Disclaimer: No offense to anyone, anywhere, anytime is intended.

Author note: Hey Laurel, can you hit a curveball? Get ready to swing the bat. ; )

It Happened One Weekend

The fourth installment in the 'Friends, Schmends' series

by

Bart

"Bye sweetie! I love you! Be a good girl and call me if you need me to come and pick you up!"

Gracie reached her slender arms around Fran's neck and squeezed her tightly. Looking up into her Nanny's face, she could see the usual slight panic and longing Fran displayed everytime she left. She set her mouth into a grim and stern face. She loved Fran deeply but she was smart enough to know that Fran's severe attachment issues to her could cause a bit of a problem as she entered those social teen years upcoming.

She clasped Fran's forearms with her hands tightly. "Fran, I'm only spending the night at Emily's. You know her mother won't hurt me. It is O.K." Her voice slowed and emphasized the 'OK' to Fran.

Fran sniffed nonetheless and gave her another squeeze. "I know sweetie, and I want you to have fun but...you'll miss me?"

Gracie nodded. "You know I will Fran."

Max, who had been watching the scene play out between Miss Fine and his youngest, reached down to help Gracie pull away. He was quite sure if he didn't that Miss Fine would find some other way to keep from saying 'goodbye'.

He leaned over to give his daughter a quick peck on the cheek.

"Have a good time sweetheart. And don't worry about us, we'll be fine." He whispered it to her.

Gracie leaned up near his ear and spoke earnestly. "Dad, I think maybe, you better watch Fran this weekend. You know, pay her some extra attention. She's honestly scaring me a little."

Max drew his head back into a tight smile and glanced over his shoulder to see if Miss Fine had overheard his youngest. Gracie wasn't the only one scared by her.

"We'll be just fine sweetheart."

He turned and took Fran's hand in his own and looked at her. "Won't we Miss Fine?"

She put her bottom lip out and raised her chin. Her eyes were almost watery. "Yes?"

Gracie gave one last wave and grabbed her overnight bag to head out to the limo Emily's father had sent for her, shutting the door behind her.

Max released Fran's hand and placed a comforting arm around her shoulders. "Miss Fine, you know Gracie will be taken good care of. Emily's parents are very responsible people."

Fran's lip still protruded. "I know but...she's my baby!" she wailed and leaned into him.

He patted her shoulder. "There, there..." Turning her around with his arms, he lead her into the sitting room. "It's your day off. You should be planning on doing something fun for yourself!"

Fran shrugged him off and went over sofa and plopped down dejectedly. Max followed her and sat down beside her.

He leaned over to take her hand in his and with his other hand, he brought her chin up to meet his eyes. "Look at the bright side, Miss Fine, with all the children out of the house this weekend, you will have plenty of free time to do just what you'd like."

When she did nothing but sniff, he continued. "Now, what did you have in mind to do? Go shopping? Get your nails done? A facial? Val coming over?"

None of his suggestions were even remotely interesting to her right now. She reached for the Kleenex box on the table and swiped one up toward her nose.

She made a sour face at him. "No money. Already done. Don't need it. Gone out of town with her mother."

It wasn't until she wiggled her painted nails at him that Max realized that she was answering his queries in the order that he'd tossed them out.

Max raised his chin thoughtfully for a moment. "Well, uh...What did you have in mind for your weekend Miss Fine?"

Fran reached over to the coffee table where two videocassette boxes rested, picked them up and brought them to her lap. Looking down at them, she gave a hint of a smile and in that little smile was an unspoken question.

"Well...I did rent a couple of old movies."

Max, not catching her hint, grabbed onto her solution automatically. "See? There! A movie!. That will make you feel better. You love movies!"

Fran pouted her lip again when he didn't take her hint. "Not if I have to watch them by myself !" She almost wailed, but not quite.

Uh. Oh.

Max could almost hear the warning bells going off in his head. A movie? Again? Alone? With Miss Fine? His thoughts immediately wandered back to the previous weekend. Hands, slick with buttery popcorn residue, caressing each other's in the dark theatre. The feelings that had rioted through him in that theatre hadn't been productive to building a friendship only relationship with this woman. She'd warmed his heart and made him almost forget the important vow he'd made to himself-to them. And then...that almost kiss that he had started should never have happened but almost had. He couldn't go through that again. He had to find a way out of the suggestion she was making. As much as one part of him wanted to give into those longing eyes of hers and curl up on that sofa with her for the day, the other part of him knew better. It wouldn't be wise.

He took a steady breath and awkwardly reached to pat her shoulder. "Well...Maggie loves movies."

She made a sadder face.

Fran sighed. "At Kelli's for the weekend."

Max made a little 'O' with his mouth and then squinted his face a bit in thought.

"Brighton?" His tone was hopeful.

Fran shook her head. "Gone to the skateboarding tournament this weekend with Shane."

Max squinted his face up even more.

"Niles?" he asked weakly.

At that moment, Niles came bustling into the setting room, wearing a casual linen suit, donning sunglasses and holding a small black bag over his shoulder. He breezed by the sofa without so much as a glance before pausing momentarily at the coat closet to gather a rain jacket and umbrella. It was then he looked up and spoke.

"Well, I'm off to Jersey to stroke some slots...Wish me luck people!"

Both Fran and Max twisted their heads to stare at him, amazed at how focused he seemed.

Max was the one to ask. "What do you mean you're 'off' to the slots?"

Niles cocked his eyebrow at him rather impatiently but Max missed the meaning. "Sir, you do remember that you told me a few weeks back when I helped you with that dinner on my day off that I could take two off this particular weekend when you had nothing pressing on the calendar..."

Max dropped his mouth open blankly and then shut it as he faintly remembered his promise to his butler. "Oh, yes, well...have a good time Niles."

"Don't blow your life savings!" Fran yelled over the sofa as Niles, refusing to acknowledge her warning, hurried to the door as if afraid his employer would find some excuse to keep him there if he didn't hustle on out.

The door shut with a thud and suddenly, the house seemed inordinately quiet. Neither of them said a word for a long moment. It was as if they were both afraid to address the unspoken truth that now stared them in the face. They were alone. Together. For the entire weekend.

It was enough to make a grown man cry.

It was enough to make a grown woman weep.

Fran couldn't believe her fantastic luck. She wanted to cry out with joy! Mr. Sheffield, all hers...for the entire weekend...the two of them alone in the house? Did life get any better? Did the fates smile any brighter? She glanced to the heavens hiding a sly smile of her own. Someone was definitely watching out for her. Or her mother's extra prayers were finally being heard. She guessed even God got tired of listening to her mother's voice.

Whatever the reason, she could have cared less. He was hers for the weekend and she intended to make the best of it. If she couldn't make headway in two entire days with the two of them alone, then it was not meant to be. But, she knew better. And she intended to make that headway.

She smiled at her prey sweetly and nudged Max in the ribs playfully with her elbow. "Well...looks like it's just you and me pal."

Max's lips tightened and he gave an imperceptible nod. She could almost see his wheels turning with ways to get out of this. But Niles had already let the cat out of the bag...he had nothing pressing this weekend.

She smiled internally. Except maybe her up against him if she were lucky. It took all of her self-discipline to keep from chuckling aloud at the delicious thought.

She leaned over toward him ever so slightly. "Ready to watch a movie with me?"

Max cleared his throat and bent over toward her videos. "Er...um...what did you rent Miss Fine?"

She smiled up at him with a look that said, 'Mouse, meet cat'. "Oh, well, I thought in the spirit of our movie excursion last weekend that some classics would be in order. I've got 'Pillow Talk' and 'That Touch of Mink'. " She winked at him. "Doris Day had to be the luckiest broad in the entire universe. I mean, Cary Grant and Rock Hudson?!"

She wiggled her eyebrows and her hips at the same time and somehow became snuggled up against Max's side even tighter.

He took a deep breath. He could smell her. And god, did she smell wonderful! He had to do something and he was afraid of what it might be if he spent the day watching old romantic movies with this woman curled on the sofa alone in the house.

He quickly scanned the room for an escape pod. He felt like a man underwater slowly watching the gauge on his oxygen tank slide closer to empty with the surface nowhere in sight. He had to get out of here. His eyes frantically searched the room and landed upon his keys, which he'd earlier tossed on the coffee table, and a grain of an idea began to form in his mind.

Quickly, before the feel and smell of her threatened to force him to stay on the sofa, he jumped to his feet and bent to get the keys. His limo driver was off today but he didn't own a Lamborghini for nothing. "Let's go for a drive!"

He glanced down at Fran who sat looking up at him baffled. "What?!" Her tone was incredulous.

"A drive?" She repeated back to him.

He nodded at her excitedly, his eyes wide.

"Yes, Miss Fine! A drive!" He reached for her hand and brought her up from the sofa to stand in front of him. "It's a beautiful day outside; much too nice to stay in watching movies all day!" He swung her arm behind him as he turned and headed to the door, pulling her along.

Reaching the foyer coat closet, he opened it and retrieved both of their light jackets. Turning, his smile was wider than ever as she still stood stunned by his sudden, impulsive behavior. "This will be wonderful Miss Fine! You'll see! We'll drive up into the country and enjoy the scenery!" Taking her hand once more in his, he helped her into her jacket before sliding into his. He opened the door and held it.

Fran, still not sure how they got from watching romantic movies all day curled up on the sofa to a wilderness excursion, robotically grabbed for her purse and moved toward the door. What was she gonna do? At least he was offering for the two of them to do something together.

His smile increased. "Come on Miss Fine! I've got cabin fever!"

As Fran walked by him and crossed to his red Lamborghini parked on the curb, she took a deep breath and muttered back over her shoulder, "Yeah, well, I got a fever too...but it ain't because I want to mate with nature..."

Oblivious to her mutterings, Max jingled the keys and slid in the driver's seat to start the engine.

****************************************************

"Where did you say we were going?"

Fran hadn't said anything until he'd turned onto the Bruckner Expressway and headed out of the city on I-95 but now as he slowed to pay the required toll, she decided to satisfy her growing curiosity.

Max leaned his head back on his headrest and tilted his face toward her momentarily as he stretched his arms out on the steering wheel. He loved the way this car felt beneath him, the power he controlled, the smooth purr of the engine. He felt a rush of power and adrenaline that had something to do with having a luxury sports car at his fingertips and a beautiful woman at his side. He felt as footloose and fancy free as he had in a good while and gave a confident smile to prove it.

"Oh, I thought we'd ride up toward Connecticut."

Fran watched him for a long moment as his eyes trailed back to the busy interstate in front of him and clicked his blinker to change lanes. He seemed relaxed. Very unlike he had in the house just a few minutes before when she'd practically begged him to watch movies with her. Maybe he was telling the truth and he really just had a good case of very early spring fever.

Spring?

A time for all things new and hope springs eternal.

Perhaps, the adage as old as time, would hold true for she and Mr. Sheffield as well and in time, they would reach their own 'spring'. Goodness knows, she needed a little 'springing'. Often times now she felt like a circus cat in a cage pacing back and forth, uneasy and just waiting for her cue, waiting for the right time to growl and never knowing if or when that was to be.

