Maxed Steel by M.J. Fields
Surfs Up
Mila
“Gotta love an Indian summer,”Max says as he steps out of his gray sweats and stands there in white boxer briefs.
“Yeah, sure do,” I grumble, batting away a blood-sucking mosquito, or whatever it is.
“Blue, they aren’t going to hurt you.”
“Yeah, well, he’s not gonna get a chance.” I smack at the damn thing and miss again.
“All right, so, let’s get you out of these clothes and you and I out on the water.” He lifts my shirt from behind then up and over my head.
“Dammit.” I jump to the side as the bug flies at me again.
“Gotta be a male bug,” he says, kissing my neck and slipping his hands under my waistband, pulling my pants down slowly while kissing down my body with each inch of skin he exposes, the final kiss landing behind my knee. “Step out, babe.”
I step out of my yoga pants, and he pulls them off my feet.
Finger trailing along my skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake, he walks around me and hooks his pinky around mine, groaning as he then walks us toward the beach.
At the edge of the water, we kick our sandals off and slowly wade in.
“You know much about surfing?”
“Enough.”
“How many times you been on a board, Blue?”
“Um, never.”
“Grew up on the Shore and never been on a board?”
“Not much surfing goes on in Bayside.”
“True.” He pulls our hands up, kisses the back of mine, and then drops it. Setting the board on the water, he asks, “You wanna learn?”
“Sure?”
He laughs and pats the board. “Hop on.”
I straddle the board, and he sets the backpack in front of me. “Hold on to this?”
I grab it and pull it between my legs. “Got it.”
“Totally wrong to envy a backpack, yeah?” he asks, dragging the board out farther into the ocean.
“Plenty of time to bring this back to the beach and—”
“You afraid of the water?” he asks, laying back in the water and floating in front of it.
“Not at all,” I say as I watch the water lap over his ripped body, settling in the valleys between his abs.
“Good, because I’d hate to have to give this up.”
“I wouldn’t ask you, too.”
“Appreciate that, babe. But, if there’s ever anything at all that you want me to work on, I will.”
I look up to the sky. “Thank God.”
“Damn, I thought I had more than a minute for you to come up with something.”
“You sure you want to hear it,” I say, fighting a smile as I look down at him.
“Sure?”
Leaning forward, pushing his bag ahead of me, all the way to the front of the board, I lay down and pull my feet out of the water, stretching them out behind me. Resting my chin on the bag, I watch as he moves his body so he’s just head and shoulders above water, maneuvering himself beside me. Then I lean over, rest a hand on his shoulder, and tell him, “Just one thing.”
“Anything.” He leans forward
“Do not ever wear gray sweats to the gym, or I’m gonna go Bayside on the bitches I catch staring at you.”
When he starts laughing, I move my hand to the top of his head and push him underwater. The water is clear enough that I see him smiling, and it’s just as brilliant as when I’m face to face with him.
I watch his palms rise as he pushes himself deeper and deeper underwater until I can no longer see him.
When a few seconds turn to ten, I sit up, hands still on the bag, and look around. “Max! This isn’t funny!” I yell.
He pops up in front of the board and says, “Scoot back,” as he lifts himself on the board.
Grabbing the bag and the back of the board so I don’t slide forward, he pops up on it, straddling it as he leans forward.
“Lips.”
I lean in and kiss him. When I attempt to move back, he cups the back of my head and places one, two, three, four, five soft kisses against my lips.
Resting his forehead against mine, he closes his eyes, and a ghost of a smile appears then disappears. “Love you so much, Blue.”
“Love you, too, Max.”
Eyes still closed, he leans back and takes the bag. When he opens them, he looks down and reaches inside. I can’t see what he’s doing because the man has huge hands, and yes, it is incredibly sexy.
“Not even a week into our second chance, and I can’t get enough of you, Miller. Slept exactly two hours last night and basically every night since I saw you again. It’s always two hours too many. I’m having a hard time stopping the replay in which I vividly see all the moments I should have manned the fuck up and forced you to listen to me, begged you to give me a second chance and—”
“We both have regrets, Max. But we’re here now, right?” I can see the pain and frustration in his eyes, and it hurts me that he’s hurting.
“Yeah, Blue, I know. I also know we can’t turn back time. So, then I lie there, forcing myself to stay away.”
“I know.”
“Well, Mila”—he shakes his head and laughs out a huff—“I know that old house on stilts isn’t much, and I know there’s a lot of brush to clear, but I said fuck it and paid the bank what they were asking for the foreclosure of twenty acres—this house and the warehouse. I’m hoping very soon … I’m hoping you and I can—”
“Wait—what!”
“Gotta finish school, and I know you do, too, so—”
He’s speaking a mile a minute, and I’m so confused, so I interrupt him.
“Max, slow down and—”
“I love you, Blue. So fucking much.”
“I love you, too, Max. I …” And then … my words are gone.
In front of me, Max holds up something very … very shiny and says, “I love you more than sailboats and blue hearts. I always will. I’m asking, but I also am not too proud to beg you, Mila Miller, to marry me. Be my wife. I promise you that you’ll never regret it.”
