Maxed Steel by M.J. Fields
Work Out
Max
As she walksout of her room, I’m standing there, with flowers that, yes, I picked thirty minutes ago.
“Did you even sleep?” she asks, acting like it isn’t a big deal that I’m standing here with flowers outside her door when she walks out.
Is it right?I question myself for a second.
“Slept enough. You?” I bend down and kiss her forehead.
“You brought flowers?” she says, looking down at them, lips pinched together.
“Not a flower girl?” I ask.
She looks up, nose scrunched, and admits, “Never got them before.”
I lean down and whisper in her ear, “Never gave them before.”
She smiles and pecks me on the lips. “Thank you.”
I peck her back. “You’re welcome.”
Then she rocks back on her heels. “So, am I supposed to, like, carry them around or …?”
“I mean, if you want, but I’m thinking putting them in your room might make you feel less awkward than you’re feeling right now.”
She shakes her head. “Just new. I mean, so was giving head, but—”
I step forward causing her to step back, landing that fine ass against the wall.
“Last night, you knew damn well that I wasn’t chill with how things went down.”
She bats her eyelashes, smirk playing on her sexy lips. “I was pretty sure when your eyes rolled in the back of your head that you were thinking things went down pretty well.” She ducks under my arm, opens the door, and walks into her room, placing the flowers on her pillow.
When she turns around, I step in. “You can’t say shit like that and expect to be to work on time.”
“Oh my God, not this at the ass crack of dawn,” Lindsey grumbles as she covers her head with her pillow.
“Sorry, Red.” I laugh as I grab Mila’s hand and pull her out the door.
Holding hands, both smiling, I tell her, “Life’s good, Mila. So fucking good now.”
“I’m not gonna complain.”
“I won’t give you many reasons to.”
Playfully, she pretends to pull her hand away from me. “Many?”
Following her down the stairs, I tell her, “Gonna push you every once in a while, but then I’m also gonna make you come, so it’ll all even out.”
“And bring me flowers,” she says at the bottom of the stairs.
I reach ahead of her and open the stairwell doorway. “And open doors for you.”
She walks out, laughing. “All for a piece of ass.”
To that, I smack her ass. “Kind of love the girl, too, you know.”
She turns around, smiling. “Kind of love the guy, too. Don’t tell him, but I’d give him a BJ even without expecting flowers.”
I lunge forward and grab her hips, pulling her close then lifting her up and giving her ass a squeeze. “I’ll take whatever you’re dishing out, as long as you do the same.”
She nods. “Sounds like a good plan.”
I don’t realize I’m staring at her, still holding her in the air, until she says, “Gonna be late for work if you don’t—”
“Yeah, right.” I place her on her feet, take her hand, and start walking toward the fitness center.
“You working out today?”
“Planned on it. Also planned on taking you to breakfast or lunch. When do you have a break?”
“My first class starts at noon, so I can do either.”
“Let me clarify; I want you for either lunch or breakfast, so we need to X out at least two hours because I got skills, Blue, and—”
“You had skills yesterday, too.”
“I’m capable of much more.”
“I remember your skills, Max. How does a girl forget sneaking onto a boat and being …”
When she stops, I pull her to a halt and look down at her. “Being what?”
“Nothing.” She shakes her head.
“Blue, there isn’t anything between us that is nothing.”
She lets out a slow breath and looks down. “It’s the first time I ever felt beautiful.”
“Yeah?”
She squeezes my hand and nods.
“It’s the first time I thought a girl was with me because she liked me, and not for bragging rights. Only time in high school, actually.” I lift her chin so she’s looking at me. “Now, I’m gonna spill some tea about all the hos after you.”
She pulls her chin away from me. “I don’t want to discuss our past sexual—”
“Didn’t fuck one of them. The first couple were because I knew Marc was fucking with them. The rest were because I kind of have a thing for love, so I watched people, saw who they were crushing on. When the fool was blowing her off, I had a little conversation with them and told them I’d help them out. Those idiots saw the girl they didn’t have the time of day for before chill with me, and they realized the little lady’s worth. Oh, and played that game with Kirk Dessner, too. He and Antione are still together.”
She laughs at me. “If any other guy told me that story, I would know it was a crock of shit, Steel. But you”—she smiles—“I totally believe it.”
I shrug. “See, Blue? I’m one hell of a guy and completely deserving of you. Guarantee no one else is. Promise you, if someone tries, I’m gonna probably break a nose.”
She sighs and cocks her head to the side. “After you—”
“Nope. Just don’t. I may appear to be levelheaded and—”
“Levelheaded?” She shakes her head and turns, laughing at me.
I stand there, confused. When I get my bearings straight, I hurry to catch up with her. “Tell me one time I’ve not been fucking solid with you.”
“Levelheaded isn’t hiding in the back of a girl’s truck.”
“Yeah, okay, let me take that back. I lost my shit after you stuck that nose in the air and walked past me after pouring my heart out to you.”
