He paused in the hallway, unable to believe his ears. She wouldn't, Maxwell thought, his whole body trembling at the sounds he was hearing from the other side of the door. It sounded to his ears that a woman was being satisfied in a way that he hadn't heard within his home for some time. She couldn't, he thought as he heard another sharp gasp of pleasure come from behind the door and betrayal flooded through him. He paused, waiting to hear the inevitable sounds of a male with her but there was only silence. Perhaps his mouth is otherwise occupied, a nasty voice whispered in his head. Caught between wanting to rush in and confront her, to see the man who was with her and wanting to be alone to deal with the rage pushing through him, he finally turned and went to his room. I don't want to see her like that, fresh from another man's arm.
He settled into one of the plush armchairs, thinking he would stay up until after his competition left Fran's room and he would confront the man then.
"Brighton, I am going to kill you," Maggie shouted from the hallway, bringing Maxwell out of sleep.
He looked around, realising that he had fallen asleep in the chair. How did that happen? Maxwell thought, and then memories came rushing back from the night before. I fell asleep before he left, he thought as he rose from the chair and looked at the bedside clock and saw it was a lot later than he realised. "Of course," he whispered as he heard his children continue to argue with each other.
"And then we watched some weird movie that was supposed to be scary but it wasn't that bad," Grace explained to Fran, who smiled and looked up as Mr Sheffield entered the room.
What's he giving me that look for? Fran thought as she saw anger there and immediately began to think of everything she might have done lately to upset him. "Morning Mr Sheffield. You get in late last night, huh?"
"I am surprised that you would have been paying attention," Maxwell said. He smiled at his daughter. "It sounds like you had a good time at your sleepover," he added.
Grace nodded and rose from the couch. She made an excuse about needing to do some weekend homework and left before her father started yelling at Fran.
"Miss Fine, I'd like -" Maxwell began.
"Maxwell, there you are. We need to talk about these contracts now," CC said, walking into the room.
"Right, of course, but," Maxwell began.
"Now. If we don't get the details fixed and sent to the actors, we won't have a cast," CC added, giving Fran a smirk. "You understand, don't you Nanny Fine?" she asked.
Fran nodded, feeling a bit relieved, for once, that her one-on-one conversation with Maxwell had been interrupted by the other woman. "Of course. I have some things to take care of anyway."
"Miss Fine, we still need to have a conversation soon," Maxwell said as he looked at her.
"Tonight," Fran suggested.
"Yes, probably the sooner the better," Maxwell agreed. "But once the children have gone to bed, perhaps? We'll meet in my office," he added and started to leave the living room.
Fran rose to her feet quickly and walked up to him and pulled on his jacket sleeve. "Mr Sheffield, am I in trouble?" she asked, not liking the solemn way that he was acting, more so than he usually was.
Maxwell gently lifted her hand from his sleeve and refused to look at her. "No more than you usually are, Miss Fine," he said. He did his best not to look at her, because he knew that once he did, he'd start up with accusing her of being with another man the night before. I have to focus on these contracts, he reminded himself as he left the room.
Fran looked at herself in the hallway mirror and wondered why she felt so nervous. It's like I've been summoned to the principal's office at school, she thought, as she reached over and knocked on the closed door to Maxwell's office.
"Miss Fine, do come in," Maxwell said, stepping backward to allow Fran to step inside after he opened the door.
"Do you want to tell me why you summoned me here like this? It's all very hush hush, don't you think?" Fran teased him, hoping that she could turn the serious nature of whatever he wanted to discuss around.
"Please, sit down. This won't take long," Maxwell said as he stood in front of his desk.
Fran sank into the sofa and then straightened up again.
"Miss Fine, I think we both know that, up until now, you've done a satisfactory job with my children, but I think it's time for you to move on," Maxwell began. I didn't think that this was going to be so difficult.
"Wait, what? You're firing me?" Fran said, rising from her seat. "What's brought this on all of a sudden? What could I possibly do to make you think that it's time for me to move on?"
"When you first started here, you and I had a discussion around the rules I set in place. In particular, those rules included that you were not to have any men in your room. Up until now, if would appear that you've kept to your part of the deal," Maxwell explained.
Fran rose from the seat. "Wait, what do you mean? I haven't done anything with anyone in my room," she insisted.
"Come one Miss Fine, we're both adults. I think that we can be honest with each other," Maxwell said. "I heard you last night, with your friend."
Wait, he heard me? Fran thought, realising that he must have come home at some point while she was pleasuring herself."Wait, I can explain," she said.
"I don't think that there is anything that you could say to make me change my mind," Maxwell said as he walked back to sit behind his desk. He had the severance cheque already written out in preparation for this moment.
"I wasn't with anyone. I was by myself," Fran admitted to him, refusing to look away from him or to let him shame her into thinking that she was doing something wrong.
