Complicated Ch. 08

Chapter 8

Max's theory about being out in public, so that we could manage to get to know each other better, was a fairly sound one; except that we did usually end up ducking into some alleyway or a public toilet or in the car to fuck each other to satisfaction. I don't know if the reason for this was behaviour was because he had an exhibitionistic streak or if he felt the need to assert his dominance over me or if he just found me that irresistible. The truth was probably a mix of all three. It was another one of those things I didn't ask him about.

I had learned a great deal about Max' work- and it made sense why his weekends were busier than the rest of his week. He spoke to me about his past- he even opened a bit about his relationship with Jenna. He told me about how she had supported his choice to pursue his passion of cooking despite holding a degree in business management. They had been in love and together for long enough that they'd both talked about marriage being the next natural step for them. Diego had been Max's friend for years and was in fact responsible for introducing Jenna to him. It sounded like the three of them had a great deal of history that made the betrayal that much worse. He said he couldn't hold it against them that they'd fallen in love with each other but I could tell that Max had a lot of residual trust issues.

For the most part I still considered Max to be somewhat of a mystery. We were spending a lot of time together both indoors as well as out- and yes, I was back on birth control- but I had yet to meet or even hear about Max's friends. Could someone really be that alone in the world? It seemed hardly possible. But that was the impression Max gave me. He'd been so focused on making it in the culinary world that he'd not bothered building much of a social life.

We spoke about our past, we even spoke about what we wanted in our future, but we never spoke about what it was we were doing together in our present. I guessed Max was just having some fun while getting over a painful relationship while I was just living in the moment. I was no longer searching for that perfect for 'long term relationship Indian guy', I was just enjoying each day as it came and tried not to think about what would happen next. I figured I could be happy as long as I kept thinking that way.

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"I just don't get why you can't just leave some of your stuff here." Max stated with annoyance; this wasn't the first time we were having this discussion. "I mean, it's ridiculous that you can't just spend the night if you feel like it because you don't have your stuff here and that you need to always lug that huge bag around anytime you plan to."

I sat quietly as I usually did whenever he brought this up. Arguing would've been pointless. He would say what he needed to and then eventually calmed down.

"And it's not as if my place is cramped like yours. There's plenty of room in my closet and my bathroom for your stuff. Why do you have to be so irrational?"

I couldn't explain it to him. I understood his argument but I was afraid that leaving my stuff around would make it all feel real somehow, like a real relationship and not just a casual fling. How was I supposed to explain these irrational fears? So instead, I sat mum observing the floorboards.

"Nayana? What is it?" He asked, tenderly parting the hair away from my face. "What are you not telling me?"

I chewed on my lower lip as Max waited patiently for some explanation.

"May-maybe," I fumbled, "perhaps we shouldn't be spending so much time together?"

"Why?"

I shrugged my shoulders and looked down at my hands, hoping that maybe I'd see some answer in the lines of my hands.

Max sighed and got off the bed.

"Clearly you have some reason that you refuse to share with me. I won't force you."

He walked out of the bedroom and then immediately returned as if he'd just remembered something.

"I need to go to my dad's town to close the sale on his place. I'll be gone for around three to... four days, tops... Will you come with me?"

I knew it would be difficult for me to take four days leave from work at such short notice but I also sensed that this trip would be hard for Max, and I feared that he didn't have anyone else he could ask.

"Sure."

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A day's drive was all it took for us to arrive at Max's father's place in Shelby. He had chosen to drive so that it would be easier to carry back any of the keepsakes he may want to hold on to. En route I discovered that the place we were going to wasn't just Max's father's place but was also the home he grew up in. I was glad I had agreed to go along with him.

When we finally got to Shelby, it was late in the evening and Max was exhausted. He had made reservations for us to stay at one of the local bed and breakfast joints. He drove us straight to the B&B and got us checked in.

"Goodness! That one is a hoot." I was referring to the sweet old lady who ran the B&B, who had just finished directing us to our room.

Max nodded in agreement, "She could teach the telesales people a thing or two."

"Yes. You'd better tip her well after all those compliments about what a handsome looking couple we make."

"You doubt that?" Max squinted and looked at me.

"Yeah, we're quite the pair- the incredible hulk and his little woman!"

"C'mere my little woman and show your hulk just how incredible you find him."

I rolled my eyes in response and turned around. That's when I noticed them.

"Twin beds!" I couldn't stop giggling as I jumped on the one that was next to the window.

"This one's mine." I announced my claim.

He looked around in disbelief. "What the hell?"

"I think it's perfect," I said while bouncing on the bed, "I'll at least manage to get some sleep this way."

