Chapter one

Isabel lifted her head at the sound of a motorcycle engine outside. The new day was just beginning to dawn and she was awake; had been all night as she’d snuggled with her friend and lover. She was bone tired, but she knew sleep would elude her until she was back in her own bed, alone. That was just the way she was.

The noise from the motorcycle grew louder as its rider pulled into the apartment complex and rode to a spot nearby. Then it shut off. Silence again permeated the small room. To her fanciful imagination, the hushed stillness that remained was filled with an air of expectancy. If her lover had been awake, it would have been because they all knew what the sound meant.

Michael was home from whatever bed he’d slept in. Things were just about to change.

Part of her was saddened by the realization that the night had finally ended. It was time to get dressed and go home. Michael would be wanting to come in.

She leaned up on one elbow and looked down at the beauty sleeping so trustingly beside her and her breath caught.

Maria was flushed with sleep, her entire body was radiating heat as she cuddled up next to her, and the pink on her cheeks gave her an angelic appearance. Isabel’s heart twisted with love and she felt profoundly relieved that Maria’s pain over the confusing situation with Michael had also come to an end.

This time, the initiation had apparently worked.

Isabel could feel that Maria had become a part of herself at some point during the night. Brushing the hair away from Maria’s reposed face, Isabel bent over and pressed a gentle kiss against her forehead. In her sleep, Maria smiled peacefully. Isabel couldn’t help but smile in return, sharing her friend’s contentment.

Regretfully, Isabel disentangled herself from the bedclothes and stood. The dawn streaming through the window painted her nude form in beautiful shades of pinks and oranges as she stretched languidly. She rounded the bed and shook the shoulder of the girl sleeping on Maria’s other side.

Mumbling a little about the hour, Tess rolled over and sat up. Unmindful that the sheet was pooling around her waist, leaving her torso bare, she stretched her arms above her head and yawned deeply. "Isabel, what is it?" she asked, wondering at the enigmatic expression on her friend’s face.

"Michael’s here."

Those two words said it all. Tess’s eyes flew from Isabel to Maria. Michael was home, they had to leave and give Maria, beautiful, passionate, loving Maria, over to him. Tess frowned. Troubled, she said the first thing that came into her head. "He doesn’t deserve her."

"I know. I was just thinking the same thing, but she wants him. And he wants her." Isabel’s voice held just a touch of sadness. "Come on. Let’s get dressed. We’ll let him wake her up."

Tess nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah, she’ll like that."

The second alien climbed out of bed, careful not to disturb the human they’d exhausted during the long night. She and Isabel quietly pulled on their clothes. Soon they were ready, and Tess leaned over to kiss Maria goodbye. "Thank you," she whispered so quietly that neither of them could hear her. ‘I love you,’ she added in her head, gazing at her one last time in worshipful silence.

She was straightening as Isabel returned carrying a red silk scarf, which she loosely knotted around Maria’s wrist as a reminder of what the three of them had shared the night before. The trust and bond the three of them had formed were symbolized in the small strip of fabric.

"Come on. Let’s go," Isabel said as she finished, despite how much they both would rather stay.

The night had ended, but the day had dawned bright and full of promise. Maria was finally a part of the family. It was cause to celebrate.

Outside the apartment, they found Michael leaning against his bike, his arms folded across his chest, his legs crossed at the ankles. He looked dangerous, sexy. He’d obviously been watching old James Dean movies.

Straightening at the girls’ approach, he looked at them in silence; the question he most wanted to ask was stuck in his throat. ‘Had it worked? Could he go inside and BE with Maria?’

Some part of him already knew the answer. He could feel it. Had felt it; the change in their circle, all the way across town, at the Valenti’s, where he’d spent the night.

Desire had poured through him as the first blush of dawn had streaked the horizon. It was strong enough to wake him up out of a sound sleep. He’d lain there on Jim’s comfortable sofa, fighting it for a few minutes, telling himself there was no reason to hurry. He had plenty of time to claim Maria as his own. He figured they’d spend the day together doing whatever she wanted, then they’d spend the night doing whatever he wanted. It sounded like a fair trade, he’d thought as heat latently moved through him, pooling and eddying around inside of his body until he was edgy with a sexual hunger he couldn’t ignore.

A VERY cranky Kyle Valenti, standing in the entryway, after having gotten little to no sleep during the night, had shot that plan to hell. "Dammit, Michael. What are you doing over there?"

"Kyle?" Michael looked up, confused at his sudden appearance in the living room. "It’s dawn, man. Why are you up?"

"Funny," Kyle said derisively. "I was just asking myself the same thing." He gestured with one hand at his crotch, where Michael could plainly see he was definitely ‘up’ in more ways than one. Kyle suggested, "Why don’t you get your ass up and go make love to your woman before I go do it for you."

Michael’s eyes widened in realization, "You felt that? I mean, I woke you up?"

"Damn straight. Not that I’ve gotten any sleep to speak of. What with you laying out here the whole time. I feel like I've been awake all damn night."

"Sorry, man."

Kyle managed a good-natured grin. "Don’t worry about it. It was a special circumstance and besides, there’s plenty of time for sleep when we’re dead, right?"

Michael nodded humorously, "Can’t argue with that."

"Good, now I’m giving you a choice: go home and kiss Maria good morning, or come over here and kiss me good morning. Either way you’re off the sofa, got it?"

The alien quirked an eyebrow at him. Deciding to tease him a little, Michael stood and sauntered over to him. "Good morning," he said leaning in for a chaste kiss. He crowded Kyle against the wall and nipped playfully at the other boy’s lips.

Chuckling, Kyle pushed him away, saying, "Get going, Guerin. We both know you’d rather be climbing into your bed, not mine. If you could just send my girlfriend this way when you see her, that’d be great."

"Deal," Michael agreed.

Turning back toward his bedroom, Kyle waved toward the bathroom saying, "I’d recommend a shower before you go."

Less than ten minutes later, Michael had been on his bike, heading toward his apartment with nervous butterflies twisting in his stomach.

Now, he stood in front of Isabel and Tess waiting for confirmation that everything had worked as it should. Was Maria to be his?

Tess took pity on him and said solemnly, "Yeah, she’s one of us now."

"How is she?"

Isabel shrugged and answered, "Still sleeping. We haven’t had a chance to talk this morning."

Michael couldn’t help but ask, "How did everything go? I mean, was she ok with it?"

"Why don’t you go in and ask her?" Isabel suggested wryly.

"Yeah. Ok. We’ll see you guys later," he said as he eagerly started to walk away. They heard him mumble, "Much later."

"Michael," Tess stopped him. "Tell Maria we'll see her for dinner."

Nodding, Isabel added, "Both of you. My house. 6 o’clock. Don’t be late.

"Got it."

"And Michael," Isabel warned, "Be good to her."

"Or you'll be answering to us," Tess added.

He stopped and looked at the two girls. They were both completely serious. Michael didn’t take offense, though normally he would. It was like Kyle said: ‘special circumstances.’ Their attitude was understandable because he and Max had felt possessive and protective of Kyle and Alex after their initiations, too. They didn’t have to worry, though. Michael had every intention of treating Maria like the goddess she was.

Nodding briefly in acknowledgement of the warning, he turned and continued on into the apartment.

Tess and Isabel watched him until he disappeared inside, then with a yawn, Tess asked, "So, do you wanna get some breakfast or something?"

"Nah, I think I just want to go home and get some sleep."

"Were you awake all night?" she asked. At Isabel's nod, she said, "Well, no wonder you're tired. Come on, let's get you home."

As they walked to Tess's small silver car, Isabel said, "I wonder how things went with Max and Liz last night."

"Oh, that's right. They were going to go have a talk."

"If I know my brother, he probably had more than talking on his mind."

Looking at her nervously, Tess asked, "Do you think he told her, you know, about us?"

Isabel shook her head, "I doubt it." They climbed into the car and fastened their seatbelts. "Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough."

Chapter two

Michael entered his apartment quietly, closing and locking the door before turning toward his bed and the figure that reposed there. Maria looked so serene laying against his pillows that he was loathe to disturb her. Isabel had warned him the events of the previous evening had worn her out and he wanted to let her sleep as long as she needed to.

His body was tight with anticipation, but his heart held him back as it had outside of Max’s window last night. Today was special for Maria, and he wanted to make sure there would be nothing to tarnish or diminish her memory of the first awakening after her initiation. So, he buried the predatory instincts that were driving him to join her in the bed, his bed, and instead, he sat down on one of his kitchen barstools and watched her.

He noted each breath she took. He envied the air around her, wishing he could be that close to her skin. He noticed how the sheet moved as her ribs expanded to accommodate the air she inhaled. The way it fell around her was intoxicating. She was laying on her side facing him, the sheet firmly tucked beneath her armpit. He could make out the shadow of her cleavage, enhanced as it was by her position in the bed. He could see the curve of her hip, outlined by the thin material covering it. One small foot, with brightly painted toenails, peeked at him from the bottom of the sheet. As he watched it, she flexed her muscles, pointing the toes, before relaxing again into slumber.

The one hand he could see was laying quiescent against his pillow. There was something about it that struck him with her vulnerability. He wondered if Tess and Isabel had noticed it, too. If her defenselessness had caught their attention before they’d left her there for him to find. Considering the warning they’d delivered to him before taking off, he figured it had.

Then he remembered what happened previously with the guys and realized whether they had seen it or not was a moot point. The warning would probably have come regardless.

He and Max had gone into super-protective overdrive of the guys until the female hybrid had been present to claim her chosen one. As near as he could figure, it had something to do with finishing the ritual: the aliens had both been reluctant to leave Kyle and Alex in the early morning hours after their initiations.

Michael shuddered in remembrance.

The savage instinct to guard the newly claimed humans had almost cost Sheriff Valenti his life…

Jim had arrived home at around four in the morning after pulling the graveyard shift the night before. He’d instantly become alarmed when he noticed the sofa in the living room, where Kyle’d been sleeping since Tess had come to live with them was empty. Fortunately, he’d found the note that Tess had left for him, stating that she’d been invited to a sleepover at Isabel’s in the kitchen and was immediately relieved. He figured Kyle’d taken the opportunity to sleep in a bed, so he went to Kyle’s old room in search of his missing son.

Max had awoken at the sound of the car in the driveway as Kyle’s window faced that direction. Uncaring of his complete state of undress, he was on his feet instantly, peering outside. Seeing that it was only the good Sheriff arriving home from work had done nothing to relieve the burning tension he was feeling. His feelings communicated themselves to Michael who’d sat up, alert and ready for action.

"What is it?" he’d whispered.

"Someone’s here," Max replied softly, adding after a beat, "It’s the Sheriff."

Michael could still feel the rush of emotions that had engulfed him until he couldn’t think, couldn’t see, could only react to any incoming stimuli. He’d gotten to his feet and positioned himself so that he stood between their human who continued to sleep, unaware of what was happening around him, and the bedroom door. His powers, juicing up inside him, were stronger, more volatile than he’d ever felt them. He was prepared to kill to protect Kyle from anything and anyone.

Max, only slightly less explosive, realized that the danger the sheriff presented could be more lasting and less immediate if he and Michael were discovered naked in his son’s bed. Jim had been very understanding about the four aliens in his midst, even allowing one to live under his roof, but Max had known he would never understand the necessity of what had happened there that night. They had to hide.

He kicked their clothes under the bed and shoved Michael toward the sliding closet doors just as they heard Jim’s boot heels clearly approaching in the stillness of the otherwise quiet house. It was obvious he was attempting to move stealthily down the hallway, probably in an effort not to disturb Kyle’s sleep.

Max and Michael had both stiffened as Jim quietly entered the room. Their powers were churning uncontrollably inside their bodies, gaining strength and momentum, like a hurricane building force above a rioting ocean as the older man had approached the bed. Their eyes seemed to glow brightly in the moonlight that penetrated the slats of the door as they waited.

Jim was relieved to find Kyle asleep in his bed exactly as he’d hoped he would. Being a police officer, he appreciated the peace that came with knowing your family was safe and sound in their bed. He reached down to brush a stray hair away from Kyle’s forehead.

Less than three feet away, both Max and Michael, acting on an instinct so powerful they had no will to combat it, raised their hands, preparing to blast the intruder into oblivion. No one was permitted to touch their human until his mate had come to him and finished the initiation. No one.

Jim’s fingertips were reaching.

Michael and Max’s palms were tingling as the rush of energy continued to fill them until a muted glow emanated from them. Their skin was sizzling in reaction.

Closer, he’d reached.

Brighter, they’d glowed.

…Until the high-pitched beeping of the sheriff’s pager sliced through the stillness of the night. Swearing softly, Jim silenced it and read the display. Muttering something about Hanson and cleaning coffeepots, the sheriff turned around and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Max and Michael remained unmoving until after the sound of his cruiser had faded away. Their powers were slowly reabsorbed into their bodies.

Coming out of their stupors simultaneously, Max opened the closet door and looked around as Michael said, "Holy shit, Max. Did you feel that?"

Max didn’t bother to answer, saying instead, "Maybe we’d better call Tess."

"Ya think?" Michael asked sarcastically, his hands planted on his bare hips.

Sitting in his apartment now, Michael still had trouble recalling that morning without shaking. He would have killed Valenti without blinking; the instinct to protect Kyle had been that strong.

Wiser, they’d taken no chances with Alex. As soon as the first rays of dawn pierced the morning sky, they’d woken their exhausted charge and delivered him directly to Isabel’s bed. He and Max had chuckled for hours over his comical amazement to the sudden change in scenery.