Maxwell paused, his hand on the cheque. He opened his mouth and then closed it again. "So, you were, well, that is to say," Maxwell began, unable to finish his sentence as he felt his face flush a deeper shade of red.
"That I was masturbating?" Fran asked, a wry smile lifting the corner of her lips. "It's been known to happen," she added, feeling as if she might as well be honest with him. "More and more so since, Paris. I only do it when I know that there's no one home to hear me and I would never do it when the kids are here." She hoped that she didn't have to spell it out for him that it was him that she was thinking about when she was touching herself, wishing it was his fingers doing the actions that hers had been doing.
Maxwell looked at her this time and Fran knew that he had seen it in her face. "Since, oh?" he said, looking down as he took it in. "Right."
"Is that all you have to say?" she asked him, noticing that he had missed the whole last part of what she had said. "I thought you would have said something, or at least given me some kind of stern glare of disapproval or a lecture on how it's inappropriate for me to be doing such a thing."
"What do you want me to say?" Maxwell asked. "I suppose, under the circumstances, that you haven't broken any of the aforementioned rules. You are an adult and you're not going out of your way to be showy about it."
Fran noted that as he spoke he moved the cheque under a stack of folders on the side of the desk. He's not passing it over to me, I guess that means I might not be fired yet. "How about we just be honest with each other, for one night, and admit that we're two adults, trapped within a holding pattern, only without the holding. Doesn't it make you frustrated?" Fran asked him, wanting him to admit to thinking about her when he touched himself. If the repressed Maxwell Sheffield would do such a thing and admit to it, she thought, looking at him directly in the eye and holding his gaze. "If I can admit to bringing a little pleasure into my body, why can't you?"
Maxwell opened his mouth to deny it. She's asking for honesty, might as well give it to her, he thought as he looked at the woman whose face and body had fuelled some of his more erotic dreams. "I'll admit that there have been times that I had considered," he paused as if wondering how to say the next words.
"Taking matters into your own hands?" Fran supplied.
Maxwell nodded, looking at her. "I suppose that's as good a way of putting it as anything else?" he said.
"And did you?" Fran asked him, moving to sit on her usual place at the edge of his desk. She made sure that she kept eye contact with him so that she would see if it he lied to her.
"Miss Fine," Maxwell began, looking into her eyes and seeing the hungry spark in them. He wanted to tell her that the conversation had crossed the line that he had been trying to keep to since Paris.
"Come on, Mr Sheffield, just admit it, it will make you feel better," Fran said, leaning over so that her face was so close to his that she could feel his breath on her cheek. "I mean, I admitted it and, you know what? I actually feel freer now that I've told you. I mean, I'm pretty sure that this is something that friends could talk about."
Maxwell felt his lips curl up into a smile as he realised that the trap she was laying around him almost caught him. "Miss Fine, I think we need to build up to that level of intimacy in our friendship, don't you?" he said, leaning back into his seat so as to put some distance between them.
Fran looked at him. Okay, so you want to play it that way, she thought, willing to play the teasing game for as long as he was. "You said that you heard me last night?" she asked him. Maxwell nodded. "Did you like what you heard?" she asked him.
"Miss Fine," Maxwell said, his voice so low that it was almost a growl.
"You were the one listening in on me. If anything, I should be angry with you for admitting to doing such a thing. I mean, it's not the act of a friend to listen to another friend in such an intimate moment," she said.
Maxwell raised an eyebrow. There's no safe answer to that question, the voice in his head told him. He brushed it aside and leant in closer to her. He lifted his mouth so that it was almost sitting against her ear. "It drove me insane, thinking that there was someone else in there with you, thinking that another man was making you sound like that within my house," he admitted, knowing that if he had have been looking in her face, he wouldn't have been able to be as candid about it. "I might have been so jealous that I wanted to confront the man before he left the house," he added.
"And now that you know that I was alone," Fran said, thinking that she finally had a reason why he had looked so tired throughout the day.
"Well, let's just say, my perspective has changed a little," Maxwell admitted as he withdrew from her and smiled at her, knowing that it wasn't anywhere near the smile that one friend would give to another.
Fran returned the smile and stood up from the desk. "Good," she said as she adjusted her skirt so that it sat right once more just above her knees.
Fran turned to leave the room. Then, she paused. "Mr Sheffield am I fired?" she asked him.
"No, not this time," Maxwell said, smiling a little.
"Well, then," Fran began as she turned back to look at him. "If you enjoyed what you heard, next time you should join me," she offered, giving him another of her widest smile as she backed out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Looking at the closed door with a bemused expression, Maxwell reached for the cheque and tore it in half and then tore those pieces again. I might just do that, he thought, smiling to himself.
