"Annoying?" Maria provided. She had moved to stand next to Max, while Liz and Michael watched from the kitchen. Thankfully it was close to closing time and there were no other customers.

Max was still trying to figure out what bothered him about the guy, apart from the fact that he was a complete jerk. He watched Neil carefully while speaking to Tess. "Aren’t you going to introduce me?"

Tess’ brilliant smile was back. "Oh yeah, this is Neil. My BOYFRIEND." She stressed the last word, hoping for some reaction from Max.

Nothing. No visible reaction from Max. Just a continuation of his cautious regard of Neil, before glancing between Liz and Maria. "Are you two okay?"

Giving him a warm smile for including her in his concern, Maria answered. "Yeah. He was just being a creep about Liz." Maria turned to Neil. "This is Liz’s boyfriend. I’d take note if I were you."

Looking at Liz now, Max didn’t even hear what Maria said. He was silently waiting for Liz to give him an answer. She nodded at him, her eyes assuring him that she was fine and he relaxed his stance.

Liz was overwhelmed by how much she loved this quiet man. Her Max. He had a presence about him that just permeated a room and with a few words he had ended a potentially problematic situation. Not to mention that, as always, he was so protective of her. How could a girl not love that? She felt safe and loved whenever he was around and it sometimes scared her that she had come to depend on him so much. Not that he would ever leave her, she knew that, but it was frightening how important he was to her. She had gotten used to their connection quickly and now it bothered her when it faded into a distant hum at the edge of her mind on the occasions they were far away from each other. She liked knowing that she could share his feelings and sometimes even his thoughts. But most of all, she was in awe of the love he felt for her. Nothing in this world, or any other, could be better than that. She prayed every day that she could make him happy and give him the life he deserved.

Blissfully ignorant of the exchange between Max and Liz, Maria was in full PI mode. "Sooo, Neil… is it? From where did you suddenly appear? Its not like Tess told us she had a boyfriend or anything." Maria folded her arms.

"He came from Washington. To surprise me. We met there." Tess answered for Neil.

Narrowing her eyes, Maria thought: Aha! Now I have her. She never was the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. "Oh really. If Neil here became your boyfriend in Washington, then why were you so alone there that you had to come back here? Or wasn’t that what you told us this afternoon?" Maria put her hands on her hips and looked Neil up and down. "Although, after meeting him and seeing what a charming personality he had, I’m actually not surprised that you hightailed it away from him."

Liz heard Michael make a strangled sound next to her. She couldn’t make out if he was stifling a laugh or whether he was getting upset about Maria.

Tess was pushing Neil towards the door by now, but he turned to Max. "Nice friends you have here, buddie. You should know that a person can be judged by who he chooses to associate with." His eyes went from Max to Liz fleetingly before he disappeared through the door.

Maria whirled around and waved her hands in the air. "Okay, what WAS that? He is like the creepiest guy ever and Tess DATES him? I smell something rotten!"

"I agree." Max was still staring at the door. He was not stupid enough to miss the significance of that last statement of Neil’s. The only person he could think of with that attitude would be Nacedo, and he was supposed to be in Washington. "I’d phone Nacedo, but they are only going to take a message and have him call me back. So, we won’t know where he’s phoning from."

Liz and Michael both came from the back. Max took a seat at the counter and he pulled Liz between his legs when she reached him, kissing her softly. "Hi honey, I’m home," he said with a half-smile.

Laughing, Liz hugged him tightly. "Have I told you how much I love you recently?"

He smiled at her, remembering how she had said it repeatedly earlier when they were together. "No."

She looked taken aback for a moment before she saw the glint in his eyes. Then she leaned forward, pressing herself against him to whisper in his ear: "I love you so much it hurts. Even if you are getting old and starting to forget things." He jerked away from her, surprised. She looked at him coyly: "Maybe I wasn’t screaming it loudly enough this afternoon…"

Max nearly fell off the chair. Sometimes his lovely ladylike Liz surprised him with wild statements like that. He inhaled sharply when she leaned in again. "Maybe I’ll have to SHOW you instead of tell you next time…"

By now Max was grinning. He slid his hands from her waist to cup her butt and pulled her closer between his legs. "Maybe you’ll have to. But I think I’m going to forget again, so… I’ll need regular reminders."

