’s outlandish demands.

It had started with Isabel informing Liz that she was to keep her mouth shut and let them do the work. Maria had taken great pleasure in watching Liz squirm as she was shoved into countless dressing rooms with clothes of a variety of different shapes, sizes and colors thrown at her. And she’d been forced to try it all on and model it for her two tormentors no matter how awful it looked.

If Liz were persuaded to tell the absolute truth, she would have to admit that it was mildly pleasurable to once again be wearing clothes that were fashionable and actually fit her body. But she would never acknowledge that to the two she-devils out there lurking by her dressing room. They had practically twisted her arm into buying more clothes than she’d ever actually need, considering that she already had her own clothing on Bellaria. Only she couldn’t very well own up to that without giving everything away.

Now, though, her head was pounding and her entire body was drooping from mental and physical exhaustion brought on by the rigors of shopping. It wouldn’t end. They just kept pulling her this way and that, thrusting items at her and shoving her into the dressing rooms. And that didn’t even satisfy them. Once she was in the dressing room she had to try everything on and show it to them while they critiqued everything about each item. At the moment they were arguing about Antarian Leather.

“She’ll look better in the red,” Maria asserted.

“I’m not saying red isn’t a good color, I just don’t like the cut,” Isabel argued.

“Just let me try it on,” Liz suggested.

“We’re not talking to you, Liz,” was Maria’s reply.

Isabel didn’t even bother to look at Liz, but directed her comment toward her,” What happened to the no talking rule?”

Muttering a mix of Antarian, Bellarian and Earth curses under her breath, Liz grabbed the detestable leather from their grasps and went to hide in the dressing room under the pretext of trying the uncomfortable looking garment on. She was seriously going to kill Max for putting her through this. It was positively cruel and unusual punishment.

If only she could escape the shopping Nazis.

As the thought popped into her weary head, another quickly followed.

Why couldn’t she escape?

She had plenty of money with her and she really didn’t think it would be terribly hard to outsmart Isabel and Maria. She just needed to pick her moment and make a run for it.

That moment came sooner than Liz had anticipated as Isabel and Maria’s arguing voices began to drift away.

Liz poked her head out of the dressing room door and watched as they moved toward the back corner of the ultra exclusive leather boutique. They were facing off against each other, both debating over what would work best for Liz.

Liz smiled. Let them fight, because while they were busy doing that, she’d be busy walking away or sneaking away as the case may be.

She threw the leather skirt on the ground and slipped out the dressing room door. With a wave to a confused looking sales woman, Liz left the boutique and headed out into the mall. She felt sort of empowered by the act, which was a little ridiculous, because she was a grown woman. Nevertheless, she had escaped her captors and was now free to do as she pleased, at least for a little while until the Antarian secret service caught up with her.

Just to ensure that she had some more time; Liz found her way into a less upscale store and quickly purchased a few items to for a disguise. The sweatshirt, jeans and baseball cap ensemble would allow her to make her shopping rounds incognito and then she would blissfully purchase whatever she wanted. Part of her wanted to be assured that she was still capable of picking out clothes that would be fashionable and flattering for her.

Checking her watch, Liz gave herself an hour at the most before Isabel, Maria and the entourage caught up with her. Satisfied with that, she made her way out into the center of the mall, thoroughly enjoying her freedom.

******

It took ten minutes for Isabel and Maria to realize that Liz was missing. They had ordered the sales woman to bring out practically everything in the store for them to look at. She had done it, but not without giving them a few strange looks, especially when they told her to take it back to Liz. After picking out a few more things they had gone to take them back to Liz. The dressing room was eerily quiet. It was the fact that Liz was no longer complaining and groaning in grotesque displeasure that finally clued them in to her absence.

The dressing room was empty. Liz’s disgusting goodwill clothes were gone and so was she.

“That little bitch!” Maria exclaimed loudly.

Isabel groaned. “We have to find her! I can’t tell Max that I lost his betrothed…” Isabel’s words trailed off. “I mean…”

Maria raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow and then shrugged, “I already know. Mikey told me.”

“Oh.” Isabel still looked flustered.

“Let’s call security. We’ll have them close the entrances so she can’t get out,” Maria suggested.

*****

The meeting for Interplanetary Relations was taking forever. Max had hoped that it would be interesting enough to keep his attention for the afternoon while Liz was out shopping. Instead he was sitting there, bored out of his mind, haphazardly doodling on the notepad where he was supposed to be taking notes on all the pertinent topics. He glanced over at Michael and noticed that his friend and second in command was quickly fading; his head was drooping off to the side even as his large frame began to slip out of the chair where he was currently drowsing.

Max was tempted to kick Michael’s chair and wake him up, but he didn’t want to disturb the rest of the council members. He found himself squirming in his own seat. He really wanted this meeting to be over. It wasn’t like he could focus on anything that was being said anyway; all he could think about was Liz. What was she doing? Was she trying on clothes right now? What was she trying on?

Max knew that he shouldn’t, but he let his mind wander to the different kinds of clothes he wanted to see Liz wearing. What would she look like in Antarian leather? Oh god! He could just picture it; the way it would mold to the petite curves of body. He felt his face growing warm and a certain part of his anatomy began to wake up. He couldn’t go there, not right now in front of a bunch of foreign dignitaries.

As he was trying to refocus his attention, he felt his thigh vibrating. It startled him at first and then he realized what the vibration was. His communicator was going off. He noticed his father looking at him disapprovingly. Max pulled out the communicator and quickly excused himself. He wasn’t the first council member to make an excuse to escape the soporific torture of that meeting.

Stepping out into the hallway, Max quickly clicked the talk button.

“This is Max,” he answered.

“Max, this is Maria. We have a problem.” The voice on the other end of the communicator was bordering on frantic.

Max gripped the communicator harder. “What kind of problem? Has something happened? Is Liz hurt?”

“She’s not hurt, at least we don’t think so.”

“Wait, you don’t think she’s hurt? What the hell is going on?” he demanded. Images of an injured Liz flashed through his mind. Oh god. He felt himself begin to panic.

“Well, you see, she kind of gave us the slip,” Maria explained.

“You lost her? How did you lose her? You’re surrounded by an army of Antarian secret service.” Max was yelling into the phone now. What if she wasn’t really lost; what if she’d been kidnapped?

“Stop yelling, princey-boy! It wasn’t like we did it on purpose. We left her in the dressing room to try on some of that Antarian leather you guys are all ape-shit over and when we came back, she was gone. It’s not either one of our faults.” Maria sounded like she was getting mad.

Max knew he needed to calm down. Maria was probably as worried about Liz as he was. As he took a deep breath, he replayed Maria’s words in his head. Had she just called him princey-boy? Did that mean that she knew who he really was?

“Put Isabel on the phone,” Max demanded. He needed to know if Isabel had let the cat out of the bag about his identity.

“Uh…she’s kind of in the middle of a nervous breakdown right now. Besides, we need to focus on finding Liz.”

She was right. Max didn’t really have time to worry about his identity being revealed. Liz was, quite possibly, in a lot of trouble.

Maria kept talking. “Listen; after she went missing we had the mall security post people at al the exits. They know what she looks like and have been encouraged to detain her on sight. We’ve also got all but one of the secret service guys scouring the mall for her.”

“Nobody’s spotted her yet?”

“Liz has always been pretty good at going unnoticed. That’s how she always got out of being in the paparazzi limelight. It’s been almost an hour; I’m sure they’ll find her soon,” Maria said.

“She’s been missing for an hour and you just called me now?” Max was back to yelling again. How could they wait to call him? An hour could be detrimental to Liz’s survival if she’d been kidnapped.

“Don’t overreact, your highness,” Maria spurted sarcastically into the phone. “We happen to know for a fact, that Liz snuck out under her own free will. One of the store clerks saw her leave. She said that Liz smiled and waved at her as she walked out of the store.”

Apparently Max had said more out loud than he meant to. It didn’t matter, though. He just had to make sure that Liz was okay.

“I’m coming to the mall. If I have to find her myself, I will,” Max informed Maria.

“Do what you have to, but be careful. We don’t need a media circus. The fact that we haven’t found her yet probably means that she hasn’t been recognized, and if you come storming over to the mall looking for her, everyone in all the free worlds are going to know that you and Liz are getting hitched, not to mention that your little secret will be out in the open, ZAN.” Her emphasis on his royal name made Max cringe. Maria obviously knew who he really was.

“Fine, I’ll come on my own and I’ll send Michael to make sure you and Isabel get home safely.” Before Max could say anything else, Maria hung up on him.

He made his excuses quietly, trying not to interrupt the meeting even as he grabbed Michael from his chair and dragged him into the hallway. Max explained the situation as best he could and then sent Michael off to retrieve the girls while he went to go find Liz.

*******

Liz was really having the time of her life. Trying on clothes hadn’t been this much fun in a long time. Maybe it was freedom of doing it as a normal person, without an entourage of people watching her every move. Even on Earth she’d had body guards, so this opportunity to fly solo, so to speak, was a whole new experience for her. She’d even done something she never dared before; she’d gone lingerie shopping. It was silly really, but she’d never felt comfortable enough with all those other people around, to do that. But she’d done it today. The thought of some of the things she’d purchased was enough to make her blush. She had taken delight, though, in trying each of the beautiful, sometimes scandalous items on; and then she’d taken even more pleasure in purchasing everything that she liked. The sales people had been thrilled with Liz; she’d single handedly helped them all reach their commission goals for the week.

Lingerie wasn’t the only thing Liz had purchased. She’d managed to buy an outrageously expensive pair of stiletto high heels. It was a complete coincidence that they just happened to match a particular item she’d gotten from the lingerie store and even more of a coincidence that her mind had turned to Max the moment she thought of wearing both items.

The thought of those heels was a sudden reminder to Liz how much her feet hurt at that moment. She realized that it had been over an hour since she had escaped. Not only had no one found her, but she hadn’t been recognized yet. With a loud sigh, she stopped to sit down at a bench and rest her weary limbs.

As she sat there, feeling entirely too pleased with her exploits, she didn’t notice that several people had stopped to stare at her. There was one boy in particular. He was in a motorized wheel chair and Liz didn’t notice him until she heard his approach.

She looked at him and smiled. “Hello,” she said to him, even as she wondered what he needed.

“Are you that princess? The one from Bellaria?” he asked softly. It was then that she noticed the look of awe on his face.

Her gig was up.

Her smiled faltered only a little. “Yes, I am. I’m Liz. What’s your name?”

“Ben. I’m here with my dad. Would you sign an autograph for me?” He asked so sweetly that Liz couldn’t refuse.

“Do you have something to sign?” Even as she asked, he handed her a black marker.

“How about my wheel chair?”

Liz laughed at the request, but agreed. As she was signing, she didn’t notice that other people had stopped to stare, or that Ben’s dad was taking pictures.

She looked up from signing the wheel chair, To Ben, Love Princess Liz from Bellaria, and was immediately aware that she was surrounded by people. They all began to speak at once, trying to get her attention and ask questions. Several were taking pictures and some were thrusting things at her to sign.

Liz felt panic seize her chest. This was what she hated; being cornered like some kind of caged animal on display for their amusement. She was a princess by birth, not by choice and yet all these people seemed to think that she owed them the chance to interfere in her privacy.

She struggled to get up and grab her packages. The crowd was unrelenting and moved with her. “I’m sorry,” Liz told them. “I have to be somewhere, please, no more today.”

Liz saw the exit and decided to make a run for it. If she was lucky, there would be a guard close by, maybe even the Antarian secret service, all of whom should be looking for her by now.

*******
Max had been circling the mall parking lot for at least twenty minutes. He couldn’t go inside because he’d immediately be recognized. Right now he was safe. He’d borrowed Michael’s motorcycle and was decently disguised by his Antarian leather outfit and the helmet he was wearing. The helmet had a microphone and ear piece that allowed him to communicate with the secret service and whomever else he needed to talk to. They were keeping him up to speed on the progress of finding Liz in that ungodly monstrosity that his sister called heaven.

“Max, this is Michael. I’ve got Maria and Isabel. We’re en route to the castle. Over.” Michael’s voice said.

“Good.”

“Max, you’re supposed to say, ‘Ten-four, good buddy’.” Michael joked.

“Maybe after I find Liz. Later,” was Max’s less than thrilled response. How could Michael kid around at a time like this?

Max made, what seemed like, his eightieth circle of the mall on the motorcycle. He was about to round the corner by the food court outside entrance when he heard static and then a voice broke through in his earpiece.

