Max was surprised with himself. This was not like him. As she didn’t struggle against him, he deepened the kiss slowly. It was like time was standing still. He knew it had been way too long since he had a woman in his life. As his lips moved to cover hers gently and with a need he didn’t quite understand his brain was screaming at him that she was a student, she was younger than him, she was out of his league, anything, and everything to try to pry himself off of her. However, the rest of him wasn’t listening to his brain, one iota.
Deanna was surprised by the closeness of him at first. It was one thing for him to be a gentleman but another to set every nerve off she had in her body because he was so close to her. When his lips touched hers, she went blank. He was kissing her. Her dream man was kissing her. The was trying to think or to hold on to any thought, but she could only feel his lips on her mouth. As she sighed softly to herself, he took that as an invitation to nip at her lips and then enter her mouth.
His hand at her back was holding her close and off the car door that she was sure was touching the back of his hand. She didn’t want it to end. This had to be a dream.
As he pulled back from the kiss slowly and gently. He watched Deanna as he started to stand up to his full height. Her eyes were still closed and began to flutter open. It was an awakening he was witnessing before his eyes. Deanna’s eyes came open, and he saw the color of them had changed slightly. The deeper color was enough of a hint that she had liked the kiss was enough to make his more primal side roar with pleasure while the more civilized side was hoping that he hadn’t got himself into trouble with doing that without warning.
“Why?” Deanna asked softly as she met his eyes.
“You seem to be under the impression I want to be like your brother, sweetheart.” He said as he took a step back, and then his hand dropped from her back only to take her hand. “I assure you the thought never entered my mind.”
“Max.” She said softly.
“Deanna, I wanted to do that the moment I saw you walk into the office. I know I may have crossed a line.” Max began to say as he was grasping for something, anything to make her stay there with him and to calm her fears.
“It is okay.” She said softly.
“What?” he asked.
“It is okay.” She repeated as they entered the restaurant. The dim light of the building was to add to the atmosphere. She looked around the place and saw that it seemed full of people that she had seen before but couldn’t place where. He told the person it was a party of two, and they went to the waiting room by the stand for the hostess to wait for their table.
“It was okay?” he asked softly and in her ear as he stood behind her.
“I got the point you’re not my brother, okay,” Deanna said as she turned her head to look at him.
“You think that was the only reason?” he asked with an eyebrow up as he questioned her. He sighed as he saw the look in her eyes. It seemed she had no idea how she affected him. “Deanna, let’s finish this conversation after dinner; otherwise, it may be the most painful meal of my life.”
“Painful?” she asked softly.
“Trust me, painful is very much the correct word.” Max chuckled as he looked down at the crown of her head as he stood back up to his full height. He glanced around and saw five others of the university staff along with their interns and assistants. He had forgotten that they came here to have a working meal. All of the professors in the place were the ones who were questionable at best with their relationships with the students. Max had thought the practice of dating a student while in the class was a significantly massive conflict of interest. Though he knew no laws were being broken because it was two adults in a consensual relationship, but he knew the result was never going to end well for both parties. He had seen it time and time again. It always followed a pattern.
Here he was with his new assistant. She had been a student years prior, but she wasn’t anymore. Deanna wasn’t the young woman who was still a teenager trying to find herself in the sea of university life anymore. There was no conflict of interest between the two of them. He had already agreed to sign the papers saying she was his assistant, and then she could receive the credit so she could graduate on time with her class in May.
This wasn't the same as the others. He tried to convince himself of this. He was trying to guess her age. She was older than the females with the other teachers.“Is this a professor hang out?” Deanna asked as she looked around.
“It looks like it, but I wouldn’t have a clue,” Max replied. “I know some people from the force have told me this place was good.”
“How does that work?” Deanna asked as she turned around to face him. He was glad she had dropped the subject and was talking about another.
“How does what work?” he asked back.
“You and the police force?” Deanna asked as she met his eyes as his name was called to be seated. He guided her back to the table and waited until she sat before he took the seat opposite of her.
“That one has changed over the years. At first, I was trying to pull a full load and still do the whole professor thing. That only made me feel like I wasn’t given either of them my full attention, and it was tiring. I tried one year to do the detective thing more, and the professor thing less, and that was also was burning me out for both.” Max said as he thought back about the first few years, he was in the two roles.
