I had a million questions to ask Max as he drove us to our dinner destination but I didn't ask a single one—well, except for where we were going but he wouldn't say.

I wasn't being coy.

I just had a feeling that once I started I wouldn't be able to stop and I knew how out of character this already was for Max.

We weren't ready for too many questions.

They'd send us running.

"Are we going where I think we're going?" I rolled down the window and gazed out at the narrow spit of land that stretched from the beach all the way to a rocky sort of island. At the base was a squat, stone-walled building which was the main restaurant, and towering next to it was Cobalt Bay's oldest light house, classic in its white body and red trim. It bore the evidence of literally weathering time, having stood in the same spot for just a little over a century now, but it was charming and captivating in its age.

"Paige tells me all the time that it's a major pain in the ass to get a table here so I gave up pestering her to go," I told Max as we rolled up to the entrance where a couple of sharply dressed doormen and a valet waited with a smile. He handed his key to the valet as he got out but waved him off when the man had been about to walk around the car to get my door.

I fought the instinct to just open the door myself because I had perfectly functional hands, sensing that Max wanted to impress.

"Welcome to The Lighthouse," he said, probably stealing the doorman's opening line, as he took my hand and helped me out of the car.

I must've had a ridiculously pleased look on my face because he softly chuckled as he tucked my hand around his arm.

"I remember you mentioning it in passing and there was something different in your voice," he said as he led us toward the corded entrance which the doormen hastily undid without even asking for our names.

"It could've been just a scratch in my throat," I attempted with an indifferent shrug.

Max rolled his eyes. "I sometimes worry that you wear your heart on your sleeve too much but I can't deny how it makes life so much easier for me."

I feigned some indignation. "You mean you're just too lazy to figure it out yourself?"

He just sent me back a challenging look. "You mean you're that easy to figure out?"

I smirked. "Touché."

"I hope you won't be disappointed," Max said as we made our way down the stone path that trailed the entire length of the spit—probably a good fifty feet long at the very least. Tall, rustic steel torches stood like sentinels along the edges, causing the water around us to shimmer a pale gold. "God knows how far your imagination can go."

I smiled. "I can be fanciful but I'm not above googling a restaurant. It's very luxurious inside and the reviews are all glowing."

"Well, we're not quite going to the restaurant," Max said.

"We're not?"

"No."

"Where else can we be going past this? Straight into the water?"

Max grinned. "To The Lighthouse."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I know that. But you said we're not going to the restaurant."

"We're not," he insisted. "We're going to The Lighthouse."

"Max!" I was getting irritated in my confusion. "Now's not the time to be cryptic. Where else can we go but The Lighthouse—"

I followed the direction my hand was pointing and the words sank in. "Oh. Oh. You're talking about the lighthouse."

"That's right."

I stared at him in amazement. "But the actual lighthouse isn't really open to the public."

"That's right as well."

"Then what the—"

"But it's open to the privileged few who could use the privacy and well afford it," he added just as he steered us off the main path after we reached the restaurant grounds. Another well-dressed doorman of some sort greeted us just around the corner. He escorted us into the base of the tower which was quite well-appointed for a hundred-year-old building. Then he stepped back and let me gaze up—all the way up to the top of the white spiral staircase that seemed to go on forever.

"Um," Max said as he stood next to me, looking at the same thing. "I honestly didn't think this part through. I just thought they'd have an elevator or something."

I laughed, touched by his candidness. "Not to worry. I wore flats. And I'm sure if the food's supplied by the restaurant, I'd need all those steps down to keep the pounds off."

"I can carry you."

"Now you're just showing off," I scoffed, bending down to pinch the hem of my skirt. With some effort to keep it from bunching up and wrinkling, I tucked the corner on my waistband, freeing my ankles while still covering my left leg from the thigh up.

I looked up to find Max watching me with some curious amusement and I extended my hand to him. "Shall we?"

Max took my hand with a smile and led us up the narrow stairs.

I have to admit it wasn't easy.

I estimate a hike up the Himalayas would only be slightly harder.

