[thirty-nine]

Lillianah's POV

Please don't turn me off

Yeah, like this

Where you at shawty?

You fly as hell, swagga right, brown skin poppin'

You know just how to talk to me

Know just how I like it

You turnin' me on, you turnin' me on, you turnin' me on

Now wait a minute little buster

You got one more time to feel on my booty

Better recognize a lady

That ain't the way you do me

You turnin' me off, you turnin' me off, you turnin' me off

Better recognize a real woman

My hips were popping back and forth like that never have before. Feeling young and reenergized, I was having a blast at work. A copy of Keri Hilson's album, which was still a month away from being released, fell in to my hands only a hour before midnight. Sampling the music in my earphones before playing it for the club I couldn't help but dance like I was 16 again. I wiped the sweat away from my forehead as I mixed the tunes and could see everyone on the dance floor with their arms in the air. Man, I love my job. I pull my headphones off and dance around as the song fills the building. My ankle felt sore, but the pure adrenaline quickly hides the pain. A little before 1 AM, I knew it was going to be hard for me to fall asleep once I got home. I was too wired and had too much energy in me to fall asleep. I had nights like this every once and awhile and it usually resulting in watching the sunrise from the roof of my building. I saw a download pop up on my computer and it was the new Black Eyed Peas single that my boss was sending me from his computer. It must have been my lucky night. I was pretty sure the song hadn't been released to the public yet. To say it brought the house down would be an understatement. The house probably hit a 4.0 on the Richter scale.

I called for a cab outside of the club, a promise I made to Max that I wouldn't walk home alone after work. I was almost tempted to walk just to work off some of the energy I still had, but I knew a cab was the smart way to go. The ride was a short one and I paid the cabbie and headed in to the building, tugging my pea coat closed as I stepped through the doors. With the way I dressed for work, it could easily be mistaken what I actually do when arriving at the apartment building at 2:15 in the morning. I smiled at the thought as I stepped in to the elevator. I unlocked the apartment door and walked in. I turned the foyer light on, took my pea coat and shoes off and turned to head in to the kitchen. I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight of the apartment. I flipped my phone opened and sure enough it was February 14th, I forgot it was Valentine's day. Rose petals and candles covered every surface available to hold things. I flicked the foyer light off and enjoyed the sight of a candle lit apartment. I headed in to the living room, carefully with my steps so I wouldn't step on any candles. I made my way in to the bedroom, more rose petals, more candles, but no Max. I turned back around and headed in to the kitchen. There he sat on the counter top sucking peanut butter off a spoon, looking at me like he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Next to him on the counter were a box of graham crackers, marshmallows and Hershey bars. Below his feet, King slept on the tiled floor. The perfect vision. "Happy Valentine's day baby," he stated as he jumped off the counter top, over King and in to my arms. "I hope we don't burn the building down, that's a lot of candles," I laughed before kissing him. He turned around and picked up a fire extinguisher that was next to the fridge. "Got it covered," he smiled before kissing me again. "Now, I know we didn't talk about Valentine's day and all, but I know what you can get me." I laughed at his enthusiasm and raised an eyebrow at him. He pointed to the marshmallows, "I want you to make me your famous s'mores." I smiled and kissed him once again before gathering up the ingredients and sending him out in to the living room. I wouldn't allow him to see how I make them. Not now, not ever. Before I started, I headed in to the bedroom to change out of my work clothes. Curiosity got the best of me and I pulled opened the underwear drawer. I shifted around the underwear and the ring box was gone. I didn't know what to think.