Good grief! What was she thinking about? Circus cats? What was next? Lions? Bozo?

Oy! Maybe she really did need some therapy.

Time to get this puppy back on some kind of sane track. She glanced at her watch. Not even lunch time yet. They had all day. She wanted to be sure not to waste it thinking about some damn circus cat.

"Mr. Sheffield, I have been to Connecticut ya know. I know a great state park off of Highway nine about two hours out. Has a waterfall and hiking trails"

Max raised his eyebrows at the suggestion.

"Really?" His voice was full of curious wonder.

She slanted her head toward him. "Yeah, really. Don't sound so surprised. I know my way around a few of these quiet, country roads."

Max's eyebrows went up to a whole new level of interest. "Oh really?"

Fran reached into the glove compartment and retrieved a stashed nail file which she automatically began to work her nails with. She raised her chin haughtily at his inquisitive tone and glanced up briefly. "Mmmmhummmm..." She mumbled the response offering no further details or explanations.

Max squinted his eyes at the road and then turned them on her just a moment. "And why would it be Miss Fine that you would have knowledge of so many...as you put it, 'quiet, country roads'?

She raised her arm, stretched her hand out in front of her and blew purposefully and slowly on the freshly filed nails.

"And that would be your buisness how, Mr.Sheffield?"

Max brought his right hand off the steering wheel and reached to envelop hers in his larger one. She noticed how his hand swallowed hers and how his darker skin and the fine dark hairs on the back of his hand contrasted with her softer, smaller one. She had a flashback to the movie theatre last weekend. She loved the feel of his skin on hers. She'd had just enough of a taste of it now that she craved more-constantly. He was certainly touched her more lately than he'd ever before. She couldn't ever remember him initiating as much contact as he had since they had been dating as 'just friends'. He'd reached for her hand numerous times at the mall and then, that delicious little digit battle they'd waged at the theatre had left her hungry for something other than popcorn. She wondered if the reason were his own growing need for her touch. She sucked in a breath and desperately hoped so.

"Miss Fine?"

She realized that he'd responded and she hadn't been listening, instead caught up in thoughts of skin on skin and the growing needs within her own body for this man. She tried to clear her eyes of her traitorous thoughts before looking at him.

"I'm sorry. What?"

"I said that I think friends should be able to share secrets with each other."

She smiled tightly. "I would agree-to a point."

Max nodded, feeling pleased that he'd won the minor concession from her. "Then, you'll tell me how you know so much about the Connecticut backroads?"

Fran bit her lower lip and looked a tiny bit embarrassed now. "Um...no...there are certain secrets that should remain just that."

Max worked his jaw for just a moment and then clicked his tongue. "Oh, I bet can get you to fess up before the day's out Miss Fine."

Fran snorted. "Not if you tied me up and threatened me."

Max gave her an evil grin. "Don't tempt me Miss Fine."

Fran snarled at him but there was no real malace in it.

And together, they continued to drive further toward the Connecticut wilderness.

*************************************************************

They had driving east on Interstate 95 when Fran decided nature was calling fast.

"Mr. Sheffield, you need to stop as soon as possible."

"Craving a soda, Miss Fine?" Max glanced at the dashboard's glowing clock to see that it was sneaking toward lunchtime.

"More like needing to release one." Fran picked up the cola she had purchased at a quick snack stop about thirty miles back in New Haven and wiggled it in response.

Max's mouth formed an instantanous and understanding 'O'.

"Just hold on, I'm not sure my seats are waterproof." He quipped as he pulled to his right lane in preparation to exit at the next available opportunity.

Fran twisted her lips wryly at him. "My, my...Niles put razors in your eggs this morning?"

Max gave her a wink and enjoyed the light flirting they were doing. He had to admit that this friendship stuff wasn't all bad. In fact, it was going a bit better than he'd thought lately. Initially, he'd been almost sure that Miss Fine was using it as a way to change her mind about their mutual decision. The kiss they'd shared in the limo after a long day of shopping had certainly been a mite more than just 'friendly' but now, she seemed to be accepting and content with their arrangement.

He had to admit that he enjoyed these little jaunts the two of them had indulged in lately. He wasn't surprised that he could enjoy her company-he already knew that-he was surprised that they could be as compatable as they were. He never knew how much she enjoyed old movies until he'd suggested they see 'Houseboat' last weekend. That movie had led to a dinner conversation just a couple of nights later about which classic actors were the best. She preferred Clark Gable's suave while he went for Jimmy Stewart's flexibility; she enjoyed the comedy of Doris Day while he preferred the classic touch of Greer Garson.

He'd realized without a doubt that the more he learned about Fran Fine, oddly the more he wanted to learn. Just as easily as she angered him, she interested him. Logically, she wasn't the type of female, type of person that he normally would ever find himself hanging about with on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Hell, before her, he hadn't even contemplated a lazy Saturday afternoon. He should be at the club working out, the theatre checking his production out, having drinks after a round of golf or at a business dinner smoozing some potential investors. But, that's not where he wanted to be. He could admit that much.

She was interested in him. She asked questions and he could tell they weren't those longsuffering type of questions that so many women asked just to wiggle their way into a man's good graces. She really wanted to understand him better. And he had to admit, that made him feel good. She was interested in him. Interested in life. And her infectious attitude made him as interested in the world as he'd been in a long time.

"Mr. Sheffield! Aren't you gonna get off?!"

Her alarmed yelp made him quickly realize that, lost in thought as he was, he'd almost missed the exit altogether.

He quickly swiped at his blinker and did a slicing swerve to make it onto the off ramp in the nick of time.

Fran arched a high eyebrow his way. "Been driving in the states long?"

Max ignored her jab and instead looked for the first available restroom. He caught a glimpse of a Chevron station on the right, wheeled in and pulled up to the pumps. "Might as well fill up while we're here."

They both got out; Fran headed into the station while Max came round and reached for the high-octane hose.

Both completed their deeds in short time and Max had just finished his payment at the pump when Fran came strolling out with a familar look on her face. Her mind was obviously plotting and that could be a dangerous thing.

No sooner had they climbed back into the car did he ask what she was thinking. "Miss Fine, I smell something fishy..."

Fran made a screwy face. "Probably that restroom. Pheewww! Smelled like something crawled up that toliet and died in there!"

Max gave her a rather distasteful glance as he pulled forward toward the highway. "Spare me the lovely details Miss Fine."

Fran didn't miss a beat and switched gears back to what she was thinking on as she walked to the car a moment ago.

"Let's have a picnic!" She said it so suddenly he almost jumped but managed to get back onto the highway and then gave her a surprised look.

"And do you suggest we ring Niles and have him meet us at the next exit?"

Fran gave him a half snarl, half amused twist of her lips. "Sarcasm is not a good look for you Mr. Sheffield, I gotta tell ya."

She then began to drum her fingers against the door panel and bit her lips thoughtfully before turning back to him and raising her fingers to a snap.

"I've got it! This little burg must have a Kroger or Target or something!" She smiled as if in anticipation. "Let's hit the bakery, grab a couple of plate lunches and head for the hills! I know the perfect spot!"

Max began to nod. Actually, this was a pretty good idea. Not harebrained. No ulterior motive. Just a nice picnic in the beautiful Connecticut woods. Sounded plenty safe enough.

He switched his blinker to turn right and headed toward the town.

********************************************

It turned out that the bustling early American town of Olde Saybrook, Connecticut, population 9,447, actually didn't have a Kroger afterall. But, what it did have was a charming downtown area on the beautiful Connecticut River. Max drove around the town 'green' as his co-pilot suggested and came to a stop at a deli and bakery decorated with pink and white candy striped overhangs, pink door lettering and named appropriately, 'Eats and Sweets'.

Max pulled himself out of the low vehicle and went around to open Fran's door before reaching for her hand to assist her upon the high curb. They both looked up and down the length of the street, admiring how charmingly old world the little town appeared. It was almost as if they had driven into a town from the the late 1700s.

The door jingled pleasantly above their heads as they entered and a jolly looking, matronly woman greeted them warmly from behind the counter. "What can I be a doin' for ya...?" The woman spoke in a faint, lyrical Irish brogue as she spread her arms wide to indicate the delicious looking cakes, pastries and other sundries. "Looks like the lot of ye need some fattin' up the two of ya do..." Her kindly eyes went from Max to Fran and then back to rest on Max.

Max smiled up at her as Fran continued to be fascinated by the array of rich foods behind the glass windows.

"Yes, um, do you serve sandwiches to go?" He noted the prices of sandwiches, salads and soups on the tack board behind her head and let his eyes dart back and forth from the board to her.

"Ah, yes Sir. What kind a sandwich do ye be a needin'?"

Max studied the menu list for just a moment longer and ordered himself a roast beef on rye with a side of gourmet gouda cheese, pickle, fruit and iced lemonade.

"And the pretty wife?"

Fran straightened to her full height at the question and smiled sweetly at the woman, secretly thanking her for the phrasing of her question before answering. "The pretty wife wants a turkey and munster on a crossiant with light mayo please-and a diet soda."

As the jolly woman scurried off to fill their 'to go' orders, Fran turned to link her arm through Max's. "Well...hubby, looks like we'll have full stomachs for lunch." She gave him a sly smile that told him she was yet again getting a kick out of someone mistaking them as husband and wife.

Max couldn't believe how often it seemed to happen lately. Did they look like a married couple? Act like one? Good grief, he'd have to be more careful than he had been about the frequency with which he touched Miss Fine in public. If strangers could think they were...together in that way, then it wasn't unreasonable to think that others closer to them-such as the children- might get the same impression.

He studied her a moment as she again busied herself once more with lustfully coveting the rich desserts behind the glass. In her comfortable jeans, light yellow cotton pullover and tennis shoes, she looked very young and full of energy. Her hair was pulled up to expose her long neckline and she wore a lighter covering of makeup than normal today. Her lips glistened with a shiny gloss and riveted his attention for a long moment and his mind began to wander back to the many times he'd touched them with his own. He wasn't to blame. Really. He was a man. Afterall, she was indeed very 'pretty' as the woman had said. And they were friends. Close friends. It was no big deal to share a kiss on occasion. And, if someone mistakenly thought them married, it was no big deal. He had a few years on her after all-at least as far as he knew. He should feel flattered and blow it off, that's all.

He straightened himself up to his full height and tugged at the lightweight blue jacket he wore over his casual shirt yet, he couldn't shake the thought of the woman's innocent mistake from his head. He knew he was partially to blame. He was too touchy with her as well but it seemed easier to just blame Miss Fine for...for what?

Being your friend? How the hell was she supposed to act? She was just being herself around him and he was damn proud of that and if the world couldn't accept their friendship the way it was, then they could just go...

"Order's up...darling..." Fran tossed a teasing smile his way as she inclined her head toward the counter. She reached into her purse and begin to dig through her billfold for a small bill. When she found one, she walked to the counter to stand beside Maxwell who already had a bill pulled from his wallet.