“This is agent Barnes, sir, we’ve spotted the Princess. She’s near the Southwest entrance, trying to get outside. She’s been recognized and there’s a mob or people surrounding her. Sir, we can be there in five minutes. What’s your status?”

“I’m close. I’ll be there in less than a minute. Is she by the exit?” Max asked even as he drove the bike faster than speed laws allowed to get over to Liz’s location.

“She’s moving toward the exit doors trying to escape.”

Max approached the exit and pulled to a stop by the front curb, just as Liz surged through the doors. She looked panicked and started to run away from him.

“Liz,” he hollered out. People were starting to follow after her.

Liz turned her head toward the voice. She still looked panicked.

Max lifted the visor of his helmet and looked directly into her eyes. He knew the exact moment that she recognized him. She ran toward him, practically launching herself in his direction. Her body sagged with relief as she climbed onto the back of the bike and wrapped her arms securely around Max’s waist.

“Hold on tight,” he told her, leaving tire marks behind as the bike peeled out away from the crowd, away from everything. Just he and Liz. Alone.


TBC....(hopefully sooner than later

Hey! Here's Chapter 13 finally. Hope you all enjoy. I'm working on the next chapter right now. Let me know what you think of this!
Carey




Chapter 13

Location: Antarian Highway

The wind whipped Liz’s hair back and forth, around every which way. The baseball hat that she’d been wearing had flown off her head once they had taken off to get away from those bloodsucking vultures commonly know as the media. Now her hair was flying free and right into Max’s face. Silky strands of it kept sneaking its way up under Max’s helmet and around the front of it, obstructing his view. At least that’s what he yelled at Liz when they had pulled up to a stop light. If he was saying anything now she couldn’t hear, the roar of the engine and the sound of the wind was too much for her to make out anything that he was saying to her. She was glad because she knew that the minute they stopped for more than a minute she was going to get an earful. It was a lecture she could definitely do without. She would happily continue on as they were; driving on the open road, unable to hear a thing he was saying but enjoying his presence anyway. She was clutching him tightly, able to feel his muscles instead of just admiring them secretly. The feel of the Antarian leather beneath her fingertips had been too much temptation and as a result she’d let her hands wander a little bit, but Max had quickly slapped them and she took that to mean that he was not receptive to her touch. She sighed loudly and let herself settle against him. She didn’t know where they were going, and right then she honestly didn’t even care.
*******

Max was sweating. He hadn’t imagined how hard it would be to maintain his composure while driving Liz back to the palace. But she was some kind of little she devil. She kept touching him, making his skin tingle beneath the constricting leather he wore. He had almost wrecked the bike earlier when her tiny hands had started to move on his abdomen. At first it had been a light tentative tough, but then it had become more exploratory and he’d had to slap her hands away just to try and keep himself sane. Now she was holding him like he was her lifeline. He doubted he’d be able to pry her arms from around him; oddly enough the idea that she was clinging to him didn’t bother him that much. This was the closest they’d ever been to each other and every time one of those damn silky, sweet smelling strands of her hair blew up around him, he found himself almost transfixed.

She was going to get them killed…no, that wasn’t right. He was going to get them killed because this fool woman, this thorn in his side, the person who made him the angriest he’d ever been in his life, was the exact same woman that made him the horniest he’d ever been. The idea of taking her over his knee and spanking her had popped into his head several times. Of course that thought had cause another head to stir to action. At least there’d be some separation once they got back to the palace. He’d have time to take a cold shower and cool down his temper and libido, before questioning her about her stupid decision to run away.

“Uh, Max,” it was Michael’s voice coming over the communicator in his helmet. “We have a little bit of a problem.”

“What’s wrong now?” Max asked, clearly frustrated by everything that had happened that day.

“Well, it would seem that the paparazzi have gotten wind of everything. They’ve surrounded the palace waiting for Princess Liz to return and for Prince Zan to make a statement about the reason she’s on Bellaria,” Michael explained through the static in the connection.

“Why are they waiting for that? Don’t they know…”

Michael interrupted. “They think that you’re here in the palace.”

Max was silent for a moment. The press didn’t know that Liz was with him. Whoever they thought he was, it wasn’t going to be a pretty story when the tabloids hit the stands. If Liz wasn’t with him, then they would say she was with some strange man, riding on the back of his motorcycle. The rumors would fly and her reputation would be ruined. Now he felt guilty for forcing her to go shopping. Look what had happened as a result. For years she’d had to give up things she wanted to do and see just to avoid being under the scrutiny of the press; only to have wasted those efforts and ruin her reputation in one afternoon. Of course, he wouldn’t take all of the blame. She had snuck away from Isabel and Maria. That was entirely her fault.

“Listen up; I’m taking Liz to Jim’s for the night. Do not, under any circumstances, tell anyone where we are. We’ll be back tomorrow morning once things have settled down,” Max directed.

Jim’s place was obviously empty at the moment while he was off playing Antar’s ambassador at the Confederation of Planets. He had offered its use to Max whenever he needed it and now was certainly a time of need. He just hoped Liz’s ‘feminine sensibilities’ wouldn’t be offended by the prospect of spending an evening alone with him.

******

Maria eyed Michael incredulously. “Why did you lie to Max like that? There are no paparazzi here; there’s no way to link Liz to Max other than the fact that they’re royalty. I know for a fact that anyone who was at the mall would assume that Liz was there shopping with Isabel. What gives?”

Michael shrugged. “Max and Liz have been playing games with each other since this all started; we’ve all been around to aid and abet them through the process. Now, though, it’s just the two of them, all alone out on Jim’s farm. Maybe, they’ll be able to reveal their true selves if no one else is around to interrupt.”

Maria smirked and walked up to Michael, wrapping her arms around his neck. “You, my dear, are a devious man. And I love it!”

“I’m so glad you approve,” Michael responded, his lips moving to meets hers even as he smiled.

******
Liz was aware of the persistent hum of the bike’s engine, she felt the rumbling all through her body and it lulled her into a state of semi-unconsciousness. She wasn’t dumb enough to let herself fall asleep, because who would honestly be able to relax enough to sleep on vehicle that offered its user no protection and traveled at speeds humans and aliens were probably not meant to travel. But she trusted Max, which was why she was able to relax as much as she did.

Liz didn’t realize they had stopped until the engine cut off and the deafening sound died out. Wow, she thought to herself, so this is what it’s like to be able to hear?

“We’re here,” Max grumbled.

“What did you say? I can’t hear you very well,” Liz told him.

He took the helmet off. His hair stood up at adorable odd angles and Liz fought the urge to giggle. It was probably a good thing she hadn’t laughed because when he turned around to face her he did not look very happy.

“I said ‘we’re here’,” he told her.

Liz took that as her cue to get off the motorcycle. That’s when she realized that she had scrunched her packages between her and Max. Her bag of lingerie wasn’t such a big deal, but the shoes…

“What the hell is in those things anyway?” Max asked. He had gotten off the bike and now stood in front of her looking annoyed. Liz felt herself blushing furiously. Not just about the contents of her packages. Max was hot. Oh god was he ever. She’d never seen a finer specimen of raw masculinity. He positively exuded sex as he stood there clad head to toe in Antarian leather. She was definitely going to have to rethink getting some of that.

He cleared his throat and stopped Liz’s perusal of his male form. Her blush deepened and she cursed that she’d never been able to get passed that childish trait.

“I…it’s uh, some of the things I bought. And a pair of, uhm, shoes,” she explained.

“Shoes? Those things were digging into my back the entire ride. Why didn’t you just drop them?” he asked, clearly irritated with her.

Liz was still embarrassed by the reason she bought the shoes and she wasn’t about to explain it to Max. “It doesn’t matter now, does it? I still have the stuff and we can’t go back and change it. So…are you going to tell me where we are?”

She really hated feeling vulnerable to him and if felt very necessary to build a protective barrier of spoiled princess bitchiness around herself.

“We’re at the Antarian ambassador’s acreage,” he answered, turning to walk toward the impressive house that stood behind them.

“A farm? You brought me to a farm?” she asked, disbelief edging her voice.

Max smirked. “It’s not like you’re going to have to muck stalls, Princess. I brought you here because the paparazzi are swarming the palace. I figured we could hide out for awhile.” He started toward the house again.

“How long is a while?” Liz asked warily.

“At least overnight,” he said over his shoulder as he kept walking.

Liz stopped in her tracks. Overnight? She was going to have to be alone with Max overnight? Oh, god, what if she couldn’t control her horniness and threw herself at him? She would be completely embarrassed by his rejection, no doubt. She would just have to fight her attraction to him. It wouldn’t be that difficult if she just stayed as far away from him as possible.

Stealing herself for the upcoming night, Liz gathered her prized packages and followed Max into the house. She had to take a deep breath as she followed him up the stairs to the porch. His ass was eye level and she was getting more than a peek. Oh god, he had a nice ass. What was she going to do?

******
Max was taking his second cold shower.

He had finished the first, but Liz’s voice yelling at him to save her some hot water, had sent him right back underneath the cold spray. Save her some hot water. Hah! That was a joke. There would be plenty of hot water for Princess Liz. He shivered slightly under the cold stream of water.

It was her fault he was in this mess in the first place. If she hadn’t tripped when she was going up the porch steps, he wouldn’t have had to help her pick up her scattered bag of …belongings. He’d done the proper thing when she had tripped; stopping to make sure she wasn’t hurt. Then he’d used the good manners his mother had taught him and bent down to help her pick up the things that had fallen out of her bag. Max hadn’t realized at first what those things were, until he’d gone to pick up a small piece of black fabric. As he picked it up, he happened to glance at Liz and noticed that her face was bright red. Not the kind of red you get when you’ve fallen and someone sees, but the kind of tomato red that comes on the heels of absolute mortification. That’s when he had really looked at what they were retrieving. Liz was quickly stuffing a black lace bra into the bag and in his hand was a pair of the skimpiest blank panties he’d ever seen in his life…and they were crotch-less. He dropped the damn panties like they were on fire and slammed into the house before Liz could see the immediate boner that resulted from the thought of her even owning those things, let alone wearing them.

Max groaned out loud. Just thinking about it now was causing problems. He wouldn’t be able to spend the night alone in a house with Liz unless he could get his body and brain under control. The cold water was helping some. When Max was sufficiently numb from the waist down, he made his way out of the shower, wrapping a large towel around his hips. So far, so good; now all he needed was to make it to the guestroom at the end of the hall without catching sight of Liz.

He opened the bathroom door.

Well, Shit!

He was cursed.

There she stood, all five foot four inches of her; waiting expectantly.

“Good grief, you took long enough. It’s my turn now. I really hope there’s some hot water left, or I’m going to….well, I don’t know what I’m going to do, but….”

As she babbled on, Max realized that she was looking everywhere but at him. He smirked to himself when Liz’s gaze finally rested on his naked chest. Her rapid fire words stopped and her eyes got large as they traveled down his chest to the place were the towel began was casually tucked at his waist. She licked her lips.

Max was instantly hard.

Grabbing his things he rushed past her toward his bedroom. “It’s all yours,” he told her.

“Hey wait!” she hollered after him. “I don’t have any clean clothes to change into. Can you get me some?”

Max rolled his eyes. “Yes. I’ll leave them outside the door.”

He went to his room first and changed into one of the spare sets of clothing that he had stored at Jim’s. It was something he’d done for convenience sake when he came to visit Jim and ride the horses. After he dressed, he pulled out one of his t-shirts and an extra pair of boxers. Liz would have to make do with those for now. She could wash her other clothes for the next day. He was on his way to the bathroom when a thought occurred to him. Surely Liz would want some kind of undergarments for beneath the clothing.

That’s how he justified going into the other guest room and pulling out that bag of newly purchased lingerie; the bag Liz had been guarding with her life. As he listened to the sound of the shower running he dumped the entire contents of the bag onto the nicely made bed and began to sort through it all.

He was shocked at the assortment of colors and types of lingerie that she had in the bag. He was also surprised by the quantity, although it wasn’t like there was really a whole lot of material involved. Mesmerized by the spoils before him, Max pulled each thing out and laid it out for his viewing pleasure, letting his mind briefly conjure the image of Liz in each item. There were two negligees, one was all lace, the other satin. Then there were several different bras. The black one that he’d see earlier seemed to be missing quite a bit of material. He held it up to examine it more closely. He didn’t know a whole lot about women’s bras but he was sure that the cups should have had more fabric. What they had there wouldn’t be enough to cover Liz’s nipples.