"How did you know I wouldn't be exhausted after work?" I asked as I walked out in to the living room with a plate full of sticky s'mores. "I know how excited you get over new music." I went to hand him the plate but pulled it out of his reach looking at him curiously. "How did you know I got new music tonight?" A smile formed at the corner of his lips. "I have a few connections and a few friends that owed me some favors. Can I have the s'mores now?" I shook my head with a smile and handed him the plate. I sat down next to him on the couch and he brought my legs up over his. He picked up one of the s'mores up and held it in front of my mouth. I saw the chocolate dripping, threatening to land on my leg so I licked it up before taking a bite. "So mean," he laughed as he shoved the rest of it in his mouth. He moved a candle aside of the coffee table and set the plate down. He went to kiss me, but I pulled back. "Finish chewing first, you animal." He nodded his head and chewed away as I was tempted to suck the chocolate off the corner of his mouth. Once he was done I swooped in and finished what he missed. He picked me up bridal style and carried me in to formal dining room where candles lined the window seals and floor. He set me down on top of the oak table and sat down next to me. His arm wrapped around my waist and I rested my head on his shoulder as we looked out the windows, out upon a sleeping Pittsburgh. After some time, I brought my head up and kissed him on his jaw, his barely-there beard tickling my nose. He looked at me and kissed me on the lips. "You're perfect, you know that?" He asked. I felt myself blush. "I try for you." "Come on, let's go to bed." I got up from the table and looked around at all the candles. "We have to blow these out," I stated as I started with the candles on the window seal. The whole room filled with smoke and Max opened the window before disappearing in to the kitchen. I worked on the candles in the foyer and front of the living room before I heard what I thought was the fire extinguisher. Sure enough I looked in to the kitchen and it was. Within seconds, every candle in the apartment was out, but the residue from the fire extinguisher was all over the floor. "You're cleaning tomorrow," I laughed as I grabbed his hand and dragged him in to the bedroom with me.

When I woke up the next morning I rolled over to find the bed empty. I sat up and stretched out my arms before climbing out of bed. I pulled on one of Max's dirty dress shirts, which smelt like me, and I smiled as I walked out into the kitchen. All of the mess from the night before was cleaned up and he was in his boxer briefs cooking up a storm. I looked at the counter next to the sink and my eyes grew wide at all of the candles. I did a quick count and thought I counted sixty, but that seem absurd. I walked up to him and kissed him between the shoulder blades. "How many candles did you buy?" I asked as my lips brushed over his shoulders. "Sixty-five," he laughed as he turned around in my arms and kissed me. "Make sure you have June 27th off of work." "Why?" He turned back to the stove and flipped the pancakes. "Flower proposed to Vero this morning, they already set a date." My mind immediately fluttered to the ring. That must have been Marc's ring and Max was just holding on to it so Vero wouldn't find it. It made sense. "That's exciting. Yeah I will make sure I have that whole weekend off." I began to make my way in to the living room when I felt his arms wrap around my waist, pulling me in tight to his chest. "Go get ready for the day while I finish up breakfast," he whispered in my ear before kissing my neck and letting me go. I took a nice long, hot shower, smiling the whole time about how perfect Max is. I blow dried my hair straight, slipped in to some grey sailor pants and a plain black tshirt that I tucked in, and pulled on my red pea coat. Finishing it off with red flats I walked out in to the kitchen and joined Max for breakfast. He was already dressed in perfect jeans and a black and grey stripped sweater. "Ready to go Miss Thang? We have a busy day ahead of us." I smiled and helped him clean up the kitchen, and we were out the door.

Max's POV

I could feel my OCD tendencies kick in as I checked the trunk one last time to make sure our bags were still in there. When I saw they were still there I smiled and slammed the trunk shut. I climbed in to the driver's seat and started up my car. "Where are we going?" she asked looking at me with a smile on her face. "It's a surprise. I've never done this whole Valentine's day thing before, so just bare with me, okay?" She started to laugh as she nodded her head and directed her attention back out the window. "Have you ever thought about going back to blond?" I asked after a few moments of silence. "I have a few times, but I really love my black hair. Why do you ask?" The corner of my mouth creeped up as I pulled on to the highway. "You're fucking hot as a blond, and honestly I have never been attracted to a blond before. Then I saw those pictures, and wow." I quickly glanced over at her to see she was blushing. I reached across to her hands folded in her lap and took one of them in mine, linking our fingers together. I pulled off the highway and I saw Lillianah's head snap over to the left and she looked at me with wide eyes. "Why are we going to the airport?" she asked with a shaky voice. "We're going away for the night. Don't worry I packed you a bag with plenty of stuff last night while you were at work, and Pascal is coming over to the apartment later tonight when they get back from Toronto to take care of King for a little bit." She squeezed my hand, "where are we going?" When I came to the red light at the off ramp I reached to the back seat and grabbed a bag and set it on her lap. "You're kidding right?" she asked as she pulled the earplugs and eye mask out of the bag. "It's a surprise, once we are in the air, you can take them off. But, when we get ready to land you have to put them back on." I looked over at her as the light turned green and watched as she shook her head, but there was a smile plastered on her face.

