by A. K. Evans
But because of the lack of sleep from the previous night, I was exhausted. I felt myself drifting in my spot on the couch in front of the television. That was the last thing I remembered, which led me to the conclusion I made just a few moments ago about how I’d ended up in the guest bedroom knowing I didn’t walk here myself.
I let my day with Max filter through my brain for a couple more minutes before I decided it was time to get up and get moving. After taking care of business in the bathroom and throwing on a pair of leggings and a cute top, I made my way downstairs.
I was surprised to see that Max wasn’t in the kitchen. Initially, I thought he might still be sleeping, but I saw a glass in the sink that wasn’t there last night. So, once I poured myself a cup of coffee, I went in search of him.
Normally, I’d have been hesitant roaming around someone’s house; however, I’d been given specific instructions by the owner himself to make myself at home. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to find Max so I could say ‘good morning’ to him.
Max’s home was, much like mine, very large. But where mine had lots of modern, contemporary upgrades, Max’s didn’t. In fact, it seemed that his home had what I could only assume were custom upgrades. And it struck me then that while some of the upgrades were something that added to the home’s aesthetic, most of them were uniquely-made practical upgrades.
I was just about to pass by a closed door when I heard a sound that I assumed could only be coming from Max. I knocked gently, but there was no answer. Listening closely, I confirmed that he was, in fact, behind the door. But he sounded far away, and I had no idea what he was doing. There were noises coming from him that made me think he might be hurt.
Once I heard him let out what sounded like another grunt of pain, I decided it was best to go in. Opening the door, I found that I’d located his basement. Other than a flight of steps, there was no longer a barrier between the sounds coming from Max and my ears.
I descended the stairs quickly, gravely concerned about him. But when he came into view, I realized I shouldn’t have gone searching for him.
Because now I was standing there, holding a cup of coffee in my hand, staring at a half-naked Max. His back was to me. I should have turned around and gone right back up the stairs. But I didn’t. I couldn’t peel my eyes away from the sight of him before me.
He was working out.
He was wearing a pair of black gym shorts and nothing else.
His body was large.
Solid.
So incredibly gorgeous.
Max was, without question, the most beautiful man I’d ever seen in my life.
And with each punch he landed on the punching bag, I marveled at the sheer power behind them. My eyes were riveted to the wide frame of his upper body, the muscles contracting with each of his movements. I was struggling to catch my breath at the vision of him before me.
It wasn’t until I realized I was no longer looking at Max’s back, but his front instead, that I snapped out of it. Of course, I gave myself a very small window of time to truly appreciate his chest and abdomen. Max wasn’t super lean and ripped with a six-pack. He was simply…large. Thick. Manly.
I just barely stopped myself from drooling when my eyes left Max’s torso and moved to his face. He was giving me a sly grin.
“Good morning, old man,” I greeted him.
He let out a laugh and shook his head as he walked over to me with a smile on his face. “Good morning, Ella.”
His voice. My God. His voice saying my name like that first thing in the morning was everything I could have imagined and more. Between that and the scent of him, all sweat and masculine and utterly divine, it was more than my poor senses could handle.
“Did you sleep okay?” he asked.
I found it difficult to speak with a parched throat, but I managed to rasp, “Yeah.”
Max didn’t respond. He stood there breathing heavy with sweat running down his body.
I needed to do something. Anything. So I said, “I’m assuming you carried me to bed last night. Thank you for making sure I didn’t spend the night on the couch.”
“Wait. You don’t remember me carrying you to bed last night?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No.” When Max didn’t immediately respond, I started to get a little nervous. “What?” I asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Through a full-blown grin, Max shared, “You begged me to take you to my bed.”
I gasped. “I did not!”
“You did,” he insisted, his tone serious.
I mustered up my most chilling look and replied, “I don’t believe you.”
Max laughed. “Okay. But you did.”
I needed to change topics, so I quickly declared, “Well, I wanted to do something to show my appreciation for everything you’re doing for me, so I was going to ask you if you’d like me to make breakfast this morning. But now I’m reconsidering it.”
He shrugged and began walking past me toward the stairs. “That’s alright. I’m going to go grab a shower now. When I’m done, I can make my own breakfast. I’m feeling like some eggs and bacon today. And I’ll even be nice and make some for you, too.”
As Max climbed the stairs ahead of me, I wanted to growl my frustration at him. But I didn’t. Instead, I just watched him.
What could I say? He had a fantastic backside.
While Max showered, I made bacon and eggs. It was thirty minutes after our standoff in the basement when Max and I were sitting down to eat breakfast. I’d just shared how amazed I was at the sheer amount of snow that was outside. The worst of the storm was over, but we were still expected to get another two or three inches of accumulation throughout the day. Max told me that he planned to go out early the next morning to start plowing the driveways.
“Driveways?” I questioned him with a piece of bacon held between my fingers.
