p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Ouch," Fran gasped as Maxwell pushed her so that her back was up against the iron of the front door. He released the pressure immediately but resumed kissing her with the same passion that he had been seconds before. She struggled to remove herself from his attention for the briefest moment. Everything in her wanted to give in to him right there, but she knew that wasn't the best idea. emHe's really blowing my whole 'repressed' theory/em, she thought, returning his kisses enthusiastically. "You know, I'm surprised you can't wait to maul me until we're upstairs or, at least, in the front door," she told him, a teasing lilt in her voice when her lips were free of his for the briefest of moments./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell pulled away from her. "I think we've both been waiting long enough. Besides, we're both more than ready," he said. Then he shrugged and pulled his house keys from his pocket and unlocked the door. He pulled her in with him and as soon as she crossed the threshold, he closed the door and pulled her to him for another hungry kiss, pushing her back so that her back was pressed up against the closet door./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran gasped, lifting her leg, hooking it over his hip. She felt his hand slip up under the short skirt of her dress and rub the back of her upper thigh, his thumb hooking under the string of her underwear. She pulled them closer together so that they were grinding their lower bodies against each other. She smiled slightly, feeling his erection press against her and she reached down between them to lightly touch him over the top of his pants./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell groaned, smiling as his hand slipped further under the thin string of her underwear. He paused from kissing her. "I've been thinking about touching you again, ever since you left the house tonight," he told her. He pressed his lips against Fran's again, his fingers sliding deeper into her underwear. "I was so distracted that I got absolutely no work done when you left," he added, his tone light but admonishing./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I'm not to blame if you can't keep your mind on the job at hand," Fran shot back at him with a smile of her own. Then, Fran pulled out of his arms after another moment of giving in to the feeling of his lips on hers and his fingers coming closer to her centre. emI need to tell him everything before we go much further/em, she thought. She turned and locked the door. When she looked at her reflection in the glass panel of the front door, she could see Maxwell standing behind her, looking puzzled at the change in her behaviour. "Who knew you could be so impatient when you want something?" she teased him, turning back around and stepping back towards him. She kissed him lightly on the lips before lifting her lips to the rim of his ear. "Doesn't it feel so much better now that you've admitted how you feel about me?" she whispered to him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell paused, taking a single step backwards. "Is that what all this teasing and making me wait was all about?" he asked her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran heard the serious note in his voice. emOkay, so we're going to have this talk/em, she thought, taking his hand and leading him over to the couch. She pushed him to the middle of the couch and perched herself on the edge of the coffee table in front of him. "Let's do this. Do you know how much you hurt me when you took back telling me that you loved me?" she began, keeping her eyes locked on his./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell nodded./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I was so happy when you said those words, that when you took them back, every single time that I looked at you, I thought about it, and I thought that there was something wrong with me, that you'd act in such a way," she explained./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Fran," Maxwell began, wondering how he could apologise for making her feel such a thing. "I never intended for that to be a consequence of my actions. I needed time, that was all," he told her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I know that, now, but then, I was just hurt. After all, the man who I had fallen in love with confessed his feelings and then took them back. I almost left here, so many times after that happened," Fran confessed, dropping her eyes, which had began to swim a little with tears as she spoke./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell's face paled as his mouth dropped open. He reached over to take her hand. "Fran, I never knew," he said. "Why?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Because I didn't know how you felt about me and you taking back 'the thing' that hurt me so much. I didn't think that I could stay here, wanting to be with you, being in love with you and feeling that it wasn't going to be returned," Fran told him. She bit her lip. emI suppose it's time for me to go full confession and to tell him about everything that almost happened/em, she thought. "I had second thoughts so many times about staying here with you, waiting for you to realise how much I loved you, and all that I wanted was you to tell me how you felt, and emnot take it back/em."