"I'll get mine Mr. Sheffield." She pushed the twenty-dollar bill toward the woman and reached for the smaller of the styrofoam boxes. Max pushed it back at her with a bit of impatience.

"I'll pay for it." He growled and shoved the bill back toward her.

Fran put her hand back on the bill and directed it back toward the woman, who was now rather confused at the seemingly illogical arguement between husband and wife.

Fran tugged at Max's sleeve with tight fingers and lowered her voice pleadingly. "Mr. Sheffield, I have no intention of letting you pay for my expenses every time we go out. You paid for the movie last weekend!"

Fran knew she needed to just shut up and let him pay for it but for some perverse reason, she enjoyed standing up in this small rebellious way to him. After all, it was he who had insisted on this ridiculous friendship only arrangement. So, she pressed further.

"Besides, it undermines everything we're trying to accomplish in this new relationship of ours!" Again, she shoved the bill forward to the woman with a determined smile.

Max, now perturbed at her silliness, jerked her arm back and turned a sharp face on her. "Oh? Is that what it is? If you would just keep those luscious lips of yours to yourself and let me act like a gentleman, then this wouldn't be an issue." It was out before Max thought and he knew he regretted the slip as soon as he made it. Damn, those soft, sanity stealing lips of hers! They were all he thought about lately!

Fran's mouth dropped open. "And what do my lips have to do with ANYTHING!?" She propped firm hands on her hips and waited on his response.

What didn't they have to do with everything? What could he say? That he'd been staring at them off and on since he'd kissed her two weeks ago and almost again last week at the bloody theatre? That he'd been fighting like hell to get the feel of them, the texture of them, the taste of her out of his system so that he could remember that he was supposed to be her damn FRIEND!? Was that what he should say?

He didn't say anything further because the woman behind the counter interrupted them. "Ah, a lover's quarrel...Tis common amongst the newly marrieds..." She spoke directly to Fran as they both glanced away from each other and across at her.

"You's young lady...you need to be a lettin' your husband a pay for meals if he wants to...twill make him feel like a man..." She then pointed her finger to Max and wiggled it accusingly. "And you...well, you a need to be a lettin' your beautiful wife love ye properly...quit a tryin' to keep her lips off ye..."

Max took a deep breath, closed his eyes and counted to ten. It was just a drive in the country. It was supposed to be simple. Uncomplicated. Easy. Friendly.

Damn.

Without another word, he paid the woman for both box lunches, grabbed them and the drinks and headed out to the car. Simmering with irritation, and more confused by Maxwell Sheffield than ever, Fran followed.

**************************************************************************

The little cross encounter in the bakery put a damper on the rest of the drive to the state park.

He snapped.

She snapped back.

"Where do I turn?"

"East on 82", came the short reply. He turned and they drove in silence a few more miles until Max turned into the entrance of Leaping Point State Park. They drove up to the entrance and a park attendant met them at the pay booth.

Max reached for his billfold before pausing to look over at Fran pointedly. "Am I allowed to get this one?" Sarcasm laced his question.

Fran just snarled and folded her arms across herself irritatedly. How dare he be so damn smug after what he'd accused her of back at the bakery. Like she was the only one that enjoyed those kisses!

Max paid the two-dollar entrance fee and drove toward the picnic area of the park which was not at all crowded. They got out and walked a short distance to a table surrounded by tall pines.

"This alright with you?" Max placed his styrofoam box and drink on the top of it and turned to look at her.

"Fine." She replied shortly and put her own box on on the table, walked around to the opposite side and sat down without looking at him.

Max looped his leg over the concrete bench and sat down to face her.

"Miss Fine, are you ever going to talk to me again?" Max laid his hands atop his box and looked directly into her eyes.

She stared at him a full ten seconds without replying. Max almost thought she wasn't going to when she finally did.

"You participated too mister."

She didn't have to say any more for Max to know exactly what she was talking about. Those damn kisses. The root of what had started the arguement. Well, that and his big mouth.

Max knew he was guilty and nodded slowly. "You're right Miss Fine; I did. And I had no right to insinuate differently." He felt badly. He knew she wasn't responsible for every time he had a lapse in common sense and good judgement.

Fran set her jaw. "Damn straight."

He reached for her hand and she let him turn it over and lace his fingers through hers. He spoke softly, continuing to stare at their inter-linked fingers. "I think we're both trying too hard."

She bit her lip lightly and nodded in understanding. He was right about that. While she was having a really hard time not choking him down to the ground, straddling him and yelling at him to take her and put them both out of their misery, he was doing everything but putting armor on to guard against such. Her patience with this 'friends' gig was beginning to wear a little thin.

She nodded and felt the need to match his straightforwardness. She looked up from their hands and meet his dark eyes. "Yeah, and I haven't exactly been playing by the rules all the time either."

He chuckled and reached a finger up to her chin to catch it with his finger. "You mean you know what a 'rule' is Miss Fine?"

She gave a tiny smile and shrugged guiltily. "I mean, I didn't think they-the kisses- were that big a deal." Fran was proud that she could tell the lie with a straight face. She sounded convincing to her own ears at least.

Max nodded his agreement right away. "You're right Miss Fine, just an affectionate gesture between friends."

Fran drew her lips tight. "Right."

"No big deal...between friends that is..." He blew out a short breath as he said it.

Fran let out her own breath. "Exactly."

Max drew himself up straight. "Trivial. Certainly nothing to get into a silly argument about."

Fran smiled. "For sure."

Max smiled back at her and the uneasiness between them began to pass as they looked for a way to change the subject. He reached down to open her box up revealing a huge, delicious sandwich. "Eat up Miss Fine. You know this place and I'm ready to explore some beautiful sights!"

Fran pulled her top together at the top playfully and winked at him . "Mr. Sheffield...you dog!"

He gave her his best mocking scowl, privately enjoying their usual banter again. "Miss Fine...eat your sandwich."

*************************************************************************************

Max's tongue was wagging as he put one foot in front of the other. "Miss Fine!" he yelled up ahead. "How much further?!"

Fran looked back at him as he trailed about a hundred yards behind her. "Not much!" She yelled back. "And it'll be worth it-you'll see!"

Max grabbed to another rock and pulled up the next steep incline before pausing a moment to catch his breath. He thought he kept himself in pretty decent shape at the club but she was dusting him on this trail. At first he hadn't minded her staying ahead of him so that he had a nice view of a very nice ass in those tight jeans of hers but now, he was beginning to get downright disgusted. He hadn't counted on a total body workout and being bested by a woman.

Fran looked back to see him leaning against the rock. She wasn't having any of that. "Come On! Mr. Sheffield, keep it movin'!"

Max put his hand up above his brow to shade the afternoon sun from his eyes as it filtered down through the dense forrest. "Miss Fine! When you said it was 'just' a two mile hiking trail, what you neglected to mention was that the last mile of it was straight up!"

Fran crossed her arms superiorily and waited as he hauled himself up the steep incline. Finally, when he was within a few yards of her, she spoke to him again. "We've got it to ourselves up here it seems. We've only passed a few others on the trail."

Max snarled his lip slightly as he used his sleeve to wipe at his slightly sweaty brow. It was warm in the afternoon sun and his jacket had long since been tied at his waist. "That's because most people know better than to climb a mountain that will give them a bloody heart attack Miss Fine!"

Fran smirked again at his sarcasm and slapped him slightly on the arm. "Look, it levels off up here and then, if I remember right, we're almost to the falls."

Max raised his eyebrow. "Its' the 'if I remember right' part that bothers me."

This time, she took him by the hand and pulled him along with her, making sure not to lose him. They rounded another corner and walked up one more slightly raised incline and he began to hear it. Fran looked back at him excitedly. "Listen! It's the waterfalls!"

Sure enough, Max could hear the rush of water up ahead and began to pick up his pace a bit to keep up with her excited gait. She didn't move this fast at the mall. "Look! Look! There it is!" Her voice rang out over the cacophony of the water.

Max stepped up beside where she was standing on tiptoe on a rock to try and look over the brush. He could see just the top of a pretty large waterfall. He squinted up at her. "Miss Fine, tell me I haven't lost five pounds to see dense brush and listen to the waterfall."

She looked down at him. "No, of course not! There's an observation deck just ahead."

Max continued to stare up at her. "Then, haul your cute tush down from that bloody rock and let's go." He didn't wait for her to obey, but reached around her waist from behind to pull her off the rock and against him before lowering her to the ground. Smacking her on the Levis 'v' quickly, he gave her an evil grin and took off ahead. "Last one up buys burgers on the trip home!"

Fran laughed and began to quickly jog up the trail behind him. She knew full well she wouldn't catch him but she didn't care. She loved seeing him like this. So footloose and carefree. He was different out of the mansion, away from business and the rest of the family. She was seeing the playful side of Maxwell Sheffield that she instinctively knew few had ever met. She felt like it was 'her' slice of him and she didn't want to share it with anyone.

And besides, she liked looking at his ass in those Levi's and she had a great view now.

She knew the moment he spotted the falls.

"WOW!" He called back. "It's gorgeous!"

Behind him, she smiled and jogged up to where he stood at the wooden rail overlooking the ravine below and the falls some several hundred feet above it falling straight down over jagged rocks.

She sucked her own breath in at the beauty of the falls. It had been a long time since she'd seen it and it was every bit as impressive as she remembered.

"It's something isn't it?" She asked as she came to the rail beside him and leaned into it.

He didn't take his eyes off of it. "Yeah, that's an understatement...it's breathtaking."

The two of them stood like that for long moments just gazing at the beauty of the majestic falls and taking in the sounds of the wilderness around them. It was a feeling of peace that wasn't often found and each of them soaked it in.

Fran closed her eyes, turned her face up toward the sun, and listened. The rush of waterfall...the chirping of the birds...the distant crunch of leaves from some sneaky little forest creature foraging for food...the smell...the smell...well that was all him. She breathed his spicy cologne in as he stood so near her and had a rush of warmth through her bones that had little to do with the serenity of nature's beauty around her. She loved being with him like this.

Max was doing a little sensory check of his own but he was using his eyes. She was a goddess standing there, face tilted up to the sun, the waterfall a perfect backdrop for her beauty. He soaked her in for just a moment before forcing himself to look away. If he continued to stare, he knew he would have thoughts he had no business having. This would not do. It would not do at all.

Clearing his throat, Max decided to engage her in conversation again. Conversation was friendly. Conversation was safe.

"So you came up here as a child with your parents Miss Fine?" His curiosity was getting the best of him after that cryptic remark she'd made this morning. He wanted to know how she knew the backwoods and roads of Connecticut. Or if he were honest with himself, he also wanted to know who she explored them with.

Fran slowly opened her eyes and turned her head toward him. "I didn't say I came with my..."

A slow dawning of recognition broke across her face and she broke into a tight lipped, wicked smile as she shook her finger at him chastisingly. "Nice try buster."

Max did his best to look completely innocent and Fran had to admit that he'd almost gotten her to spill.

