by C. P. Smith
My head shook no like a bobble head doll and I rose from my chair. No way could I handle working side by side with Max. It was cruel and unusual punishment, no matter which way you sliced it. So, self-preservation kicked in and my fight or flight response had me shouting “I quit,” as I bolted for the door.
Before I made it five feet, a strong arm wrapped around my waist, plastering me to a broad chest, as a rumbling voice announced, “We’ll be in touch,” and then hauled me out of the room.
“Put me down,” I begged as Max kept walking down the hall.
“Where’s your office?”
No way was he getting me alone so he could weave some kind of Max Magic over me and convince me to work for him.
No. Freaking. Way.
When I didn’t answer, he stopped, looked around, and then headed towards a supply closet at the end of the hall. Once in, he dropped me on my feet, shut the door, locked it, and leaned against it with his arms crossed, scowling at me.
Two could play that game, so I crossed my own and raised his scowl with a hip tilt and a foot tap.
“I am not working for you,” I explained snottily.
“Works for me,” he answered, “we can concentrate on making those ten kids.”
Seriously?
“I’m not making ten kids with you. I’m not doing anything with you. I told you in my text—”
“Annie’s a recovering alcoholic,” he broke in, stunning me silent. “I had no fuckin’ clue how she felt until I broke things off with her and it drove her to drink.”
“What?”
“I fucked up with both of you, Mia.”
I didn’t know what he was admitting to so I asked him.
“You “fucked up” with me by sleeping with her?”
“Christ, is that what you think happened?”
“Well, yeah,” I admitted.
“I fucked up with Annie because I thought it was casual on both sides. If I had known she had feelings for me, I never would have—”
“Ended things with her because you have feelings for her too?” There, it was out in the open now and he could admit to his feelings without worrying about my reaction.
However, Max looked stunned by my statement, but he didn’t stay that way long. He moved from stunned to pissed off in a blink of an eye.
“You haven’t heard a fuckin’ word I’ve said,” he bit out pushing off the door and advancing on me. His face was a portrait of anger as he closed the distance between us, backing me towards the wall.
“Max?” I squeaked, a tad worried by his approach.
When he reached me, I grabbed his jacket to stop my descent as I stumbled against the back wall. Trapping me to his chest, I tried to push off to gain distance, but he held me in place. Jaw clenched, eyes hot with anger, he took a deep breath and then let it out slowly while my own breath picked up its pace.
Then he let me have it with both barrels.
“You listen to me and listen with both ears for once. I took Annie home and stayed until she fell asleep. Out of guilt, do you hear me, nothin’ more. I wasn’t there when you drove past; I was with Buddy pickin’ up her car.”
“I’m supposed to believe—”
“You’re supposed to keep your mouth shut and listen,” he growled.
When I bit my lips to keep quiet, Max saw the move and then shook his head as he stared at my mouth.
“Jesus, I can’t even stay mad at you,” he whispered as he cupped my face with both hands. “I told you this twice already, but I see I need to tell you again . . . Ten days ago you stumbled off that plane and the life I led before that ceased to exist. All at once, there was nothing but you. But, you’re so fuckin’ busy hiding behind those glasses you can’t see the forest for the trees. I see you, Mia, I fuckin’ see you for the both of us, and you take my breath away like no one has before. Since I was old enough to know you existed, I’ve wanted nothing more than to find you, and here you are. Cute-ass tees, clumsy feet, with the heart of an angel and a passion for your work that spills over into everything you do. But, Mia, the reality of you, of how I feel now that I’ve found you . . . Christ, it far outweighs any dream. I see you, all of you, and wouldn’t change a thing. Now, I’m askin’ you to look at me, see me, see what we can have together and fuckin’ take what’s already yours.”
“You, you see me?” I asked through tears that had fallen.
“As crystal clear as your eyes,” he whispered as he wiped away my tears.