Considering that my daily cardio consisted of typing on a keyboard, I quickly became short of breath. We had to stop a couple times along the way to let me catch up and Max wisely said nothing. He didn't seem the least bit winded but he was in prime physical form. He probably ran up and down the Himalayas when he felt like a little warm-up.

The view, the setting, the entire experience—it was all worth it.

Even with the massive beacon light in the centre, there was enough room for a small table to be set for two. We had a 360-degree view, half of it the city, the other half the fiery sea as the sun descended. Basking in both the warm candlelight and the starry evening, Max and I dined on a small selection of exquisitely good food left warm on a serving table. We served ourselves and I appreciated how it seemed just a touch magical but still comfortably casual. Max surprised me by telling me a little about his last few days—a quick day trip to New York and then Miami for business, an entire day of litigation for a stunted deal, a meet and greet with the immigrant families he'd sponsored housing for, and a private pool party with a visiting Saudi Arabian prince.

"What about you?" he said with a smile. We just finished an exceptionally delicate serving of raspberry frangipane tarts for dessert and drinking the last of our wine. "What have you been doing?"

I couldn't help a sheepish smile. "Writing. Just listening to you now though, I'm starting to realize how small my world is."

Max took my hand, his thumb rubbing the pulse on my wrist. "I would think that with your imagination, you can shrink and expand your world as you wish."

"The problem with living in between reality and fiction is that I can still tell the difference," I said softly. "Whereas someone like you would never have a doubt."

"There's plenty to doubt in a world that's too big with too many layers and too many people in it," he said. "Sometimes, the only way to live through that is to make your own world as small as possible."

I watched Max's face, the mild resignation in his distant eyes, and my hand tightened around his. "You're lonely, Max."

He looked back at me with a ghost of a smile. "I'm alone by choice."

An inexplicable sadness tugged at my heart. "And it would seem that knowing the difference doesn't change the outcome."

"I guess not."

There was a charged melancholia in the air, as if both opportunities and obstacles to what we might want were within reach. The question was which one we'd grab for and hold on to stubbornly.

"So change the outcome," I said with some renewed optimism. "Change where you want to go and maybe that will make for an entirely different journey."

Max leaned back and grinned. "Maybe I'm already doing that."

I tipped back my glass of wine (I liked this one because it was mild and fruity), wondering if I was anywhere near where Max was headed. "Well then, you don't need my advice. But I'll take it for myself."

"What? You're changing where you're headed?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yes, sir. I had a deal with my father before I left. Well, it was more of an ultimatum, I guess. If I didn't have a signed contract for a new book by the time I returned home, I'd go back to school. I quit halfway into my biology degree when I decided I wanted to write full-time. Dad and I already had a few nasty fights about that and wanting to prevent another one, I agreed to his ultimatum. Even with a new story brewing, I'm not going to make that timeline because I go home in a couple of months. It's going to be extremely difficult but I'll just have to tell him that whether I have a project or not, med school isn't in the cards for me."

"As much as you love and respect your parents, you can't live your life at their dictate," Max said broodingly. "And if they really love you, they can't ask you to. "

I smiled. "I didn't mind my father's highhandedness at first, knowing he was trying to secure me a good future. He didn't trust that writing alone would give me that and he's not completely wrong in being cautious. But now I see that while he can ask me to be careful about the choices I make, it's an entirely different thing to cram one he likes down my throat."

"Do you still live with your father?" Max asked.

"No. I officially moved out a couple years ago, after I quit college and came back to town," I said. "I have a studio apartment twenty minutes away from my father's house. It can still be a bit too close but at least it's not under the same roof."

"It's not for you, is it?" Max pressed. "You're doing it for him. You don't want him to be lonely."

I shrugged. "I don't think Dad chose to be alone but it's the outcome of the path he's chosen. He's always wanted to be the one to know and say what's right for the people around him. And when you want that much right over someone, you'll lose them. So just like my advice to you, he's got to change the outcome. I find that the kind of person we become heavily relies on where we want to end up."

