She still fully intended briefing Liz on the dangers of getting involved with an alien, but she doubted whether such a speech would make any difference. It was clear that something amazing was happening here. Max just seemed to instinctively know where Liz was at a particular moment. Maria had watched as he immediately rose to see if Liz was okay when someone bumped into her, causing her to stumble and hit her hip against a table. She noticed how gentle his hand was when he ran it over Liz’s hip as if to heal any pain or potential bruising. She watched the love-struck and trusting way her friend stared up at Max during this whole exchange. How easily Liz let Max touch her. How her whole face seemed to glow with happiness. How their eyes clung together in that way that all their friends knew so well by now.

But she also couldn’t miss the new and deeper awareness that formed part of "the soul mate stare". Yes, it was sexual. The air seemed to shimmer with palpable desire and need around them. But it was SO much more. It was a deep… connection. That was the only word that Maria could come up with to describe what she was seeing. It was like they communicated without words, just by touching and by looking at each other. And her doubts increased on whether Max and Liz could ever really be separated again.

******

Liz’s shift was supposed to be over at six o’clock and Max was getting impatient. He longed to have her back in his arms again, and most of all he longed to put that look of dazed passion back in her eyes. He watched her serve the couple at the next booth. She was glowing with an inner happiness that stole his breath away. She gave him a sidelong glance and a small smile as if to recognize his attention and thoughts. Max suddenly wondered if she could read his emotions like he could read hers now. He mentally kicked himself. Why hadn’t he thought of it before? He really needed to talk to her. Maybe they could go for a drive after her shift…

Liz walked past him and he caught her hand, turning her towards him. He tried to ignore the jolt of electricity shooting up his arm from their linked hands and looked up at her face. His eyes traveled over her features as his fingers caressed the back of her hand. He opened his mouth to speak, but his gaze was captured by the small inaudible "oh" formed by her lips at his touch. "Liz…" her name was a sigh. He unconsciously pulled her closer until she was pressed against the side of his thigh. She felt soft and warm and Max suddenly couldn’t take it anymore. Talking could come later!

He gently moved her backwards, sliding out of the booth. He walked purposefully out the back door of the café, pulling Liz behind him by her hand. Once they were outside in the cool dusk air, he closed the door behind them and locked it, his hand glowing for a moment over the keyhole. Then she was in his arms and they both moaned with the contact. Contact they had been craving since their heated embrace of this afternoon. He kissed her eyes, her cheeks. She fit in his arms like she was made for him. She was running her hands over his back and shoulders, as if she was trying to memorize every inch of his body. Max wondered how she seemed to know exactly what to do to heat his blood to fever pitch.

Their connection came to roaring life before his lips even touched hers. Max froze, his mouth halting a mere breath away from hers. He stared into her beautiful eyes, content for a moment to just experience her feelings. Reliving her emotions of when he watched her during her shift. How his eyes on her body had felt like a physical touch. How many times during the past few hours she had wanted him to drag her out here like this and kiss her.

Liz was also caught up in the connection. She relived his male satisfaction at her obvious passionate fixation on him. She sensed his happiness at realizing that this was the first time in her life that she had felt that way about a guy. She knew of his hunger to be close to her like this again.

They kissed again, urgency overtaking all else. Max’s hands caressed her hips, his palms warm through the material of her uniform. Liz moaned as he slid hands up over her waist to come to rest on her rib cage. His hands spanned her body, his thumbs meeting underneath her breasts. Max was valiantly trying to get control over himself. This was neither the time nor the place for anything serious. He pulled back, looking at her for a few seconds before he bent and slowly, deliberately placed a kiss on the smooth skin where the lapels of her uniform met. "Time to go back to work, Ms Parker!"

Liz was clutching his shoulders, praying the world will stop spinning after that kiss. Then his words penetrated her haze. She looked at him sharply. "You’re doing this deliberately, aren’t you!"

"Doing what?" Max tried to look innocent, but instead he just looked smug… and sexily mussed.

Liz took a deep breath. She was either going to kill him or… She licked her lips, smiling slightly at the way his eyes followed the movement. She inhaled deeply and felt his hands on her ribs flex in reaction. She stepped nearer to him, causing him to break his hold on her. She scraped her fingernails down his back and he shivered involuntarily. Liz licked her lips again, but this time she ran her tongue slowly over her bottom lip, leaning closer to him until their bodies just barely touched.