All my life I’d felt discordant with the rest of the world, invisible. I’d buried myself in my work like a force field of sorts, not letting people past. I guess all those years of playing by myself had taught me to be alone, but I hadn’t known, until just then, that I wanted someone to see me (a girlie girl who hated bugs and couldn’t walk a straight line) and to love me because of those flaws not in spite of them. That’s why I dated once or twice and moved on. No one saw me; they saw what they wanted to see. Boobs, ass, and hair. I’d wanted someone to see the whole package not just my assets.
“M, M, Max?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“I see you too, I have since first glance, but I had a moment of self-discovery this weekend,” I choked out. “Apparently, I don’t like to share you with other women and I may have overreacted a tiny bit, so I’m sorry I put you through that. But, that being said—”
“I’ve never been with a woman that drove me to distraction,” Max jumped in, “so distracted I lost focus on the job. Hell, the thought of another man lookin’ at you . . . that tied my gut into knots the first night. You’re mine, do you hear me, all of you, your hair, your tees, these arms and legs, and especially these sweet lips that drive me wild. They’re all mine, but I’m all yours. The only person you have to share me with is Muttley because I have no intention of sharing you.”
“What about Maxine?”
“Babe, whatever you do, don’t share me with Maxine,” he grinned.
The fire that had burned deep in my chest, suffocating me since I’d left Trails End, finally broke free and I could breathe. So, I cleared my throat because I had one last question I wanted to be answered. I’d already made up my mind, of course. However, if a man is willing to pour his heart out, it’s incumbent upon a woman to seize the opportunity while she can. Like a perfect storm, this was a rare occurrence.
“Why’d you set up a wildlife preserve?”
Max leaned in, ran his nose against mine, and then sealed my fate when he answered.
“When you find the right woman, you’ll do whatever it takes to make them happy and your bears make you happy. You wanted them protected, so I’m doin’ it.”
God, that was a great answer.
“Okay, you can kiss me now.”
“You sure, anything else we need to straighten out?”
“Actually, you could have kissed me at “I see you,” but who am I to stop a man on a roll.”
“Jesus, you’re gonna drive me mad.”
“Lucky for you Mad Max turns me on.”
“Lucky for you I’ve seen your ass and know it’s worth the amount of grief you’re gonna cause me.”
“I thought it was my clumsy ways?”
“Nope, it’s the whole package. Now, are we done?”
“My lips are yours.”
“Your lips, your ass, this hair, and especially these sexy glasses, don’t forget it.”
As if I could . . . Thor, God of Thunder, as sexy as he was, was also Max, King of the Mountain and King of my heart.
Seventeen
You stomp like Cowboy
“Baby, which one’s the key?” Max groaned.
My mouth was currently attached to his neck as my hand rubbed the length of his erection all while we stood outside my loft door.
After Max set me straight in the stock room, and I apologized profusely with my mouth in said stock room, we made our way back to my loft to continue what I’d started. The drive home had been an exercise in control or lack thereof. Ma
x, being a man, had insisted on driving back to my loft. However, every red light found my mouth on his as cars honked in frustration as red then turned to green. Once home, he parked in the back, hauled me out of my Jeep and then up the stairs to my second-floor loft. The cameras in the staircase, I have no doubt, have a recording that would be considered R-rated if anyone were to view them. And if he didn’t find the key soon, the cameras in the hallway outside my Loft were gonna record X-rated.
“Silver one,” I panted as my hand went up and then inside his pants.
“Jesus,” Max hissed as he stopped looking for the key so he could capture my mouth with his own.
Needing him inside me more than I needed air, I broke the kiss and ordered, “Give me the keys.”
Just as I inserted the right key, while Max was standing behind me revving my motor with his hands and mouth, my door ripped open and Jess, whom I hadn’t heard from in two days, stood on the other side smiling at us both. Dressed in jeans, an old concert tee and her signature boots, she opened the door wider and her smile grew as Max removed his hands from my breasts.
