Liz pulled back from Max just slightly. Just enough so that she could see his face. It was completely open to her, as it always was. She needed him so badly, and she knew her feelings were being communicated straight to him, almost as if they were intravenous. His expression changed from caring and concern to the most intensely blatant form of lust. Now, it was her turn, to feel his emotions and see his thoughts. The experience was . . . riveting. The recent fear had left in its wake a passion that threatened to burn out of control. It was intense to the point of pain, but not hurried. Liz sat up and carefully unbuttoned her shirt with shaking fingers, while Max watched her in rapt fascination. It was still so hard to believe how much she wanted him . . .

As soon as the tedious garment had been dealt with, Liz turned her attention to Max. Reaching for the buttons on his shirt, she worked tenaciously at each one until it fell open. Sighing in pleasure, she ran her hands across his bare chest and down across his stomach. His body was such a source of amazement to her. He was absolute perfection. Max closed his eyes as her thoughts about him tripped across his already straining nerves. Her hands on his body were enough to push him right to the edge, but her thoughts in his mind were just devastating . . .
I'm almost drowning in her sea.
She's near me, crawling on her knees . . .
She's down on her knees . . .
Down on her knees . . .

Max opened his eyes and stared straight into Liz's. The look in her eyes stopped his heart and stole his breath. Her eyes never ceased to draw him in. They seemed to go on forever, never revealing their depth. He reached out and took hold of her with unsteady hands, pulling her on top of him. Her breath was warm and gentle as he came closer to her mouth with his own. His hands slid across her back, as his mouth opened under hers. Her skin always felt like silk and right now it was extremely warm. Tasting. Touching. Smelling. Seeing. Feeling. Every sense came to life whenever he was with her like this . . .

Liz felt herself falling farther and farther under the wave as it crashed over her. Her hands had suddenly taken on a life of their own. Her mind was centered on his mouth, where it met hers, and the heart breaking intimacy of just a simple kiss . . . He tasted so sweet, and the glide of his tongue against hers caused a chain reaction throughout her body. Every nerve and cell felt the effects of the kiss . . .

Max opened his mouth wider and pulled Liz deeper into the kiss that was already consuming her mind. Her hands were the driving force behind Max's near frantic need to be inside her. She was driving him insane, as she made long sweeping passes along his thighs and hips, pausing occasionally to slide her hands underneath him and squeeze, pressing their bodies closer together. In an answering caress, Max's hands found their way to the small of her back before gliding down to her hips.

Liz's whole body ached to get closer to him. Every passing second increased the pressure of that need. He felt so good . . . even through their clothes . . . Liz loved the way they moved together without thinking . . . it was completely . . . natural.

Max held her to him and rolled over until she was beneath him. Burying his face in between the base of her neck and her shoulder, he slid his hand over her ribs and around until it covered the satiny material of her bra. Liz whimpered in the back of her throat and the sound vibrated against Max's face, as her back arched. He felt the helpless reaction of her body under his hand, and groaned against the soft skin where his lips met her throat. Liz brought her hand up to cover Max's and press it more firmly against her aching breast. Max felt the breath leave his body, as he watched her stormy eyes reflecting the desperation that surged through the connection they shared.

Hers.

His.

Theirs.

He moved quickly to unfasten the clasp between her breasts, and brought his mouth close enough for her to feel his breath against her skin. She needed to feel his bare skin against hers. She needed to feel his mouth closing around her aching flesh, sucking it inside . . .

Max felt his body respond to her thoughts and desires as they collected in his conscious, and sent his nerves scrambling for purchase. Yearning was becoming outright pain as his sex throbbed against hers, and his mouth sought out first one nipple and then the other.

Liz felt the rising tide of urgency in her body, expanding, empty . . . She also felt Max's erection pressed up firmly against her, along with the need that pushed him mercilessly . . .

Gasping, she pushed her back up as far off the bed as it would go and then gave up in frustration as she realized that what she really needed was to get their clothes off . . .