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell felt his body shaking, his grip on her hand tightened. "Fran," he began. "I am, I mean," he said, his voice trembling. "Of all the things I regret, the pain that I've caused you is amongst the highest. I am so glad that you decided to stay with me and give me the time I needed." He leant in to kiss her when she pulled back./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I almost didn't. About a month before all this started between us, I was proposed to, and the offer only came if I eloped with the man, marrying him overseas," Fran said./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I didn't know that you were seeing anyone that you would seriously consider such a thing," he told her, shocked that he had been so out of touch with what was happening. Usually he was hyper-aware of her short-lived relationships, and he could admit it to himself, it was because he was scared that someone might take her away from them./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I didn't realise I was in that sort of relationship either," Fran said. She pulled her hand from Maxwell's hand. "I was out the door, with my bags and I was going to leave. I even left you a note," she added./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I never found anything," Maxwell said./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran shrugged. "I ran to your office and stole it back while you were off getting ice for my ankle," she told him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell nodded, remembering how breathless she had been when he returned that night. "All that matters is you decided to come back to me," he told her, reaching for her again./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran pulled back. If he touched her now, she knew that she wouldn't be able to finish telling him what she needed to. "Maxwell, I was rushing out to meet the boat and I missed it by a matter of seconds," she said. She got up from the coffee table to put some physical distance between them./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""What?" Maxwell roared, rising from his own seat and walking to her. He was trying to control his breath. emIt's okay, she's still here,/em and the rational part of his brain was telling him. "So, you came back here," he said. emWhat am I, the consolation prize?/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I came home, because I realised how much of a fool I was being to chase after another man when all that I wanted was here. Seeing you come home, I realised just how silly I had been," Fran said, wanting to reach for him but worried that he would pull away from her again. "There's something else that I need to tell you," she said. "Do you love me?" she asked him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I do," Maxwell replied. "Right now, I'm worried that your feelings aren't as strong for me if you're willing to marry anyone who proposed to you," he admitted./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran bit her lip to stop from snapping at him, knowing that once she told him who she had almost married, he would completely lose his temper. "I suppose that's fair. Maxwell, the man that I almost married, he was your brother," she blurted out./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell felt as if everything around him stopped as he looked at her. emShe couldn't have just said that/em, he thought as he studied her face, wanting to see a lie there but not seeing anything. "I don't believe it," he finally said, turning away from her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Believe it," Fran said. "I wouldn't lie to you about something like this," she added, moving to stand in front of him so that he couldn't walk away from her. emWe need to have this out now. I don't want this sitting between us any longer/em, she thought. "Maxwell, please say something."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""It's fast for an engagement," he finally said, his voice low and controlled./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran looked at him, uncertain as to where the conversation was heading. "Maxwell," she began, reaching for him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Did you show my brother the same attention that you've demonstrated to me?" Maxwell asked her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran dropped her hand. "How could you ask me that?" she asked, shocked that he would even ask her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""How could I not? It was a fast engagement, something obviously sparked his interest," Maxwell said, hating himself as he said the words, seeing the hurt flash across Fran's face./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Of course, because that's the only way that someone could fall for me, want to marry me unless I gave them a little something extra, right?" Fran snapped at him. She began to head for the stairs, shaking her head. "I don't have to justify anything to you, but seeing as you think so low of me, I'm going to tell you that, for your information, I did nothing with him, except for share a couple of kisses," she said, pausing at the bottom of the staircase and realised that he had been following closely behind her. "And, the night that you caught me touching myself, the only man that I was thinking of was you. You're the only one I've ever imagined touching me like that," she added, biting her lip to stop the tears that were threatening to fall down her cheeks./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Fran, wait," Maxwell said, reaching for her, shaken by the idea that she had been thinking of him when she touched herself. He had hoped, of course, assumed as much, but she had never confirmed it for him. Fran pulled her arm out of his reach. "I know that I've hurt you with my harsh words," he said./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""You did," Fran said, her voice and posture stiff as she stepped back, up onto the first step so that, in her high heels, she was eye to eye with him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I'm sorry," Maxwell apologised. "I wasn't expecting you to tell me that you almost married my brother and it shook me, quite a lot," he added. "Why did you tell me this tonight?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I was always going to, at some point and I knew that I had to, before we became more intimate, but then we became closer and we started to do things that I knew there was no coming back from," Fran told him. She was now becoming more and more worried that she had completely ruined things between them. He was being way too calm about it. She expected him to explode as he normally would./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Well, it does change things," Maxwell began. Then he studied her. "While we're being honest, there's something I should tell you," he added. He sank down and sat on the bottom step. "Sit with me, please."