Michael wondered briefly how long it had taken Isabel to convince her chosen one that he wasn’t dreaming. And how much fun she’d had doing it.

His attention was drawn back to the bed as Maria’s fingers twitched slightly. The girls must have heard him coming and had decided to leave Maria to him, he thought. Still, he marveled they’d been able to go at all. He would never have left her.

She made a small sound and nuzzled deeper into his pillow. He hoped she would wake up soon. The wanting that had awoken him hadn’t diminished one bit, and he was growing impatient to hold her in his arms. The only thing holding him back was his concern for her. Isabel had said she was tired, so he didn’t want to disturb her much needed slumber.

* * * * * * *

With a sigh, Maria rolled over onto her back and stretched her arms languidly over her head. Her brain was heavy with sleep as she struggled to wake up, and sensations were only making vague impressions on her consciousness.

She had a crick in her neck, and her limbs felt unusually heavy this morning. Rolling again, she leaned up slightly so she could punch her pillow into a less flattened condition. Satisfied, she flopped back down with a groan and pulled the sheet up to her neck. Through it all, her eyes had remained shut against the bright sunlight that beckoned her to awaken fully.

Her state of undress was the first thing to really register. Since when did she sleep completely naked, she wondered idly? Her skin felt ultra-sensitive where the rough sheet touched her. Her thoughts drifted in a haze as she considered the benefits of fabric softeners.

An itch on her nose was the next thing to penetrate. She reached up to rub it and as she did so, she fuzzily became aware of something tied around her wrist. Moving slowly, she reached over with her free hand to investigate. It seemed to be a band of some silky fabric. Its presence there was so strange that it prompted her to open her eyes.

All she could make out was red as her eyes tried to focus on her wrist. She frowned slightly as she pulled her arm further away from her face to aide in allowing her eyes to adjust. Why was there a red thing tied around her wrist? It looked familiar, she thought. The last time she’d seen anything like it was…

"Oh my god."

She surged upward, suddenly wide-awake, staring at the scarlet scarf like it was another life form. The night suddenly came rushing back to her. Isabel had…

And Tess had…

And then she had…

"Oh, my god!"

Maria buried her face in her hands. She was completely at a loss to pinpoint what she was thinking or what she was feeling at that moment. A thousand emotions and sensations were all clamoring for precedence in her brain. As she struggled with it for several seconds, she realized that over everything else, she felt a deep sense of euphoria and well being.

Michael hurried over from the fridge where he’d been getting a cup of water for her, thinking she’d probably be thirsty when she finally awakened. He set it carefully on the table before sitting down to face her on the bed. He tentatively reached out a hand to touch her shoulder. "Hey Maria," he said softly, "Are you ok?"

"Michael!" she exclaimed, remembering suddenly where she was. Looking around wildly, she could see no sign of Tess or Isabel. Her eyes flew back to Michael’s concerned gaze. ‘Did he know?’ she asked herself before remembering. ‘Well, duh. Of course he knows, I’m the one who called him and told him to find some other place to sleep.’ He knew everything that had happened last night. She blushed.

Well, he didn’t know EVERYTHING, but he knew enough.

"Oh my God," she moaned again, blushing even more. The redness was now covering her from her hairline to her pert breasts… which, she suddenly noticed, were just hanging out there in the cool morning air.

With a gasp, she jerked the sheet back up to her chin.

"Maria. Talk to me babe," Michael implored, worried by her upset reaction to seeing him. Torn between wanting to comfort her and being afraid to touch her, he dared to stroke her soft hair. She didn’t outwardly flinch away from him, which he decided to take as a good sign. Damn Isabel. ‘Why don’t you go ask her,’ he silently mimicked. He was still in the dark over whether Maria had fully accepted the situation, or if she was about to go into full freak-out mode. Her next question didn’t help any.

"Where are they?" she asked, looking around this time more in an avoidance maneuver than because she thought Isabel and Tess were hiding in the apartment.

"They went home a couple of hours ago," he told her honestly, aware that she had probably wanted to talk with them.

It would have been impossible to miss the look of saddened disappointment that crossed her face in light of her apparent abandonment. He raised her face to his with a finger under her chin. "Hey, they gave me strict instructions to bring you to Isabel’s for dinner tonight, so you’ll be able to see them in a few hours."

That one sentence made Maria feel a thousand times better. Before she could fully puzzle out the implications of that, her mind seemed to focus suddenly, and she became dizzily aware of the touch of Michael’s skin against her own. She looked into his warm brown eyes, noticing how the morning sun brought out the rust colored flecks until they seemed to glow with a reddish hue. They looked like liquid amber and she was willingly drowning in them. He had a look of adoration on his face that she’d long ago given up the hope of ever seeing there. It was just as beautiful as she’d imagined it. He was just as beautiful. She was so lost in him that she nearly forgot to breathe. Her first breath was full of his unique scent mixed with an unfamiliar soap odor. She frowned, put off by the smell of Zest masking Michael’s natural scent. Swaying toward him, she put her nose against his neck and inhaled again, looking for and finding the tangy aroma that was uniquely her alien.

That smell was all it took.

A yearning so deep, so profound that it brought tears to her eyes flooded her senses, erasing everything but the thought of him, the need of him. There was a fire suddenly burning in her belly, and she knew instinctively that only Michael could put it out. She needed to feel all of him all over. She needed to be encased by him, surrounded by him and his heat and his scent. Maria reached for him and pulled him down onto the bed beside her.

Michael, sensing the change in her, moved willingly but cautiously toward her until he was lying stretched out fully on the bed. His arms went around her as she crowded closer until they were touching everywhere.

Linking her fingers behind his neck, Maria pulled his head towards hers for an urgent kiss. As soon as their lips touched, fireworks exploded in her brain. A hungry need was claiming her. She had to have him right now. The urge to become one with him was primal; instinctive and she had no will to stop it. She moaned hungrily and pressed closer to his body.

As stimulating as the contact was, it just wasn't enough. She needed to feel him against her skin but was thwarted by the fabric that was twisted around her. She grabbed at the sheet that was covering her, clawing at it violently and frantically twisting her body to get it out of her way, unmindful of the way her own fingernails were digging into her soft skin in the process. She didn’t care about any of that; the only thing that was registering in her brain was that she had to get it off NOW.

"Woah, Maria," Michael said, reaching a hand out to steady her. "Maria, stop." He was shocked at the wildness he could see in her eyes. He forced her hands away from her body, holding them above her head with one large hand. The other hand he used to pull the offending sheet away from her. It was summarily flung to the floor at the foot of the bed.

As soon as it was gone, she relaxed against him again and he cupped her face between his two large hands staring down at her, searching for a reason behind her actions. He saw nothing there except an untamed desire and need for him. Hoping to calm her down, he leaned in, seeking out her lips once more. Their rose petal softness parted for him and he sent his tongue tentatively into her mouth. He lightly stroked the flesh she’d unwittingly scratched trying to soothe the reddened skin.

Having forgotten the entire incident, Maria was once again questing for a closer contact with him. His clothes were chafing her overheated skin. She pulled her lips away from his, and he immediately sent them to her neck. "Michael," she implored. "I need…." She ran her hand up his shirt looking for and finding the bare skin of his neck at his collar and touched it lovingly with her fingertips.

He groaned, and tilted his head forward to give for better access. "I know baby, I know. I'm right here."

She slipped her fingers into the collar of his shirt continuing to seek out more of his hot skin. She was starting to get frustrated. Why was he teasing her like this? Didn’t he know what she wanted?

With a sound that was suspiciously like a growl, Maria began pulling on his shirt, trying to force it off his body. Michael wasn’t laying in much of a position to help her other than rolling this way or that, so it took a moment, but eventually the shirt was gone and she had all of the skin on his chest to bask in.

"Mmm, Michael," it was a sigh as she cuddled against him.

He stroked her hair enjoying the feel of her warm body touching his. He ran his hand down her bare back, marveling at how silky her skin felt to him. He wondered inanely if she had a bottle of that skin-softening bubble bath that girls used. Maybe he would buy her another one, just in case. He wouldn’t want her to run out if this was the result.

Maria’s contentment didn’t last long. The fire burning deep in her belly wasn’t relenting and she needed to be closer to him, as close as she could possibly be. So close that she became him.

She reached a hand between them and fumbled with his buckle.

Michael, who had been moving in a cautious ‘let’s-wait-and-see’ mode, sprung fully erect behind his fly from her innocent motions against his crotch.

Feeling him harden against her hands, she abandoned the useless buckle to stroke him instead. Michael groaned softly and rocked his hips forward in an effort to increase the contact. She cupped him through the soft fabric of his slacks, stroking him from base to tip as best as she could.

Michael rolled onto his back, and eagerly opened his belt and fly. Lifting his hips, he pushed the rest of his clothes past his hips and off his legs. No sooner had he lain back than Maria was climbing on top of him. Straddling his hips, she rubbed against him provocatively. His hands reached up to cup her breasts. He loved the way she moaned and arched into him, deepening the contact.

Her hands had gone between her legs to stroke his burning length. She rubbed her thumb over the drop of wetness that appeared at the tip, smoothing it over the entire head of his cock. Her own wetness had gotten on the shaft, too and she spread it around, too, driving him insane in the process, but she wasn’t done yet. There wasn’t quite enough moisture already on him to coat his length entirely, so holding him steady with one hand, she brought her fingers to her soaked passage with the other. Gathering up more of her own feminine liquid, she soon had plenty to completely cover him. Which she did. Thoroughly, until he was moaning and shifting beneath her.

Michael watched all of her actions with astonished delight. Though he and Maria had never had sex before, they’d done some fooling around with each other in the past, but she’d never been this open about herself and her needs before. Watching her touch herself like that made him hungry for more. He suddenly remembered the flash he’d gotten from Liz last Friday night, and realized that she’d been touching herself quite a bit lately, and he thought it was sexy as hell. He decided then and there that one day soon he would have to watch her take herself all the way.

Speaking of ‘all the way’, Maria was beyond ready to get there. She leaned into him and kissed him hungrily, once again squirming impatiently over his erection, teasing him with her slick folds. Moving her hips, she rubbed and teased his sensitive cock where it throbbed against her.

Her urgency was starting to stoke his own lust until he could think of nothing except being buried inside her. He had to know what it would feel like to have her slick skin holding him tightly. But, first, he needed to make sure she was safe. Fortunately, he’d thought to remove his wallet from his pants earlier while she was still sleeping. It was on the table, easily within reach.

While he was retrieving a condom, Maria was making soft little needy noises in his ear. She nipped at his skin, and tongued the lobe into her mouth. She bit down lightly before moving on to his mouth. She kissed him voraciously, darting her tongue in and out in a suggestive motion that mimicked the rhythm of her hips against him.

Michael dropped the condom on the bed and reached for her head to hold her there. Her kisses were making him crazy and he didn’t want it to end any time soon. His own tongue joined in the dance and he was so caught up in it that he didn’t immediately notice that her hands had once again wandered south.

Her first touch brought him back from the brink and sent him right back over again, higher this time than before. Suddenly, he realized that she was holding him tightly in place so that she could guide him into her softness. Gasping in pleasure and anguished frustration, he grabbed her hips and pulled her forward, again away from his straining flesh. "Wait, Maria," he said, his voice low and gravelly from desire. The sound of it shot shivers up her spine. "Not yet."

"Michael, I need you," she said, trying to look at him through the desire that was clouding her vision. All she could see was his burning cock, its red tip glistening with wetness and teasing her with its size. She had to have it inside of her. She knew that it was the key to the fire threatening to burn her from the inside out.

"I know, baby," he said as he reached with a shaking hand for the previously abandoned protection. As quick as he could, he opened the package and rolled it onto his hard length. "Come here," he said softly. She was helpless to resist, and she leaned into him one last time. Michael rolled them over; glad to know there was nothing keeping him from completing the connection with his beautiful little pixie this time. She was finally going to be his. Resting his weight on his elbows, he placed a gentle kiss on her lips before seeking out her waiting entrance down below.

At his first touch, Maria widened her knees. This was what she’d been wanting. With her feet planted on the bed, she raised her hips to help, meeting him half way. She gasped at the incredible sensations she felt as he slowly entered her. Millimeter by millimeter Michael pushed himself into her. Occasionally, he backed up and started over. Finally he was in as far as he could get without breaching her maidenhead. There was a frown between her eyes as she fought the uncomfortable sensation.

"Are you ok?" he asked worriedly. He didn’t ask if she wanted him to stop. It was way too late for that for either of them, had been before he’d entered his apartment this morning.

"I think so," she said even as she tried to press her hips closer. The discomfort she was feeling increased and she whimpered but didn’t relent. She needed to end this. Their coupling was destined be more than a coming together; it was a completion of the ritual Isabel and Tess had started last night. She was powerless against the instincts that were driving her. If they told her to get up and run around the streets of Roswell naked, she’d be heading for the door right now. Fortunately, all they wanted was for her to complete this union with her amazing alien. "Michael," she whispered, clutching at him in desperation.

Michael was starting to feel the same things she was as a connection slowly formed between them. Her need was quietly echoing in him along with the anxiety she was experiencing. "It’s ok, babe," he reassured her. "Just hang on. I got you, I promise. Look at me," he commanded softly.

Raising her lashes, she looked into his eyes. She lost her sense of self as she floated in their gentle depths. The fear in her was supplanted with a calmness that she somehow knew came from him.

Locked in each other’s gazes he pulled back nearly to her entrance and plunged forward swiftly, tearing through her thin membrane, irrevocably finalizing her passage into the family.

Maria cried out at the sharp pain, and he held himself still until he knew it was ok to continue through their connection. She smiled up at him, moving her hips experimentally. The pain was soon gone, leaving only a delicious fullness.

