The Billionaire's Baby
Date: 2012-12-20T22:00:00+00:00
Keywords: C429; Extratorrents; Kat
Description: Sophie has been in love with her best friend Ella's brother, Billionaire Maxwell Van Harkel, for years. When she goes to spend the winter holiday with the family in their country home Sophie is excited to see if she could possibly have a connection with Max. However Maxwell has turned into a Dr. Jekkyl and Mr. Hyde character. Some days he is great and other days he treats her like she doesn't exist. When Sophie lies to get her own way, she triggers a domino effect and she doesn't know if her life will ever be the same. For while Sophie loves Maxwell, he is hiding a deep dark secret that will t

THE BILLIONAIRE’S BABY

(THE FULL SERIES)

HELEN COOPER

This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Copyright © 2012 by Helen Cooper

Chapter 1

“Come on Sophie.” Ella called out to her friend. “We can’t miss the train. Maxwell will kill me if we do.”

“I’m coming. I’m coming.” Sophie grabbed her backpack and chased after her friend. “You didn’t really give me much time to get ready.” She was breathless as she ran down the path to the train tracks. She looked down at her shoe and saw her laces were untied but she didn’t dare stop to tie it up. “Don’t fall, don’t fall.” She mumbled to herself as she followed her best friend.

Sophie and Ella had been best friends for 15 years; ever since their first day at boarding school when they were 7 years old. Ella had marched up to Sophie and linked her arm through hers and that was all it had taken. They had been inseparable ever since. Unfortunately for Sophie, she was still treated like the lost little girl she had been when they first met and Ella bossed her around like nobody’s business.

“Run Sophie. Run.” Ella screamed at Sophie as she jumped onto the train, her blond hair flying. She reached her hand out to Sophie and grabbed her arm as she came running up to the train. “Jump.”

Sophie ran and jumped into the train, tripping over her shoes and falling into the carriage. She stood up as gracefully as possible and saw the other passengers in the train looking at her as if she were an alien from outer space. She grabbed her bag from the ground and sighed when she saw 3 more people get on the train casually.

“The train wasn’t leaving Ella.” She hissed at her friend embarrassed.

“Well, it might have started to leave and you’d be stuck here if you hadn’t run.” Ella spoke matter of factly and walked into the main carriage. “Let’s find our seats. I hope Maxwell hooked us up.”

Sophie sighed and followed her friend. She hadn’t wanted to come home with Ella for the break; in fact, she never wanted to go to Ella’s home again but she had found herself emotionally blackmailed into accompanying her friend to her childhood home in Iowa, instead of going to stay with her Uncle and Aunt in Florida. It had become a tradition for Sophie to stay with Ella’s family every Spring Break and sometimes in the summer as well. They had grown up together and after High School, they had both gotten into Columbia University in New York. Ella’s family had been kind enough to rent Ella a beautiful apartment in the Upper West Side and allowed Sophie to live there for free.

Sophie loved Ella’s parents as if they were her own but she was dreading seeing Maxwell: gloriously handsome and brilliant Maxwell. He was Ella’s older brother, by 8 years and Sophie had been in love with him for years. Only he didn’t know. And she wanted to keep it that way. He looked at her as his younger sister’s annoying best friend and Sophie knew she had no shot with him. He was the heir to a billionaire’s fortune, handsome as a model and as intelligent as Einstein. He was also the one who had provided comfort to Sophie as a youngster, when she had been homesick. She smiled to herself thinking about their midnight snacks and scary story nights. What she wouldn’t do to get him in her bed now. She laughed to herself; mocking her fantasies and sat down next to Ella.

“What were you laughing at?” Ella looked at her curiously, twirling her long blond hair in her hands.

“Nothing.” Sophie sighed. She wanted to ask Ella if Maxwell had a girlfriend but she didn’t want her friend to know about her crush.

“Sophie, thanks soo much for coming home with me. It just wouldn’t have seemed right without you there. You know you are more like my family, than just a friend.” Ella clasped her hands and brought them towards her. “I am so lucky to have a best friend like you.”

Sophie’s heart warmed and she felt her eyes moisten. Ella really knew how to make her all warm and fuzzy inside. “It’s okay Ella. It will be a Christmas to remember I’m sure.” She checked the latest text message from her Aunt and smiled. “And it will allow my Uncle and Aunt to go on that cruise that they have been talking about for years.”

“Yay. I am soo excited. Let’s go shopping tomorrow. We only have a few days left until Christmas. I hope Maxwell talks my parents into buying me a new car.”

“I doubt it.” Sophie laughed. “Not after you totaled the last 3.”

“It wasn’t my fault.” Ella pouted.

“3 Mercedes totaled in 3 months is your fault!”

“Stop you start up as well Sophie. Wouldn’t you rather be driving right now, than in this stuffy train?”

“Not really.” Sophie laughed, happy that she didn’t have to drive with crazy Ella. She was scared for her life every time she got in a car with her friend. “But hey, I never have enough money saved for a car so maybe you can drive with me.”

“Oh Sophie, that’s great.” Ella smiled at her friend. “That will be awesome.”

“I know it won’t be a Mercedes but it will still be 4 wheels.” Sophie beamed at her friend. One of the things she loved about Ella was that she didn’t judge her because she didn’t have as much money as her friend. Her Uncle and Aunt had been able to send her to boarding school because of the insurance money and she had gotten a scholarship to college. The $3000 she had in her account was from her part time job working at a pet shop and she was looking forward to buying the 2004 Toyota Corolla that her professor was going to sell her.

“A car is a car. Soon we will be college graduates and we will be able to travel the country at our will.” Ella squealed with excitement.

“Well, I don’t know about that.” Sophie frowned at her friend. “You know I’m looking for a job. If I want to stay in the City, I need to have an income coming in.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Ella looked down at her phone. Jobs meant nothing to her. Having grown up in a family that was in the Forbes top 100 richest families in the country, Ella had never had to worry about things like money and jobs. “You should just ask Maxwell to hire you as an executive in one of our companies, then you won’t have to worry so much.”

“I can’t do that.” Sophie smiled at her friend and sighed. She would love to work for Maxwell, it would be heavenly to see his face everyday and to smell and touch him. “Anyways Maxwell would never want to hire me.”

“Yes he would. He knows how smart you are.” Ella grins at her friend. “Do you know how many times he has told me that he wishes you were his sister instead?”

“Yeah, you told me.” Sophie faked a smile and tried to keep her disappointment to herself. She didn’t want Maxwell to see her as a sister; she wanted him to see her as a sex God and lust after her. She wanted him to push her into a room and ravish her quickly before Ella came down the stairs. She wanted them to have romps in the car and in the fields and laugh at how naughty they were. But no, all Maxwell did is peck her on the cheek and talk about what a good friend she was to his sister before he hit the town and had fun with a bunch of other girls. The last time Sophie had stayed over at the Van Harkel’s she had seen Maxwell making out with a girl in the garage. He had seen her peaking at him and had winked at her before he had continued ravishing the beautiful blond and Sophie had gone to her room and cried. She had managed to skip going with Ella for over a year now but hadn’t managed to bail out of this visit. It was the last Christmas that they would be in school and Ella had managed to emotionally blackmail her into coming.

“Sometimes I think he likes you more than he likes me.” Ella grinned and with her blue eyes sparkling Sophie knew she was just kidding.

“Well, he knows I can cook a better pie.”

“Ooh, does that mean you will make one for Christmas? I’m sure Mrs. D won’t mind.”

“I guess so. I don’t want Mrs. D thinking I’m after her job again. Though that would be a job.” The two girls laughed together and relaxed as the train left the station.

***

“Ella, wake up. We’re here.” Sophie shook her friends shoulder and stood up stiffly. She brushed her long hair back, hopeful that it didn’t look as frizzy as it felt and smoothed her skirt flat. She wanted to whip out a mirror to make sure her makeup was still intact but she knew that Ella would wonder when she became so vain. She certainly didn’t want to tell her friend that she wanted to look good for Maxwell. There were enough girls who tried to befriend Ella just so that they could get an introduction to Maxwell Van Harkel. She didn’t want Ella to think she had gone over to the dark side as well.

“Oh wow, I can’t believe I fell asleep.” Ella yawned. “It’s all that studying I tell ya. It makes a girl tired.”

“Sure, that’s it.” Sophie rolled her eyeballs and laughed. Ella never studied. She was one of those people who was naturally smart and who did well without spending hours studying.

The girls grabbed their bags and walked off the train. They had arrived to Winterside in a little over 4 hours and the train station was as sleepy as ever. Sophie looked around her and smiled. It was as picturesque as she remembered it to be. Mitch, the trainmaster sat on a table inside and beamed at the girls as they walked through the small station. He was listening to Christmas carols on the radio and the Christmas tree was sparkling with at least 10 different bulbs of lights wrapped around it.

“Good Afternoon Ms. Van Harkel and Ms. Bloomwood.” Mitch stood up as they passed. “Great to see you both back home for the holidays. Mr. Van Harkel is sitting outside waiting for you both.”

“Thanks Mitch.” The girls chorused in unison. They ran outside and up to the big Range Rover that was parked outside the station. Sophie’s breath caught as she spied Maxwell standing next to the driver’s door talking on the phone to someone. Their eyes met and he beamed at the girls, quickly hanging up the phone.

“Max.” Ella dropped her bag and went running up to her brother. “I thought Dad was going to meet us.” She hugged her brother tightly and stood back and observed him. “You are looking way too handsome for a hard working man. It’s not fair. Why did I not get your gorgeous thick hair?” She teased her brother and he rubbed her head.

Sophie walked up to them slowly and stopped shy a few feet away from them. “Hi Max.” She spoke shyly, trying not to gaze at him with adoration. He looked as handsome and perfect as ever. Being 6 foot tall, he towered over Sophie, but his sparkling blue eyes always made her feel comforted and at ease. He had jet-black hair, with a slight curl and an always-tanned skin tone.

“Sophie.” He stared at her and smiled. “Don’t I get a hug?” He reached over to her and held her in his arms. She felt her breasts crush against his chest and a warm feeling ran through her body. He held her for a few extra seconds and she felt his lips on her cheek, soft and firm at the same time. She wondered if she turned her mouth towards his, if she could pretend it was a mistake. That way she could feel his lips on hers and she would have something to savor for the whole holiday.

“Come on guys.” Ella interrupted them. “It’s only been a year since you’ve seen each other, not a decade.”

Sophie reluctantly stepped back from Maxwell’s arms and smiled up at him. She noticed him staring at her and frowning.

“Well, it seems like a lot can happen in a year.” Maxwell’s voice was gruff and Sophie could feel his eyes on her. “Sophie, you will have to fill me in on everything you have done in the last year.”

“She’s not going to tell you who she slept with bro.” Ella punched him in the arm.

“I said everything she has done, not who she has done, sis.” Maxwell grimaced at her. “I can see that I don’t want to ask you about your love life.”

“Don’t be a hypocrite Max. You must sleep with a woman a week. I can have some fun too.” Ella teased him.

“I’m 30 Ella and you are 22. Big difference.” Maxwell’s voice was gruff. “And I don’t want to hear about my little sister having sex.”

“Oh Max.” Ella laughed and got into the front seat. “Shotgun.” She smiled back at Sophie. “You can get shotgun next time.”

“That’s fine Ella.” Sophie jumped into the backseat, hoping that Maxwell would talk some more about his love life. She was curious as to whether he had a girlfriend or not.

Sophie sat back and allowed herself to be mesmerized by the beautiful familiar sites on their drive to the Van Harkel manor. There was something about the lush greenness of the countryside that always delighted her. She smiled as she saw the cows munching away on the grass. She always wondered what cows thought about all day. It couldn’t possibly be about how delicious the grass tasted. She laughed to herself at the thought and looked up to see Maxwell watching her through the rearview mirror.

“What are you laughing about Sophie?” He smiled at her curiously.

“I was just thinking about the time Ella and I decided to feast on grass to figure out why cow’s enjoyed eating it soo much.” She laughed. “And then we spent the whole night throwing up green stuff and we pretended we were monsters.”

“I remember that. And Max stayed up the whole night with us, making fun of us.” Ella laughed.

“I called you both the Gobble-Geeks and I was the master Gobble-Gook.” Max grinned. “And I got you both to do my chores for the next few days.”

“Grr. You really took advantage of us.” Ella hit him in the arm. “You made me sit on my hands and knees chanting, “I am your servant master Gobble-Gook.” You should be ashamed of yourself for making fun of a little kid.”

“Oh I am sis. I am.” Maxwell grinned and then winked at Sophie. “I’ll never make fun of your snotty nose again.”

“Max.” Ella stuck her tongue out at him and looked back at Sophie. “I’m so glad you came home with me Soph. This way there will be two of us to gang up on Maxwell.”

“I’m sure he’ll be too busy for us.” Sophie smiled weakly. She didn’t want Max to think of her as pukey gooble-geek Sophie but more as beautiful siren Sophia.

“Oh yeah. I forgot he’s helping dad run a multi-billion dollar company. Best not lose my fortune big bro.” Ella smiled and Sophie noticed that Maxwell’s shoulders tensed a little bit.

“Maybe you will join us when you graduate and actually help earn the dollars you spend.” Maxwell smiled at his sister but Sophie could hear the seriousness in his tone.

“Yeah, sure. One day.” Ella paused. “Oh, but if you have any positions going Sophie’s looking for a job.”

Sophie groaned under her breath and tried to stop the flush from creeping up in her face as Maxwell looked at her with interest. “Are you really Sophie?”

She nodded slowly, not sure if she could stand working around the man she loved.

“We do have an internship program starting in January, that leads to a job starting this summer, if you are interested.”

“Well, I guess so. When would my application have to be in?” She asked hesitantly, knowing that all the top corporations had stopped accepting new interns to their programs a long time ago.

“I guess that’s a perk of knowing the boss. No application needed.” Maxwell parked the car and they got out of the Range Rover. Ella went running into the house to greet her parents and Sophie stood next to Max as he locked the car doors. “I’m serious Sophie. Come and talk to me after dinner if you want to start.” He looked deep into her eyes and Sophie was worried that he could see her true feelings for him radiating out of her.

“Thanks Max. That would be great.” She fiddled with her skirt and put her backpack on. It ruffled against her tee shirt and pulled it up a bit, exposing her stomach. She pulled the tee shirt down quickly and looked back up again. Maxwell was staring at her intently and he had a dark smile on his face.

“It’s good to see you Sophie. You have definitely grown into a beautiful young woman.” He licked his lips and walked away from her and Sophie counted to ten before she followed him into the house. The man was sex on legs and Sophie had wanted to feel his tongue on her lips as he had licked his. She sighed. It was going to be a long two weeks if she lusted every little thing that Maxwell did.

Chapter 2

Beautiful young woman. Beautiful young woman. Sophie couldn’t stop smiling to herself as she replayed Maxwell’s comments in her mind. He thought she was beautiful. She studied herself in the mirror and thought about how she could make herself look sexier. She felt that she had a boring look: long dark brown wavy hair, green eyes and a spattering of freckles across her cheeks and nose. She was 5 foot 6, an average height, and she weighed about 145lbs. While she knew she wasn’t fat, she also knew she would never qualify to be a model. She enjoyed food and didn’t say no to deserts. As she looked at herself, she thought glumly that while she was not a plain Jane, she would never be a striking beauty either. Not like Ella.

Ella was the type of girl that men flocked to; she was tall and slender, with long blond hair and sparkling blue-green eyes that looked like the Pacific Ocean. She also had that confident that most rich girls had and she was irresistible to men. Sophie never stood a chance with any guys in college because they all wanted to be with Ella. But she didn’t mind as her thoughts were always with another. Sophie sighed. She was starting to feel like a bit of a loser. She’d only ever casually dated and she had never had sex. Not that she wanted to sleep with any of those silly college guys; not after she’d seen what a real man looked like.

She closed her eyes and thought back to that evening the last time she had stayed at the Van Harkel’s. Not only had she seen Maxwell making out with some girl, she had also spied him in the shower. It had been late at night and she had stumbled into the bathroom to wash her face just as he had been stepping out of the shower in all his glory. She could still picture his magnificent penis in her mind, it had looked long and thick and wonderful. And she blushed just thinking about it.

Bang. Bang. Ella barged into her room without waiting for an answer to her knocks. “Want to go out tonight?” She questioned Sophie before flopping down onto her bed. “I’m bored already.”

“Where are we going to go El?” Sophie looked away from the mirror and sighed, exasperated at her friend and propensity to easy boredom. “It’s not like we are in the big city anymore.”

“We can go back into town. There’s a small pub there.” Ella looked at Sophie eagerly. “Judging by the amount of women Max picks up down there, there should be plenty of guys.”

“Max picks up girls there?” Sophie was surprised. She figured all the girls Max got were from the city or daughters of other millionaire’s who had family homes in Winterside.

“Oh, he gets girls everywhere. Look at him.” Ella laughed and jumped up. “Tonight we are going to go out and paint the town red.”

“Uh sure.” Sophie groaned. “I didn’t even bring any party clothes.”

“I have plenty. You can wear something of mine.”

“Ella, I love you but you are size 2 and I am size 8. Not much that you own will fit me.” Sophie laughed. “Plus, I have a bust and you are as flat as a pancake.”

“Hey, no need to insult me.” Ella laughed. “Let’s go check out my wardrobe and see what I have.”

“Okay.” Sophie followed her friend out of the room and sang along with her as they walked to Ella’s room. “Tonight’s going to be a good night.”

“What are you two hooligans singing about?” Maxwell stepped out in the corridor and Sophie gasped. He was standing in a pair of basketball shorts with no shirt on. She could see that he had a thin mat of hair on his chest and she wanted to run over and rub his chest to see how smooth it is.

“Nothing dear bro. Sophie and I are going out tonight and we are checking out some outfits.”

“Oh yeah?” He looked at Sophie and winked. “Maybe I’ll come as well.”

“Won’t we be cock blockers?” Ella laughed and Maxwell groaned.

“Ella, where do you get your language from?” He rolled his eyes at her. “And no, I’d love to spend the night with my sister and her best friend. I can make sure that you guys don’t get into any trouble.”

“Oh no.” Ella groaned. “You’re going to cock block me.”

“You have a cock dear sis?” He raised his eyebrows and Sophie laughed at him.

“You’re gross, you know that.” Ella hit him in the arm. “Anyways, how should we dress? I’ve never been to the pubs in town.”

“This may be the country but people still need to look nice girls. Dress as you wish. We can grab dinner there as well. I’m going to hop in the shower now. We can leave in about 2 hours.”

“Yay.” Ella squealed with happiness and hugged her brother. “Sometimes I love you big bro.”

“And sometimes I love you two dweeb.”

“And sometimes I think you both act like you are 15 years old.” Sophie interrupted them and they all laughed.

“I know that none of the board of directors would have faith in me if they saw me and Ella’s interactions.” Max laughed. “But I guess you never grow out of teasing your little sister.”

“Who can resist me?” Ella twirled around and Sophie pushed her into the room.

“Okay, what clothes do you own that will kind of fit me?” All of a sudden Sophie was excited to go out. She had a plan forming in her mind and she didn’t want to analyze it too closely. She was hoping that Max would see her all gussied up and would be unable to resist himself. She felt her heart racing just thinking about it. Her and Max, rolling around on the ground. His strong arms around her, his lips firm on hers, his hands on her breasts. She felt giddy just thinking about it.

“So what about this?” Ella interrupted her daydreams. “Earth to Sophie.”

“Oh sorry.” Sophie grabbed the dress from Ella’s hands and looked at it carefully. “I’m not sure if this will fit me but I guess I can try. Any other dresses that I can try on?”

Ella handed her 2 more dresses and Sophie went into her bathroom to try them on. “Okay, cross your fingers that at least one of these fits and doesn’t make me look like a skank.”

“You’ll be fine Sophie.” Ella turned back to her closet to decide what she was going to wear.

“Yeah. We’ll see.” Sophie studied the dresses in her hand. The first one was sparkly silver that was more appropriate for a 70’s disco. She was not sad when the dress would not even slide over her hips. The second dress seemed more promising, it was a simple black dress and she slid it on eagerly, hoping that it would fit.

“Argh.” She groaned as she looked down at herself. The dress barely fit. It was extremely snug and short. It barely covered her ass and she felt like her boobs were popping out. It was definitely not a dress made for a girl with curves and boobs. The cut of the straps also made it so she wouldn’t be able to wear a bra. Sophie groaned again. She wanted to catch Maxwell’s eye but she didn’t want him to think she was the local hooker. She pulled the dress off and tried on the next one. It was a slinky red and she was able to slip it on easily. She looked at herself in the mirror. The dress looked awful on her, something about the cut emphasized all the wrong parts of her body. She’d never seen her ass look soo huge.

“How’s it going Soph?” Ella called out, while singing along to the music blasting out of her iPod.

“Okay.” Sophie sighed. It was going to have to be the black dress then. One way or the over she was going to have someone noticing her tonight. There was no doubt in her mind. “Are you sure you have no other dresses that may fit me?” Sophie popped her head out of the bathroom door and cringed. “These are all way too small for me.”

“Sorry Sophie.” Ella frowned. “Will none of them fit?”

Sophie sighed. “I guess I’ll wear the black one then. Argh.”

“You’ll look great. Let me do your makeup.”

“Uh ok.” Sophie was scared at what Ella was going to do to her face. She usually wore very simple makeup and didn’t think Max was going to be attracted to a scarecrow. “Just don’t make me up too much Ella, I don’t want to look like I have a black eye please.”

“That was only once Sophie. And it was your fault, you rubbed your eye and the mascara and eyeliner became a big blob.”

“I looked like a hot mess Ella!” Sophie growled at her friend. “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Yeah, yeah. Go shower and change and come back here when you are done.”

“Yes boss.” Sophie ran out of the room laughing. She and Ella were more like sisters than best friends. She bit her lip as she walked to her room; she wasn’t sure what was going to happen when they graduated. She was scared to lose her best friend, the person closest to her in the world. She honestly didn’t know how she was going to survive without Ella there to talk to everyday.

“Hey Sophie, a penny.” The low voice behind her made her jump. “Hey, it’s just me.” Maxwell put an arm around her shoulder. “No need to jump.”

“Oh sorry.” Sophie smiled up at him shyly. “I was thinking.”

“Yes, you did look deep in thought. Want to talk about it?” He looked at her in concern. “You looked like you have a lot on your mind.”

“Hey, just a lot of college graduation thoughts.” She smiled at him, surprised by his concern.

“You know I meant it about the internship and job right?” He looked at her sternly. “I’m not joking Sophie, Van Harkel Enterprises would be lucky to have you.”

“I know. And thanks.” She sighed unconsciously.

“Something tells me that’s not all that’s on your mind.” He followed her into her room and sat on the bed as she went to her bag to take out her underwear. “You know you can always talk to me right.”

“Yeah.” She tried to ignore her beating heart. Maxwell Van Harkel was in her bedroom, and he was sitting on her bed. Breathe Sophie, breathe Sophie. She willed herself to calm down.

“What’s this?” He picked up her journal and it took every ounce of her being to not scream and snatch it out of his hand. Please God; do not let Max open my journal. She sent up a silent prayer. She would die if he saw any of her posts talking about how much she loved him.

“My journal.” She held out her hand and grabbed the journal from his hands.

“Ah.” He grinned. “Mopping around for your boyfriend are you?”

“I don’t have a boyfriend.” She answered quickly.

“Unrequited love?” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “He’d be a fool to turn you down.”