I took her hand in mine as we walked up the steps in to the plane. I thought about flying commercial, but how are you suppose to surprise someone when there is a layover? Never in my life would I drop ten grand to charter a flight to whisk a girl away for a night of fun, but Lillianah was the exception. She was the exception to a lot of things. I sat her down in a chair and stashed our bags before I took the seat across from her. She laid her head back against the head rest and within a few minutes we were taking off. I had already informed the one flight attendant that our destination was a secret and asked her to let the captain know that as well so they wouldn't let the surprise leak. Once we were in the air, I reached across from me and pulled off the eye mask. She looked around in shock and took the ear plugs out. "Whose plane is this?" she asked looking over her shoulder. "I chartered it, it was easier that way." "And probably a thousand times more expensive, you didn't have to do that." "But I wanted to." She smiled and leaned forward and kissed me before relaxing back in to the seat. Soon we were offered champagne. "Champagne at 11 in the morning?" she asked laughing as she took the glass from the flight attendant. "Happy Valentine's day," I smiled as we clinked our glasses together and took a sip. An hour later we started our decent and Lillianah looked out the window to figure out where we could possibly be. I handed her the ear plugs and eye mask and she smiled at me before putting them on. I was getting excited, even though we would only be in Montreal for a night, I couldn't help but smile at the fact that I was bringing her to my home. I was going to enjoy the next 24 hours, not worry about Kris, I would take care of him when I get cleared to play again. For now it was just her and I, that's all that mattered. 

She was fidgety in the cab ride to the hotel, it was killing her not being able to see or hear anything. When we stopped outside of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel I set our bags down next to me and stood in front of her. I took the earplugs out first, "ready?" She nodded her head and I pulled the eye mask off. She looked up at the massive hotel in front of us and then looked around. "Where are we?!" She asked laughing looking for hints, any kind of hints at all. "Welcome to my home, mon cher." "We're in Montreal?" She asked so loud that people walking by looked at us with confused expressions. "Come on, let's go check in." I picked up the bags and followed her inside of the hotel. "Do your parents know we're here?" she asked as I checked in at the front desk. "No, and they won't find out either. My mother would be livid if she found out we were in town and didn't stop by to say hi, but in all honesty, we leave tomorrow and I want to spend all this time with just you. Not my mom." She leaned forward and kissed me and we were taken to our room. I kicked off my shoes and jumped in to the massive cloud-like bed, landing on my back, arms thrown to the sides. "Come here," I groaned, wondering what she was doing. I felt her climb on top of me, and laid down resting her head on my shoulder. "This is perfect you know that? You're perfect," she said before leaning up and kissing my neck. "I wish we could just lay like this forever, but we have dinner reservations later, so I think a short nap is in order before we get ready." She rolled on to her side, before cuddling up next to me and we both quickly fell asleep. 