As soon as the thought was there, the image of Liz wearing the scrap of nothing quickly followed and Max had to swallow hard and count to ten several times to calm down. When he realized that the bra matched the crotch-less panties he had to sit down on the side of the bed.

He really needed to stop torturing himself this way. He could imagine Liz in those things all he wanted but he couldn’t have her until they were married. That was Antarian royal law.

Shaking his head, he forced himself to think of something else, anything else, just to get his mind off of Liz and sex. He couldn’t think of them synonymously anymore.

“Max! I don’t see any clothes out here for me,” Liz hollered out of the bathroom.

Shit! He’d forgotten what he was doing. Liz didn’t have any clothes yet. Wait a second….if Liz didn’t have any clothes than that meant she was naked….and wet and…

Max squashed the thought before it could form into a full blown fantasy. He quickly stuffed all of Liz’s lingerie into the bag and grabbed the pair of crotch-less panties to put with the t-shirt and boxers. He smirked, knowing it would make her blush.

******
The nerve of that jackass, Liz fumed as she held up the underwear Max had put with the clothes he’d gotten for her. He’d done it on purpose to tease her. Well, she’d just see who had the last laugh here.

He was obviously amused by her underwear selections. Enough so that he’d given her the crotch-less panties to wear for the evening.

By god, she was going to wear them too. She’d make sure that he spent the whole night wondering whether or not she had them on.

It was amazing that she could still blush, she thought to herself as she pulled the flimsy excuse for underwear up her legs. It was like she’d become a completely different person, someone she didn’t even recognize. Here she was, Liz Parker, putting on kinky underwear in an effort to tease the most insanely aggravating, although admittedly gorgeous, man she had ever meant. It was insane…it was crazy…it was the most fun she’d had in a long time. She didn’t know where the evening would end up, but she decided that the best part was the not knowing.

A few minutes later, Liz was dressed and padded barefoot out of the bathroom to find Max. Her stomach was urgently reminding her that she needed sustenance. Wandering from room to room she eventually found Max in the kitchen. He was standing at the stove, stirring something.

Ah…a man after my own heart, Liz thought absently.

She hadn’t realized she said it out loud until Max turned around, startled.

“I didn’t hear you come in here,” he said.

Liz lifted up her foot. “Bare feet,” she said as if to explain her silent tread.

He nodded. “Are you hungry? I’m making pasta. It’s the only thing Jim has around here that isn’t moldy.”

“Sounds good. Can I help with anything?” Liz slowly inched her way towards where Max was standing.’

“Uh…no…I’ll just finish up. Feel free to explore. I can call you when dinner’s ready.”

“What’s there to explore?” Liz asked. She was a little disappointed that she couldn’t help Max with dinner. But exploring might be fun.
“Have you ever ridden a horse?” Max questioned.

“No, but I used to visit the stables at the Bellarian palace. Is there a stable here?” Liz found herself excited by the prospect of seeing Antarian horses. They were supposed to be some of the most beautiful, well bred animals in existence.

“Sure. My old horse is out there. Her name is Jilly. Do you want to give her a carrot or something?”

Liz nodded and went straight to the refrigerator to find one. She was relieved to see that at least those weren’t rotten. Grabbing one she headed out the back door, not even bothering to say goodbye to Max.

At the backdoor, Liz noticed an old pair of cowboy type boots. They were a little big but she needed something to wear out to the stable so they would do.

Liz sang an off key song under her breath as she made her way toward the large building down back behind Jim’s house. Maybe this little side trip wasn’t going to end up so badly after all.

******
Dinner had been finished for at least ten minutes, but Max was still standing there in the door way of the stable just watching Liz. The minute he had walked into to find her, something had grabbed hold of him and squeezed his heart. The feeling was a sudden tenderness directed toward, the half-girl, half-woman before him. She looked ridiculous in her get up. The cowboy boots were huge and the tops of them went up to her knees where they grazed the bottom edge of the boxers she was wearing. The t-shirt was large and had fallen off of one shoulder, exposing a large amount of her smooth creamy skin. She was utterly adorable and Max felt a sudden urge to protect her from everything, everyone…including himself.

He watched as she laughed and stroked Jilly’s mane, memorizing the moment.

“Hey, how’s it going?” he finally called out.

Liz looked up and shot him a bright smile. “I’d forgotten how much I enjoy this,” she told him as he came to stand by her. His own hands mimicked her actions as he went to stroke the horse he’d grown up riding.

“Jilly is the horse that taught me how to ride,” Max told Liz.

She laughed and looked at him questioningly. “Don’t you mean that she’s the horse you used to take riding lessons?”

Max should his head. “Nope. The lessons didn’t do me any good. It took riding Jilly to understand what it was to ride a horse.”
“ I wish I had learned to ride,” Liz responded.

“Why didn’t you?”

Liz shrugged. “The Bellarian civil war had just started. I was supposed to start riding lessons, but it wasn’t safe. The stable had a bomb threat. After that, I got sent to boarding school on Earth and the opportunity never came up again.” Liz shook her head, not really wanting to think back on that time in her life.

“So how did Jilly get her name? Was she named after a child hood girlfriend?” Liz teased.

“No…I, uh, well, it was nothing that romantic. It’s sort of embarrassing really,” Max admitted, his face growing warm at the childhood memory.

“Oh…do tell. This has got to be good.”

“Okay, but you have to promise not to ever bring it up again. Do you promise?” When Max was satisfied with Liz’s nod of acquiescence, he went on. “When I was nine, I had some trouble pronouncing certain things. The breeder had named the horse Jelly because he said her legs were like Jelly when she was born. But I…uh…well, I couldn’t say Jelly for some reason; it always came out sounding more like Jilly and it just kind of stuck.”

Liz chuckled. “What else couldn’t you say?”

“I’ll never tell,” Max told her seriously, even as he winked at her. “Come on,” he took her hand. “Let’s go eat dinner before it gets cold.”

TBC

AN: Hey guys! Here's the next post. Hope that you like it. I have to warn that it's switching ratings here. It's passing into mature territory. So read with caution or anticipation, whichever. Also, my friend and I have been working on an idea for a new tv series and so I have started a blog where I'll be posting updates for it. Check it out and let me know what you think. I'm pretty excited about it. I've written eight episodes to date and if the feedback is decent might start posting it soon. (this could be an explanation for why my rosfics have fallen to the wayside). Anyway, here's the web address for the blog: http://dreamdesignproco.blogspot.com. Be sure to check it out. Now without further ado, here's chapter 14, enjoy and let me know what you think!
Carey B.


Chapter 14

Setting: Jim’s house. The theater room.

A bowl of popcorn sat between them on the large, overstuffed, very comfy couch. They were about twenty minutes into the movie. Max kept reaching over and taking a handful of popcorn, eating as he watched the movie unfold. Liz, having already seen the movie, was busy watching Max.

It was funny how much more relaxed he seemed. First, he held her hand the entire way back to the house from the stable. Then they talked and laughed their way through dinner. She had teased him about actually being able to cook. He had taken it all good-naturedly and then made her clean up the pots and pans from dinner.

Afterwards Liz suggested the movie.

Now she was enjoying just being with him, even though she knew she shouldn’t be allowing herself to think of him the way she was thinking of him. It was wrong. She was practically engaged to another man. Right?

Liz watched Max laugh at one of the lines from the movie.

Wrong. It was so wrong.

But she couldn’t control these growing feelings; she couldn’t control the lust that was building up inside her from just looking at him. The man was even sexy when he ate popcorn for God’s sake. How could someone not fall for him?

Was that what she was doing? Was she falling for him? She couldn’t be falling for him, not when she knew absolutely nothing about him. The urge to hear every little detail about him, no matter how small, became urgently important.

“Tell me about you,” she said softly. She was sitting sideways on the sofa, her knees pulled together, her elbow resting on the back of the couch as she propped her head on her hand.

Max tore his gaze from the large screen in front of him to look at her.

“What?” He looked genuinely perplexed.

“I don’t know anything about you. I want you to tell me about you,” she explained.

“Why?”

“I just want to know you, the real you, not Max ‘the tutor’. I can’t really explain why, but I just feel like it’s important.” She was nervous and she knew that her reason was stupid but Max seemed to accept what she was asking.

“What do you want to know?” he asked. He moved as he spoke, changing his position on the couch so that he faced her.

“Tell me about growing up,” she requested eagerly. “What was it like to grow up in the palace?”

Max rolled his eyes at her. “You should know what that’s like, Liz. Why are you asking that?”

She shook her head. “I don’t actually know. I didn’t grow up in the palace in Bellaria. I grew up in boarding schools on Earth. And they were ridiculous and boring and I seriously think that if I had to wear another uniform ever again, I’d be physically sick.”

Max laughed. “That’s too bad. I’ve always had a school girl fantasy,” he teased.

“I didn’t say that I threw the uniforms away. Besides, I’d wear it, just as long as it wouldn’t have to stay on for too long.” Liz winked suggestively and was delighted when Max blushed a little.

“Okay, so my childhood…”

******
Max couldn’t believe how much he was revealing to Liz. He was telling her things he had never confided to anyone, not even Michael. It felt good to share his secrets with her and to have her laugh and empathize. Even as he revealed some of his most embarrassing moments and maybe even some of his best kept secrets, there were still things he was hiding from her, and he hated it.

He wanted to tell her the truth about himself.

Maybe if he could just find the right moment…

“Have you always known what you wanted to do with your life?” Liz asked jarring him from his thoughts.

“What do you mean?” He wasn’t exactly sure how to approach this. Maybe this was the opening he needed to tell her who he really was.

“I mean, do you think that you were raised to become who you are and do the things you do? I feel like…” she paused and bit her lower lip as she tried to pull her thoughts together. It was a habit he was familiar with; she did it often during their tutoring sessions. And it always drove him crazy wishing he could bite that lip for her.

“You feel like what?” he urged her on. He wanted to know what she was thinking, what she was feeling, and this was the first time she had ever really willingly opened up to him.

“I feel like my entire life has been a contradiction. I was born into royalty and expected to uphold Bellarian traditions and yet my upbringing didn’t emphasize those things. I learned how to be my own person, to function in a very fast-paced world where most people work one job and if they don’t like it, they do something else. I lived in a nation that doesn’t have Kings and Queens and arranged marriages. But everything I learned couldn’t erase the fact that I was born privileged and therefore obligated to save people that I don’t know and a world that I’ve only recently really learned about. It’s so confusing sometimes, Max,” she admitted. Her eyes met his and he could see them welling up with tears.

“Why are you confused?”

“I want to do what’s right, Max. I really do. But….how can I? How can I just give up my life and be expected to marry someone that I don’t love? It’s not right to force that on anyone.”

Max watched as a single tear escaped down her cheek. His hand moved of its own will, gently wiping the tear from her cheek.

He couldn’t tell her now. She would be too angry and it definitely wouldn’t help her confusion.

“Liz, I don’t know what to tell you. When I first met you, I would have agreed. But things have changed for me, I…I don’t want you to go back to Bellaria. I want you to stay on Antar for as long as possible. I want to get to know you better. The real you…” Max took a deep breath. “…the you that doesn’t hide from me behind these ugly glasses.” He took the frames from her face and set the glasses aside.

He brought his hand up to cup her cheek. “I like you Liz. More than I ever thought would be possible. You don’t have to disguise yourself anymore, because it doesn’t work. I see the real you; bad clothes, fake green eye and all. I see you and I want to know more about you.” The words escaped in a husky whisper and before he could second guess his decision, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.

*****
It was just like she remembered.

Hot.

It was an all-consuming fire building up inside of her as she felt the pressure of his lips against hers. He tasted tangy and masculine and when he pulled away ever so slightly, his breath was warm on her face.

Even the small separation from him was devastating and she quickly fused her mouth to his again. When she felt his tongue brush the seam of her lips, she moaned in anticipation. She wanted to feel his tongue sliding against hers, to have him possess her in some way.

And he did.

The second her mouth opened, his tongue slid inside, immediately seeking hers. He touched their tongues together, gently at first, almost tentatively, as if asking permission to deepen the kiss, to give into the hunger of it.

She gave in without hesitation.

The kiss became timeless, neither of them knowing what was happening around them, too focused on what was between them. Nothing had ever felt so right before. They were falling into each other, finally giving into the pull that both had felt but tried to hide.

The need for air was the only thing that pulled them apart.

As Liz sucked in the oxygen her lungs had been craving, Max’s lips moved to kiss her cheek, her nose….