It had been two weeks of contractual hell before Maxwell returned home to an empty home once more. He had been stuck in his office, and when he wasn't there, he was at the theatre, listening to zealous actors crying out for this or that. He barely had time to eat a meal with his family without another crisis erupting. He knew that he had to make it up to each of them, but was uncertain of how to go about it. Maybe I should just suggest a family day tomorrow, he thought.
As he hung his jacket in the closet, he recalled that the children had all mentioned at breakfast that they had plans with friends that night and Niles had been adamant that he would not be home. The children had each tried to pry out of Fran what she was up to, but all she did was smile at them and tell them she hadn't worked out what her plans would be. "I might be going out with Val and seeing if I can find myself someone who wants to admit they love me," she had said.
Right, Maxwell thought, recalling her words. She wants the one thing that she know that I can't give to her at the moment, he thought as he began to take the stairs. He wanted to sink into the Jacuzzi and let the water massage out the tension in his muscles from all that had happened over the last few weeks.
Opening his bedroom door, he was already removing his clothes as he entered the bathroom and came to a halt as he realised that the bath was already occupied. More so, he realised that the occupant had no idea that she was no longer alone.
Well, this is one way of inviting me to watch, Maxwell thought, finding himself wishing that she hadn't used so much bubble bath so he could see what she was doing with the hands that he couldn't see.
Despite all of their teasing, he knew that he had never intended to watch her like this, even though she had invited him to do so. He knew that if he were to see her like this, full of desire and wanting, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from offering to join her.
She arched her back, and the tops of her breasts rose above the bath water. One hand was toying with the nipple of the left one and he wondered how she would react to his hand matching her actions upon the right one. The other hand that he couldn't see surely was working some kind of magic if its own if it could make her look so wanton and full of desire. He wondered how close she was to climaxing. Come on man, just leave, his common sense suggested, silenced further by a gasp as she opened her eyes and looked right at him.
"You finally decided to join me?" she asked him as she slipped back under the water and brought both hands to the side of the tub.
Maxwell found himself unable to shape the words as he found himself looking at the other hand, the one that he hadn't been able to previously see.
"You look like you could use a release yourself," Fran said, looking directly to where his erection was straining in the material of his boxer shorts.
"Miss Fine, did you really think that this would work?" Maxwell said, deciding to go to his default of anger to deal with his frustration.
Fran looked at him, all wanton desire gone as she reached over for a towel. She stood up from the water, using the towel to stop herself from revealing more of her body to him than she already had. "Did I think what would work?" she asked as she sat on the edge of the tub. She was fairly confident that she wouldn't slip back in.
"This, finding you here, like this," Maxwell said. "Did you think that, if I found you here, that maybe you could force me into admitting my feelings for you?"
"Maxwell, of course not," Fran said, rising from the tub, making sure that her towel was fastened tightly enough not to fall. Yep, I'm using his first name. Given what he's seen I think I have a right to, she thought. If he noted it, he didn't respond to it. "How was I to know when you'd be home, or even if you were to be?" she added.
"You seemed to be dropping all of the hints tonight that this was what you had planned on doing. Especially with that snide remark of finding someone who could admit that he loved you," Maxwell said, relieved that the cold front he was using was helping him to regain some control of his body.
Fran looked at him. "It wasn't snide. Anything you heard in my voice that it was, you put there, possibly because you feel guilty about The Thing," she said, stepping towards him. Then, before she reached him, she picked up the fuzzy robe that she had left there to change into after she had dried off. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to be going now."
Maxwell stepped into her path. I have to know, he thought. "Miss Fine, Fran. I have to know."
"You have to know what, exactly? What do you think you have the right to know?" she asked him.
Maxwell looked at her. "Did you climax?" he asked her.
Fran paused and looked at him, wishing that she could work out what was going on in his head. How can I work him out when I don't know what's going on in my own half the time, she thought. "No, I didn't," she said. "I was almost there, when I opened my eyes and saw you standing there, watching me."
Maxwell bit his lip, thinking about what his next move was. Then he stepped closer to her. "Good," he said as he pressed his lips against hers.
The heat that usually ran between them flared up again as they both gave everything into the kiss. Maxwell reached up and pulled at the knot of her towel. "I need to see you, fully," he said as she stepped out of his grasp and kept the towel in place.
"Is this what you want?" Fran asked him. "What makes you think that just because you want me, now, that I'm just going to give into you?" she asked. Oh god, I hope I don't lose him right now. I need this to happen tonight otherwise I might just go mad with frustration, she thought.
"You're right. I have no right to ask for such a thing, but here I am, asking for it anyway. I don't think I can spend another night alone, after watching the start of that demonstration. I need to know how it ends," Maxwell explained.
"And tomorrow," Fran pressed. "What happens then? I don't think that I can do this with you and then go back to being just 'the nanny' tomorrow," she admitted.