“Thanks.” She stared at him sitting on her bed and wondered what he was waiting for. “I don’t even think he knows I exist.”

“Then he’s an idiot.” Max patted the spot on the bed next to him. “Don’t worry about him Sophie. There will be plenty of other guys.”

“Yeah.” She went and sat next to him, careful not to sit too close. It didn’t matter. Maxwell still grabbed her hands and held them in his. “You are a beautiful girl. Any guy would be happy to date you.”

Don’t you want to date me then? She stared at him, willing him to gush of his true love for her. Isn’t that how movies always went? She stared at his lips and wondered what he would do if she just reached over and kissed him. She licked her lips and thought about just going for it.

“This reminds me of old times.” Maxwell’s words broke her mental pep talk.

“Huh?” She looked at him confused.

“When you’d come running to my room because you were scared of the creaks.” He grinned at her.

“I don’t remember that.”

“It was the first couple of times you stayed over. You were scared of the noises. I would comfort you.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” He lay back on her bed and closed his eyes. “It seems like such a long time ago now.”

“Yeah.” She leaned back and felt her shoulders rubbing next to his. “We were just kids then.”

“Well, you’re still a kid. I’m an old man now.”

“I’m not a kid.” She answered him indignantly. “I’m 22 you know.”

He turned to face her on the bed and she turned to face him so that their eyes were gazing into each other’s. She held her breath as he stared into her eyes deeply. “22 is still a kid.”

“No, it’s not.” She pouted at him.

“If you are still pouting, you’re still a kid.” He laughed.

“I’m not a kid.” She licked her lips and moved closer to him.

“I’m too old for you Sophie.” He stared at her mouth.

“I’m not a kid.” She moved her face so close to his that she could feel his breath on her mouth. “I’m not…” Her voice trailed off as Maxwell moved in closer to her and kissed her on the lips.

She closed her eyes and sighed. His lips felt warm and sweet and perfect. She moved closer to him and pushed her tongue into his mouth hesitantly. He devoured her tongue and she felt him groan before he brought his arms around her and brought her into him. She opened her eyes and saw him staring down at her. He was now on top of her and she felt the weight of his body crushing down on her. She wriggled beneath him, delighting in the feel of his body on hers. She brought her hands up and rubbed his bare back; it felt smooth and hot to the touch. She ran her hands down his back until she came to the top of his shorts. She paused for a second before running her hand down to his ass. She heard his gasp of surprise and grinned up at him as she squeezed his butt. He reacted by pushing himself into her and she spread her legs so she could feel him closer to her sweet spot. She felt her skirt ride up a little bit and she wrapped her legs around Maxwell, willing him to push himself into her closer. He responded by slowing grinded himself into her and she could feel his hardness push up into her mound.

She sighed happily and his lips left hers to kiss down her neck. She squirmed underneath him hoping he would pull her top off so that she could feel his naked chest on her skin.

“No Sophie. I can’t.” He pulled away from her and sat up. “This is not a good idea.”

“But I want to.” She looked at him uncertainly. “I’m not a kid.”

He smirked as he stared at her. “That I know Ms. Sophie.” He licked his lips. “I shall never call you a kid again.”

She stared at him wanting to reach out touch his chest. “Kiss me.” She whispered.

“What?” He sat there still.

“Nothing.” She looked down at her lap unable to keep his gaze. His blue eyes seemed to pierce right through her.

“Okay.” He sat there next to her and they listened to the grasshoppers outside the windows.

Finally she looked up and he was watching her with a dark and bemused look. “You can leave now Maxwell.”

“I know.” He remained on the bed.

“Then go.” Her voice sounded angry. She was upset. She felt like she had been rejected and wanted to wallow in her misery. Another part of her wanted to delight in the fact that she had kissed Maxwell and that it had been as wondrous as she thought it would be.

“I’m not going to leave this room with you angry.” He frowned. “Why are you angry by the way?”

“I’m not angry. I’m fine. I need to shower and get ready for tonight.”

“Is it a guy?”

“What?”

“Don’t let a guy get you down Sophie.” He looked at her with concern. “Trust me, whatever putz has you feeling so down will regret it. Most college guys don’t have a clue.”

Sophie sighed loudly. “Most men period don’t have a clue.”

He laughed and nodded his head. “I’ll agree with you there.” He looked over at the journal she had placed on the bed. “So do you write about him in there?”

“Maybe.”

“What have you written?”

“I’m not going to tell you.” She looked at him like he was crazy.

“I was just curious as to what goes on in a 22 year Old’s head.”

“Then go and ask Ella what she’s thinking.”

“I don’t want to know about Ella.” His voice was soft and he looked at her intently.

“Oh.” She wanted to ask him what he meant. If he was saying that he cared about her as more than a sister but she was scared to ask him. “Well, I guess I can read you an entry.” She paused and looked at him carefully.

“That would be great.” He lay back on the bed and Sophie wanted to run her hands through his hair. Lying down like he was, made him seem so much younger than his age. She reached for her journal quickly and opened it to a page randomly and started reading.

“I wonder what he’s doing today. If he has thought about me at all. I’ve thought about him so much that the law of averages would dictate that he has to have thought about me at least once. Maybe if I think about him one hundred times in the next two days that will make him think of me at least once. I had a dream about him last night. We were in the ocean and his eyes blended with the water and I asked him if he were a mermaid. And then he laughed and I laughed and I was soo happy because we were together. I’m going to go look at the stars tomorrow. I’m hoping I see a shooting star and then I can make a wish on it. I’ll wish for him to love me as I love him.  Perhaps we’ll wish on the same star together.”

Sophie stopped reading at that point. She found it hard to keep reading while sitting next to the man who had inspired so much writing.

“So you love him huh?” He looked at her carefully. “How does he feel?”

“I don’t even think he knows I exist.” Sophie sighed and smiled. “It’s quite the love story huh?”

“It sounds like life.” He smiled at her wistfully. “But don’t worry, tonight we’ll have a good time and you can forget him.”

“Yeah.” She smiled at him and then leaned forward and kissed him again. This time she was the aggressor and she pushed him down on the bed. She saw his eyes widen as she nibbled on his bottom lip and she sat on top of him. She felt his hands caressing her legs and she wriggled in his eyes so that her skirt rode up. She now had easy access to sit on him and she rubbed herself against his crotch. He felt hard beneath her and she enjoyed the feeling of his hardness rubbing against her with only her panties and his shorts acting as a barrier. This time she kissed down his neck and to his chest. She rubbed her cheek against his chest and it was soft and warm. She kissed over to his right nipple and tugged on it before kissing down his chest to his stomach. She stuck her tongue in his belly button and then licked down his happy trail to the top of his shorts. She paused and looked up and she saw him watching her with desire in his eyes. Excited and horny, she continued kissing him and pulled his shorts down. She gasped as she saw his cock flop out right next to her face. She was certain that he would have had on boxer shorts and was shocked to see his manhood right there in front of her. She paused for a second, unsure of herself. But then she closed her eyes and took him into her mouth, she was awkward and slow at first, sucking on the tip lightly, scared that she would hurt him. As she grew more confident, she took more of him into her mouth and sucked harder and harder. She was rewarded with a guttural groan emanating from Maxwell’s throat and this delighted her and prodded her to keep sucking harder and harder. She took him so deeply into her mouth that she thought she was going to gag, but she enjoyed the taste of him and she loved feeling him grow as she pleasured him.

After a couple of minutes, Maxwell pulled her off of him and she frowned, worried that she had been doing something wrong but she felt him maneuvering her on the bed until her face was in his crotch and her legs were up by his head. She took him back in her mouth and she was rewarded by a deep groan from within him. She felt his hands go up her skirt and felt her heart beating quickly as she felt his hands pulling down her panties. She trembled as she felt him pull her down towards him and when she felt his breath on her pussy, she almost screamed. And then she felt the tip of his tongue running along her clit and she couldn’t stop herself from grinding into his face. She needed to feel him on her harder and deeper. Unwittingly she started sucking him with more intensity, as she concentrated more on what he was doing to her pussy.  When he stuck his tongue into her, she moaned with delight and found herself sucking on the tip of his cock like a lollipop.  As he fucked her with his tongue, she felt the passion building up inside of her and she sat upright as she came in his mouth, bucking back and forth on his face. Maxwell didn’t seem to mind because he kept licking and sucking her pussy as she came and flipped her body around after a few minutes.

This time she felt his bare cock between her legs and on her naked pussy. She started rubbing up and down on his cock, loving the feel of it between her legs. The tip of it was making direct contact with her clit and she grinded on it hard, delighting in the moans emanating from his body. She adjusted her body slightly and felt him pull her up so that he could kiss her, she could taste herself on his lips and she kissed him passionately. She felt the tip of his cock in her pussy lips and she felt his hand adjusting his cock so that he could slide into her. She couldn’t control her excitement and so she moved up quickly and the tip of his cock fell out of her. She couldn’t to grind on him and a few minutes later, she felt his hot sperm spurt all over her pussy and legs. He rolled her over and pulled away from her.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to come on you.” He smiled at her goofily. “Do you mind if I wipe it off of you with your panties?”

She shook her head shyly and he wiped his cum off of her pussy and from between her legs with her panties. He then pushed her panties in his pocket and kissed her.

“I hope that helped to take your mind off of that stupid guy.” He looked self-conscious and she leaned forward and kissed him.

“It did, thanks.” She wanted to push him down and sit on his lap and fuck him but she knew she didn’t want their first time to be rushed. “But I better shower now. We need to get ready for tonight.”

“Is that an invitation?” He grinned at her and she felt her heart thumping. She hoped that he couldn’t hear it.

“If you want to join me you can.” She smiled at him, hoping he would say yes.

“I better not.” He sighed. “We may not make it out tonight if I do,” He stood up and tucked his cock back in his shorts. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours.” He gave her a kiss on the forehead and walked out of her room.

Sophie lay there feeling relaxed and satiated. She couldn’t believe that she had just had oral sex with Maxwell Van Harkel and that it had felt so good. She hugged herself and hummed songs from ‘The Sound of Music” as she took a shower. Tonight was proving to be a very good night. For the first time that day, Sophie felt like it had been a good idea to come home with Ella for Christmas.

Chapter 3

Sophie met a giddy Ella in the hallway and they went down the stairs arm in arm. Both of them excited for different reasons.

“You look great in that black dress Sophie.” Ella grinned at her. Sophie was grateful that Ella had forgotten that she had wanted to do her makeup. There was no way that she was banking on Ella not making her look like a 2bit whore.

“Thanks, you look great too.” Sophie spun around in her dress, giddy with happiness and anticipation. She was happy now that she had the black dress on; it emphasized her ample breasts and she felt a secret thrill knowing that she had on no underwear under the dress. She was hopeful that Maxwell would see her and immediately have to have her. She even pictured them going into the bathroom stall for a quick shag; though that wasn’t really the way that she wanted to lose her virginity.

“I do, don’t I.” Ella laughed and twirled around as well. She was wearing a metallic gold dress that emphasized the gold tones in her blond hair and she had applied a dark blue eye shadow that made her eyes pop. “We are totally going to pick up some hot guys tonight.”

“I hope so.” Sophie laughed and Ella grabbed her hands.

“Why Sophie. I do believe I am rubbing off on you.” They ran down the rest of the stairs and waited in the foyer for Maxwell to join them. “Maxwell Van Harkel, hurry up.” Ella shouted up the stairs as the two girls waited.

Sophie knew he was coming before she even heard him on the stairs. She had some sort of sixth sense where he was concerned and her body knew when he was within a 100 feet of her without having to see or hear him. She turned to look at him as he came down the stairs and she felt a blaring in her ears as she watched him. He was gorgeous and he looked enigmatic. He was dressed in all black: black jeans and a black shirt and he had never looked so divine. She smiled up at him and was met with a frown.

“You going to a funeral bro?” Ella teased him. “I noticed you had gained a little weight but you didn’t have to wear all black for a slimming look.”

“Are you girls ready?” Maxwell ignored Ella’s comment and was all business. “We can’t stay out too late, I have to work in the morning.”

“What?” Ella’s voice was sad. “That sucks.”

“That’s life Ella.” Maxwell looked unconcerned at her frustration. “Let’s go.”

Sophie tried to catch his eye but he ignored her. She suddenly felt tense and tried to ignore the feeling of foreboding that she felt in her stomach.

“Hi Maxwell, you look nice.” She smiled at him, willing him to look at her and share an intimate moment with her with his eyes.

“Thanks.” He answered dismissively without turning around. He walked quickly out of the main door and Ella and Sophie followed him.

“What a sourpuss.” Ella sighed. “What is it about adults that make them so grumpy all of the time.”

“We’re adults too Ella.” Sophie’s voice was sharp.

“I know. I know. But you know what I mean. Career people. Businessmen. Workers. They always seem to be so serious. That’s why I prefer being in school. Seems to be a lot less stressful.”

“Life is hard in the real world Ella.”

“Ok. Don’t bite my ear off.” Ella looked at Sophie in surprise. “Let’s go get drunk and have some fun.” Ella walked out of the door and Sophie followed, all of a sudden she wasn’t so happy to be going out. She wanted to talk to Maxwell and see what was wrong. Could he be regretting their passionate encounter already? Was he mad at her? She frowned and bit her lip. There was no way she could cry now. It would ruin her makeup and make her look like a baby.

“You can sit in the front seat this time Sophie.” Ella called out before she slid into the backseat of the Range Rover. Sophie got into the car and looked over at Max; his hands were on the steering wheel and she saw his gold Rolex shining on his wrist.

“Nice watch Max.” She attempted to talk to him again.

“Huh?” He looked at her annoyed and she shirked back.

“I said nice watch.” She pointed at his wrist. “That’s a Rolex right?”

“Oh yeah.” He looked at his wrist. “Thanks.” He pulled the car out of the driveway and they drove to the pub in silence.

“What a girl wants, what a girl needs. Whatever makes you happy sets me free.” Ella started singing from the backseat and Sophie hummed along with her. “Come on Sophie, you choose the next song.”

Sophie thought for a moment and decided to sing one of feel good songs by Fun. “Tonight, we are young. So let’s set the world on fire, we can burn brighter, then the sun.”

“Oh I love that song.” Ella danced around in the backseat and Sophie noticed Maxwell glaring at them. “Yay, we are here.” Ella opened the door as soon as the car stopped and jumped out. Sophie took that opportunity to turn towards Maxwell and speak to him.

“Is everything okay?” She touched the arm of his shirt and he jumped back. She tried not to show the hurt in her eyes.

“I’m fine.” He sighed. “Look Sophie, what happened earlier was a mistake. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell Ella.”

“I wasn’t going to tell Ella.” She couldn’t prevent the whine from her voice.

“Good. You need to find a guy around your own age. Have some fun tonight. Get over the asshole from college.”

“But,” she tried to interrupt him.

“But nothing Sophie.” He looked at her sternly. “I am a professional businessman running a multi-billion dollar corporation. I do not have time for little girl games or dalliances. Do you understand me?”

She glared at him and felt her blood boil hot. She had just about had enough of Maxwell Van Harkel. “Get over yourself Max. You are 30, not 65. I just wanted some fun, and if you can’t provide that, then maybe some else will be able to.” With daggers darting from her eyes, she jumped out of the car and slammed the door. She was done with Maxwell. She had loved him for years and had hoped that perhaps they would have something special, but she wasn’t down for dealing with some bipolar maniac. She ran into the pub after Ella and ordered a scotch on the rocks. It wasn’t a drink she normally got but she knew that she needed some hard liquor to get her drunk as quickly as possible.

“Yay Sophie. Time to get drunk.” Ella laughed as she downed her second Rum & Coke in about ten minutes and she was dancing around the bar. All of the men in the pub were staring at them in interest and Sophie could see several of them were checking her out with lust in their eyes.

“Let’s get skunk and drunk.” Sophie laughed, feeling the alcohol burn away all of her inhibitions. “Another order of shots please. Let’s get blowjobs this time.” She laughed at her joke and walked up to Maxwell. He looked at her with fury in his eyes and she whispered in his ear. “No blowjob for you Maxwell Van Harkel.” And then she turned around and downed another shot.

Ella was busy chatting to a young blond guy at the bar so Sophie decided to dance around the room. She was pleasantly surprised when a young man with light brown hair and green eyes tapped her on the shoulder and asked her for a dance and she soon found herself grinding with him in the middle of the pub to some hip-hop music.

“So what’s your name hon?” The guy whispered in her ear as she backed her ass up on him. His arms were around her waist and she tried to ignore the stench of his cheap cologne.

“Sophie.” She smiled. “You?”

“Mitch.” He grinned at her and she felt his hands running up and down her body. She felt slightly uncomfortable at his familiar touch but she didn’t pull away because she saw Maxwell standing at the bar talking to a cute blond. She didn’t want him to think she was some sort of loser.

“So do you come here often Sophie?” Mitch had somehow positioned them in a corner and she felt herself pushed up next to a wall. She could feel him hard behind her and he was grinding himself into her ass. She then felt his hands running up and down her breasts and she started to feel uncomfortable.

“Uhm, not really.” Her voice was low and she tried to stop his hands from touching her breasts. All of a sudden she didn’t feel so happy to be wearing such a tight and revealing dress.

“That’s a pity.” Mitch’s hands easily broke away from hers and now he had them on her breasts and was squeezing her nipples through her dress. “I’d like to see you every Friday night for a quick bang.”

“Excuse me?” She squeaked out, unsure if she had heard him right. She was starting to feel queasy from all the alcohol.

“I said, I’d love to have the opportunity to fuck you on a weekly basis.” He whispered in her ear and laughed. She felt him pop her right boob up out of the dress and she could feel his fingers squeezing her nipple directly. “I love a woman with big breasts. And yours feel natural as well.”

Sophie swallowed hard, unsure of what to do. She could feel the back of her dress riding up and she was scared that her bare ass would be rubbing against the mans crotch as well. She was about to push the man away when she felt someone jerk Mitch away from her.

“Get off of her you jerk.” Maxwell stood there fuming and staring down at Mitch.

Mitch frowned at him and went to punch him. “What’s it to you?”

“You’ll find out if you don’t back off in 5 seconds.” Maxwell growled at the man and stepped towards him menacingly. Sophie looked at him in shock and quickly pushed her boob back into the dress. “Sophie, go and grab Ella and meet me by the car.”

“What?” She looked at him furiously. “I don’t want to go yet.”

“I don’t think you know what you want. Go.” He growled at her.

“No.” She stood there obstinately and Mitch walked over to her.

“Leave me and my lady alone punk.” Mitch pushed Maxwell and received a right hook in the face. Maxwell grabbed Sophie and held her to him closely.

“Listen to me Sophie. Go and get Ella and meet me by the bar now.”

“Or what?” She slurred at him.

“Or I am going to take you over my lap and smack you until you get some sense into your head, do you hear me?”

“Yes.” Sophie smiled at him and flushed. She would love him to take him over his lap right now. She leaned close to him and whispered in his ear. “I understand.”

Maxwell sighed as he looked at her and this time his voice was gentler. “Please Sophie, just go and get Ella and go to the car.”

“Yes Maxwell.” Sophie’s heart pored over with love for Maxwell and she wanted him to take her into his arms. However, she listened to his words and walked over to Ella. “We have to go now.”

For some reason Ella didn’t object and she followed Sophie to Maxwell’s car. They waited by the car patiently and Sophie’s heart caught in her mouth when she saw Maxwell walking towards them with a bloody nose. He looked at them furiously and silently and opened the door.

“Are you okay Max?” Ella looked at him with concern.

“I’m fine.” He wiped his nose on his shirtsleeve and grimaced at the blood. “I don’t know what you two were playing at.”

Sophie kept quiet but Ella took him on. “What are you talking about? We just came to have some fun.”

“And fun is what you gave all of the guys.” Maxwell started up the car and went speeding out of the parking lot.

“What?” Ella exclaimed and sat back in the seat. “What is your problem Max? I saw you cozying up to that cute blond at the bar.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“So can I.”

“Well Sophie sure can’t.” He looked sideways at Sophie and she shivered at his stare.

“Sophie is fine.” Ella shouted. “She was just dancing with a guy.”

“I think she was doing more than dancing.”

“What do you care?” Ella’s voice sounded exasperated.

“Let’s just get you both home.” Maxwell’s voice was low and they drove the rest of the way in silence. Ella hugged Sophie and ran up to her room.

“Hey, I think I need to throw up. I’ll see you in the morning.” Ella grimaced and made her way up the stairs quickly.

Sophie stood in the foyer and waited for Maxwell to walk in from parking the car in the garage. “I’m sorry.” She muttered as soon as he walked in the door. His nose was full of dried blood and his shirt was a red mess.

“You need to think about what you are doing Sophie.” He glared at her. “You can’t go around acting like some sort of innocent fool.”

“I wasn’t.” She protested angrily.

“Yes, you were. That guy could have raped you tonight.” He growled at her.

“But he didn’t.” She swallowed hard, knowing how close she had come to being violated. “Thanks.”

“I can’t be there every time you decide to let a man violate you Sophie.”

“I didn’t ask him to violate me.” She hit him in the arm mad. “Why do you talk to me like some sort of dimwitted kid?”

“Because that is how you act. What did you expect to happen when you decided to go to a local pub with a short black dress with your tits and ass hanging out?”

“They are not hanging out.” She glared at him.

“Were you looking to get fucked tonight? Is that it? You didn’t care who had you, just so long as you forgot your college beau.”

“No. No.” She cried out, sad that he would think that. “That’s not true.”

“You could have fooled me.” He grabbed her wrists and held her arms above her head. She stared at him, her chest heaving, unable to stop the quick beating of her heart; He stared back at her, his blue eyes dark with fury. She could see a nerve in his neck throbbing. She tried to move her arms from his grasp but she couldn’t.

“It seems to me that there was only one thing you wanted tonight Sophie.” He growled menacingly and he brought his other hand to the bottom of her dress and yanked it up. She felt the cool air on her ass and she gasped with shock.

Maxwell stood in front of her staring at her naked pussy and stepped towards her. “You have no shame Sophie. You didn’t even bother wearing a thong.” He stared into her eyes and casually pushed his hands between her legs; his fingers rubbed against her pussy and she shivered. “Yup, that’s a bare naked pussy I’m feeling.” He ran one finger up and down her slit and pushed it into her. She stood there gasping with shock and desire and stared at him as he played with her.

“And to top it off, you’re horny as hell.” He removed his finger and brought it up to his mouth and sucked on it. “Your pussy is slick and wet and I can taste your sex aching to be taking.” His voice was low and deep as he sucked on his finger.

She stood there staring at him sucking her juices off of his fingers and she felt herself wetten even more. She was so turned on by this man. He pulled her towards him with her wrists and he stared at her with desire. “I guess I’ll give you what you want, seeing as I made you leave the bar.” He growled in her ear. He released her arms and reached down and used both of his hands to pull her dress off of her. She stood there naked in front of him and swallowed. She was scared that Ella or her parent’s would come downstairs and see them standing there.

“Do you want me to fuck you Sophie?” He grunted into her ear before grabbing her breasts in his hands. At first he held them softly, caressing them into his hands and then he started squeezing them harder and harder until he eventually pinched her nipples. “Do you want me to bend you over and fuck you so hard that you can’t walk straight tomorrow?” He bent his head and took her right nipple in his mouth and sucked hard. She felt him nibble and tug on it and she held on to his shoulders tightly because she thought might faint from the extreme pleasure running through her body. He pulled away from her and stood up straight. “No answer huh?” He made to walk away from her. “I guess I’m one person you didn’t want to fuck tonight.”

