Winter

by Michelle Love

  “How can you claim to love me? I don’t love you, doesn’t that matter to you at all?”

  “It’s on, Max,” she says then gets out of the car and walks away.

  I grab my cell and call Lexi. “Are you home yet?”

  “Just about, why are you tired of waiting on me? You can leave if you want, I’ll understand.”

  “No!” I shout and find myself a bit over-excited by what’s just happened. “No, I’m running late, please wait for me. I want to go with you. Don’t go without me, promise.”

  “Okay then, see you soon.”

  She hangs up and I press the gas pedal harder. Something tells me that Ashley is more than capable of starting up something which will send Lexi running from me again. I have to keep her safely tucked away until Ashley calms down and gets over this.

  Alexis

  As I pull up to the apartment to wait for Max I peek in the mirror and see that I’m a wreck, but I already have the dogs in the van and don’t want to leave them in here while I get cleaned up. I run my hands through my ponytail and grab a wet wipe from the glove box, running it quickly over my face.

  His black Jaguar pulls up next to me and he gets out, looking completely gorgeous in blue jeans and a T-shirt and his sunglasses. He looks like a ding dang model and I resemble something the cat drug in.

  He pops into the passenger seat.

  “Hey there, gorgeous.” He leans over towards me. “Gotta kiss for Daddy?”

  I giggle and lean in so we can kiss and stars fill my head as our lips touch. “Wanna tell me how it went?”

  He shakes his head and puts on his seatbelt. He sniffs the air and makes a face. “Do I smell dog crap?”

  “I think some got on me during that last dog bath I gave, but I can’t find it and don’t have time to change before I walk these dogs, so you’re stuck with smelling it for a little while. Unless you want me to leave you here, you don’t have to go with me. I’ll totally understand.”

  “I’ll adjust. I want to go with you.”

  His eyes aren’t sparkly like they have been and I sense that things didn’t go well with that woman. “Tell me how it went, Max.” I put the van in drive and take off, making the wheels spin a little on the loose gravel.

  “Whoa!” he shouts as he grabs a handful of dashboard.

  I turn to him and smile. “Really! That scared you? You hang out of moving helicopters and that scared you?”

  “I usually drive,” he says relaxing his Kung Fu grip on the dash. “Take it easy Evil Knievel.”

  I slow down some so Mr. Scaredy pants can get some blood back to his face. “I’m dying, Max. Please.”

  “It went well, she’ll be fine. How about you take a little vacation and let me take you somewhere for a week or so?”

  “I can’t. I have these dogs to walk and appointments all this week and next for grooming gigs.”

  With a turn of his head, he stares out the window. “Oh.”

  He sounds disappointed so I add, “How about after that, like in two weeks? I can get someone else to walk the dogs and I won’t set up any appointments until we get back.”

  With a frown on his gorgeous face he says, “Yeah, we can go somewhere then if you want.”

  I’ve never made plans with someone before, it’s kinda nice. I pull into a parking space and jump out of the van. Max meets me at the back and takes both the big dogs out of their kennels.

  “I’m taking these two…,” he says. “I’m too much of a man to walk that little bitty thing, whatever it is.”

  I place the Shih Tzu on the ground. “Too much of a man. A real man doesn’t worry about such things. I think dainty dogs are too cute. You’d look great walking any kind of animal. With your looks, you could easily get away with walking a skunk and the women would still flock to you.”

  A deep chuckle comes from him as he puts both dogs’ leashes in one hand and the other arm he wraps around my waist. What we must look like walking side by side like this. I’m wearing faded blue scrubs that have dog poopy on them somewhere I can’t see, and my hair is a mess from wrestling all the dogs I have today. Max looks like he walked out of a fashion shoot as he always does.

  His lips touch my cheek and it ignites something in me. This commitment I’ve made to myself about waiting a couple of weeks before I give into my deep, dark desires for him is going to be hard to keep.

  “We should make some ground rules about this physical stuff.”

  “Uh, uh,” he says and kisses my cheek again. “No ground rules, control freak.”

  “I don’t consider myself a control freak by any means, buster.”

  The Great Dane sees somewhere she’d like to pee so we change directions. Max looks at me and smiles.

  “Buster? Wow! Harsh words there, little lady.”

  I giggle and slap at his chest. “You goof.”

  Something freezing cold splashes all over my back and all the dogs begin barking at once as we turn to see the woman Max was with, holding an empty bottle of water. “So this is the tramp!” Her words spew from her mouth.

  The dogs lunge at her, barking like crazy, and Max holds them back as he shouts, “Ashley, Goddammit what are you doing?”

  The woman’s face breaks into a melting mess as she points at me and says, “So this is what you left me for. It’s not right, Max. I’m better, so much better. Look at her for the love of God.”

  Max holds me tight to his side and glares at the woman.

  “Ashley, you better get the Hell away from us right now, before I let these dogs do what they want to you.”

  The woman falls to her knees, crying.

  “Max, please don’t do this to me, I love you.”

  “You’re making a fool of yourself. Stand up and stop this. We’re leaving and you had better not follow us or I’m going to call the police.”