Fran walked over to the end of the observation platform and sat on the wooden bench thoughtfully provided by the Connecticut State Park Service. Max came over to plop down beside her, bending over to rub his calves. He knew he'd be a bit sore in the morning.

"Old age getting to ya Mr.Sheffield?" Fran asked cheerfully as she stretched back and leaned against the railing to take in the beauty of the waterfall.

"I'm not the one who hides her age Miss Fine. For all I know, you could be older than me." Max knew he'd get a reaction as soon as he said it and she didn't disappoint.

She smacked his arm-hard. "Someone better watch themselves or they might find themselves accidentally taking a swim."

Max smiled at her ire and felt a bit refreshed. He lifted his head a took a deep breath of the cool mountain air around them. "Smell how clean the air feels up here Miss Fine?" He breathed deeply again. "Nothing like clean, refreshing, country air."

Fran shook her head and flicked her wrist as if to dismiss his reasoning. "No way! This is nice but give me that New York City air anyday!"

Max looked at her surprised and she continued to explain her position, holding her hands in the air as if squeezing something. "New York air is air you can sink your teeth into! It has character and tastes of hard work and sweat and tears." She dropped her hands, smiled and winked. "And even a little chocolate if ya know just where to bite."

Max threw his head back to laugh, exposing his throat to her. She was a pure joy and delight to him sometimes!

Most likely she had no idea just how much he cherished these moments they spent alone together just doing...anything.

But Fran misinterpreted his laughter and thought he was making fun of her and instead socked him lightly in the chest with the back of her hand. "Hey! I was serious."

Max managed to stop laughing and look for an odd moment in her dark eyes. His smile disappeared and he felt he needed to say something else. "I know Miss Fine and it really was...nice. I happen to agree with you."

After a beat, she realized he was serious and smiled. "Well, as long as we get that straight. I didn't want you getting some weird, eccentric idea about buying some country cottage up here in Boondocksville and schlepping me up here to live with you away from the real air."

He smiled gently and took her hand in his and turned it over. "I promise you Miss Fine, I'll ask your permission before schlepping you anywhere permanently with me."

He realized how his words sounded and his face fell as an awkward moment passed between them, each feeling something stronger lurking just under the surface of his words. Fran couldn't think of anything to say and just watched him try to mentally figure out a way to take back his verbal mishap.

Max let his eyes stare past her for a moment and tried to redirect instead of correct. He purposefully began to read the large Leap Pointe State Park memorial stone that stood erect beside the bench they occupied.

"Miss Fine, do you know how this park came by it's name?"

Fran looked past him at the memorial stone and could see it had the story of the park's name engraved on a steel plate for all to read.

"Yeah, something about a chick jumping off to save her man or something." She shrugged nonchalantly. "The girl needed therapy if ya ask me. That is one long way down."

Max smiled at her words. "Well, you've got it half right. It says here that the girl was a Masachuset Indian chief's daughter and she was in love with a young brave from an enemy tribe but her father had already handpicked the man from his tribe that she was to marry."

Fran whistled. "Had these people never heard of women's lib?"

Max raised an eyebrow. Not in pre-Revolutionary times Miss Fine."

Fran looked past him at the sign now herself and began to read aloud the rest of the story. "The young chief's daughter and the brave made a plan to run away together and marry and they escaped under the cover of darkness one night to do so."

Fran paused and wiggled her eyebrows. "Wowwww...this is gettin mighty jui-cy." She sang out as she continued to read on.

"Somehow, the chief got word of the escape and led a hunting party out to kill the young enemy brave and bring his daughter back to marry the man he approved of. The young lovers fled and were cornered at this waterfall and had no choice but to jump to their apparent death or surrender and live without each other. At the top of the waterfall, they vowed never to part and kissed one final time before jumping together into the swirling waters below. The two young lovers were thought dead but blessed by the gods, they miraculously survived the jump and escaped to new lands in the west where they birthed a new tribe of people."

Fran stopped reading and gave a whistle. "That's better than Romeo and Juliet." She elbowed Maxwell. "And you British just thought you had the market cornered on romance."

Max drew his chin upward. "I'll have to admit-it's quite a story...if it's true."

Fran let her mouth open. "And why wouldn't it be true?"

Max pointed down at the bottom of the stone. "Did you read the smaller lettering at the bottom?"

Fran immediately turned back and found what he referred to and then read it aloud. "The Legend of Leaping Pointe Falls is that if you kiss at the top of the waterfalls that you will forever be blessed with happiness, prosperity and long life."

She looked back at Maxwell. "And what is so unbelievable about that Mr.Sheffield?"

Max scoffed. "Miss Fine, surely you don't believe that silliness?"

"Well it worked for the Indian princess and her man!" She retorted quickly and brought her nose near his.

Max shook his head with a chuckle and met her nose with the tip of his own. "And how do we know that they weren't murdered by an enemy tribe or striken with disease or seperated by war once they moved west Miss Fine?"

Fran narrowed her dark, flashing eyes. "Faith."

Max didn't move a muscle. "Faith, Miss Fine?"

Her nose pushed into the tip of his now as it was becoming a battle of wills and philosophies. "Yes, Mr. Sheffield, I for one, believe that certain things are meant to be."

Max narrowed his own eyes. "Oh really Miss Fine? So, there's no doubt in your mind that if you followed the instructions on the sign that those same things would befall you?"

A muscle worked in Fran's jaw slightly as she answered in a breathy tone, her lips a mere inch from his. "None whatsoever Mr. Sheffield."

Max knew it was stupid. Really stupid. Knew it was foolhardy. He knew he would regret it. It was that night on the front stoop all over again. He was looking at her and she was looking at him and they had been so close to each other and it just...happened. He knew he should have stopped it then and he knew he should now.

But he didn't stop...wouldn't stop until he had just one more, one last taste of her. He promised himself it would be the last for a long, long time. The kisses simply had to stop. They couldn't continue to do this and built the kind of satisfying friendship they needed. But, this one last time, he simply couldn't help himself. Her lips were just...there.

He brought his bottom lip forward and it barely nudged at her own as he breathed outward and then breathed in her intoxicating closeness through his nostrils. His throat felt gravelly as if he had sandpaper stuck in it and he could barely form the words that would give him the excuse to do what he needed to do to her; with her.

But somehow, sheer force of will got the words out in a seductive whisper. "Then, let's test the legend shall we?"

And he brought his head downward to capture her soft mouth under his own. Usually, he let her control their kisses, but not this time. If this were going to be the last, here in the moist, cool Connecticut forest, then he was going to make it count. He was going to create a memory to see him through the loneliness that enveloped him during those rare moments of physical unrest. He knew he was using her, his friend, and for that he should feel badly, but he could feel nothing now but her.

He bit at her lips almost frantically with his own and pushed them apart. He let his teeth find the tender inside of her bottom lip and skim ever so softly across that vulnerable area. He knew she would do it and he prepared himself for it. She used her tongue like no other woman he'd ever had the pleasure of kissing. The first time she'd done it had shocked him and sent him into a spiral of sexual awareness of her that he'd not come out of for weeks.

But not this time. This time, he was prepared and when she opened her mouth wider to invite closer contact, and brought her tongue out to explore the inside of his mouth, he met her halfway. The feel was like electricity running through his body and he nearly buckled at the knees from the ecstasy of feeling.

His body quickened as he heard her sharp intake of breath and sexy little gasp beneath his hot mouth. But still, he didn't stop. He couldn't. Not yet. Using her surprise, he kissed her harder and pushed her head back into his waiting hands which caught and moved her into the position he needed. Slanting her mouth, he put his tongue inside her mouth for the first time and mated with hers. In all of the sexual experiences he'd ever had, he could never recall being more ready than he was in that instant moment.

He let his hands roam down to her neck and then to her shoulder blades, each touch bringing her closer to him. He was a starving man staring a self-imposed famine in the face and he couldn't slow down at his last supper. His hands continued downward until he reached her lower back and he gentled her and caressed the softness there. She felt wonderful beneath his hands. So right...

Yet it was so damn wrong!

Reality began to sneak back into his consciousness and anger began to replace desire in his cloudy brain. He let his hands push even lower to slip into the edge of the pockets of her tight Levi's and he roughly pulled her body into his own for one final delicious moment. He never wanted to let go!

Through his desire, Max heard a noise that seemed to be very close and realized, through his sexual fog, that it was human voices. Someone was coming up the trail. He eased his unwilling mouth away and, breathless, he leaned his forehead on hers for a long moment and tried like hell to regain some sense of sanity.

He opened his eyes to see hers still closed. Some perverse imp inside him was glad that it seemed to have affected her as much as it had him. He watched her as she swallowed hard and slowly blinked her eyes open to look directly into his own. What he witnessed in those dark eyes at that moment was something he didn't want to contemplate. Couldn't contemplate. Wouldn't. He had screwed up and now, he had to fix it.

Friends, dammit. Friends.

"Think it worked Miss Fine?" His voice was a whisper and sounded so unlike his own that Max didn't recognize it.

"Worked?" Fran, uncomprehending, managed to breathe out. She couldn't remember her own name and he was asking her some kind of question.

Max forced a tight smile, his face still very close to hers. "The Legend Miss Fine?"

Fran eased her head back another inch and bit her bottom lip momentarily. Oh yeah. The Legend.

She couldn't believe that kiss. She couldn't believe what he'd just done to her and tried to convey her appreciation for the gesture in her answer. "Yeah, if the quality of kiss was any indication, I'd say we've both got a lot to look forward to in life."

Max watched her face for a moment longer and then began to clearly remember where they were, what the hell he was doing and who he was doing it to. Damn it, she wanted it to mean more. But it couldn't.

Yet, who was he to criticize her when he couldn't keep his lips to himself? He had to stop this. They had to stop this. It wasn't part of their deal; it went over the line and it put their friendship in grave jeapordy.

"Miss Fine, I shouldn't have-" He began but at that moment, several more day hikers joined them on the observation deck and the moment was lost.

Fran moved to stand up. She couldn't listen to him take that kiss back. Not right now. And she knew he'd been about to. Why? Why couldn't he just admit that friendship wasn't enough between them? Would never be enough?

She wanted nothing more than to cry her eyes out or beat him to a pulp but, she did neither. Instead, she put on her best, most carefree smile and swung around to grab his hand in her own and pull him to his feet. She was so close. She could feel it. And, she couldn't give in now.

"Come on mountain man, between my pea-sized bladder and that waterfall's encouragement, we're both gonna be embarrassed if we don't get down from here and back to the restrooms soon!"

As they trekked back down the trail, little else was said.

************************************************************************

"Did you reach the children at the Welcome center?" Max pressed his brake to a stop while he showed their pass to the state park ranger who thanked him for visiting and waved them through the exit gate.