“Do you know how beautiful you are?” he whispered as he kissed down the column of her throat.

At that very moment Liz felt more beautiful than she ever had in her life. And when their eyes met, she could see what he was thinking in the amber flecked orbs. She could understand what he was feeling because she knew she was looking at the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Him.

Their lips came together again and Liz was barely cognizant of the fact that they were moving. She felt her back rest against the couch cushions and she shifted to accommodate his body as he stretched out over her. She wanted him as close as possible, wanted to be touched everywhere. His touch was burning her, making her ache for closer contact.

She brought her hand up to touch his face and vaguely registered that she was shaking. The force of this thing between them was amazing and even a little bit frightening, but only because she’d gone under so completely and lost herself to the emotions she was feeling .

Max’s mouth moved from Liz’s. She moaned a slight protest that was replaced quickly by a sound of delight as he kissed his way down her neck.

“Can you take your shirt off, Max?” she whispered in his ear as she felt his tongue trace the outline of her earlobe. A small whimper escaped her lips.

Max pulled back and looked at her questioningly.

Liz reflexively bit down on her bottom lip. Maybe that was too much to ask, maybe that was…

Her rambling thought was interrupted as Max shifted back and quickly discarded his shirt before fusing his mouth to hers once again. She felt his teeth bite her lower lip and then he soothed the nip with his tongue.

Liz wanted to explore the wonder that was Max’s chest. He was incredible. She had thought as much when she’d seen him after his shower, but to able to touch the sleek muscles was a fantasy she’d never thought would be fulfilled.

Her fingertips felt singed as she traced the smooth plane of his back and she was overwhelmed by the desire that surged through her.

“Can I take my shirt off, Max?” Liz asked breathlessly a moment later. She wanted to feel his naked chest against hers. Even if it was just this one time, she wanted to know what if felt like to be skin to skin with him.

“Can you?” he voiced hoarsely.

Liz nodded a little bit shyly. “I want to,” she whispered.

He nodded and sat back, his thighs straddling hers. His eyes watched her hungrily as she sat forward and reached for the hem of the large t-shirt.

******
She wasn’t wearing a bra.

That was all Max could focus on.

It wasn’t there.

He’d thought as much earlier, when she’d been doing dishes and the t-shirt had gotten slightly wet, but he’d tried to ignore it.

Laying against her just moments before, he’d felt the hard points of her nipples poking his own bare chest and now…

…now she was laying back down, her body on display for him.

Oh God, she was gorgeous he thought as he reached out to cup the soft round fullness. Cupping the weight of her in his hands he marveled at how the small globes seemed to be perfectly shaped to be held by him. His thumb brushed softly against a turgid nipple and it was then that her heard a gasp escaped from Liz’s mouth. His focus shifted from where his hands stroked against her now heated flesh and landed on her face. Her eyes were closed and neck arched. She was biting her lip again.

He couldn’t find words, his throat closed with emotion.

She was so beautiful. Why had it taken so long for him to realize it?

“Max,” she groaned softly.

His mouth found hers again. He needed to kiss her everywhere. His mind could focus on nothing but hearing her moan his name again in the choked passionate whisper.

He felt her small hands touching him, trailing along his back down toward the edge of his pants. He sucked in a breath, wanting her to touch him, knowing he’d lose what little control he had left if she actually did.

He pulled her hands away, moving them to rest above her head. Before she could protest his mouth had reached its intended destination and he was now sucking the bud of her nipple into his mouth. He was rewarded with another sweet moan.

Even as he continued to kiss and suckle her, he knew in the back of his mind that this was wrong. She should know the truth about him and he couldn’t take advantage of her. He couldn’t let this go to its natural conclusion; he couldn’t consummate this passion that had roared to life between them, not until she knew everything.

“Max, I need…” her throaty entreaty brought his head up and their gazes locked.

He could make her feel good though. He could at least do that much.

“What do you need?” he whispered.

She shook her head. “I…I…don’t…just don’t stop…I…”

He brought his mouth back down to her breasts again, laving each with attention. He held Liz’s hands above her head with his left hand while his other hand began to explore lower. He ran his fingers slowly against the smooth plane of her stomach, reveling in the softness. His index finger lazily traced her belly button before dipping underneath the top elastic edge of her boxer shorts only to come in contact with the lace of her panties. His fingers migrated further south and he said a silent prayer of thanks as he encountered the crotchless panties.

******
When she felt his hand slip inside the boxers, she almost stopped breathing. She’d never imagined being touched like this before, let alone that it would be Max doing it.

She couldn’t help the moan that escaped her lips when she felt his fingers touch between her thighs. She was tingling everywhere, burning up from the heat of his mouth and his hands on her body.

His tongue was doing wicked things to her breast, licking a nipple before sucking her completely into his mouth. She was so intent on that sensation that she didn’t notice that his probing fingers had become more insistent and she sucked in a startled breath when she felt his finger easing inside her through the hole in her panties. His thumb brushed the aching bud of her clitoris and Liz cried out.

What was he doing to her? She was flying apart, completely disintegrating from his touch.

He finger continued to stroke in and out of her tight sheath and her breathing grew increasingly labored, little whimpers escaping her throat with each breath she took.

“Max?” her voice questioned. Silently asking him what he was doing, what he was making her feel.

“It’s okay,” he whispered roughly against her mouth. “Just let it happen.” His lips brushed against hers, clinging to her mouth as he continued to bring her pleasure she had never experienced before.

His thumb brushed her clitoris again and she shattered, crying out in shock and abandon, her head flung back as she tried to absorb the pleasure.

“Max,” she breathed heavily, her body slowly returning to earth after the splintering bliss she’d just experienced. He kissed her again, gently this time. It was less heated and almost reverent.

Liz finally opened her eyes and looked at Max. He looked pained and she realized that while he had made her feel good, she had done nothing for him.

“Max, let me….I want to…” she felt herself blushing, even after the way she had just given him complete control of her body. “Make love with me,” she whispered softly.

“Liz, I ….” He pulled away from her slightly, gazing at her with a mixture of desire and regret on his face. “We can’t,” he finally said. “I shouldn’t even have let it go this far.”

As the words left his mouth, Liz instinctively pulled away. She couldn’t touch him right now, not when he was rejecting her.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her against him. “No, don’t be that way. It’s not because I don’t want you, because I do. More than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life. But…if we…if you and I make love tonight, then by Antarian law we’d be married. I can’t let that happen when we’re only just getting to know each other. I…”

“I don’t understand, what do you mean?” Liz was more than a little confused. She couldn’t remember anything being said about sex equaling marriage during her lessons on Antarian customs.

“By Antarian Law, royalty has to remain, well, they have to remain chaste until they’ve taken a mate. Once they’ve done that and consummated the relationship, they are considered married. If we made love, we’d be considered married. Not to mention the fact that Zan’s betrothed has to be chaste for the marriage to be recognized.”

“So what does that mean for us?” A small part of Liz wanted him to throw caution to the wind. The idea of being married to Max was oddly thrilling and she wanted to tell him that.

“Liz, we can’t….this shouldn’t have happened. I just lost control and I…Jesus, I couldn’t help myself. I’ve wanted to touch you all night and then it happened and I didn’t want to stop. But…you said yourself that you’re confused and that you don’t know what to do. I can’t take advantage of that.” He told her as he held her hand in his.

“You wouldn’t be taking advantage,” she whispered.

“You hardly know me,” he reminded her.

“Then let me get to know you while you get to know the real me. You’re right, I haven’t been completely honest with you, but I want to put it all out there in the open…” Max stopped her words with a finger to her lips.

“I already know, Liz. You don’t have to explain.”

“You know?” she asked, confused by the fact that he knew what she’d done and yet he wasn’t angry.

He nodded. “I saw a picture of you in a magazine. It became pretty obvious what was going on after that.”

“Oh,” was the only word she could find. She felt herself blush with embarrassment and a little bit of shame. She looked down at their joined hands.

“You have to understand why I did it,” she finally said.
Max shook his head. “You don’t have to explain. I think I understand better than you can imagine.”

“I can’t marry him, Max,” she said softly, her eyes locking on his. “I can’t marry a man I don’t love. Especially not now, after feeling this way with you. I don’t know what’s between us but I don’t want to ignore it.”

“I don’t think we can ignore it,” he told her.

They sat in silence then, just looking at each other. She noticed that Max’s gaze would wander from her face and then lower and she realized that she was still naked, for the most part.

She reached quickly for her discarded shirt. Max grabbed her hand. “I don’t want you to be embarrassed by what happened. I…it can’t happen again, but I wouldn’t take it back for anything.”

Liz clutched the t-shirt to her chest, covering her breasts. “I don’t regret it. I’ve never felt like that before and I can’t imagine anyone but you making me feel that way,” she told him honestly.

She sounded okay even to her own ears, but inside her heart was breaking a little bit. This attraction between her and Max was ill fated. She knew that and yet it hurt to know that it couldn’t be.

“What do we do now?” she asked softly.

“I don’t know. We can continue the tutoring sessions and just see where things go. For now, maybe we should go to bed. Separately,” he added quickly.

Resigned to a lonely night of remembering Max’s kisses and touch, she got up from the couch and made her way to the guest room. She only hoped he tossed and turned as much as she did.

******
Max was an idiot. He should have told her who he really was. He’d had the opportunity, but just as he’d been about to tell her, again, she’d adamantly refused to marry Zan. And despite knowing that she didn’t know that he was Zan, it still hurt a little.

And right now, he was hurting a lot. Blue balls, he believed was the term they used on earth. He had a serious case of them right now. He was the one at fault, though. He’d let things go too far. In his defense, she had been so fucking beautiful and irresistible, lying there, biting her damn bottom lip and trusting him to touch her and make her feel good that he’d been helpless.

Now he was laying there in that lonely bed, wishing she was with him. He could be lying naked next to her. No, not even just next to her, he could be inside her, feeling her tight sheath milking him to completion and…

Oh God! He had to stop thinking about it. He’d never be able to walk normally again if he didn’t get his thoughts and rather massive erection under control.

He grabbed another pillow, punching it into shape as he moved to lie on his side. It was going to be a long night; he might as well try to get comfortable.

AN: So I suck and it's taken me months to finally get out another chapter. But as an excuse I did start a new job. Other than that, I just sort of suck with the updates. I'm trying though, I really am. As a warning, I didn't give my beta time to go through this before I posted. So ignore the glaring mistakes. ;D


AB4Z Chapter 15


Here’s a quick peek at the latest Royal Gossip...
(An excerpt from the Antarian Enquirer)


Bellarian Princess, Elizabeth Parker, was recently spotted making a mad dash from central Antar’s Galleria mall after the entire mall was closed off for security reasons. Princess Liz, who is usually very generous with her time, ran off when a small gathering of people noticed her and asked for her autograph. Her quick escape was aided by a motorcycle mystery man, and after climbing onto the back of the apparent stranger’s motorcycle, Princess Liz disappeared.

Speculation abounds in regards to the mystery man, but the people of Antar also want to know just what it is that Princess Liz is doing, visiting our planet?

Several rumors have spread quickly. First being that the Princess has formed an odd friendship with Antar’s own royal sweetheart, Princess Isabel. This makes the most sense due to both girls’ penchant for expensive designer threads. Another less likely association would be with the Rebel-would-be King, Prince Zan who has been MIA for several weeks now. The former seems more likely as Princess Liz does not fit the mold of Prince Zan’s normal taste in companions.

It warrants mention that socialite Ava Harding has also been notably absent these past few weeks. The Palace PR reps deny any connection to the two (Zan and Ava), but it is possible that the palace reps are denying these rumors a little too fiercely and that Prince Zan and Ava have bounded off together for a romantic tryst.



Liz grumbled in disgust as she finished reading the latest issue of the Antarian Enquirer. The same sort of story had been on the cover or Antarian Weekly and even Earth’s People magazine. Maria, who happened to have a subscription to every gossip magazine known to the universe, had squealed with delight when she’d seen the latest article on Liz.

Liz however was not as thrilled. “I’ve managed to avoid the limelight for months. Why do they have to start picking on me now when everything is already so confused?” she groaned.

She really was confused, almost painfully so, because it had been three days since her overnight stay with Max and she hadn’t see him or heard from him since they’d returned to the palace.

Throwing the disgusting rag of a magazine down, Liz got up from the breakfast table and went to her room where she promptly threw herself back into bed. Max had cancelled her lessons for the week. Michael had delivered the message and had only said that something extremely important had come up.

