There had to be some kind of storage room in this place, or a janitor's closet, something.

Avoiding the game room altogether, they swiftly headed in the general direction of the restaurant, driven forward by urgent need. Liz held tightly to his hand as they wound their way around the dispersion of people milling about, her eyes wildly scanning the space around them for a feasible place to go. Everything inside her was absolutely screaming for Max, and she felt like she would fly into a million tiny pieces if she had to wait much longer for the relief his kiss would bring her.

There was a wide expanse of floor space between the edge of the court in front of the restaurant and the seating area that stretched along the entire length of the dance floor's railing, and they kept on the path between them, dodging around chatting, laughing people who were completely oblivious to the desperate lovers' plight.

Grimly, Max thought that if they didn't find some privacy soon he was going to have to do something rash, like push Liz up against the nearest convenient wall and kiss her until this raging desire loosened its strangle-hold on him.

When they'd finally reached the end of the seating area, they came to a short deserted hallway with several doors opening off of it. Taking a quick look around to make sure no one was paying them any mind, they made their way down its length, the richly patterned carpet muffling the sound of their footsteps.

The first opening they came to was a set of double doors that led off to their right. The brass plaque above them read ' Banquet Hall'. Max threw a brief look at Liz before moving to try the doorknob, only to find them locked. Already anticipating his next move, Liz stepped over to block his actions from the sight of anyone who might be at the end of the hall. While Max used his powers to get the doors unlocked, she kept watch over her shoulder, silently urging him to hurry. She could hardly stand still beside him for the pulsing need coursing through her, and her heart was knocking heavily against her ribs with the anticipation of getting inside that room.

The sharpness of her urgency filtered through their connection to spike his own, and Max's hands shook as he completed his task. When the door was opened, he placed his hand at Liz's back to usher her through, then darted a look down the hall to make sure they weren't being observed before stepping through, himself.

As soon as he was inside they fell upon one another ravenously, their mouths greedy and demanding, and Liz made a muffled sound that was at once needy and relieved. It was the sweetest of gratifications to finally have his lips on hers, while at the same time, it seemed to awaken an even deeper hunger inside her.

Max wrapped one arm around her to hold her against him, and without letting go of her lips, fell back a step to push the door closed with his body. Her arms locked tightly around his neck and she stumbled along with him until they came to a jarring stop with the closed door at Max's back. While he reached behind him to search blindly for the doorknob, their tongues tangled frenziedly, almost seeming to get in one another's way as they each sought out the deepest, darkest recesses of the other's mouth. When his hand finally closed around the doorknob, he expeditiously used his powers to freeze the lock in place. Once he'd ensured their privacy, he buried his hand in her hair to hold her steady beneath the onslaught of his mouth, and gave himself over to the desire that had held him on its edge all night.

He kissed her as if he wanted to eat her alive, and Liz was more than willing to be consumed by him, meeting his ferocity and returning it with equal fervor. She pushed forward against him, crushing her breasts against the hard planes of his chest, and Max's arms tightened around her, pulling her into him with gentle relentlessness, as though he were trying to absorb her into his very flesh. Their hands refused to remain still, alternately grasping at clothes and roaming the other's body with fevered restlessness.

As Liz lifted to her toes to get better access to his mouth, the slight friction against his chest was electric, making him burningly aware of the soft curves flush against him. Liz emitted a soft mew as she was similarly affected by the move, her fingers curling against the nape of his neck with a gentle rake of her nails across his skin that had Max shuddering in response.

Their breath came in smothered gasps as their lips came at each other again and again, heads tilting and dipping in one direction, then changing course to find an angle from the opposite side. The honeyed heat of her mouth was a drugging sweetness Max couldn't seem to get enough of, and the hungry insistence of her lips was driving him to new levels of urgency. After enduring the hours of sexual tension between them tonight, his body was clamoring for more. Much more.

Succumbing to its demand, his hands glided down her back to find the hem of her sweater, then worked their way up underneath it in a needy seeking out of flesh. One palm skimmed up her spine towards her shoulder blades, while the other stayed near her waist, and he resumed his restless rovings against the naked skin of her back.