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Okay," Fran said, sinking awkwardly to sit next to him. Then she rethought it and boosted herself up onto the next step./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Around the time that you were seeing Nigel, I was seeing Marla Maples," Maxwell admitted, looking up at her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""When you say 'seeing'," Fran began, struggling to keep her tone steady, even though she was shaking a little at his revelation. emI had no freaking idea/em, she thought. emHow could he do something like that to me? /em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I was dating her," Maxwell said. "It was only a very brief relationship, things never developed further than a couple of kisses, that were in no way as passionate as the ones that you or I have ever shared," he added./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Wow, now you're just sucking up to me so I don't get angry with you," Fran shot at him. She shook her head and sighed in resignation. "We make quite a pair, huh?" she asked him, tapping her lightly with her foot./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""We sure as hell do. I think we're getting better at being honest with each other though," he said. Then, Maxwell sighed as he leant backwards so that he was lying back on the stairs, propped up on his elbows which rested on the same step that Fran was sitting on. He turned his head and lightly kissed her knee, the only part of her body that he could reach without moving from his current position. "Do you forgive me?" he asked her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Yeah, I think I can," Fran replied, leaning down and holding her loose hair to the side so that she could kiss him lightly on the lips. "Do you think that you can do the same for me?" she asked him, tentatively, after all she had almost run away with his brother. There was a part of her that thought she had done a lot worse to him in that one moment of betrayal. She waited as she felt time pass slower between them. emCome on, just give me an answer/em, she thought./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell laughed at her, openly. "Oh, I think I can. If you keep kissing me like that," he added./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran leant down again, kissing him deeply. She felt his tongue in her mouth. She pulled away, taking a breath. "This is feeling really awkward," she said./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell considered her words. Then he sat up properly and turned so that he was facing her. He considered pinning her to the stairs and having his way with her, right then and there. The idea definitely had some appeal, but he wanted their first time together to be in a bed. emAnother time,/em he thought. He reached for her hand and brought her to her feet. He kissed her gently, bringing their bodies close together./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran pulled away first. "We should take this upstairs," she suggested./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell nodded, resting his hand on her hip as he followed her the rest of the way to the top of the stairs. She paused on the landing as if uncertain of which room to take them to. Maxwell, aware of the indecision, moved to open the door to his own room and stepped inside, pulling her by the hand with him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"As soon as she crossed the threshold, Fran found Maxwell's lips back on hers, his hands rising up and down the sides of her torso. She reached behind her and closed the door. She stepped out of her heels and looked at him, waiting to see if he would back down again./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell paused, stepping back to look at her, taking in the dress that had made him almost ravish her before she had gone out. emThis is all I've ever wanted/em, he thought, reaching for her again. He pulled her towards the bed. He sat down, and she sat astride his lap./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran grinned as she looked at Maxwell's face. It was one of the rare times that she didn't have to slightly look up to him when they kissed. She felt him shift his hands back to her hips, his thumbs rubbing soft circles in her hip bones. "Well, you've got me, what do you want to do with me now?" she asked him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Everything that I've thought about doing for the last couple of years," Maxwell said, leaning forward to capture her lips with his in a light kiss. He began to kiss her neck, while his hands moved to the zip at the side of her dress. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he murmured, knowing that he'd have difficulty stopping if she suddenly had changed her mind./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""If you don't stop what you're doing, neither will I," Fran whispered back as she pulled at the buttons of his shirt./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"emThank God,/em Maxwell thought, his fingers opening the zip slowly./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran stood up, slipping her arms out of the thin straps holding up the dress and let it fall to the ground. She smiled as she stepped out of it, seeing the way that Maxwell's mouth dropped open and he rose from his seat. Wearing the thigh high hose, black g string underwear and its matching half corset that enhanced her cleavage and accentuated her curves, she waited for him to say something. "You're starting to make me nervous," she finally said when he didn't immediately reach for her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell blinked. "Sorry, I'm just in awe," he admitted, torn between what to do next. He ran a finger along the ridges of the corset./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""You're also wearing way too many clothes," Fran told him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"emDecision made/em, Maxwell thought, pulling out of her reach and taking his shirt off slowly before Fran approached him and helped him to undo the buckle on his belt. He soon stepped out of his pants, also undone by Fran and then stepped towards her, kissing her again./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran drew him closer to her as she sat down on the edge of the bed. Kissing her, Maxwell leant over, pushing her gently so that