Max let the silence fall between them as he let the question hang in the air. He didn’t even understand it himself. He was so driven before that he didn’t understand the growing need he had to see her more. She was a former student and now someone he had chosen to be his assistant. He couldn’t help but be drawn to her like he was four years prior except this time he wouldn’t have that conflict because of everything was different now. She was older. Deanna really looked confused about the conversation.
“Come, princess, I think we have a few things to talk about.” Max said as he picked up the receipt for the meal. He stood up and then went over to Deanna and helped her out of her chair. A hand at her back as they walked out to see the sunset playout in the sky. He looked down at the tiny woman by his side. As he saw people looking at the two of them and smiled at the pair he thought that it was that she was so far out if his league they thought it was funny.
“Max what are you talking about?” Deanna asked as she looked up to him. He led her to his car and repeated the process of getting her in it. “Where are we going?”
“To the park by the river.” He stated, “It will give us some privacy and won’t interfere with the conversation.”
“What do we have to talk about?” She asked again as he dodged the question again by trying to keep his attention on the road while driving. As soon as he got to the parking lot however that attention was completely on her.
“Come.” He said as he got out of the car and waited for her to get out as well. He didn’t want to be to close to her right then. He could barely think when she was by his side. He led the two to a small bench on the bank of the river. It was a picturqese place and with the sunset painting the sky with tones of red and purple with a dash of orange it was reflecting on the water. “I think we need to talk about the job and the rules we should establish for ourselves.”
“Rules for the job?” Deanna was now thoroughly confused. She had been when Max had kissed her. She had been throughout dinner as he avoided the conversation. Now she was completely lost. Why would they have to have rules because of their job. She was there to grade papers and get her credit.
“Certain ones at least.” Max said and his voice lowered slightly. He was looking at the river and not at her. “I shouldn’t have kissed you but I won’t apologize for it.”
“I didn’t expect you too.” She said as she was somewhat hurt that he said that. It was one thing to have the crush on your teacher when you are in the class. Having that teacher kiss you years later in a nice moment was something she could have lived on for years. It was almost a slap in the face to have him say he shouldn’t have done it in the first place.
“I don’t think you understand, Deanna.” He said as he paused, “Now that I have done that I want to more.”
“What?” she asked as her head snapped back to look at him.
“I shouldn’t have kissed you because I want to more. There is nothing in my brain telling me to hold back.” Max said as he took her reaction in. She had been surprised when he said the truth. The simple truth that he wanted to kiss her again was a shock to her. That about broke him. he reacted with action instead of words. He kissed her again. His hands went to her lower back and the crept around her tiny body to the opposite side and pulled her closer to him.
All the demons he had snapped from their leashes when she touched his face softly and then ran her fingers through his hair.
He groaned but continued to put the pressure on her mouth. He could barely register where they were anymore. He moved her even closer and her mouth opened slightly. He found himself delving deeper and deeper into her. He pulled back slowly and then he looked down at her. “God, Deanna.”“Max.” she said softly as she reached up and pulled him back.
“Not here.” He said softly. “Come back to my house.”
“What?” she asked.
“Come back to my house.” He pleaded with her. He felt he was on fire. Desire was leaching into his blood. “Not to have sex. But to take this a little bit further. Something we can’t do here.”
“Are you sure?” Deanna asked as she looked into his eyes. They were burning in a way she had never seen before.
“Yes.” He said as he stood and then he tried to move quickly. “Deanna we do need to talk but I can’t think here.” Max said. He smiled at her as she placed her hand in his. He wanted to throw her over his shoulder and run back to his house and throw her in his bed. He knew he had to take a step back and give her time. This was not like him. He needed an ice bath. There was something about her that made his blood boil.
The car ride to his house was short. It was only a few streets over. As soon as the garage door shut he was out of the car and around the car to help her out of the seat. When he opened the door he took her hand and brought her into his house. He led her through the house to the couch in the back and looked at her as she was looking around with a soft smile on her face.
