This chapter is related to my one-shot series, "Between the lines," but I haven't written this far in time yet, plus the ratings are different.
Also, this is my first attempt at smut...
Enjoy!
"I've got a problem," Max says, slowing down his ping-ponging throughout the kitchen and striding over to Helen.
"What?" Helen smirks while leaning up against the counter. How does he never run out of energy?
"I'm out of sun butter. Do you happen to have any soy nut, almond, oat, anything?" he asks, now hovering over Helen.
"I do not."
Max closes the distance and captures Helen's lips as her hands move to his waist. He can taste the coffee she just sipped, strong and black, most definitely like his woman! "You're distracting me again!"
"Excuse me, but you're the one who came over for a kiss," Helen retorts.
"Right, uhh… sandwich time. Come on over and I'll show you how I pack her lunch."
Helen walks over to the counter and Max stands behind her with his arms reaching around either side to assemble the small pink lunchbox.
"So first, you're gonna," Max kisses her cheek, "assemble the sandwich," another kiss to her jaw, "and cut it into triangles," and again on her neck.
"Max, stop it!" Helen giggles. "We'll get nowhere if you can't keep your lips to yourself!"
"Dada!" Luna calls from the other room.
Max looks over to the bedroom and backs away from the counter. "You got this, right? You've seen me make Luna's lunch before. It's pretty self-explanatory."
"Erm, yes, of course," Helen says, not sounding very confident as Max heads to check on Luna. This shouldn't be too hard, Helen thinks to herself. She was very wrong. After slicing the tip of her finger with the apple peeler, making a mess of the sandwich, and spilling orange juice all over the place, her phone dings. Guillaume.
He needs to see me? Whatever for? It's been ages! It would be nice to catch up over coffee...
Helen is interrupted from her thoughts by Max reentering the room and quickly puts away her phone.
"Hey, I heard you shout, everything okay?" Max's eyes drift down to the spilled orange juice. "Oh, I guess not."
"The lid on the cuppy wouldn't come off, so I tried using the funnel! And as you can see, it ended up turning into a disaster!" Helen kneels on the floor to wipe up the mess with some paper towels. "I'm sorry!"
Max joins her to clean up the spill. "Don't be. Those sippy cups will be the death of me!"
"Not only that, it was all total chaos! I couldn't find the blue sippy cup, the sandwich wouldn't even fit in Luna's lunchbox, and to top it all off, I nearly chopped off my finger with the apple peeler."
Max huffs out a slight chuckle. "You know, it's okay that you don't have everything down yet. You're still getting used to living here and learning our flow. And trust me, when Luna was younger, I felt like I was messing everything up! I was juggling things left and right, it was like a circus over here."
Helen gazes over at Max and gives him a soft smile. "I know. I saw when we came to tidy the place up after Georgia died. You were, and still kind of are, a hot mess," she teases.
Max smiles back at her. "See? Even with you here, things are still crazy! But you just gotta roll with the punches. You'll get there," he reassures her.
Helen stands in the bathroom in front of the mirror, attempting to wipe off some tomato sauce from her blouse. Luna had thrown some spaghetti at her during dinner, only adding to her feelings of inadequacy as a parent.
"Come on!" she mutters to herself. Behind her, Helen feels a pair of strong, warm arms wrap around her waist and a prickly beard behind her ear.
"Leave it be," Max whispers, tickling Helen with his breath. "We can wash that later."
Helen sinks back into his embrace and closes her eyes as butterflies erupt in her stomach. She turns around and plants her lips on Max's, grabbing onto his neck. She starts kissing him slowly, then when her heart starts beating faster, picks up the pace.
Max's hands move to grasp Helen's face as if trying to pull it closer, a feat that proves to be impossible. As Helen's hands move to slip under his shirt, Max feels heat pooling in his lower stomach and breaks the kiss, backing up slightly to look at her. She meets his eyes, attempting to read his thoughts.
"Luna's asleep in the living room with her new white noise machine… if you want to join me in the bedroom," he suggests, voice heavy with desire.
"Yes," Helen breathes out, not even giving it a second thought. Things between them had been a little awkward, at least in her mind, for the past few days from overhearing what he said to Veronica to everything that happened with Guillaume. She needs to be one with him again. "But we should still try to be quiet." Helen has only been living here for three weeks, but quickly learned that Luna is a light sleeper for the first half an hour after going down.
"That I can do!"
Helen grabs Max's hands and pulls him through the door into the bedroom as they take turns removing each other's clothes in between desperate, heavy kisses. She pushes him toward the bed and strips him free of his boxer briefs and allows him to remove her underwear. While still bending down in front of her, Max places gentle, teasing kisses along Helen's inner thighs. "You're so beautiful!" he whispers against her center, sending vibrations of pleasure throughout her body. Helen pulls Max back up to claim his lips again as his right hand unhooks the clasp on her bra, peeling it off her as if unwrapping a present. He grazes his fingertips around her back, still amazed that he gets to touch her like this!