His palms spread a tingling warmth wherever they touched, making her skin feel sensitized and over-heated, and Liz shifted against him anxiously at the stimulation. The small movement drug the tips of her breasts against his chest once again, and a charged current seemed to shoot straight through to her core from that point of contact. The blunt pads of Max's fingers pressed into her flesh as his hands clenched convulsively on her back, the jolt of his own reaction to the stimulus made twice as thrilling by feeling her matching response through the connection.

Liz tore her lips from his and threw her head back, greedily sucking huge gulps of air into her oxygen-starved lungs, her fingers twisting in the fabric covering his chest. Max's only concession to breathing was to pull in deep draughts of air between fervent kisses, as his lips slid across her jaw and down to the tender curve of her neck. They traveled, hot and open-mouthed, down one side of her throat and up the other side, then his hand slipped up through the neck of her sweater to angle her head back towards his, and his mouth fastened itself to hers once again.

Liz ardently returned the pressure of his lips, but it just didn't seem to be enough. Rather than allaying the fierce need that had seized hold of her on the dance floor, their kisses were sharpening it into a keen edginess that had her quivering. His hands on her back was a scorching pleasure, but she longed to have them elsewhere on her body, and her own hands yearned to touch him the same way.

With that idea in mind, her hands slid down to the bottom of his shirt and attempted to tunnel underneath it, but his hem was trapped between his body and the door, restricting her access to his flesh.

Liz made a low sound of frustration.

Aware of what she wanted, Max made to move away from the door, but her hands had already gone an alternate route, moving to the buttons of his shirt. He felt her hesitate, and she pulled her lips from his to look up toward his face. But the room was in utter darkness, the only illumination coming from a thin sliver of light seeping in underneath the door, and they were unable to read each other's expressions.

Breathlessly, she asked, "Can I?"

"Yes," he answered before she could even finish the question, his voice deep and gravelly.

Their hearts pounded wildly as her fingers shakily began to work at his buttons, both forcefully reminded of the last time she'd performed this same task. The memories of that night raised their sensual awareness even more, but Liz was too focused on her goal to savor the feeling.

Once the shirt was undone, she pushed it open with her wrists as her palms glided over the muscular contours of his chest. Max's hands moved fitfully at her back as he tried to hold himself still under her questing touch, the feel of her small hands on him heating his blood to a rousing simmer.

Liz ran her hands over the tautness of his skin with curious wonder, wanting to discover every smoothly-hewn inch of him, and she forced herself to slow down just a little in order to appreciate him. She felt flushed and excited by the pleasure this new experience was engendering in both of them. While it was true he'd had his shirt off that night in Michael's apartment, she hadn't been bold enough to thoroughly explore then. And though she mourned the lack of light that kept her from clearly seeing the chiseled perfection beneath her palms, the darkness did make it easier to shed all timidity.

The absence of visibility also served to magnify their sense of touch until it seemed to overwhelm all else. Their perceptions narrowed down until they registered nothing more than the sound of shuddering breath, the throbbing of one another's pulse, and their shared reactions to her caresses as her fingertips drew exquisite sensations upon his torso.

Learning him as a blind person might, Liz traced over every plane and hollow, fascinated by the suppleness of his flesh contrasted with the muscled hardness underneath. Everywhere she touched was smooth and soft, but firm at the same time, and a sudden desire to feel that smoothness against her lips overtook her.

Max read her intention a split second before she began to lower her lips toward him, and his every muscle tensed as he waited for her to reach her goal. The soft puff of her breath against him was a sweet precursor of what was to come, and Max found himself holding his own breath in expectation of her touch. Even knowing she was so close, he still jerked involuntarily when she made the initial contact, chastely brushing her lips across his breastbone in an exploratory caress that was as light as a butterfly's wings.

Liz became instantly beguiled by the sleek feel of him against her lips, and she eagerly sought out more of the sensation, placing a scattering of hungry kisses randomly over his chest.

Max's eyelids drooped heavily, and his hand came out from beneath her sweater to cup the back of her head, wanting her never to stop. The fleeting press of her lips was a bliss that burned, each touch branding him unequivocally as hers. Only Liz could stir such a boiling maelstrom within him with nothing more than a simple touch of her lips.