That smile told him all he needed to know, and slowly, cautiously, he began to move inside her. In no time, she was moving in counterpoint to him, and they were soon flying toward that elusive pinnacle they were both seeking. Sweat broke out on their bodies as they picked up speed. Their breaths were gasping in and out, their hearts pounding in tandem in their chests while they strained against one another.

Maria felt it coming first. Her climax was getting closer with every motion. Her muscles were tightening around him, pulling him tighter into her body.

"Shit," he softly swore, amazed that the incredible sensations actually got better. His own climax was just a few strokes away, and his thrusts became shallower, and more forceful as he rocked against her, fully intending to send her over the edge with him.

"Oh my god," she panted, "Michael!" She was ready to explode. Just another couple of seconds… Then it happened.

They came simultaneously; their frantic motions against one another driving them both to completion.

"Michael!" Maria gasped as the world fell out from underneath her. Her passion and his passion both broke over her consciousness. She was flooded with so many sensations that she went into sensory overload and her brain actually had to shut down in order to process it all. Then it began to realign itself to the new world that awaited her.

Coming down from his cloud of sexual bliss, Michael opened his eyes. Maria was laying lax and unmoving beneath him, her eyes slightly open and unfocussed. He called her name softly, nuzzling her neck, but she didn’t respond to either his voice or his touch. Looking at her again, his heart stopped and he panicked when he finally realized that Maria was out cold. Shit! "Maria!" He pulled away from her and sat up.

Lightly tapping her cheeks, Michael called her name loudly several times. He was seconds away from leaping to the phone and calling Max when she finally began to come to. Her eyes closed tightly, then fluttered open, eventually coming back into focus on him.

Maria had never known it was possible to feel the way she was feeling at that moment. She felt complete, finished. Like she’d been taken apart and put back together in a way that made all her parts fit together where there used to be gaping holes before. As she looked silently at him, there were tears sparkling on her lashes caused partly from ecstasy, partly from the beauty of finally being with Michael as she’d always wanted. The smile teasing about her lips was radiant. Michael couldn’t resist kissing her tears away, whispering, "I love you, I love you," over and over until her heavy arms came up to embrace him.

"I love you, too," Maria said against his neck.

Time stood still as they grinned at each other wordlessly communicating what they didn’t have the energy to say out loud.

Finally, he said, "I’ll be right back." Pulling away from her, he stepped into the bathroom to toss out the condom and wet down a washrag. He cleaned himself, rinsed it out and returned to the side of the bed. Maria had already fallen back to sleep, laying exactly as he’d left her. He smiled tenderly as he used the towel to gently wipe away any evidence of her lost virginity.

He marveled at the connection they’d shared briefly while they were making love. It had been incredible. Too bad it was a one-time deal; he could have grown addicted to it. Both Isabel and Tess said something similar had happened with their chosen ones the first time, but it went away and never returned.

Returning from the bathroom a second time, he pulled Maria into his arms, and covered both of them with the discarded sheet. He had a need to take care of her, to guard her from everything, even the early afternoon breeze coming in from the window.

Chapter three

Liz ran her tongue from the base of Max's spine up to the nape of his neck. She moved her mouth across each shoulder, alternately nipping or kissing his hot skin. Her hands kneaded the sexy muscles of his back as she worked. Her eyes were closed in concentration as she labored to please him, not that it mattered; the room was nearly pitch black. The pale light coming through Max's open window barely illuminated Max's powerful back. The rest of the room was cloaked in hushed darkness.

Liz loved the feel of his bare skin against hers, and took ample opportunity to rub against him with her sensitive breasts. Moving up his body, her lips unerringly found the soft skin just beneath his exposed ear and she delicately tongued the whole area, stopping once to draw his cute little earlobe into her mouth.

While giving her attentions there, she moved again so that she was now straddling his body. Her womanhood brushed against the top of his pelvis, sending a cacophony of sensations through her nerve endings straight into her brain. Widening her legs, she settled her wet heat upon him more fully, and experimentally rocked forward and back once, dragging her breasts and clit against him in a full body caress. He felt incredible against her, but she reluctantly stopped the torment, turning her attentions to pleasing him.

Getting up, she settled on his left side, and began a sensual massage on his left leg using a bottle of scented body oil that was conveniently at hand. She must have used it on his back already. Slowly, firmly, she rubbed and massaged the thin liquid up the leg closest to her, kneading, rubbing, stimulating as best she could. She started on his foot, meticulously getting between each toe, working the tired muscles she found there, then on up his calves. She enjoyed the abrasive feeling of his coarse hair beneath her soft fingers as she smoothed more oil on him.

Soon, she was working the firm muscles of his thigh. His legs were so powerful that Liz had a fleeting thought about him joining in some of the athletic events at school. She was certain he was more fit than any of the other boys on the Varsity teams, even Kyle. He was always so afraid to get close to the humans he lived with day in and day out that he'd practically wasted his whole life. Liz realized how fortunate she was that she'd been let into the exclusive 'I-know-an-alien' club. If it hadn't been for getting shot, Max would never have come out of his shell enough to approach her and she would never have gotten to know him for the caring, loving, sexy, passionate man that he was.

Who would have thought a person would be glad that they’d nearly died?

Having finished with that leg, she climbed over him to the other where she started all over again. Toes, calves and thighs all got her loving attentions. The oil she'd applied caused his skin to glisten faintly in the muted moonlight. It was somehow natural that though the light illuminated his shining back and the bottom part of his legs, it left the tops of his thighs and buttocks in shadows where she couldn't see them at all.

She poured more of the sexy oil into her already slick palms and began applying it to Max's warm ass. Up the slopes and back down again, over the sides of his hips to the cool sheet and back. Feeling daring, she teased the dark cleft between the tight mounds of muscle with her fingertips, running their lubricated tips further and further downward, amazing herself with her boldness.

She smiled sexily in the darkness, feeling all kinds of turned on.

"Max," she said softly. "Turn over and I'll do your front." He didn't immediately move, so she leaned up to whisper in his ear, "If you roll over, I'll do all of your front." Sitting back with a grin, she waited. And waited. "Max?"

A soft snore reached her disbelieving ears.

* * * * * *

"You’re still sleeping? Liz, honey, don’t you think you should be getting up?" Mrs. Parker stood in her daughter’s doorway frowning at her only child.

"Mom?" Liz asked sleepily as she rolled over. What a dream she'd been having…

"It’s after noon, honey. How late were you out last night?"

"Late." Liz confirmed as she stretched her arms above her head. She’d stayed with Max until after one in the morning, before reluctantly dressing and driving herself home.

"Hmm." Was the non-commental reply. Nancy knew better than to ask questions to which she might not like the answer. She was just happy to know her daughter did have enough sense to come home at all. Speaking of which, "Amy called earlier. She was looking for Maria. I told her you’d call her back when you woke up."

Liz sat up, immediately concerned for her friend. "Maria?" Last time she’d seen the blond girl, Tess had promised to see that she got home ok. If anything had happened to her…

Liz was instantly on her feet and pulling a robe over her pj’s before heading to the phone. Her mom said that they'd see her downstairs later before closing the door, allowing Liz some privacy. She tried Maria’s cell first and was surprised it was turned off. Breaking the connection, she tried Michael’s apartment next. Granted he was the last person she wished to talk to while her body was still all tingly from Max’s caresses the night before, she thought maybe he might have some idea where her erstwhile friend had disappeared to.

"Yeah?" was the short answer after one ring. His voice was low and huskier than usual. It made her think of things better left unsaid.

Despite the fact that he was on the other side of town, Liz flushed at the intimate images the sexy timbre of his voice created in her mind. ‘Get it together Liz. You love Max. Not Michael. He does not sound like he’s still in bed, so just forget it.

"Hello?" Now he sounded irritated, Liz noticed with relief. An irritated Michael was a Michael she could deal with.

"Um, yeah, um, Michael, it’s Liz. I’m sorry to be calling you."

"Don’t worry about it. What’s up?"

"Nothing. I mean I’m sure it’s nothing, it’s just… Have you seen Maria today?"

"Yeah," Michael admitted. "She’s here. She, and Isabel and Tess had a sleepover thing here last night. I just got in a little while ago myself."

Liz was surprised. No one had said anything about a sleepover before she’d left the club with Max. It took a second to think up a response to that piece of information. After a short silence, she said, "Well, her mom’s looking for her. Could you…"

"Yeah, I’ll tell her to call."

"Thanks," Liz stated and hung up. Stretching her arms again, she headed for a shower. Best to let Maria call her mom first, she decided. She’ll call Amy as soon as the cobwebs cleared. She still needed to shake off that odd dream. A cold shower was definitely in order.

* * * * * * *

"Hi, Ms Deluca. It’s Liz."

"Oh, hi, Liz. How was the sleepover last night?"

Years of covering for Maria had her answering seamlessly, "Oh it was great. Lots of fun." Fortunately, Liz was a much better liar over the phone than in person. There was no way Amy could see the red creeping up her cheeks. Wanting to change the subject, Liz said, "So, Dad wants me to ask you if you have any more of those glow-in-the-dark coffee stirrers. We’re down to our last box."

"Yeah, of course I’ll bring some over later this week."

"That’ll be great."

"Ok, so I’ll see ya later, then."

"Bye, Ms Deluca," Liz said before hanging up the phone. After going downstairs and eating some lunch, Liz returned to her room and grabbed her journal. So much craziness had happened recently that she hadn’t really had a chance to put her thoughts into words yet.

First and foremost, she and Max were back together. They’d kept each other awake most of the night kissing and cuddling on his bed after he’d found her at Hanger 54 where she and Maria were having a girl’s night out.

Her brow furrowed as she wondered how her and Maria's night had turned into a sleepover that had excluded her. Of course she'd been otherwise occupied, but still… it was just strange. At least that's what she told herself. She wasn't jealous or envious or anything… just because she and Isabel and Tess had started getting closer lately, didn't mean they wouldn't want to hang out with Maria sometimes, too.

What was wrong with her, she wondered. First she'd had that sexy/disturbing dream about Max, and now these ambiguous feelings about her female friends. And don't get her started on the Michael situation… Lately, it seemed the whole world had gone crazy, no not the whole world, only her. She was officially losing it.

Opening her journal, she began to write and the hours passed swiftly as she tried to put on paper what had been happening with her in the past week.

Finally, she just gave up the struggle, and putting her pen down, she sat on her sunlit balcony and dreamily remembered the previous evening.

Max had been such a gentleman, as usual. He'd told her that they were just starting over and it was too soon to rush into anything. He wanted to take it slow. He was so romantic. Liz sighed in a mix of happiness and frustration. She'd been ready to take the next step, and when she said 'ready', she meant 'READY', as in all set for some 'mattress dancing' all the way down to her sexy black lingerie, painted nails and shaved legs.

But she’d been no match for Max's legendary control. He'd said they'd wait, so they’d waited, despite her best efforts to convince/seduce him otherwise. The only thing that had happened last night was some incredible foreplay. Max had even kept his jeans on the whole time, and she'd stayed in her underwear, to her regret. The only thing that had come off aside from her outer clothes was her garter belt.

Speaking of which, she suddenly remembered, it was still in her purse – which was out in the living room where anyone could see it.

Liz hastily climbed back through her window, dropping her journal on the floor and kicking it under her bed for temporary safekeeping. She tiptoed to the hall table where she'd dropped her dad's keys this morning. She was relieved to see her purse was laying there right where she’d left it. Snatching it up, she scurried quickly back to her room. Once there, she searched through the small bag, but didn't see the tiny scrap of lace that had held up her silky stockings last night. Fighting back a panic, she dumped the entire contents of the small bag on her bed and searched through it again, but alas, her garter belt was not there.

Which could mean only one thing: she must have left it at Max's. An embarrassed flush swept up her cheeks at the thought of someone finding it. A glance at the clock told her it was almost four o'clock in the afternoon. If someone was going to find it, they would have it by now, she knew. She just prayed Max had seen it first and had hidden it away in his room.

Chapter four

"So, how’d it go last night with Liz?" Isabel asked Max over a glass of lemonade.

He grinned and replied, "Great. I guess we’re officially back together now."

"Well, that’s a relief."

"Yeah."

She smiled at him, sharing his happiness for a moment before asking the question that had prompted her to start this conversation in the first place. "So, did you tell her about the initiation?"

Max looked away and said, "No. I… I just couldn’t. I mean, we’re just now starting over, you know. I didn’t want to rush things." He sounded so convincing, he almost believed himself.

Isabel wasn’t fooled, however, "You mean you didn’t want her to run screaming from the room."

Bullseye.

Max blushed and said, "Something like that."

"Max…" she warned, "Liz is not stupid. She’s going to figure out there’s something going on, and think of how hurt she’s gonna feel about being left out. Remember how upset Alex was when he was kept in the dark about us? Liz is going to be more than upset if you don’t tell her, and I mean soon."

"I know," Max agreed. "It’s just…"

"You’re afraid. I know, Max. We all were, too, but we did it, and we’re all a lot happier now because of it. It’s only been a week, but I feel closer to Alex than I ever have, I can’t imagine ever being without him again. I know Tess feels the same way. And now with Maria…"

Max’s head snapped up. "What about Maria?"

Isabel smiled softly and admitted, "She’s one of us now, too."

"Since when?" Max asked in disbelief.

"Since last night. After you took Liz from the club, Tess and I initiated her at Michael’s."

Max had thought something had felt a little different this morning, but, lost in his general euphoria over how well things had gone with Liz the night before, he hadn’t really paid that much attention. "How… I mean, is she ok?" he asked anxiously.