Fran reached into the glove compartment for the map she had placed there earlier and pulled it out before answering. "Yeah, I got Gracie and Brighton and they were fine. I talked to Kelli's mom and she said Kelli and Maggie were in the entertainment room watching some movies with a couple of b-"

Fran cut her eyes quickly toward Max. She was not in the mood to get into an argument with him over his oldest daughter who knew how to handle herself by now whether her daddy wanted to believe that or not.

She coughed and cleared her throat. "A couple of big tubs of popcorn..."

Max smiled, obviously appeased by the report on his children. "You know you worry too much about all of them Miss Fine."

Fran let the warmth in her eyes answer for her as she looked back over at him.

"You know, I make sure each of them keeps my cell number on them when they go out don't you?" He asked the question of her to assure her and himself that he was on the ball as a father.

She nodded and picked up his small cell phone from the console area between them. "I know you do but the reception out this way doesn't seem too good."

She held up the phone where he could glance at the small screen and sure enough, the message read, 'No Service'.

He put his eyes back on the road and grunted. "I guess in such a rural area that we might not be near enough a tower quite yet."

Fran put it back down between them and picked up the soft drink he'd bought her from the machine back at the Park Welcome Center area. "Oh, and thanks for the Diet Coke. I owe you one."

Fran grimaced at the tone of her own voice. When had they started being so polite to each other? Since that fiery and much more than friendly kiss they'd shared by the waterfall a bit ago. Since they'd descended from the mountain, Max had been courteous but distant and she knew the cause. Damn. Always one step forward and two steps back.

Max breaked again at another stop sign. "No biggie. Friends can buy each other a soft drink without expecting repayment Miss Fine."

She said nothing in response and the uneasiness grew in the car.

Max knew he was being ridiculous to be feel so awkward with her but that kiss up there had knocked him for a loop and sent him running to find the comfortable friendship zone that he craved with her so badly.

He stared at the intersection for a long moment before realizing that he didn't recognize it. "Miss Fine, did we come in this way?"

Fran clicked her sidelight on in the growing darkness and squinted her eyes to see the map. "It shows that if we turn right from the park that we are on State Road 17 which will take us to the intersection to Highway 82 in seven miles."

They stared at each other a moment. Neither had been paying any attention to the driving, their minds on what was going on between them instead.

Fran leaned up and looked about as best she could in the darkness. "Yeah, I'm sure this is it. Take a right, go three miles and you should see the junction road 9 to your left that takes us back to the main highway."

As she spoke, rain started to pitterpatter on the windshield. Max growled a little, turned his wipers on medium speed and took a right. He glanced a bit uneasily at her. "Miss Fine, you keep your eyes open for the turn."

Fran did but after they'd went well over three miles and hadn't seen one, she began to feel a little uneasy herself. Max was fighting the rain and fog which was getting heavier every second. Fran pulled her purse in her lap and began to look for a nail file. She liked to file to soothe her nerves.

"Miss Fine, would you look for the blasted turn please!" Max snapped when he glanced and caught her pilfering through her handbag. "I think we've gone well over three miles!"

Fran snapped it shut and tossed it down in the floorboard. "Ok, ok...don't be so grouchy." She picked up the map and looked down at it once more. "These maps are never accurate anyway...whoever does them should be shot. I mean really, whoever does them has no taste. Green and orange and lavender colored lines? On the same page?"

Max clinched his jaw and was about to suggest they turn around when she practically began shouting. "There it is!" Fran began to point frantically toward a dark road to their left. "Oh, yeah, this is it-I remember when I came up here before that there was some weird little road you had to turn off of to get back to the highway."

Max slowed the car and looked about. "Are you sure Miss Fine? I don't see a sign."

Fran flicked her wrist at him. "Oh, these little state roads are never marked. This has to be it."

Max turned his windshield on high and squinted through the windshield. The damn rain was making it difficult to see anything.

Max made the turn and started down a road that didn't appear to be as well paved as the road they'd just turned off of.

Between the heavy rain, fog and darkness, neither of them noticed the small sign that read, 'Private Road: Do not trespass.'

****************************************************************************

"Miss Fine, can you see anything?" Max's voice held concern as he tried his best to make out the road in the downpour. Thunder clapped overhead loudly causing him to jump and Fran to scream.

Clasping her hand over her heart as if in pain, she tossed him a lip snarl. "Do I look like the bionic woman?"

Max leaned even further up, his chest touching the wheel as his hands tightened on it. "The bionic what?"

Fran looked at him blankly for just a moment and knew he had no clue. "Nevermind. I forget you're British." She blew the hair from her eyes. "Aren't you people supposed to be used to rain like this all the time?"

Max barked out a rough, irritated sound. "Fine British mist is quite different than this very eastern U.S. downpour Miss Fine!"

Fran just leaned back in her seat and tried to calm her growing tension. She'd always hated thuderstorms. Even as a kid in her parents apartment, she could remember running to their bedroom everytime it thundered. Her mother had tried to tell her it was nothing to worry about and that it wouldn't hurt her but nonetheless, she'd remained scared. Even now, whenever it would thunder loudly, she would pull the sheets up to her chin and bundle down in the bedding.

Suddenly, the car swerved and lurched sideways tossing her up against the door roughly. "AHHHHH!" She screamed out as Max frantically tried to gain control of the car. Finally, he managed to do so and straighten them out and come to a stop.

Fran's breathing was rough and she turned to Max who was equally breathing as hard as he tried to get his own breath back. "OY! What the HELL!? was THAT?!" She yapped as her fingers clutched the dashboard so hard they turned white.

Max leaned back and looked back in the road. "A tree limb I think."

Max closed his eyes a moment. That had scared the hell out of him and he didn't want to continue driving down a road with absolutely no lights in sight that could not even be the road they were supposed to be on in a downpour like this.

"That's it-I'm turning around and heading back to the main road before we get killed." His tone left no room for arguement and she didn't offer any. She was even more scared than he was.

Max reached down to the gear shift and clicked it up into reverse. Slowly, he began to ease back and angle the car in preperation for a dreaded three point turn on the ever narrowing road.

Fran looked out the window over her shoulder and noticed the edge of the road dropped off into a ditch. "Mr. Sheffield, there's a ditch over here. Maybe you should drive on up a little ways where it's more level."

He continued to ease back, ignoring her warning.

Fran's heart leapt as she noticed how close he was getting to the edge of the road. "Mr. Sheffield!" she shrieked.

Suddenly, the car was going forward again as he turned the wheels and eased upward. He paused to look at her. "I do know how to drive Miss Fine!" He snapped and Fran drew back. He knew he was being sharp with her but the combination of the weather, their apparently lost location and his constantly on edge emotional state had him irritated.

She blew out a held breath. "I won't say anything else."

Max pulled the car into reverse once more-harder than neccassary. "Good."

She crossed her arms as he began to ease the car back. She refused to look out her window again, half in fear of what she might see and half because he was being so abrupt with her. Oy! Did the man think she had no feelings!?

Max hit the gas and the car jerked backward quicker than he'd intended and the rear wheels lost traction on the slick road. The car began to slide backwards down into the ditch despite all of Max's frantic efforts to gain control. Fran screamed as she felt the car go out of control as they tilted sideways for a moment and came to a sliding stop against the bottom of the ditch.

Max laid his head against the steering wheel and pounded it a couple of times for good measure. "Damn it!"

He looked out the window at their position and turned his wheels and hit the gas petal hard with his foot. They spun and remained where they were. "Damn!" He yelled out again and once more, floored the vehicle which caused the back wheels to spin even deeper into the mire of the ditch below them.

He looked over at Fran who had her head buried in her hands and was peeking out from in between her fingers. "Well...? Nothing to say Miss Fine?" He tossed at her frustratedly.

She pulled her hands a bit further apart. "Damn?" she squeaked, her voice tremorous and high.

He reached for the doorhandle to get out and check their condition, pausing just long enough to glance back at her.

"Good answer."

***********************************************

"Miss Fine, you're gonna have to keep up!" Max reached back to grab her arm and continued to walk at a brisk pace toward what he hoped was a shadow of a house in the distance.

"Mr. Sheffield!" Fran whined from behind him as the rain pelted her face unmercifully. "I stepped in a mudhole and got it on my pants!"

Max rolled his eyes. The woman was sopping wet and she was worried about some stupid mud hole? "Miss Fine!" He yelled at her. "If you don't pick up the pace, we're going to be fried by lightening or drowned out here in this!"

She jerked her arm away from him as she trudged by his side. "Well, I wanted to stay in the dry car!"

"Miss Fine, it is getting colder by the second up here in these woods, we have no cell reception, and our gas tank was less than half full!" He practically yelled back over the heavy beat of the rain and swish and crunch of the grass and limbs beneath their feet. "Besides, I know there was a mailbox about a half mile back!"

Sure enough, before he got it out of his mouth, a black mailbox appeared up ahead and a narrow, roughly cut road was next to it. "There it is!" He grabbed her once more and ran toward the road. At the end of the road, a dark, tiny cabin appeared. "Come on!"

Fran stopped in her tracks and Max turned to look at her, his face marred in confusion and irritation with the delay. "Mr. Sheffield! You obviously have never seen 'Deliverance'!"

Max made a strangled face and for a moment, seriously thought about bending her over his knee and spanking her right there on the spot.

"Miss Fine! You are being ridiculous! There are no southern rednecks in Connecticut!"

As he spoke, they both noticed the deer antlers mounted above the steps of the cabin ahead and even Max paused for a moment.

Oh, what was he doing?! She was causing him to act irrational again!

He grabbed her and pulled her up the steps of the cabin where the small, covered, porch served to thankfully get them out of the rain.

The exterior of the house looked like something out of a previous century with it's deer antlers and rough hewn planks. Fran leaned against one of the wooden rockers beside the door. "OY! Why the hell do I feel like we're visiting Laura Ingalls?"

Max squinted his face up. "Who?"

Fran flicked her hand. "Don't you ever watch television?"

But Max's mind wasn't on television or any other thing besides getting them somewhere dry and near a working phone.

He stepped up to the door but hesitated before knocking. The cabin was dark and he suspected that either the occupants weren't home yet or they were elderly and already in bed. If the latter were the case, he hated to be the cause of distress but as he looked at Miss Fine who was shivering beside him and soaking wet, he knew no other choice was available. And he knocked.

Fran eased over behind him to lean across his shoulder.

"Miss Fine," he whispered, "Do you have to stand so close?"

She didn't back up one iota. "If there's a shotgun on the other side of that door, I want you to get first look at it. But just make sure they shoot me because I don't want to be Uncle Jeb's wife."

Max rolled his eyes at her dramatics. "I thought you wanted to get married Miss Fine?" His whisper was filled with irony and sarcasm.

Behind him, Fran snorted. "Well, I'd rather my husband not have to pull the tobacco from between his teeth before we make love."

Max made a hushing motion with his finger and then knocked again, a bit louder this time.

After waiting another minute and hearing no sound or any other indication of anyone dwelling, Max's shoulders fell. "It would appear there's no one home."

Fran took a step to the side of him. "Now what?" She asked, becoming exasperated herself.