“That had to be hard,” Deanna said.
“It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure.” He replied. “It was the third year I was doing both that I found a sort of balance to the two. I worked at the university for four days one week and then three for the force. The next week it would be reversed so three days at the university and then four for the force. It worked well, but it was still a heavy load because both jobs require a needed rest, and I was just doing both all the time. It was just changing the mindset of the week. So now I do three and three with one day off. It is the best balance, and they call me when they really need me at the force. I am more of a consultant based on this force than I am a detective. It allows me to be more flexible, and they still get their cases closed in a record manor, and they have enough time to cash in on my success. I have to find more of a balance if I want to continue in both, but it is hard.”
“Do you?” Deanna asked after they placed their orders. Max looked at her when she placed hers and was not thrilled with the smallness of it. Though he didn’t think it was because Deanna was doing it for vanity reasons. She probably couldn’t eat all that much because she had conditioned herself to save money.
“Want to continue in both?” he asked as she nodded. “I am honestly, not sure. I can see that there is a need for the class, but I am not sure I want to continue in the education system. I thought things would be different five years down the road, but there is so much red tape involved, and I don’t do well with politics of lobbying on why I should get the green light. One thing I learned was not to be a bootlicker.”
“You were in the military?” she asked as she laughed somewhat surprised with that knowledge.
“Army.” He said as he looked at her. “How did you know?”
“My dad was in the navy, and my brother's in the army and navy.” She replied. “Bootlicker is a normal term in my house. Why did you get out?”
“Medically discharged.” He replied as he pointed to his shoulder, “On my second deployment, I was shot through the shoulder while on rounds. I lost a bit of mobility at the time, and they didn’t want to wait to see if I got it back.”
“Oh.”
She replied.“It was a good way to go to college.” He said as he shrugged, “I knew what I wanted to do in a way. I didn’t expect to be good at it like this.”
“Well, I guess it is good either way.” Deanna said, “I just hope I will be good at what I want to do.”
“And that is?” he asked.
“Something in a lab.” She replied. “I want to help people, but at the same time, I have found I am good in a lab setting. I thought this would be the way to go.”
“And then right as you are ready to graduate, the school throughs you a curveball.” He chuckled, “Then you end up with me.”
“Excuse me?” Deanna asked as she looked at him with widened eyes. He had to mean that some other way than how it came out.
“Well, the school through you that curve ball then you had to come and ask me for help. That couldn’t have been easy.” Max said as he took a drink of his water. He had realized what he had said and the double or triple meaning it could have been taken as. “I mean, you hadn’t spoken to me since that one time after class.”
“You remember that?” Deanna asked as she blushed quickly and looked down.
“Of course, I remember that.” He said as he reached over and lifted her face to meet his eyes, “Men do have the tendencies of remembering when a beautiful woman tried to impress them, even if they get tongue-tied and want to run away.”
“Damnit.” She said. As she wanted to look anywhere but at him. Though she was saved by the food arriving. Though the two ate in silence, she was still lost in the words he had said. He thought she was beautiful?
That didn’t seem like something he would say. He was relaxed, and she could look freely at him as he ate. She remembered his conditions for working for him. Every Friday, they were to go over the students and have dinner together. Was he trying to make it seem like a date instead of a working dinner?“What?” he asked as he looked at her as she looked at him. He could read the questions she had but needed her to voice them.
“What days do you work at the station?” she asked.
“Usually Friday through Sunday.” He replied.
“You wanted to meet on Friday to go over your students.” She said softly.
“I know.” He replied. “I can take a few hours to do something besides go over files of the bad guys. To spend some time with you and go over the students.”
“Spend time with me?” she asked as she was now confused.