"We haven’t talked to her today, but she was completely fine with it last night. Remember, this was her second time so it’s not like it was a big surprise or anything. Everyone’s coming over for dinner tonight, so I guess we’ll find out soon enough how she’s dealing. Since mom and dad won’t be home until late tonight, I figured it would be ok."

Typically cautious, Max was silent as he turned the situation over in his head, weighing how Maria’s change in status would affect the whole group. It was a good thing, he decided, in more ways than one. Hopefully, having Maria to concentrate on would take Michael’s mind off of his ‘Liz obsession’.

Max was still in jealous/possessive mode over Michael having kissed Liz last Friday night at Kyle’s. He was profoundly grateful that Kyle and Tess had come to him right away and told him about Michael’s dare followed by his actions. Last night as they’d kissed, Max had gotten a couple of flashes from Liz that told him she had gotten just as caught up in the moment as everyone else, apparently. Rather than saying anything to her about what he’d seen, he’d placed the blame exactly where he figured it belonged: on Michael, who had instigated the whole thing. They were going to have to talk - soon, he decided.

Which reminded him…

"If you guys were at Michael’s apartment, then where did he sleep?" Max asked his sister.

"He didn’t stay here?"

Max just looked at her.

"Oh, right. Liz. Well, I have no idea. Maria called him from the club last night to tell him we were using his apartment, since you brought Liz here, thank you very much," her tone expressed her irritation over her brother’s timing.

Max smiled, unrepentant. His night with Liz had been well spent and he didn’t regret it, even if he’d upset Isabel’s plans in the process.

Isabel continued, "Michael showed up first thing in the morning. I don’t know where he’d been. Why?"

"I thought I felt something last night, you know like he was nearby, but by the time I even noticed it, it was gone. It could have just been my imagination, I guess." He could swear that he’d heard something, too, but then the sprinklers had kicked on right about then, so he chalked it up to an overactive imagination.

"Hmmm. Well, you can ask him. Everyone’s coming for dinner tonight at six, so…"

"Everyone?" Max frowned. He thought Liz had to work.

"Well, everyone except Liz," she clarified. "Which brings me right back to what I was saying in the first place. We need to tell her, Max."

"Why are you so worried about this? I would think you’d want it to be a secret for as long as possible. Look at how you decided to break it to Alex."

"With Liz it’s different…"

"Yeah. It’s not you she’s gonna dump when she finds out," Max stated harshly. Last night, when he’d been with Liz, he’d thought he was ready to tell her about the initiation, but now, all of his old fears were coming back. He didn’t want to risk losing her again; he’d just gotten her back.

She tried to reason with him, "Max, she’s going to understand. She always has about everything else. You’ve got to give her a chance here. What is it she always says to you? ‘Have a little faith’ in her."

"Just stop it, Isabel. Why are you pushing this?"

"Because we need her!" Isabel declared heatedly, then caught herself, amending it to, "You need her, and she’s only going to be hurt if you continue to deceive her."

Max stood and stared at her in sudden comprehension. Her insistence wasn’t about him at all. "You want her," he stated. Just like Michael, Isabel wanted Liz for her own, not just for the initiation.

Isabel glared at him. Of all the stupid… "Of course I want her. I’ve wanted her as long as you have. Just like you want Alex and Kyle."

"No, this is different."

"What are you saying Max?" Isabel asked hotly, only to be cut off by the ringing of the doorbell.

After giving her a look that clearly said this discussion was far from over, Max hurried to answer it and found Alex standing on the doorstep.

"Hey, Max. Looks like I’m the first one here."

"Come on in," Max invited, holding the door open. "Isabel’s in the kitchen.

Alex hurried into the kitchen and swept his girlfriend up in his arms.

"Hey, Alex," Isabel said grinning from ear to ear in his embrace.

"Hey. You look like you’re in a good mood."

"I’m in a great mood," she answered. "How was ‘family fun night’ last night? I heard there were slides."

"Yeah, about a million of them. Who knew there were so many ways to photograph the exact same stretch of beach?" Alex rolled his eyes.

"Gee, I’m sorry I missed that," she said, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Uh huh," Alex wasn’t fooled. Looking around the spotless kitchen, Alex said, "Uh, I thought we were having dinner here."

"We are. I ordered Chinese takeout."

"Thank god," he said, only half kidding.

Offended, she swatted him on the arm, "Hey!"

"No offense, honey, but you must have learned how to cook from your mom."

Huffing now, she pushed herself out of his arms. "Just for that, see if I ever cook for you again."

"Promises, promises."

"Hey guys," Max said from the doorway. "Isabel, did you want me to go pick up dinner?"

"That’d be great." Isabel looked at her watch. "It should actually be ready any time."

"On my way. Alex, you wanna come? You can help me carry. If Isabel shops for food like she shops for clothes, I’ll need the extra hands."

"Uh, yeah," Alex said at the same time Isabel snarked, "Ha ha. Very funny Max."

Just as they headed for the door, the doorbell rang again. This time it was Kyle and Tess who waited there. "Hey guys," Tess said.

"Hey. Come on in." Max invited, telling them where they could find Isabel.

Seeing Max standing there holding his keys, obviously on his way out, Kyle asked, "Going somewhere?"

"Yeah. Dinner," Alex informed him. "Isabel ordered take out."

"Oh, praise Buddha," Kyle exclaimed. "I was worried."

"Hey!" Alex objected. "That’s my girlfriend you’re insulting, and what would you know about her cooking?"

"More than I want to, believe me. I had to go with my dad to some community retirement Christmas thing two years ago, and Isabel was there, passing out cookies she’d baked herself." Kyle shuddered in remembrance. "I think they’re still using them as doorstops and coasters." Throwing an arm around Alex’s shoulders, Kyle teased, "I pity you, man. Now Tess, on the other hand, Tess can cook." He dreamily closed his eyes in anticipation of the next sumptuous meal his girlfriend was planning to cook for him, making appreciative noises in his throat as he did so.

"Well, we’re off the hook for tonight," Max said, "Come on, Alex. We should be going."

Alarmed at the prospect of being stuck in the house with only the two girls for company, Kyle, immediately offered to go along and shortly afterward, the three of them took off.

* * * * * * *

"Hey, Tucker, over here," Jeff Parker called out across the busy bus station to the handsome young man who had just climbed off the Greyhound that had brought him to Roswell from Dallas.

"Uncle Jeff!" the younger man hurried over to shake Jeff’s had, his light blue eyes lighting up in his face. "It’s great to see you."

"You, too. I haven’t seen you in years. How’s your mom?" Sally Walton was actually a distant relative of Jeff’s, but they’d grown up together like siblings and kept in touch over the years.

"Busy as always," Tucker answered as they picked up his luggage. Soon they were on their way to the parking lot to where the Parker’s sedan was waiting. "Thanks for helping me out and everything. I appreciate you letting me stay with you. Mom was really insistent that a change of scenery over the break would do me some good."

"Don’t mention it. My sofa isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but you’re welcome to it."

The two men tossed Tucker’s bags in the back seat. Tucker opened his door as Jeff was getting into his seat. There was a sweater on the passenger’s seat, which Jeff grabbed up. Turning around, he tossed it back with the luggage, saying as he did so, "Sorry about that. My daughter, Liz, borrowed the car last night, and she must have left this in here. I forgot that it was sitting there."

There was a small scrap of lace still on the seat, which had been hidden by the sweater. Tucker picked it up as he sat down.

Holding it up, he wondered out loud, "Hmm, what’s this?"

He figured it out at the same time Jeff turned back around, saying, "There now, that’s better. Sorry."

Without thinking, Tucker jammed the lacy little garter belt into his pocket.

"No problem," Tucker assured him, feeling his fingertips tingle where they’d touched the lacy little nothing. He was instantly deeply intrigued by the prospect of a woman who not only wore sexy clothes around town, but apparently wasn’t afraid to take them off when the time was right. Maybe this short sojourn to the sticks wasn’t going to be so bad after all, he thought optimistically. He wondered if Jeff’s daughter lived with them, or if she had her own place. He was undecided which would be better for getting to know such a woman as the interesting Liz Parker.

To say that Tucker Walton had a bit of a love ‘em and leave ‘em reputation back home would have been the epitome of understatement. His mother, lord love her, knew nothing about his peccadilloes, and he preferred to keep it that way, but if he could pass some time making time with the ladies of Roswell, then that was more than fine with him. He would just need to tread lightly around his host. It wouldn’t do for Uncle Jeff to catch wind of his escapades and report them back to her.

This situation would require a little more finesse than usual, but Tucker didn’t mind; it was all about the chase anyway. He was already a master of seduction, knew when to tell a woman that he likes her mind or that he’s interested in her opinion or any of that other feminist bullshit that would help him get a woman where he wanted her. It was all too easy. Frankly, he’d recently come to the realization that the whole game was starting to bore him. And a guy could only screw so many women before it became redundant and routine.

Yeah, he’d been shocked, too.

So, he’d come to Roswell - at his mother’s insistence, hoping for a change of pace, and fingering the garter belt in his pocket, he was hoping he’d found it.

"So, Uncle Jeff, Mom told me you ran a restaurant. Does your whole family work there?" Tucker asked to fill space as the car headed back to town as well as to get information about his soon-to-be latest conquest.

* * * * * * *

Maria timidly reached out and rang the doorbell by the Evan’s front door. Beside her, Michael shuffled his feet and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I don’t see why we have to stand here at the front door. We could just go in the usual way."

"Michael, I am not climbing in Max’s window."

"I meant through the garage," he said, pointing to the garage door which was hanging open, empty of vehicles. The Jeep and Alex’s silver hatchback were both parked in the driveway.

"Oh," Maria said, then added at the sound of approaching footsteps from inside, "Too late now."

She quickly smoothed the wrinkles out of her clothes and patted her hair nervously.

The door finally swung open, and Isabel stood there, drinking in the sight of Maria. "Hey."

"Hey," Maria responded awkwardly, dimly noting her friend was wearing her trademark leather pants and white sweater.

"Hey," Michael said, pushing his way into the house, pulling Maria with him. "Where’s Max?"

"Um," Isabel finally dragged her eyes away long enough to answer. "He went with the guys to get dinner."

Michael nodded, but didn’t answer. He wanted to talk to Max about what happened to Maria this morning, but it looked like he would have to wait a while longer. So, giving Maria’s hand a squeeze, he went onto the living room and turned on the TV, looking for the sports channel, leaving her with the girls.

"Why don’t you come and join us in the kitchen," Isabel invited to fill the awkward moment.

"Sure," Maria agreed, following the taller girl to the back of the house. "What are we doing?" she asked as Tess came into view, standing by the fridge. There didn’t appear to be anything in progress as far as she could tell.

"Waiting for you, actually," Tess said, coming over. She stood awkwardly in front of Maria, trying to read her thoughts by watching the emotions flitting across the human’s face. Finally, she quietly asked, "How are you? I mean, is everything ok, you know, between Michael and you?"

Maria blushed profusely and nodded. Isabel stepped closer behind her and lovingly touched her hair. "Good. That’s good. We just want you to be happy."

Maria looked from one beautiful face to the other, remembering the uncharted heights of pleasure she’d explored at their hands just hours ago and said softly, "I am…"

Her voice clearly held a ‘but’, causing Isabel to prompt, "What is it?"

"I wish…" Maria started, then stopped again. She wasn’t even sure what she wanted, her emotions were suddenly all a jumble inside of her, but she hoped they would understand what she was having trouble putting into words, so she tried again, "Last night, when we…" Again, she faltered, her head filled with visions of heated skin and the scent of feminine arousal on the air. She shuddered in response. Suddenly, she knew what she needed to ask them.

Tess and Isabel exchanged worried looks. Now that she had Michael, was Maria hoping to forget the whole initiation? To start over as friends and nothing more? That possibility had never occurred to them before. They still wanted Maria, maybe now more than ever. What were they going to do if she demanded a strictly platonic relationship from them from now on?

Looking directly at Tess, Maria put their fears to rest by asking softly, "Can I… kiss… you?"

Relief flooded the aliens as they realized what Maria was saying. She still wanted them.

Smiling warmly, Tess took the step necessary to bring her within touching range of Maria’s warm skin. Sliding her hands up the other girl’s arms, she slowly brought her into an embrace until they were bosom to bosom, hip to hip. Blue eyes searched green, looking for any hesitation and found none, only desire. Caressing the back of Maria’s neck, with one hand, she gently placed her lips on hers.

Maria’s arms came up to encircle her body as she responded eagerly to Tess’s mouth, opening hers and allowing Tess’s tongue inside, twining it with her own.

Isabel crowded close behind Maria, and lifting her lover’s hair out of the way, sprinkled kisses up her neck, to her ears where she breathed, "It was so hard to leave you this morning and we’ve been thinking about this all day, seeing you again, holding you, loving you… Maria. Our Maria."

Isabel’s hands were on Maria’s hips and she pressed into her, effectively trapping the other girl between herself and Tess. Sliding her hands up, she cupped Maria’s breasts, lightly pinching the soft pink nipples as she did so.

Tess’s own nipples tightened in reaction as the backs of Isabel’s hands unwittingly caressed her. She rubbed her breasts against the two other girls, heightening the sensations. When Maria slid one hand down Tess's front to touch her aching core through the thin skirt she was wearing, Tess thought her knees might give out, and she moaned loudly in response.

Maria smiled.