She knew what had come up; his penis the other night, that’s what had come up. And now he was avoiding her.

Liz grabbed a fluffy pillow and held it over her mouth to stifle the loud scream of frustration the wanted to burst out. She should have seen this coming, really, especially after the whole ‘morning after’ experience.

Max had banged on her door early that next morning startling Liz out of her fitful sleep. When she had answered the door to see what he wanted he had only yelled at her to ‘put some damn clothes on’ and told her they were leaving. Of course, she’d already been pissed off and frustrated after the events of the night before and so she had barked right back at him. They snipped and spat at each other the whole morning as they cleaned up Jim’s place and got ready to leave. Liz had finally been forced to escape to the stable to get away from him.

Max had found her there talking to Jilly. “He really shouldn’t be so crabby with me, Jilly,” Liz told the horse. “I realize that I got off and he didn’t, but that isn’t entirely my fault. I could have taken care of his little problem; he just would have had to show me how…”

Her words had been quickly cut off by a growling Max who was quick to inform her that nothing about his ‘problem’ the night before was ‘little’.

After that they had, somehow, end up in the hay, making out like two horny teenagers.

Oh gawd, she could still feel the way his hands had felt touching her and his kisses… She’d begged him to touch her like he had the night before, to make her come. The breathy request had promptly stopped any further kissing and had signaled the return of crabby Max.

When they had finally ridden the motorcycle back to the palace, Max stormed off, almost knocking Liz off the bike, in his attempt to get away from her, muttering under his breath the whole way. Liz hadn't seen him once since she’d watched his very cute backside walk away.

The whole incident was more than enough to make a girl feel insecure, especially now, when the future of Bellarian and Antarian relations hung in the balance.

***
“You want me to what?” Michael asked, disbelief written all over his handsome face.

“I need you to tell Liz to pack all of her things. Tell her that a decision has been made in regards to her stay here on Antar. Be vague, I want to keep her guessing,” Max repeated his instructions. He was seated behind the large desk in his study going over some last minute details for the plans he had made for Liz.

“Do you have any idea what that’s going to do to her? Maria says that she’s been mooning around the castle for the last three days, pretending to be pissed off at you when other people are around and then acting all forlorn and lovesick when she thinks no one is looking,” Michael informed his best friend.

“Really?” The smile escaped before Max could force it back and Michael narrowed his eyes speculatively.

“What exactly happened on your little overnight adventure with Liz, Max? You’re not already married are you? Because if you slept with her then…”

Max interrupted him, not letting him finish the sentence. “Nothing happened. Nothing anyone needs to worry about anyway. Liz and I came to an understanding about things. For instance, have you noticed that she’s wearing normal clothes now and that she got rid of her face green eye and the ugly glasses?”

“How do you know that? I thought you hadn’t seen her for three days.” Now Michael was even more curious. Something has definitely happened between Max and Liz.

“I may have seen her briefly when she was walking around in the gardens with Maria.” Max looked away and started shuffling papers around on the desk, avoiding looking up. Michael almost laughed out loud at the sight of Max’s not so innocent face.

“You had Maria drag Liz out there, didn’t you? I overheard Liz complaining that she didn’t want to walk in the gardens because her allergies were bother her, but Maria said she didn’t have a choice. So I’m guessing that it was because you wanted to spy on Liz.”

Max shot Michael a glare. “I only wanted to make sure she’d given up her little charade.”

“Oh, you mean like you did?”

Max opened and shut his mouth quickly, unable to respond.

Michael spoke up. “I know that you haven’t told her the truth. At first I understood your reasoning, but now… You’re both obviously attracted to each other and you could actually make things work between the two of you. Why not put it all out there?”

Max shook his head. “I can’t do that. She hates Zan and when she finds out that I’m him and that I deceived her, it will be over.”

“So instead you’re just going to drag it all out? Hope that she never finds out who you really are? Being future king might make that kind of hard, Max.”

“No,” Max said, frustration lacing his voice. “I just need a little more time, that’s all.”

“Time to what, Max? Put off the inevitable?” Michael’s own voice had risen. He’d come to care about Liz and didn’t want this thing with Max to hurt her.

Max shook his head. “Time to make her love me more than she hates Zan. That’s what this trip is all about,” he paused. “Now, will you please go tell her to pack?”

Michael nodded and got up to leave. He realized that his friend felt trapped, but he had a sinking feeling that things were not going to end well.

***

Liz stared at Michael, hoping the face she displayed was merely disbelief instead of complete devastation. “What?” she asked, not completely sure she’d heard him correctly, hoping that she hadn’t.

“Max said to tell you to pack everything as quickly as possible, especially your ugly clothes. Once you’re packed I’m supposed to escort you to the private jet,” Michael explained.

“So he’s making me leave?” Liz asked, trying to keep the disappointment from her voice.

Michael hesitated. “That would seem to be the case.”

Liz had to sit down. All along this was exactly what she’d wanted, for Max to send her home so she wouldn’t have to marry Zan. Now, though, she felt sick to her stomach at the thought of leaving, of never being able to see Max again and that she had let her people down with her foolish actions.

Liz didn’t even notice when Michael left the room, she was too caught up in her own whirlwind thoughts.

***
Michael felt an overwhelming sense of guilt as he closed the door to Liz’s suite. She looked so forlorn and genuinely confused as to what was happening.

Maria was waiting in his office when he got there. She looked nervous and jumped up quickly when he entered the room.

“Well, how’d she take the news?” Maria quickly asked.

“Not very well. She was upset when I left.”

“Why would she be upset? She should be excited about getting away from the castle for awhile.” Maria’s eyes narrowed. “Just what did you tell her Michael?”

Michael looked away. “I had orders. I told her what Max wanted me to tell her.”

“Which was?”

“To pack her things and wait to be escorted to the private jet.” Michael looked everywhere but at Maria, knowing she’d be furious.

“You dumbass, she probably thinks Max is sending her home. She’s got to be devastated. How could you?” Maria fumed.

“Like I said, I was following Max’s orders. I didn’t have a choice,” Michael explained.

“Well, I’m not going to let her go on thinking that...” Maria started towards the door but was pulled up short by Michael’s firm grasp on her arm.

“You aren’t going to do anything. This thing is between Max and Liz. Let them work it out. They seem to be playing some sort of game with each other and neither of them is going to listen to us.”

Maria stared pointedly at Michael’s hand on her arm. “Fine, but you grab me like that again, and you’re going to be singing high notes for a month, got it?”

Michael quickly released her and barely suppressed a grin at his feisty girlfriend. “Got it, boss.”

***

Liz held her tears at bay until she was seated alone in the private jet. She had tried to shrug it off, but this rejection by Max hurt more than she’d ever expected it would.

Her grief wasn’t just caused by a bruised heart and a battered ego. She was angry with herself for being so selfish and, as a result, letting down and entire kingdom. She had learned more about her own planet through Max than she’d ever been taught by anyone and now she felt a renewed sense of responsibility to her people. They had needed her and she had failed them.

At that particular thought, the tears came in earnest, and Liz didn’t even bother to wipe them away. Maybe she’d go back to Earth instead of Bellaria. She could stay there and try to lead a normal empty life away from all of the people she had let down.

“Why are you crying?” a deep voice asked.

Liz brought her head up sharply at the sound of that voice. What did he want? To further humiliate her?

“Liz?” His eyes looked troubled when she finally met his gaze.

“I would think that would be obvious, Max,” she sniffled angrily as she swiped tears from her wet cheeks. “It’s bad enough that you took advantage of me, but…”

At her words Max’s eyes flashed fire. “Stop right there. If I remember correctly, you enjoyed being taken advantage or.”

Liz’s cheeks flamed at the thought of just how much she had enjoyed it. “Well, obviously it was enough to have you send me packing,” she bit out. “Was it some kind of sick test? And I obviously failed, so now I’m unfit, right?”

Max looked confused but as Liz tried to move away he grabbed her, pulling her up hard against his chest.

She sucked in a breath as he lowered his head. His lips hovered a hair’s width away from hers, their noses brushing.


“Listen to me, princess. What happened between us has nothing to do with any ‘test’.” His lips caressed hers with each uttered word. “Do you want to know what’s really going on?”

Liz nodded her head, the movement causing their lips to press together again.

It was too much.

It had been too long since they’d been together.

He kissed her.

Liz could feel her heart pounding in her chest. It was a gentle kiss and she groaned out loud when she felt his lips move away from hers. She didn’t want it to end. She wanted…

Her mouth followed his in an attempt to retain the intimate contact. It wasn’t until she felt his smile against her lips that she pulled back, her cheeks tinged pink and her breathing a little uneven.

He smiled down at her and her breath caught a little as he brushed her hair back behind her ear. “We’re going away,” Max told her. “If you’re going to be the princess of Antar, its future Queen, you should really tour the planet in its entirety.”

“With you?” she asked somewhat hopefully.

It was Max’s turn to nod. “We’ve got two weeks to explore. Just you and me. Well, you and I and our two chaperones. Somehow though, I hardly think we’ll notice Michael and Maria.”

“I don’t understand,” Liz told him honestly. She was more than a little confused. Maybe it was due to the mental anxiety of thinking she’d failed and now finding out she’d be spending time alone with Max, away from prying eyes.

“It’ll be like a vacation, almost. It’s going to give us a chance to get to know each other better. At least that’s what I told the King when I set up the trip. I explained that I needed more time to assess compatibility.” At that he offered a knowing smirk.

Liz blushed again; she doubted compatibility would be a problem. She almost sighed out loud as she continued to stare at Max’s handsome face. She had an overwhelming desire to test out that compatibility right there, on the plane.

A loud throat clearing startled them both and Liz suddenly realized that Max still had his arms around her waist, pulled tightly to him. Her nipples were hard points, poking into his rock-solid abs. Whoever had walked in on them was getting quite an eyeful, and there was really no doubt as to what could be going on.

Even so, Liz was disappointed when Max released her and took a step back. She looked in the direction of their interruption and saw Michael standing there, barely hiding his amusement.

“Are we ready for take off?” he asked casually.

Max glared at Michael before nodding and turning back to Liz. “We should get settled. Our first stop isn’t very far from here. We can talk more about it on the way.” He took her hand in his and led her to her seat then, not releasing his hold on her as they situated themselves.

Liz’s heart was still fluttering after takeoff ten minutes later and she knew, without a doubt, that this trip was going to change everything.

AN: Okay, here it is. Chapter 16, FINALLY! Sorry it took so long. I wish that real life didn't intrude so much. I would love to just write all day. But alas...it's not to be. Anyway, I finally finished typing up the part, but I will warn that it's not betaed. She's out of town and I suck and didn't get it sent to her before she left. But I'll fix the errors later. Until then, just enjoy this next part.

Chapter 16

The flight to wherever it was Max was taking them, proved to be very uneventful. Maria hounded Liz about what was going on between her and Max for at least the first half hour, but Liz remained closemouthed. She didn’t want to babble on about something she wasn’t even sure about herself. She liked Max, more than she should, and it should bother her that she was lusting after him while engaged to another man. But it didn’t. And now she felt antsy…and sort of caged in. When she refused to gossip with Maria, her friend had gone off to sulk and was now snoring on the other side of the plane. Max and Michael had gone up to the cockpit with the shuttle’s pilot and hadn’t returned. Liz was bored…she couldn’t sit still.

Max hadn’t told her where they were going and she was secretly excited by the surprise of it all. It was kind of romantic that he’d whisked her away from everything in an effort to get to know her better. But that wouldn’t work if he didn’t spend time with her. And since he wasn’t doing that and occupying her inquisitive mind, she’d have to try and satisfy her own curiosity and see if she could find clues about their final destination.

She looked around the cabin again. It was empty and Maria wasn’t about to stop snoring, so she got up from her seat and made her way toward the back of the plane. She knew that their luggage was back there and realistically, both Max and Michael knew where they were headed, so if she checked their suitcases, she might be able to figure it out.

Slipping into the back room, she surveyed the luggage. There was a fair amount; eight bags to be exact, although she recognized four of them as Maria’s and one as her own. That meant the other three belonged to the guys. Deciding not to waste any time, Liz grabbed the first suitcase and started to unzip. Pulling up the flap, the first thing she saw was a pair of handcuffs. So, okay, that suitcase probably belonged to Michael…hmm…unless it was Max’s.