Liz nuzzled his face. "You can count on that, Mr Evans!"

They shared another lingering kiss before Liz turned around in his arms to look for Michael and Maria. They were arguing again, but Michael put a stop to that when he grabbed her and kissed her hard, causing chuckles from Max and Liz.

"Michael, why don’t you and Maria take off. I’ll help Liz clean up here." Liz was leaning back into Max’s chest and she shivered when the rumble of his voice traveled through her.

Both Michael and Maria threw Max grateful looks and it didn’t take them long to be ready to leave. This caused Liz a lot of amusement, since she had an idea why they were in such a hurry. She left the circle of Max’s arms reluctantly to finish up the last of the cleaning. She sighed to herself. It was Tuesday night already and she had to leave on Saturday. Time was just passing too quickly for her and work and school kept her from being with Max as much as possible before she left.

She heard Max lock the doors and carry some stuff into the kitchen where she was cleaning the counter. Her hands halted their movements when she felt him come up behind her. Liz held her breath and closed her eyes as she waited for him to make a move. He didn’t. Instead he just stood quietly, close enough for her to feel the heat of his body and hear the sound of his breathing. She KNEW he was looking at her and she could sense all his wants and desires through their connection. He was seducing her without even touching her. She felt her breathing become shallow gasps, her body start to tremble and that now familiar ache settle in the pit of her stomach. She clutched the sides of the counter, trying to hold herself steady when all she wanted to do was to fall backwards in his arms and have him touch her the way she craved. "M-Max!" His name was a heated whisper.

She shuddered when his hand gently pulled the fastening from her hair, before he slowly spread her hair over her back, while carefully avoiding touching her anywhere else. She was aware of him rubbing her hair between his fingers leisurely and it was driving her crazy.

A helpless sound escaped her throat.

He moved his body closer until it was flush against her back, pressing her into the counter. He bent his head until his cheek rested against hers and she felt his eyelashes flutter against her skin. As Liz’s head fell back against his shoulder, he laced his fingers through hers on the counter. His lips started tracing the line of her jaw, barely grazing her skin. When he reached her ear, he spoke quietly: "Do you remember the first time I kissed you here on this counter?"

"Y-yes." She had trouble speaking.

He touched her earlobe with his tongue before continuing. "And do you know how many fantasies I’ve had of making love to you on this counter ever since?"

"No." It was a sigh.

He let go of her hands and found the top snap of her uniform, opening it before moving onto the next one. "Ever since that day, when I see strawberries, I think of that kiss." Her uniform was open to the waist now and he slid his warm hands inside, splaying his fingers over her stomach just underneath her bra.

"Oh… me too." It was true. Strawberries would forever remind her of that day when she experienced for the first time how complete and devouring Max’s passion for her was. Liz held her breath as his fingers reached for the front clasp of her bra.

"Tell me how you felt that day." His voice was gravelly and low.

"Like fire was running through my body." She bit her lip as the bra fell away and his hands replaced the silk against her skin. "Like I’ve been waiting for that moment my whole life. I couldn’t get close enough to you." She arched against his magic touch. "Like I would die if you stopped kissing me… and like I would die if you didn’t." Her hands fluttered to cover his, urging him to increase the tempo of his movements. "And I knew no one else… no one else would ever make me feel that way. Only you."

"Feel what way?"

"Like you could fill this hollow place inside me. That you were meant to be inside me. Inside my body, inside my skin, inside my heart."

He spun her around with a growl and lifted her up onto the counter. His kiss was hard, hungry, hot. He took her mouth almost roughly, kissing her desperately while his hands made sure she was ready for his body’s possession. Their lips clung together, stifling their cries when he made his fantasy came true. He was making love to Liz on the counter top that, to a large extent, symbolized the beginning of their physical relationship.

Only tonight, there were no strawberries getting in the way…

~*~*~*~*~*~

"What are we going to do? He doesn’t plan on giving her up." Tess sounded petulant.