she was lying back on the bed. He ran a finger along the top of her breasts, following them with light kisses. Then he began to pull at the string holding the corset in place./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran gasped, feeling the cool air brushed against her bared nipples as Maxwell pushed aside each part of the corset. Then she let out a low moan, as he bent down and took one of them in his lips, running his tongue over it while he gently toyed with the other one. She lifted one of her legs up to his hips, opening herself up to him. She ran her fingers down his chest, pulling at the waist of his boxer shorts. He paused in his ministrations to her nipple to look up at her and she smiled back at him, mischievously. "We're both wearing too much, don't you think?" she asked him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell laughed softly as he stood up. When Fran started to rise as well, he held out his hand. "Wait," he said./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran raised an eyebrow at him, watching as he pushed his underwear off and then approached her. "What on earth are you up to?" she asked him as he knelt down on the carpet at the edge of the bed and looked up at her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Something that I've been thinking about for the last three years every time I looked at you perched on my desk," he admitted, placing two fingers under the thin straps of her underwear and pulling them downwards and off her legs. He grinned as he moved up, kissing each of her thighs in turn, moving upwards towards her centre./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Max," Fran whispered as he pushed her thighs open a little more, feeling his breath on her moist centre. "Do you really think that this is the time for that?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell smiled. "Does that mean you want me to stop?" he asked her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Hell no," Fran said, lifting herself up so that she was propped up on her elbows to get a better angle on what he was about to do to her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell leant in, and ran his tongue over her clitoris, enjoying how she writhed under his ministrations. He did it again, this time sliding a finger into her moist centre, smiling at how slick she felt, knowing that she was more than ready for him. Above him, he heard her gasp, and he lifted his face from her and looked up at her flushed face./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Max, please," Fran said./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell laughed. "Please what? Stop doing this?" he asked as he lowered his face back to her, this time running his tongue from her opening to her clit, catching it in his lips and suckling at it before lifting his face again to look up at Fran's once more./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""As amazing as that feels, and believe me, it does, I want you inside of me when that orgasm hits me," Fran gasped, almost unable to form the words properly. Her heart was pounding so hard that she was surprised that he couldn't hear it. "I just want you," she added./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell laughed as he rose up, kissing her stomach as he moved towards her face. He groaned as he felt her take his hardened organ into her hands and stroking it from base to tip and back to the base, drifting her painted nails up the shaft lightly, feeling every part of him. "Darling, if you don't stop that, it will be over a lot sooner than either of us have planned," he said./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Well, then, what are you waiting for?" Fran asked him. "Birth control," she said. "We should be responsible."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell moved off of Fran and reached for the top drawer of the dressing table near the bed. He pulled out an unopened box of condoms and quickly broke the seal./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Watching him pull one from the box, Fran smiled. "I never knew you kept those in your dresser," she said, taking one from his hand./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Really? Since when have you ever not snooped?" Maxwell teased her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Careful Mr Sheffield, or you'll be back to using your hand again," she shot back at him with a smile of her own to match the one he was giving her. emOf course, there's no way in hell that's going to happen tonight. We've come way too far for either of us to back down,/em she thought. She looked at the wrapped condom in her hand and looked at him. "Are you going to put it on, or do you want me to help you with it?" she offered./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell studied the object that she was turning over in her hand and acted as if he were considering the options before leaning in to kiss her, at the same time, moving her hand towards his erection. "You," he said, between kisses./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran smiled, pulling herself away from his lips and settling herself upon his thighs. She carefully opened the package and placed it on him slowly, smiling as she heard him moan at her touch. She leant over and kissed him as she lifted her hips so that she lightly grazed herself against his tip. He placed his hands on her hips to steady her, lifting his own as he thrust upwards, entering her for the first time./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Moving their lower bodies in sync with each other, Maxwell watched the expressions race across Fran's face. He caressed the side of her breast before placing a hand to her cheek. "Fran," he gasped, feeling his own climax build. He put his hand back onto her hip and moved the other one down so that he could start stroking her clit./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran felt the amazing friction building as she moved up and down in time with Maxwell's thrusts. She felt the first ripples of an orgasm pull at her. She looked down at him and it happened, rushing over her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Seconds later, Maxwell gasped, reaching his own climax. He reached up for her face and pulled