Maxwell considered her words. He was ready to take the step with her, to get to know her intimately but he didn't know that he was ready to shout from the rooftops how he felt. If you let her go now, his common sense reminded him, you'll never get her back. "I don't know," he admitted. "I do know that we need to have some kind of release tonight."
Fran smiled as she released her towel. "Good enough for me," she said, standing before him, completely naked.
Maxwell took in what he was seeing. Then he stepped towards her and reached out to take her face in his hands and kiss her gently, to start with. As his hand drifted lower to her breast, she swatted it away and pulled out of his hand. "What?" he asked her.
Fran smiled. "You wanted for both of us to have a release," she said reaching down to caress his erection over the top of his shirts.
"Oh god yes," he whispered, reeling at how good it was feeling to have her touch him. Almost as soon as he admitted it, she released him and led him back into his bedroom.
He watched as she placed herself on the top of his bed and smiled wickedly at him. He moved towards her and began to kiss her again when she pulled away. "Fran," he whispered, almost growling, getting sick of the game she was playing with him.
"I'm not going to have sex with you here, tonight," Fran said, sliding back on the bed so that she was just out of reach from him.
"Then, how, are we," Maxwell began, then, seeing the way that she was smiling at him. Surely she can't be suggesting that, he thought.
"We're going to, to use the phrase again, take matters into our own hands," she said. "And we're going to watch each other as we do it."
Maxwell looked at her. Well, well, well. This is a side of you I hadn't considered, he thought as he considered it. He felt his face flushing as he realised what it meant. "Why?"
"Well, fair's fair," Fran said. "I mean, you got to watch me. It's only fair that I get to watch you now," she said, licking her lips at him.
"It's not exactly what I had in mind," Maxwell admitted.
"I know what you were thinking, but I think this is a better idea. Think of it as the first step, because, after this, we can move forward. There's no risk of too much emotional entanglement," she said. She placed her left hand on the top of her breast again and began to pull at the nipple making it hard. The other hand began to drift lower, skimming past her pubic hair and resting on her inner thigh. "Well, you want to?" Her heart paused as she waited for him to respond. He was simply watching her and she wondered if he was waiting for her to lose what was left of her nerve.
Maxwell slowly rose from the bed and slowly pushed down his boxer shorts, allowing his erection to be free of its confines. From the moment she had laid back on his bed, he knew that he was lost. "Okay," he whispered as he moved to sit so that he was at the opposite end of the bed to her.
Fran looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"I think I'll get a better view from down here. I want to see all of you," he admitted as he began to slowly run a finger up and down his shaft lightly.
Fran smiled and opened her legs, showing him as one of her fingers began stroking her clitoris, before she plunged it deep into her vagina, never taking her eyes off of what he was doing at the same time. For every time he thrust into his own hand, she was matching his rhythm, both hands now concentrating their efforts on her lower half, one hand busy inside of her, the other with a finger stroking her clitoris with varying levels of pressure.
On the verge of climax, Maxwell looked up, catching Fran's eyes with his own and saw that she too was in that place and together they released, Fran falling back on to his pillows with a smirk on her face while Maxwell made a quick effort to clean up the evidence of his own release using the towel that Fran had abandoned.
When he looked up, he realised that Fran was at his side. She leant over and kissed him lightly on the lips. "That was even better than I had imagined it," she said as she moved off of the bed.
She bent over and picked up her dressing gown. When she rose, she realised that he had moved to be at her side. "The next time, it's going to be me that's going to be making you make all those delectable noises," Maxwell promised her as he kissed her deeply.
"Till next time then," Fran said, pulling out of his embrace and pulling her dressing gown on.
"You could stay," Maxwell offered. "I mean, we do have the house to ourselves," he reminded her. "We could recover and then go for another round, this time together," he added.
Fran tipped her head from one side to the other. She leant over and kissed his lips, allowing the kiss to become deeper. "I want this, all of this, with you."
"I want the same with you," Maxwell admitted.
"All the same, if you tell me that you love me now, it will feel like it's to get me into that bed with you, tonight. After what we shared, I want more than anything to be with you, but it will only happen, the right way, when you finally tell me, when you tell everyone, how you feel about me and I know you're not ready for that yet," Fran whispered to him. "I'm going back to my room tonight, because it's the right thing to do, given the circumstances."
"You're right. I'm not ready to say those words that you need to hear. I want you, all of you, but, of course, you're right about this, now. You're not planning on leaving?" Maxwell asked her as she headed to the door.
Fran paused at the door and turned back to him. "After the show you've just given me, I think we have a lot more of that in our future, once you say the words that you know I want to hear," she told him, winking slyly and then leaving the room and him alone with his very confusing thoughts.