“Some of the neighbors,” he explained after swallowing a forkful of eggs. “Everybody gets out and does what they can with their snow blowers. But I’ve got a plow, as does one other neighbor. So, we try to help out.”
I liked hearing that. Even though Max had irrevocably proven just how compassionate he was by allowing me to stay with him, hearing him share that I’d essentially moved into a community where the people cared about one another like that warmed my heart.
“It’s such a great group of people who live here,” I felt compelled to share.
Max let out a laugh and warned, “You might rethink that after I tell you about the conversation I had with Walt earlier this morning.”
My brows pulled together. I couldn’t imagine what Walt would have said that would make me think ill of him. He was such a sweet man. “What did he say?” I wondered.
“He might be older, but Walt’s a tough, capable guy,” Max began. “Even still, I like to check in on him and Betty for my own peace of mind. I called over there this morning to make sure they were doing okay. Walt insisted I should be calling to check on you instead of him. That’s when I shared that you were staying here with me.”
Uh oh. I braced for whatever Max was going to share next.
“Walt didn’t even respond to me. He shouted out to Betty and told her. That woman was over the moon when she heard.”
I dropped my head back and looked to the ceiling. “So now they’re going to think something is going on between us,” I surmised.
“Yep,” Max agreed with a big, beaming smile on his face.
I returned my gaze to him and found he didn’t seem the least bit bothered by that fact. When I cocked an eyebrow at him, he just laughed at me. Not surprisingly, I found myself needing to switch gears once again and find something else to talk about.
“So, the whole state is essentially shut down right now?” I asked.
“Pretty much, especially up here in the northern part. All the businesses are basically closed until further notice, which likely won’t be until the power is back. But the coastal towns weren’t hit nearly as
hard, so they’ll be back up and running before we are,” he explained, seemingly unbothered by the fact that I’d led the discussion elsewhere.
“And when will you have to go back to work?” I pressed.
“Probably not for another month,” he said as though he were guessing.
I shook my head in disbelief. “Another month? Where do you work?”
Smiling at me, Max asked, “Have you ever heard of King Enterprises?”
“No,” I answered.
“Family business. Contracting and construction. It’s the largest in Maine and in the highest demand. My great-grandfather started it years ago. His son, my dad’s dad, took it over from him. He had two sons, my dad and my uncle, who took it over from him. And now, I own it with my cousin.”
Worried that I’d possibly brought up painful memories, my voice was soft when I stammered, “Your dad…is he still—”
“He’s alive,” Max cut me off and eased my worries. “But it’s a physically demanding job, and he’s getting older. It’s always been something he loves to do, so he still shows up at job sites, but he’s out of it in the official sense. He and my mom are enjoying their golden years. And they deserve that because he worked hard to provide for us, while my mom worked hard to raise her family.”
“Do you have any siblings?” I asked.
“An older sister named Courtney,” he shared.
“She’s not in the family business?” I guessed.
Max shook his head. “No. She didn’t want to be involved with it. Dad gave her the option, and she decided against it. When our parents pass, she’ll get a larger share of the inheritance so it all equals out in the end.”
Something dawned on me then. “Did you build this house?” I wondered.
“I bought the house that was here, demolished it, and rebuilt the entire thing.”
I looked around the house at all of the intricate, yet gorgeous details. “It’s really beautiful,” I praised him.
“Thank you,” he replied. “It was a lot of work, but I don’t regret any of it.”
The minute I got some time alone I was going to open my laptop and research King Enterprises. I wanted to know more about Max but didn’t want to start a conversation that would likely lead to him asking about my work again.
“So, how do you plan to spend your day today, old man?”
Max’s voice was low when he leaned toward me and returned, “I haven’t quite figured that out yet, darling.”
Gosh, I seriously loved hearing him call me that.
I put my elbow up on the counter, rested my chin in my hand, and asked, “Care to play a game?”
Looking intrigued, Max replied with a devilishly handsome grin, “Absolutely.”
For the next several hours, Max and I laughed our asses off while we played Catchphrase: Uncensored. He thought it was great, mostly because I seemed to be the one who kept getting all of the naughty words. He’d know it, too, because apparently I blushed every single time. It eventually got to a point where he started calling out random, inappropriate words in an effort to save me from my embarrassment. It was the most I’d laughed in a very long time, and even though I didn’t share it with him, I couldn’t have been more grateful to Max for giving that to me.
After we had lunch, I asked Max if he’d mind me using his gym to get a workout in. I didn’t work out nearly as often as I probably should have, but there was entirely too much sexual tension between us. I was afraid if I didn’t do something to release some of it, I’d combust. Max, in true Max fashion, had no problem with me using his gym equipment.