“Okay, don’t get too excited,” she told herself even as she had a vision of herself handcuffed to Max’s bed. She reversed the image so that it was Max handcuffed to her bed and…and she was surprisingly open to the whole idea of handcuffs as a form or erotic torture. She might have to ask Maria a few questions about those types of things later.

Moving on, she closed the suitcase and grabbed the next. It was fairly boring and she knew instinctively that the jeans, t-shirts and boxer briefs belonged to Max. She allowed her mind to conjure up an image of Max wearing said boxer briefs…yes that was definitely a good fantasy. She smiled down at the suitcase. It was all organized and folded neatly. There was even a pair of swim trunks in a little plastic bag. Awe…how cute!

Despite the small insight into Max, Liz didn’t find any other interesting clues about where they were going. Their luggage gave away nothing. The last bag didn’t help either. It only led to more confusion. She was surprised to see that it was full of more clothes for her. She had already packed all of her ugly clothes, but this was full of the stuff she had gone shopping for, including her new lingerie…and yes, those were her new shoes too. Something was up…but was it more than just Max playing games with her?

Disappointed with her snooping mission, Liz started back towards the main cabin. Maybe she’d better just take a nap, like Maria.

Thoughts of a nap evaporated when she felt a hand clamp over her mouth and was pulled back against a hard body.

“What do you think you’re doing?” a gruff voice asked.

Liz recognized Max almost instinctively and relaxed against him. Just to be a tease she let her tongue snake out from between her lips and lightly caress the hand held over her mouth.

“You’re playing with fire there,” Max’s voice was a low warning, even as he let her go.

“You scared me,” Liz said pointedly as she turned around to face him, her body brushing full length against his in the confined space. “I thought you were trying to kidnap me,” she added with a smirk as she watched his face go rigid, and felt other parts of him do the same.

Max cleared his throat. “What are you doing sneaking around?”

Liz tried her best to look innocent. “I got lost.”

“I don’t believe you,” Max responded. Their bodies were still pressed together in the hallway and he shifted putting his arms up on either side of her head, forcing her back against the wall. “You should really be in your seat. We’re almost to our pit stop at Antian City.”

They stared at each other for another moment, before Liz spoke a breathy, “Fine,” and started to move towards the cabin again. Max didn’t move his arms to let her pass, though.

“You know, if you want to know something, you can just ask. You don’t have to snoop,” Max told her, smirking at the surprised expression on her face.

“How did you…?”

He brought his finger up and tapped her nose gently. “You are a trouble maker, Princess Liz,” he leaned forward then, his head tilted down, nose brushing against hers. “I make it a point to know what you’re up to at all times.”

Liz’s eyes were closed as she felt Max’s breath against her skin. She really wanted him to kiss her. It had been too long since the last time and his lips were so close…

But all she felt was air and when she opened her eyes her cheeks flamed with embarrassment to find Max smiling at her knowingly.

“Come on. Let’s go sit down so the captain can land this thing.” Max took her hand and led her out of the narrow hallway before helping her into her seat. He was about to sit next to her when Michael’s voice over the intercom beckoned him to the cockpit.

He turned to Liz apologetically. “I’ll be back.” His eyes narrowed then. “Don’t get into any trouble,” he warned. “I’m liable to spank you the next time I catch you doing something suspicious,” he teased.

“What kind of trouble could I possibly get into on a plane?” Liz asked his retreating backside.

“I’m sure you’d figure something out. Just stay put,” was his quick reply before he disappeared from sight.
*******
Liz had every intention of doing what Max said. She tried to take a catnap…but that didn’t last long. Then she pulled out the book she had ‘borrowed’ from Max’s library. It was on Royal Antarian Customs. She’d gotten it the same day she and Max had returned from Jim’s ranch, hoping it might offer some insight into the rules regarding Antarian intimate relations. Max had mentioned something about sex being the equivalent of a marriage ceremony for royals and Liz wanted to see if there were any loop holes.

The book was beyond boring and she hadn’t gotten past the first chapter on ‘Royal Temple Traditions’ before she decided that the scenery outside was more interesting.

For some reason, she’d been envisioning private beaches and palatial hotel suites with hidden hot tubs. Instead there were trees, acres upon acres, like an ocean of green leaves; which didn’t make sense because Antian City was on the coast. This was clearly not the coast and not anywhere near Antian City. So where the hell were they?

Despite Max’s warning to stay put, she wanted to investigate and as she was getting up to do so, the door from the cockpit opened and Max emerged.

“I thought I told you to stay put,” he said accusingly. His lips twitched as he tried to hide his smile. “You must really want that punishment I mentioned earlier.”

Liz’s face flamed. “You can’t spank me every time I do something you don’t like,” she informed him.

Max laughed and stepped closer to her causing Liz to take a quick step back.

“You aren’t really going to spank me are you? I was just getting up to come find you,” she quickly explained. She was alarmed and a little bit excited by the idea of Max bending her over his knee.

Max grabbed her hand and gently rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “No, I’m not going to spank you…not this time anyway.”

Liz saw the glint in his eyes that time and her other hand swatted at his chest. “Stop teasing me!” she told him.

“I can’t help it…it’s just so much fun.”

“Max!”
“Liz!”

He gave her that exasperating smile of his and she melted into a big pile of goo, right at his feet, or at least that’s what it felt like.

“You need to sit down,” he ordered. “We’re going to be landing soon.”

Liz’s head stopped swimming dreamily and she focused on Max’s words. “You said that two hours ago when we were supposedly going to stop in Antian City. And we certainly didn’t stop there….and we’re no where close to there now,” she pointed out.

“We were behind schedule because Maria took too long to pack. They didn’t have a secure landing sight for us there, so we just kept going. We’re almost to our first stop though. And then you won’t have to see the plane again for a couple of days, I promise.”

He looked sincere and Liz wanted to believe him. She just couldn’t get over the fact that he was being so secretive. Something was definitely up, and she was letting herself get sidetracked by Max and his sexiness. She had to stay focused because she wasn’t about to fail another one of his little tests.

********
Max was unable to tell what Liz was thinking after they stepped off the shuttle. Her face gave away nothing as they were greeted by the older couple that ran the commune they were visiting. Both the man and woman wore clothes that had seen better days and their faces were tanned and lined from working in the sun. This wasn’t a place that cared about whether or not you were royalty.

The couple came towards Max and offered enthusiastic greetings in Antarian.

“We didn’t expect you back so soon,” the man commented as he shook Max’s hand.

Max shrugged. “Well, this is the best place I know of to get away from the pressures of palace life. And the food’s good,” he added with a grin.

The woman laughed. “Introduce us to your friends, Max.”

It was Max’s turn to laugh now. “I’ve forgotten my manners.” He turned toward the others. “I think you recognize Michael. The spitfire next to him is Maria and this lovely woman,” he reached out his hand and took Liz’s, pulling her to stand next to him, “is my very special friend, Liz.”

The affection in his tone was not lost on the others the older couple’s faces lit up with smiles.

“It’s certainly a pleasure to meet you. I’m Zarim and this is my husband Hank,” she told them.

Max was surprised when Liz chose that moment to speak up. She’d been shrinking away from him since they had deplaned, as if trying to hide. But she stepped forward now as she spoke.

“It’s very nice to meet you,” she said brightly returning the open smiles directed at her. “Now, tell me all about this place. It must be special for Max to have brought us here.”

Hank seemed to preen at Liz’s words and stepped towards her, extending his arm. “If you want to come with me, I’ll walk you to where you’ll be staying and tell you all about our little patch of heaven here.”

Max found himself staring as he watched Liz take Hank’s arm and let him lead her away.

“So Hank, that sounds like an Earth name…” her voice trailed off as they got farther away.

“This is a first for you,” Zarim spoke gently as she stood next to him.

“You have no idea,” Max said shaking his head and forcing himself to look anywhere but at Liz’s retreating form. Even he could barely believe the lengths to which he was going.
*******

Hank, a kind mad who had immigrated from Earth to Antar over twenty years ago, had been more than eager to tell Liz about his home. As she listened to him explain about his life’s work as a missionary she was overcome with sadness and guilt. Hand and Zarim had very little in the way of material things and yet they devoted their lives to helping those even less fortunate than themselves. It shamed her to think that she’d complained about anything in her life.

Hank went on to explain that the people she would meet chose to live in isolation at the commune and that the Antarian government provided what they could. They had clothes and other necessities but they also worked hard. They ran a large farm with their own cattle, sheep and horses. They also grew their own crops. Hank was most proud of the chickens they raised as they had been a gift from Max, imported from Earth years ago.

After hearing Hank’s story and getting the tour Liz found herself torn. She was either going to murder Max or start laughing. He was testing her again, and sitting there, on the cramped bunk bed she would share with Maria; she couldn’t help but wonder why. She contemplated confronting him, asking him outright what he thought he was doing, but she was fairly sure that she would not like his answer. It would have something to do with Zan and she found herself unwilling to spend any part of the next two weeks trying to convince Max she was everything that the spoiled Prince could desire in his future queen. She just wanted to be herself and spend as much time with Max as possible. Yes, it would hurt like hell in the end to walk away from him, but she would have to do it…unless of course she could scheme up some kind of way for them to be together.

Maria’s entrance into the bedroom scattered Liz’s thoughts and her attention moved to her frantic friend.

“Oh my god, Liz!” Maria exclaimed. “You know I’m not one to complain but how can people live like this? With so little? I’d die without my ipod.” That dramatic statement was followed by Maria’s collapse onto Liz’s bed.

Liz offered Maria a sympathetic smile. “It’s not really that bad. Hank and Zarim seem nice. We’ll survive this and maybe it will teach us to take fewer things for granted.”

“Aren’t you the optimist? Where has this positive attitude suddenly come from? What happened to going out of your way to be difficult? ‘Cause I think now would be a good time for that. Michael said they’re going to make us do chores. We can’t eat unless we work.”

Liz couldn’t help it. She laughed.

“It’s not funny, Liz. We’re going to have to cook.”

That sobered Liz up quickly. She couldn’t cook. She could maybe boil water because she’d done plenty of that in all of the Chemistry labs she’d taken, but she’d never boiled any type of food before. And Maria couldn’t even do that much. Her idea of cooking was ordering pizza.

Liz tried to remain calm. “It’s okay. I’m sure they’ll show us what to do. It can’t be that bad.”

She was wrong. So wrong.

Liz knew that Zarim could see the panic in her eyes as she explained what the girl’s would need to do.

“Excuse me, but could you repeat that?” Liz asked, her voice squeaking slightly.

“We always have roasted chicken and potatoes when Max comes to visit,” Zarim said. “So we need you and Maria to catch us three chickens to butcher.

Liz glanced over at her too quiet friend. Maria had a bottle of cypress oil shoved under her nose and was sniffing it enthusiastically. She looked like she might pass out.

“Uhm…how do we do that? Catch the chickens, I mean?” Liz asked politely, her voice still not quite normal.

Zarim smiled and handed Liz two worn pairs of work gloves. “The chicken coop is behind the main house. You can’t miss it. Just go out there where the whole flock of them is wandering around and grab the three fattest ones. Secure them by their legs, but be careful that you don’t let them peck you to death. It stings like hell.”

Liz swallowed hard and watched as Zarim walked away to attend to something else. She could do this. She and Maria could definitely do this. With dogged determination Liz grabbed Maria’s arm and headed out of the kitchen toward the chicken coop. The sooner they did this, the sooner it would be done.

*********
“Is there a reason we’re mucking stalls here, Max? Or is this just for Hank’s amusement?” Michael asked gruffly as he shoveled yet another pile of horse shit into a wheel barrel.

“It’s not that bad, Michael,” Max replied even as he grimaced at the smell. Usually he got to help with other chores on his visit, but not this time. “Besides, we’ve got a great view of the chicken coop from here,” he told his friend.

As he spoke he noticed two figures, one clad in an unflattering pair of short overalls and another in a velour track suit. He smiled. Okay, so he’d asked to shovel shit for this very reason.

“What are Liz and Maria doing? I thought they had kitchen duty,” Michael asked, slightly confused as they watched the two women stand there staring at the chicken coop with, what Max could imagine was trepidation.

“They DO have KP duty. I…uhm…requested roasted chicken and potatoes for dinner. I guess they have to catch the chickens first,” he said with a shrug.

Michael gave Max a knowing smirk. “You’re kind of an asshole,” he said, “but this is going to be fun to watch.”

********
Okay, Liz told herself as she pulled on the gloves, just go in and grab one. It can’t be that hard, not really.

“You go ahead and go first, Liz. I’ll watch to see how you do it,” Maria said standing as far away as she could.