Max stood up abruptly and pulled her up to stand in front of him . . . Watching her eyes, his hands unbuttoned her jeans and slid them down her hips and to the floor where she stepped out of them along with her underwear . . .
I'm almost drowning in her sea.
She's near me, falling to her knees . . .
I'm almost drowning in her sea.
She's near me, crawling on her knees.
She's down on her knees.
Down on her knees.

Kneeling on the floor in front of her, Max closed his eyes and willed himself under control . . . Closing his eyes had been a mistake, because it only heightened his other senses . . . hearing her breathing change perceptibly and smelling her scent drove him even closer toward the end of temperance . . .

Liz felt her knees weaken and reached out to hold onto Max's shoulder. Placing his hand on her hip, he guided her to sit on the edge of the bed. Liz looked at him questioningly, but in an instant that expression changed as she realized what he intended. Placing his hands on her knees he spread her legs wider apart and settled between them on his knees. She watched as his eyes pleaded silently for her permission. She pulled his face close and kissed him lightly in acceptance.

Grasping her hands together in one of his, he held them behind her back, as he slid his open mouth down her throat and through the hollow between her breasts. His other hand cradled her hip, as he explored her stomach with tongue, lips, and teeth . . .

Liz struggled against her bound hands, as her body struggled to cope with this new experience. Max's mouth had travelled past her navel and further down, while his free hand slid around to her upper thigh and down to her knee. Her whole body trembled in reaction, as he pushed her closer to the edge of the bed, holding onto her hands all the while . . .

I'm almost drowning in her sea.
She's near me, crawling on her knees.
It's almost everything I need . . .

Liz felt reality slipping from her grasp . . . the room receded, the ceiling flew away, and the only thing that made sense now was Max and what he was doing to her body . . . She cried out as his tongue explored her in ways she had scarcely even dreamed about . . . It didn't even matter that they were in a house full of people . . .

Max heard her cry out and reason suggested that he stop, but he could not. She tasted unlike anything he could've ever imagined. Her soft skin against his tongue was a pleasure he hadn't even dreamed existed. He prayed she wouldn't scream, but then again he needed to hear her scream like he needed to breathe . . .

Liz felt control slipping further and further from her grasp, as Max continued to hold her hands behind her back. Somewhere along the way her legs found their way over his shoulders . . .

Into her mind came an insistent plea. She didn't want to concentrate on it. She didn't want to take any of her attention away from what was happening between her legs, but the sound came more frequently and urgently. Finally, she held the thought long enough to form it into something she could understand.

One word.

Scream.

He wanted her to scream . . .

"Scream for me." "Please."

Oh God. She was so close . . .

Liz's head fell back and her eyes squeezed shut as the whimper in her throat gained momentum along with Max's mouth . . .

Liz pulled her wrists harder against the bonds that were his hands. Not because she was distressed, but because she just needed something to hold onto in a world that was quickly disintegrating. Max slid his tongue inside her, trembling visibly from the spasms he felt wracking her small body. She was the only person in the universe who could make him feel this way . . .

He closed his lips over her and pulled gently just before opening his mouth wider and sucking her tender flesh deeply into his mouth. He felt the scream he had been so fervently pursuing erupting from her belly . . .

He moved in the space of a heartbeat to cover her mouth with his own, just before that scream would've been heard by the entire household. Later, . . . much later, he would wonder what he had been thinking, but right now, all he could concentrate on was his mate and the way she fit him in every way . . .

Liz breathed in raggedly around Max's mouth covering hers. She felt like her nerves were on fire . . . What had he done to her? This was something different . . . something new . . . something she had never felt before and would have been afraid of if she had. But not now. There was no room for fear now. She'd felt his control slip towards the edge before, but not hers . . . not like this. She wanted him. She wanted him tied to the bed and at her mercy . . . Helpless . . . Just like she had been moments before . . .