“No wait.” She walked towards him hesitantly and pushed up against his back. The fabric of his skirt tickled her tender breasts and she giggled.

“What’s so funny?” He turned around and glared at her, he put his hands around her waist and pulled her towards him.

“Nothing.” She gazed up at him and moaned as his hands reached down to her ass and pushed her up against him. He left his hands there and squeezed her butt cheeks, slipping his fingers between her legs every now and then.

“Do you want me to fuck you tonight Sophie?” He stared at her intently and she nodded. “Answer me.” He ordered.

“Yes.” She whispered.

“Yes what?”

“Yes, I want you to fuck me.” She squeaked out. She was rewarded by a blazing look in his eyes and he reached down and kissed her roughly. His lips crushed into hers and she felt his tongue invade her mouth, seeking some sort of refuge in the dark corners. She responded by sucking on his tongue firmly, wanting to show him that she could give as good as she got. He inhaled swiftly as she reached down and squeezed his cock through his jeans. He was already hard and throbbing and it excited her that she had been able to make him that horny.

She reached over to his shirt and started unbuttoning it. She ripped the last couple of buttons in her haste and eagerly took it off of him. She pressed her breasts into his chest and delighted in the feel of the warm mat of hair against her nipples. Her buds were so sensitive that it made her feel even hornier. She bit down on one of his nipples and he yelped at the roughness of her bite. She sucked and nibbled on both of his nipples and he grabbed her ass and squeezed it firmly.

Maxwell undid his belt and pulled his jeans off and Sophie quickly grabbed his boxer shorts and pulled them off of him as well. She stood back to admire his engorged cock and then took him in her hands and started to run her fingers up and down his shaft. He grunted and put his head back before pulling her towards him again and kissing her. They then heard a creak from the landing at the top of the stairs and they both stood there frozen.

“Come on.” Maxwell grabbed her and pulled her along with him to the kitchen. He opened the door to the pantry and they stood there in silence as they heard someone walk down the stairs. “Shit.” He stared at her with desire in his eyes and pulled her towards him.

Sophie melted against him and kissed him and froze against him as they heard someone turn on the kitchen light. “Let’s hope they don’t need to use the pantry.” Maxwell whispered in her ear, his eyes sparkling. Sophie stifled a laugh and Maxwell placed his hand over her mouth. He pushed her down to the ground on her knees and he followed suit. “Ssh.” He whispered. She felt him push her hands onto the floor as well and he brought himself up against her from behind as they listened to someone opening the fridge. She turned her head to look at him in fear but he just grinned at her and started rubbing the tip of his cock against her clit and the entry to her pussy hole. She groaned as she felt the tip of him push in and out of her and he once again covered her mouth, to stifle any noises she was making. She pushed back against him and bit his hand as he pushed himself into her all the way and started to fuck her. She screamed into his hand at the sharp pain but soon got into the rhythm of him slamming in and out of her.

Sophie felt her body trembling as he fucked her and she moaned with pleasure. Her heart was thudding quickly in fear that they would be caught but she was overtaken with the buildup of pleasure in her stomach and pussy as he pounded into her. She had wanted to lose her virginity to Maxwell but she would never have guessed it would be under such circumstances. She felt herself about to come when Maxwell stilled. There were footsteps walking towards the pantry and Sophie bit her lip in panic. Maxwell once again started up his movements, this time moving in and out of her slowly, she could feel her pussy lips clinging to his cock as he slid in and out of her and they both sighed in relief as the footsteps went past the pantry and to some other part of the kitchen. Whoever was in the kitchen turned off the lights and left the kitchen and Maxwell increased his pace so that he was slamming in and out of her like he was in a race. Sophie felt her body moving and she had to hold herself steady on the floor as she climaxed ferociously onto his cock. She heard him start to moan as he slammed into her a few more times and then his cock stilled inside of her and she felt a warm sputtering of cum fill her. Maxwell withdrew from her slowly and stood up, pulling her tired body up with him. He grinned at her and opened the pantry door slowly; he stuck his head out and then pulled her out with him.

“All clear. Come on.” He ran across the kitchen and up the stairs and Sophie grinned when they ran past her room and barged into his. He locked the door and pushed her up against it and bent down and kissed her. “That was the hottest fuck I’ve had in a while.” He muttered in her ear and Sophie blinked up at him. She tried to erase the sudden image that popped into her mind at his words; she didn’t want to hear or think about him with other women. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

He pulled back suddenly and swore. “Shit, I fucked you without a condom. Sorry.” He grimaced as he looked at her and tried to pull away.

“It’s okay.” She smiled at him, sad that she no longer felt the warmth of his body next to hers.

“Are you sure?” He looked at her with a frown on his face.

“Yeah.” She pulled him towards her. “I’m fine.”

“You’re protected?” The words were so simple and pure and Sophie could see the relief in Maxwell’s eyes so she lied.

“Yeah. I’m on the pill.” Sophie felt a burden of guilt at the lie weigh down on her. But she figured, she would make him wear a condom from here on out and she should be okay. It was really unlikely that anything would happen from one sexual encounter with no protection.

“Great.” He grinned at her and pulled her over to the bed. “That means I can ravish you all night long then.” He pushed her down on to the mattress and got on top of her, she felt his cock stirring against her pussy lips and she realized that she was eager to feel him in her again.

“But we can use a condom from now on if you want.” She whispered up at him.

“Hell no. I want to feel skin on skin.” He grinned down at her and took her mouth in his before guiding his once-again hard cock into her. “Now doesn’t that feel good?”

Sophie grunted in reply, too overwhelmed to think straight. She could feel his cock deep inside of her and her breasts jiggled against his chest as he fucked her once again. Maxwell laughed at her response and proceeded to fuck her senseless and come in her once again.

Chapter 4

Sophie woke up feeling sore and achy. She looked around her and realized she was in Maxwell’s room. She stretched and grinned to herself remembering the previous night. Maxwell had made love to her 5 more times after they had come up from the kitchen and each time had seemed more passionate and urgent than the next.

“Morning Sophie.” Maxwell emerged from his bathroom fully clothed and looked at her with a distant look. “I take it you slept well.”

“Yes, thanks.” She smiled at him shyly hoping that he would come and kiss her in the bed and make love to her again.

“”Good.” He smiled briefly and then walked towards the main door. “I have some work to do now and will be in the study. Come find me after breakfast and we can talk about the internship position.”

“Uh ok.” She looked at him confused. Was he really going to pretend last night hadn’t happened?

“I think you will like working at Van Harkel Enterprises. We have a lot of great opportunities for college grads.” He was about to walk out of the door, when she jumped out of the bed.

“Wait Maxwell.” She stood there naked and walked over to him slowly. “What’s going on here?”

“What do you mean?” He looked at her casually but she could see his pupils dilate as he looked at her naked breasts.

“I mean, are you just going to pretend last night never happened?” She pressed herself up against him bravely, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach.

“It was a mistake Sophie. It shouldn’t have happened.” He looked at her coolly but didn’t move away from her.

“Really?” She pressed her lips against his and kissed him. “It didn’t seem like a mistake when you fucked me 6 times last night.” She slipped her tongue into his mouth and put her hands in his hair. He kissed her back and she felt his arms around her waist. He brought his hands up to cup her breasts and squeezed them. She sighed with happiness and reached down to his pants and slipped her hand in to grab his cock.

He groaned and picked her up and carried her to the edge of the bed. He pulled his pants down and laid her flat on her back. She felt him lift her legs up and rest them on his shoulders and then he pushed himself into her hard. He looked down at her as he slammed into her and she felt her breasts bouncing up and down as he fucked her. He came quickly and she saw him grab a napkin to clean himself up before he grabbed his cock and put it back in his pants. He zipped up again and stood looking at her naked on the bed.

“Like I said, it was a mistake.” He looked at her with clouded eyes and walked to the door. She lay there feeling like a tramp and didn’t bother wiping the tears that fell from her eyes. She showered and went to her room to change and then went down to breakfast. She felt numb as she ate and when Ella walked in, it was all she could do to fake a smile.

“Hey.” Ella beamed at her. “Last night was soo crazy huh?”

“Yeah.” If only Ella knew just how crazy it had been. Sophie thought to herself and sighed. “It was really crazy.”

“I can’t believe Max beat up that guy.” Ella exclaimed again.

“Yeah.”

“Sometimes I feel like I don’t even know him.”

“Me too.” Sophie responded glumly while eating her cereal.

“I mean I thought he was over that craziness.”

“What craziness?” Sophie looked at Ella curiously.

“Oops,” Ella looked taken aback. “I forgot I’m not meant to say anything.”

“What?” Sophie looked at her in shock. “You mean you have a secret from me.”

Ella looked at her guiltily. “Well, I promised my folks I wouldn’t tell anyone. It’s about Max and well, if people knew it could ruin the family business.”

“I’m not people Ella. I’m your best friend.” Sophie spoke sharply, wondering what Ella knew about Maxwell that was too dark to share with her best friend. Maybe it would explain the way he had treated her.

“I know Sophie. It’s just really bad.” Ella pleaded with her friend. “Please don’t press me now. I’ll tell you later.”

“Okay.” Sophie knew not to press it. But she was really hurt that Ella would hold back on her. “Tell me when you can.”

“Thanks Sophie.” Ella smiled at her gratefully.

They finished breakfast pretty quickly and Ella went back to bed because she wasn’t feeling well. Sophie decided to go and see Maxwell in his office to talk about the internship. She walked in while he was on the phone and he motioned for her to sit down.

“No, I’m not going to just sell you 4 million shares Chuck. They are worth $100 Million, not $25 Million.” Maxwell shouted into the phone. “I will not be blackmailed into this Chuck.” And with that he turned off the phone.

“Sorry, is this a bad time?” Sophie looked at the man she had loved for so long and wondered to herself what were the deep dark secrets that he was hiding that made him act the way that he did.

“It’s fine.” He sat down across from her and pulled out a file and handed it to her. “I want you to read this now and let me know what you think.”

“Ok.” She took it from him and the first form was a confidentiality agreement. She frowned with surprise. “What’s this form for?” She looked at him and he was staring at her intently.

“You have to read the rest of the folder to find out.”

“Ok.” She swallowed hard. This didn’t seem like any ordinary internship to her. The next piece of paper was titled, ‘The Rules And Conditions Of Being Maxwell Van Harkel’s Personal Assistant’. She looked up at him and spoke. “I think you gave me the wrong file, this is the paperwork to be your assistant.”

“I know.” He nodded and got up and closed and locked the door behind her. “That’s the position I want you to take.”

“But I thought you wanted me to be an intern.” She looked at him confused.

“I changed my mind.” He smirked at her. “I’m a billionaire. I can do that.”

“I see.” But she didn’t. She had no clue what was going on. “You know I still have a semester left in school right?”

“You’ll postpone it.”

“What?”

“I won’t repeat myself twice.” He frowned at her. “So listen very carefully Sophie.”

“Ok.” She swallowed. This was a very different Max than she was used to.

“Read through the papers and tell me your answer.” He sat on the table in front of her and unzipped his pants, pulling his cock out. She looked at him in surprise and with lust wondering what he wanted to happen next. “Read the papers Sophie.” He commanded her while playing with himself.

Sophie nodded her head and tried hard to concentrate on the words as he grunted and moaned while jerking himself off. She could barely read the papers when he patted her on the shoulder. “What do you say?” He grunted and for some reason unbeknown to her she muttered, “Yes.”

The next thing she knew he was pushing his cock in her mouth and coming. She tried not to gag as his sperm flooded her mouth. She managed to swallow everything and lick his cock clean.

“Good girl.” He smiled at her and got up. “I think we are going to have an excellent working relationship.”

She sat there feeling stunned and confused, unsure of what she had just agreed to.

“Be sure to go on the patch.” He ordered her. “The pill is too unreliable, way too easy to forget.”

She nodded her head in agreement, suddenly feeling queasy.

“We don’t want you falling pregnant now do we?” He laughed at the look of fear on her face.

“No.” She tried to smile at him but felt her heart ticking quickly. “Not at all.”  He came over to kiss her and she kissed him back passionately, happy to be in his embrace. But she couldn’t stop worrying and thinking: What if I’m pregnant already?

Chapter 5

The piece of paper flew away quickly in the wind. She watched it go without trying to catch it. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to run after it with all of her might. She did. Her head told her to go and grab the paper and hold on to it tightly. It told her to leave Winterside and to never come back again. It told her that Maxwell Van Harkel was bad news. But she didn’t listen to her head; she listened to her head. She watched the paper that contained her school schedule for the next semester float away and she walked back to the house.

Sophie had made a decision. One she wasn’t really sure of, but it was a final decision. She was going to work for Max as his assistant, no matter what the position entailed. She owed it to herself. She loved him. And she always said that love would come before everything else in her life, even her education. Her precious Columbia education. What would her aunt and uncle say? Could she break it to them? They wouldn’t understand what possible reason she could have to take her last semester off. She decided that she wasn’t going to tell them. They were too old to have to worry about her future. She knew that they used their retirement money to help pay her living expenses; no life insurance policy lasted that long.

She walked into the house and stood in the lobby, thinking back to the night a few days before when she and Maxwell had done unspeakable things to each other. She walked over to the large mirror that hung in the hallway and stared at herself to see if she looked any different. Dark brown frizzy hair. Check. Green eyes. Check. Freckles. Check. Average build. Check. Look of terror in the eyes. That was new. She was terrified that she was making a mistake; that somehow she was about to embark on a path that she had been lucky to avoid but was too weak to stop going down. All of a sudden she wished more than anything that she could run up the stairs and ask Ella what she should do. Her wonderful best friend Ella. The one who always had the best advice. The one person she couldn’t ask. She wasn’t even sure how she was going to tell her about the time off. She was scared that Ella would guess that she was in love with her brother. There was no way she could talk to Ella about the way she was feeling.

“Hey Sophie.” The husky timbre of his voice made the hairs on her arm stand on end. She turned around slowly, not wanting to show her eagerness to see his face.

“Hi.” She smiled briefly, taking in his appearance. His face looked unkempt and unlike the Maxwell she knew. He hadn’t shaved in a few days and had a thick layer of stubble, which made him look even more brooding and foreboding.

“Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you.” His words were harsh and they made her jump.

“I was just outside Max.” Her words came out high and annoyed. “I was just enjoying the day. Am I able to do that?” She was mad at herself for allowing herself to take his bait. Could they never just have a normal conversation?

“You didn’t tell anyone.” He looked at her accusingly. “I asked Ella.”

“Ella’s not my keeper. I can go for a walk.”

“Do you want Mitch to come and rape you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“We’ll be targets now Sophie. After what happened at the pub. You need to be more careful.”

She looked at him in shock and astonishment. He was crazy. Really crazy. Why would Mitch stalk her down just to rape her?

“Well, I’m fine.” She looked at him coldly. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go to the kitchen and have a glass of water now.”

His gaze softened and he sighed. “That’s fine. Come find me in my study afterwards so we can talk.”

“About?” She was pretty sure she already knew the answer.

“The job.” He frowned at her. “Did you finish reading all of the papers I gave you?”

“Yes sir.” She thought about bowing but didn’t think he was in the mood for a joke.

“Good.” He stared into her eyes and she felt herself getting lost in the blueness of his eyes. How funny that they looked as blue as the sky today when the previous night they had looked almost black. There was a glint of excitement in her eyes that was reflected in her stomach and she felt a ball of nervous anticipation well up inside of her.

“I’ll see you in about an hour then.” He broke their gaze and strode off to his study. Sophie stared after him breathing deeply before she went to the kitchen. Part of her was still unsure of what she was getting herself into. She clutched the gold cross that hung from the necklace around her neck and she prayed that she wasn’t making a huge mistake.

She walked to the kitchen slowly thinking about how quickly her relationship with Maxwell had changed. He had been her rock growing up. He hadn’t known it but he had been the catalyst that had helped her to heal from her heartbreak. When her parent’s had died, she had become numb inside. Her Aunt and Uncle had done their best to welcome her into their home; but they hadn’t known how to understand and comfort her. 15 year-old Maxwell had broken through her barriers with his brutish and cocky teenage self in ways he would never be to know. She had looked up to him as a teenage God; handsome and confident, yet still unsure of himself as teenagers are. And in the days and evenings when it was just the two of them, he would be soft and gentle and kind. Kinder to her than he was to his own sister Ella. Maybe it was because he knew that she was an orphan, and she always had a lost look in her eyes. Her friends used to tease her and say she could give Little Orphan Annie a run for her money but Sophie had never realized the sad air she gave off.

Maxwell had brought her out of herself with his games and stories. He had told her of dates and pranks he had pulled because he needed a confidante and he was too scared that Ella would tell their parents. Their friendship had blossomed throughout the years, as she had spent most of her summers with the Van Harkels. But everything had changed in her 17th year. She had been excited to show Maxwell that she had finally blossomed and had immediately ran to his room when she and Ella had arrived at the train station. He had been sitting at his desk writing something and she had squealed and hugged him from behind. He had gotten up and twirled her around and she had giggled as he kissed her on the cheek. At 25 Maxwell was already on his way to being the brilliant businessman that he currently was and he had already embarked on his trip down stony junction. He had an almost impenetrable wall around him to most people and he didn’t let people get too close.

“Sophie.” He had smiled at her with genuine happiness in his eyes. “It’s great to see you.”

“You too goof.” She had hit him on the arm, pleased that she had caught him giving her the once over.

“You’ll have to tell me how the semester has been.” He looked away from her quickly. “But not now, I’m busy.”

“Oh, okay.” She jumped up quickly from his bed. She had sat down eagerly; ready to tell him about her first kiss and how boys had started to notice her. “I wanted to tell you about Harry.” She spoke eagerly as she walked to the door.

“Who’s Harry?” He looked at her with a frown.

“My quasi-boyfriend.” She grinned at him.

“Boyfriend? Aren’t you too young for a boyfriend Sophie?”

“No.” She twirled and danced around. “Not at all.”

“Well we can talk later. I’m busy now.” He walked her out of his room and she felt a sliver of disappointment run through her. Sophie didn’t see Maxwell again that summer; he had gone to London on an emergency business trip and stayed.  And they had never had the same easy friendship on any of her subsequent visits. She didn’t know what made him distance himself from her like that. On the surface, they had the same casual easy friendship but it was strained with tension and odd comments.

Sophie sighed as she thought back to their relationship. Now they had added a whole new layer to their dynamic and she wasn’t sure if it would bring them closer together or drive an even bigger wedge between them. Especially if he found out that she lied about being on the pill. She resolved to herself that she would never let him know the truth.

Chapter 6

She knocked on his study door hesitantly. She was scared to make a decision. Scared to move forward in his crazy world with his crazy contract and plans. She walked into the room when he beckoned her in because she knew she was too scared to walk away.

“Did you get your water?” He smiled at her softly. He looked calm and gentle and he reminded her of the Maxwell from her childhood.

“Yes. Thanks. It was high quality H2O.” She grinned at him and he laughed at her quote from ‘The Water Boy”. They had spent many a weekend watching Adam Sandler movies.

“That’s good to hear. I wouldn’t want you drinking non high quality H2O.”

“Yeah.” She looked at him cautiously not sure what to say or if she should sit down.

“Sit Sophie, you are making me uncomfortable just staring down at me.”

“Ok.” She sat opposite him and looked at his desk. It was strewn with papers and folders and a MAC laptop. “Is that the new MacBook Pro?”

“Yes, I got it a few weeks ago.” He nodded and his expression changed. Suddenly he looked serious and annoyed. “But that’s not what you came to talk about, is it Sophie?”

“No.” Her voice was quiet. “It isn’t.”

“ Let’s cut to the chase Sophie. What we have done cannot happen again.” He looked at her harshly. “Do you understand me?”

“What?” She looked at him furtively, trying to not let him see the panic and hurt in her eyes. “I thought you want me to be your assistant?”

“I made a mistake Sophie.” He grimaced and looked away from her. “It won’t happen again.”

“What?” Her voice was angry.

“There’s no need to be upset Sophie. I will still get you into the internship program.”

“I don’t want to be in the internship program.” Her voice sounded like she was pleading and she winced. “I want to be your assistant.”

“No you have to finish school.” He looked at her coolly.

“I already withdrew from my classes for the semester Max.” Her voice was strong. “This will be a good experience for me. It will help me in my career.”

He grinned at her. “Well, who knew you had it in you to be calculated Sophie?” He frowned to himself. “Maybe you aren’t as pansy as I thought.”

“Excuse me?” She glared at him. “I’m not a pansy.” Except around you she thought to herself.

“Well I hope not. Not if you want to succeed in this business.”

“So, am I still going to be your assistant?” She looked at him passionately, praying with all of her might that he would say yes.

“I’ll have to think about it.” He looked at her curiously. “I’ve never seen anyone so excited to be an assistant before.”

“You were the one who told me I was going to do the position in the first place.” She cried out.

“That was a different kind of assistant position.” He looked at her and licked his lips. “But that is no longer on the table.”

“Oh.” She wanted to ask him exactly what that position would have consisted of and ask him to still consider her but she wouldn’t resort to begging. She wasn’t that far gone and she would die of a broken heart before she would let him know just how deeply she cared for him.

“So we’ll start in a week.” He wrung his hands as he spoke to her. “You can help me here in the study and then you’ll start fulltime in the City in 2 weeks.”

“Ok.” She tried to hold back her grin but she couldn’t. “Sounds good.”

“Oh and Sophie.” He called after her as she walked out of the study.

“Yes.” She turned back to look at with sparkling eyes.

“Don’t get into any trouble.”

“I’ll try not to.” She laughed as he groaned and ran up the stairs to her room to write in her journal. She lay on the bed and opened a new page. She was excited that finally she had something to write that was positive and happy as opposed to gloomy and naïve. She was going to write a poem to express her feelings but she bit her lip and paused. Everything hadn’t gone exactly as she wanted it to: she wanted Maxwell to want her and love her. She had hoped that after they had slept together he would have realized that he had feelings for her and that he wanted to be with her. But the opposite had happened. Not only did he not declare his love for her, he didn’t even want to sleep with her again. Had she been that bad? Maybe she had been too eager. She sighed. She didn’t even know what the other type of assistant position had really consisted of but she wanted to know. She was also worried that he would get someone else to fit that role. Pangs of jealousy reverberated through her and she wanted to cry. She needed to think of a way to get him back into her bed and maybe then she could try and reconnect with him again. Break through the shell he had developed. She also wondered what Ella had been talking about the previous evening.

What had Maxwell done that had been so bad? Because it had to have been really bad if Ella wouldn’t tell her. Ella told her everything; she was incapable of keeping a secret. Sophie knew that she needed to find out. She wanted to know about Max more than she wanted to write about her feelings so she put her journal down and decided to go and see what she could get out of Ella.

***

“Ella?” Sophie knocked on her door a couple more times before walking into her bedroom. “Ella?”

“Sophie.” Ella’s face popped out from underneath the covers. Her eyes were blotchy and red and she looked like she had been crying.

“Are you okay?” Sophie rushed across the room to comfort her friend. “What’s wrong Ella?”

“Nothing.” Ella smiled weakly and brushed her eyes. “I’m fine.”

Sophie paused as she reached the bed and sat down. “You don’t look fine.” She spoke softly and took her friends hand. “But if you don’t want to talk about it right now, I understand.” She smiled at her friend with love and squeezed her hand. “I’m here for you whenever you want.”