Max leaned into the small window and squinted seeing nothing but inky blackness before throwing his arms to his side and shrugging. "I'm game for an idea Miss Fine."

And that's when she looked down. The braided welcome mat had slipped out of place when Max's wet feet had stepped up on it. And lo and behold, beneath it was a key.

Fran reached and picked it up in her hand, holding it high in triumph.

Max turned his head in disbelief. "Surely you aren't suggesting that we just go in Miss Fine?"

Fran had already began to fit the key into the rustic wooden door's old lock. She smiled up at him as she heard the clicking sound of the door unlocking. "Desperate times call for desperate measures Mr. Sheffield. And my makeup running down my face definately qualifies."

And she pushed the door open and held her arm out for him to enter first.

"Why me? You're the one wanting to get us shot!" He barked.

Fran put her hands on her hips in mock dismay. "And I thought you were the consumate courageous, British gentleman!"

He smirked rudely at her and proceeded to enter the dark room with her clinging once again to his back.

They walked a few paces, looking for a lightswitch but finding none. They left the door open to provide what little light the moon could give them. Max felt his way along the wall until he came upon what appeared to be a fireplace.

"Miss Fine, I don't think anyone lives here." He said over his shoulder as he bent down to the fireplace and began to stack some small pieces of wood inside it.

Above him, Fran tried to follow. "How do you know?"

He looked up at her from his now squatted position. "The fireplace is dry and clean and the room is freezing." He rose to his feet once more. "I don't think anyone has been here in quite sometime."

He reached beside the fireplace where a large box of matches rested and struck one suddenly sending the area into immediate light. He took a piece of cloth that rested by the fireplace and held the match to it before bending to put it atop the small kindling from a box in the floor. After a moment, a small fire began to grow and glow. He raised up to face her.

Behind him, Fran whistled. "Wow, I am impressed."

Max shot her an incredulous look and rose to his feet, wiping his hands on his wet pants. "I struck a bloody matchbox Miss Fine. It's not like I had to rub two sticks together."

Fran flicked her wrist at him and then pointed at herself. "Hey, this little girl is from Queens. If the power goes out, you dial 9-1-1 and go guard the refrigerator door."

Max and Fran, now provided with more light, stopped talking and began to slowly look to see what their surroundings held. The one-room cabin was indeed small and very sparsely furninshed. A small portable gas stove was in one corner and next to it were two small propane tanks. In another corner was a wooden chest with ducks and deer painted on the side of it. That was their a big clue to them as to what the place indeed was. And in the corner directly across from where they stood now was one wrought iron bed with no linens on it's very aged mattress.

Fran walked over to the wooden trunk and pulled the lid up slowly. Inside were a few boxes of shells and one ripped camoflage shirt along with a couple of blankets. She reached and pulled the useless camoflage shirt out.

"Well, if you're up for shootin some food Jed, we're in business." She held it up in front of her and dangled it enticingly. "Sexy huh?"

Max walked over beside her and looked down at the open trunk himself. "At this point Miss Fine, anything dry would be sexy enough for me."

He shivered reminding Fran just how cold she still was. This place may have been dry but it wasn't much more. Obviously, they'd somehow stumbled upon a seasonal hunting cabin. Most likely, since it adjoined state park lands, it was leased by someone.

Max reached into the trunk now himself. "Aha!" He pulled out a flashlight, clicked it on and a beam of light shot forward. He smiled. "Now, we're talkin."

Fran followed the light beams he made around the room thoughtfully. "I sort of liked the romantic feel of the fireplace." She murmured.

But he was paying her no attention now. Instead, he reached down to take one of the heavy cotton blankets in his hands and smelled of it. It smelled of mothballs but it was clean enough he supposed. Regardless, it would have to do.

"Miss Fine, we seem to have no electricity or indoor plumbing. I'm going to step outside for just a moment and while I'm gone, I suggest you strip out of those wet clothes.

Fran took a half step back as he cast the beam toward her. "Mr. Sheffield! I thought you'd never ask!"

Max said nothing but just laid the blanket into her arms and crossed over to the door and shut it behind them. Fran felt very alone in the dark room by herself but nonetheless, her growing discomfort pushed her to hurry and dispose of her clothing. She found that she was drenched from head to toe.

Once she had them off, she hurriedly wrapped her naked body up in the warm blanket and carried her wet clothing to the fireplace where she draped it atop the rustic wooden mantel to dry.

She heard a knock at the door and jumped slightly. "Miss Fine, are you decent?"

She walked to the other side of the door. "Do you want me to be?" She asked in a flirty voice as she opened it to allow him to enter. He was really shivering now as he dripped his way in the doorway and shut it and locked it behind him.

He looked up at her and the picture she made with her wet hair dangling around her shoulders where the blanket came together around her creamy shoulders. Damn if the woman couldn't be beautiful anywhere.

Pushing that thought immediately aside, he made his way over to the trunk to retrieve the other blanket. He began to unfasten his clothing as fast as he could with near trembling fingers. The temperature was definately dropping outside quickly.

He got his shirt completely unbuttoned and his pants unzipped when he looked up to see Miss Fine still staring at him. He stopped completely still and just looked at her. For a moment, it was as if she didn't realize he'd stopped.

"Um, Miss Fine, could you turn around please?"

Entranced, it took Fran a moment to realize that he was speaking to her. She smiled gamely, grabbed around her blanket and turned slowly around to face the wall and the clear window. "Ya know, I have seen a man in his skivvies before."

She threw the words back over her shoulder as she looked now at the wall while she listened to his pants drop to the floor behind her. She smiled devilishly as she noticed that the moonlight cast just enough light through the uncovered window to catch his reflection in it. She knew that he must be wearing his usual frustrated expression with her outlandish comments and decided to have a little fun.

"And if I recall correctly, I've seen you in even less...and might I say, you've nothing to be ashamed of." She spoke teasingly and left the comment dangling and begging for a response.

She heard him pause and he watched in the glass as he stood very still for a moment. Slowly he unbuttoned his damp shirt and discarded it. Her breath caught as she made out the reflection of him in front of her. He was beautiful, standing there in his boxers. She had a sudden urge to turn around and really look at him. A part of her wanted him to understand how powerful that need for him was in her. And a part of her wanted to close her eyes and let him continue on in this sham of an arrangement that he seemed to need. A simple friend would do choice number two. A lover would do choice number one.

But she was neither and she decided to compromise and just leave her eyes open and let her senses reel as he reached for his tight underwear and began to pull them down his hips and buttocks. He had turned sideways to her as if he sensed that she had eyes in the back of her head. From his position, there was no way he could have seen his reflection in the window. But she could see enough. A lump formed in her throat and her breath became caught somewhere between her lungs and her throat. God, she wanted him.

Max reached for the blanket in the nearby trunk and wrapped it securely around himself. He awkwardly cleared his throat and waited on her to turn back around. She did so and found that she couldn't quite meet his eyes.

Walking briskly over to where he'd left his clothes in the floor, she made a job of picking them up and shaking them out before taking her time aligning them on the mantel beside hers to dry, her hands shaking slightly as she did so.

Finally, when she felt she'd gathered her wits enough, she faced him and spoke. "So...what do we do now?"

Oy! Did that sound like an invitation or what? He would think she was going to jump his bones or something.

Max instantly looked uncomfortable and a bit like a deer caught in the headlights. She regretted not choosing her words better.

She didn't want him to know how desperate she was for him. If he did, what would his reaction be? She knew he was physically attracted to her. That kiss today at the waterfall had certainly proven that much without a doubt. But, his wants weren't the issue here. Nor were hers. He simply wasn't ready and didn't ever know if he would be. So, to use this situation to come on to him would not only be unfair to him, it would be unfair to her.

Even if they were to make love, what would tommorow bring? Would he suddenly decide he couldn't live without her in his bed as his lover as well as his companion? Would he become angry that she'd seduced him and throw her out without so much as a goodbye to the children? Or, would he out of guilt, feel obligated to do the 'right thing'?

As much as she wanted to be with him, she wanted it to be of his own choosing so she decided to temper her desires and try to ease the discomfort he obviously felt about the situation.

She went over to him and took him by the hand. "We obviously can't get help until tommorow and we're obviously stuck here for the night, so why don't we just make the best of it."

She felt his body tighten where she held his hand. Boy, was he a ball of nerves or what?

Since there was no other furnature available to them in the small, sparsely furnished room, she walked him to the edge of the old bed and pushed him down to a sitting position. His eyes widened and he looked up at her like a weary child who wasn't sure if the doctor was going to give him a shot or a sucker.

She smiled disarmingly as she plopped down beside him on the creaky springs. "Let's pretend to be at summer camp!"

Max's eyebrows drew together. "Summer camp?" He said it as if she'd asked him to grow wings and fly them back to New York.

She smiled disarmingly. "Sure!" She made a show of crossing her legs and bent at the waist to elbow him in the ribs. "You know, ghost stories and marshmellows and word games...summer camp."

Max's face was drawn now in a blank look of bewilderment and he nodded his head 'no'. "Miss Fine, I grew up in a cold British boarding school. I never went to a...summer camp."

Fran stared at him a long moment. You never went to summer camp? Never put bugs in your best friend's pillowcase or stole underwear from the girl's shower stalls?"

He continued to stare at her and slowly shook his head no again.

Fran again realized just how lucky she'd been. Here was this ultra successful, terrific looking, rich man who had every advandage and yet, it was she who had the memories of friends and laughter and fun. She wanted to put her arms around him and share that laughter and fun with him, she wanted to give him a taste of what real friendship and love was like.

Maybe that's what he's looking for?

The question struck her like a bolt of the lightening that flashed outside the cabin walls. Was he really looking but because he was never shown the map, just hasn't a clue how to get there? He'd said he was scared of falling in love again. He'd told her he worried about the children. He'd told her that he needed to be just friends.

But did he just need directions and a description of what he should be driving toward?

She narrowed her eyes and fought back an odd combination of excitement and tears from her face. They had a chance. She knew it. It was just going to take her leading the horse to the trough.

And she could start by being one of the things he really did need: a true friend.

She reached over to kindly pat his hand. "You just follow me. I'll start."

He raised his eyebrows another level but said nothing.

***********************************************************************

"And then, Tammy Reoni thought it would be funny to put the dildo in Miss 'Tightass' Maple's bedcovers. Well, let me tell you, that old biddy didn't appreciate the art of a good joke." Fran doubled over with laughter remembering the episode like it was yesterday. "She took it out and held it up and looked like she'd never seen one before-which she likely hadn't-and then pointed her finger right at ME!"

Fran paused to shake her head and roll her eyes. "Can you imagine?!" She wailed. "The woman actually thought I was responsible and she told me that I could just return it to where I'd found it!"

Max smiled. He could believe that she would have been behind such a prank. Oh yes. But he said nothing, instead delighting in her story and her laughter.

Fran continued. "Well, of course, I felt unjustly accused. So, I returned it alright- to the camp director's cabin- with a note attached to it that read, 'Someone told me this was yours. Thanks for letting me use it. I got a real kick from it.' Sincerely, Miss Maples."