her down to him for a quick kiss as she moved off of him. He removed the used condom and discarded it quickly and returned to her side in the bed, pulling the covers up over their cooling bodies./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran turned so that she was curled up against him, smiling as she closed her eyes. She wondered what would happen next./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell pulled away from her. "I think we've both been waiting long enough. Besides, we're both more than ready," he said. Then he shrugged and pulled his house keys from his pocket and unlocked the door. He pulled her in with him and as soon as she crossed the threshold, he closed the door and pulled her to him for another hungry kiss, pushing her back so that her back was pressed up against the closet door./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran gasped, lifting her leg, hooking it over his hip. She felt his hand slip up under the short skirt of her dress and rub the back of her upper thigh, his thumb hooking under the string of her underwear. She pulled them closer together so that they were grinding their lower bodies against each other. She smiled slightly, feeling his erection press against her and she reached down between them to lightly touch him over the top of his pants./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell groaned, smiling as his hand slipped further under the thin string of her underwear. He paused from kissing her. "I've been thinking about touching you again, ever since you left the house tonight," he told her. He pressed his lips against Fran's again, his fingers sliding deeper into her underwear. "I was so distracted that I got absolutely no work done when you left," he added, his tone light but admonishing./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I'm not to blame if you can't keep your mind on the job at hand," Fran shot back at him with a smile of her own. Then, Fran pulled out of his arms after another moment of giving in to the feeling of his lips on hers and his fingers coming closer to her centre. emI need to tell him everything before we go much further/em, she thought. She turned and locked the door. When she looked at her reflection in the glass panel of the front door, she could see Maxwell standing behind her, looking puzzled at the change in her behaviour. "Who knew you could be so impatient when you want something?" she teased him, turning back around and stepping back towards him. She kissed him lightly on the lips before lifting her lips to the rim of his ear. "Doesn't it feel so much better now that you've admitted how you feel about me?" she whispered to him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell paused, taking a single step backwards. "Is that what all this teasing and making me wait was all about?" he asked her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran heard the serious note in his voice. emOkay, so we're going to have this talk/em, she thought, taking his hand and leading him over to the couch. She pushed him to the middle of the couch and perched herself on the edge of the coffee table in front of him. "Let's do this. Do you know how much you hurt me when you took back telling me that you loved me?" she began, keeping her eyes locked on his./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell nodded./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I was so happy when you said those words, that when you took them back, every single time that I looked at you, I thought about it, and I thought that there was something wrong with me, that you'd act in such a way," she explained./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Fran," Maxwell began, wondering how he could apologise for making her feel such a thing. "I never intended for that to be a consequence of my actions. I needed time, that was all," he told her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I know that, now, but then, I was just hurt. After all, the man who I had fallen in love with confessed his feelings and then took them back. I almost left here, so many times after that happened," Fran confessed, dropping her eyes, which had began to swim a little with tears as she spoke./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell's face paled as his mouth dropped open. He reached over to take her hand. "Fran, I never knew," he said. "Why?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Because I didn't know how you felt about me and you taking back 'the thing' that hurt me so much. I didn't think that I could stay here, wanting to be with you, being in love with you and feeling that it wasn't going to be returned," Fran told him. She bit her lip. emI suppose it's time for me to go full confession and to tell him about everything that almost happened/em, she thought. "I had second thoughts so many times about staying here with you, waiting for you to realise how much I loved you, and all that I wanted was you to tell me how you felt, and emnot take it back/em."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell felt his body shaking, his grip on her hand tightened. "Fran," he began. "I am, I mean," he said, his voice trembling. "Of all the things I regret, the pain that I've caused you is amongst the highest. I am so glad that you decided to stay with me and give me the time I needed." He leant in to kiss her when she pulled back./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I almost didn't. About a month before all this started between us, I was proposed to, and the offer only came if I eloped with the man, marrying him overseas," Fran said./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I didn't know that you were seeing anyone that you would seriously consider such a thing," he told her, shocked that he had been so out of touch with what was happening. Usually he was hyper-aware of her short-lived relationships, and he could admit it to himself, it was because he was scared that someone might take her away from them./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I didn't realise I was in that sort of relationship either," Fran said. She pulled her hand from Maxwell's hand. "I was out the door, with my bags and I was going to leave. I even left you a note," she added./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I