I have attended church since the accident. I have heard a million accounts of people seeing the light and wanting so desperately to walk into its warmth, and most of those stories have ended in a quiet cry in the shower, wondering why they would all come back, but my mother didn’t. Right now, I swear I feel that warmth, that love, that embrace, and its source is not a light, and it’s certainly not asking me to leave everything behind, but it’s no more a miracle.
Two and a half years ago, when I sent that message with no reply, I was hit with the resounding fact that I would never feel what I felt for anyone the way I felt for Max. Regardless of the fact he wasn’t in my life, that he didn’t respond, at least I had that one experience with someone who made me smile and told me I was beautiful. It was not just words; he made me feel that way, too. I had that time leading up to our night on the boat to learn what it was I would accept into my life—someone who did not hit a woman, as my father had my mother, or talk down to one, as Marc had me when he treated me like a delusional piece of ass.
Had Max not been in my life, even though he didn’t stay, it taught me a lesson, one that I swear taught me how to break a cycle of settling for less than I knew every human being deserves—more than food on the table and a roof over my head.
“Blue, babe, I’m dying here.”
I nod. “Yes. Yes, please.”
When he slips the ring on my finger, I don’t even look at it. I hug him so tightly, and he hugs me back the same, and we kiss slowly. Kissing slowly might even be my favorite kind of kiss.
After making our way out of the water, we walk up the beach, hand in hand.
Max nods toward the house. “It’s not much now, but you wanna check it out?”
“Of course.”
“If you don’t like it, just tell me. I can flip the property, and we’ll get something—”
“Max, you had me at foreclosure.”
He throws his head back and laughs. “Perfect. But did you check out that warehouse?”
“Party spot?”
“Hell no. Saylor’s not gonna be grabbing us beers at two and, at Cia’s age, she doesn’t need to be around a bunch of frat boys and chicks who think it’s cool to hook up.”
“You want …?” I shake my head, trying not to get choked up by what he just said.
“Both of them as soon as we can, Mila. There’s some great high schools close by, and JU doesn’t have family housing, but they do have childcare.”
I exhale slowly then inhale deeply.
“You good?” he asks as we stand at the bottom of the two-story, weather-worn house with faded wooden siding.
“I am. I definitely am.”
“Worried about your aunt, though, yeah?”
I nod.
“Talked to Pastor today. I’m not thinking it’ll be a month after we get this place in shape that she’s changing her name, but that stays between you and I.”
“He said that?” I gasp.
“Yeah, he did.”
When I am temporarily blinded by my ring, I finally look down at it. “Oh. My. God.”
“You like it?”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Blue diamonds are pretty rare. Took a village to help get what I know you deserve. Hoping you’re a platinum girl, too. If not, the jeweler is a family friend. He said he’d change the band if—”
“I’m not taking this off ever. And when I take your name, I’m not giving that back, either. You’re mine, Max.”
“No sweeter words ever spoken,” he says as he sweeps me up in his incredibly strong arms.
I wrap my legs around him as he kisses me harder this time, and I guess I like this kind of kiss just as much as I did the soft one. Actually, I’m pretty sure I’m going to love every kind of kiss Max and I share.
Pulling away from each other to take a breath, we both smile at one another, and I’m sure if anyone took a picture of us, we would both look like fools … fools in love.
He takes the stairs, still holding me, and opens the door.
Looking over my shoulder as he walks us in, I can’t help but laugh when I see a banner hung high from the railings above us that says, “Congratulations Max and Mila.”
Max sighs exaggeratedly as I slide down his body. “I could have protected you from this, but you bought in, hook, line, and sinker, when you called them last night to fuck with me.”
“No regrets,” I say as I look around.
“You think this will work?”
“The kitchen is bigger than my apartment. I think I’ll need a map.”
“I was thinking we kick out some walls, open it up, so that I can see you and Saylor from whatever room I’m in.”
“Love that idea, too. Do you think the fireplace works?”
“If it doesn’t, it will. Maybe do one of those electric ones, or gas with a gate around it, so Saylor doesn’t get near it.”
I look up.
“There are four bedrooms up there, and one down here. I was thinking we should be up there with the girls, and if Pam comes and visits, she’ll have the room downstairs with its own bathroom.”
“I’m not sure she can make the walk.”
“Blue, that’s why God made excavators and the Falcon family. They know how to do all that shit. We’ll have a driveway up to the house. A garage, too.”
“We can do some of the work to save money, too,” I say as I walk into the kitchen area.
“Um, yeah, sure. Justice and Gabby did a lot of work themselves to their place. Took more time than I’m hoping this will take. Kind of want Saylor here as soon as we can get her here.”
“Me, too, but Cia may put up a fight. She’s the reason we didn’t move to the West Coast and live with Pam.”
He reaches his hand out to me, and I take it. “Her room just got an upgrade for that. Can’t imagine living with that empty feeling I didn’t know I was living with for the rest of my life.”