  Max turns and we walk away as she screams. “I love you, Max! I know you still love me too. Don’t let that bitch do this to us!”

  Her words are confusing me and I ask him, “Did you tell her you loved her?”

  He shakes his head. “Something’s wrong with her. She never told me she loved me and I never told her those words either.”

  We’ve made it some distance from her, but I still hear her yelling. Most of its incoherent, but the last words I hear resonate in me.

  “I’ll get you, bitch. I’m not letting you take my man without a fight. You won’t know when or where, but I’ll get you.”

  My body begins to shake and Max whispers, “Don’t listen to her. She can’t do a thing to you.”

  As we get to the van I find I’m shaking so hard the keys rattle in my hand as I push the button to unlock the doors.

  “Max, can you drive?”

  “Sure,” he says as he loads the dogs into their kennels. “You go sit down, I can do this.”

  As I walk to the passenger side I see the woman coming across the field towards us again and shout, “Hurry, Max, she’s coming over here.”

  The back doors slam and he jumps into the driver’s seat, starting the engine and pulling away just as she gets close enough to throw something at my window. A brown bunch of goo which I think is dog poop smashes against the window, leaving a yucky mess on it.

  “I thought you said it all went well, Max?”

  The van moves down the road as fast as he can make it go.

  “The first time it did, the second time it didn’t,” he says, without looking at me.

  “The second time?”

  “Well, yeah. I thought it was over and done with and I dropped her back off at the hotel. I guess she followed me to your house because right after I pulled into the parking lot, she got out of a cab and that’s when I got to meet the crazy Ashley she’s been hiding.” He glances at me. “I’m giving her a bad review on that dating site.”

  “Okay, she knows where I live?” I say to myself, trying to decide what I need to do.

  With a shake of his head he says, “Not the actual apartment num
ber, no. It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m taking you to my place. You’ll stay with me.”

  “Max, that’s not dating, that’s called living together, and that’s going way too fast.” I begin shaking again as I realize it’s too soon to do that, but I also don’t want her to do anything horrible to me. I know all too well what terrible things people can do to each other.

  “You can stay in the bedroom you stayed in before. I promise to respect you, Lexi.”

  We drop off the dogs and stop by my apartment so I can pack some things. I throw some clothes into an old bag and Max takes me by the wrists.

  “What?”

  “Leave all this stuff here. Let me get you some new things. We’ll go shopping tomorrow.” He pulls me into his arms. “Let me spoil you, baby.”

  To be spoiled is a thing I’ve never been. I’ve worked since I was sixteen. I search his deep green eyes and for the first time I let my stubborn pride go out the window. “Okay.”

  “Good. Now let’s get you home.”

  “I should probably take my van.”

  Moving me along with him to his car he says, “I’ll send someone to get it later. I want you with me for now anyway, okay?”

  I nod in agreement. I don’t really want to be left alone either. After helping me get in the car, he gets in the driver’s seat and I bust out and say, “When I was fifteen a group of girls from school asked me to join them at a park. They never seemed to like me before, they usually said mean things to me.” I hesitate at how hard this is to say.

  His hand touches mine. “Please tell me.”

  I wanted to have friends like anyone does. So I went. There was a river, and we all went down to it. They were being really nice to me, and I ran along with them as we moved down a steep bank, away from the other people in the park.” I swallow hard to get the lump out of my throat. “One hit me in the face as I turned back to see if everyone was following, and then another one hit me in the stomach. All of them began hitting and punching me, pulling my hair, and screaming bad words at me. One of them picked up a log and hit me across the back of the head. When I woke up, I was face down in the mud. My glasses were gone and my clothes had been ripped off. I only had my underwear on.”

  My body is shaking so bad the words are coming out that way too. Tears flow down my cheeks as I remember the pain.

  “Jesus, Lexi,” Max’s words bring me back and I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand. He hands me a handkerchief and runs his hand over my leg. “I hope those little bitches got what they deserved.”

  “A few of those girls came from families with connections. One’s dad was a cop, one’s a judge, and one’s the mayor. They all told everyone they saw me at the park that day and I had gone with some boys they’d never seen before down to the river. They said it had to have been those boys who did that to me because I was such a slut.”

  “I’m very sorry that happened to you. I’ll never let anything happen to you again. Tomorrow I’ll get a lawyer to deal with this crazy bitch. We’ll run her ass out of Texas and back to New York, I swear it to you, baby.”Max

  The darkness fills the bedroom as I hold Lexi close to me. The story she told me makes me sick to my very core. I brought her to my bed to sleep tonight, I don’t want her to be alone. How cruel some people can be is mind numbing. I understand her so much better now. What she must have gone through, having to stay in a town and school where everyone thought her something that she wasn’t. The bad things they said about her, and she was the victim. Now someone I brought into her life wants to harm her, and it’s all my fault. I have to fix this.

  She wiggles in my arms and turns to me. “Max, can I ask you for something?”

  “Anything, princess,” I say as I kiss the top of her head.

  “I want to know what it is like,” she says as she moves her body up mine. “If something happens to me, I don’t want to have never known.”

  I kiss her cheek. “Nothing is going to happen to you, I promise.”