never found anything," Maxwell said./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran shrugged. "I ran to your office and stole it back while you were off getting ice for my ankle," she told him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell nodded, remembering how breathless she had been when he returned that night. "All that matters is you decided to come back to me," he told her, reaching for her again./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran pulled back. If he touched her now, she knew that she wouldn't be able to finish telling him what she needed to. "Maxwell, I was rushing out to meet the boat and I missed it by a matter of seconds," she said. She got up from the coffee table to put some physical distance between them./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""What?" Maxwell roared, rising from his own seat and walking to her. He was trying to control his breath. emIt's okay, she's still here,/em and the rational part of his brain was telling him. "So, you came back here," he said. emWhat am I, the consolation prize?/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I came home, because I realised how much of a fool I was being to chase after another man when all that I wanted was here. Seeing you come home, I realised just how silly I had been," Fran said, wanting to reach for him but worried that he would pull away from her again. "There's something else that I need to tell you," she said. "Do you love me?" she asked him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I do," Maxwell replied. "Right now, I'm worried that your feelings aren't as strong for me if you're willing to marry anyone who proposed to you," he admitted./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran bit her lip to stop from snapping at him, knowing that once she told him who she had almost married, he would completely lose his temper. "I suppose that's fair. Maxwell, the man that I almost married, he was your brother," she blurted out./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell felt as if everything around him stopped as he looked at her. emShe couldn't have just said that/em, he thought as he studied her face, wanting to see a lie there but not seeing anything. "I don't believe it," he finally said, turning away from her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Believe it," Fran said. "I wouldn't lie to you about something like this," she added, moving to stand in front of him so that he couldn't walk away from her. emWe need to have this out now. I don't want this sitting between us any longer/em, she thought. "Maxwell, please say something."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""It's fast for an engagement," he finally said, his voice low and controlled./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran looked at him, uncertain as to where the conversation was heading. "Maxwell," she began, reaching for him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Did you show my brother the same attention that you've demonstrated to me?" Maxwell asked her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran dropped her hand. "How could you ask me that?" she asked, shocked that he would even ask her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""How could I not? It was a fast engagement, something obviously sparked his interest," Maxwell said, hating himself as he said the words, seeing the hurt flash across Fran's face./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Of course, because that's the only way that someone could fall for me, want to marry me unless I gave them a little something extra, right?" Fran snapped at him. She began to head for the stairs, shaking her head. "I don't have to justify anything to you, but seeing as you think so low of me, I'm going to tell you that, for your information, I did nothing with him, except for share a couple of kisses," she said, pausing at the bottom of the staircase and realised that he had been following closely behind her. "And, the night that you caught me touching myself, the only man that I was thinking of was you. You're the only one I've ever imagined touching me like that," she added, biting her lip to stop the tears that were threatening to fall down her cheeks./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Fran, wait," Maxwell said, reaching for her, shaken by the idea that she had been thinking of him when she touched herself. He had hoped, of course, assumed as much, but she had never confirmed it for him. Fran pulled her arm out of his reach. "I know that I've hurt you with my harsh words," he said./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""You did," Fran said, her voice and posture stiff as she stepped back, up onto the first step so that, in her high heels, she was eye to eye with him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I'm sorry," Maxwell apologised. "I wasn't expecting you to tell me that you almost married my brother and it shook me, quite a lot," he added. "Why did you tell me this tonight?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I was always going to, at some point and I knew that I had to, before we became more intimate, but then we became closer and we started to do things that I knew there was no coming back from," Fran told him. She was now becoming more and more worried that she had completely ruined things between them. He was being way too calm about it. She expected him to explode as he normally would./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Well, it does change things," Maxwell began. Then he studied her. "While we're being honest, there's something I should tell you," he added. He sank down and sat on the bottom step. "Sit with me, please."