Only Liz would ever get the chance.

He exulted in her innocent caresses. He'd never imagined anything could feel so good. But in the very next instant she sent his pulse skyrocketing as she showed him that innocence was all well and good, but there was something that felt even better.

No longer content with testing the texture of his skin against that of her mouth, Liz gave in to an irresistible craving to taste him. Parting her lips against the slight bulge of his pec, she drew them across his flesh in an upward swipe, her bottom lip moistly dragging open against him. The erotic caress left Max gasping, and his hand tightened reflexively in her hair. A thrill shot through Liz at his response, and she darted a quick glance up at him through the dimness to see his head tilted back against the door, the sound of his breath harsh and unsteady. His excitement fueled her own and urged her to continue, and she lowered her lips to him once again. Widening the opening of his shirt with her hands, she began covering the broad expanse of his chest with avid, open-mouthed kisses.

Max swallowed and looked blindly toward the ceiling as her mouth did incredible things to him, its wet warmth tearing at his control and intensifying his desire until he was nearly shaking with it. He felt a low-key humming deep inside that told him his energy was beginning to gather, but for now it was just a faint, pleasant buzz that intermixed with all the other sensations Liz was arousing within him.

She kissed her way up to his throat, lovingly nuzzling the crook of his neck with lips, tongue, and teeth, and Max's eyes slid closed as he held her close against him, his hand closing loosely around her hair. She lingered there for a short moment before working her way back down to his chest, as though she couldn't bear to leave her new discovery for long.

When she began to ply his flesh with semi-gentle love-bites, Max stiffened, and a guttural sound of pleasure was ripped from his throat. The feral tenderness of the caresses seemed to unleash something primitive within him, and he gritted his teeth against the urge to grab her up as he felt a slipping of his restraint. He wasn't sure how much longer he could let her keep this up, but it felt far too good to stop.

Liz felt a rush of exhilaration at hearing his involuntary sound of pleasure. She was usually the vocal one of the two of them in this type of situation, and to drag an audible response from Max was a heady thrill that made her want to hear it again.

As she renewed her efforts in that direction, she became completely intoxicated by the taste and feel of him. Each rake of her teeth against him seemed to send his muscles rippling beneath her lips. And though this was incredibly stimulating for her, the most provocative stimulant of all was being able to experience what she was making Max feel. It filled her with a strange mix of tenderness, humility, and fierce arousal to know she could excite him so.

The frantic beating of his heart reverberated against her lips as she nibbled at its surrounding muscles, and when she reached to press her lips firmly to the throbbing there, she inadvertently brushed across his nipple.

It was a moment loaded with charged tension, and they both fell utterly still as everything inside them rioted at the sizzling contact.

Liz's lips hovered over him uncertainly, her breath rushing against him raggedly, then she lowered her head to hesitantly engulf the small nub of flesh within the warmth of her mouth.

Max choked out her name as scalding heat streaked through him, setting off a powerful explosion of need, and the bonds of his restraint snapped in two.

Seizing hold of her head, he tipped it up abruptly, and his mouth came down forcefully on hers. He kissed her with raw, unbridled furor, and Liz whimpered as the intensity of his desire was unleashed on her. It came pouring inside her with the force of a crashing wave. Seething and white-hot, it took her breath away, and her own rose up swiftly to meet it.

While their lips moved together with blazing relentlessness, Max's hands grasped her hips and lifted her off her feet with a suddenness that startled her. Gasping, Liz mindlessly wrapped herself around him around him, locking her legs about his waist and hooking her arms over his shoulders while his arms supported her slight weight.

The meager light spilling in underneath the door revealed the vague outline of a long buffet table a few feet to the right of him, and Max made for it unerringly. As he carried her the few steps necessary to get them there they continued to kiss. Deep, devouring kisses that seemed to imply nothing would satiate this ravening hunger inside but that they draw the other's very soul right into their own bodies.

Small sounds of arousal escaped from Liz's throat, and she cradled the back of Max's head in her hand as their tongues tangled with wild aggression. Completely swallowed up by the fire that had ignited between them, they lost all sense of time and place.