“After you—”
“Blue, you’re a smart girl. So smart you just proved my ass wrong, and I am”—I chuckle—“a fucking genius.”
She reaches for the fitness center’s door, but I grab it first.
“After you.”
She walks past me.
“Don’t you—”
“There was no one else.”
I grab her hand and yank her back. “Tell me more about after me.”
She pushes up on her toes, kisses me quickly, then says, “I have to work.”
“Text me your schedule. I’ll find what works best.”
“I have a call with Saylor and Cia every day at four, so—”
“I’ll work around it.” I kiss her cheek quickly then step away, but she tugs me back.
“If you’re sure that regardless of …” A V forms between her eyes as she scowls.
“Told you I love you knowing the possibility. You said it back, so I know damn well you won’t end up with that mother—”
“Never, Max. Not ever. God, I—”
“Fuck, I’m sorry. Okay.” I pull her in for a hug.
“Do you seriously think—”
“No.”
“Because that’s never gonna happen.”
I hug her a bit tighter. “Well, damn, I’m being a bitch right now, huh?”
“No, Max, you just became a little more human.” She looks up. “And what I was going to ask is: if you’re not busy, then maybe you can talk to them with me.”
I step back and place my hand over my heart. “Is there such a thing as a heart-gasm?”
She rolls her eyes. “Yes.”
* * *
My body will besore as hell tomorrow because I whipped through a normal two-hour workout to get the hell out of the gym to take care of business.
Sitting in my room, I hit Mom up, and she answers immediately.
“Hey, Mom. Dad around, too?”
“Hi, Max.” She smiles, eyes misting over. “He is.”
“Two-parent conversation. This must be big,” Dad says as soon as he sits down next to Mom on the couch.
“She loves me.”
Dad states, “No shit,” and Mom elbows him in the side.
“No, Dad, like she really does and—”
“Again, no—”
Mom elbows him hard enough that he reacts this time.
“Baby, what the hell has …?” He stops his line of questioning when she looks up at him.
Big blue pools of unshed tears, she sniffs. “She loves him.”
“Okay, C,” he says, wiping the first tear that falls.
“I need something big.”
“You’re a Steel, Max; use what the good Lord—Fuck, C. Seriously?”
“He’s having Jase in the art studio, handmade plate moment, and we’re lucky enough to be there.”
“I more than remember the Jase in California moment where I had you in the bathroom talking to your maker.”
She rolls her eyes, looks back at me, and throws her thumb over her shoulder at him. “Ignore him and tell me what we can do to help.”
“That property we inquired about? Checked it out last night. Surfed it, too. I want a key.”
“Done.” Dad leans forward. “What else?”
“Welcome to the conversation, Jase.”
“Always present, C.” He winks.
“Gonna need a key by three o’clock. Give them whatever. Sign whatever.”
“What else?”
“I need a ring that means something.”
Mom clamps her hand over her mouth. “Oh God.”
“Mom, it’s not too soon. It’s actually two years too late, but I’ll make up for that,” I assure her. “And she’s not going to say no.”
“Of course she won’t,” Dad agrees.
“I know. I just …” Mom fans her face. “I’m so happy.”
“Yeah, me, too. But about that ring …”
* * *
“Where are we?”she asks as she jumps out of the truck, scanning the parking lot where an older warehouse sits on twenty acres of land.
“Best surfing area in Jersey,” I say, shutting her door then walking around the back of the truck. “This is where we came last night. Basic ploy to get you on a board with me.” I pull my shirt off and toss it in the back of the truck. Then I turn and pop my pecks at her. “So, tell me, Blue, what do you think?”
“I think—”
“Never mind,” I cut her off after looking down and seeing the two-tit salute. “I know exactly what you’re thinking.”
She throws a punch in jest, and I step back.
“Chill, babe, I love the way you think.”
She shrugs and, in a voice, apparently trying to mimic mine, she says, “Give her good dick, and that’s all she’ll think about.”
“Damn, Blue, you have a filthy mind.”
“Oh please.” She crosses her arms. “That’s what you said Darcy should have done.”
“And I stand by that,” I say, unstrapping my favorite board and pulling it out.
“Gotta point out that I don’t even see a puddle here, so where exactly did you surf?”
“Follow me, Blue. This horse will always lead you to water.”
“Well, let’s get giddy-upping. We have a phone call in—”
“An hour. I know, babe. I’m stoked, too.” And I am.
Backpack over my shoulder, walking through the trees and overgrown brush, holding my board in front of me, freeing our way, we finally get to where the clearing begins. I see the big old house on stilts in the distance and get a bit emotional.
“What do you think?”
“What do I think?” she asks, looking up from the ground to me. “I think I’m a city girl and that was a bit terrifying.”
“You afraid of trees, Blue?” I ask, moving the board under my arm and taking her hand.
“Afraid of what might be in them and living in this overgrown mess. God, who would live like this on purpose?”
Well, shit. I laugh to myself as I walk us toward the water.