Max's grin increased as he watched her animated storytelling. "So I take it Miss Fine, that you were dismissed from the camp?"

Fran again laughed out. "No, that's the beauty of it! It seems that after discovering my little note that the camp director had Ms. Tightass checked out and turns out she had been convicted for embezzlement at another organization!" Fran's face lit up. "The dildo and I both were heralded as heroes!"

Max now shook his head. "Only you Miss Fine...only you."

Their laughter subsided and they sat for a comfortable moment enjoying each other's presence. Max had just placed another log on the fireplace and the space around them was somewhat warm even as the tempurature plunged outside while the rain continued to fall as the hour got late."

Max wanted to ask but was afraid to. Afraid. He wanted to punch himself. Why did that word seem to be the rule of his life especially where she was concerned? He looked away from her, not really seeing the shadowy contents of the room. Fran mistook his quiet for boredom and spoke up.

"Mr. Sheffield, if you're tired of the campy stories, I'll shut up."

He immediately refocused his eyes on her and reached to take her cool hands between his. Automatically, he began to rub some warmth into them. "Oh no, Miss Fine, this is great. Really." He dropped his chin a moment. "It just makes me aware of how much I missed out on as a boy."

Fran used her thumb to caress the back of his hand gently. "Oh, Mr. Sheffield, I'm sure that you did some neat things too."

Max said nothing. If she only knew. The nights he'd spent looking out his window, wishing he were home, wishing he were anywhere but at that bloody school. He'd felt like a cast-off, like the kid who didn't have a world to belong to. His parents were always going somewhere else, no one had time for him and he didn't make friends easily. He supposed that's what drew him to the theatre...he'd felt a need to create a world for himself, even if it had to be a make-believe one. And then, he'd met Sara and her joyous spirit and outgoing personality had been exactly what his young, starving mind and body had craved. She made him smile, made him laugh. Made him fall in love...

He looked at the woman sitting in front of him. She was nothing he'd ever look for in a woman and yet, everything he'd could hope for. She was unique; original, and she made her own rules as she went along. Oh, how he envied that! He wanted to reach out and share that. He wanted to find out if he were capable of...

Falling in love again.

He rubbed his bleary eyes and pushed the dangerous thought aside. He knew the hour had to be late but he couldn't stop discovering her, couldn't stop enjoying her just yet.

So, he gathered his courage and he asked.

"Miss Fine, you know...could we try that game that I've heard you mention you played as a kid?"

Fran tilted her head and thought a moment. "Yatzee?"

Max put his hand up and waved it. "No, no...the one where you ask a question and have a choice."

She wiggled her eyebrows hopefully at him. "Spin the Bottle?"

He gave her a mocking glare. "Miss Fine..."

Fran smiled. "You mean 'Truth or Dare'?"

Maxwell nodded insistently. "Yes, yes! That's it."

Fran shrugged, not quite understanding why he would choose that particular 'camp' game but curiosity and the pleasure of talking with him this way kept her from asking questions.

"Sure, we can play it. Want me to start?"

He nodded and she began. "O.K..." She bit her lip in thought. She'd make the first one easy. "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth." He replied.

"How old were you when you stopped wetting the bed?"

He didn't falter a bit. "Seven. My turn?"

"Yep." She replied.

He didn't have to think. "How old are you?"

She'd expected that one. "Twenty-nine everywhere it counts."

Max cocked his jaw. "Miss Fine! You have to play by the rules! Answer truthfully."

Fran smiled cockily at him and began to slide the blanket from her shoulder slowly. "Would you like to see for yourself?"

He quickly held his hand up as he glanced at that small sliver of skin she'd just revealed. He believed her.

"Let's try another question."

He paused in his next thought. Hell, he'd ask, he wanted to know. "Who taught you how to French kiss and where and when?"

She looked a little surprised at the question. So, he wanted to play that version of the game eh? Well...well...

"Tommy Trott...behind the gym, eighth grade."

He watched her closely, obviously interested by the answer.

She raised her chin. "My turn." Let him squirm a bit. "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth"

She blurted it. "Who and where was your first time?"

He put a blank look on his face. "First time Miss Fine? I'll need you to be more specific."

Ohhhhhh...he was gonna pay for that one. She gritted her teeth and enunciated each word. "Who did you have sex with first and where did it take place?"

He knew he'd gotten her a bit and chuckled. "A lovely girl named Layla."

Fran rolled her eyes. "LAY-la? You've got to be kidding?"

He smiled. "Nope, she was definately real. Two years older than me-I was sixteen. In a farmer's barn off of Kinsington Abbey Road near Liverpool."

Fran's mouth fell open and he elaborated further. "We'd started to a concert but didn't quite make it."

Her mouth turned up wryly. "Obviously." Fran knew it wasn't rational but she suddenly wanted to wrap her hands around 'Layla's' neck and squeeze very hard.

"My turn again." Max blurted. He wanted to know more. Had to.

He wasted no time. "When did you come up here to Connecticut before and who with and what did you do?"

"I'll take the dare." She didn't hesitate either.

He narrowed his eyes. "There is no dare."

Fran put her hands on her hips. "There has to be a dare choice! That's the rules!"

He raised his chin. "I'm changing the rules."

She raised hers. "You can't do that."

He stuck his chin toward her. "You did."

Fran had to admit-he had her there.

Max began to nod as he knew he had her cornered.

"Now, answer the question Miss Fine...or should I say...chicken?"

Fran stuck her tongue out at him violently and ground her jaw. Should she tell him? She knew he wanted to know-was dying to find out since she'd mentioned it this morning. She'd never told anyone. Well, except her parents and she'd had no choice then.

She took a deep breath. "I was married up here."

If she'd told him she had been dropped to earth by butt naked aliens from Venus, he couldn't have been more suprised.

"M-m-married?" He leaned forward as if to hear better. Maybe he'd misunderstood her.

"MA-RR-IED." She spoke it slowly in response to his stunned reaction. "As in a ring, a ceremony...you know...I and do." She shrugged as if it were no big deal.

Nope. No misunderstanding that. He didn't blink for an entire minute, just staring at her.

Suddenly, and somewhat surprising to himself, he felt an anger rise within him-very fast.

"But you told me that you'd never been married Miss Fine!" His voice rose with each word and her name came out as a near shout.

She held her hands up in front of her to stave his anger off. He wasn't giving her the reaction she'd expected. She wasn't sure what she'd expected but it wasn't anger.

"Mr. Sheffield, calm down and let me explain."

Max bit his own jaw. "This ought to be good." The words were forced through his lips.

Fran pulled her blanket a bit tighter around her and began to talk. "Frankie and I were high school sweethearts. Junior class valentines, that sort of thing. Well, Frankie got a car for his eighteenth birthday and we decided to take it out for a spin." She eyed him closely. She definitely had his full attention.

"Well, Frankie thought it would be neat to come up to Connecticut. So, we did. Little did I know that Frankie had an engagement ring in his pocket and a marriage certificate lined up. You can legally marry in this state-or could then-at a younger age than in New York."

He nodded, following her and she continued. "Well...when he pulled it out-the ring I mean-it was like every dream I'd ever had rolled up in one. Marriage! Me! To a guy I was just crazy about!" She flicked her wrist and smiled cattily. "Life just didn't get any better. So, swept up in the moment, I said 'yes' and we drove up here to a little town near the state park here, went for a hike and then went back to town and did the deed."

He raised his eyebrows at her words and she elaborated. "Got married that is. I don't know how my parents or his parents found out but someone leaked word to them and they met us at the door of the State Park Lodge before the honeymoon could start. We were told to annul or be shot."

Max, still stupified, just shook his head. "Your mother threatened to shoot you for getting married?"

Fran smiled. "Frankie worked at a Queens food market as a bag boy-slash-delivery."

Ah, that explained it.

He shook his head, still in stunned disbelief. "How could you have let yourself get caught up like that?"

She shrugged her shoulders a bit defensive. She was just a kid after all. "I don't know. It just happened one weekend."

As she spat out the explanation that wasn't really one at all, she felt a bit picked on by him. Who was he to judge her? At least she'd been trying for happiness in her youth. He far past being a teenager and he was afraid to even try.

He still couldn't believe it but at that moment, he felt a little lost and out of sorts. She'd actually been married-legally-if not technically. His Miss Fine. It was quite a pill to digest. What if her parents hadn't stopped her? What if she'd been allowed to continue in the marriage? Would she still be married to the guy today? What if she'd left him for that putz Danny three years ago? What if she'd never rang his doorbell?

What if...

They both became quiet for a long moment, each lost in a world of alternate possibilities, perhaps seeing clearly for the first time other roads that their lives might have taken if not for circumstance. Finally, Fran looked up and spoke softly to him as if weighing his reception to anything she might say.

"My turn."

He lowered his own voice to match hers. "Aren't you tired of playing Miss Fine?" He asked in a tired tone. He'd learned more than he'd bargained for and didn't really care to play any more.

"Just one more?" Her pleading look softened him and when he didn't answer, she took it as permission to go ahead.

"It's a dare." She smiled shrewdly and held her finger up before he could protest. "Uh-uh. You didn't give me a choice."

He knew she was right and said nothing but instead was mesmerized by the growing twinkle in her eye. He knew he was caught as she leaned in toward him as a fisher reeling him in. She had a hook in him now and wasn't letting go. The mental imagery of being under her total control made him feel odd and vulnerable. Yet, he knew he didn't want to fight it. The lure was too delicious.

"I dare you..." Fran almost changed her mind but found that she wanted and needed this more than anything she'd wanted in a long...forever. Her voice fell to a husky, low pitch as she leaned near his face and she went for it. "to...let a friend sleep in your arms tonight."

A feather could have knocked Max to his knees at that instant. He felt every ounce of blood rushed to his head as her image almost liquified for a suspended moment in time in front of him.

What was she asking?

"I'm terrified of thunder. I always have been." Her voice remained low and quiet as she spoke. "As a little girl, I used to hide under my covers and cry until my mom would come in and hold me and tell me I'd be alright."

Max watched as her emotions became clear in her eyes. Her vulnerability seized his heart as no amount of her flirting ever had. She was unsure of herself and for the first time, he realized that uncertainty was the one thing that did scare Miss Fine and it scared her terribly. He could see it clearly for the first time; her fears about her future, about the things she couldn't control.

And he understood.

Instead of answering her, he simply eased the blanket down slightly and held out her arms and she crashed into them with a soft cry.

He held her tightly for a long while, caressing the top of her hair with his breath as she moved her soft cheek against his broad chest. Neither of them spoke as the seconds turned into minutes.

Finally, with a sigh, Fran raised her head slightly from him and looked up into his eyes. She was enthralled by the depth of feelings she could see in them. Surely, if he could look at her that way, he had deeper feelings toward her than those of a friend. He confused her so much running hot and then cold. And then...then, he could be like this. The most wonderful man she'd ever met and one she dreamed of waking up to see after the dreams had faded. His arms felt right around her, perfect.