Max gave me a smile that I didn't think he's ever given me before. "You're a strong, smart and beautiful woman, Aiko. You're more than perfectly qualified to live your life on your own terms. And I think that if you really put your heart and your incredible mind to it, you can live a grand life indeed."

I couldn't help a stupid-ass grin and I tugged at his hand. "Come here. I can't not kiss you after you say something like that to me."

"I was going for that reaction," he teased as he rose from his seat to come over to my side.

"No, you weren't but you're getting it anyway," I said as I got up to my feet, my hand cupping the back of his head to bring him down for a kiss. "Thank you, Max."

The way he wrapped his arms around me almost felt more intimate than the kiss which felt like it went on forever. It could've gone on forever and I wouldn't have minded.

"I know I just told you you could live your life however you want but I'm going to strongly appeal that you let me take you home soon or I'm going to embarrass us both here," he said after we caught our breath.

I raised a brow. "What? You haven't had sex in a light house before?"

"We have a comfortable bed with a rather similar, if not humbler, view at home," he said, releasing me and picking up his coat, probably not noticing that I started at his casual use of we because we definitely didn't have a comfortable bed. He did.

"Do you think we can get more of these tarts to take with us?" I asked lightly in an effort to quell my quickly overreacting imagination. "I have a feeling I might wake up at two in the morning craving them."

"And here I thought you'd wake up craving me," Max said as he guided me toward the stairs.

"Even if I did, why can't I have both?" I shot back with an unrepentant smile. "Life is short. Eat dessert and have amazing sex at the same time whenever possible."

Max smiled back and kissed me on the temple. "You can definitely have them both as often as you'd like. Come on, we'll grab some tarts on the way out."

Max spoke to the doorman when we got down the million and one steps and he eagerly guided us through some backdoor that led us straight into the kitchen. We were introduced to the portly French chef whom you'd think at a super busy night like tonight, would have no time to entertain guests. But money talked even though I had a feeling that even if Max had been a pauper, he could still command someone to do his bidding. He had a charisma that was both enigmatic and disarming. Saying no would be extremely difficult.

By the time our kitchen tour ended, the chef had hoisted a large gift box of his best and freshest pastries in my arms and I was cradling it happily like a baby on our way back to the car.

"Best night ever," I told Max as we got into the car, the box sitting comfortably on my lap.

He reached out to stroke my cheek softly. "Definitely."

As soon as we were out of the parking lot, I cranked up the music to a Bruno Mars song after I found it on the satellite radio. I then proceeded to give Max what I hoped was the best entertainment of his life when I sang the boppy, slightly bawdy track word for word in perfect imitation of Mars's pitches and falsettos.

"It's my other secret talent aside from writing," I told Max with a wiggle of my brows.

He grinned. "What? Singing?"

"If you can call it that, yeah," I answered before launching into the rap-like beat of the song which made Max snort out a laugh. He picked up my hand and kissed the back of it before setting it over his knee. His head moved with the music as I wrapped up the track, the smile still suffused on his face.

It was wonderful.

Just this.

Just us.

I suddenly sat up. "Crap. I forgot to tell you. I need to stop by a convenience store to grab a couple of things. I forgot to pack some essentials."

"I have stuff at home," he said. "Are they lady essentials?"

I rolled my eyes. "Of course, you were going to say that. No. They're not exclusive to the female population. I need two kinds of tea for writing—mint chamomile and the ginger and fennel. And I need junk food. Plus some eye drops. And potentially some Sour Patch Kids. Do you mind?"

"Not at all," Max said easily. "Convenience store coming right up."

The place we hit up wasn't too far out of the way and surprisingly nice although that probably had more to do with the kind of area it was. Max dutifully carried the basket while I went through the aisles hunting for my stuff.

"Need more of these?" I asked him with a meaningful smirk, holding up a box of the same condoms he used. "They have your size."

"I have a lot at home," he said.

"Stocked up, didn't you?" I asked, feeling a pang in my chest. "I should really remember that just because I'm not there to use them with you doesn't mean you couldn't use them with someone else."