Max sounded irate when he asked, "My snoring keeping you up?"

"No, it's your scent." I blurted and immediately covered my mouth with my hands to shut myself from saying any further.

Max caught the gesture and jumped on the bed beside me.

"My scent, eh?"

I pursed my lips and shook my head.

"Oh now I HAVE to know."

Max grabbed me and started tickling me.

"Spill or I won't stop."

A few minutes of getting tackled by him and I couldn't take any more of it.

"Okay okay. Just stop."

"Alright, now spill."

"Your scent- it keeps me up at night."

"You sayin' I stink?" He appeared puzzled.

"Nuh," I groaned. "Your scent keeps me up because I... "

"You're mumbling to yourself. I can't understand what you're saying."

"I said, that it keeps me up at night because it makes me wanna do stuff... to you." I said meekly.

"So, my manly scent keeps you up all night?" Max teased.

"Oh shut up!" I hit him on the head with one of the pillows. "So now you know, so go to your bed."

"I didn't make you come here with me just to have you sleep in another bed. You'll just have to learn to deal with my pheromones."

"Sheesh! I knew I'd regret telling you."

He stopped laughing and drew close to me.

"Okay, no jokes. Now, tell me what is it exactly?"

"I can't explain it."

"Well, try."

I closed my eyes and tried to find the words to explain the sensations.

"It's like I wake up in the night and everything is dark and quiet and I can't really see or hear anything except... except maybe the sound of your breathing, but... I can smell you... And if we've, you know, done it, I can smell us." I took a deep breath imagining I was inhaling that scent now.

"And it's so heady, and so palpable that I can only focus on you... No," I shook my head to correct myself, "no, I am aware of nothing but you beside me. And then, I feel overcome by this... this great... umm... craving for you- like I just have to have you inside me and around me, y' know, so it's just you. And this need to... consume you is so great at times it hurts."

I was completely focused on my thoughts and rattled them off as they came to me without filtering them in any way. It was only after I was done that I played back in my head all the things I'd said and realised that I'd admitted to Max some things that I hadn't even to myself till then. I chewed on my lip and considered discussing it with him. Instead I got up, walked to the bathroom and locked myself in. I felt we both could use a few minutes to process my ramblings. I saw that there was a bath tub so I put it to use. An hour long soak didn't provide me with any sort of clarity but it did help me relax enough not to feel the need to hide out in the bathroom any more.

I finally stepped out of the bathroom only to find Max fast asleep on the twin of the bed I'd claimed for myself. I sighed in relief, grateful to have been spared the awkward discussion.

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The following morning I woke up to sunshine, birds chirping and Max arranging breakfast from a service cart onto the little table by the window. He looked at me and smiled- everything felt right in my world again. I told myself everything would be fine if I could just stop trying to analyse my thoughts and feelings as much as I did.

We finished our breakfast and headed to Max's old home. Along the way he pointed out spots associated with his childhood and shared some of his anecdotes with me. Evidently, Max had chosen to ignore my musings from the previous night and I saw no reason why I couldn't as well.

I listened to Max tell me stories about how little he was and how he hadn't come into his current size until after high school. It was odd for me to think of Max as anything but the great big mountain of a man he was. It was even harder for me to believe the stories about him receiving 'wedgies' and 'noogies'- thankfully he also explained what those unfamiliar terms meant- for being the runt amongst his boyhood friends.

We parked in the driveway of his old home. I observed him as he slowly got out of the car and stood watching one of the windows on the top floor of the house. His eyes seemed clouded and his gaze distant like he was observing another scene from another time instead of the one before him. Instinctively I moved to stand beside him and gave his hand a little squeeze.

"That used to be her studio," He said in a faraway tone. "I'd come home from school and watch her with her canvases and then I'd call out to her... She would notice me and lean out the window to wave to me. It's been so long since she's gone, but I still expect that if I called out, she'll lean out the window and wave."

I realised Max was referring to his mother. He hadn't told me a lot about her but enough to know that Max had loved her dearly and hated his father because he blamed him for her death. He walked into the house with me beside him, we were still holding hands.

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We spend the day sorting through the things to check if there was anything Max may need or may want to hold on to. Incredibly he was able to fit the contents of his past into two neat little boxes, everything else was set aside for one of the local charities to come and collect the following day.

Most of the rooms in the house had been converted or painted over since the time that Max had last lived there so I had to rely on my imagination and the sparse collection of family photographs to visualise the stories he was sharing with me. Before that day he'd never spoken about his childhood and yet every nook and corner now had a story that just had to be told. It struck me that there's no escaping nostalgia when one goes home.