* * * * * * *

Michael, sitting on the sofa, was scratching a random itch in his shorts when he decided he was thirsty. He wondered if there was any orange juice in the Evans’ fridge. At the next commercial break, he thought, he’d go see what there was to drink. Besides, Maria had been so nervous earlier, he wanted to see how she was holding up with Isabel and Tess.

* * * * * * *

"Isabel," Maria gasped out, "My legs… I can’t stand anymore."

"Lean back on me," Isabel said. "I’ve got you. Always."

Maria was lost to sensation as she struggled to remain upright. Tess and Isabel were once again working their magic on her with their soft hands and lips and she gave no thought to their somewhat public location.

Her blouse was on the countertop next to them since Isabel decided it was in her way. The taller blonde had braced herself against the fridge in an effort to support herself and Maria. Her hands continued to ply the other girl’s peaked nipples as she pressed loving kisses on her exposed shoulders.

Tess’s panties were on the floor at their feet, and she was undoing the button at the top of Maria’s shorts with shaking fingers. It was hard to concentrate on the task with Maria’s fingers slowly gliding in and out of her core. Every time Maria’s thumb hit her clit, she stopped and shivered violently. Eventually, she worked the plastic button through the hole and slid the zipper down.

Before she could reach inside the gaping fabric, Isabel’s hand was already there, claiming Maria’s softness. Maria jumped against her and moaned, her eyes closing in ecstasy.

"Hey," Tess pouted at her friend. "That was mine."

"It was?" Isabel teased. "Well, finder’s keepers, losers weepers."

Maria smiled at the sound of the two gorgeous, generous aliens fighting over her. She’d heard this same argument a few times last night and it amazed and humored her at the same time. Widening her legs to give Isabel better access, she said, "Now, there’s only one of me so you two are going to have to learn to share."

"Share?" Tess asked huskily. "Like I get to make you come now and Isabel can make you come later?"

Isabel tightened her fingers on Maria’s soft flesh in silent protest. She wasn't about to give up her prize.

Maria flushed and shook her head. She knew Tess could come up with a better solution, though that last one had merit. Hoping to inspire her smaller friend, she pulled her hand back, almost removing her fingers completely from Tess’s beautiful body before plunging them back inside.

"Ohhh," Tess said, needing to catch her breath. Her heart was pounding in her chest and the world was starting to lose its focus.

Isabel offered to Tess as a compromise, "How about if I take the outside and you take the inside?"

Tess smiled. "Sounds fair to me. What do you think, Maria?" she asked while sliding her hand to join Isabel’s inside Maria’s clothes.

"Sounds incredible."

* * * * * * *

Kyle turned on his blinker and easily turned into the Evans’ subdivision, his Mustang purring with the acceleration. The back seat was practically filled with food, and it was Alex’s job to make sure none of it fell over. Beside him, Kyle noticed Max suddenly stiffen and sit up.

"What’s wrong?"

"I don’t know, I think that I feel something…" he frowned, trying to analyze what he was sensing. "Can you go a little faster?"

"Sure," Kyle agreed. "Hold on back there, Alex," he warned before hitting the gas pedal.

* * * * * * *

The TV was in its third spot of the commercial break before Michael woke up out of his sports induced trance. Climbing to his feet he stretched his arms above his head, trying to work out the kinks he’d gotten while sitting there waiting for Max. How long did it take to go pick up some food, anyway? What, was the restaurant in China?

Turning from the screen, Michael became aware for the first time of the slight heat prickling against his skin. He turned his head, suddenly narrowing his eyes down the hallway. Goosebumps chased themselves over his arms as he pointed the remote at the TV, and hit the mute button.

A soft feminine cry reached his ears from the direction of the kitchen.

Chapter five

In the Mustang, Kyle’s body jerked like he’d been struck by a live wire. His breath sucked in and his eyes rolled back in his head. In a reflexive motion, he stomped on the brakes, sending the expensive car into a skid. The wheel was slick beneath his suddenly sweaty hands, and he realized he had no control over it just before he was incapacitated with a wave of lust that nearly made him come right there in his shorts.

In the passenger seat, Max was holding on for dear life, trying semi-successfully to maintain control of his own body while his mind was flooded with visions of pert breasts, and small hands stroking against soft flesh.

The car was as out of control as the driver, heading for a mailbox two doors down from Max’s driveway. They were in big trouble.

"Kyle, look out," Max shouted futilely. He grabbed the wheel in an effort to turn it, but knew they’d never make it. Reaching his other hand out his window, Max erected his powerful shield just in time to protect the front bumper of the car and its passengers. The mailbox bounced off it and landed in the next yard over.

When the car finally came to a stop, the three of them sat there in shock. "You guys ok?" Max asked.

Kyle was the first one to react. "What the hell was that?" he demanded. Before he could answer, another wave of lust crashed over the group.

"Jesus," Alex swore from the back seat. "Max, tell me that wasn’t you."

"That was NOT me."

"Then what…?"

Seeing Michael’s motorcycle parked by the jeep, Max guessed, "Michael."

"Michael?" Alex asked in disbelief.

"But we don’t get this way from Michael, only you," Kyle argued.

"Well, since Maria was initiated last night, maybe…"

"Wait, Maria was initiated?!" Alex asked, sitting forward so his face appeared between the two seats.

"You didn’t know?" Kyle turned around to ask.

Alex shook his head and Max informed him, "It happened last night. That’s why we’re all having dinner. I guess it’s kind of a ‘welcome to the family’ thing for her. Isabel set it up."

The dark haired human was just about to complain about always being the last to know these things, when the breath was knocked out of him again and for a second, he lost his train of thought along with his mind. His hands were clenched tightly and his cock was throbbing painfully in his jeans

Max jumped out of the car when he was able to move. "I better go see what’s happening. …Put a stop to it."

Kyle and Alex exchanged glances in the rear view mirror. Ten to one they could guess what was happening.

Of course, they’d be wrong…

As Max jogged over to his driveway, disappearing inside the garage, Kyle carefully put the car in reverse and backed out of the neighbor’s lawn. He slowly pulled into the Evans’ driveway next to the Jeep and killed the engine. Hands shaking he turned around to look at Alex.

"They said it would get better after the initiation. Did you ever feel like this over Maria before?" Kyle asked.

"No," the dark haired human answered. "With Maria it was more of a warm fuzzy feeling and a sense that she was, well, attractive. Nothing like this."

Kyle was nodding. "Yeah, me too. If this is their idea of ‘better’ I think we’d better reconsider allowing Liz to be initiated."

Alex would have agreed, but he didn’t get the chance to because right then the bottom fell out of his world. Max had reached the kitchen.

* * * * * * *

The door in the garage that led to the house opened into the laundry area that was attached to the kitchen, so Max hadn’t gotten the door shut behind him before he was brought up short by the sight of the three girls in the kitchen. Tess and his sister were all over Maria, who was standing in front of the fridge almost completely nude.

The only thing she was wearing was her bra, which was opened at the front and hanging uselessly from her shoulders. And her shoes. It was one of the sexiest things he’d ever seen, and he stood rooted to the spot, unable to tear his eyes away.

Isabel had one arm around her ribcage, apparently supporting the dazed human, and she was using her free hand to rapidly stimulate the small bundle of nerves peeking out of Maria’s darkly golden curls. Tess was standing directly in front of her, tonguing one of the other girl’s tight nipples. The other nipple, he could see, was glistening faintly, so he knew it had received a similar treatment. One of Tess's hands was cupping the underside of Maria’s ass, the other was in the same spot as Isabel’s, only lower. From where he was standing, it looked like Tess was working two fingers in and out of the beautiful human’s hot center. It could have been three.

Maria was squirming between the two aliens, crying softly, "Isabel, Tess… don’t stop… don’t stop."

Max’s erection sprang to life as he envisioned pushing the two others away, and burying his cock in Maria’s tight passage. There would be no need for foreplay; Maria was ready. No need to be gentle or slow; she was no tender virgin. She could take him hard and deep, he was certain of it.

When the thought occurred to him that he actually could act out his fantasies, instead of waiting here in an unresolved tangle of desire, he unconsciously took a step forward. Since Maria had been initiated, she was officially a part of them now. That meant the sexual restrictions which held him back from Liz didn’t apply. If he wanted to, he could have sex with Maria right now on the floor of the kitchen, or on the counter, or the table, or in his bed… for hours and hours. He had to fight hard to keep his feet from moving closer.

Maria was nearing her peak. She had no idea what she was doing, but she’d needed this, and her body had taken over. Isabel and Tess were moving in perfect sync with each other as they played her, her body had become a delicate instrument on which they conducted their sensual symphony and her brain was processing nothing except incoming sensations. Her head lolled bonelessly against Isabel’s shoulder as her breath sobbed in and out of her lungs.

Never having seen Maria as anything other than a friend before, despite Michael's desire for her, Max stood entranced. The lust he’d gotten from Michael before he'd entered the kitchen had been completely drowned out by his own desire for the blond girl. His hands clenched into fists while his senses were inundated with the sight, sounds and smells permeating the small room.

Sensing the end was near, Isabel whispered to her lover, "I’ve got you, Maria. Let it go. I’ve got you."

Those words, reminiscent of her and Michael’s first union this morning were all it took to send Maria over the edge. Her whole body stiffened, and with a glad cry, Maria came apart against Isabel and Tess’s hands as they worked to bring her to completion.

Watching, Max’s entire body began to tremble.

* * * * * * *

Outside, Alex and Kyle had made no effort to get out of the car. The lust they’d gotten from Michael, though alarmingly strong, was nothing compared to what Max had sent them as soon as he’d gotten inside. They were just sitting there gasping for every breath while rocked by wave after wave of desire so strong it was a wonder they didn't spontaneously combust.

Kyle thought briefly about driving away, knowing the aliens’ proximity was making it worse. If he could get some distance between them and the Evans’ house, they’d be fine. The only problem was, that would involve driving, which he was incapable to doing right now.

So, instead the two of them were just sitting in the car, looking like lord-knows-what to the neighbors peeking out of the windows, having been alerted that there was something amiss by the earlier squealing of tires. Which is why they were still there, like sitting ducks when the furious owner of the newly demolished mailbox came storming over.

"Goddammit! I hope you’re planning to pay for that! I just had that one put in last year, and now look at it!" The man gestured toward his mailbox remains.

In a daze of sexual desire, Kyle looked at the man. "I’m sorry sir, we were just…" Suddenly the guy’s irate face came into focus. "Judge Walden! That was your mailbox?!" Kyle knew this guy. The good judge had long time been a pain in Sheriff Valenti’s ass. Every time Kyle’s dad had to face him in a court of law, the judge usually ruled in favor of the defense just to piss Jim off, or so, that’s what his dad told him. Of all the mailboxes on this street he could have taken out, it had to be Judge Walden’s. Naturally. His dad was gonna be pissed.

"Well, well, if it isn’t Sheriff Jimmy’s son. Why am I not surprised?" He looked at the two boys sitting in the expensive car with several bags of Chinese take out in the back seat. "What are you two doing sitting out here?" he asked suspiciously noticing their flushed faces, the sweat on their brows and glassy eyed looks. "What’s going on here?"

"Nothing, sir. We’re just waiting for our friends." Kyle said as respectfully as he could considering his teeth were clenched against the crashing desire inside of him.

"You look like you’re sick or something," Walden stated just as the two boys simultaneously bent over, inhaling sharply for no outwardly apparent reason.

"Cramps," Kyle managed to grit out, using the same excuse he’d come up with in gym class last week.

From the back seat, wanting to help, Alex agreed, "Yeah, must have been something we ate. Maybe it’s food poisoning. Might have been the fish, right Kyle?"

Wrong kind of cramps, but under the circumstances, stomach cramps made more sense than a muscle cramp, so Kyle went with it. "Yeah fish, right."

Judge Walden was not a stupid man. He didn’t believe a word these two were saying. Watching their hands shake, and their eyes roll around in their heads, he came to a revelation. "Kyle Valenti, you’re on drugs, aren’t you, son?"

If Kyle could focus, he’d be laughing hysterically. A guy with his kind of future would have to be several kinds of stupid to get mixed up in drugs. Instead of laughing, the best he could do was stammer out, "N-no-no, sir."

The violent tsunamis of lust were getting worse, not better. Kyle doubled over as Alex reached his breaking point. The lanky teen flung himself out of the car, falling on his hands and knees on the hard pavement announcing, "I’m gonna be sick," as he did so. Fortunately he had the wits to jump to the side opposite of the middle aged gentleman who seemed to have nothing better to do than stare at two guys apparently so completely destroyed by ‘food poisoning’ that they could barely move.

It was probably the first time anyone had ever used the word ‘sick’ interchangeably with the word ‘orgasmic,’ Kyle thought erratically as he fought for breath. One more surge like that, and it would be all over, he knew.

Taking Alex at his word, and not wanting to be in anyway involved with vomiting whether from drugs or otherwise, the judge edged away from the car. "You two should get yourselves to a doctor," he recommended.

"We’ll be fine sir," Kyle disagreed his voice hardly more than a ragged hiss. "Just as soon as our friend comes out…" and we kill him, he added to himself.

"Alright then. You tell your dad I’ll be sending him the bill for my mailbox."

Unable to respond vocally since the only sounds he was capable of making at this time were guttural moans, Kyle only nodded and waved him off.

Muttering about illness in general, sick kids in particular and the price of mailboxes, the older man hurried away.

Finally! Kyle gripped the steering wheel with both hands and rode out the final wave of lust as it claimed him, sending him over passion’s edge and he came… in his car… without ever having unzipped his fly. He wouldn’t have thought it was possible.

From the side of the car, he dimly heard Alex gasping and wondered if that was orgasm number two for Mr. Whitman.