“Maria, you ARE coming in here with me,” Liz demanded.

“No, PLEASE, Liz,” Maria whined. “I’ll ruin my sweat suit and it’s Juicy Couture.”

“I’ll buy you a new set. I’ll buy you THREE new sets, but I am not doing this alone.” Liz threw the other pair of work gloves at Maria and watched as she reluctantly put them on.

Taking a deep breath she opened the gate to and stepped inside, watching as the chickens kept on about their business. “See, this isn’t so bad,” Liz told Maria, turning back to give her a reassuring smile. Maria stuck out her tongue.

“Let’s just find the fat ones and get this over with,” Maria grumbled.

Liz foraged on. She tried not to notice that she was stepping on chicken poop and that the whole place smelled. Her only consolation was that she was wearing crappy clothes, rain boots included.

“Here fat chick, come here,” she heard Maria saying from behind her. Liz couldn’t help it; she snickered at her friend and felt herself relaxing. Very slowly she made her way towards the feeder where most of the chickens were congregated. Maybe she could be sneaky and grab one without causing a stir.

*******
Max watched with amusement as Liz bent over towards the chickens. Her hair was in pigtails and she was wearing those baggy short overalls and rain boots and she looked completely adorable and totally uncomfortable. He could see that she was struggling and every time she tried to grab a bird, the whole flock would squawk and you could hear them moving.

Max smiled. At least Liz was determined. He would give her an A+ for effort.

She made another grab for a chicken and this time met with success. She had the chicken by the legs and was holding it up triumphantly for Maria to see. Maria started clapping and Liz gave her an enthusiastic grin.

The grin turned to a frown though and Max could see that the chicken was going nuts in her hand. Its wings were moving frantically and he watched in horror as Liz slipped and seemed to hit the ground in slow motion.

Maria screamed and before she could even get the word “help” out, both Max and Michael were running towards their women.

Once they reached the coop, Max could see that Liz was on the ground trying to get up and protect herself from the pecking chickens at the same time.

Max held out his hand and, with powers that he seldom used, sent a burst of energy towards the chickens. The chickens hurled outward, away from Liz, who lay there, seemingly stunned.

Max knelt down next to her, reaching to pull her to him. “Are you okay?” he asked as she looked up.

He swallowed hard as their eyes met. Her eyes were swimming with tears and her face was flushed with embarrassment. Small spots of blood were starting to show on her face, arms and legs where the chickens had been pecking her. He suddenly wanted to massacre the entire chicken population for hurting Liz. He’d have to heal her. The small punctures had to hurt and he couldn’t stand to have her be in any kind of pain.

“I’m so sorry, Liz,” he told her, brushing away the hair that had come loose from a pigtail.

She shook her head, dislodging a tear from the corner of her eye. She wiped it away quickly. “I’m fine, I just…” her words broke off and she covered her face in her hands as suddenly her whole body was shaking.

Oh god, he’d really messed up this time. He’d never meant for anything like this to happen.

“Liz…I...,” he didn’t even know what to say. He tried to take her in his arms but her shoulders were shaking. Liz looked up at him again and he realized that the sounds she was making were sobs.

She was laughing.

“Liz?”

“Oh, god, Max! I’m so embarrassed,” she got out between spurts of laughter. “But I slipped …on the chicken shit.” This statement was followed by more laughter.

Okay, so maybe this was more hysterical laughter than anything, but any kind of laughter was better than tears as far as he was concerned.

“Come on,” he told her, hoisting her up into his arms, “Let’s get you cleaned up.”




TBC.

AN! Okay everyone, send out special thanks to sunrise 102 because she's awesome and she betaed for me so that I could post this before I went away for a long weekend. So yeah, thanks sunrise...you ROCK!

Also...don't hate me. I can't control Max at this point. He pretty much does what he wants and I let him because, while he may be an idiot and an ass, he is at least a very cute one. And Liz...well, she can handle herself. So...yeah...Anyway, ENJOY the chapter and send me good vibes so I can get rolling on the next one!
*hugs*
Carey B.



Chapter 17

Liz marveled at Max’s attentiveness. He had refused to let her walk after the chicken fiasco and carried her from the chicken coop to her room.

“Grab whatever you need for a bath,” he instructed. “I’ll come back in a few minutes to get you.”

He rushed off then and, true to his word, returned. Despite Liz’s protests he carried her to the commune’s bathing area. She was surprised to see a bath with warm water and bubbles waiting for her.

“How did you do this?” Liz asked, awed by the sweet gesture.

Max smiled. “I have my ways. But we have to hurry. Everyone will back from their chores soon and will want to wash up for dinner. This is the first place they’ll come and I think it would shock them to find a naked Bellarian princess.”

Liz blushed as Max set her down by the enclosed shower. He told her to go ahead and undress in there.

“Don’t watch,” Liz commanded as she started to shed the smelly, poop covered clothes.

Max smirked as he turned to face away. “You know, I’ve seen you naked before. If I want to I can just close my eyes and picture what you look like.”

“Whatever, you didn’t see all of me,” she informed him. She could picture the stupid little grin on his face and she knew that she was flushed bright red from the idea of him visualizing her without her clothes.

“I saw enough and felt enough to give me plenty to …”

His words were cut off my Liz’s voice.

“Max...”

“Yeah?”

“I’m naked, now what?” It was Liz’s turn to smirk as she noticed him twitch ever so slightly.

“There’s a towel hanging over the edge. Wrap it around you and then I’ll keep watch while you get into the tub,” he instructed.

Liz complied and once the towel was secured stepped out of the shower cube and towards the tub. She stepped over the outer lip and was about to drop the towel and sink into the inviting bubbles when she glanced over her shoulder. Max was watching her intently, his eyes dark.
“Max, you’re supposed to keep watch,” she reminded him.

“Oh, I’m definitely watching,” he told her.

“Max!”

*******
“Oh, alright,” he slowly turned around. He turned his head back to say something but the words quickly stuck in his throat as Liz’s towel dropped to the ground and she sank into the small tub. He felt himself go from semi-aroused to full fledge hard in less than a second. He forced himself to look away and was trying without much success to think of something, anything other than Liz naked in that bathtub. He heard some splashing followed by a startled groan.

Despite his rather massive erection he spun around towards her. “What’s wrong?”

“It stings,” she answered with a slight wince. Her face was still dotted with blood and Max wanted to kick himself for forgetting.

He knelt down next to the tub. “Let me help,” he told her, knowing he could easily heal the small punctures.

Their eyes locked and Liz slowly nodded.

******
She couldn’t drag her gaze from his face. He looked at her so intently. She barely noticed that he was touching her until she felt a sudden surge of warmth on her cheeks. Her eyes closed at the contact and she felt his fingertips trail lightly over her skin. She tingled everywhere he was touching, her nerve endings coming alive. She didn’t even recognize the soft whimpers escaping her lips or the way her body arched beneath his touch as his hands moved lower, away from her face, gently tracing her collarbone and then over her shoulder blades, first one then the other.

“Does it still sting?” he asked softly, the words barely a whisper.

Liz’s eyes flew open and she found herself staring at Max’s handsome face. He was still touching her lazily.

“Not there,” she finally managed.

“Where else?”

******

Max almost groaned out loud. This was torture, probably the best kind ever, but torture none-the-less.


“My legs,” she whispered before her eyelids fluttered closed.

He swallowed hard and his moved without permission, down from where it lazily circled her collarbone, dipping into the warm water. Liz’s body arched, causing the water to slosh against her breasts, the upper curves of the perfect globes peaking up through the bubbles. Bubbles that were quickly disappearing.

Max couldn’t help it, his fingers seemed to have a mind of their own and kept trailing lower, tracing gently of the top curve of first one breast then down the valley between before moving over to the next.

Liz moaned again, her body moving toward his touch and Max watched in fascination as a pink tipped nipple appeared, begging for attention. Unable to deny Liz anything his finger painted the wet skin of the exposed bud with small circles.

“Max?” Liz’s uncertain voice momentarily stopped his ministrations. “Don’t stop,” she pleaded, followed by a breathy “Please.”

“Does it still sting?” he asked hoarsely. He was crouched against the tub, his erection painfully hard.

She nodded almost imperceptibly. “Lower.”

He wasn’t even sure he had heard her correctly, but he rationalized that might need to heal any small spots on her legs. He shifted carefully, position himself to reach her legs and started at her toes, using both hands, rubbing up over the tops of her feet, circling her ankles and moving upward, drawing light patterns on her calves.

“Is the stinging better?” his voice didn’t sound like his own and he could barely get the words out as his hands moved up past her knees to her thighs.

Her response was to moan as his fingertips touched her inner thighs. He sucked in a breath as the water sloshed and her thighs shifted open as if in invitation. Max was mesmerized by the sight of Liz, her head thrown back in erotic abandon, her hands clenching the sides of the tub, back arched. He’d never seen anything that beautiful before and he knew quite suddenly that he wanted her to always be his.

“Do you want me to keep going?”

She was biting her lower lip and nodded so slightly he wouldn’t have caught it if he hadn’t been watching her so intently.

He couldn’t stop himself. Before he realized what was happening he was pulling her to him, his lips pressed against hers bruisingly. Kissing her was a compulsion that he couldn’t deny. She responded eagerly, moaning more and opening her mouth to him. He tasted her impatiently and when they were forced to separate to draw air into their lungs, his lips moved down her throat, skimming her wet skin before reaching his destination and drawing a turgid nipple into his mouth.

Liz whimpered and tried to get closer to him. His mouth was doing amazing things to her and then suddenly she felt his talented fingers at her center, gently circling the bud of nerves there with his thumb as two fingers thrust into her heat. She arched against him at the sudden invasion, crying out as she convulsed with pleasure.

Oh God…Max pulled back, his eyes taking in Liz’s body. She was panting, her body flushed with her orgasm.

His senses returned and he realized that he was a hair’s breath away from coming. He pulled back slightly, trying to focus on anything but his body’s demands at that moment.

What was he thinking? They were in broad daylight and he had almost pulled her out of the bathtub and…and ‘married’ her where anyone could see.

He shook his head as if to clear it and pulled his hands away from Liz. Her eyes flew open at the loss of contact.

“Better now?” he asked hoarsely.

She was biting her lip again, but she nodded.

“Uhm…you should get dressed. They’ll be coming over here to wash up soon.”

She nodded again and she looked so vulnerable that he couldn’t follow his immediate instinct to get the hell away before he took her like some kind of wild animal.

Reigning in his control he leaned back towards her and kissed her, softly, gently, reassuringly.

“I have to go,” he said pulling back. “But I’ll see you later, okay?”

She nodded again. “I just need a minute. I’ll get myself out and head back to kitchen duty.”

It was Max’s turn to nod and he stared at her a second longer before forcing himself to pull back and walk away. He suddenly felt the need for some space and an overwhelming urge to hide.

******
Maria stared at Liz suspiciously. Her friend was surprisingly chipper for someone who had just been attacked by a flock of domestic chickens. Liz was flitting around the kitchen trying to help Zarim and looking like she was completely enthralled with learning how to pluck feathers from the dead hell beasts.

“Lizzie, are you sure you’re okay?” Maria asked, yet again.

Liz offered Maria a strange look before rolling her eyes. “Yes, Maria. I’m fine. Max took really good care of me.” As the words left Liz’s lips, she began to blush and quickly turned away from her friend’s curious gaze.

“I’ll just bet he did.” Maria was more than curious now. Something had definitely happened between Max and Liz.

“Maria!”

“Come on, Liz. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not dumb. You and Max were gone an awfully long time and then you come back all dewy-eyed and love sick. Even more so than before. It makes a girl wonder. As my best friend, you are obligated to tell me what happened,” Maria demanded.

“Maria, it’s personal,” Liz whispered, dragging her away from earshot of Zarim.

“Don’t tell me you two are ‘married’ now!” Maria blurted with wide eyes.

Liz blushed. “Of course not!”

“But something happened.”

“Yes, alright!” Liz finally hissed.

Maria raised her eyebrows expectantly waiting for Liz to give more details.

“I-I…I took a bath,” she whispered. She couldn’t look Maria in the eyes as she spoke and turned her head away, keeping her hands busy as she started to cut up the mound of potatoes next to the sink. Her words were mumbled and hurried and Maria didn’t quite catch them.

“Come again?”

Liz face flushed an even darker shade of red at Maria’s choice of words. “I said that…that Max helped.”

“He helped you take a bath?” Maria’s voice rose in shock.