“I came to check on you after your meeting, but I can see all went well,” she laughed.
Mortified, I turned around and buried my head in Max’s chest as I attempted to button my blouse.
“Meeting went as planned,” Max gritted out as he waited for me to right my clothes. While I was there, I figured I better work some damage control on him so I started to tuck his shirt back into his pants. Max had other ideas.
“You stick your hand in my pants one more time and I’ll take you in front of Jess,” he whispered in my ear.
Yikes!
That stopped my hands and I turned back to Jess, avoiding her eyes. When Max was done adjusting things, he nudged my back so we could enter.
My loft was one bedroom with a huge open kitchen and living room. My decor was shabby garage sale that I spent my weekends restoring too shabby chic. I loved old furniture with chipped paint, and overstuffed couches with lots of throw pillows so you sank into them while you read. My only new furniture was a denim covered couch and chair that was so soft and squishy you weren’t likely to move unless your house was on fire. I had a long entryway with a wall at the end where I’d hung a huge old wood mirror, and right now, I intended to get a closer look at my appearance.
No doubt, I looked worse for wear since Max seemed to like my hair and made a point of always tangling his fingers through it. A quick look in the mirror told me I wasn’t wrong, so I tried to smooth it with my hands as we walked out of the hall.
“Waste of time,” Max whispered in my ear as he curled me into his side.
“I always look like I’ve been in a wind tunnel when you get through with me,” I complained.
“Get used it. Any opportunity I have, I’m gonna—”
Max stopped talking as we entered my living room because sitting on the couch was Brian Snodgrass, CPA.
“Mia, Max, this is Brian. Brian, this is my Mia Bear and her man, Max.”
“Brian, wow, nice to meet you, but I’m confused. I thought you were meeting tonight to have dinner?” I asked as we moved towards him.
“Well, when we arrived back on Friday I contacted Brian and we got together Friday night,” Jess explained.
Brian stood, shook Max’s hand, gave me a gentle hug, and then curled his arm around Jess’s shoulder drawing her to him.
“What Jess isn’t saying is that we haven’t been apart since Friday night,” Brian chuckled.
That got a responding chuckle from Max as he curled me into his side.
“So? Are you going back to Trails End?” Jess asked.
“Yeah, Max explained it would be in my best interest to return.”
“Told her she was returning didn’t you?” Jess asked.
“Yep,” Max agreed.
“Whatever, the point is I’m going back to supervise the removal of the bears from Grizzly Pointe to Max’s property. He’s setting up a private wildlife reserve that should satisfy any activist gunning to nationalize Grizzly Pointe and stop hunters from shooting at my bears.”
“How long will the removal take?” Jess asked.
“It depends on how quickly we can locate all the bears. We have to tranquilize them in order to move them and eight hundred pound bears aren’t easy to move. It requires cages, the manpower to lift the bears, not to mention securing the fence along Max’s property,” I explained.
“Well, count us in. I’ve been keeping up with Maxine and once I knew Max was on his way here and what he had planned, Brian and I discussed it and knew you would need help.”
“You’ve known for two days that Max was coming? Lucky for you I’m happy with the way things turned out,” I informed her. “But, your sister card has been flagged and is now under review.”
“My Aunt card, which requires I do my utmost to make sure you're happy, trumps the sister card, dear niece.”
Turning to Max, I asked him out of curiosity, “What does a man card entail?”
“You only earn a man card by not knowin’ what the fuck a man card is,” Max replied with a look of disgust.
“Right,” Brian jumped in looking equally concerned by the question.
Rolling my eyes at his Thor-ness, I moved to my kitchen and opened my fridge. Seeing I had no food, I turned back around and announced, “We can order pizza or go out.”