  “You don’t know that.” Her hand runs over my stomach. “Believe me, no one ever knows.”

  She straddles me in one quick movement and pulls the T-shirt she’s wearing off.

  “Lexi, don’t do this. You’re upset and afraid. I promise you no one can get through me to hurt you.”

  “I’ve waited for twenty-six, long years and I don’t want to wait a day more. I trust you, Max. I trust you not to hurt me. Please.” She chews her bottom lip. A sadness fills her eyes. I find all I want to do is take that sadness away.

  I pull her to me. Softly I touch my lips to hers. She slips her tongue into my mouth and she tastes like cinnamon. Her breasts rub against my chest as she moves closer. Her hands run through my hair and the kiss gets harder. I flip her onto her back and pull my mouth from hers. She leans up and tries to kiss me.

  “I can’t take you like this, Lexi. It’s not right.”

  Her eyes dart back and forth as she says, “I want you, and I already love you. Do you feel anything for me?”

  “Are you crazy? Do I feel anything for you? I’ve been wanting to tell you I loved you since the first day I met you, but I was afraid I’d scare you off.”

  “Okay, I love you and you love me. Isn’t this what people who love each other do?” she asks. “What are we waiting for? A magic number of days? I know now, without a doubt, Max. You’d take a bullet for me, and I would do the same for you.”

  “You really love me?”

  “I do, but.” She runs her hand down the length of my ever growing manhood. “To get pregnant my first time would be a bummer, so use one of those condoms you told me that you use.”

  “You really want to do this?”

  She shakes her head and I roll away to grab a condom from my nightstand. I toss off my boxers and roll back to her. Only her panties keep us apart as she lays, waiting for me. She looks so innocent and beautiful.

  As I gaze down at her, she wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me to her. “Kiss me, Max.”

  Pressing my lips to hers, I find the pulse which has ached for her for six, long months resonates in my body. My heart pounds like it never has before and I know we were meant to be together. This is it for me, she’s mine and always will be. I pull my mouth away from hers.

  “Tell me that you belong to me.”

  “Max?” Her eyes search mine.

  “I have to know without a doubt you’re giving yourself to me, because I will die if you leave me after this. I’ve never felt this way with anyone else.”

  “Never?”

  “Never, Lexi. So I am begging you not to toy with me. Tell me you’re mine.”

  “You’re so intense.”

  “This is intense, baby. I want you so fucking bad, but I’m so afraid of you. Your insecurities have to be pushed back and you need to be more afraid of losing me than anything else. So I need you to know where you belong and who you belong to.”

  My cock is swelling as it presses against her and I know time is running out to get her to understand the power she has over me. Her hand runs over my cheek and my mouth follows it. I run my lips down her arm, then over her stomach. She has no idea of what hold she has on me so I decide to give her a taste of what I feel. Running my tongue down her stomach I pull her panties off then move back up her body spreading her legs as I do.

  “You’ll be screaming that you're mine in just a minute, Lexi.” Her eyes go wide as I smile and press my lips to the sweet little bud that has gone untouched for twenty-six years.

  Her hands tangle up in my hair as her body arches up to my mouth. “Oh, holy Lincoln logs, that feels so good.”

  Her crazy words I’ll have to learn to ignore. I send one hand to her breast and another to her ass as I massage them both and run my tongue over her clit until it’s as stiff as my dick is. Her legs begin to shake and I know it’s about time for her to scream what I want to hear.

  Hot liquid hits my chin as she shakes and shivers and finally screams, “I belong to you, Max. I’m yours and n
o one else can ever have me. My God, please take me.”

  Alexis

  I am exhausted, but I can’t sleep. It finally happened and my V-card has been turned in. This man is talented. Who knew that there were so many sensory organs in the human body? I mean he gave me sensations I didn’t even know existed. I wonder if it’s like this with every man or if he’s especially gifted.

  I have to pee something fierce so I wiggle out of his arms and trot slowly to the bathroom.

  Ouch! I hope this doesn’t happen every time we do this. I’m walking like a penguin. for the love of Springer Spaniels.

  He’s dead to the world, so I think I’ll jump in the monster bathtub he has in here and soak a little while. Maybe that’ll help me sleep. I need a towel and it seems he hides them somewhere in this giant bathroom. I open a drawer and there they are. Pulling one out something falls. I have to hold it close to my face to see what it is as I took my contacts out. It’s some kind of paper.

  It’s a picture and now I’m about to throw up. That horrible, crazy woman took a picture of Max munching out on her vagina. It looks like she used a selfie stick to get the picture. Max is so busy that he didn’t even look up to smile at the camera or anything. He just kept on munching.

  Oh, I have to puke.

  One last look I take at the sleeping Max. I can’t stay with him now I’ve seen that. I knew he was no virgin, but to see that after just experiencing what he did with me is too painful and sickening.

  I’ll have to go away this time, he’ll beat my door down if I stay in Houston. My heart aches as I go out to my van and climb in. I look back only once at the magnificent mansion I’ll never lay eyes on again.

  “Bye, Max. I’ll always love you.”

  Part 3 Secrets of Ecstasy