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Okay," Fran said, sinking awkwardly to sit next to him. Then she rethought it and boosted herself up onto the next step./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Around the time that you were seeing Nigel, I was seeing Marla Maples," Maxwell admitted, looking up at her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""When you say 'seeing'," Fran began, struggling to keep her tone steady, even though she was shaking a little at his revelation. emI had no freaking idea/em, she thought. emHow could he do something like that to me? /em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""I was dating her," Maxwell said. "It was only a very brief relationship, things never developed further than a couple of kisses, that were in no way as passionate as the ones that you or I have ever shared," he added./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Wow, now you're just sucking up to me so I don't get angry with you," Fran shot at him. She shook her head and sighed in resignation. "We make quite a pair, huh?" she asked him, tapping her lightly with her foot./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""We sure as hell do. I think we're getting better at being honest with each other though," he said. Then, Maxwell sighed as he leant backwards so that he was lying back on the stairs, propped up on his elbows which rested on the same step that Fran was sitting on. He turned his head and lightly kissed her knee, the only part of her body that he could reach without moving from his current position. "Do you forgive me?" he asked her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Yeah, I think I can," Fran replied, leaning down and holding her loose hair to the side so that she could kiss him lightly on the lips. "Do you think that you can do the same for me?" she asked him, tentatively, after all she had almost run away with his brother. There was a part of her that thought she had done a lot worse to him in that one moment of betrayal. She waited as she felt time pass slower between them. emCome on, just give me an answer/em, she thought./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell laughed at her, openly. "Oh, I think I can. If you keep kissing me like that," he added./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran leant down again, kissing him deeply. She felt his tongue in her mouth. She pulled away, taking a breath. "This is feeling really awkward," she said./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell considered her words. Then he sat up properly and turned so that he was facing her. He considered pinning her to the stairs and having his way with her, right then and there. The idea definitely had some appeal, but he wanted their first time together to be in a bed. emAnother time,/em he thought. He reached for her hand and brought her to her feet. He kissed her gently, bringing their bodies close together./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran pulled away first. "We should take this upstairs," she suggested./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell nodded, resting his hand on her hip as he followed her the rest of the way to the top of the stairs. She paused on the landing as if uncertain of which room to take them to. Maxwell, aware of the indecision, moved to open the door to his own room and stepped inside, pulling her by the hand with him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"As soon as she crossed the threshold, Fran found Maxwell's lips back on hers, his hands rising up and down the sides of her torso. She reached behind her and closed the door. She stepped out of her heels and looked at him, waiting to see if he would back down again./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell paused, stepping back to look at her, taking in the dress that had made him almost ravish her before she had gone out. emThis is all I've ever wanted/em, he thought, reaching for her again. He pulled her towards the bed. He sat down, and she sat astride his lap./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran grinned as she looked at Maxwell's face. It was one of the rare times that she didn't have to slightly look up to him when they kissed. She felt him shift his hands back to her hips, his thumbs rubbing soft circles in her hip bones. "Well, you've got me, what do you want to do with me now?" she asked him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Everything that I've thought about doing for the last couple of years," Maxwell said, leaning forward to capture her lips with his in a light kiss. He began to kiss her neck, while his hands moved to the zip at the side of her dress. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he murmured, knowing that he'd have difficulty stopping if she suddenly had changed her mind./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""If you don't stop what you're doing, neither will I," Fran whispered back as she pulled at the buttons of his shirt./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"emThank God,/em Maxwell thought, his fingers opening the zip slowly./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran stood up, slipping her arms out of the thin straps holding up the dress and let it fall to the ground. She smiled as she stepped out of it, seeing the way that Maxwell's mouth dropped open and he rose from his seat. Wearing the thigh high hose, black g string underwear and its matching half corset that enhanced her cleavage and accentuated her curves, she waited for him to say something. "You're starting to make me nervous," she finally said when he didn't immediately reach for her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell blinked. "Sorry, I'm just in awe," he admitted, torn between what to do next. He ran a finger along the ridges of the corset./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""You're also wearing way too many clothes," Fran told him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"emDecision made/em, Maxwell thought, pulling out of her reach and taking his shirt off slowly before Fran approached him and helped him to undo the buckle on his belt. He soon stepped out of his pants, also undone by Fran and then stepped towards her, kissing her again./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran drew him closer to her as she sat down on the edge of the bed. Kissing her, Maxwell leant over, pushing her gently so that she was lying back on the bed. He ran a finger along the top of her breasts, following them with light kisses. Then he began to pull at the string holding the corset in place./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran gasped, feeling the cool air brushed against her bared nipples as Maxwell pushed aside each part of the corset. Then she let out a low moan, as he bent