“Oh Sophie.” Ella burst into tears. “You are really the best friend a girl could ask for.” She placed her face on Sophie’s shoulder and sobbed. Sophie drew her friend close and hugged her as she cried. She rubbed her back and prayed that nothing too serious was bothering her friend.

“Ssh. It’ll be okay Ella.” Sophie soothed her friend and pulled back to stare at her. “Whatever it is Ella, we can get through it.”

“It’ll never be okay Sophie.” Ella sniffed. “I can’t talk about it now but it’ll never be okay.” Her eyes welled up and Sophie could see that she was about to start sobbing again.

“It would have to be something absolutely dreadful for it to never be okay again El.” Sophie smiled at her friend softly and Ella looked at her with abject misery.

“Life as we know it will be changed forever Sophie.”

Sophie felt a sudden jab of worry hit her stomach. Had something happened to Maxwell? Was this related to the story that Ella couldn’t tell her about? “Is this about Max Ella?” She gasped out, unable to contain herself.

“Huh?” Ella looked at her in confusion. “Max? What do you mean?”

“Does this have to do with what you told me about yesterday? The trouble he got himself into?”

Ella looked at her like she was crazy. “Huh? No.”

“Oh okay sorry.” Sophie’s breathing went back to normal and she felt the tension release from her body.

“It has to do with me Sophie and how my life will never be the same again.” Ella wailed.

Sophie paused and tried to compose herself. She had a feeling that whatever Ella was upset about had to do with a guy. She knew that Ella had been seeing someone before they left school but she had been very secretive about the guy. Sophie wondered if perhaps something hadn’t gone wrong with the relationship. “Well, if you want to talk about it. Just let me know.”

“Ok, thanks Soph.” Ella smiled weakly and Sophie studied her friend. Even though her face was red and splotchy she still looked beautiful. If only she could look so serene with frizzy hair.

“So can you tell me what happened with Maxwell now?” Sophie grinned at her friend, she knew that if there was ever a time to get information from her friend, it was in an emotional period.

“Sophie!” Ella frowned. “I told you I couldn’t tell you.”

“I know but I’m going to be Maxwell’s assistant next semester and I wanted to know what to look out for.” Sophie frowned; mad that this is how she had to tell Ella that she was taking the next semester off.

“What?” Ella shrieked. “Omg, you’re not coming back to Columbia with me next semester?”

“No.”

“I cannot believe this.” Ella’s voice was full of theatrics. “There is no way I’m going back without you.” She paused and smiled. “In fact, I think I’ll work for the family business next week as well.”

“What?” Sophie looked at her in shock.

“Maxwell is always saying I should take a greater interest in the business. And neither he nor my parents can say no, now that you are doing it too.” She grinned. “In fact, I think this will solve a lot of problems.”

“Uh ok.” Sophie studied her friend and frowned. “If you’re sure.”

“I’m positive.” Ella jumped up suddenly full of verve and vitality. “What should we do today?”

“What do you want to do?”

“Maybe we can convince Maxwell to take us out on the boat.” Ella grinned. “That would be awesome.”

“Yeah, that would be fun.” Sophie smiled. She’d love to spend the day with Max.

“And I can make sure he gives me a position that doesn’t require too much work.” Ella grinned and Sophie laughed. “Oh Sophie, thanks for making me feel better.” Ella gave her a hug.

“No problem El.” Sophie paused. “But do you think you could tell me something, anything about Maxwell?”

Ella sighed and stared at her friend. “Oh Sophie. Look I don’t really know exactly what happened but my parents had to get a lawyer and…” She paused to look around the room and lowered her voice. “I know that he went to jail for a bit.”

“Jail?” Sophie’s voice was shocked.

“Ssh.” Ella looked at her with concern. “Be quiet. No-one talks about it and I’m not sure exactly what happened but my parents sent Max to London for the next year to let everything die down.”

Sophie felt her heart ticking rapidly. “When did this happen Ella?”

“I can’t remember exactly. A long time ago.”

“When we were 14?”

“What? I guess, maybe.” Ella looked at her suspiciously. “Did you already know?”

“No.” Sophie looked at her friend thoughtfully. “I didn’t know but it explains a lot.”

“Huh?” Ella narrowed her eyes. “What aren’t you telling me Sophie?”

“Nothing. I just felt that Maxwell changed after that summer.” Her voice sounded wistful. Inside she was bubbling with curiosity. What had happened to Maxwell? What had he done? And did she really want to know.

“Yeah. He did.” Ella’s eyes glazed over. “I don’t know what it was but from that point on it seemed like the light had gone out of his eyes.” She sighed. “And now he’s soo busy running the company with Dad, it’s like he doesn’t have time for anything else.”

“But he still dates.” It was a statement of fact but Sophie really wanted to ask it as a question.

“I guess so. I wouldn’t call it dating so much as fucking.” Ella grinned. “You know men.”

“Yeah.” Sophie sighed.

“You’ll most probably meet some of them as his assistant.”

“Oh. You think so?” Sophie’s heart sunk.

“Yeah.” Ella laughed. “I’m sure he’ll have you send flowers and stuff. Just don’t sleep with him.”

“What?” Sophie gasped.

“I said just don’t sleep with him or you’ll lose your job.” Ella laughed again. “I heard dad telling him that he had to stop sleeping with his assistants because apparently one of them started leaking company information after he dumped her.”

“Oh.” Sophie remembered the confidentiality contract that Maxwell had asked her to review and sign. “Wow.”

“Yeah. It was crazy. Apparently, she tried to sell a story to a tabloid about him spanking her and handcuffing her.”

“Really? That doesn’t seem tabloid worthy.” Sophie tried no to picture him with someone else. The churning in her gut was making her feel nauseous and she felt a headache coming on.

“Well, “ Ella lowered her voice again. “Supposedly he did something extra.”

“What?” Sophie leaned in with her heart in her mouth.

“What’s going on girls?” Maxwell knocked on the door and the girls jumped apart guiltily and for the first time ever Sophie was disappointed to see Max.

“Nothing. I was just coming to see you actually.” Ella was smooth and ran up and gave her a brother a kiss on the cheek.

“Oh yeah?” He raised an eyebrow at her and looked over to Sophie whose cheeks were flushed.

“Yeah. We wanted to know if you’d take us on the boat today.” She grinned up at him. “Please.”

“I’m pretty busy today Ella.” He looked at Sophie as she spoke and she tried to maintain eye contact with him without looking too embarrassed.

“Please Max.” She pleaded with her brother batting her eyelids up at him.

“Well Joseph is meant to come over to go over a contract with me this afternoon.”

“Oh?” Ella looked surprised.

“You could invite him too.” Sophie added in her two cents. She liked Joseph, he was one of the Van Harkel’s lawyers and she had met him and his wife several times.

“I don’t know.” Max looked like he was debating it in his mind.

“I thought he was going to be in the City this weekend?” Ella interrupted.

“No, he got into Winterside with Lily last night.” Max spoke distractedly and didn’t notice the Ella flinch. But Sophie did. Though she wasn’t sure why Ella cared.

“I see.” Ella frowned. “Well I don’t think Joseph and Lily will want to come, let’s postpone it.”

Max looked at his sister’s sad face and sighed. “No, no. I’ll cancel with Joseph. The contract can wait to be reviewed until tomorrow. I haven’t gotten to spend an afternoon with my sister and her best friend in ages.”

Ella laughed. “You may as well just say your two sisters.”

Sophie frowned at Ella’s words and looked at Max’s face. There was an evil glint in his eye.

“I don’t know if that’s such a good thing to say.” He winked at Sophie and turned around. “Let me go and finish up some work and we can head out after lunch.”

“Yay.” Ella danced around and ran to her closet. “Okay, I need to choose an outfit. Want to help me Sophie?”

“No, I think I’ll go and see if Max needs any help.”

“What, he has you working already?”

“No, but I figure I may as well get started now before he changes his mind.”

“Oh Sophie. You are a workaholic.” Ella laughed and turned back to her clothes. “See you later. Don’t forget to wear a swimsuit, we can have a swim in the lake.”

“Won’t it be cold?”

“Don’t be a baby it’ll be fine.”

“Okay Ella. See you in a bit.” Sophie walked out of the room and smiled to herself. She was excited to spend the afternoon with Maxwell and she was hopeful that she could try and find out some more information about his past.

Chapter 7

Sophie stood outside of Max’s office and counted to three before she knocked. She didn’t want to seem too eager partially because she wasn’t sure how he would react and partially because her inner conscious was telling her to run away as quickly as she could.

“Come in?”

“Hey Max, I was wondering if you needed any help?” She looked at him cheerfully, unsure if he would be happy to see her or not.

“Really?” He looked at her in surprise.

“Yes. I know I don’t officially start until next week but I would love to help out now if I could.”

“Actually that would be great.” He beamed at her and she felt her heart flutter. “Joseph is still coming over this afternoon. He’s going to go on the boat with us and wants to talk business afterwards. So I need to make a couple of changes to the contract now before we leave.”

“Oh ok. How can I help?”

“I want to read the contract and I’ll tell you the changes to make in the open document ok? You can use this laptop.” He pointed to a second closed laptop on his desk.

“Okay, sure.” She sat down eagerly and reached over for the laptop to turn it on. “Oh what’s the password?” She asked him as she was stopped from going any further.

He frowned at her and reached for the laptop. “Oh, I can put it in.”

“Don’t you trust me?” She looked at him with a sad face. “I’m not going to steal any corporate secrets.”

“No, I know, it’s not that.” He sighed and let go of the laptop. “Sophie.”

“Yes?”

“That’s the password.” He sighed. “Sophie.”

“Sophie as in me?” She looked at him in surprise as her heart pounded away.

“Yes. But it wasn’t chosen because of you. I mean, Ella was talking about you the day I was setting it up and I thought it would make an easy password to remember. You know?”

“Yeah sure.” She smiled shyly at him and wondered what it meant. He had used her name as his laptop password, a laptop he had had for at least a couple of years.

“Open word and open the file called “Soundgarden Contract.”

“Okay.” Her fingers moved nimbly across the keyboard, she realized that she was not going to be getting any answers right now.

“Okay, we are starting at section A, I want to include a few more names as guarantors to the loan.”

“Okay.” She typed away and they worked in solidarity for the next two hours with their minds on nothing but work. Sophie was justifying a paragraph and frowning because Word didn’t want to cooperate with her when she heard Maxwell laughing.

“What’s so funny?” She looked up with him and brushed her hair out of her eyes.

“You.” He smiled at her with mirth in his eyes. “Who would have thought you’d turn out to be such a good assistant?”

“Aren’t you glad you hired me now?” She grinned at him.

“Yes. Yes I am.” His eyes took in her heaving bosom barely contained by her tank top and he licked his lips. “I think it was a very good decision.”

Sophie felt her skin starting to warm and her stomach started doing flip-flops. “I’m glad as well.”

“Why are you glad Sophie?”

“Because I get to work with you.” She licked her lips as she studied his face. He had a manly square face, his dark hair was still wet from his shower and his eyes bore into her, the brilliant blueness reminding her of the night sky. “You know your eyes are soo many different kinds of blue.” She mumbled to him.

“Really?” He stared into her eyes. “Did you know that you have enchanting eyes like a cat? They change from green to brown and back again but they never seem to be quite the same color.”

“Oh.” She gazed at him breathless.

“Your eyes remind me of sunny hills and the morning dew on the grass. They remind me of hot chocolate on a hot night. They remind me of magic.”

“Magic?” She was caught up in his words.

“The magic of another day. The magic of believing and of trust.” He leaned into her. “When I gaze into your eyes, I feel like another person.”

They stared into each other’s eyes for the next few minutes. Each hoping to see the answer to an unasked question; to see the salvation they both sought. Sophie felt like she was going to drown; her throat choked up and she felt overwhelmed with emotion staring into Maxwell’s eyes. She felt like she wanted to tell him secrets that no one else knew, that she hadn’t even addressed with herself.

“Kiss me beautiful.” He leaned within inches of her so that she could also taste his lips on her. She leaned forward and met his lips and returned his kiss. It was soft and sweet and full of passion. She urgently pushed her tongue into his mouth wanting to taste and feel more of him; wanting to be consumed and to consume.

He sucked on her tongue and pulled back from her. She looked up at him surprised and hurt but was delighted to see that he had just broken their kiss so that he could come around the table and grab her from her chair so that they could kiss properly. She put her arms around him and played with his slick hair. She felt him bring her in closer to him so that their bodies were meshed together; and they were essentially two halves of the same whole. She felt like this was their first kiss; so sweet and powerful were the emotions running through her.

“You are such a sweet sexy thing Sophie.” Maxwell groaned into her ear. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

Sophie wanted to ask him what his hesitation was but she didn’t want to ruin the mood so she just pushed herself into him harder and kissed him more passionately. She reached her hands down to the top of his jeans and unbuckled his belt. She smiled when she heard him groan but he didn’t try and stop her. She pulled his belt out of his jeans and undid the button and pulled his zipper down very carefully. He stared at her intently and she smiled up at him. She pulled his jeans and boxers down and was rewarded by an already penis waiting to greet her. She got down on her knees and sucked it for a few seconds before taking him in her hands. He gasped and grabbed her head as she gave him a hand job. She grinned as she looked at the desk and saw he had a glass of water with some ice cubes in it. She pushed him down to the couch that was at the side of the room and got up quickly.

“Where are you going?” He pouted at her.

“Hold on.” All of a sudden she felt very much in control and she loved it. She grabbed one of the ice cubes from the glass and put it in her mouth and sucked on it. She walked slowly back to him and saw him pleasuring himself.

“Oh no big boy, that’s my job.” She grinned at him and pushed his hand away. He sat back and grinned at her.

“I was hoping you would say that.”

She leaned forward to kiss him and transferred the remainder of the ice cube into his mouth. Then she bent down and took him in her mouth. He gasped from the intense coldness on him but as she continued bobbing up and down on his cock, she felt him relax and start groaning. She could feel him growing harder and harder in her mouth and she could taste his precum as she sucked on the tip of his cock.

“Oh fuck Sophie. You are killing me here.”

She looked up at him and she saw the desire she felt reflected in his eyes. She jumped up and pulled her shorts and panties off and lowered herself into him. She yelped as he took control and grabbed her ass pushing her down onto him hard. She leaned over to kiss him as she bounced up and down on his cock enjoying the feel of him, still slightly cold, inside of her. He squeezed her ass as she rode him and he pulled away from her so that he was staring into her eyes as they both came. She wanted to close her eyes as the orgasms ripped through her but the intensity of his gaze heightened her pleasure. She stilled and collapsed against him as he slid out of her and she rested her head on his shoulder.

“Now, that is one reason why mid-afternoon sex isn’t always good.” He grinned at her. “It makes you tired.”

“I’m not tired.” She yawned as she spoke and they both laughed as they relaxed on the couch.

“Really?” He smiled at her tenderly.

“Really.” She felt happy curled up on top of him. His body felt so warm and comfortable and he was still in a good mood. She didn’t want this moment to pass.

“Well Sophie, you have worked very hard this afternoon. I suppose you do deserve a little nap.”

“Really?” She smiled up into his eyes and was rewarded with another sweet smile.

“Yes.” He pulled her up and gathered her towards him so that they were both lying on the couch spooning. He was behind her with his arms around her and she could feel his cock next to her ass. “We can take a quick nap.”

“Ooh that sounds nice.” She smiled and breathed in deeply. His scent was all over the room and she wanted every one of her senses to enjoy this moment. She closed her eyes and started humming to herself, something she had done since she was a little kid.

“The song game?” Maxwell whispered into her ear.

“If you want.” She grinned, delighted that he remembered the game from their childhood. When she had been unable to sleep, they had sometimes played the song game. A game she had learned from her parents. Basically one person sang or hummed a song and the other one had to guess it and sing along and then it was their turn to choose the song.

“Who’s first?”

“You can go first.” She was eager to hear his voice singing again.

“Ok, hmm. Let me think.” His hands caressed her stomach and she pushed back into him. “Ok, I have one:

“Sweet baby, why won’t you come around my way,

Sweet baby, what do I have to say?

I’ve been missing your loving,

I’ve been missing your heart,

Tell me that we can have a new start.”

“Ooh, I know this one. I know it.” Sophie squealed. “It’s ‘The Frapp’s’.”

“Smart girl.” He grinned and snuggled closer to her. “Your turn.”

“Okay, but you know I can’t sing as well as you.” She started.

“You have a lovely voice Sophie.”

“Yeah right,” She laughed. “Said no one ever.”

“Well, it’s lovely when you speak.” He laughed and she turned around to face him and hit him on the shoulder.

“You’re an ass.” She laughed at him.

“Go on, I want to hear this.” They stared into each other’s eyes both happy to just be in the moment.

“Ok, here goes:

“Tell me, when did you know I wasn’t the one?

When did you feel the wind pass by the sun?

When did the sky drop off of a hill?

Tell me will our love ever be real?

Will our love ever be real?”

Sophie sang sweetly and with conviction, the words hers as much as the original singers. She stopped singing and she looked into Maxwell’s eyes searchingly, hoping that maybe some real magic would happen and he would talk of his love for her.

“Hmm, I’m not sure.” He broke eye contact with her and looked away. “The Beatles?”

“No!”

“Bob Marley?”

Sophie burst out laughing. “No, it’s not Bob Marley you goof.”

“Mickey Mouse?”

“No, but you are close.” She grinned at him.

“Minnie?”

“Oh boy.”

“Oh boy. I tawght I taw a puddy cat.” He joined in with her Disney imitations.

“I did, I did. I know I taw a puddy cat.” She laughed happy to have broken the odd mood that hung in the air.

“And he’ll huff an he’ll puff and he’ll blow your house down.” He leaned towards her and whispered before he kissed her. “You should watch out for big bad wolves Sophie.”

Before she could respond she felt his fingers opening up her legs and his cock plunging into her. “Ooh.” She said eyes wide with delight and surprise. He responded by rolling her over and getting on top of her. She wrapped her legs around his waist so she could feel him in her deeper and he responded by moving faster and faster. She felt her orgasm building up when he withdrew from her and spurted his cum all over her stomach. She lay there hoping he would finish off the job with his hands or mouth but he just grinned down at her. She moaned and wriggled around underneath him before he bent down and whispered in her ear.

“You see the trouble with wolves is they only care about getting what they want and need.” He winked at her and jumped up off of the couch.

Chapter 8

The boat ride felt uncomfortable. Sophie couldn’t put her finger on it but everyone was acting weird and stilted. The company lawyer Joseph had arrived with his wife Lily about an hour before they had left and Ella had not seemed happy to see either of them. Maxwell was also acting distant towards her. Something she should have expected after all the other times they had had sex. She had just hoped that this time was going to be different. She had felt like they had really had a connection and she didn’t understand why he always became so cold towards her. She sighed and stared out on the lake, it seemed so empty and vast and she shivered. Sometimes she felt like Maxwell was a lake: cold and solitary with hidden depths.

“A penny for your thoughts.” Ella came up to her looking miserable.

“Oh, they’re not worth a penny.” Sophie smiled at her friend. “What’s wrong Ella?”

“Nothing.” Her friend grimaced. “I just thought that it would be a family outing. You, me and Maxwell.”

“Oh.” Sophie frowned. “But Joseph is like family, we’ve known him so long now.” She looked over at the handsome lawyer who was drinking a beer and staring at them. He waved and smiled as they made eye contact and she waved back.

“I guess.” Ella turned away. “But we barely know Lily.”

“But Lily is his wife and seems sweet enough.”

“She just doesn’t really seem his type though, does she?” Ella raised an eyebrow at he friend and Sophie looked at Lily, who was slightly overweight but always very cheerful. It was true, Joseph looked like a blond Hollywood star and Lily looked like she could pay weightwatchers a visit.

“She’s wonderful though Ella, don’t be a bitch.” Sophie chided her friend. She was slightly peeved because she knew she was no stick either.

“Yeah. She’s a wonderful leech.” Ella bit back bitterly. “You know she is only with him for his money.”

“As opposed to his good looks you mean?” Sophie laughed and put her arm around her friend. “Don’t be bitter about love hon.”

“What?” Ella looked at her suspiciously. “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing.” Sophie sighed. “No need to bite my head off. It just seemed like you were bitter having to witness a perfect couple when we are both here alone. Trust me it’s not easy for me either watching two people who are so very much in love.”

“Yeah, they’re a perfect couple.” Ella laughed bitterly. “He’s the doting husband and she’s a proper Cinderella.”

“We’ll find our Prince Charming’s one day Ella.” Sophie smiled weakly at her friend worried. She’d never seen Ella look so blue.

“Yeah. Perhaps.” Ella turned away from her. “I’m going to get a beer, do you want one?”

“Sure.” Sophie watched her friend walk away and pull off her tee shirt and shorts, so that she was just in a skimpy bikini. Ella was truly beautiful with a perfect body. Sophie sighed while looking at her friend; it just wasn’t fair that someone seemingly had everything. She was beautiful, smart, rich and had a great family. How did someone get soo lucky?

“That’s a very contemplative look.” Maxwell stood there next to her with his shirt off and she drunk in his presence. His chest seemed to radiate a gold tone due to the sun’s rays and the light mat of his hair chest called out to her hands. She wanted to reach over and stroke it like one would stroke a puppy.

“Just thinking about life.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you going to expound on that?”

“Why do you freeze me out Maxwell?”

“What?” He looked at her in surprise and took a step away from her. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“After we have sex. You act like I don’t even exist.” She whispered to him, making sure no one was close. She noticed that Ella and Joseph were no longer on the deck and Lily was lying back getting some sun on her skin.

“No I don’t.” He frowned. “And I told you. I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to have sex anymore.”

“Why not?” She stepped towards him angrily. “You don’t seem to be saying no when it is happening.”

“It just is.” He grabbed her hands. “Look Sophie. This is not a good idea.”

“Why?”

“You are too young. You are my sister’s best friend. I’m not a good guy.” He rasped at her.

“Why aren’t you?” She squinted her eyes at him.

“It doesn’t matter.” His hands squeezed hers tightly and he stepped towards her. “I am warning you that you need to stop this now Sophie.”

“Or what?” She spoke defiantly, upset that he wasn’t just being straight with her.

“Or you are not going to like what happens to you.” He pushed himself into her and she was trapped between the side of the boat and his body. “Or you are going to wish that you never met me.”

“You don’t scare me Maxwell.”

“Then you are a fool Sophie.”

“Maybe.” She whispered. Maybe I’m a fool in love she thought to herself.

“I play hard and fast Sophie and I don’t care who gets caught in the crossfire.”

“Neither do I.” She lied. “I play hard and fast too.”

“Really?” His eyes glinted at her.

“Yes.” She swallowed.

“Turn around and bend over then.” He grunted into her ear.

“What?” She looked at him in surprise.

“I want to fuck you right here and right now. If you truly play hard and fast bend over.”

“But what about Lily, she nodded over to the woman who was lying on the deck just a few feet away.” She swallowed. “And Ella and Joseph.”

“I knew you didn’t play hard and fast.” He turned away from her and laughed.