Alex was soaked inside his shorts. He’d heard of some men having multiple orgasms, but he’d never been one of them. Alex couldn’t believe what had just happened. This would be the last time they'd ever do that, he vowed to himself, realizing belatedly the stupidity of sending Max in to see what Michael was up to. That had to be the all-time worst decision ever made.

With one last shuddering breath, feeling the warm semen soaking into his shorts, Kyle exhaustedly exclaimed, "Dammit!" and laid his forehead on the steering wheel, causing the horn to sound.

* * * * * * *

Inside the house, Max had been slowly backing away from the kitchen. The clean-up committee was in the process of putting a very relaxed Maria Deluca back together. The three of them were giggling and whispering softly to each other as they redressed the sated human in her underwear, shorts and blouse. Max spotted another pair of underwear on the floor and his eyes flew to Tess and her skirt in comprehension.

He watched in amusement as Maria grabbed them away after Tess scooped them up. She whispered something in the shorter girl’s ear; the only word Max caught was ‘later’. Then she stuffed Tess’s panties in her own pocket.

Tess put her arms around Maria and they kissed passionately until Isabel said, "Alright, break it up," smacking Maria’s ass lightly.

The two girls broke apart, grinning at one another before Maria turned to Isabel to tease, "You just want one, too."

Isabel agreed, "You’re right," before pulling Maria into her arms for a long languid kiss. It looked like it could have gone on for a while, except for the sudden noise of a loud horn blaring outside in the driveway caused them to spring apart.

"The guys must be back," Isabel said, stating the obvious.

Max backed up one more step and reached behind him to pull open the door and close it again, noisily. Then he walked forward, looking for all the world like he’d just gotten there. "Hey guys, we’re back. I hope you’re hungry ‘cause it looks like Isabel ordered one of everything."

"Famished," Tess agreed, straightening her hair.

"You didn’t help carry any of it in?" Isabel asked.

Chapter six

Tucker looked around in interest as Jeff navigated through the streets of the small tourist town. Everything was ‘aliens’ and he rolled his eyes at the ridiculous signs and slogans posted on the quaint buildings. The CrashDown was no exception, he saw, as they pulled up in the alleyway next to Jeff's restaurant.

Jeff had been talking non-stop about the café and living in Roswell which had made the trip from the bus station go a little faster. He was still going even as they gathered up Tucker's few bags. "Nope, we're a quiet little town. Probably the most exciting thing that's happened around here in the last five years was a couple of yahoos shooting off a gun in my restaurant."

Suitcase in on hand, Tucker was just about to close the car door when he remembered the tiny scrap of lace he’d shoved into his pocket earlier. Shooting a quick glance at Jeff to see if he was looking, he checked to make sure it was still there. It was. He hoped the owner was somewhere inside. He was looking forward to meeting her.

Meanwhile, Tucker said conversationally to Jeff, "Really?"

Jeff nodded and continued the story.

Smiling devilishly from behind Jeff, Tucker climbed the steps that led to the Parker’s living quarters above the restaurant.

* * * * * *

"Maxwell, we need to talk," Michael said, pulling Max aside.

Everyone was just getting ready to sit down to dinner, but Michael had already waited long enough. He unceremoniously pulled Max into the living room. "What’s going on, Michael?"

"Well, last night, Maria was initiated."

"Yeah, Isabel told me. She said it worked this time." It was more of a question than a statement.

"You bet it worked," Michael nodded emphatically.

Max smiled. "Well, that’s great Michael. She seems to be ok with it," Max added ironically, thinking back to the kitchen scene he’d accidentally walked into.

Remembering the same thing, Michael grinned. "Yeah. She’s not freaking or anything like that."

Max knew Michael must have been watching too, because of the amount of desire his friend had projected prior to him entering the house, but they couldn’t see one another because of the way the kitchen was laid out. Max was feeling kind of embarrassed because he’d been spying in a completely inappropriate way, but he didn’t regret it. And not just because it had been beautiful, but because it made him feel better about telling Liz the truth. Since Maria was taking it so well, then perhaps he was wrong to worry about Liz’s reaction.

Grinning, Max asked, "So, uh, what’s the problem?"

Blushing Michael said, "Well, I was kinda hoping you could check Maria out."

‘Been there, done that,’ Max thought with a secret grin. He’d checked her out pretty thoroughly in the kitchen less than ten minutes ago.

Unaware of Max’s wandering attention, Michael continued, "You know, to make sure everything is fine… that she wasn’t hurt in any way."

That simple statement put a stop to Max’s internal banter. "Why would she be hurt? Did something happen?"

"No," Michael stated, moving his hand to punctuate the statement.

Max wasn’t fooled. Michael wouldn’t be worried if nothing had happened. "Michael…" he said warningly.

"Well, there was this one thing," he hedged, scratching his eyebrow nervously. "At the end, there, Maria… well, she sort of fainted."

All traces of humor fled his body as Max asked, "What do you mean she fainted? You mean, fainted as in…?"

"As in lost consciousness," Michael clarified. "What do you think I mean?"

"Jesus, Michael!"

He hurried on to say, "Look, it didn’t last very long, only a couple of seconds. That’s why I just want you to check her out. You know, to make sure she’s all right."

Isabel entered the room right then to call them into dinner. The words died on her lips as she saw the confrontational way they were faced off. Max looked shaken and pissed. Michael just looked guilty. Concerned, she asked, "What’s going on here, guys?"

"Nothing," Michael said defensively.

"Nothing?" Max echoed incredulously. "He just told me that he fucked Maria until she passed out, and he says it’s nothing."

"What?!" Isabel asked, shocked. "Michael! What does he mean by that?" she demanded.

Michael was already trying to explain, "It wasn’t like that. It just happened. I swear, I wasn’t doing anything to hurt her."

Their loud voices had alerted the others and Tess came to stand in the doorway with everyone right behind her. "Uh, guys," Tess interrupted in an attempt to break them up, "Food’s getting cold."

Maria pushed her way through the crowd so she could see. Taking in everyone’s body language, it was immediately apparent that Michael had done something to piss off Max and Isabel. It looked like the ‘Alien Smackdown’ was about to take place right there in the Evans’ living room.

The trio turned and saw her standing there. "Maria, could you come here for a second?" Isabel asked.

"Sure," she replied, moving forward. "What’s going on in here?"

Max reached out and took her small hand in his. "Nothing," he lied. "Are you ok? I mean, how are you feeling?"

Maria couldn’t resist sending one hot look at Michael and another at Tess and Isabel before replying, "I’m terrific. Never felt better."

"Are you sure, because Michael told us about what happened this morning, and we’re worried about you."

"This morning?" she questioned with a frown. What could they be worried about from this morning? Her first time with Michael had been beautiful, passionate, urgent… Urgent? she thought, remembering. "Oh, you mean about the scratches." She waved her hand, unaware of causing the dark looks Max and Isabel were shooting at Michael. "They were nothing, and faded away in no time. Really. I’m fine," she said.

"May I, you know…?" Max asked, lightly trailing a finger down her temple, pleading silently for her cooperation with his golden eyes. "You’re a part of us now," he explained. "And I just need to know that you’re ok. You know, inside."

Maria misunderstood, thinking Max meant inside her body where Michael had torn through the thin membrane of her maidenhead. He was so overprotective, she chuckled to herself. Rolling her eyes, she said, "I guess, if it will make you feel better, but I can tell you that I’m fine."

Max silently stood in front of her. Without further delay, he pushed his fingers through the hair at her temples, one on either side of her face, whispering soft instructions about relaxing and breathing as he did so. Focusing his energy, he was in.

*He saw her confusion and rioting emotions as she awoke to a whole new world. He felt her need and the mindless, animalistic lust that had poured through her with Michael’s touch, controlling her actions. How the need to mate with Michael had caused her to hurt herself needlessly as first she’d clawed away the sheet then as she’d painfully tried to push him through the membrane of her innocence. And lastly, he saw how she went violently into sensory overload, and how her brain had reactively shut down, causing her to lose consciousness.*

Blinking, Max pulled back and ended the connection, his face devoid of color. He was shaking in reaction to the harsh images he’d seen as he gathered Maria’s delicate body against his own. He filled with guilt, thinking of what she’d had to go through to become a part of them. Max hadn’t realized how intense things could get; even to the point that Maria had lost her free will and the instinct to mate had taken over. On some level, he realized he must have known it would be that way, considering the deep changes that had to happen for her to be accepted, but the brutal savagery he’d seen when he connected with her was much worse than he’d let himself believe. It was too horrible to contemplate.

Maria, standing stiffly in his arms, was at a loss. Max’s reaction to something as simple as a torn membrane she’d neither needed nor wanted seemed a bit extreme. "Uh, Max?"

Her voice brought him back from his remorseful thoughts. He hugged her tighter, saying, "I am so sorry you had to go through that. I swear that if I could undo it, I would."

"Max what are you talking about? Undo what?" Maria asked pushing away from him in confusion. Her eyes darted from one alien in the room to another, trying to figure out what was going on here. Everyone seemed as confused as she was.

Isabel interrupted to ask anxiously, "What did you see, Max?"

"It was…" Max started before he realized he didn’t know how to describe what he’d seen without embarrassing Maria who’d already been through enough for one day. Giving it up, he finally said instead, "It should never have happened. We never should have initiated her."

"What are you talking about?" Tess asked, stepping forward. As far as she could see, Max was talking crazy. Unless something really awful had happened with Michael this morning.

"Michael?" Maria asked, going to grab her boyfriend, fisting his shirt like she was afraid he would be ripped away from her at any second. Suddenly she was terrified that with a word, Max could take back what she’d finally gotten after waiting for so long: her acceptance by Michael. "What is he saying?" she asked her alien, trying to see in his eyes.

Michael had no idea what was going on. All he’d wanted was to make sure Maria was all right after fainting this morning. Now, Max was losing it on him. "Maxwell?" Michael asked. Maria was beginning to tremble against him and he held her tighter.

Tess and Isabel were glaring at Michael over Maria’s head, certain that he’d been the cause of all of this. They’d warned him that if he’d hurt Maria in any way they’d… Well, they didn’t know what they would do, but it would be something he wouldn’t like.

Knowing he was being hyper-reactive, Max couldn’t seem to stop. He felt terrible for Maria, but that wasn’t all. There was something else prompting him to continue. "We shouldn’t have done this to her," Max said again. "It’s wrong. It has to stop."

"Well it’s a little late for that, Max. It’s done. She’s belongs with us now, and we can’t just put her back. And even if we could," Michael continued, holding Maria tightly against him, "I wouldn’t."

Max nodded stiffly, agreeing. "We can’t take back what’s happened to her, but that’s it. There will be no others. I will not subject any other innocent humans to this situation. There will be no more initiations." Shoving his hands in his pockets, he turned to stare at a painting on the wall.

A silence followed Max’s declaration, where the only sound was everyone’s soft breathing. Humans and aliens alike were all stunned at Max’s passionate declaration. Tess and Isabel looked wildly from each other to their boyfriends to see if they were all thinking the same thing. The smallest alien was the first to say it out loud.

"But what about Liz?"

"No." His voice was reflecting his determination.

Isabel put her hand on Max’s shoulder arguing softly, "What do you mean, ‘no’? Max, you can’t just…"

"Yes, I can," he cut her off.

"Come on, Max. You can’t be serious," Tess argued.

"Try me," he dared them.

Kyle tried to help by pointing out, "What happens when she finds out about it? What if she *wants* to be initiated?"

"She won’t find out," Max finally turned around to say. "None of you are to say anything to Liz about any of this. Got that?" He glared at everyone in general, the intensity of his golden gaze feral and domineering, lingering on the three humans in particular forcing them to nod in agreement. "Not a word from any of you," he commanded. "Liz and I will find another way, but there will be no initiation."

Chapter seven

A dark pall hung over the group as the sound of the front door closing echoed from the empty hall. Isabel opened her mouth to rip Michael’s head off when she noticed the frightened way Maria clung to him, her face buried against his chest. She realized then that despite what Max had seen, Maria’s actions since entering the house had not been those of someone how’d been subjected to some kind of ordeal, which confused her even more.

Tess, arriving at the same conclusion, stepped over to her friend and put a hand against her shoulder. "Maria," she asked softly. "What was Max talking about?"

"I don’t know," came the muffled reply.

Frowning, Tess persisted, "Did something happen this morning?"

"No," Maria stated, pulling only slightly away from Michael. "I mean, we, you know, but nothing else really happened."

Isabel joined them, tenderly tucking Maria’s hair behind her ear. "Michael said that you fainted. What happened?"

Maria’s brow creased. "I fainted?" she asked Michael who nodded.

"You don’t remember?" Tess queried.

Maria shook her head. "No. Not really. Most of this morning is blurry. I remember waking up. You two were gone. Then we were talking and…" Maria frowned some more. "…That’s all I really remember. I mean I remember being with Michael, just not with too much detail. The first real memory of the morning I have is Michael waking me up to call my mom."

Alex entered the conversation saying, "You mentioned some scratches before."

"Oh, those. I accidentally scratched myself trying to untangle the sheets."

The two female aliens flushed guiltily at having blamed Michael for the small injury before.

"What about the two of you?" Michael asked Kyle and Alex trying to decide if her reaction was his fault or if it was common to all inductees. "Did anything weird happen to you guys after your initiations?"

Kyle said, "I couldn’t tell you. The morning is just gone. I mean I can remember every second of the night from the time you two climbed in the window until you left, but I only remember bits and pieces of Tess coming in. Her scent. The feel of her hair. Her lips - everywhere. That’s all I can remember."