Max let the silence fall between them as he let the question hang in the air. He didn’t even understand it himself. He was so driven before that he didn’t understand the growing need he had to see her more. She was a former student and now someone he had chosen to be his assistant. He couldn’t help but be drawn to her like he was four years prior except this time he wouldn’t have that conflict because of everything was different now. She was older. Deanna really looked confused about the conversation.“Come, princess, I think we have a few things to talk about.” Max said as he picked up the receipt for the meal. He stood up and then went over to Deanna and helped her out of her chair. A hand at her back as they walked out to see the sunset playout in the sky. He looked down at the tiny woman by his side. As he saw people looking at the two of them and smiled at the pair he
The next morning Max knew that he was in trouble. The sight of her in one of his dress shirts when she woke up and came out of his bedroom made him feel slightly feverish. Her hair somewhat wild and displaced was beyond sexy to him. When she looked at him and then came back out with her pants on, but his shirt tied around her to make it fit better, he couldn’t breathe.“Do you want to go to your place or the office?” he asked when he could find his voice. He had to swallow a few times before words would come out of his mouth. He couldn’t believe that after all his time working to build himself into what he was now, this little woman was just standing before him, and he couldn’t even speak.Max had grown up with an older brother that was the best at everything. His brother never had to try with people, he never had a lack of words, he also got the best of
Two hours in being in the office, she had two of the stacks moved and reorganized. The file boxes she had found in the nearly empty room three doors down had helped. She was going to put the papers he had that had no place on the floor in those boxes. As she was sorting them into sections to help his classes and his homework schedule to make everything easier for him later on. Deanna could hear the two voices in the hall as they were getting closer. One started to trail off, and another was getting louder. Max looked up and sighed.“Ready?” he asked softly. Deanna turned to him and asked him with a look. “It is one of those students.”“Wonderful,” Deanna said softly as she rolled her eyes. She went back to restacking the books on the bookshelf in a different way to be able to place more of them up there. When the girl breezed into the room and looke
Deanna was thinking as she sorted out the different files of papers Max had lying around in his office. She began to wonder what exactly he really wanted out of this possible relationship. He didn’t seem the type to mess around with a person without having a reason and plan behind it. Though he had basically eluded to the fact, he had not had any relationships in the past few years and zero ones with any students. He wanted something from her. It was there every time he looked at her. Every stolen kiss. He wanted something, and she didn’t know what.Deanna had no practical experience when it came to dealing with men. She had dated before, but after a few dates, they lost interest in her. She had started to believe she was just too boring to really date. Being driven to want to do good things to prepare for life after college had given her a label of being prudish. She really hadn’t found any
As the day progress, he finished his paperwork for the week with the detective job. Unless something major came up, he was left with giving his three lectures on Thursday and the last three on Friday, which he was planning on Deanna sitting in the classes to introduce herself to the class and also so she could learn the class over again. He was looking forward to hearing her analyze the new class from the old one. As a scientist, she would be on the one to compare the two and find though the assignments from the newer class were more detailed, and there was a paper required every week the class she took was more in-depth and more detailed.He had been thinking that there should be a follow up to this class and thought maybe he could work it in at some point, but again he was at a loss when it came to getting anything done with the school. If he was going to continue being a professor, he knew he had to make s
“Don’t you think that might be a tad too much?” Deanna asked as she looked up at him. “I mean, we have to work together, now I will be living in your house, and.”“And it is our house currently with you living here as well.” He cut her off. “No, I want you out of that place, and I will be helping you get out of there as quickly as possible.”“You know you are rushing things, right?” she laughed. “Most people don’t ask someone to move into to their house buy trying to cut the rent in half that they are paying.”“You can do other things around the house to make up for the lack of money. Hell, I really don’t want your money, but I figured you would be stubborn and require to pay something to make it fair.”
Max looked at the door and went to it. His mother had taken a step into the yard. She looked at Deanna and didn’t know what to say to her. As Max opened the door and walked in. He saw the state of the house. Though it was perfectly fine on the outside of the house, the inside looked like a hoarder's dream. His mother had never been a collector of anything as long as he could remember. Neither had been his father. The sight was something he couldn’t believe.Max walked back into the back of the house. He was walking through the hallway to get back there. He was shocked when he reached the room that they used as a rec room. There was more in there, and he went to the bedrooms. He went to the one that his brother had and somehow wasn’t surprised when he opened the door and found his parent's things in it. He stalked to the master bedroom and threw open the door.“
“Can you repeat that?” Max asked as he blinked a few times. He had to make sure he had heard her correctly.“She thinks you are married,” Deanna repeated as she looked at him. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He had to say something, but again, he was at a loss for words.“I’m not.” He said as he looked down. “I have never been married.”“I figured.” She said as she laughed a bit, “I think your brother told them something to the effect.”“They never said anything to me,” Max said as he started toward the house. He walked in and looked at his mother. “I’m not married.”“You’re aren’t?” his mother said as she blinked her eyes wide now.