“Wait.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her. She looked over to Lily once again, she appeared to be sleeping and Sophie bit her lip. She quickly turned around and bent over the side of the boat. She lifted her skirt up and turned back towards Max who watched her with a wicked smile. He moved in towards her and pulled the front of his shorts down and removed his cock. She felt his rub it up and down on her clit for what seemed like an eternity before he pushed himself into her. She cried out from the shock of his thrust and he put a hand over her mouth and whispered in her ear. “You have to be quiet my dear.” He kept his hand there as he plunged in and out of her. Sophie leant forward unconsciously and this allowed his cock to plunge into her even deeper. She bit his hand as he thrust into her harder and harder; she felt him in her so deep that she felt that he was trying to become one with her. He groaned into her ear and reached his hands down to grab her breasts. He groped them sensuously and squeezed her nipples as he fucked her relentlessly. She shuddered as she came and he increased his pace until she felt the warmness of his sperm fill her. He pulled out of her immediately after he came and pulled her skirt down.

“We need to make sure you get on the patch immediately. I don’t know how much I trust the pill.” He stared at her intently. “You seem to be a drug I can’t quit so we better make sure we are taking better preventative methods.”

“Yeah.” Sophie smiled weakly as her stomach churned. She suddenly felt very sick and faint.

“If you want to go down this road with me Sophie you will need to follow my rules.” He assessed her coolly. “You need to know what you are getting yourself into.”

“I know.” She stared back at him coolly. She saw Ella and Joseph walking back on the deck and she saw Joseph patting her friend’s ass. All of a sudden she felt a shiver of cold inside of her.

“We can make this a new arrangement if you want.” He paused. “You can be my special assistant.”

“Like the one’s you had before?” She spoke casually but there was urgency to her words.

He looked at her carefully. “What do you know about my other assistants?”

“I know you’ve fucked them as well.”

“How?”

“I just know.” She looked at him unflinchingly.

“Then you know how the arrangements ended?” He looked at her with a half smile, though his eyes were hard.

“No, not really.”

“They all wanted more and I fired them.” He laughed. “This isn’t a forever arrangement. When I’ve had my fill I’m done.”

“I see.” Though she had a billion questions. How long did it take for him to be done? And did he see them outside of work? Did he ever date anyone regularly?

“I don’t think you do.” He laughed and looked out at the lake. “I’m not a good guy Sophie. You should walk away now. I can hurt you.”

“No you can’t.” She lied. She would take any hurt just for the chance to be with him for any length of time.

“I can.” He looked at her with pain in his eyes. “I am capable of hurting you in ways you do not even know about.”

“What are you talking about?” She whispered, scared but hopeful to learn more.

“A long time ago, I did a very bad thing.” His voice was low. “I can never let it happen again.”

“What did you do?” Sophie questioned him, her heart beating rapidly. She had a feeling this was related to the information Ella had been talking about.

“I loved someone very much.” His voice was filled with emotion. “I couldn’t control myself.”

Sophie felt her heart ripping apart. “What did you do?” She whispered.

He looked into her eyes and her heart ached for him. She could see the deep pain that lingered there and he looked like a lost soul. “I did it for love. I was blind. I didn’t know. How could I know?” His voice broke as he spoke.

“Do you still love her?” Sophie’s heart was breaking and she didn’t know if she wanted to know the answer.

“Yes. I’ll always love her. “ His voice was low. “She’s all I ever think about.”

“Oh.” Sophie felt crushed. “And she doesn’t want you?”

He looked at her and he laughed. A deep dark laugh filled with pain and sorrow. “She must never know of my love. Nothing good will ever come of it.”

“Oh.” Sophie didn’t understand and she felt more confused and upset than ever. “I see. So you don’t want to date her?”

“There are some people so precious and delicate in life that they must be protected from all of nature’s dark side.”

“Ok.”

“She deserves better than me.” He laughed.

“So you’ll just date someone else then?” Sophie wanted to break away from him and jump into the river to drown her sorrows.

“I don’t date.” He paused. “I’ll never love anyone the way I love her.” He reached over and pinched he nipple. “I just fuck instead.”

“Oh.” She swallowed, ashamed at how good his hand made her feel.

“Yeah. I’ve had 10 assistants in the last year.” He looked at her intently as he rolled her nipple between his fingers. “I’m a bad boy Sophie.”

“I’m a bad girl.” She lied, desperately hoping that she could somehow come out of this unscathed.

“No you’re not.” He looked out to the lake again. “But I think you need to see who I really am for you to finally leave me alone.”

She gasped and pushed him away deeply hurt by his words. She walked away from him quickly and stood by Ella, who was drinking a beer with a smirk on her face.

“Hey, what were you and Max discussing so intently?”

“Just work stuff.” Sophie paused. “So has Max ever had a serious girlfriend?”

“Huh?” Ella gulped back the beer she was drinking. “Strange question but yeah, he used to date this girl called Alexis. They have been on and off for years.”

“Oh?” Sophie racked her brains to see if she could remember who Alexis was.

“Yeah. I think they were really serious ages ago, back before things went bad.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, that summer when he went to jail.” Ella whispered, delving more secrets now she was drunk. “I think it had something to do with her. I’m not sure what though.”

“Wait, was she the girl that used to have the house next door?” Sophie thought of a beautiful girl with long black hair who used to come over sometimes. “The one we used to call modern day Snow White?”

“Yup.” Ella laughed. “Was she beautiful or what? If it’s possible she is even more beautiful now.”

“Oh.” Sophie frowned. “So what happened?”

“I don’t know.” Ella whispered. “But a year or so ago, she came to the house and I heard her talking with Max in his study. She told him she forgave him and hoped they could put it behind them.”

“Oh yeah? Put what behind them though?” Sophie felt anxious.

“I told you I don’t really know.” Ella frowned. “But Max told her he wasn’t good for her. He said he regretted what happened more than life itself. He said that the best thing he could do for those he loved was to stay away.”

“Wow.” Sophie scratched her forehead, willing herself not to cry. “He must have really loved her.”

“Yeah. I guess.” Ella sighed. “Love is fucked up.”

“Yes, yes it is.” So there she had it. Maxwell was in love with beautiful Alexis. She wondered what had happened to make him think that the best thing he could do for her was to stay away. If he had loved her she would have put up with anything just to be with him. “Why was Joseph touching your ass Ella?” Sophie whispered to her friend, trying to get her mind off of Maxwell.

“What?” Ella looked at her in shock.

“Is something going on between you and Joseph?” Sophie tried to keep the judgment off of her face.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Ella got up and swayed over to the cooler to get another beer. “And I don’t appreciate the insinuation either.” She shouted back.

Sophie lay back and closed her eyes letting the sun beat down on her, hoping its rays would erase her mind from all of the information that had put in it that afternoon.

Chapter 9

The rest of their vacation in Winterside was tense and awkward. Sophie and Ella laughed on the surface together but there was an obvious wedge between them. Ella went out most nights without inviting Sophie and they only really saw each other over lunch. They talked about superficial topics and neither one of them mentioned what had been said on the boat.

Sophie had instead focused on her work with Max. They hadn’t made love since that day or talked about their conversation either. What hurt Sophie the most was that Maxwell had not even attempted to make a move on her. She lay in her bed every night, hopeful that she would hear a knock but it never came. The days were long and the work was hard but she found that she was beginning to understand the way that he worked and what he expected of her. He was also very kind towards her, so much so that she felt that there was hope for them to become friends again.

And as much as she felt sorrow for herself, she felt sorrow for him as well. What a wicked trick God had pulled on them to have her love him deeply and to have him love Alexis deeply. She wished every night that by some miracle he would forget Alexis and love her. But every day she woke up to a professional Maxwell and they went along with their everyday tasks without mentioning any of their personal feelings or dilemma’s.

She’d come back to New York by herself. Ella had decided that she was going to take a month to vacation in France and Italy by herself before she started her internship. Sophie supposed that was one of the perks of actually being a Van Harkel, you could do what you wanted when you wanted. Sophie sighed as she tried on her outfit for the next day, the skirt didn’t zip up properly and the jacket felt tight on her. She figured she had gained some weight in Winterside but she hadn’t realized it at the time.

She looked in her closet to see if she had any other suits to wear; even though she already knew the answer. She wanted to look smart on her first official day at work but it looked like she would have to wear her black pants with the elastic waist and an ugly white shirt she had gotten for Halloween a few years before when she went to a party as Tom Cruise from ‘Cocktail’. She tried on the outfit and groaned, she looked like an old maid, not a 22-year-old girl. No wonder Maxwell didn’t want to be with her. She collapsed on to the bed and cried. She let out all of her frustrations and pains and sobbed for a good twenty minutes before she jumped up and ran to the bathroom to puke.

She sat on the floor with her head in the stomach and she tried to think about what she had eaten the night before that might be responsible for making her sick. She’d only had a slice of pizza and some salad. She sat there and started retching again when she felt her body still with shock. She jumped up, flushed the toilet, washed her mouth out with some water and ran to her calendar. She felt panicked when she realized she had missed her period.

“Oh shit, shit, shit.” She ran to her room and grabbed her purse and ran to the elevator. She needed to go to the store to get a pregnancy test. She felt hot and cold flushes run through her body and she leaned against the wall. “Please God, no.”

She bought 3 different types of tests and ran back to her apartment. She felt her patience running thin as no urine came and ran to the kitchen and drank 3 large glasses of water. “Please please please.” She mumbled as she peed on the sticks. She felt like time had stood still as she waited and jumped up when her alarm went off indicating that the waiting period was over. She walked slowly to the bathroom to cheek, telling herself that everything was going to be okay. She looked at the first stick, and then the second and third and pressed her head against the mirror. She walked back to her bedroom slowly, unsure of the feelings running through her. Part of her was extremely scared and worried but another part of her was delighted. She sat on her bed and bit her lip, she wasn’t sure what lay ahead but one thing she did know was that she was going to keep the baby growing inside of her.

***

Sophie arrived at work early the next morning. It was her first official day and she wanted to show everyone that she wasn’t hired just because she was best friends with the bosses’ sister. She was pleased with her appearance. She had been able to let out the skirt and decided to skip the jacket; she didn’t think she had to be that formal anyways. It had been a week since she had seen Maxwell and she was eager to see his face. She also knew that he deserved to know about the baby. She was scared at what he would say. That maybe he would ask her to get an abortion or think she was a gold-digger after the family funds. She knew he would be angry and wouldn’t understand. She didn’t know how she was going to tell him that she had lied about being on the pill; who did that? She would think that she had tried to trap him.

The receptionist walked her to her desk outside of Maxwell’s office and she sat there and waited for him to call her in.

“He’s in there with someone right now dear.” The elderly lady smiled at her. “But as soon as he’s finished, you can go and walk right in.”

“Thanks.” Sophie smiled weakly at the lady and sat there playing around with some paperclips on the table. She tried to figure out what to say to him when she saw him, “Hey Maxwell, I haven’t seen you in a week but guess what? I’m pregnant.” Or maybe, “Maxwell I want you to know that I am having your baby but don’t worry I can still be your assistant.” She hit her hand against her head and sighed. There was going to be no easy way to tell him.

“So I’ll see you tonight?” The door opened and Sophie saw the back of a lady coming out of his office. “I’ll make reservations at Barbuzza for 8 yeah?” Her voice was high and whiny and somehow sounded familiar to Sophie.

Sophie heard a muffled reply from Maxwell but couldn’t understand him. “We can discuss everything else tonight Max. I think this is one dinner you don’t want to miss.” The lady stepped out and closed the door.

Sophie looked at her and gasped, the color draining from her face.

“Hello dear Sophie?” The lady smiled coldly. “I understand it’s your first day today?”

“Yes.” Her voice was low and strained. “And you are?”

“You don’t remember me?” The lady looked at her with narrowed eyes. “I’m Alexis, Maxwell’s special friend.”

“Oh, yes. Sorry I forgot.” Sophie stood up and smiled and held out her hand.

“Sure.” Alexis ignored her outstretched hand. “I wouldn’t get too comfortable here Sophie. I don’t think you’ll be in this position too long.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t really like you. Never did.” She laughed. “And I think I can convince Maxwell to let you go.”

“I see.” Sophie stared at the lady unsure of why she hated her so. She also didn’t understand what Maxwell saw in her. Yes, she was beautiful but she was like an ice queen.

Alexis leaned in close to Sophie and whispered. “I’d watch your back Sophie. You don’t want to see Max back in jail do you?”

“What?” Sophie looked at her in shock. “What…”

At that moment, Maxwell opened the door and walked out. “Sophie.” He smiled brightly at her until he noticed Alexis right next to her. “You’re late.” He frowned. “I’ll see you later Alexis.”

“Yes dear.” She looked back at him and smiled sweetly before walking away.

“In the office.” Max barked at Sophie and she stood there in confusion.

“I’m not late Max.” She spoke angrily to him, upset that he had spoken to her that way in front of Alexis.

“Look I’m doing you a favor here Sophie. My life would be a lot easier if I didn’t hire you.”

“I’m not trying to put you out Max. In fact, I can leave right now if you want.” She spun around and walked to the door and he chased after her.

“Stop.” He barked. He reached around her and closed the door and locked it before pushing her against it and reaching down to crush his lips to hers. She kissed him back passionately and violently, letting all of her emotions and worries come out in the kiss. He unbuttoned her shirt quickly and pushed her the cups of her bra down so that her breasts were hanging out. He reached down and took one of her breasts in his mouth and suckled on her nipple as he pushed her skirt up with his hands.

She reached over and undid his shirt and pulled it off of him so that he stood there bare-chested. He groaned and ripped her shirt off and threw it on the ground next to his before unclasping her bra. He pushed her against him so that her breasts were crushed against his chest. He reached under her skirt and pulled her panties off and pulled her skirt up to her waist.

“Fuck it.” He growled and pulled her skirt off as well so that she was standing there naked asides from her heels. She reached over and pulled his pants down and caressed his penis until it was hard. He lifted her up against the wall and muttered into her ears. “Put your legs around my waist.”

She obeyed and wrapped her legs around him and was rewarded by his hard cock pushing deep into her. She groaned as he fucked her; their bodies gyrating together so that her breasts bounced against his chest. He lifted her over to the black leather couch in his office and pulled out of her. She sat there looking up at him and he pushed her down onto the couch.

“Spread your legs.” He commanded before using his hands to open them wide. She felt his breath on her pussy seconds before she felt his tongue invade her. She buckled under the pressure of his lips as they sucked on her clit and she felt herself cum into his mouth as he lapped up her juices. “Good.” He grinned at her before flipping her over onto all fours. He then came up behind her and slid himself into her once more, she felt her pussy lips welcome him home and they clung on to his cock as he slid in and out of her.

“There is something delicious about fucking a wet pussy that I can’t resist.” He muttered before slamming into her a few more times and then coming. He turned her over and collapsed onto the couch next to her. She cradled him in her arms and they smiled at each other. His head was resting on her breast and she felt a rush of pleasure run through her and she hoped that she was going to give birth to a boy so that she could always be reminded of his glorious wonderful angelic face. He reached over and suckled on her breast and she rubbed his head feeling satiated and complete. This is where she was meant to be: with this man, in this moment forever.

“I told myself I wouldn’t do this.” He muttered as he pulled himself away from her. “You are a witch Sophie.”

“No. I’m not.” She smiled at him sweetly and decided that this was the perfect time to tell him the news. “I need to tell you something Maxwell.”

“Yeah?” He looked at her sideways as he caressed her breasts with his tongue.

“Yeah. It’s kinda important.”

“Ok.” She felt his hand slip down to her pussy and he rubbed on her clit.

“Yes.” She moaned and wiggled against him. “I’m pregnant.” She spurted it out.

She felt him freeze and left his mouth from her breast. He looked at her in shock. “What?”

“I’m pregnant.” She gasped it out as he slid two fingers into her. “Please don’t do that, I can’t think.”

“You can’t think?” He looked at her harshly and continued fingering her. “What do you mean you are pregnant?” He got up and removed his fingers from her, instead rubbing the tip of his cock up and down her slit.

“Maxwell please stop.” She pleaded with him as she felt another orgasm build up.

“Who are you pregnant for?” He stared at her intently, slipping the tip of him into her slowly and then withdrawing it.

“You.” She groaned, aching to feel him fully inside of him.

He stared at her with a murderous look in his eyes and slid the length of his cock in and out of her slowly. She grabbed his ass to get him to move faster but he withdrew from her and rubbed his cock on her clit a few more times before getting up and walking away from her. He silently walked over to get his clothes and he got dressed as she sat there on the couch. He walked back to his desk and sat down and stared at her still laying on the couch.

His next words were low and contained his anger. “What do you mean me? I thought you told me you were on the pill?”

“I’m sorry.” She sat up and covered her breasts with her hands suddenly ashamed and embarrassed.

“I cannot believe this Sophie.” He put his face into his hands. “I knew fucking you was a mistake.”

Sophie cringed at his words and wiped away a tear that had formed in the corner of her eye. “I’m sorry Max.”

He slammed the desk with his fist. “You should be fucking sorry. You have just complicated my life far more than I need at this point.”

Sophie looked down at the floor scared; she had never seen him so angry before.

“I cannot believe this has happened. Not know that Alexis has come back into my life.” He sighed and looked at her angrily. “Do you know what you have done?”

Sophie nodded her head overwhelmed by the guilt in her heart. She was costing the man she loved the love of his life. “I’m sorry but I’m keeping the baby.” She bit her lip and rubbed her stomach.

He looked at her and all of a sudden his features softened. He got up and picked up her clothes and walked over to her. He lifted her off of the couch and redressed her. She looked into his eyes and saw an emotion she had never seen before reflected there.

“I told you I was a wolf Sophie.” He sighed. “I just don’t think you listened.”

“What are we going to do?” She looked at him fearfully.

“We’re going to make sure you don’t get eaten.” He frowned at her and walked back to his desk. “We’re going to make sure that nature doesn’t have its way.”

Chapter 10

Sophie decided to go to the movies after work to think. They always made her feel calmer, even horror movies. She thought that it was because the best memories she had of her parents were related to movies. She could remember watching 'Mary Poppins' and dancing around singing A Spoonful of Sugar with her dad. He would throw her up into the air and then sneak her a candy behind her mother’s back. She would nibble at the candy and suck it slowly, savoring the sweetness in her mouth as she continued to watch the movie. She had developed a love of pigeons from the movie and whenever she walked around Times Square, she would always try to take some bird seeds so that she could feed the birds. It was something that she was sure her father would do with her if he were still alive. As Sophie studied the movie listings she sighed, there was nothing that she wanted to sit through, nothing that would take her mind off Maxwell and his dinner with Alexis.

She knew that this was going to be a long lonely night for her. She'd had some hope when she had gone into the office that morning that she had a chance. But as soon as she had seen Alexis she had known. The love of Maxwell's life was back and she wasn't going to be taking his rejection so easily. No matter what he had to say. Sophie felt a twinge of guilt in her heart, didn't loving someone mean letting them go? Maybe she had ruined Maxwell's life by getting pregnant. Maybe his one chance at happiness was forever gone because she had lied. She didn't blame him for being upset—he had asked and she had lied. She was a bad person, an evil person. She didn't deserve happiness. Not after what she had done. But she knew she didn't regret it, she would always have a piece of Maxwell now. It didn’t matter if he never wanted to see her again she would still have the baby. And she knew deep in her heart that Maxwell wouldn't desert his own baby. He wasn't made like that. No, he would take care of his baby, even if he didn't want to see her. She was confident of that.

She sighed and decided to find a coffee shop to go and relax in, maybe being around a hustle of people would stop her from feeling alone. Just as she was about to go into a Starbucks, she had an idea. Something was still puzzling her and she hailed down a cab to take her to the local library.

"Do you have newspaper archives?" She smiled at the lady behind the counter as she walked into the library. "And if so, how far back do they go? And which newspapers do you have? Big and small? And newspapers from other cities?"

The lady looked at her with a bored expression. "No ma’am. We just have book circulations here."

Sophie felt her stomach drop and the excitement seeped out of her.

"Why don't you go and try NYU's or Columbia's library? Though you may need a student id or guest pass to get in."

"Of course, of course. Thank you." Sophie felt like slapping herself across the forehead. Of course, she should go to the library at school. She couldn't believe that she hadn't thought of it herself. It seemed that she was experiencing pregnancy brain already. "I'll go to Butler," she spoke aloud to herself unable to stop the excitement racing through her. She wanted to know Maxwell's big secret. It just didn't make sense, if he loved Alexis so much what had he done that was so bad that he wouldn't allow himself to be with her? She figured if he had been arrested, there might be a newspaper clipping about it somewhere. He was a Van Harkel, the only son of a billionaire. People cared about what happened to the rich and famous, it would likely be in magazines and newspapers galore. She laughed almost giddy at the thoughts running through her mind, she was positive that she was going to find out a lot more information.

Her phone rang as she was about to walk into the library and she took it out and paused. It was Maxwell. She wasn't sure why he was calling her. He never called her, not even to communicate about the job. He had had an office secretary call and to give her all the details. She chewed on her lips as she watched the phone ring. Did he want to tell her to give up the baby? Maybe Alexis was willing to still be with him if the baby was no longer in the picture. She cringed at the thought of having to have an abortion, she clutched her stomach knowing that there was no way she would abort her child. She wondered if he would try to convince her to give the baby up for adoption? Maybe he'd find a family somewhere in the Midwest, maybe even someone in Iowa close to her aunt and uncle. And he would offer to be the child's benefactor, so he could make sure the child was financially taken care of without having to actually be in the child's life. She would never let that happen either. There was nothing he could offer her that would make her give up her baby. No amount of money, not thousands or millions. She wouldn't even do it for a billion dollars. She sighed as the phone started ringing again, he was insistent that he wanted to talk to her. She answered the phone nervously. "Hello?"

"Sophie? Where are you?" Maxwell growled into the phone and Sophie relaxed. Whatever he was calling about was not related to the baby. She knew that his voice would have been super sweet if he had wanted to try to persuade her to get rid of his baby.

"I'm at Columbia." She sighed having to tell him her whereabouts.

"What?" His voice held disbelief and confusion. "I thought you decided that you weren't going to go to school this semester."

"I had," she mumbled.

"You can't just bail out on me now. You are my assistant and you have a duty to me and the position." He sounded angry. "We need to talk, Sophie."

"I don't owe you anything." Her voice was loud and annoyed. "I have to go now."

"Don't you hang up that phone, Sophie.” His voice was bossy and obstinate and Sophie grinned and promptly pressed the end button before powering off her phone. She walked into the library, flashed her student id and then took the elevator to the fourth floor.

As she was about to walk into the newspaper archive room, she realized that she didn't actually know what Maxwell had called her about because they had gotten into a stupid argument before he could even bring it up. She sighed and told herself that no news was good news and she was probably better off not knowing.

“I want to look up some newspaper articles from about five years ago, please.” She spoke to the librarian and tried to contain her excitement. This could be it: she may finally find out what had happened all of those years ago that had turned Maxwell from the welcoming, friendly man to the cold, austere, bipolar man that she would never understand.

“Go to that computer there,” the lady pointed to a computer in the corner. “You can choose the search terms and the years you want to search through. Every article that mentions the search terms will pop up. Write down the numbers attached to the articles and we can find the microfiche and you can look it up.”

“Sounds good, thanks.” Sophie walked over to the computer quickly, typed in Maxwell Van Harkel and selected the years 1992-2012. Over 28,000 corresponding articles popped up on the screen and she sighed. This was going to take a lot longer than she thought. As she was about to enter a new search term and narrow the years, she saw an article titled, “Billionaire Maxwell Van Harkel to Wed Socialite Alexis Gold” and she clicked on it with her heart in her hands.