I followed him from room to room listening to his stories; I laughed when he laughed and leaned against him when he'd go quiet and remember his mother. He told me about how his home had been so different from the others because his mother encouraged him to make a mess, whether it was with the paints in her studio, mud in the backyard or food in the kitchen, she encouraged him to have a hands on approach towards anything he did and to be unafraid of creating a mess. I thought about how liberating it would be to live life without fearing any of the messes we're likely to make along the way.

By evening we were done with the place; the estate agent was going to come by the next morning with the relevant papers for Max to sign and then we would be free to leave. We drove straight back to the B&B after what must've been an emotionally exhausting day for Max.

He was calling for room service as I headed straight to the bathroom to fill the tub. I opened the pack of scented candles I'd spotted the previous night and lit them around the bathroom. Then I went to get Max.

"Come on," I dragged him into the bathroom, "get in and have a nice soak."

He looked at me very seriously before he asked, "But aren't you afraid that this may mess with my manly scent?"

I closed my eyes in embarrassment.

"Sheesh!"

"What? You didn't think I just forgot all the things you said last night, did you?" He asked in a low tone.

"Well, I'd hoped..."

"... that I forgot that I can turn a woman to putty by my scent alone? Nuh-uh, not the kinda thing one forgets." He teased.

"Shut up and get into the tub before the water goes cold."

I moved to leave the bathroom but he grabbed me by my hand and pulled me back.

"Join me?"

His expression had changed, it was no longer teasing. I've never understood how Max could switch from one emotion to another as rapidly as he did.

Without waiting for my response he began to undress me. I waited till he was done and then undressed him. The tub was large but I wasn't sure it would accommodate the two of us. He climbed in and then held his hand out to help me in. I slid down his chest and settled myself between his legs.

Max put his arms around me and leaned forward to settle his chin in the crook of my neck. There was something very intimate and comforting about the gesture.

"Thank you." He whispered.

Something about the way it was said made me wonder what it was he was thanking me for. I'd learnt that reading his expressions was often easier than asking what he meant. Unfortunately there wasn't enough room for me to turn and watch his face. I hugged my knees and rested my chin upon them.

He kissed me below the ear lobe and gently ran his hands up and down my back. Eventually his hands reached around to play with my breasts- cupping and squeezing them, to have me purring in no time. I leaned back into him, savouring the tingles as he pulled on one nipple and then the other while his, now hard, cock pressed into my back. He nibbled on my earlobe as one of his hands reached below to tease my clit. He was breathing hard in my ear now and I was no longer feeling relaxed. I needed him.

Splashing a great deal of water, I stood up and turned around to face him before I lowered myself again. I finally settled straddling his hips. Max held me by hooking his arms under my shoulder as I grabbed his engorged member and began to lower myself onto it.

We both moaned as I began my slow descent down his impressive length. The muscles in my thighs quivered but I refused to be rushed. Finally my butt made contact with his thighs. I looked at Max and ground my hips. Max thrust upwards in response. Because of our position within the confines of the tub he was unable to move more than a couple of inches.

I couldn't help but break into a fit of giggles sensing his predicament. In response he held my hips tight and thrust as hard as he could, in the process displacing most of the water from the tub.

"Aaah." I moaned.

He looked at me smugly.

I steadied my body and focused completely on squeezing the walls of my pussy around his cock. I was rewarded with an, "Oh fuck!"

It was my turn to pull the smug face.

He looked intently at me and then captured my mouth in a kiss while his hands grabbed my ass cheeks and pulled me down harder on his cock. This time we both groaned.

I began to slowly raise and lower myself on his cock, enjoying the sensation of my nipples rubbing against his wet chest. Max kept staring into my eyes, but he wasn't just looking at me but rather into me.

You're analysing again.

I closed my eyes and just gave in to the sensations but Max would have none of that it would seem. He pulled my face close to him and insisted, "Look at me, Nayana."

I opened my eyes.

"I want you to look at me while you fuck me. I want you to see who it is you are fucking."

I didn't understand what he meant by his words but I did what he asked. I looked into his eyes as I raised and lowered myself faster and faster. The intensity of his stare seemed to propel the motion of my hips. I was ready to come; I was just waiting for him now.

He grabbed my hips hard and pulled me to him as his penis convulsed and shot its load inside me. The sensation of his come splashing over my inner walls always resulted in prolonging my own orgasm. I keened and ground my hips down allowing my pussy to milk his cock of every drop of come.

Max collapsed against the tub, hugging me close to his chest.