When they had reached the end of the table, Max sat her down on its smooth surface, then slid her forward to its edge so that her legs could remain where they were around his hips. Wedging himself tightly into the juncture of her thighs, he pressed their bodies together right where they ached the most.

Something seized deep inside of her, and Liz uttered a gasping cry, tightening her legs around him to return the relieving pressure. She felt a hollow emptiness inside that went bone-deep, and she knew instinctively that only Max could make it go away. The sudden keen stirring of her energy seemed to echo throughout the emptiness to set her senses tingling and amplify the impact of Max's every caress. Lost in the pleasure it generated, she gave no thought to its reason for pulling together.

She dropped her head back when Max's lips left hers to follow the curve of her chin down to the delicate skin underneath, and on to attack the arch of her throat with thrilling fierceness. Treating the flesh there to a series of gentle nips with his teeth, followed immediately by a soothing lap of his tongue, he made his way down to the slight hollow where her pulse pounded. He lingered there for a brief moment to taste the precious beating of her life-force on his tongue, then continued down even further to deposit open-mouthed kisses onto the V of skin bared by the neck of her sweater.

Liz threaded her fingers through his hair to hold his head against her, and shocked herself with the wish that her sweater wasn't in the way so he could take his kisses further still. Max felt the desire as clearly as if it were his own, and it gave him pause. Stopping what he was doing, he lifted his head to look at her, his chest heaving as if he'd been running. Now that they were no longer standing directly in front of the door, the faint puddle of light from the hallway dimly revealed the general placement of their features, but it was still impossible to read one another's expressions.

Pulling in a steadying breath, Max glanced down at the buttons that closed the front of her sweater. The small rounded pearls glowed enticingly in the pale light, and his heart flipped over as he considered her unspoken wish. A faint niggling of caution struggled to be heard over the haze of lust that had taken over his brain, but he barely acknowledged it. The urge to fulfill the yearning that he now shared was too compelling to ignore. The hot coursing of her energy seemed to call out to him, drawing him in, and luring his hand up to lie at the neckline of her sweater.

Trembling, Liz leaned back and braced herself with one hand on the table at her side, and their eyes locked upon one another's face. Her body seemed to go cold all over, then instantly turned burning hot as he suggestively traced the edge of the v-neck with the flat of his hand, half of it stroking fleecy angora, the other half satin skin. Following where its lines led, his palm began a slow downward glide over the row of buttons down her front.

Liz struggled to pull in air as his hand slid over the narrow pass between her breasts, and they throbbed with an aching heaviness as he bypassed them to continue on a dissecting path down her middle. Their hearts raced out of control at the slow tease of his hand, and Liz emitted a soft moan.

Her fingers tightened on his shoulder and she whispered agitatedly, "Please, Max?"

Something sharp and primal leapt within him at the sound of her soft pleading, and he bent his head to give her a tongue-thrusting kiss as his fingers swiftly moved to undo her buttons. Liz's sudden flare of excitement produced a powerful upsurge in her energy level that sent Max's soaring in response, and they trembled as it heightened their pleasure. Once her sweater was open, he slid his arms inside to curl around her waist, and he pulled her up tight against him.

Flesh met flesh with a burning intensity that had Liz murmuring wordlessly into his mouth with delirium. Her bra was the only thing that stood in the way of complete intimacy between their upper bodies, and she was beyond shocking herself when she yearned for it to be gone.

That indefinable something she'd felt heating up her insides on the dance floor began to glow with renewed vigor in the pit of her belly, coiling in on itself to form an ever tightening spiral of fire that had her hips instinctively moving against his. Gasping, Max's arms constricted around her, and he couldn't stop himself from giving an answering thrust.

The air around them crackled with electricity as their bodies thrummed with the charge of their energy. The strength of it left them both panting for breath, and Liz could feel the two forces straining toward each other, much like her energy reacted to Michael's.

"What- what's happening, Max?" she asked raggedly against his lips.

Before he could think to answer, the door behind them burst open, startling them apart to turn abruptly toward the sudden noise.

They shrank from the light pouring into the room, and it took a moment for them to return to reality and realize that it was Michael silhouetted in the doorway. He stood there with upraised hand, a look of startlement on his face.