This was a completely new story now. She looked at the date of the article and saw that it was from three years before. She couldn’t remember Ella ever telling her that Max was engaged. That was something that she would have remembered. She perused the article quickly and there was no more information in it, other than their names and the names of their parents. It was more of a PR announcement. She quickly searched for Maxwell Van Harkel and Alexis Gold in the search engine, distracted from her original search. This time only 150 articles popped up and they all seemed to be related to the engagement, though none of them mentioned the end of the engagement.

She sighed and knew that that was something she would have to figure out later and looked over the article titles one more time to see if there was anything that she had missed. And then she saw it, “Mitch Gold Not So Happy to Welcome Maxwell Van Harkel to the Family.” Suddenly she was alert. Mitch Gold. The name sounded familiar, he was obviously someone related to Alexis but she wasn’t sure whom. She didn’t think that she had met any other members from the Gold family. She clicked on the article and gasped. There was a photo of Mitch Gold and Alexis Gold cutting the ribbon at some event. She studied his face and cringed. There on the screen staring back at her with a huge grin was Mitch, the guy Maxwell had gotten into a fight with at the Pub on her first night in Winterside. The guy that she had been dancing with that had gotten a little too hands-on for her liking.

She bit her lip and tried to think back to that night. They hadn’t acted like they had known each other, she hadn’t seen recognition in their eyes but she had been so drunk she wouldn’t even have noticed. She thought back to the blood on Max’s face and wondered if the fight they had that evening was about a lot more than some dirty dancing.  She looked at her watch and sighed. The library was going to be closed soon and she didn’t have time to dillydally. She decided to try to find out more information from Ella about Mitch when she got back to town. She wanted to find out more about Max’s past now and she needed to focus on that.

She spent the next thirty minutes furtively looking at newspaper articles but none of them mentioned anything about his being in jail. The librarian gave everyone a five-minute warning and Sophie started packing up her things. She was about to shut down the computer when she saw a headline that made her heart stop. “Does Maxwell Van Harkel Have an Anger Problem?” She clicked on the headline that belonged to a small newspaper from Upstate New York and perused it quickly. The article stated that Max had beaten up a guy so badly that he had to be hospitalized due to the severity of his trauma. It also stated that Maxwell had been sent abroad to evade jail time and that he should have been sent to a mental institute instead. Sophie frowned unsure of what to think. At the bottom of the article, there was a link to another article. She clicked on it quickly and saw a retraction stating that the author of the previous article no longer worked for the paper and had written the article in error. Maxwell Van Harkel had travelled abroad to learn the family business and he had no mental issues.

Sophie quickly went back to the original article and wrote down the author’s name. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do with the information but something inside of her told her to write it down. She grit her teeth wondering what she was getting herself into, Max’s world was starting to seem darker and darker and she didn’t know whether she wanted to be a part of it now that she was going to have a baby.

She walked out of the library caught up in her thoughts. She loved Maxwell but she didn’t think she really liked him. He had treated her horribly and she didn’t think this was a healthy state of mind for her or her baby.

Chapter 11

Sophie arrived home feeling hungry. She hadn't eaten dinner, she'd been too depressed but now she was feeling ravenous. She walked into the empty apartment and sighed: she missed Ella and wished that she were back home already. She walked into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water before picking up some takeout leaflets and walking to the living room to check them out. Her mind felt numb from all the information she had read at the library and she just wanted to veg out and forget about everything for the evening.

Her heart froze as she walked in the living room for there, sitting on the couch in the dark, was Maxwell. He was sitting back casually but his eyes were on her like a hawk. He looked angry and she stood still wondering what he was doing there.

"It was nice of you to call me back." His voice was low and full of venom as he stood up and walked towards her. The streetlights shining through the windows illuminated his body, though his face still looked dark and thunderous.

"Oh sorry." She smiled at him weakly and reached into her bag to grab her cellphone. "It was off." She powered it back on and six voicemails and text messages came through from Maxwell.

"You hung up on me." He was standing in front of her now, so close that she could feel his body heat radiating onto her skin.

"I had to get off of the phone." She looked up at his face and made eye contact with him. "I figured we could talk later."

"Did you now?" He grabbed her hand and took the leaflets out of it. "You're hungry?"

"Yes." That's why I have the leaflets in my hand, she thought to herself.

"You didn't eat?"

"Not yet."

"That's not good, Sophie." He sounded angry again. "You need to eat."

"What?" She was confused as to why he was so upset that she hadn't eaten as of yet.

"You are eating for two now. You and my child."

"Your child?" She looked at him in resentment. "Since when did you start caring about the baby?"

He looked at her with incredulity on his face. "I will always care about my child. No matter how much the mother lies or tries to manipulate me."

Sophie looked at him in shock. "How dare you call me a liar?"

"Well, aren't you?" He looked down at her, his tone sardonic and she turned away. His eyes once again captivated her. He seemed to have this uncanny ability to look directly into her soul.

"No." She walked to the couch and sat down, needing to distance herself from this man who made her feel too many emotions at once. "How did you get in?" She changed the subject.

"I have a key." He walked over to the couch and sat next to her. "I do own the apartment."

"I thought Van Harkel Corp. owned it," she tried to sound as snarky as possible.

"Actually no," he smiled at her. "I own the apartment personally."

"Oh." Sophie wondered why he bought an apartment he didn't live in. She knew he wasn't making enough from her rent to make it worth it as an investment property.

"I wanted to talk to you today, Sophie but you didn't give me a chance."

"How was dinner with Alexis?" She looked at him hungrily, taking in his smart appearance. He was wearing a navy blue Polo pullover over a white shirt with grey trousers. She could still smell his cologne and she had an overwhelming urge to push her face into his chest and breathe him in.

"It was fine,” he answered curtly. "What do you want to eat?"

"I'll decide when you leave." She reached for the remote and turned on the TV.

"I'm not leaving tonight." He turned towards her and moved closer. "In fact, not only am I not leaving, I also have plans for us."

"Plans?" She looked at him suspiciously. "You want to talk all night?"

"No. The plans I have don't include talking."

"What about Alexis?" She looked at him incredulously.

He frowned at her. "She doesn't matter right now."

"But you went to dinner with her."

"And?"

"Why didn't you spend the night with her?"

He laughed and looked away. "She’s not who I wanted in my bed tonight."

Sophie swallowed, dismayed at how happy that made her feel but the happy feeling was fleeting. What really did his comment mean? Only that he wanted to have his cake and eat it too. Maybe he would go to Alexis's bed tomorrow. Maybe he only wanted her because she had ignored his phone call.

"I don't want you in my bed tonight," she lied.

"I don't care what you want," he chuckled and came closer towards her. She moved down the couch until there was nowhere left to go. She sat there looking up at him and sighed as she felt his lips crush down on hers. They tasted salty and she found her tongue darting out of her mouth to lick his lips. He groaned and caught her tongue in his mouth and sucked on it slowly. She felt herself melting against him. She couldn’t resist him. He was her drug and she was too doped up to care about the consequences. She felt his hand reach up to her breast and his fingers ran around her nipples before he cupped them.

“Seems like they are getting bigger already.” He grinned at her as he pulled back to pull up her t-shirt.

“What?” She stared at him, mesmerized by the change in his face when he smiled.

“Your pregnancy breasts are divine.”

“I don’t think I’ve been pregnant long enough to have pregnancy breasts.” She blushed. She already had big boobs; she wasn’t sure how she would feel if they grew even bigger.

“I can already tell the difference.” He leaned towards her as he unclasped her bra and bent his head to suck on her nipples. She moaned as he nibbled on them and then pushed him away. “What is it, Sophie?” He looked at her with concern.

“I don’t want to do this.” She crossed her arms. “You don’t even think it’s your baby.” She turned away from him and felt a tear fall from her eye. “I want you to leave.”

“Sophie, there is something I need to tell you.” His voice was gruff and full of self-condemnation.

“What?” She kept her back to him. She didn’t want to look at his face. She knew it would only make her weaker.

“I know that it’s my baby.”

“What?” She turned around and looked at him. “How?”

He sighed and this time he looked away. “I didn’t want to believe it, you know. I couldn’t believe it.” He shook his head. “I knew when we made love that you were a virgin, Sophie.”

“Oh.” She blinked, feeling embarrassed.

“I’m sorry that I took your virginity.” He clasped her hands and drew them away from her breasts.

“It’s ok.” She paused. She wanted to tell him that she was glad it was him. That she didn’t want to sleep with anyone else, ever. That she loved him and the feel of him. But she kept quiet.

“No. No. It’s not.” He sighed. “I should have known better. Been better.”

“Wait a second.” She stared at him puzzled. “Why did you think I was on the pill?”

“I took your word for it, Sophie.” He looked at her seriously. “Many women go on the pill to help them regulate their menstrual cycle.”

“Oh.” She looked down feeling ashamed.

“I didn’t think you would lie to me.”

“I’m sorry.” She blinked up at him, letting her hair cover her face.

“Show me.” He dropped her hands and sat back on the couch. His eyes teased her and beckoned her at the same time and she felt a wave of desire hit her. In that moment, there was no one but the two of them in the world. No one else mattered. Nothing else mattered. And Sophie was going to take advantage of the situation. She walked over to the stereo in the corner of the room and turned it on. She had been listening to some jazz the evening before and the smooth notes filled the room. She walked back to him slowly, heart beating and breasts bouncing but she would not let herself be nervous or embarrassed. She pulled her skirt off so that she was standing there in just a thong. She got on the couch, straddled him, and started unbuttoning his shirt.

Maxwell stared back at her wordlessly, allowing her to make all the moves. She pulled his shirt off and waited for him to do something but he just smiled at her, as if to tell her that the show was all hers. She pushed her breasts up against his chest and leaned forward to kiss him. She kissed his lips and then all over his face and finally down his neck and to his pecs. She licked his nipples and kissed down his stomach to the top of his trousers. She moved over to the side of him and undid his pants, fumbling with the button and rubbing his crotch through his pants. She smiled as she heard his intake of breath and then pulled his trousers off. He was wearing a white pair of boxer briefs and his cock looked hard and stiff as if it were fighting to break loose of his Calvin Klein’s. She decided to keep his briefs on for now and got back on top of him.

He looked at her with narrowed eyes and moved to pull his briefs off. “No.” She stopped him and moved his hand away. “This is my turn.” She smiled at him shyly and leaned toward him to kiss him again as she positioned herself on top of him. She felt his covered cock between her legs and started grinding herself against him as she kissed him hard. After a few minutes, Maxwell could no longer contain himself and she felt his hands on her ass, moving her up and down on him faster and harder. She felt her pussy pushed into him so hard that she could barely stand not actually feeling him skin to skin. She quickly stood up and pulled her thong off and pulled his briefs down. She got back down to straddle him and positioned his naked throbbing, hard cock between her legs and continued grinding on him.

He groaned and pulled her towards him as she teased him with her naked body, sliding along his cock. “Sophie,” he moaned into her ear and she paused as she felt the tip of his cock enter her pussy. “Please.” He grabbed her ass to push her down on him but she wriggled away and smiled at him. She continued sliding up and down on him and felt her pussy grow heavy and wet. She wanted to feel him inside of her badly but she also wanted to tease him.

Before she knew what was happening, Maxwell had flipped her onto her back and his long, hard cock was sliding into her with force. “Wrap your legs around my waist,” he growled into her ear and she complied relishing the feeling of his cock in her hard and deep. He fucked her with abandon, thrusting in and out of her with such force that she felt like she was going to burst into a million pieces from the wonderful complete feeling he was giving her. He then rolled over so that she was on top and grinned up at her. “Fuck me, now, Sophie.”

She looked down at him and started to swivel her hips. She felt his cock in different parts of her body and she started moving with even more abandon until she was bouncing up and down on his cock with fervor. She closed her eyes as he reached between her legs and rubbed her clit as she rode him. She had never felt such intensity before and screamed as she felt one his fingers also pinching her nipples. Her whole body felt frazzled and she felt her pussy trembling on his cock, as she was about to come. His fingers started rubbing her clit fervently as she rode his cock. She found herself slamming down onto him harder and harder, wanting to feel his cock and his fingers between her legs as she came furiously, collapsing on him from exhaustion as her juices flowed. She lay there for a few seconds before feeling herself getting wet again. His fingers were still playing with her clit and he grinned at her as he moved her hips back and forth on his still hard cock. He pushed her off him and pushed her to the ground on her knees before he came up behind her and entered her again. She felt him slam into her from behind while grabbing her breasts. Then she felt him pull out of her, flip her onto her back and spurt his cum all over her mouth and breasts.

She licked her lips and was surprised that she enjoyed the taste of his cum on her mouth. He looked down at her with a devilish smile and moved his cock towards her mouth. “Why don’t you lick it clean?” He grunted down at her before he stuck his cock in her mouth. She took it eagerly and sucked the tip like it was a lollipop, trying to get every last drop out of him. She felt him growing hard in her mouth and she continued to suck hard, hoping to make love to him again. He pulled himself out of her mouth and bent down to kiss her.

“No.” He smiled at her. “No more.”

She pouted and looked at him in disappointment. She was still feeling horny.

“I’ve been a bad influence on you.” He grinned half-heartedly. “Let’s just watch some TV and chat.”

“I don’t want to watch TV.”

“Put this on.” He gave her his shirt and he pulled on his briefs. He grabbed her panties away from her as she went to put them on. “No.” He smirked. “You don’t need those.” He threw them across the room and grabbed his phone. “Let’s order some food: Italian, Chinese or Sushi?”

“I don’t want food.” Sophie glared at him, while delighting in the feel of his shirt next to her.

“Sophie.” His voice was low and warning.

“Chinese, please.” She sighed and her stomach growled. “Sweet and sour pork with fried rice and egg drop soup.”

“That sounds good.” He kissed her on the nose and called in the order.

“Hey Maxwell,” she called him over to him softly. “What did you call me for earlier today?”

“It doesn’t matter.” He looked at her grimly.

“I want to know.” She caught his eye and kept it.

“I’ll tell you tomorrow. Let’s just enjoy the night, okay?” He pulled her towards him and kissed her forehead. “Now let’s watch TV.”

They settled in front of the TV and watched Chopped. Sophie snuggled up to Maxwell and pictured this being her everyday life.

“Eww, that looks gross.” Maxwell’s voice jolted her out of her daydream of them as a happy family.

“Yeah. I hate liver.” She looked at the screen and smiled. The contestants had to make a desert with liver and white chocolate.

“I know.” He smiled down at her and stroked her hair. “I remember that summer you grabbed a big bite and stuffed it in your mouth.”

“Only because I thought it was steak.” She laughed.

“Only, it wasn’t a big juicy filet.” He laughed along with her. “It was a nasty piece of liver.”

“And I spat it into my serviette when no one was looking.”

“And then you threw it into the toilet and clogged it up.”

“And you lied for me and said it was you.” She smiled up at him. “That was super nice of you, Maxwell.”

“Well, I didn’t want you to get in trouble.” He smiled down at her.

“I know.” She grinned. “And then that night, I snuck to your room and shared my Snickers bar with you.”

“And scared my girlfriend out of the room.”

“You weren’t supposed to have girls in your room.”

“Well, when you are nineteen, you will sneak in as many girls as you can.” He laughed and started tickling her. “I should really get you back for all the girls you scared out of my room by sneaking up in the middle of the night.”

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have become my confidant.” She shrieked with laughter as he tickled under her arms and rolled around on the couch. She felt his hands still and he pulled her towards him.

“Am I still your confidant, Sophie?” He stared into her big green eyes, searching for an answer.

“No.” She bit her lip. “Well, kinda.”

He sighed. “I want to know something.” He played with her hair and tucked it behind her ear.

“Ok.”

“So the guy you told me about back in Winterside. Do you still love him?”

She looked at him in confusion. “What guy?”

“The guy you wrote about. The one who made you sad.”

“Oh.” She looked away and played with the hair on his chest.

“Is that a yes?” His voice sounded sad and she turned to look at him, something in his voice made her heart start racing.

“No.” She paused. “Well, yes. I still love the guy I wrote about.”

“Oh, okay.” He pulled away from her. “He’s a fool.”

It was in that moment that Sophie did what she should have done that first night. She pulled him towards her and caressed his forehead. “He is a fool, Max. But that fool is you.”

He looked at her in confusion and suddenly a light appeared in his eyes as he realized what she had said. “You love me, Sophie?” His voice was disbelieving.

She looked down, embarrassed that her secret was now out. “Yes. Yes. I love you.”

She heard his sharp intake of breath and felt him pull away from her. She felt bereft and saddened at his withdrawal from her. He stood up and started pacing back and forth.

“I have to go.” He turned to look at her with bleak eyes.

“Whatever.” She turned away from him too hurt to pretend anymore.

“Sophie, please.” His voice was pleading.

“What?” she screamed at him. “What do you want from me, Maxwell? You sleep with me. Treat me like shit. Sleep with me again. Treat me like shit again and now you want to leave after I tell you I love you.”

He stood there with a scared look on his face. She laughed manically. “Now you think I’m having a breakdown or something right. Well you can fuck off Maxwell Van Harkel. Fuck off and don’t come back.” She screamed at him with tears running down her face and she started hitting his chest as he walked towards her and took her into his arms.

“I’m sorry, Sophie. I didn’t realize.” He looked at her with pain in his eyes. “I didn’t want this to happen.” He held her close to him and she sobbed into his chest. She felt exhausted and tired and she no longer wanted to deal with all the thoughts in her head.

“It’s okay.” She finally lifted her weary head and stared at him. “You can go now. I’m okay.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he whispered in her ear.

“I don’t want this anymore, Max.” She sighed. “You make me feel used.”

“What?” He looked at her like a wounded deer. “That’s never been my intention, Sophie.”

“It doesn’t matter. Please Max.” She yawned and Max felt his heart soften as he stared at the helpless and tired girl he had loved for as long as he could remember.

“No. I’m not going.” He picked her up into his arms, his hands resting against her naked pussy and carried her to the bed.

“Max.” She squirmed in his arms until his fingers were crushed against her clit. She sighed and tried to stop herself from rubbing herself gently against his fingers. The touch of him in her most intimate spot was almost too much to take and she felt herself growing wet.

Max smiled to himself as he carried her to her room. He knew what she was doing but pretended to ignore it. He shifted her in his arms, pretending to get a better balance on her but he was really readjusting his fingers so they were splayed directly against her pussy. The next time she shifted to adjust herself, one of his fingers pushed into her pussy opening and she squealed out. “Max.”

“Yes?” He shifted her again and this time he stuck another finger into her so that he was slowly fingering her as he carried her. He could hear her start to moan and he lay her down carefully on the edge of the bed.

“Nothing.” She looked up at him wordlessly waiting to see what he was going to do next.

“Close your eyes.” He ordered her and stuck his fingers in her again. She obeyed him and spread her legs open. He fingered her and pulled his briefs down, allowing his hardened cock out of its cage. He removed his fingers and slid himself into her and her eyes popped open.

“Oh.” She mouthed at him as he slowly pushed his cock into her deeply and then withdrew it again. She watched as he pulled it out and allowed the tip to rest on her clit. He rubbed the tip of his dick up and down on her clit until he could feel it throbbing and then he slowly entered her again, allowing her pussy lips to tighten around him as he pushed his way into her. He continued entering her slowly and withdrawing from her until she groaned. She reached up and pulled him down on the bed.

She sat on top of him and guided his cock into her and then she rode him hard and fast, until this time they both exploded in passion together. She collapsed on top of him and kissed his chest as she fell asleep. He waited until she had fallen asleep to wrap his arms around her and hold her close to him.

“I love you too, Sophie.” He whispered to her softly. “I love you, too.”

Chapter 12

Sophie kept her eyes closed when she awoke. She had had the most marvelous dream and she didn’t want to wake up out of that world. She had been sitting on the front porch of a house in a rocking chair with a baby girl on her lap. In the front garden, there were two young boys throwing a ball with their dad, her husband—Maxwell. After the game, they had all come running up to the porch to beg for cookies and milk and Max had taken the baby from her and kissed her. She had kissed him back with passion and seen the love and devotion shining from his eyes before they had walked into the house. And then she had woken up. She wanted to go back to the reality of her dreams. If only, there was a way for her to do that.

She felt an arm snake around her stomach and she stilled as she remembered that Maxwell was here with her. Only the circumstances were very different from her dream. She wondered how long it would take him to act like a jerk this morning. She could almost laugh at the shock in his face last night after she had told him she loved him. He had looked like a deer in headlights. She would always remember his face the night he broke her heart. She was a fool. She wished she hadn’t told him she loved him; at least then, she would still have her self-respect.

As she felt his hand move up to her breast, she jerked away from him and jumped out of the bed. She walked quickly to the bathroom without looking at him and turned on the shower. The dream had made her realize that she didn’t want to play this cat and mouse game with Maxwell anymore.  It wasn't fair to her. She wasn't going to let him sleep with her and take Alexis to dinner. She deserved better. She vowed to herself that she would be strong from here on out. As she washed her hair, she thought about Ella and wished that she could talk to her. Ella didn't even know that she was pregnant. She had a feeling that Ella wouldn't be shocked. She seemed to be in the middle of her own scandalous affair. Sophie felt positive that Ella was sleeping with Joseph, and it made her immensely sad; her friend was too sweet to be a mistress.

“Sophie.” Maxwell banged on the door.  “Are you nearly done? I have to leave soon.”

“Of course you do,” she mumbled as she washed the shampoo out of her hair.

“Sophie.” He banged hard again. “Please open up. I have to leave in five minutes.”

Sophie ignored him and starting humming to herself. After a few minutes, the banging stopped and the room went silent. A few seconds later, she heard the front door bang shut and she scrubbed her skin until it was a tingling red. She felt the tears running out of her eyes. Tears that she didn't even know she was holding in until they were streaming down her face. She had secretly hoped that Maxwell would try harder, that he would wait for her to get out of the shower so that they could talk. That maybe he would tell her that he loved her too, maybe even propose to her so that they could be a family like in her dream. Her mind flashed back to the headline she had seen the day before that declared that he was in engaged to Alexis.

As she walked back into her empty room, she stared at the tousled sheets and clothes on the floor and she knew that something wasn’t adding up. If he loved Alexis so much, why was he coming to spend the night with her? And they hadn’t yet had a conversation about the baby, at least not a serious one.

She sighed as her phone started ringing and she saw it was Maxwell. She was going to ignore it but anger got the better of her and she grabbed the phone. “What?” she snarled upset.

“Whoa, what happened to you, Soph?” His voice was soft.

“Nothing. I’m just surprised you are calling me so soon. You normally fuck me and bail for at least 24 hours.”

“What?” He sounded confused.

“After you bed me, you don’t talk to me for at least 24 hours.” She spoke slowly. “Comprende?”

Maxwell sighed, “Sophie, it’s not what you think, wait hold on a second.” Maxwell covered the phone with his hand and Sophie could hear a woman’s voice in the background. She pressed the phone as hard as she could into her ear so that she could hear the conversation better but all of the words sounded muffled.

“Sophie?” Maxwell came back to the phone; this time is tone was brusque. “We need to talk. There are some things we need to sort out.”

“Okay.” She was pretty sure that the baby talk was about to happen.

“Meet me for lunch?” He sounded distracted and Sophie wondered what was going on. And then she heard the woman’s voice say, “Maxwell, come. We have some unfinished business.” And then she laughed; a loud silky laugh and Sophie knew that it was Alexis.

“You’re with Alexis?” Sophie’s voice held disbelief. “You hurried out of my bed to go and see Alexis?”