“Shh…yes…he helped.”

“Yeah, I’ll just bet he helped. He helped you get off, didn’t he? You weren’t flushed from trauma when you got back here, it was post orgasmic glow.” Maria smiled. “You little slut! I’m so proud!”

Liz let out a nervous giggle at Maria’s words, but quickly sobered.

“I’m not really a slut, am I?”

Now it was Maria’s turn to laugh. “No. I was just teasing. I’ve never seen you let your guard down with a guy before. This is good.”

“What if Max thinks I’m easy though? Because I’m not, except when it comes to him. I mean there was only that time at the ranch and then now…in the bathtub. Oh my God, Maria, he barely touched me and I just dissolved and…”

Maria held up her hand to stop Liz’s worried babbling. “Hold up a second. You and Max hooked up at the Ranch? And then again in the bathtub and he barely touched you? What do you mean he barely touched you?”

“I…he…well he was touching me and it didn’t even get as far as it did at the ranch and I just sort of…came.” Liz shrugged. She looked all wide eyed and innocent and that damn blush of hers returned. “See…I’m easy.”

“No, not easy, just friggin’ lucky.”

“Maria…” Liz still looked troubled.

“Oh my God, Liz. Only you could be upset after having an orgasm from a hot guy. Seriously, just enjoy the afterglow. But not before you start talking. I didn’t realize that you left so many details out of your ‘Tales From the Ranch’. It’s not nice to withhold information from your best friend, Liz. It really isn’t.”

“If I promise to tell you about some of it later, can we drop this conversation?” Liz pleaded.

Maria was thoughtful before offering Liz a big grin. “I suppose, but you’re going to have a lot of talking to do later. Don’t even try to get out of it. I want all of the juicy details.”

Liz capitulated with a nod and continued to cut potatoes. Maria watched her from the corner of her eyes for the rest of the time they spent preparing dinner. Every once in a while she noticed Liz biting her lip like she was trying to ward off a secret smile. Her cheeks would get pink and then her eyes would get sort of a far off look like she was reliving some fantastic memory. Okay, so maybe Max was doing better with Liz than Maria had originally guessed he would. It was obvious that the physical part of the relationship wasn’t a problem. But his little tests for Liz and all of those pesky secrets he had, not to mention his pride, might get in the way of everything if he wasn’t careful. Maria briefly thought that she and Max needed to have a little heart-to-heart because someone needed to be sure of his intentions.

*****

After an enjoyable dinner, the entire group headed off towards their bunks for the night. The sky was clear and bright with stars and moons. The only noises were those from nature. It should have been conducive to restful sleep, but as it was, there were four grumpy individuals at the breakfast table the next morning. They barely spoke before each went off to take care of their assigned chores.

Michael spent the morning bitching at Max. Maria complained nonstop about her lumpy mattress. Liz was restless because she and Max hadn’t really talked since the bathtub experience the day before and now she wasn’t sure what to think. Meanwhile Max needed to distance himself from Liz because she was severely testing the limits of his self-control and he wasn’t keen on walking around with an erection.

“Maybe you should bump things up to phase 2 here, Max,” Michael suggested irritably as they mucked the horse stalls yet again.

“No. It wouldn’t be any better. Phase 2 involves survival in the wilderness.”

Before Max could explain further, Maria came barreling into the stable. She was panting hard and practically collapsed at Michael’s feet.

“Careful there, pixie, there might be shit on the ground,” Michael warned with a chuckle as he propped himself up with his pitchfork.

Maria grimaced and held up a finger to signal for them to wait until she caught her breath.

“Geez, Maria, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you move that fast before,” Max teased.

“Max…” Maria panted out. “Now’s really ….not…a good…time to…joke.”

Michael looked concerned. “What’s going on?”

Maria finally righted herself and straightened up to face Max and Michael.

“Well, I always have celebrity gossip updates emailed to me so I can check them on my blackberry,” she started.

Max was instantly on guard. “Just spit it out, Maria.”
She glared at him. “I’m getting to that princy-boy. You should really be nice to me considering the fact that today’s juicy gossip tidbit was that you were photographed fondling some dark-haired mystery bimbo at one of your retreats. They have a website link for the picture and everything.”

“Oh, fuck…fuck, fuck, fuck…”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Maria smirked. “That’s all you were thinking about at the time. Wait until the press realizes that your bimbo was Liz.”

“You mean they don’t know it’s her?” Max asked, mildly relieved by that interesting twist.

“Not yet. But it’s bound to come out. Especially since they were smart enough to look past your ‘clever’ disguise.”

Max thought quickly. He needed to avert this disaster quickly and the best way to keep Liz from finding out about him before he could tell her himself, was to keep her out of sight and that meant one thing.

Max turned to his best friend. “Michael, it looks like it’s time for phase 2 after all.”

******

Liz was starting to sense a pattern with Max. He’d give her an orgasm, end up with blue-balls and then ignore her for several days after.

It was really pissing her off.

So she decided that she was going to ignore him right back. Of course it might be more effective if they weren’t back on the shuttle going God knows where. She had given him the cold shoulder, doing everything in her power to pretend that it wasn’t driving her nuts that he wasn’t paying attention to her.

Too bad Max didn’t notice all of Liz’s efforts. He was too busy avoiding her.

Michael and Maria had disappeared together and were probably going at it in the back of the shuttle. Meanwhile Max was sitting up front with the pilot, which left Liz in the main cabin bored out of her mind with nothing to do but think. This really meant that she was over-thinking the whole Max thing.

What was his problem? It seemed like every time they would get close, he would pull back. And she didn’t mean just physically either.

Okay, so she understood that he was technically employed by the King and she was technically engaged to the King’s son. So it was possible that he was worried about what might happen to them if anyone had found out that they’d given into their attraction. But seriously…he shouldn’t be worried. She was a Princess, they wouldn’t starve. Well, maybe they would. Because unless she married Zan her planet was seriously lacking funds and resources.

Liz sighed out loud. She didn’t want to look at things that way. All she wanted was the chance to be with Max and explore all of the crazy things that he was making her feel. Was it so wrong to want to experience love before you were forced to submit to duty?

Shit. Life was terrible, Liz thought. It really and truly sucked.

*****

Max knew it was wrong to drug the woman that he was quite possibly in love with, but it couldn’t be helped. He needed her to sleep for awhile until his plan was set into motion.

First he had to convince Maria to go along with the plan. That included pretending that they had no forms of communication with civilization. Maria would have to forgo her celebrity gossip emails for a few days. Of course she’d also have to live with substandard sleep arrangements and less than stellar bathing facilities.

“Please, Maria,” Max begged. “It’s for a good cause.”

Maria shook her head. “No, Max. My makeup bag is for a good cause. You really don’t want to see me without it.”

“We should have drugged them both,” Michael muttered a little too loudly.

“I heard that. No sex for you. Especially if we have to sleep in crappy tents,” Maria directed at Michael with a glare.

“Uhm, yeah…about that. There’s only one tent,” Max explained.

“What?”

“It can’t look like this was planned.”

“Fucking great.” Now it was Maria’s turn to mutter. “You owe me big, Max. I don’t think you even understand how big. You’re making me lie to my friend.”

“Trust me, Maria. I do understand. It’s for a good cause. And if this works out, I’ll throw you the wedding of your dreams, no budget, everything you could possibly want.”

“Hey! We don’t need to talk weddings yet,” Michael interrupted.

“Shut up, Mikey. I’m listening to Max bribe me. You can talk when he’s done,” Maria told her reluctant boyfriend with a grin.

Max smiled. Okay, so Maria was a go. Now for the rest of it.

*******
Liz knew something was wrong before her eyes were even fully opened. It felt like the whole shuttle was shaking and she snapped to full attention when she realized that something was attached to arm like a vice grip.

Her eyes took in the sight of Maria, in the seat next to her looking like she was going to wet her pants.

“What’s going on? I’ve obviously missed something,” Liz commented as the shuttle jerked violently again. Her attempt at humor seemed weak just then.

“Engine trouble. Max and Michael are trying to land the shuttle,” Maria explained. Her eyes were closed and she was sitting stiffly in her seat, gripping both Liz’s arm and the chair’s armrest as if her life depended on it.

“Why are Max and Michael trying to land the shuttle? What happened to the pilot?” Liz felt panic start to seep in and she quickly tried to push it away and remain calm.

“Max is the pilot. We dropped the other one off while you were sleeping and Max took over because it wasn’t supposed to be a long flight.” Maria paused and took a deep breath as the shuttle shook and jerked again. “Liz, would you do me a favor? Look out the window and tell me we’re not flying over any large bodies of water.”

Liz’s eyes grew big with the implication of Maria’s words. “I don’t want to look. You look,” Liz told her friend as she settled into a pose to match Maria’s.

“Come on, Liz. I want to be prepared. Tell me.”
Liz turned her head towards the shuttle window and glanced out quickly. To her immense relief she didn’t see any water anywhere. “No water,” she quickly assured her friend.

Suddenly Max’s voice came through over the intercom. “Sit tight ladies. We’re about to make an emergency landing.”

He sounded relatively calm, which helped calm Liz and if she was honest with herself, she was fine if she ignored all of the shaking and bumps. She could hear the luggage moving around overhead and then Maria started screaming as they felt the shuttle start to lose altitude rather quickly. Liz bit her lip hard to keep from joining her friend’s enthusiastic vocals.

The shuttle continued to shake and jolt and Liz noticed that the overhead luggage compartments had come unlatched. It was like watching things in slow motion as she saw their things start to fly out, falling directly towards her and Maria. She moved instinctively, pushing Maria down and out of the way. She didn’t even feel what happened next. Instead, everything went black.


******
Max and Michael got the shuttle landed at the intended awkward angle. With a little bit of help from Michael’s voodoo magic powers they jammed the radio and toasted the engine. Max was pretty pleased with the results. Now all they had to do was ‘survive’ in the wilderness until they were rescued by the search party he’d hired to find them in three days.

“Michael, go tell Maria she can stop screaming now,” Max instructed.

Michael shook his head. “I told you we should have drugged her too.”

Both men got up and made their way to the main cabin. Maria’s screaming was more panicked now and Max could make out the frantic way she was saying Liz’s name. His heart lurched up in his throat. And when they stepped inside and he saw Maria leaning down over Liz’s body his felt like he’d been knocked in the gut.

“Shit! What happened?” Michael asked, quickly going to Maria’s side as she bent over Liz.

Max pushed them both aside, getting on his knees next to Liz. There was a large bleeding gash on Liz’s forehead and she wasn’t moving.

Maria was crying in earnest now. “This was a stupid idea, Max. Stupid,” she bit out. “Liz woke up while we were ‘crashing’ and you idiots didn’t think to secure the stuff in the overhead compartments. It flew out and Liz pushed me down to keep me from getting hit and then she got hit instead.” Maria’s tears subsided a little, only to be replaced with pent up rage. “So help me, Max, if something happens to her because of this…” The threat tapered off.

Max wasn’t even paying attention Maria’s rant. His hands were moving over Liz’s body, trying to get a sense of the damage so that he could heal her. “I can fix her,” he whispered. He would heal her and she would be fine, he told himself.

His hands moved to her temples and he tried to form the connection, but he couldn’t. “She’s got to open her eyes,” he choked out. “I can’t heal her unless she opens her eyes.”

As he gently stroked her temples with his thumbs he silently willed her to open her eyes even as he spoke softly encouraging her to do so. He was rewarded with a flutter of eyelids and then he was in.

The connection flared to life and he quickly took care of the superficial wounds. As he did this he was bombarded with flashes, images of Liz from her childhood that were like a slideshow of her life. For a moment he was distracted by the beautiful brown haired child dancing in a cupcake dress, but he felt something tugging on his mind and he quickly pushed the images aside to concentrate on healing the cut on Liz’s forehead. As he felt the flesh knit back together he sensed that it wasn’t the most severe part of Liz’s injury. He probed further and discovered that the tissue in her brain was swelling, probably from the blow to the head. It was a concussion and he worked quickly trying to repair the damaged nerves and decrease the swelling.

It felt like it was taking forever for the healing to be complete and Max was using up his strength, giving it to Liz to help her heal faster. He knew that he’d never used this much energy to heal before and he could sense the strain it caused his own body.

He vaguely registered Michael’s voice telling him to stop, to rest…but he couldn’t, not until he was sure that Liz was okay.

His last thought before he passed out was that this was a hell of a way for Liz to find out that he was royalty.