Alex was nodding. "Me, too. I don’t even remember how I got to be in Izzy’s bedroom. Last thing I really remember is noticing how the sky was growing lighter outside my bedroom window." He flushed slightly, recalling with perfect clarity how the coming dawn, signifying the end of the most incredible night he’d ever spent, had upset him. It had taken Max’s gentle kisses to calm him back down.

"Michael, Max can’t uninitiate me, can he?" Maria had to ask. They’d already said as much, but she needed to have it reaffirmed.

"No, baby," Michael told her, stroking a finger down her cheek. "You belong with us now. No one can change that, not even Max." He leaned down a pressed a soft, chaste kiss to her pouty lips.

With the immediate crisis of Maria’s health over, Kyle reached out and grabbed Tess’s hand. "Come on guys, let’s go eat and we’ll figure out what to do with Max and Liz later."

* * * * * * * *

Max drove unhesitatingly to the place he always ran when he needed solace, understanding, wisdom; he went to the CrashDown, he went to Liz.

The restaurant was nearly empty when he entered, so he made a beeline for her and catching her by surprise, he spun her around to bury his lips in hers. He needed to feel her against him, to know that she was ok despite their evening of shared passion.

Max knew he’d gone off the deep end with his reaction to Maria’s initiation. She was obviously unharmed and happier than he’d ever seen her, but still the shocking images and feelings he’d gotten from her refused to leave his mind. The thought that Liz would have to experience the same thing turned his blood into ice water in his veins. She was everything good and pure and should never have to be put through anything like that, regardless of what the end result may be. It was wrong, cruel and he would never do that to her.

Despite her surprise at his unexpected appearance, Liz reacted instantly, throwing her arms around his sturdy shoulders. Pulling him against her, she returned the kiss, matching his passion. Was it only eighteen hours ago that she’d been in his arms? she thought wildly. It seemed like an eternity. Liz had been dreaming about this all day and now that he was here, she wanted to bask in the warmth of his loving embrace.

From the back of the restaurant, Jeff was coming through the swinging doors with Tucker right behind him. He was saying, "…introduce you to my daughter. She’s a terrific… Liz!" he exclaimed, shocked at catching her in a make out session in the middle of the restaurant.

Liz pulled away like she’d been shot. Blushing deep red, she tried to be blasé, like it was no big deal when actually she was mortified to her toes.

"Um hi, Dad. Um, you remember Max?"

Max was equally red. "Hi, Mr. Parker."

"Max," Jeff said it was both a greeting and a reprimand. Turning to his daughter, he said, "Lizzy, there’s someone I’d like you to meet." He pulled his young houseguest forward saying, "Tucker this is my daughter, Lizzy."

For a moment, Tucker, who was jaded beyond his years, was left speechless. Liz Parker, in all of her lovely innocence, was a sight to behold and he was instantly enamored. Oh yeah, there was not a doubt in his head, Tucker had to possess this beautiful creature. She looked so entrancing despite the obvious embarrassment she was feeling at having been caught kissing her boyfriend by her dad. Somehow, her distress endeared her to him even more.

Putting on a sympathetic grin, he stretched out his hand. "Hi. I’m Tucker." Inwardly, he was thinking, ‘Man, she’s just a hot little firecracker,’ after taking in her flushed cheeks and glistening lips. She sparkled with arousal, and he instantly responded in kind.

"Liz," she said in response as her eyes automatically took in his handsome face, blue eyes and trim figure. She figured him to be no older than twenty-five and already he had a certain air about him. Something about him put her senses on full alert. Not in an evil-alien-whose-come-to-end-the-world kind of way, but in a good way.

Max could barely keep from growling as he watched Liz put her soft little hand into Tucker’s. Under his censorious eye, it seemed to him that the other guy touched her longer than was necessary and he didn’t miss how the jerk caressed her sensitive skin as he pulled away. He stepped closer, and looked menacing. He would have shoved the other guy away from her if her dad hadn’t been standing there watching the entire exchange.

A slight smile touched Tucker’s lips at the obvious show of jealousy on Max’s part. Man, he was putting out all kinds of warning signs that, from one predator to another, were easy to read. It just gets better and better, he thought to himself. By herself, Liz would have been an easy conquest if the interest glimmering in her eyes was any indication, but add in the jealous boyfriend, and things could really get interesting. It was a challenge to look forward to, and Tucker just loved a good challenge. Besides, it would be fun to take Mr. High School here down a notch or two. Show him what a real man could do.

He stared down into her eyes, careful to keep only friendly politeness showing. "It’s nice to meet you," he said sweetly.

"Lizzy, Tucker’s going to be staying with us for a couple of days, so can I count on you to show him around?"

"Uh, sure, Dad," Liz agreed, before she processed what he’d said. "Wait, you’re staying with us?"

As Jeff explained that Tucker was practically family, Max came closer and put a possessive arm around her shoulders, dad or no dad. He didn’t like this guy, and wanted to be sure he knew that Liz was with him.

* * * * * * *

"What other way?" Alex asked Isabel over the other conversations that were taking place at the Evans’ kitchen table. Everyone had regained a bit of the festive air that was intended to mark the celebration of Maria’s initiation as they hungrily attacked the awesome Chinese food spread that Isabel had ordered for them.

Alex was the first person to mention what Max had said just before he’d left and the others cut their conversations short in order to jump in the topic that was really on all of their minds.

Isabel shrugged. "There isn’t one. They can’t be together if she isn’t initiated. There’s no other way. Except abstinence, I guess."

"So, we’re talking sex here," Kyle wanted to clarify. "I mean, they can hang out and kiss or whatever, but no sex."

"As far as we know," Isabel told him.

Tess added, "I don’t think he can do it, though. I mean, come on, we’re talking about *Max and Liz* here. They’ve been ready to do it as long as I’ve been in Roswell."

"Longer," Maria stated stabbing at a breaded piece of pork with her fork, dipping it into the sweet and sour dish.

"Much longer," Isabel agreed. "He’ll never last. With Alex and me, we got out of control just one night, and the look on his face when I had to push him away… He said some things about teasing him and leading him on… and he was right, but I couldn’t tell him the truth. Alex said to stay away from him until I could decide what I wanted."

Alex reached over and took her hand in his, placing soft kisses against her palm and wrist murmuring an apology. Isabel looked at him and the love she felt for him welled up inside her. She’d never blamed him for his harsh words seeing them for what they really were: frustrated desire turning into anger. He’d been right; she had needed to make a decision about him, it just wasn’t exactly the one he’d thought it was. Once made, though, she hadn’t regretted it. "I couldn’t stand the thought that I was hurting him, but I knew I couldn’t stop seeing him either. I sent Max and Michael to him less than two hours later."

"And the rest, as they say, is history," Alex grinned and kissed her lightly.

Maria sat looking at him, her fork arrested halfway to her mouth. A glob of sweet and sour sauce dripped from the fried pork she’d been about to eat and plopped back down onto her plate. Her mouth was half hanging open as it had been before she’d looked up across the table and caught sight of her friend… her suddenly extremely good-looking friend. The warmth in his eyes, though it was directed at Isabel, caused a shiver to travel down Maria’s spine.

Suddenly, she was fourteen again and with him for their kissing practices.

Without breaking their kiss, Maria and Alex pulled their friend closer until she was standing within the circle of their embrace…*

Feeling Maria’s eyes on him, Alex pulled his gaze back from where he’d been locked with Isabel’s expressive brown eyes which were promising all kinds hours spent in lascivious activities in her bed, and caught sight of the expression of stunned incredulity and want that crossed Maria’s face.

She’d never looked at him like that before and it made him vaguely uncomfortable. "What?" he asked defensively. She didn’t answer, just appeared to eat him with her eyes. Slowly he waved a hand back and forth in front of her face. "Earth to Maria."

That caught her attention. "Huh?" she asked as she suddenly came back to reality. Blushing, she dropped her eyes to her plate. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I was just thinking about…" ‘About what?’ she asked herself. About how long it had been since the last time she’d kissed Alex? About whether or not he’d improved on his techniques any? ‘Stop it, girl. Get a grip,’ she admonished herself. ‘You’ve got Michael now. There’s no need to roam in that direction. Alex is your *friend.* And besides, he’s with Isabel. He did the initiation thing and everything,’ she reminded herself.

Suddenly, her thoughts screeched to a halt.

And backed up.

Did Isabel just say…? She couldn’t have meant… Maria asked herself even though she already knew the answer.

The full dynamics of the initiation finally hit her. There’d been so much other stuff going on each time it was mentioned that she hadn’t really paid attention to what everyone was saying. Either that, or she’d only considered it from her point of view, not from Alex’s standpoint. Alex had been initiated…. But not by Isabel as she’d first assumed a week ago. If Maria had to be initiated by the other females of the group, then that meant, Alex had been initiated by…

Oh.

My.

God.

‘Surely that’s not right,’ she told herself. ‘It couldn’t be. I mean, Michael and *Alex*?’ she thought wildly, her imagination way too easily conjuring up an image of her boyfriend and best boy-friend locked in a passionate embrace.

Maria’s eyes darted from Michael to Alex and back again. Then over to where Kyle sat, feeding Tess a bite of his spicy noodle dish. She watched as the alien giggled and leaned over to press a quick kiss to Kyle’s lips, licking up a small drop of sauce from his full lower lip as she did so.

Instantly forgetting all about Michael and Alex, Maria licked her own lips, noticing for the first time how blue his eyes were, reflecting the blue of the shirt that he was… filling out very nicely, indeed. Kyle must have some workout routine, she thought absentmindedly as she continued to stare at him. She wondered how many sit-ups he could do. She imagined how the muscles in his back and arms must look when he’s doing his push ups. How many of those could he do, she wondered. Did he ever do them ‘girl style’ with his knees down? And if he did, what would it be like to be underneath him, legs spread wide, with his rock hard cock sliding in and out of her moist body as he did so. How many push-ups would it take to send her to orgasm, she wondered?

"Maria, are you ok?" Tess asked. She was trying rather unsuccessfully to ignore Kyle’s hand creeping up her skirt toward the apex of her thighs, where she was still throbbing from the girls’ earlier playing. Maria’s promise to finish what she’d started was keeping Tess on edge, and now, Kyle wanted to get playful, which was fine with her. If his hand roamed any farther, he was going to be in for a big surprise, she knew, because her underwear was still in Maria’s pocket.

It was that reminder that had caused her to look up and see Maria gazing at them with glittering eyes and a thoughtful expression on her face. It was the same look she got in Geometry, the one class the two girls shared together. Tess liked to call it her ‘counting’ face.

Unable to resist teasing her, Tess asked as she sometimes did in school, "So, what’s the answer?"

"Sixty-five, tops."

Everyone turned to look at her then.

"Sixty-five what," Isabel asked.

Maria’s head snapped around, realizing that she’d done it again. Taken a mental trip to ‘Fantasies ‘R’ Us’ and bought out the whole freakin’ store. What was happening to her today? "Uh, sixty-five, um, I uh, made sixty-five buttons for my mom earlier." Aware that her explanation had nothing to do with anything they were talking about, she quickly covered, "I was just thinking about this afternoon, and suddenly, I was trying to remember how many I did." She shrugged sheepishly. "I don’t know what made me think of it."

When did she get to be such a good liar?

Smiling, Isabel said, "You know, I was in your mom’s shop yesterday, and I saw the cutest…"

Maria tuned her friend out so her mind could go back to what she’d been thinking earlier…

No, not that; about the initiations.

Alex and Kyle had obviously been initiated into the family, and she finally realized that it wasn’t Tess or Isabel who did it, it couldn’t have been. Isabel had told her last night that she’d needed to be accepted by the "female members of the pack" which meant that the guys would have been initiated by the male members. That means the guys had each been with Michael and Max. As in *with* Michael and Max.

It took the blood pooling in her insides to realize that she didn’t find the idea completely abhorrent. In fact, the thought of them together was making her hot all over again; a feat she wouldn’t have thought was possible.

She scooted her chair a little closer to Michael’s and needing to touch him, put her hand on his strong knee.

Meanwhile, the conversation, having turned back to the topic of Liz and Max, continued around her.

"Yeah," Kyle was saying. "Max won’t be able to resist her forever, especially if she keeps pushing at him."

"But how can she push him to initiate her if she doesn’t know about it and we can’t tell her?" Alex asked, both of them forgetting momentarily that they weren’t entirely sure that initiating her was such a good idea any longer.

Going against Max’s wishes to keep it a secret never even occurred to them. As the ‘alpha male’ of the pack, so to speak, his word was law, and going against it was unthinkable so they focused their energies on coming up with a plan to get him to change his mind.

"I wish we could just initiate her without his consent. Once it’s a done deal, then he’d have to just go with it," Isabel lamented.

"How come we can’t?" Alex asked her.

"Because," Michael answered, "we have to actually declare our intentions for our chosen ones or it won’t count."

"Last night you didn’t even know that Isabel and Tess were with Maria," Kyle pointed out. "At what point did you ‘declare’ for her unless it was later?"

"No," Michael answered with a frown. "I guess it still stood from the first time we tried to initiate her."

"But how can you be sure," Kyle argued, unwilling to just give up without at least trying to do something. "Maybe it’s worth a try."

"Kyle! We can’t just go around attempting to initiate Liz. It’s not fair to any of us. Besides, we already know it wouldn’t work." Tess shook her head sadly. Taking his hand, she asked softly, "Maybe we should give up. It obviously isn’t going to happen."

Isabel was shaking her head in disagreement. "I’m telling you, there’s no way he’ll hold out for long. I say we continue with Alex and Kyle’s plan. That way, if, when Max changes his mind, she’ll be ready. Maybe it’ll even help things along."