“It’s not like that, Sophie.” His voice was urgent. “Please meet me for lunch.”

“You can fuck off, Maxwell.” She spoke angrily, the words tripping out of her mouth. “I don’t want to see you again.”

“Sophie.” His voice was strained. “Look, I have to go. I’ll pick you up in 3 hours.”

“Whatever.” Sophie hung up the phone and screamed. She threw the phone at the wall and looked around for other items to throw. She grabbed a brush and threw that and then went and banged her fists against the wall, tears streaming out of her eyes.

“I hate you, I hate you, I hate you.” She screamed and shouted as she banged her fists. “I hate you.” She collapsed onto the ground and sobbed, unable to keep in her frustration and sadness. A loud bang made her jump and she sat on the ground frozen in fear.

“Sophie?” Ella’s voice called out to her and Sophie heard her walk towards her room. “Sophie?” Ella peaked into the room and saw Sophie sitting there, wide-eyed and teary. “Omg Sophie, what happened?” She ran over to her friend in concern, “Are you okay?”

Sophie nodded, unable to talk. She stared at Ella as if she was a stranger she was seeing for the first time. She looked different. She had cut off her long blond hair and now her face was surrounded by a pixie cut. She looked older and sadder. But Sophie was too distraught to ask her what was wrong.

“Oh Sophie.” Ella sat down next to her and hugged her. “Are your aunt and uncle okay?”

Sophie nodded once again and cried into her friends shoulder. They sat there for a few minutes before Sophie’s phone started ringing. Ella reached over, grabbed it, and handed it to her. Sophie didn’t recognize it and so she answered it.

“Hello.” She spoke slowly so she could regulate her breathing.

“Hello, this is Mildred Hubble from The Gottesman Libraries at Teacher’s College, Columbia University.”

“Okay?” Sophie’s voice showed her confusion. “How can I help you?”

“You left a notepad at the desk yesterday. I thought you might need it. You seemed to be very caught up in your research.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Sophie didn’t really care anymore. She didn’t care about Maxwell’s past or at least she tried to tell herself that. What was the point?

“Also, you didn’t shut the computer down properly last night.” The old lady sounded miffed.

“Sorry.”

“Well, as I was shutting it down for you, I noticed that you had done the search incorrectly and had only accessed certain websites. If you can come in today before 5pm, I can show you how to access all the sites and government files.”

“Government files?” Sophie’s breath caught.

“Yes.” The lady sounded excited. “I can help you access files that people don’t even know exist.”

“Oh?”

“I think you should come in, Sophie.” The lady spoke with urgency. “I don’t know why you were looking up this Maxwell Van Harkel, but there is some information I think you should see.”

“Oh, ok.” Sophie’s heart started beating fast. “I’ll come in right away.”

“Good.” And with that, the lady hung up.

Sophie looked up and saw Ella staring at her in concern. “Are you okay, Sophie? What’s going on?”

“I’m fine. I’ll tell you later, okay?” Sophie didn’t want Ella to know that it was her brother, Maxwell that had made her feel like this.

“It’s a guy, I’m guessing.” Ella laughed bitterly.

“Yes.” Sophie paused as she stood up. “Are you okay, Ella? When did you get back?”

“I got back last night.” Ella’s voice caught. “I went to see him. We spent the night in a seedy hotel. I thought things were going to change. That he would have missed me. But he is still the same.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “I need to get over it.”

“You’re better than him, Ella.” Sophie spoke earnestly. “You don’t need a married man.”

“Who said he was married?” Ella answered her angrily.

“No one.” Sophie’s voice was soft. She couldn’t help her friend if she didn’t want to acknowledge the truth.

“He loves me,” Ella mumbled. “He told me I’m the most beautiful girl in the world.”

“Don’t they all?” Sophie mumbled back. Maxwell had made her feel like a million dollars with his wonderful words.

“He meant it,” Ella shot back. “He couldn’t have made love to me the way that he did without loving me.”

Sophie remained silent, not wanting to burst her friend’s bubble. She knew she had to leave soon but she couldn’t just walk out on her friend. Not in this moment.

“I let him take my cherry, Sophie.” It was Ella’s turn to cry.

“You were a virgin?” Sophie’s voice was shocked.

“No, silly.” Ella laughed through her tears. “My other cherry.”

Sophie looked at her in confusion. “Huh?”

“I let him do anal, Sophie.” Ella sighed with exasperation. “He fucked me from behind.”

“Oh.” Sophie tried not to look at her friend in shock.

“He said it would be a way to show him how much I loved him.”

“Oh Ella.” Sophie wanted to go and slap Joseph.

“He had to use lube there,” Ella kept talking, “a lot of lube.”

“Ok.” Sophie looked at her friend and hugged her. “I’m sorry.”

“It fucking hurt, Sophie.” Ella half cried and half laughed. “And it was gross.”

“Why?”

“I had an accident.” Ella made a face and burst out laughing hysterically.

“Oh?”

“You don’t wanna know.” Ella screwed her face up. “He told me they were separated, you know.”

“Joseph?” Sophie’s voice was soft.

Ella looked at her in dismay and sighed. “Yeah. I’m so ashamed, Sophie.”

“It’s okay, Ella.” Sophie stroked her friend’s hair. “He took advantage of you.”

“Yeah.” Ella looked at her with blazing eyes. “But I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” She stood up and brushed her clothes. “Wanna grab lunch?”

“Can we do an early dinner?” Sophie asked. “I have an appointment now.”

“Sure.” Ella hugged her friend quickly and walked to the door. “I missed you, Sophie.”

“I missed you too, Ella.” Sophie smiled, her first genuine smile in days. She was happy her friend was back and was being honest. “I’ll call you about dinner.”

“Sounds good. Let me go shower now.” Ella ran out of the room and Sophie could hear her singing a Rihanna song. As Ella sang about liking the way it hurts, Sophie closed her eyes. She would never love this feeling. She prayed that when she opened her eyes, she would find herself in a different place, at a different time, and with this all being a dream. She counted to three and opened her eyes. Ella was singing about loving the way he lied and she sighed and walked out of the door.

Chapter 13

“I have to leave in an hour.” Mildred, the librarian looked at her sternly. “I called you hours ago.”

“Sorry,” Sophie apologized. “I was helping a friend.”

Mildred studied the young girl in front of her and decided to keep her comments to herself. She’d seen too many young girls get caught up by men in the city to not know what had caused the dark circles under this girl’s eyes. She normally wouldn’t care what the stupid girls got caught up in but this one seemed smart. The fact that she had come to the library to do some research showed that. And she looked to be a naïve one. Too naïve to be caught up with someone like Maxwell Van Harkel. Mildred had spent the previous evening looking him up after she had shut down the library. Her bridge group hadn’t been able to meet and she hadn’t felt like going to the bookstore. Maxwell Van Harkel looked very rich, very handsome and way too old for someone like Sophie.

“Well, come and let me show you the databases you didn’t access yesterday.” Mildred hurried her over to the computer. She didn’t want to do all the work for the girl. “Look here.” She pointed to one of the tabs and walked back to her desk.

“Uh, thanks,” Sophie called back to the lady. Her phone rang and she grabbed it quickly. She’d forgotten to turn it off or put it on vibrate. She saw Max’s name on the screen and she quickly pressed end.

“Please put that phone on vibrate,” Mildred screeched at her.

“Sorry,” Sophie muttered back to the lady. She really did seem to fit the stereotype of an older sour librarian. She put the phone on vibrate and stuffed it back in her bag. She quickly got to searching the databases and a whole slew of new articles popped up. Mildred was right, she hadn’t seen anything yesterday. She looked at the clock and realized she didn’t have much time left and she decided to print out all the articles that had interesting titles.

“You have five minutes,” Mildred called over to her.

“I’m almost done.” Sophie quickly kept pressing print and hoped she had enough money on her print account. She jumped up quickly and went over to the computer to release the prints and waited for them to print out. She stood there with about 100 articles in her hand and quickly stuffed them into her bag before going back to turn off the computer properly this time. She saw Mildred staring at her as she shut it down and she smiled at her as she left the library.

“Thanks so much.”

“Hopefully you can concentrate on your studies now.” Mildred dismissed her and Sophie walked out of the library and tried to hold in her laughter. She knew that her situation was horrible but something about Mildred’s holier than thou attitude had her laughing. What a mess!

She grabbed her phone to call Ella and see where she wanted to go for dinner when she noticed a limo by the Subway entrance on 116th Street. That was strange; she didn’t really see many limos by the campus. But she supposed a lot of rich kids went to Columbia, maybe one of them had a date or something. She walked past the limo; deliberately not looking inside when she heard the door open and someone jumped out and touched her on the back.

She screamed and looked back. Maxwell was standing there, looking handsome and stern. She held back a smile and tried to stop the happy feeling in her stomach. I don’t like this man anymore.  I don’t like him. I will not be happy to see him. She kept berating herself.

“Sophie.” He grabbed her by arm and she jumped back.

“Don’t touch me.” She glared at him but he didn’t remove his hand.

“You didn’t answer my calls.” He glared back at her. “I told you that I wanted to meet you for lunch.”

“I didn’t say yes,” she muttered.

“I tried calling you and sent you text messages.”

“I didn’t see any messages.”

“Your phone wasn’t off.”

“What are you? My stalker?” She glared at him. “How did you know I was here?”

“I had a feeling.” He paused. “What were you doing?”

“None of your business.” She pulled her arm away from him. “Anyway, I have a train to catch.”

“Come with me.” He looked at her with a frown.

“No.”

“Sophie, I swear to God, I will pick you up and put you in the car if I have to.”

Sophie swallowed and felt her face flush. “Whatever.” But she walked and got into the limo. The driver didn’t even turn around to look at her.

“Drive us around for a bit, Miles. I’ll let you know where we want to go in a bit.” Maxwell ordered the driver as he got into the car after her.

“Yes, Mr. Van Harkel.” With that, they were gone.

“Where are we going?” Sophie spoke to the window.

“I was hoping we could talk.” Maxwell reached over and gripped her face so that she turned towards him. He leaned down and kissed her staring into her eyes as he did so. “God, I’ve wanted to do that all day.”

“What?” She stared at him with wide eyes.

“Kiss you.” He smiled at her and kissed her again. Only this time the kiss was harder and deeper and he slipped his tongue into her mouth. She found herself melting against him. He pulled away from her reluctantly and played with her hair, tucking it behind her ears. “You are so beautiful, Sophie.”

“No, I’m not.” She dismissed his words.

“Yes, you are.” He played with her ear. “Even your ear is perfect.”

“No, it’s not.” But she felt her body flushing as she spoke.

“Yes, Sophie, you are.” He kissed her ear and then her nose. “Sometimes I wonder if you know just how beautiful you are.”

“That’s what every guy says. You don’t have to lie, Max. We’ve already had sex.” She tried to pull away from him remembering that Joseph had said the same sort of flowery words to Ella.

Maxwell sighed and took her hands in his. “Your hands are cold.” He rubbed them in his and then stared into her eyes. Sophie tried to avert her gaze but she couldn’t. Something about the emotions reflected there made her hold her breath. “I love you, Sophie.” His words were low, as if he were trying them out for the first time.

“What?” She looked at him in amazement, unsure if she had heard him correctly.

“I love you, Sophie.” He paused. “I love every hair on your body, every single part of you and I cannot live without you.” He held a finger up to her mouth, as she was about to speak. “No, let me finish first. I’m sorry for my reaction last night. You see, I didn’t think you could love me as I love you. I know that some college guy broke your heart and I didn’t want to be second best. But I’m okay with that, Sophie. I just need to be with you. And maybe one day, you can grow to love me as I love you. Maybe one day, we’ll be the family that everyone wants. You, me and the baby. I think I love you enough to make it happen. I love you enough to be happy with whatever you can give me. But I can’t stay away. Not anymore. I’ve tried, by God, I’ve tried. But I can’t do it any longer. I don’t want to. I want you to marry me, Sophie. Please. I want you to be my wife.” He removed his finger and stared at her shocked face. “You can talk now.” He half laughed.

“You told me you didn’t want to get married,” she spoke the first words that came to her mouth.

“There was a reason for my saying that Sophie, not something I want to get into now. But I thought that it would be best if I stayed single.” He paused as she spoke again.

“But you were engaged to Alexis? And isn’t she the love of your life?” Sophie’s voice broke as she spoke. “You don’t have to marry me just because I got pregnant, Max.” She looked down to her lap.

“I don’t know how you know I was engaged to Alexis.” There was a frown in Max’s voice, “But that ended a long time ago. And no, she was never and will never be the love of my life.”

“I don’t understand.” Sophie looked up at him. “I thought you loved her.”

“Oh, Sophie.” Maxwell grabbed her into his arms. “I love you more than life itself, please know that. I’ve loved you for a long time.” He stared into her eyes. “It’s not something I’m proud of Sophie, but I’ve loved you far longer than you know.”

“Really?” Sophie’s heart was beating rapidly and she suddenly felt like electricity was running through her veins. “You really love me?” She sounded delirious and hopeful.

“Yes, Sophie. I love you.” He looked at her furtively. “And I hope that one day you will love me half as much as I love you.”

“But, I already told you yesterday that I love you, Max.”

“You’re still getting over the guy you wrote the poems for, Sophie. I don’t know if what you are feeling is real or a rebound crush.” He sighed and looked dejected.

Sophie laughed and then caressed his face as he stared at her with pain in his eyes. “Oh my darling Max, you are the guy in my journal. It’s always been you. Only you.”

“What?” He looked at her in shock.

“I’ve loved you forever, Max. Maybe before I was even born.” She grinned at him.

“Are you joking?” He looked at her searchingly. “I’m the guy in the journal?”

“Yes.” She laughed. “You are the subject of many poems.”

“No way.” He laughed and sat back. “Tell me one.”

“A dark one or a happy one.” She sat back and snuggled into his arms.

“Your favorite one.” He put his arm around her and drew her in closer to him. “Tell me your favorite one.”

“Okay.” She bit her lip. “It’s a bit dark but it always makes me think of you.”

“I’m waiting,” he teased her and kissed her head.

“Ok, here goes.” She licked her lips and tried to remember all of the words before she recited:

He walks like a jaguar

Proud, beautiful, sleek,

And all I can think is how I want him to jump, attack, prowl

Hold me captive underneath him,

Eyes glaring, heart beating, saliva dripping.

I want to be his prey,

Worthy of his appetite,

Delicious to his smell,

Tasty to his touch,

I want him to devour me with his teeth.

And if for just one moment our eyes connect,

I want him to pause, to think, to wonder

Who I am, where I am, how I am,

And for just one second he will wait and debate

Before he sinks his teeth in and takes me to be his forever

Her voice trailed off as she finished reciting the poem that held her deepest and darkest thoughts about the man sitting next to her. The car was silent for the next minute and Sophie started to feel embarrassed.

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“That was wonderful, Sophie.” He turned to her with admiration. “You’re a brilliant writer. I loved the imagery.” He gazed into her eyes. “I want to want to eat you right now to figure out if you are as sweet as you seem.”

Sophie flushed at his innuendo but replied with a smirk. “You know how sweet I am already.”

He grinned at her and licked his lips. “Oh yes, I do. And I’m hungry for some of that sweetness right now.”

“You’ll have to wait.” She smiled sweetly at him.

“You think so?” He arched an eyebrow at her.

“Yes,” she squeaked out, hoping he would hop on the floor and spread her legs and go to town.

“Maybe you’re right.” He grinned at her and moved his hand to her breast. “I’ll just have to get a different kind of sweetness instead.” He lifted her t-shirt up and popped her breasts out of her bra before bending his head. He sucked on one nipple while he rolled her other nipple between his fingers. She groaned and threw her head back. Her breasts were especially sensitive and she could feel herself growing wet.

“I love it when you moan,” he whispered up to her. “It makes me grow hard just hearing your voice.”

“Really?” Sophie whispered back to him. Max took her hand and placed it on his cock; she could feel how hard it was through his pants. She rubbed her hand back and forth and grinned as she felt it wiggle.

“Don’t do that unless you want me to fuck you in the back seat.” He growled at her and she continued rubbing. “I see what you want.” He reached over and pulled her onto his lap and she laughed with delight. “Sit up a second.” He ordered her and she sat forward. He reached around, unzipped her pants, and pulled them, along with her thong down to her ankles. He then unbuckled and unzipped himself and sat her back down. She felt his hard cock between her legs and she moved back and forth on him slowly, enjoying the feel of his hardness next to her pussy. “This feels like heaven,” he whispered into her ear as he reached up and grabbed her breasts, squeezing her nipples between his fingers.

“Yes, it does,” she whispered back and started moving back and forth a little bit faster.

“I want to make love to you now,” he growled and moved her forward quickly before pushing his cock into her. She sat up slowly and guided her hips back and forth so that she was riding him slowly, and deeply. “Oh that feels so good, Sophie.”

She felt him start to move his hips back and forth so that his cock was slamming into her faster and his fingers were pinching her nipples with intensity. “Touch yourself,” he ordered her.

“What?” she squealed unsure of what he was asking her to do. He grabbed her hand and placed it next to her pussy. He grabbed two of her fingers and rubbed it over her clit. She felt her body tremble as he guided her fingers back and forth on her clit. The pressure of his cock inside her and the intense feeling of both of their fingers rubbing against her was too much and Sophie felt herself come hard on his cock.

“Don’t stop,” Maxwell groaned into her ear and grabbed her hips, bouncing her up and down on his cock hard. She felt his body tremble and his cock still as he burst into her. “Oh my.” he groaned as she slid off him. “That was fantastic.”

“It was alright.” She grinned at him.

“Just alright, huh?” He laughed. “Just wait until tonight, my dear. You’ll regret those words.”

“We’ll see.” She laughed alongside him, deliriously happy. “We’ll see.”

“What do you want to eat?” he asked her softly. “I think Miles is fed up with driving randomly around the city by now.”

“Oh shoot.” Sophie grabbed her bag and pulled out her phone. “I was supposed to meet Ella for dinner.” She quickly looked through her messages and sighed. Ella had called her and texted 4 times; the last text informed her that Ella had spoken to Joseph and was going to meet him for dinner instead and that they could catch up tomorrow instead.

“Everything okay?” Maxwell looked at her in concern.

“Yeah.” She sighed; she didn’t want to tell Max about Ella and Joseph. She wasn’t sure what would happen.

“Are you sure?” He paused. “It was Ella you were going to meet for dinner right?”

“Yes, Max.” Sophie turned to him and kissed him on the lips. “Let’s just order in a pizza.”

“Okay.” He grinned at her. “Maybe we can go to my place?”

“Yes.” She grinned. “That would be great.” She had never seen Maxwell’s apartment and she had always been curious as to what it looked like. She also didn’t want Ella to walk in and see Max in her bed. She needed to talk to her friend first.

“Great.” He sat back and smiled at her and for once, his face looked relaxed and happy. “We can watch a movie as well.”

“Uh huh.” Sophie rolled her eyes. “I’m sure we’ll get to watch a movie.”

“We can make one instead, if you prefer?” Max pulled her towards him. “I wouldn’t mind doing that instead.”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t.” She laughed and hit him on the shoulder. She dropped her phone back into her bag and promised herself that she would have a serious talk with Ella the next day about Joseph and her and Max.

“We could call it Sophie does Max.”

“Or Max does Sophie.”

“I’m down with that.” He licked his lips and she snuggled back into his arms, happy and excited that for once, things seemed to be going her way.

Chapter 14

Maxwell’s apartment was huge. Though, that didn’t surprise her. He had the penthouse in a gorgeous building overlooking Central Park. She sighed as she looked at the view. It was so peaceful and serene.

“Do you like it?” He walked over to join her by one of the windows.

“I love it.” She smiled up at him shyly. “We’re in the heart of the city but I feel like I’m in the country.”

“I’m glad you like it. I was thinking you could move in here with me.” His voice sounded unsure all of a sudden. “Or we could wait until we are married.”

“You don’t have to marry me because I’m pregnant, Max.” She laughed a little self-consciously.

“I want to marry you, Sophie. I love you.” He gazed at her in adoration. “I want us to have a real family. If you do.”

“I’d love that.” She beamed at him. “And I’d love to live here with you.”

“You don’t know how happy that makes me.” He grinned at her. “Now let’s go eat some pizza before it gets cold.”

“Okay.” She followed him to the kitchen and grabbed a plate. Max handed her some serviettes and they grinned at each other like dopey fools. Sophie paused as she heard a key in the door and she looked at Max in fright. He frowned at her and walked to the door.

“Stay here,” he ordered her but she followed behind him.

“What the fuck?” Maxwell’s voice sounded angry and Sophie felt the blood leave her face as she saw Alexis at the door.

“Max, darling. I didn’t know you were working,” Alexis’s voice tinkled through the apartment. “I just came to get some things.”

“You had to come now?” Max looked at her with narrowed eyes.

“Yes, I didn’t know it would be a problem.” She raised an eye at him. “Is it?”

“No.” He swallowed. “Just get what you need.”

“Thanks, darling.” She came up to him and kissed him on the lips before turning to Sophie. “I swear you must be the hardest working girl in New York. Come and help me gather some of my stuff.”

Sophie stared at her in confusion and shook off Maxwell’s arm as he tried to hold her back. She followed Alexis into what appeared to be Maxwell’s room. She didn’t understand what was going on here. Alexis went to a chest of drawers and opened it before turning back to Sophie. “I left some of my things here. I only moved out a few months ago, you see. Max didn’t want me to take everything, as he didn’t want to think it was really over.” She pulled out some sexy bras and panties, and handed Sophie a bag. “I’ll hand you the stuff. Be a dear and pack it away for me, will you?”

Sophie stood there feeling like she was in some sort of horror movie and then Maxwell barged into the room. “Alexis, you need to leave now. This is ridiculous.” His voice was angry.

“But Max honey, I needed to get some of my stuff. She then pulled out a butterfly vibrator and held it up. “Remember the night we got this?” She laughed. “I came so much, I wasn’t sure if it was because of your big cock or this little machine.” She turned to Sophie, “So of course Max didn’t want to think this little contraption could make me come more than him, so he proceeded to spend the night going down on me. I think I must have come five times that night from his tongue alone.” She laughed and Sophie just stared at her in shock, telling herself to hold in the tears.

“That’s it, Alexis. You need to get out. I want my key back.” Max walked up to her and grabbed her by the shoulder. “You need to leave now.”

“Oh Max, I remember the last time you roughed me up like this. Wasn’t it at the shareholders meeting? You pulled me into the bathroom and we fucked like rabbits.” Alexis looked up at him with lust. “I don’t think your secretary would mind taking a break if you wanted to have a quick fuck now. I quite missed your cock after dinner last night.”

“Alexis, I am not going to tell you this again but we are over. I do not want to see you again. I do not want you coming to my office or my apartment again. Do you hear me?” Max’s voice was furious and he pulled her out of the room. “Give me back my key now.”

“Are you sure this is how you want to deal with things, Max?” Alexis’s voice was deadly. “I’m not sure if Mitch will like hearing how you have treated me.”

“Fuck Mitch and fuck you Alexis. I’m done.” Max pushed her towards the door. “I never want to see either of you again in my life.”

“Does she know about what you did?” Alexis pointed at Sophie and snarled. “Does that stupid little tramp know?”

Max looked at Sophie’s ashen face and sighed. “Leave her out of this, Alexis.”

Alexis laughed a deep and evil laugh. “I hope she’s worth it, Max. When you lose everything.”