The beeping of my phone brought me out of my light nap and I turned the alarm off and looked down at Lillianah sleeping in my arms. "Wake up sleepy head," I nudged her and she slowly opened her eyes and looked up at me and smiled. "I made early dinner reservations because we have plans afterwards, so we should probably get ready now." She nodded her head and got up off the bed. I slowly got up as well and followed her in to the bathroom. I shut and locked the door behind me and turned the shower on. "What are you doing?" she asked as she took her necklace and watch off. "Showering with you, it's in the agenda." "What else is in this agenda of yours?" I held my hand up and looked at it, as if there was a list written on my palm. "Well right here it says I have to undress you." She turned around and leaned against the sink smiling at me. She grabbed on to my belt and pulled me in to her. I loved it when she was rough like that. She went in to kiss me and I closed my eyes in anticipation but felt her lips land on my neck instead. "You're not dirty enough to shower," she mumbled as she yanked my belt open and quickly worked on getting my pants open. "Does thinking dirty count?" She pulled away from my neck and looked in to my eyes. "Whatever you're thinking right now, I want you to do to me." Where did this animalistic, erotic woman come from? Why has she been hiding? My pants dropped down to my ankles and I stepped out of them as I quickly worked on her pants. Once we were both undress, I pulled back the shower curtain and ushered her in before I followed. I watched her as she ran her hair under the water and I took the shampoo and squirted some in to my hands. She turned her back to me and I worked my hands through her hair. A few soft moans escaped from her lips as I massaged her scalp. While she rinsed the shampoo out, I quickly washed my hair and rinsed. She finger brushed conditioner through he hair as her nipples brushed over my chest. I lathered up the soap on a wash rag and started on her shoulders. I kissed every square inch of her body before washing it, from her shoulders down to her toes. The perfect body, she tasted so sweet. Knowing we were short on time, I turned the shower off and climbed out handing her a towel. She kissed me before I walked out of the bathroom.

Lillianah's POV

"What is this?" I asked as I saw a beautiful white crochet, long sleeve dress laying across the bed. "I saw it and thought of you, I would love it if you wore it tonight." I smiled at him and picked up the dress and headed in to the bathroom. When I looked it over I almost jumped with joy when I saw the tag with Betsey Johnson plastered over it. My favorite designer, no wonder I fell in love with the dress. I quickly pulled it on, and it fit like a glove. I walked out and Max looked over his shoulder at me. "You look beautiful," he smiled before giving me a kiss. "How did you know what size to get?" I asked as I grabbed my earrings out of my bag. "I kind of stole a bra, a pair of pants and a top from the closet and took them to the store with me. The sales lady laughed at me at first, but I could tell she was jealous. She also talked me in to buying these." He pulled out a black and white long sweater, which upon further inspection was a black sweat with white guns scattered everywhere. I smiled widely at the sweater and set it down to see a pair of black and white wedges, all from Betsey Johnson as well. "Thank you baby," I smiled before kissing him once again. "I don't know how my ankle will handle high heels though, let me try them." I slipped the shoes on and walked around the room. The thickness of the heel made it fairly comfortable on my ankle and I smiled at Max letting him know we were good to go. I watched as he finished getting dress, in a simple black suit, white shirt, black tie. He looked like James Bond, but better. 

We arrived outside of a restaurant with the name Chez L'epicier hanging outside. "You do realize I don't know a lick of French right?" I asked laughing as we walked in. "Yes, I know, I'll order for you." We sat at a table that was up against a stone wall, and a candle lit the table. I listened to Max talk in his native tongue and imagined him talking like that to me while having sex, what a huge turn on it was. I scanned over the menu and Max helped me with some of the items, and I settled on the salmon. A bottle of wine was brought to our table and Max and I held our glasses up to toast. "To getting crazy tonight," he smiled and we clinked our glasses together before taking a drink. When our food arrived, we looked at our plates and then at each other. "You're kidding right?" Max asked laughing as he jabbed his fork in to his steak and picked it up, it was probably two inches by two inches big, if that. "I can eat this whole thing in one bite." I couldn't control my laughter as I looked back down at my salmon and noticed it wasn't much bigger than his steak. Sure enough he took the steak and shoved the whole thing in his mouth. "MAXIME!" "What?" he mumbled as he chewed up his steak. All I could do was shake my head and laugh as I cut my salmon up in to tiny pieces to make it last longer. It didn't take very long at all to finish eating, so we sat there and polished off the bottle of wine. Not waiting for the bill, Max threw down some money and we walked out. He held my hand as he looked up and down the street and then dragged me in the opposite direction of the hotel. I looked up the street and started laughing yet again when those familiar golden arches came in to view. "We're going to McDonalds?" "I'm hungry, I haven't eaten yet." We walked in and even listening to him order a Big Mac in French was a turn on. He could probably recite the square root of Pi to me in French and I'd get wet. "Do you want anything?" I looked up at the menu, thankful for the pictures, "Sundae au caramel fondant." Max started laughing and the person behind the counter held back a snicker as well. "What?" "You just butchered that, it's okay though, I still love you." 