Following my workout, which did little to help the ache between my legs, I ran up to the guest bathroom and showered. It was still too early for dinner by the time I finished, so I got on my computer and worked for a bit. I had some emails to deal with and a few tech-related issues to handle. One of my apps was my meal ticket and required regular monitoring. I found that if I set aside a little bit of time every day, I was able to manage it well. I had one other app that was nearly as successful, so I put just as much effort into that one as well. While I had a handful of other apps that I’d developed that did well, they weren’t essential to my survival. So, I took on tasks for those as I had the time. Generally, any issues with those weren’t nearly as pressing. Thankfully, there weren’t any tasks that were overly daunting that I needed to tend to for any of my apps today, so I was able to get my work done relatively quickly.
By the time I descended the stairs again, I found Max already in the kitchen making dinner. “You should have called up to me,” I claimed. “I would have come down and helped you prepare everything.”
“It’s alright. I’ve got it tonight,” he assured me. “You can take charge tomorrow considering I’ll be out all day handling the snow removal.”
“That works for me. What’s for dinner?” I asked.
“Chicken and cheese quesadillas.”
“Sounds fantastic.”
Twenty minutes later, Max held a plate out to me and ordered, “Couch.”
“What?” I asked, taking the plate from him.
“Dinner and a movie,” he explained.
I had no doubt I was going to cry. While I knew it was just because we were stuck inside and Max was who he was, I was overwhelmed with joy at the thought of what felt like a real date with him.
Maybe I was crazy for looking at this like it was a date, especially considering Max hadn’t indicated it was anything more than just a friendly dinner with the neighbor he was helping. But I couldn’t help myself because this was my idea of a perfect date. I didn’t need the fancy dinners out at a restaurant or flowers before he picked me up to take me somewhere special. This was all I needed. The company of a great man. If good food was part of the equation, that made it even better.
Doing my best to swallow past the lump in my throat, I followed Max into the great room.
He set his plate down and snatched the remote off the coffee table as he sat down right next to me. No sooner did he open the menu on the television when I saw where he was headed. My body got tight as I started to panic. Max noticed, stopped what he was doing, and called, “Ella?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I tried my best to appear calm and collected when I responded, “What? Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” he pressed.
I gave him a nod.
I didn’t know if he believed me, but he redirected his attention to the television once again. He did it speaking. “Do you have a preference for a movie?”
Shaking my head, I said, “Not really. Horror isn’t exactly my thing, but I’ll watch just about anything else.”
Max scrolled through a few movies, but ultimately decided on a great one: Ocean’s Eleven.
“Have you seen this before?” he asked.
I smiled and replied, “I love it.”
Satisfied with my answer, he swapped out the remote for his plate and crossed his legs at the ankles on the table. I took a cue from him and did the same. Then, we settled in and ate dinner while we watched a great movie.
I didn’t know if it was because I’d gotten so into the movie or not, but roughly ten minutes after I set my empty plate on the coffee table, I was caught off guard. Max threw his arm behind my head and his hand landed on my opposite shoulder. He didn’t hesitate to curl me into his body. My hand flew to his abdomen.
“Max,” I hesitated, looking up at him. “Um, what—”
“Relax, darling,” he urged, his voice gentle. His eyes remained focused on the television.
When he said it like that, I couldn’t not relax. Besides, it wasn’t like I didn’t enjoy being that close to him. We continued to watch the movie, and everything was great. But, once again, I was thrown when right before the heist actually started, Max shifted us on the couch. The next thing I knew, I was laying down in front of Max, the front of his body pressed into the back of mine. His hand was draped over my hip.
> I loved everything about the way it felt.
So, I didn’t move. I didn’t try to protest. I didn’t say anything. I simply enjoyed being there, with him, watching a movie.
And in the end, when Danny Ocean won back his ex-wife, Tess, I rolled to my back and looked up at Max.
“He got her back,” I stated.
Max’s eyes searched my face briefly before he asserted in a low tone, “You’re so beautiful.”
My lips parted in shock. I hadn’t expect his response.
“I really want to kiss you, Ella,” he went on. “I’ve wanted to kiss you since I showed up on your doorstep two days ago.”
I didn’t know what I was thinking when I instantly blurted, “I’ve wanted to do a lot more than just kiss you ever since I saw you outside your house working on it a month after I moved in next door.”
With that statement, Max dropped his head and crushed his mouth to mine.
Apparently, Max was thinking similar thoughts to mine earlier. This was a first real date for us.
And evidently, we both kissed on the first date.
Eleanor
Max was an extraordinary kisser.
The instant his lips touched mine and his tongue swept into my mouth, I felt something come over me. Kissing him was like nothing I’d ever experienced with anyone else. I knew that was special. It had to be something more than just first-date excitement.
I truly hoped it was the start of something incredible. I wanted it to be the beginning of a chance at a real relationship. A chance at love. For me, Max was the total package. He was handsome. So very handsome. He was kind and compassionate. Evidently, he was the best kisser in the world. But most of all, he made me laugh. Nobody had ever made me laugh the way Max did.