"Are you asking if I'd slept with other women these last few days, Aiko?" Max asked, tilting up my chin.

I looked him straight in the eye. "Not directly. I want to know but at the same time, I don't. I know I'm not going to like it if you did."

Max's eyes were piercing in their curiosity. "Why not?"

"Because you're mine right now and I discovered I can be quite possessive," I blurted out. "I know that's not very worldly of me but there you have it."

Max smiled. "I don't know that I want you to be that worldly."

I shrugged. "I kinda have to be if I'm doing this with you."

"Don't worry," he said, pulling me close. "There were no other women. I was quite good even at the pool party and there were plenty of women there."

My voice faltered and I lowered my eyes. "Well, that's good. I appreciate that."

Max laughed and grabbed the box of condoms I'd returned to the shelf, tossing it into our basket. "And we'll take this home just in case. I only stocked up this afternoon but you never know what the next few days would be like."

"It's going to be full of sex."

"I hope so, babe. I really hope so."

It was a bit late when we got to his place. Max carried our bags to the kitchen and only let me put away the pastries in the fridge before he snatched me up in his arms and tossed me on the living room couch.

"What happened to all that talk about using the bed?"

"It's too far."

"Is it now?" I mocked. "Why not the kitchen counter then?"

"It's too cold."

"I'm glad you can still manage to be thoughtful under the circumstances," I teased as I leaned back and watched him rip his clothes off. "Missed me much?"

"You have no idea," he answered roughy before slipping my sandals off my feet.

I eyed his erection and smiled. "Oh, I have a very good idea."

I pulled myself up to a sitting position just as Max knelt down on the couch, leveling his shaft within my line of sight.

A harsh gasp escaped him the moment my fingers wrapped around his hard length, testing out different degrees of pressure. Then I slowly moved my hand up and down, pulling an even deeper groan from him.

"Not too much of that, babe, or I'm going to blow before I'm ready," he said, his hand wrapping around mine.

I looked up at him without releasing my hold. "But will you teach me later? I have a feeling that while giving head is typically advertised as a complete treat for men, the real power is given to their partner."

Max opened his eyes and smiled down at me. "I'm not sure I can handle more power from you."

"Oh, you can," I said, flicking my tongue along my lower lip which only made Max harden even more. See, I was learning. "If power feels this good, you'll handle it."

He didn't push my hand away nor take his off. Instead, he tightened his grip which prompted me to do the same and a ragged moan escaped him as we found what seemed to be the perfect amount of pressure.

I was barely hanging on to rational thought. The idea of taking him into my mouth and therefore taking full control of his pleasure was rapidly undermining my crumbling argument against giving oral sex to a man as promiscuous as Max. But before I could make a choice, Max wrenched himself away, his body trembling with an effort at restraint.

"I need to be inside you, Aiko," he said as his hands shoved my flimsy skirt up and grabbed for the waistband of my very cheeky, pink lace underwear.

My legs stretched all the way up to let him take the tiny scrap of fabric off without ripping it. Instead of letting my legs drop back down the couch, Max slid them over his shoulders just as he leaned down.

With one hand, he fumbled for his jeans on the floor to dig out a condom.

"Touch yourself," he commanded as his hands fussed with the foil packet. "Get yourself nice and wet for me. I'm too far gone to be gentle."

I looked at him like deer in headlights. "But I'm not—"

Max's gaze locked with mine, unbending. "Touch yourself the way you remember me doing it. Suck your fingers. Get them wet. Push a finger in. Add another. Stroke in and out. Go deeper. Go faster. Push the fingers wider apart. Take more. Take it harder."

The slow rasp of his words, the raw description—they wielded a power just as potent as if he'd been the one touching me, the one doing all those things to me.

I kept my eyes on him, fuelled by the fire that burned there as I let my hand and my fingers map out the exact plot he'd given me. He never broke his gaze away, even as his hands finished their task of gloving him.

My breath hitched and hollowed out in my chest as blistering sensations pooled between my legs and flashed through my veins.

