Chapter Twenty-Nine:

Max watched her as she stood in front of the fireplace her arms wrapped around her self.  Closing the door he made his way into the room stopping behind her. Grabbing her he pulled her to face him capturing her mouth with his.  He ate at her mouth his hands roaming her body.  "I need you."  He moaned as he was finally able to taste her for the first time all day.

"Oh…God."  Liz uttered startled by his sudden attack as she tried to pull away from him, but he wouldn't let her go.  "Max…"  She moaned trying to ignore the tingling warmth spreading inside her as she made another attempt to pull away.

"Shhhhhh…."  He whispered cupping her head with one of his hands while the other touched the side of the mouth he was devouring.  Touching her spine with a butterflies caress he slowly drew his hand upward to the juncture of the silky strands of hair coating her head.  He slowly drifted over her hairline then descended back down repeating the movement just as leisurely.

Liz couldn't stop the shiver that surged through her.  She felt as if an electrical current had suddenly been shot inside her.  Every fiber of her tingled as she trembled in his embrace.  Max groaned loudly as her body held tightly to his shivered inadvertently caressing the part of him screaming for release.  Pulling her tighter into him his eyes tightly closed he intensified the kiss. He plunged his tongue into her mouth forcefully; pulling hers into his mouth then released it only to haul it back again, his body moving feverishly with the movement of his mouth.

He knew the moment her control abandoned her and she gave into the desire ruling her sense's.  He could feel it in the way her mouth fought for control of the kiss, could feel it in the way her body frantically moved against his.  Groaning deep in his throat Max pulled away, putting a little distance between them as his body heaved with the sexual drive fighting for dominance his eyes tightly closed.

"God…."  He moaned as his chest moved frantically trying to consume the much-needed air into his lungs.  He hadn't planned on things getting so out of control.  He just needed to taste her, to feel her pressed close to his heart.  All day he'd yearned for her, but he'd made himself stay away giving her time to digest what had transpired between them last night.  All day imagines of that night slithered into his head nursing his craving to be near to her.

"Max…"  He heard her moan.  Forcing his eyes open he watched her body violently shake with her need for him.

Going to stand in front of her Max shook his head trying to clear it.  Caressing her cheeks with his hands he stared into her eyes.  "I can make it go away, Liz.  If you want to me."   He said closing his eyes again as he touched her forehead with his.  He fought against his body demand that he haul her back into his arms and complete what he'd begun. 'She's not ready…she's not ready.'  He made the words repeat themselves in his head as he felt his need for her racing through him.

"Max…"  She moaned her body on fire for him as she drew her tongue over her suddenly dry mouth, her eyes tightly closed.  She cupped his face pulling him to her, as their mouths touched her body jerked forcefully extracting a groan from deep inside her chest.

"But your not ready…I know."  He made himself say taking a deep breath trying to calm the storm raging inside him. "Okay…okay…I can take care of this."  He tried to reassure her or was it himself.   Backing away from her he brought his hand up to lie over her heart as he took another deep breath closing his eyes.  She knew what he intended to do before he even made the connection with her.

"No!"  She roared jerking away from him.  "What the hell do you think your doing?"  She demanded her heart racing inside her, her body trembling with the towering hunger consuming her.

"Liz…let me do this…please."  He begged.   "Let me take away the ache inside you."

Her eyes clouded with tears as she stared at him.  How could she make him understand how much she needed to feel anything even if it was a burning ache inside her that demanded to be fulfilled after she'd felt nothing for so long?  She closed her eyes as her body shook with the sobs that suddenly consumed her, her tears racing down her closed lids.  "Oh…God."  She cried her wails filling the room.  "No…"  She shouted as she tried to keep the unwanted emotions fighting for control away.  She didn't want to think about the past few months, didn't want to think about what she felt when she thought about Mike.  "Why…why are you doing this to me?"  She asked through the sobs she couldn't control any longer.  "Why?"  She demanded falling to her knees.

"Liz…"  Max whispered going to her and dropping to the ground in front on her.  "I'm sorry…God…I'm sorry.  Tell me how to make this right?"  He cried pulling her into his embrace. His heart raced as he tried to damp down the desire humming inside him.

"Why…why did you do this to me?"  She screamed out again.  "What did I do to make you hate me?"  She sobbed as she slung onto Max.

At her statement Max understood admittedly.  Closing his eyes for a few seconds he drew his hands in the air ensuring that no one over heard her cries or that they didn't accidentally entered the room.  He felt his desire for her swiftly turned to anger.  He let the negative emotion surge through him for a moment before he captured it and embraced the pain to could feel echoing from her.

"Cry…sweetheart…cry…I'm right here."  He murmured holding on to her as he felt her sobs raking through her body.  Staring up at the ceiling he felt his own tears enter his eyes, but he fought against them.  "God…Liz…what can I do…please tell me what to do to make this go away?"  He begged, but he knew that he couldn't no matter how much he wanted to. He couldn't stop the healing process so he held on to her his heart shattered inside him.

He held her, her sobs echoing around them for what seemed like an eternity. Each second ripping a piece of his heart to shreds before it finally turned to an occasional hiccup.  Pulling away slightly she looked up at him her face drenched with her tears.   "I'm sorry."  She mumbled turning away from the concern in his eyes.  'What's wrong with me?'  She silently asked her self.  'Why can't I let this go?'

"No…no…I'm sorry…Liz."  He captured her face within his hands and turned back her to face him.  "This whole weekend I've been…I don't know..."  He said shaking his head.  "I guess I've been trying to ignore the past few months, but it's not that simple…is it?"

"Max." How can she make him understand when she didn't understand it herself?

"I think we need to talk."  He said getting to his feet and pulling her with him.  Closing his eyes he touched her forehead with his.  "I don't think we've ever really talked about this, have we?"  Taking her hand within his he asked.  "Take a walk with me down by the lake?  Please."  He begged when he saw her hesitation enter her eyes.

She squeezed his hand, as she looked up into his face her tears still running down her cheeks.  "I love you."

He stared at her his heart beating wilding as he fought against the anger, the pain inside him.  Closing his eyes for a second he looked down into her tear filled eyes fighting his own tears.  "I love you to, but that doesn't take away what that bastard did to you…do it?"  He watched as a fresh roll of tears filled her eyes and she turned away from him.  He couldn't fight his tears any longer he let them flow freely down his face.  "Okay…"   He said on a sigh taking a deep breath as he ran his hand in the air extracting the hold he had on the room.  Pulling her towards the door he silently cursed himself for allowing that bastard to live.

TBC