“Pizza,” both men replied as Max took off his suit jacket, loosened his tie, and rolled up his sleeves revealing his leather cuff. Underneath all that civilized clothing, the man he was and always would be showed itself. He was primal, almost dangerous, the sexiest and most fascinating man I’d ever met. And it still hadn’t sunk in completely that he flew all this way for me, geeky Mia with her cartoon tees. All that wanted me, just the way I am. If I lived to be a hundred, I’d never understand how I got so lucky. But, one thing I was certain of, I wouldn’t take it for granted and I sure as hell wouldn’t make the same mistake again. Leaving without letting him explain had been a mistake. I should have trusted him and not let my own insecurities about Annie cloud my judgment. Lesson learned.
The lush meadow, where our small pocket of grizzlies lived, has a sense of isolation about it. Though Trails End is a ten-minute drive by car, after a thirty-minute hike down on foot, you feel as if you’re the only person on earth when you’re out here.
Most grizzlies live alone, solitary creatures for the most part. Our bears, eleven of them by last count, stayed close to this meadow and made their winter dens not far from here. We’d arrived in Trails End at the end of September, just as the salmon run was ending. After losing fifty percent of their body weight during hibernation, our bears had spent all spring and summer eating, mating, and preparing for the coming winter months. In Alaska, the winter months come quicker than in the lower forty-eight. If we were going to move them, we needed to do it quickly so they had time to secure new dens for the winter. But, to do that, we had to locate them, isolate them one at a time, and then tranquilize them for the move.
Frank and Lucy had spent the last week tracking the bears to determine how many, size and color, and most importantly which one was the alpha male. Like humans, one male reigned supreme within this colony of bears, and Lucy had named him Cowboy for his swagger and brutish size.
Cowboy was a deep brown colored bear that weighed over a thousand pounds by our estimation. He wasn’t the oldest bear in the group, but he was by far the cockiest and most powerful of the males. And, without question, he’d be the last bear we moved.
Max had spent the last three days since our return outfitting a truck with a bear cage that could be pulled behind the truck and then driven through the gate, he’d had his men build into his fence that bordered Grizzly Pointe. The land Max owned had once been included in the bear’s territory until his grandfather bought it. Then, as years passed by, a fence was erected to keep the bears on their side to protect them as much as the humans who lived among them. Though the meadow encomp
assed a few miles of land, when you have young children roaming around, a few miles between you and a colony of bears wasn’t enough.
Ever the forward thinker, Max told me now that I was his, and that ten kids needed protecting (insert eye roll), he planned to put another fence around his house to keep those future children safe. And if Maxine had her way, that would be nine months from now (insert another eye roll).
It took me all of three days, not that I hadn’t seen it before, to realize I’d agreed to explore a lifetime with the dynamic duo, or was it Laurel and Hardy? No, more like Lewis and Martin, only Maxine was smarter. Anyway, I digress. What seemed humorous when I first meet them had now become old hat, and when they got started, I learned to walk out of the room and do my own thing while they went at it. Of course, Max always thought he won those arguments, but I knew better. No one told Maxine what she could or couldn’t do, including her son, and the sooner he figured that out, the lower his blood pressure would be.
Jess and Brian, true to their word, flew in last night and were heading up to Grizzly Pointe to help us with day one of removal and relocation. We’d kept in touch on Facebook and all seemed to be going well with Brian. Though, I was looking forward to seeing them in action.
I’d sent an email to my parents, who were traveling overseas, about my new job heading up the wildlife preserve for Max and SIOZ. I’d also mentioned that I’d finally met someone with whom I foresaw a future. It was easier to break it to them slowly that, barring any unforeseen fetishes, such as more than one wife, I’d eventually be making Alaska my permanent home. They’d been thrilled of course and couldn’t wait to hear all about it upon their return, though, they both questioned my sanity about living in a state with uneven terrain.
Day two of my return to Trails End I was once again in a situation with Max and Annie together. I’d driven up to his logging operation to talk to him about the bear cage and found him in the lumber yard with his hands on hips as she spoke. When he saw me pull in, he motioned me over. So, I walked over, uneasy, of course, until he’d pulled me in close as Annie watched.