down and took one of them in his lips, running his tongue over it while he gently toyed with the other one. She lifted one of her legs up to his hips, opening herself up to him. She ran her fingers down his chest, pulling at the waist of his boxer shorts. He paused in his ministrations to her nipple to look up at her and she smiled back at him, mischievously. "We're both wearing too much, don't you think?" she asked him./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell laughed softly as he stood up. When Fran started to rise as well, he held out his hand. "Wait," he said./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran raised an eyebrow at him, watching as he pushed his underwear off and then approached her. "What on earth are you up to?" she asked him as he knelt down on the carpet at the edge of the bed and looked up at her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Something that I've been thinking about for the last three years every time I looked at you perched on my desk," he admitted, placing two fingers under the thin straps of her underwear and pulling them downwards and off her legs. He grinned as he moved up, kissing each of her thighs in turn, moving upwards towards her centre./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Max," Fran whispered as he pushed her thighs open a little more, feeling his breath on her moist centre. "Do you really think that this is the time for that?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell smiled. "Does that mean you want me to stop?" he asked her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Hell no," Fran said, lifting herself up so that she was propped up on her elbows to get a better angle on what he was about to do to her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell leant in, and ran his tongue over her clitoris, enjoying how she writhed under his ministrations. He did it again, this time sliding a finger into her moist centre, smiling at how slick she felt, knowing that she was more than ready for him. Above him, he heard her gasp, and he lifted his face from her and looked up at her flushed face./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Max, please," Fran said./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell laughed. "Please what? Stop doing this?" he asked as he lowered his face back to her, this time running his tongue from her opening to her clit, catching it in his lips and suckling at it before lifting his face again to look up at Fran's once more./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""As amazing as that feels, and believe me, it does, I want you inside of me when that orgasm hits me," Fran gasped, almost unable to form the words properly. Her heart was pounding so hard that she was surprised that he couldn't hear it. "I just want you," she added./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell laughed as he rose up, kissing her stomach as he moved towards her face. He groaned as he felt her take his hardened organ into her hands and stroking it from base to tip and back to the base, drifting her painted nails up the shaft lightly, feeling every part of him. "Darling, if you don't stop that, it will be over a lot sooner than either of us have planned," he said./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Well, then, what are you waiting for?" Fran asked him. "Birth control," she said. "We should be responsible."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell moved off of Fran and reached for the top drawer of the dressing table near the bed. He pulled out an unopened box of condoms and quickly broke the seal./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Watching him pull one from the box, Fran smiled. "I never knew you kept those in your dresser," she said, taking one from his hand./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Really? Since when have you ever not snooped?" Maxwell teased her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;""Careful Mr Sheffield, or you'll be back to using your hand again," she shot back at him with a smile of her own to match the one he was giving her. emOf course, there's no way in hell that's going to happen tonight. We've come way too far for either of us to back down,/em she thought. She looked at the wrapped condom in her hand and looked at him. "Are you going to put it on, or do you want me to help you with it?" she offered./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Maxwell studied the object that she was turning over in her hand and acted as if he were considering the options before leaning in to kiss her, at the same time, moving her hand towards his erection. "You," he said, between kisses./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran smiled, pulling herself away from his lips and settling herself upon his thighs. She carefully opened the package and placed it on him slowly, smiling as she heard him moan at her touch. She leant over and kissed him as she lifted her hips so that she lightly grazed herself against his tip. He placed his hands on her hips to steady her, lifting his own as he thrust upwards, entering her for the first time./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Moving their lower bodies in sync with each other, Maxwell watched the expressions race across Fran's face. He caressed the side of her breast before placing a hand to her cheek. "Fran," he gasped, feeling his own climax build. He put his hand back onto her hip and moved the other one down so that he could start stroking her clit./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran felt the amazing friction building as she moved up and down in time with Maxwell's thrusts. She felt the first ripples of an orgasm pull at her. She looked down at him and it happened, rushing over her./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Seconds later, Maxwell gasped, reaching his own climax. He reached up for her face and pulled her down to him for a quick kiss as she moved off of him. He removed the used condom and discarded it quickly and returned to her side in the bed, pulling the covers up over their cooling bodies./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"Fran turned so that she was curled up against him, smiling as she closed her eyes. She wondered what would happen next./p