Max pulled away from her abruptly and struggled to draw in enough air, as her thoughts assailed his straining control. God. She made him feel . . . wreckless . . . like he wanted to lose control for the first time in his life . . . he wanted someone else to be responsible . . .

Liz pushed him back just enough so that she could force herself to stand on shaking legs that threatened to collapse any moment. Max watched her carefully to be sure she wasn't going to fall. Her eyes sought out his and without speaking he knew what she was asking him to do. He kissed her stomach before standing himself. Looking up into his face, she felt, more than saw, him unfastening his pants. Her eyes were captive . . . not that it mattered . . . she could sense everything he was doing without having to actually see. His eyes had grown so dark and now they took on a light that made them seem somewhat ominous . . . like a sky that harbored a storm that was wildly beautiful but terrifying in it's very nature to be unpredictable . . . and it's capacity for strength and endurance . . .

His pants and underwear were gone and he stood in front of her as naked as she was. She reached out closing her hand around him and tightly shutting her eyes. Her expression changed dramatically as her other senses heightened from the loss of eyesight. Touch. Warm. Almost hot. Silky skin . . . vulnerability . . . a million sensory receptors . . . pleasure beyond description. Pulsing blood . . . hard . . . aching . . .

Her ears caught every indrawn breath and ragged sigh, as her hands moved in no particular motion . . . learning, communicating pictures to her mind without sight . . .

Max watched her face as changing emotions pushed and molded her expressions. He was captivated . . .

As she continued, Max felt his knees weakening and remaining on his feet began to take all of his effort.

Understanding his emotions as they tumbled through to her awareness, she opened her eyes and wondered at the obvious control he was still exerting over himself. Looking into his eyes intently, she let her mind ask the question, she had never had the courage to voice. He knew everything about her. He'd read her past, felt her emotions, seen her fantasies. Now, she was asking him to let her into places she hadn't been before. Places inside his soul that no one had ever seen . . .

Within the space of a single breath, her vision clouded and her mind was flooded with images of them . . . in a shower with him holding her up against the tile while hot water poured down over them and steam filled the small space . . .

As soon as one image faded another took its place. The stars over her shoulder were brilliant where Max looked up at her from the floor of a canyon she'd never seen before as she sat astride his hips . . .

His bedroom at home, with all of his things that were so unique and personal, displayed all around them. Liz saw herself on her knees in the middle of his bed. Max knelt behind her with his arms around her, and his hands seeking out every place on her body that could respond to his touch. His mouth left a trail of wet kisses out over her shoulder . . .

Liz came back to reality in a rush as the images faded from her mind. Her breathing became completely erratic . . .

Max watched her struggle for a moment before picking her up and lying down with her on the bed. He placed his hand alongside her face, and waited for her to open her eyes. When she did she saw concern and a tinge of pink flagging his cheeks. She wanted to smile at that adorable expression, but the experience had left her unable to brush it aside so quickly. Rather than trying to explain how much it meant to her that he had shared these things with her, she pulled his face close to hers and kissed him sweetly, rubbing her thumbs across his closed eyes from the inside corner to the outer one. Sliding her hands to his shoulders, she pushed gently until he rolled over onto his back, pulling her up on top of him once more.

Liz stared into the eyes that met her own and opened up avenues of communication that shouldn't be possible . . .

Liz: "Do you know what I'm thinking?"

Max: (breathing in deeply before answering) "Yes."

Liz: "Do you know what I'm feeling?

Max: (struggling a little to answer as her emotions ran riot, intermixing with his) "Yes."

Liz: "Do you know what I want to do?"

Max found that the ability to speak should not be taken for granted, as what she intended to do was displayed clearly inside his own mind, completely robbing him of speech.