He watched her as she took in the bare walls and the empty spaces around the place. When her sky colored eyes turned to him he wanted nothing more than to take her right there in the middle of the room.“Max?” Deanna asked as she took a step closer. “Why am I really here?”
“We need to talk.” He said softly. “I don’t know if you can be my assistant. I find myself in a weird position that I don’t know how to navigate.”
“And that is?” Deanna asked as she took one more step closer to him. She found herself looking at him and getting lost in those amber eyes that were still burning as they looked at her.
“I want you.” He said as he tried to control himself. He knew he had to let her make the decisions. Max was trying to stand still. “I wanted you for the moment I saw you in the doorway to my office.”
“Wait. You want me so you don’t know if I can work for you?” Deanna asked as she tilted her head, “Are you pranking me or something. That has to be a joke right?”
“No joke. No prank.”
He said softly, “I want you in every possible way, sweetheart. I want you in a way I haven’t wanted anyone else. It hurts.”“Are you serious?” Deanna asked.
“Very.” He said as he lowered his mouth to hers now that she was right in front of her.
“You said you didn’t want to have sex.” Deanna said as he pulled up slightly.
“I don’t. Not tonight at least. Deanna I want to take you out on dates, plural, before that happens. I don’t know if I can work with you as well.” Max said and she smiled at him. It was a the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.
“You can.” She laughed, “I think I would like that Max.”
“You would?” he asked, “You do realize that it won’t be easy being around me. That I won’t treat you any differently while we are there at the building.”
“I don’t care about that.” Deanna said as she looked at him, “I thought working with you would be hard enough.”
“You did why?” he asked as he moved his hands to her sides.
“Because Max you remember the time I tried to talk to you. I felt totally like a reject after that. I admired your work and I couldn’t even speak to you.” Deanna replied remembering that horrible day. It was one of those defining moments for her. It was when she stopped trying to talk to men. She still did talk to them but not in the way that could be taken as she liked them. She hadn’t found another person she had felt good enough to try to talk to that way.
“You were adorable that day.” Max said. His hand tracing her face softly.
“I was what?” she asked as she looked at him and leaned into the touch on her face.
“You were adorable that day. I had already thought so, sweetheart. The problem was I couldn’t do anything with you then even if I wanted too. You were too young and I was your professor. That is a line I won’t cross.” Max said with a grin, “But now I guess I can blur the line enough.”
“Just blur it?” She asked as he kissed her again and brought her to the couch as he did.
“Maybe a little more than blur it.” He whispered on her lips as he continued to kiss her. “I think that we should distract ourselves or I will do something more than I want too. Tv?”
“Max I should probably go home.” She said and he looked at her. He had forgot where she lived and the slight argument about her apartment that they had earlier. There was no way he was going to allow her to go home now.
“Stay.” He whispered as he tried to distract her from leaving. “You can have my bed. I’ll sleep out here. I’ll take you home in the morning.”
“Max.” she said softly. She sighed as she tried to think through the kiss he had landed. “Fine.”
“Good girl.” He whispered as he turned the TV on but kept his attention on her for the rest of the evening.