But before I could peak, Max snatched my fingers away with a soft growl, too greedy to even let me take my own pleasure.

"Oh, God," he groaned long and deep, shuddering as his entire length plunged into me in one swift stroke. I trembled beneath him, shaken not with pain but with the most acute sense of satisfaction.

I clutched him close, needing him as deep as he could possibly go, whispering his name at his ear as I arched my hips up to take more of him.

"Yes," he murmured, pulling back for a second before thrusting deep again. He repeated it, faster and deeper each time until he was pounding in and out of me at a dizzying pace. "Yes. Yes. God, Aiko. I can't... I can't—"

I pulled his mouth down for a savage kiss, my fingers gripping his hair until he groaned softly with the pain. Maybe the rough play spurred him on but his hips quickened even more than I thought possible and in seconds, I was yelling out my orgasm as it swept through me in pulses of light and feeling.

Max was right behind me, straining hard against his release as he buried his face in my neck with a breathless grunt.

Even as stars continued to fill my vision behind closed lids, I gently rubbed the back of Max's head, pressing a kiss on his sweat-covered shoulder as I continued to hold him close.

Slowly, he raised his head and those mesmerizing blue-gray eyes were dazed but smiling. "I'm glad you're here with me."

I gave him an impish smile. "Well, you were pretty persuasive. A girl can only resist French tarts and sex gods for so long."

He grinned crookedly, rubbing the tip of his nose against mine. "I missed you. I missed how funny you are. I missed how you just say whatever comes to mind. I missed how sweet but strong-willed you can be."

My heart pounded because how could it not at the onslaught of both post-coital bliss and the words no one would've thought to ever leave Maximilian Croft's lips?

"Well," I said, my smile broadening. "You've got a few days with me. That's plenty of time to show me what missing me and my quirks entail, don't you think?"

"It is." Max's eyes gleamed wickedly. "Just remember that you asked for it."

***

So, what do you guys think?

I know this chapter was pretty simple but what I love about it are the little telltale things about where these two seem to be headed.

I love Max's declaration about Aiko being completely capable of living her life on her own terms. I find this refreshing now after reading so many possessive, domineering alpha males. Don't get me wrong, those male leads are still appealing to me but I'm starting to prefer guys who have no problem letting the heroine make their choices. Obviously, there are still going to be some scenarios where they might fight it or use some sly seduction to win her over but overall, they acknowledge that she can do whatever she wants, really. I think it's a healthy balance so we'll see how that pans out for Max.

I also loved Aiko in the part where she tells Max she doesn't like the idea of other women. I love Aiko's ability to say out loud what might be an uncomfortable admission to most female leads and I think that's part of her attraction to Max. 

Anyway, just little things but think they are starting to make a difference for these two.

By the way, here's another John Legend song. This one constantly played throughout the writing of the earlier chapters. And yes, due to the steamy nature of the lyrics, this chapter had to be slightly steamy too. LOL.

Make sure to vote and comment!

XOXO,

Ninya

♪♪♪ Chapter Soundtrack: The Beginning by John Legend ♪♪♪

Last night was the last night
You'll ever spend alone
Couldn't wait
Did it in the living room
Soon as I saw you, baby, I had plans
Plans to do it 'til we have a baby
Even if the world is crazy
Pick some names, boy or girl
Then we'll change, change the world

So after you change your clothes
Girl, if you change your mind
I'm ready, whatever time

It's the beginning of forever
You don't have to go
Sometimes you just know
It's the beginning of forever
It don't have to end
Keep doing it, and doing it again, oh
Keep doing it, and doing it again, oh

Last time was the last time
I was worn and done
You the best, that's why I want another one
Soon as I saw you, baby, I had plans
Planned to take you to my elevator
And cook a little breakfast later
Pick a place and go there, girl
Then we'll change, change the world

So after you change your clothes
Girl, if you change your mind
I'm ready, whatever time

It's the beginning of forever
You don't have to go
Sometimes you just know
It's the beginning of forever
It don't have to end
Keep doing it, and doing it again, oh
Keep doing it, and doing it again, oh