We made our way back to the hotel and Max pulled yet another dress out of a bag. This one was covered in fringe and was backless. The only thing I liked about it, it was red. "What in the world?" "Come on, for me? Please?" He turned me around and pushed me toward the bathroom. I sighed as I stepped inside and shut the door behind me. I pulled off my white dress and slipped on the red tassel. It rested several inches above my knees and I twisted my body back and forth to watch the fringe fly. What in the world was he planning? I stepped out and he handed me a pair of black kitten heel Mary Janes. "What are we doing?" "Do you know how to salsa?" My eyes nearly bulged out of my head. "You have a concussion, and I just healed a broken ankle and we're going to salsa? That's a disaster waiting to happen." "Oh come on, it will be fun!" I shook my head as I slipped the shoes on pulled on my red pea coat. I turned around to see him now tie-less with the top two buttons unbuttoned with a hint of chest hair peaking out. I took his hand in mine and we walked out of the hotel room. A short cab ride later, we walked in to a smoky room where people danced in the middle of the room and the edges were surrounded by tables. And on top of everything, the room smelt of sex, dirty, rough sex. Max led me to a table and helped me out of my coat. I sat down and he pulled his blazer off and sat next to me at the small round table. Sweet Spanish music filled my ears and a waiter was immediately by our side, dancing in step. Max, still in his native tongue, ordered what I believed to be two dirty martinis. Our drinks quickly arrived and within minutes they were gone and Max was standing up offering me his hand. I took a deep breath and placed my hand in his. We walked to the dance floor and he spun me in tight to his body. "Just follow my lead," he whispered in to my ear and he began dancing to the music. I looked down at our feet and mimicked his foot movement. Once I got the hang of it, he swept me around the floor. I felt like I was having an outer body experience. Max looked like he was skating on ice, he was so comfortable spinning me around, dancing like a professional. Rubbing his hands up and down my thighs, lifting me in the air. My stomach clenched a few times when I thought I was going to fall, but Max was always there, pulling me in close to him. My hair and fringe on my dress flung around as he spun me every which way. He once again pulled me in tight to his body, rocking his hips back and forth, running his hand up my back and up through my hair. He grabbed on to my hair and pulled my hair back and his lips found my neck. A moan deep from my chest escaped my lips and he escorted me back to the table. 

"Where did you learn to dance like that?" I asked as another round of drinks were brought our way. "I took lessons so I could learn to be faster on my feet and to keep my balance better." "You never stop to amaze me you know that?" He took my hand in his and kissed my palm, slightly biting the tight skin. "One more dance then back to the hotel?" I nodded my head and followed him out on to the dance floor. Yet again I felt weightless, and I don't remember every detail, but before I knew it, we were back in a cab. I stumbled back on the bed as Max straddled my waist sitting above me. He sat up and grabbed the bottom of my dress lifting it up and over my head. "Wanna do something crazy?" he asked as he dipped his head down and sucked on my erect nipple. "Like what?" "Fly to Vegas tomorrow and get married." My breath caught in my chest and I looked at him trying to figure out what he just said. "Do I kiss better than him?" I reached down and grabbed on to his head, pulling it up to mine, looking him in the eye. "What?" "I asked if I kiss better than him?" I tilted my head to the side as the skin between my eyebrows pinched together. "Why would you ask me that?" "I need some reassurance, does he, and do you want to get married tomorrow?" "MAX! I think you drank too much." He rolled his eyes and attached his mouth to my neck. I pushed his words out of my mind and closed my eyes trying to enjoy the wonders his mouth was doing. Nothing was really helping, so I just reached my arms around his back and pulled his shirt out of his pants, taking it all the way off. "You're beautiful," he mumbled, "but I still want to know if I kiss better than him." I pushed on his chest, making him sit up once again. "You really want to know?" He nodded his head. "I don't remember Max. All I remember was that I kissed him back, and if I couldn't remember if he was a good kisser or not, than he must not be. All I know was that it was a huge mistake, one that I don't want to make again, think about again or talk about again." He smiled as he laid back down on top of me, kissing me on the lips. "Now, about Vegas."