“Leave,” he growled and walked towards her.

“Or what? You’ll beat me to a pulp? Or rape me? Or murder me?” Alexis stared at him. “All your secrets are about to come out, Maxwell.”

“Leave,” he snarled at her.

Alexis opened the door and turned to look at Sophie, “You better watch yourself, Sophie. You do not know Maxwell Van Harkel. Trust me. He can and will do very bad things.” And with that, she dropped her keys on the floor and walked out, letting the door slam behind her. Silence reverberated in the apartment and Sophie and Max just stared at each other.

Maxwell walked towards her and sighed. “I’m sorry.”

Sophie looked at him wordlessly. All she could think about was him going down on Alexis. “You had sex with her?”

He looked at her with pain in his eyes. “It meant nothing to me. Not like it does with you.”

“She lived with you?” Her voice betrayed the pain and hurt she was feeling.

“For a few months.” He sighed. “I wasn’t here most of the time.”

“Long enough to buy sex toys together,” her voice broke.

“I have a past, Sophie.” He grabbed her hands. “I’m sorry that this happened. I’m so sorry. I love you. Please don’t let this stop you from loving me.”

“I still love you, Max.” She sighed and a tear rolled down her face. “I’m just tired and sad. And I don’t want to be here. In this place.” She looked around. “It’s beautiful but all I can see is the two of you, here, together.”

He brought her close to him and held her, kissing the top of her head. “I understand.” He took her hand, “I want to show you something.” He walked towards his bedroom and she followed reluctantly. He walked over to the bed and pointed to a photo on his night table. “Look.” She looked and saw a photo of her and Ella.

“Ok,” she mumbled. “So what? You have a photo of your sister next to your bed.”

“It’s a photo of you, Sophie,” he whispered in her ear. “Look carefully.”

And so she studied the photo again. It was focused on her, and Ella was a mere blur in the background. By all accounts, it was a photo of her. She looked happy and was smiling into the camera and blowing a kiss. All of a sudden, Sophie remembered the day the photo was taken about two years ago. Maxwell had spent most of the summer working but one weekend he had taken the girls on the boat and Sophie had had the time of her life.

“But you ignored me that summer.” She looked at him curiously. “Just like every summer since I was seventeen.”

“I made myself ignore you, Sophie.” He smiled at her. “I’ve had this photo here since that summer. Even when Alexis was here.”

“That seems a bit mean.” Sophie smiled half-heartedly.

“Alexis knew I never loved her.” Max’s voice was firm.

“But you were engaged to her.”

“Not by choice.” Max sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it now, Sophie, but please believe me when I tell you that you are the only one for me.”

“I’ll try.” She looked away from him. “Can we leave this room please? I don’t want to think about the two of you, in here, you know.”

Max sighed and they walked out of the room. “I’ve had sex with other women, Sophie but they mean nothing to me.”

“Yeah.” Sophie sighed and looked away again. “Let’s eat.”

She walked back to the kitchen and went back to the slice of pizza she was so eager to eat before. But she could barely eat. She carried the plate to the living room and sat on the couch. Maxwell came and sat next to her. “Forgive me?” He looked at her searchingly.

“Yes.” She sighed as she looked into his worried face. “I’ll try.”

“I love you, Sophie.”

She chewed on her pizza and looked down. She loved Maxwell with all of her heart but she couldn’t stop the jealousy that was gnawing at her. “Is Mitch the guy I was dancing with at the bar?”

“What?” He looked at her warily.

“Alexis just mentioned a Mitch. That’s her brother, right? Is he the guy from the bar? The one you fought with?”

Maxwell sighed and took her hand. “Yes. Mitch is her brother and the man who nearly raped you.” He squeezed her hand so tightly that she thought her blood circulation had stopped.

“Ok, Max.” She yanked her hand back from him.

“Sorry.” He looked down at her hand. “Mitch is not a nice guy.”

“Yeah. Especially if he is anything like his sister.” Sophie made a face and Maxwell laughed.

“Oh, Sophie.” He gathered her in his arms and kissed all over her face. “I will never stop loving you.”

“Yeah. Ok.” She closed her eyes, trying to stop thinking of him going down on Alexis. “So was she sweet too?”

“What?” Max looked at her in confusion. “Was who sweet?”

“Alexis.” Sophie stared into his eyes unflinching as he stiffened. “She said you wanted to make sure she knew you were the one who pleasured her. I figured if you went down on her for that amount of time, she must have been really sweet.”

“Sophie, we do not want to have this conversation.” He sighed. “I don’t see what good can come of it. You do not want to know about my past sexual experiences.”

“I wonder how you would feel if my ex-lover came and gushed about me sucking his cock.” Sophie was deliberately crude.

“I’d kill him.” Maxwell grimaced.

“Maybe I should sleep with someone else so you know what it’s like.”

“Don’t you even think about it.” Maxwell grabbed her. “I’m the only one who will ever know your body, do you hear me?”

“We’ll see.” Sophie turned away from him.

“Your body is mine, Sophie.” He turned her face to look at him. “No man will ever know you intimately like I do.” He pushed his hand to her breast and cupped it. “These breasts are mine.” He pulled her t-shirt up and unclasped her bra. He then reached down and undid her pants and pulled them, along with her thong off her legs, so that she was sitting on his black leather couch naked. “Your pussy is mine too.” He ran a finger up her leg and rubbed it against her clit. “No other man will have access to it.” He bent his head down and sucked on her clit. Sophie felt her heart beating fast. She wasn’t sure how her body could betray her like this. She had wanted to remain mad at him for a few days but her body was giving in after a few minutes. She adjusted her legs and felt Max’s tongue slip into her silky folds. She threw her head back and gyrated into Max’s face as he licked and nibbled on her pussy lips. He pushed his face into her deeper and kept sucking and licking as she came in his face. When he finally pulled away, he reached up and kissed her. “You are mine, Sophie and I am yours. That will never change.”

Sophie stared into his eyes and saw the love that she had always hoped to see reflected there. “I love you, Maxwell.”

“I don’t know what I did to be so blessed to have your love, Sophie, but I will never ever take it for granted.” He then bent down and kissed her naked belly. “And I will love our baby forever.”

Sophie rubbed his head as he caressed her belly and she lay down on the couch. “Let’s sleep here tonight,” she murmured into his ear.

“Ok.” He jumped up. “Let me go and get a blanket.” He ran off and returned a few minutes later with a big blanket and no clothes. “I figured we might as well both be naked.” He grinned at her and she smiled back at him as he joined her on the couch.

Chapter 15

Sophie woke up to Maxwell playing with her breasts. She smiled to herself and turned around to face him on the couch. “Morning.” She smiled at him sweetly and kissed his lips.

“Morning, sweetness.” He grinned at her.

“Wow, you’re talking to me; you haven’t jumped up and left me yet.”

“Oh Sophie.” Max smiled at her. “I didn’t leave because I didn’t want to be with you.”

“So why did you leave?”

“I was scared of my feelings.” He closed his eyes. “I’m still scared by how much I love you.”

“You don’t have to be scared, Max. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Thank you, Sophie.” He kissed her shoulder. “Shall I make us some breakfast?”

“Yes, please.” Sophie sat up and grabbed her bag as Max walked to the kitchen. She pulled out her phone to see if Ella had called but there were no new messages from her. As she went to put her phone back in her bag, she saw some papers had fallen out of the bag. She grabbed them up and stopped before she pushed them back in the bag. They were the newspaper articles that she had printed out. She figured that it couldn’t hurt to look. She perused them quickly and felt her heart beating fast as she read the headlines. She couldn’t believe what she was reading. The Maxwell that the reporters described didn’t sound like the Maxwell she knew, but then she thought back to the words Alexis had used the night before. Rape and Murder Was Maxwell capable of either of those things?

“Breakfast is almost ready, hun,” Maxwell called out from the kitchen.

“Okay,” she called back and stuffed the papers back in her bag. She needed to think, everything was happening so fast, she just couldn’t keep up. The reporters said that Maxwell had raped Alexis and that Mitch had beaten him off his sister, only thing was Max had been stronger than Mitch and had beaten him to a pulp. Supposedly, it was so bad that Mitch had been in the hospital for a couple of weeks. The only reason that Max hadn’t stayed in jail was because both Alexis and Mitch had declined to press charges or to tell the police their side of the story. Max had been sent to Europe on business and had been assigned to anger management classes. Mr. Van Harkel had paid about a hundred thousand dollars to keep the story out of the papers but some smaller presses had still decided to run the story.

Sophie could barely believe what she had read. It didn’t seem to match up with what she knew about Max. That wasn’t the guy who had been there for her when she was a kid, or the man who had made love to her so sweetly, or the man who had told her he loved her. But then again, did she really know Max? Maybe there was a side to him that was so dark that she didn’t want to believe it existed. Maybe he was right to stay away from her? What if he tried to hurt her and something happened to the baby. She bit her lip. Her baby came first now.

“Ready,” Max called to her from the kitchen. “Come on, sleepyhead.”

“Coming.” Sophie bent down, picked up his shirt, put it on, and sauntered into the kitchen. “Hmm, this smells good.” She went up to him and hugged him and looked at the omelet and fruit salad he had made for them. “Thank you.”

“Eat up. You and the baby need food.”

“Yes, pops.” Sophie grinned and bit into some toast.

“Maybe he’ll call me papa.”

“Who said it’s a boy?”

“Maybe she’ll call me papa.” He smiled.

“Or doodoo head.” Sophie laughed.

“Or your majesty.”

“Or Right Said Fred.”

“Why? Because I’m so sexy?”

“Yeah, that’s why.” She looked at him and raised her eyebrows. “Because you’re smexy.”

“Not as smexy as you.”

“I thought I was sexy?” She grinned. “I don’t want to be smexy.”

“I have a feeling that I don’t know what smexy means.” He came behind her and kissed her head before wrapping his arms around her. “Is this some new young term?”

“Yeah. You old fogies wouldn’t know it.” She grinned at him.

“I’ll get you for that.” He started to tickle her. “Old fogey, my foot.”

“Stop,” she squealed. “Stop.” She couldn’t stop laughing and she got up and ran from him.

“Oh no you don’t.” He chased after her into the living room and she ran around the chair. He caught up with her and they collapsed onto the floor in giggles. She rolled onto him and sat on top of him.

“I’ve got you where I want you, Mr. Smexy.” She giggled as he wriggled beneath her. He was still naked and she could feel his cock between her legs.

“You’re right where I want you as well.” He grinned up at her and she waited for him to adjust himself and enter her. She bent down and kissed him and when she realized he wasn’t going to stick it in, she reached down and adjusted his cock so it was at the entry of her pussy and then sat down on top of him.

“Emmm, that feels good. Oh Sophie,” Maxwell groaned as she bounced on his cock. “You fuck me so good.”

“I love the feel of you inside of me,” she moaned as she felt him slide in and out of her. She made sure to grind herself onto him so that she felt him deep inside of her. And then she heard her phone ring. And she paused. What if it was Ella and she was hurt or upset? She pulled herself off Max and grinned at him as he groaned and grabbed her phone. It was Ella.

“Ella? Are you okay?”

“Oh, Sophie.” Ella’s voice sounded like she had been crying.

“What’s wrong?” Sophie gasped as she felt Maxwell enter her from behind. She turned her face and tried to shake her head as Max slid in and out of her but she didn’t want to stop the marvelous feeling that was filling her body.

“Can you come, Sophie?” Ella gasped and Sophie realized that she hadn’t heard the last few sentences Ella had uttered.

“Uh, sure,” Sophie gasped out as Max fucked her hard and deep. She could feel his balls banging against her ass. “One sec.” She put the phone down and groaned, “Oh Max, please.” She screamed as he continued to slam into her and reached his hand around to rub her clit as he came in her. He pulled out of her, laid her on her back and got on top of her, his cock still hard. She spread her legs wide and he entered her, pulling his cock in and out of her slowly until she could no longer take it. She squeezed her legs together and clenched her pussy and Max groaned and fucked her faster. She immediately came and Max collapsed on top of her. He grinned at her and she reached over and grabbed the phone again.

“Ella?” she whispered into the phone.

“Sophie? Are you okay?” Ella’s voice sounded muffled.

“Yes, yes. What’s the address I should meet you at? Text it to me, and I’ll come right now.”

“Thanks, Sophie.” Ella hung up and Sophie sighed.

“Max, I can’t believe you did that.” She giggled at his pouty face. “I have to go and meet Ella.”

“I’m coming with you.” He jumped up.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She tried to keep her voice casual.

“I’m coming.” He looked at her sternly. “I’m not letting you out of my sight for the next couple of weeks, Sophie.”

“Don’t you trust me?”

“I love you and I’m coming.” He kissed her on the lips. “Get dressed quickly and let’s go see what Ella’s up to.”

“Ok.” Sophie shrugged. She hoped that Ella wasn’t going to be mad.

Maxwell drove them to the address that Ella had texted and they arrived within fifteen minutes. “Weird, I know someone who lives here.” Max frowned and Sophie swallowed hard. She hoped that the person Max was thinking about was not Joseph. She also hoped that Ella hadn’t been dumb enough to go to Joseph’s house.

“I’m here,” Sophie called Ella and prayed that her friend would just come downstairs.

“Come up, please. Apt. 10F.” Ella spoke quickly into the phone and hung up before Sophie could tell her that Maxwell was with her.

“I’ll just go and get her.” Sophie smiled at Max and frowned as he got out of the car with her. “You don’t need to come.”

“I’m coming,” his voice was wary and his face looked strained. Sophie suddenly felt worried but tried to hide it.

“Okay.”

They walked to the elevator and when she pressed the button for the 10th floor, she could see Max’s breathing change. He was also clenching one of his fists. But he didn’t say anything. They walked down the hall in silence and Sophie knocked on the door of apt. 10F.

Sophie nearly groaned when Joseph answered the door and she knew he was shocked to see them, especially Max. Ella came running to the door in a t-shirt and shorts. “It’s just Sophie. I told her to come.” She looked out the door and her face blanched when she saw her brother. “Max? What…what are you doing here?”

“What the fuck are you doing here, is the real question?” Maxwell pushed open the door and they saw that Joseph was standing there in only his boxer shorts and Ella was obviously not wearing a bra under her t-shirt. “Where is Lily?”

“Out of town, on business.” Joseph wiped his brow. “Look Max, I’m sorry but it’s not as it looks.”

“It looks like you are cheating on your wife and fucking my sister, Joe.” Max pushed his way into the apartment and Sophie followed him.

“Look Max. It was a mistake but she is insatiable. Who can resist when a hot young thing wants to fuck you?”

Ella gasped and stared at him. “You are the one who made the move on me.”

Joseph looked at Max in worry. “Look dude, your sister is a hornball. I don’t want to be rude but she’s a bit of a slut. She turned up here with a box of condoms.”

Before he could say anything else, Max had swung his fist into his face and he fell down to the ground. “Oh shit. My eye, my eye,” Joseph screamed and Max stepped back.

Sophie and Ella looked at each other in shock. “If I ever see you near my sister again, I will come back and make it so you never touch anyone else’s sister again. Do you hear me?” Max growled at the man who was on the floor cowered in fear. “Ella get your stuff and come with me now.”

Ella ran to get her bag and came back to the room. “I’m sorry, Joe,” she whispered as they walked out. Sophie hooked her arm through Ella’s, too scared to walk with Max. She’d never seen him this angry before and she was scared at how easy it seemed to be for him to resort to violence. Maybe the articles she had read were correct.

“Max, how could you do that to him?” Ella cried to her brother as they got into his car.

“He is a married man, Ella. I thought you knew better.” He glared at her and sighed as he saw Sophie get into the backseat with Ella. “I don’t know what you were thinking, going to the apartment he shares with his wife.”

“It’s not what it looks like,” Ella sighed defensively. “You don’t understand, Max.”

“I don’t want you seeing him again, Ella.”

“Whatever.” She spoke defiantly but softly. “Why did you come anyway?” She looked at Sophie suspiciously. “What happened to you yesterday anyway?” She paused. “Omg, you weren’t upset over Max yesterday, were you?” She slapped her hand across her face. “Omg, you’re sleeping with my brother.”

Sophie looked at her friend and bit her lip, unsure of what to say.

“Max, you asshole. How could you start banging my best friend? You couldn’t find anyone else?” Ella’s voice sounded angry. “And Sophie, what are you thinking? You know Max is a sleaze ball. He is always hooking up with women.”

“Ella, enough.” Max pulled up in front of their apartment complex. “Go and have a shower and we will be back to take you out for lunch and to tell you more.”

“Aren’t you coming up, Sophie?”

Sophie looked to Max and then shook her head. “No. I’ll see you later.” She got out of the car and went to the front seat and they drove off, after they made sure Ella went into the apartment complex. They drove in silence back to Max’s apartment and Sophie studied the face of the man that she loved.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about Ella and Joseph.” Max looked at her angrily.

“It wasn’t for me to say.” Sophie was annoyed. She ran into the apartment and then grabbed her bag.

“What are you doing?” Maxwell looked at her in surprise. “Are you leaving?” His voice was sad and soft.

“What?” She looked at him in surprise. “I’m going to shower, Max.” She sighed as she dropped the bag and walked over to him. “I’m just going to take a shower.” She kissed him on the lips and gave him hug.

“I’m sorry, Sophie.” Max stared at her. “I’m just so scared that you are going to change your mind.” He walked over to grab her bag and Sophie saw some papers had fallen out of it again when she dropped it. She prayed that Max didn’t look at them, as she was sure it was the articles about him.

The room was silent as Max picked up the papers and glanced at them before putting them in the bag. He dropped the bag as he looked at the papers. He turned around to face her, all color gone from his face. “So I guess you are going to leave me now?” His voice sounded dejected.

“No.” Sophie’s voice was strong and calm.

“You aren’t even going to ask me about the articles?” Max’s voice was incredulous. “You aren’t even going to give me the opportunity to tell my side.”

“No.” Sophie stared at Max and studied the face of the man that she loved.

“So you are just going to judge me? Just like that?” Max sat down on the couch and he looked crushed.

Sophie walked up to him and sat next to him on the couch. She took his hands into hers and stared into his eyes. “Max, I’m not going to ask you about the articles because I don’t need to. I love you and I know the kind of man that you are. You are the teenager who played with a kid because you didn’t want her to feel alone after her parents died. You are the guy who snuck me midnight snacks. You are the guy who told me I was pretty, even when I was a geeky kid. You are the man who spent hours with me teaching me algebra. You are the man I dream of every night and I know and trust that you could never have done those horrible things. I love you so much that I don’t need to hear you say anything. There are no words left to say to convince me that you are a wonderful person. I already know that and I love you.” She stopped talking as she saw tears falling from Max’s eyes. “Oh, my love.” She drew him towards her and he held her close to him.

“I’m not deserving of your love, Sophie.” He pulled back from her. “Thank you for saying the words that have made everything right in my world. I’ve been so scared that you would hear these stories and believe them.”

“I would never believe you to be capable of such things,” she spoke softly.

“You must really love me to believe that, even after I just hit Joseph.”

Sophie laughed. “That certainly didn’t help matters, but any guy would do that to a man who was disrespecting his family like that.”

Max sighed. “Yeah. I’ll have to deal with him next week. But now I want to tell you what happened.”

“You don’t have to.” She squeezed his hand.

“No, I do.” He smiled at her. “Please reserve judgment until I’m done.”

“Ok.” She smiled at him warmly.

“So Sophie, I’ve been in love with you since you were about sixteen.” He sighed. “I didn’t realize it until that summer you were seventeen and started talking about boys. I felt so jealous and upset. I didn’t want to acknowledge it. I’d been seeing Alexis that summer and had gone over to her place to get you off of my mind.”

“Oh.” Sophie tried not to feel jealous.

“So we had sex. I’m sorry.” He frowned at her. “And as I came, I called out your name.”

“Oh.”

“I was embarrassed. But I’d been fantasizing about you as I fucked her and well let’s just say that she wasn’t too happy about it.”

“I bet.” Sophie felt a weird thrill inside.

“The next thing I know she is screaming and her brother Mitch runs into the room. She tells him that I raped her and he starts beating me up. Then she screams and grabs him and tells him that I hadn’t raped her but that I was a pedophile and had been calling out your name. Well then, Mitch made some really crude remarks about you and the things he wanted to do to you. I just saw red and hit him back and it became a full-fledged fight and well, he ended up in the hospital.”

“Oh Max.”

“So I couldn’t face you again. And I swore that I would stay away from you. I was too old to be in love with a seventeen-year-old girl. It was wrong. You were my sister’s best friend and you looked up to me. And all I could think of was what it would be like to have you in my bed.”

“I thought about you too,” Sophie said shyly.

“What?” He looked up at her in amazement.

“I was trying to make you jealous that summer.” Her face flushed. “I’ve loved you for a long time as well.”

“Oh Sophie.” He pulled her close and kissed her. “You’re not disgusted by me?”

“Of course not.” She snuggled into him. “But why did you date Alexis again?”

He groaned. “I’m a man. She’s a beautiful woman. She wanted to try again and I figured why not. I had already told myself that I could never be with you.”

“Oh.” Sophie felt a twist of pain in her gut.

“But this summer, I knew I couldn’t stay away. I felt my love for you stronger than ever and I was scared that it would disgust you.”

“Oh Max. You could never disgust me.”

“There’s never been anyone else for me but you, Sophie. I’ve never loved or wanted anyone else. Please say you’ll marry me soon.”

“On one condition.” She looked at him sternly.

“Anything.” He stared at her with love and concern.

“Sell this apartment and let’s get a house somewhere. Somewhere that is home for us and the baby.”

“Oh of course my love, of course.” He flooded her face with kisses. “You have made me the happiest man in all the world.”

“You’ve made me the happiest woman in all the world.” Sophie grinned up at him and kissed all over his face. “I love you, Maxwell Van Harkel.”

“I love you, Sophie.” They stared into each other’s eyes and both vowed that they would always be honest with each other and never let anything come between them.

Sophie’s phone beeped as they lay there on the couch and she saw a text message from Ella and sighed.

“What’s wrong, my dear?” Max looked at her in concern.

“I’m just worried about Ella,” she sighed.

He kissed her lips softly. “Don’t sigh, my love. We will see what we can do to help her. Maybe we’ll match her up with someone else.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Sophie squealed as Max reached down and slid his hand between her legs. “Oh, Max.”

“Oh, Sophie. You know I can’t get enough of you.” He grinned up at her as he slid her pants down and silenced her with his lips.

Sophie closed her eyes and grinned in ecstasy. She was never going to get fed up of Max and the way he made her feel when he made love to her. And she was going to make sure that she always gave as good as she got.

Thanks for reading ‘The Billionaire’s Baby’ – The Full Series. I will be releasing one more book in the series called, ‘New Beginnings’. It will be a stand-alone book focused on Sophie, Maxwell and the baby and will also feature more of Ella’s story.

Please feel free to like my Facebook page or visit my blog so that you will know as soon as the book is available.

All Books Available By Helen Cooper

How To Catch A Billionaire

A Baby For The Millionaire

The Billionaire’s Unlikely Bride

For Love or For Revenge

The Millionaire’s Assistant

The Professor’s Student

The Accidental Stripper

The Erotic Files Vol. 1

The Erotic Files Vol. 2

The Millionaire’s Club (Both Millionaire’s Series)

The Professor and the Nanny

The Millionaire’s Games

Table of Contents

Copyright

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

All Books Available By Helen Cooper