The next morning Max knew that he was in trouble. The sight of her in one of his dress shirts when she woke up and came out of his bedroom made him feel slightly feverish. Her hair somewhat wild and displaced was beyond sexy to him. When she looked at him and then came back out with her pants on, but his shirt tied around her to make it fit better, he couldn’t breathe.“Do you want to go to your place or the office?” he asked when he could find his voice. He had to swallow a few times before words would come out of his mouth. He couldn’t believe that after all his time working to build himself into what he was now, this little woman was just standing before him, and he couldn’t even speak.Max had grown up with an older brother that was the best at everything. His brother never had to try with people, he never had a lack of words, he also got the best of
Two hours in being in the office, she had two of the stacks moved and reorganized. The file boxes she had found in the nearly empty room three doors down had helped. She was going to put the papers he had that had no place on the floor in those boxes. As she was sorting them into sections to help his classes and his homework schedule to make everything easier for him later on. Deanna could hear the two voices in the hall as they were getting closer. One started to trail off, and another was getting louder. Max looked up and sighed.“Ready?” he asked softly. Deanna turned to him and asked him with a look. “It is one of those students.”“Wonderful,” Deanna said softly as she rolled her eyes. She went back to restacking the books on the bookshelf in a different way to be able to place more of them up there. When the girl breezed into the room and looke
Deanna was thinking as she sorted out the different files of papers Max had lying around in his office. She began to wonder what exactly he really wanted out of this possible relationship. He didn’t seem the type to mess around with a person without having a reason and plan behind it. Though he had basically eluded to the fact, he had not had any relationships in the past few years and zero ones with any students. He wanted something from her. It was there every time he looked at her. Every stolen kiss. He wanted something, and she didn’t know what.Deanna had no practical experience when it came to dealing with men. She had dated before, but after a few dates, they lost interest in her. She had started to believe she was just too boring to really date. Being driven to want to do good things to prepare for life after college had given her a label of being prudish. She really hadn’t found any
As the day progress, he finished his paperwork for the week with the detective job. Unless something major came up, he was left with giving his three lectures on Thursday and the last three on Friday, which he was planning on Deanna sitting in the classes to introduce herself to the class and also so she could learn the class over again. He was looking forward to hearing her analyze the new class from the old one. As a scientist, she would be on the one to compare the two and find though the assignments from the newer class were more detailed, and there was a paper required every week the class she took was more in-depth and more detailed.He had been thinking that there should be a follow up to this class and thought maybe he could work it in at some point, but again he was at a loss when it came to getting anything done with the school. If he was going to continue being a professor, he knew he had to make s
“Don’t you think that might be a tad too much?” Deanna asked as she looked up at him. “I mean, we have to work together, now I will be living in your house, and.”“And it is our house currently with you living here as well.” He cut her off. “No, I want you out of that place, and I will be helping you get out of there as quickly as possible.”“You know you are rushing things, right?” she laughed. “Most people don’t ask someone to move into to their house buy trying to cut the rent in half that they are paying.”“You can do other things around the house to make up for the lack of money. Hell, I really don’t want your money, but I figured you would be stubborn and require to pay something to make it fair.”
Max looked at the door and went to it. His mother had taken a step into the yard. She looked at Deanna and didn’t know what to say to her. As Max opened the door and walked in. He saw the state of the house. Though it was perfectly fine on the outside of the house, the inside looked like a hoarder's dream. His mother had never been a collector of anything as long as he could remember. Neither had been his father. The sight was something he couldn’t believe.Max walked back into the back of the house. He was walking through the hallway to get back there. He was shocked when he reached the room that they used as a rec room. There was more in there, and he went to the bedrooms. He went to the one that his brother had and somehow wasn’t surprised when he opened the door and found his parent's things in it. He stalked to the master bedroom and threw open the door.“
“Can you repeat that?” Max asked as he blinked a few times. He had to make sure he had heard her correctly.“She thinks you are married,” Deanna repeated as she looked at him. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He had to say something, but again, he was at a loss for words.“I’m not.” He said as he looked down. “I have never been married.”“I figured.” She said as she laughed a bit, “I think your brother told them something to the effect.”“They never said anything to me,” Max said as he started toward the house. He walked in and looked at his mother. “I’m not married.”“You’re aren’t?” his mother said as she blinked her eyes wide now.
They were both exhausted by the time they got back to the house. Neither of them had thought about eating since mid-day, and as they pulled up to the house, Deanna’s stomach let out a huge growl. To which he turned to her and laughed, “I will order something to eat. After your classes tomorrow we will go and get some food. Thursday, when we start moving some of your stuff here, it will fall into a normal schedule.”“I guess.” She said as she got out of the car. She didn’t want to say anything, but she was tired as the adrenaline had worn off, and her face hurt. She was a little dizzy, as well. She couldn’t tell if it was from not eating something, or it was from the hit she took. She didn’t want to upset him or get him going on about what she did and how it was rather dumb. She had known at the time that if things got bad, he woul