Max's hand slid up her back to her shoulder and down her arm until it met hers, in submission to the request she had made silently. His other hand travelled the same way a moment later until both of his hands were held in Liz's smaller ones. Max closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing as he fought his body for control. Their fingers intertwined on either side of his face, as Liz closed her eyes and kissed the corner of his mouth. The kiss was so light he wondered if he hadn't imagined it. Her tongue slipped across his lips, and then was gone too quickly, teasing him with the kiss that was replaced instead with her open mouth sliding down his chest. Max wondered how long he could possibly be expected to stay in this position without physical restraint when her mouth covered first one and then his other nipple, lightly sucking before moving on. Liz felt the flood of excitement throughout her own body as the depth of his response to her teasing mouth filled her mind and heart. His fingers tightened almost painfully around hers, and his breathing was fast and shallow.

She stopped then, and waited for Max to open his eyes. Another silent question was answered through the shared stream of perception that flowed so effortlessly between them. Liz gently slipped her hands away from Max's, knowing he wouldn't move unless she wanted him to. Now, she was free to explore his body the same way he had hers. Max closed his eyes and felt the anticipation in tightening muscles . . . The reality, on the other hand, did not belong in the same universe with the imagination . . .

The hand she had rested on his stomach, felt muscles contract and jump, all because of the close proximity of her mouth . . .

Her breath fanned out over skin that pulled taut with the need to be touched . . .

No barriers remained between his thoughts and hers. Without moving his hands from their assigned position, her hand slid down from his thigh to cradle the oval glands that created the source of his almost desperate state of mind. Liz hadn't willed her hand to move, but Max had, and the heightened state of their connection made the distinction nonexistent. Without really knowing what she was going to do, Liz opened her mouth and took him inside. She didn't have to wonder what she was supposed to do. Her mouth and hands moved in accord with Max's thoughts. His desires were communicated to her nerves and muscles, moving her body along with his as if they were one person.

Liz knew what she wanted, but she could feel Max's reluctance and . . . fear. Fear that she would be repulsed by his body's natural reaction to what she was doing . . .

Max felt the pull of her determination, warring with and destroying his preconceived ideas about the limitations of her capacity to love him. She was planning to tear down every last one of those doubts. Her mouth pulled insistently before gliding back down . . . hot and wet . . .

Max squeezed his eyes shut and felt the sound slipping from his throat before he could stop it. If this was what it felt like to die, then the experience didn't get enough credit. He felt the tiny amounts of air he had managed to draw in making their way to lungs that needed much more . . .

The helpless sound he made and his labored breathing urged her on. She noted with some satisfaction that his hands were right where she had left them . . . He had put himself completely at her mercy . . .

Trust was a heady emotion, and she realized in that moment that she could trust Max implicitly. Without reservation. With her life. Without fear. With total abandon . . .

Liz felt the change in his body through the hand that rested between his thighs. The tightening. Drawing away from her hand . . .

She knew instinctively what those things meant. Pushing her tongue in toward her teeth, she reduced the space inside her mouth. As she increased the pressure, Max's well-ordered existence dissolved as he gave himself up to her.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Later that night, as the six sat around the dinner table together, Liz noticed the small, barely perceptible changes in the other couple's relationships and wondered if they noticed the change in hers with Max.

She didn't have a thought that she didn't want to share with him or a breath that didn't feel like it wasn't meant for both of them.

As they passed the bread around, she watched the way Michael stared at Maria without meaning to. Almost as if he was trying to see inside her head and into her heart. The moment was brief, but there nonetheless. Alex had been as close to Isabel's side as he could get all evening. The interesting thing was that she didn't seem to mind in the least. If anything, she seemed to be drawing strength from the newfound intensity of their relationship.

Glancing at Max, her mind was suddenly taken back to that afternoon and the way he had looked when he had finally opened his eyes . . .

Max caught her staring and stopped chewing and sat motionless, hovering between the desire to carry her back to bed and the need for food. There was no question what she had been thinking about. Since that afternoon, everything that she thought was as much a part of his conscious awareness as his own thoughts were. As his eyes darkened, she knew they were dangerously close to missing still yet another meal and quickly averted her gaze.