"Thank you." She whispered and he smiled down at her.

"You're tired, I'm tired and this thunderstorm isn't going anywhere soon. Why don't we get some rest?"

He leaned back, adjusted his blanket around him, using one arm under his head in lieu of a pillow and stretched out on the bare mattress. Then, he laid the other arm to the side of him indicating that she could lay there.

She smiled a tiny smile of gratitude and leaned her head down on his well-toned arm, feeling it adjust around her neck and shoulder. She turned her head to face him and found herself completely upon his chest with his blanket half covering the very male nipple close to her mouth.

Pushing down automatic thoughts, she snuggled against him and refused to dwell on what wasn't. This is what was right now and if it never got any better than this, she supposed she would take it.

A clash of thunder struck near the house and bathed the room in light for a short second. Fran's entire body jumped and she clung to him just a bit harder as the wind and rain intensified outside.

She felt his arm come up behind her and softly, he began to stroke her hair. "Sleep, Miss Fine...I'm here."

She closed her eyes and tried to do just that.

Max stared up at the ceiling for a long time following the shadows that the fire cast as they moved and danced. What was going on? He listened to her breathing rise and fall and realized that she must have fallen asleep. He softly kissed the top of her head with his lips inhaling the scent of her hairspray, her perfume, and just her. He'd forgotten how good it felt to have a woman's arms wrapped around him, to feel the security of such a prolonged embrace.

It was a good feeling. A wonderful feeling.

But, he didn't want 'wonderful'. He hadn't asked for it. He'd been perfectly content in his life. Well, maybe he could be more truthful there. Not perfectly content, but he hadn't been miserable. He'd actually thought that he was doing pretty well taking care of his family's needs and putting his own aside.

He didn't want to have damn needs.

But he did. And the woman in his arms exposed those needs with a threat to him that no other had even come close to doing.

His mind wanted to be her friend, his heart longed to care about her and his body ached to be her lover.

What the hell was he going to do?

Put another log on the fire. He'd start there. Easing his arm out from under her, he pulled the blanket around him and raised himself off the bed with a minimum of noise from the fussy old bedsprings. He chose two logs from the large box and tossed them onto the fire, immediately feeling a rise in the warmth of the area.

He reached up to check their clothing. In a few more hours, they'd be completely dry once more.

Padding barefoot back to the bed across the wooden floors, he slid easily back up on the bed with her. He raised on an elbow to stare down at her relaxed pose. She was beautiful in sleep just as awake if not more so. Her long eyelashes spread down to the tops of her cheeks, the pert nose, the full, delicious lips.

He remembered how it had felt at the waterfall earlier to engage those lips. Good Lord at the fervency he'd went at her mouth with! He'd scared himself and had probably confused her beyond recognition. How could he continue to say he just wanted to be friends if he put his mouth on her at every opportunity?

He knew it had to stop but damn, if he didn't just continually want one more taste. The woman was incredibly addictive.

He watched her face as she began to murmur something in her sleep and then let out a sleepy laugh. She was dreaming. He wondered what about.

An enormous clap of thunder struck nearby then and in her sleep, she startled and cried out. Max immediately gathered her in his arms and began to soothe her as he would have Gracie. "Shhhhhh...it's alright...I'm here..."

After a moment, she settled against his chest within the circle of his arms. He evened his own breathing and closed his eyes. She began to murmur again into his smooth chest and he leaned back slightly.

"...Mr. Sheffield...?" Her voice was low, full of sleep and dreamy in quality.

He leaned down to her. "Yes, Miss Fine?"

"I love you." It was just a whisper and so very soft that Max almost missed it.

But he hadn't.

She began breathing evenly again and Max held his breath as she fell back into a deeper sleep.

A lump formed in his own throat and he squeezed his own eyes tightly shut as if in pain.

When he opened them, he was surprised to feel the moisture around them.

He hadn't cried for a woman in so very long. Not since Sara. But tonight, in the silence of the dark cabin, he let a lone tear fall and it was a longer time still before he finally slept.

********************************************************************

Max didn't know if he awoke first, but he did realize that morning sunshine broke across the bed he laid in and he did know that he held 130 pounds of incredibly beautiful, sexy female in his arms. That was his first and only thought as he pulled himself mentally from slumber.

She seemed quiet at first and so he suspected that she was still fast asleep. He allowed himself to enjoy the feel of her within the circle of his arms. How often did he get to do this without guilt or worry?

Refusing to mentally answer his own stupid rhetorical question, he simply let his hand trail up her partially naked back and graze the hair that fell against the soft skin of her shoulders. His hand refused to obey some far off command for him not to touch her skin and did it anyway. He let his fingers play along her skin, marvelling in the faint freckles he could see just under the skin in certain places he rarely viewed. He looked down and had a view of a beautiful back.

She tapered off in all the right places and was just as womanly right in the places as a man could wish for. He trailed his hand up her spine and up her shoulder and down her arm and that was when she started to shiver. Chill bumps broke out on her arms and Max began to realize with a start that she was waking.

No! Not yet! If she woke now, he'd have to stop this delicious torture. He'd have to take his arms from around her and give her the proper amount of space that innocent circumstantual sleeping arrangements, and the body's unconscious need to be held, had tinkered with during the night.

He'd have to give her up. And he just wasn't sure he could do that yet.

He felt her hand move on his chest and he watched, amazed as her fingertips began to tickle his skin, the tips just touching.

He felt a quick rush within his body as she turned her head into him and placed her nose against his chest and breathed in as if it were her last.

It was almost like she were smelling him.

Oh, god. How much could he resist?

That was when she turned her mouth on him and began to nibble and pull at his skin softly with her incredible lips.

He couldn't stop himself. A growl escaped his throat and he reached around her to pull her completely down onto her back and then he pulled himself atop her, their chests meeting and matching perfectly.

He stared down into her very open eyes and watched them darken and narrow in desire. She wanted this as much as he did.

"Screw being buddies."

And he lowered his head to hers...

***********************************************************************************

Who woke first was anyone's guess. All Fran knew was that when she blearily tried to open her eyes, she found herself lying draped over his smooth chest. She squinted against the bright sunlight that filtered in from the small window opposite the bed. She barely remembered where she was or who with but had just enough awareness about her to know that she was as content and happy as she'd been in a very long time.

His warm skin felt so good beneath her cool fingertips and she watched in a haze as those fingertips played across his skin, the tips just grazing. She turned her head into him, placing her nose against another area of warm, male skin and took a deep breath.

He smelled of faint cologne, rain and Max. Absolutely delicious.

If he'd asked her later if she remembered doing it, she'd most likely have said 'no' and meant it sincerely. But the pull was incredibly strong, irresistable really.

How strong could a woman be?

She turned her mouth against his warm skin and nipped him softly and then just a bit harder.

Above her, seemingly far away, she heard a very masculine growl and she was pulled up into strong arms as he leaned over on top of her, his chest heavy upon her own where her blanket had slid almost completely away from her shoulders.

She watched as he stared down into her eyes as intently as she'd ever seen. A silent battle was raging inside of him and though she had no visible weapon, her blow had already struck him. She understood that and waited to see if he could withstand it. And she prayed he couldn't.

"Screw being buddies..."

That was the last thing she heard him say. And then...

And he lowered his head toward hers...

****************************************************

The door swung open and they both screamed and sprang apart and upright.

"Who the HELL are you people?"

A uniformed officer stood at the threshold with a .357 in his right hand and he wasn't offering breakfast.

"Why are you in Ed Walker's cabin?"

Max and Fran immediately began to wrap themselves more securely in the blankets and both moved to stand up.

"HOLD IT!" The officer barked.

"You just stay right there and start answering my questions."

Max and Fran looked at him another moment before turning to look at each other. Fran held her arm out toward the officer. "Go ahead Mr. Sheffield, you're the man with the plan."

Max glowered at her. "And you are the woman with the key."

"Come on people, answer! You two too horny or too broke to make it to a motel?" The officer's tone was rather smart and it was obvious that he was becoming increasingly impatient with the conversation between them and lack of answers to him.

It was Max who relayed their story to the state park officer who called for back up on his radio so that their story could be checked out.

Once the car was found by a fellow officer, he asked for Max's car key then left Max and Fran alone to put their clothing back on and waited for them outside by his patrol car.

Not one word was said in the silence of the cabin as they turned their backs to each other and pulled their now dry articles of clothing back on.

As they walked outside to the squad car, they could hear over the radio that a state park truck with a wench had already been dispatched to pull Max's car from the ditch and was in the process of doing so.

"Good thing I decided to patrol along this old access road this morning for you folks huh?" The officer, so irate a few short minutes ago when he thought them thieves or vagrants, now couldn't have been more friendly. "I usually don't come this way but once a day or so."

Max replied with a tight smile. "Yeah, lucky us."

Fran had an insane urge to flip the guy off though she knew, logically, she should be grateful that he'd come along.

What if...

Damn. Those two words seemed to be the story of her life.

She remained quiet while Max and the officer made small talk for what seemed an eternity.

"She's all ready folks." The Park Police officer was all smiles as another officer came driving up in the Lamborghini.

Max thanked the officer and offered to pay them for their troubles but the officer held his hands up in front of them to indicate no thanks was needed. "No Sir, just doing our job. We're just glad to be of service. And one of us will call Mr. Walker at his residence and fill him in on what happened."

He held the key up that Fran had given him from her purse. "Seeing the circumstances and all, I'm sure he won't mind at all that you used that old hunting cabin."

With a final handshake, Max walked to the passenger side of the car and held the door open. For the first time since they'd been forced apart in the cabin, Max looked straight at Fran. "After you Miss Fine."

Fran held his eyes for a second longer than she probably should have. "Thank you."

Max smiled, all politeness and calm exterior. "You're welcome".

Damn that polite tone. Fran sat down on the leather seat with a resigned plop.

Always one step forward, two steps back between them.

She had a sudden, overwhelming urge to cry.

Fighting it off, she looked out the window and waved at the officers. The one who'd retrieved Mr. Sheffield's car wasn't half bad and he hadn't taken his eyes off of her. Maybe she should have gotten a number.

She glanced in the vanity mirror above her head and winced. Or, it could be because she looked like she'd just been tumbled.

Max pulled the transmission down in drive and they headed back out in the direction the police officer had directed him.

"Well...that was certainly an unexpected twist to the weekend." He tossed her an offhand easy smile.

Fran forced a semi-smile to her own lips, trying to be as casual as he seemed to be about it all. "Yeah, we'll have to see what we can do as a follow-up." She watched him very closely out of the corner of her eye to see how he reacted to the remark. He showed no perceptible signs of distress. And as usual, his emotions appeared to be very 'in check'.

"Remember Miss Fine, you owe me a burger." His blasted smile was still in place.

She drummed her fingers against the windowsill where her arm was outstretched and looked back over toward him.

"Anytime you're ready Mr.Sheffield...anytime you're ready...

Her words were innocent enough, the implications were not.

Max said nothing, but just stared ahead at the road as they drove toward home.

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