Max picks up Helen and places her on the bed, kissing her all over, her neck, her breasts, her stomach, then between her legs. She can feel that familiar sensation building up in her, the one she felt so many years ago while painting that mural. The nervous excitement of being high up in the air!
Max's hand moves to massage her breast as his mouth continues its skilled work at Helen's center, causing the pressure inside of her to build. A moan escapes her lips before reaching down to grab onto his hair. "Wait! Max! I need you up here!" she pleads.
Max crawls over her body, nuzzling his nose against it on the way up, and settles himself between her legs. Searching her eyes for confirmation, Helen gives Max a slight nod before he plunges himself into her.
Helen arches her back to match Max's thrusts as she drags her hands all over his back. Never has she felt so connected to another human being. They move in tandem with one another, syncing to each other's rhythms. It hadn't taken long for them to figure out what the other liked. When Max moves his mouth to suck on her neck, she feels the pressure start to build again. It feels like she's being raised on a rope with Max at the bottom as her belay partner.
Helen remembers a few weeks ago how she was nervous that Max wouldn't follow through on his commitment to move to London with her. And after what she heard him say to Veronica, she'd be lying to herself if she didn't still sometimes fear that. Helen tenses up right when she's at the top of the rope, afraid to let go, afraid to trust Max completely. Through the fog, she hears his soft voice. "It's okay, let go, I've got you." His hand moves in between their conjoined bodies to rub circles right where it feels best. That's all she needed.
Helen lets herself fall, a wave of pleasure coursing through her body. It doesn't occur to her that she's moaning until Max's mouth finds hers to muffle the sound. Helen feels electric, on fire, completely alive as her whole body shakes. She wraps her arms around him and bites his shoulder as she slowly descends back down to earth, back down to Max.
After a few more thrusts, Max comes too with his face buried in Helen's neck, having been determined to let her finish first. She can feel him pulsing inside of her, nearly making her come again. Feeling Max spill inside of her is one of Helen's favorite things when they make love. It's as if he's pouring all the love he has into her. They lie conjoined together for a few moments longer, basking in the afterglow.
After cleaning up, Max and Helen lie naked in bed, under the blanket in case Luna decides to take a nighttime stroll. Helen is still on her back with Max propped up on one arm, lightly dragging the other all over her body. Helen watches Max's face as it transforms from awe to preoccupied.
"What's on your mind, dear?" Helen inquires.
Max looks up to meet Helen's gaze. "I, umm… I was just thinking… if I had actually proposed tonight… what would you have said?" he asks nervously.
Helen raises her eyebrows in surprise. "Max, you know it's way too early to be thinking about that," she says in a hushed tone.
"I know, but just humor me."
This man, god, she loves him, but they've been dating for less than three months. Although three of those weeks have been living together, so they did jump into things pretty fast. "I, erm… I dunno. My heart says 'yes' but my head says 'no.' We still have so many conversations that we need to discuss before we get there."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Max sighs in defeat. "How about we get one of those big conversations out of the way right now?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, do you still want a kid of your own?"
If Helen's eyes could go any wider, she's sure they'd pop out of their sockets. "We don't need to talk about that right now."
"I know that, but I also know you. I know how much you've always wanted a baby. And as much as I love seeing you be a parent to Luna, I don't want you to think that… she's a substitute for what you really want."
"Max, how could you think that? I love Luna! She's a tiny piece of you, so I can't love you and not love her too!"
"Yeah, but you didn't answer my question. Do you still want to have a baby?"
Helen searches his eyes, seeing an unwavering, genuine commitment to get the answer out of her. "I mean, yes, I would love to still have a baby of my own, but I didn't want to bring it up this early, and I didn't even know if you wanted any more kids. But even if you didn't, I'd be happy with just you and Luna."
"Well, just so you know, I do want more. I want Luna to have a built-in best friend like I had with my sister when we were young. But I also want to create a new life with you, to see a little human that's the perfect combination of you and me. So yeah, we don't have to be thinking about it right now, but I just thought I'd put that out there on the table." Max brings his hand up to Helen's face and gently drags his fingers along her temple. "I love you, and I want to give you everything your heart desires."
There it is again. Those butterflies in her stomach. Before Muhammad, Helen had been indifferent to kids. He instilled in her the beauty of creating a new life with someone you love with your whole soul. She now wants that more than anything with Max. Helen brings Max's hand to her cheek and kisses his palm. "I'd love to talk about that with you someday. But let's get this whole London move squared away first."
Content with that answer for now, Max rests his head on Helen's chest and drapes his arm across her waist. Helen presses her lips to his head, then whispers into his hair, "I love you too."