Maria sat up straight. "What plan?"

Chapter eight

"Hey, chica." It was Monday morning and the gang was back in school.

Liz turned around from her locker to say, "Oh, hey, Maria. Where were you yesterday?"

Maria waved her hand airily. "I was at Isabel’s. Kind of a group dinner thing. Too bad you had to work. We missed you."

"Yeah," Liz said. Why were her friends suddenly having group gatherings and excluding her, she wondered. She frowned slightly as she asked, "So what was with the slumber party the other night?"

"I don’t know. It just kinda came up after you left the club with Max. Speaking of which, how’d it go?" she asked smiling. "Come on, you can tell me," she cajoled when Liz seemed reluctant to answer.

"Nothing happened," Liz denied with a secretive smile. "We talked is all."

"And…"

"And Max and I are back together now," Liz announced.

Maria squealed and hugged her friend tightly.

"So, we should celebrate," Maria declared. "After school, you and me, babe, we’ll find the largest banana split this town has to offer and eat until we’re sick."

Liz grinned, but said, "We can’t. English mid-term remember? You and me are studying tonight."

"That’s right," Maria deflated slightly. "Oh, no. I have to help my mom tonight!" she exclaimed, suddenly remembering her punishment for disappearing Saturday night. So much for getting together with Liz. They’d have to get together tomorrow night instead. Unless… "Wait, I know. How about we go to my house. That way we can study, celebrate and everything all at once."

"You’re on." Just then, Liz spotted Max walking down the hall over Maria’s shoulder and a huge smile split her face.

Maria followed her gaze and grinned, still coming to terms with the fact that Michael and Max had… you know… with Alex and Kyle. She’d talked about it a little with Michael last night when he took her home, but he’d been his usual noncommittal self. She was looking forward to catching Alex at lunch and getting all the juicy, gory details out of him.

When Max reached them, he drew Liz in for a long, thorough kiss, during which, Maria sighed in boredom and shifted her weight. Her eyes drifted away.

She straightened however, as she noticed the bizarre sight of Kyle - at the other end of the hall - turning on his heel and running in great haste the other direction, literally shoving people out of his way as if a pack of hell-hounds was after him. ‘Ok, that was different,’ she thought.

* * * * * *

Alex, who was in the eraser room with Isabel for the ‘good morning’ kiss he demanded every day, just let the surge of heightened desire pour through him. Rather than fighting it, he pulled Isabel closer, crushing her in his arms, but she didn’t seem to mind as her own desire took flight. With a small sound of need, she responded by rubbing herself against him like a cat and lightly digging her nails into his arms.

* * * * * *

Back at the lockers…

As Max and Liz continued to kiss, Maria caught herself beginning to stare at them, suddenly wondering why the sight of the two of them together was so erotic. Lord knows, she’d seen them sucking face hundreds of times in the past, but this time as the passion between them escalated, Maria was beginning to get a vague sense of being turned on, herself. She turned away again, only this time to give them some privacy, not that they appeared to need it and realized that the passion building inside of her wasn’t relenting but growing steadily. She began to fan herself and leaned against the cool metal lockers for support.

Closing her eyes, an image of a much younger Liz popped into her mind, but it wasn’t Max she was kissing…

"See?" dream Isabel next to her asked.

* * * * * *

Oblivious to Maria, in fact, the whole school, Max reveled in the freedom to take Liz in his arms and kiss her senseless whenever he wanted. He loved how right she felt to him, how the points of her aroused breasts stabbed into his chest, how the tiny sounds she made always stroked his excitement higher. With one arm around her shoulders, and one hand buried in her scented hair, he was content to stand there with her until the next ice age. And beyond.

That is, until a rubber band, shot from the far end of the hall, aided by a little alien magic, snapped him harshly in the back of his neck.

"Ow!" he jerked back, suddenly back on earth rather than Planet Liz. Turning around, he glowered ominously at Michael who was sauntering casually down the hall, with Kyle peeking nervously over his shoulder. "Michael!"

Liz, feeling embarrassed at being caught making out with Max in the halls, hid her flaming face in Max’s shirt as Michael drew closer.

"What?" his friend asked innocently. "Kyle has class here, and you two were blocking the way." They weren’t *physically* blocking the doorway, but Max knew what he meant.

"Sorry," Max mumbled in Kyle’s direction, not really meaning it. He was still rubbing his injury, glaring balefully at Michael as he did so. He was going to have a welt now, thank you very much.

"No problem," Kyle said, not looking at anyone in particular. Liz turned at the husky tone in his voice. It was something she hadn’t heard in a few months, and it intrigued her, wondering at what might have set him off.

It was difficult to miss the way Kyle was holding his books in front of his pants as he ducked into the open doorway nearest to Liz’s locker without looking at any of them.

Liz and Maria were both frowning in concern.

Happy to see Maria for the first time all day, Michael drank in the sight of her in the blue tank top and little cut offs she was wearing. Her tanned legs were gorgeous, though he wasn’t crazy about the clunky shoes on her feet. Now, if she were barefoot… he thought, which of course led him to thoughts of other parts of her that would look better if they were bare.

"Guerin!" came the pitiful half whine/ half growl from the open classroom.

With a lopsided grin, Michael kissed Maria a brief, good morning, and continued on his way down the hall, having done his good deed for the day. A second later, the bell was ringing, and Max and Liz joined the rush of students trying to make it to their classes on time.

* * * * * *

"Lunch could not come soon enough for me today," Maria complained as she noisily tossed her books on the lunch table and climbed in next to Tess.

"Tough day?"

Maria groaned and dropped her head onto her arms. "I hate school. Is it necessary for every teacher to schedule tests on the same days?" she asked rhetorically. "Couldn’t we like spread them out? You know, to keep the students from going postal or something?"

Tess rubbed her back consolingly. "Poor baby," she crooned, teasingly. Seriously, she asked, "Would you like me to help you study? I’m kinda good at the stuff we’re covering in Geometry."

Alex and Kyle came over and sat down right then. "Geometry sucks," Kyle announced to no one in particular, joining in the conversation as he opened his tiny milk carton and contemplated the food on his tray. Today’s lunch appeared to be lasagna surprise. Of course, it could also be tacos. Sometimes, it was hard to tell.

"Aw, it’s not so bad," Alex argued, getting out his sack lunch - no hot food for him. "Just a lot of formulas and stuff."

"Thanks, Mr. I’m-so-smart-I-skipped-right-over-tenth-grade-math-and-am-now- taking-AP-Trigonometry-even-though-I’m-only-a-Junior," Maria glared at him. "Your opinion is not welcome here."

Not taking offense, Alex just grinned at her. It always ticked her off that he was the math wiz in the bunch. Couple that with Liz’s scientific genius, and Maria often felt left out. This conversation was nothing new for them. "Aw, lighten up, Deluca. You’ll do great as always."

"Besides, maybe math isn’t you’re forte. Buddha says…"

There was a chorus of groans as Tess said warningly, "Kyle…"

"Well, since I suck at Math and Science," Maria complained disheartedly, "I should probably resign myself to having a stellar career at the cheese factory."

"I wouldn’t say that," Tess said consolingly. She leaned in to whisper huskily. "I can think of any number of things you excel at."

Blushing, Maria ducked her head, but it was obvious that she was pleased, not embarrassed by the praise.

Alex grinned at seeing her so happy to be accepted by her friends.

Michael arrived at the table right then and sandwiched himself between Maria and Alex. "Hey. What’s up?"

"Nothing," Kyle answered with a mischievous smile. "We were just discussing the possibilities of ‘Miss No-talent’ here joining the illustrious group of underpaid, over worked, not to mention extremely smelly employees at the cheese factory."

"Hey!" Michael said, "Maria has lots of talent!"

"That’s what I was saying," Tess agreed.

Michael glared at her, too. "I meant her singing."

That brought Maria’s head up. Her shining eyes focused on him. "Do you mean that? You think I have talent?" she asked.

"Do I ever say stuff I don’t mean?" he responded.

Rolling her eyes, she answered, "All the time, Michael."

"Well, I mean it this time." He pulled her into his lap and whispered, "I like to listen to your singing."

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him soundly.

"Uh, Michael?" Alex tried to interrupt, but it was too late.

Michael’s arms closed around her hungrily, and he attacked her mouth ferociously. It had been hours, more like an eternity, since she’d been this close to him. His passion for her welled up inside, feeding the fires that burned at the surface, driving him to be closer to her. He gripped her tightly as he angled her mouth for a deeper penetration. His tongue dueled with hers aggressively. His erection pressed against his pants and he wanted nothing more than to go some place private where he could give all of his desires free reign.

Sitting next to him, so close that their thighs were touching, Alex was all but reading Michael’s mind. He felt every impulse, every desire. All of Michael’s passion swept straight into him, causing his cock to swell and harden painfully. He had a fleeting thought to set down the apple he’d been about to take a bite out of, but Maria wiggled enticingly against Michael’s straining arousal and it was too late. Alex’s body spasmed, and his arm jerked outward just as his hand went lax. The result of which had the sweet fruit arcing across the quad where it hit some unsuspecting student square in the back.

Rudy Valentine, Roswell’s leading Karate champion, spun around. He spotted the apple laying at his feet immediately, and searched out the smart ass who apparently wanted to pick a fight with him. Not seeing anyone, he muttered ‘Coward.’ Picking up the apple, he flung it into the trash and stalked off.

Back at the table, right about the same time Alex lost control of his lunch, Kyle had just taken a mouthful of milk. It went spewing back out almost immediately as he nearly choked on it. Milk was sprayed everywhere, including on a few innocent bystanders.

"Hey!" and "Watch it, Valenti!" were among the outraged shouts sent in his direction, but Kyle was too caught up in remembering to breathe to worry too much about anything else.

Tess’s eyes widened in amazement as she stared at Michael. What was going on here? Michael had never projected his feelings like this before. At most, all he’d ever sent out was a vague warmness and wanting. This rush of heat and fire was new. Watching the possessive way he clung to Maria, she began to understand. Being with Maria had forced him to face his feelings for her. He was no longer burying his emotions, afraid of the human ties associated with them. Finally, he had opened his heart and let Maria come inside.

Tess actually felt proud of him… for about the length of a nanosecond. Then she was kicking him fiercely under the table. "Michael!!! Stop it, Michael!"

"Hey guys, what’s up?" Liz asked suddenly from behind Alex. Her inquisitive gaze took in the spilled milk dripping off the edge of the table, Kyle and Tess’s flushed faces as well as the steamy embrace between Maria and Michael. Woah. When had this happened? she wondered. Last she’d heard, Maria was upset with Michael over some non-disclosed sex thing. Had they resolved their issues? Averting her eyes, she decided she and Maria apparently needed to talk.

Michael pulled his mouth away from Maria’s and dropped his head onto her shoulder as he tried to regain his equilibrium. Right now, the only thing he could think of was getting Maria off somewhere alone. His breath rasped harshly in his throat as he struggled to pull himself back together. After a few moments, he decided it wasn’t going to happen. He needed her too badly.

He whispered hurriedly in her ear. Giggling she got up and grabbed her books. With a hand on her back, Michael ushered her back into the school building without a word to any of them.

"What’s going on?" Liz asked quizzically. The body language and ‘vibes’ of everyone still sitting at the table warned her that something was not quite right. And what was with the milk? Why wasn’t anyone cleaning it up?

Tess, recovering first, since she’d been the least affected, stood with a smile. "Hey, Liz. Come on and sit down." They needed to put up a front of normalcy for Liz’s benefit, she knew.

Alex realized the same thing. After clearing his throat, he shakily said, "Yeah. What took you so long?"

With a wave of Tess’s hand, the spilled beverage disappeared as if it never was, and Liz sat on the sun-warmed bench.

"Ms Hardy wanted to talk about our midterm projects."

"Liz, I wanted to ask you…," Tess began, but was interrupted as Kyle stood suddenly. With Michael gone, he’d finally recovered use of his legs as well as the rest of his body. He had one thing on his mind and, well, this was not the place for it. Grabbing Tess’s hand, he rasped out, "Excuse us."

Without another word to anyone he began to pull Tess across the quad, his intentions to find someplace private to ‘discuss’ the burning ache in his groin.

Tess was forced to shout over her shoulder, "So, I guess I’ll see you guys later."

Liz frowned after them. "Was it something I said?" She was only half joking.

"No," Alex assured her somewhat shortly. His eyes were rapidly scanning the entrances to the quad.

"But they just up and left their lunches…" Liz began.

Suddenly standing, Alex said hurriedly, "That’s great. Gotta go. Bye, Liz."

Without another word, he crossed the quad, his long legs eating up the distance to where he’d spotted Isabel standing with Max. Liz watched him grab his girlfriend and drag her off in the opposite direction of Kyle and Tess.

Chapter nine

"So, what’s going on with you and Michael?" Liz asked over a slice of Amy Deluca’s heavenly coconut crème pie. The girls were sitting at the counter of the CrashDown Café, waiting for Mr. Parker to finish making the list of items he wanted to purchase from Amy before going to Maria’s to study.

"Uh, I think we’re ‘on again’." Maria was stalling. She hated keeping something so important (like her entire life since Saturday night) from her best friend, but it was for her own good. Since they couldn’t tell her the truth about the initiation, Maria thought that it would be best if Liz still thought that she needed help with the ‘Michael situation’ as they’d been calling it. She’d seen how helping her had loosened her friend up, and to continue could only help.

Besides, her mission was to get Liz to cross that one line they’d never come to with each other. They’d gotten close a time or two, Maria thought, remembering the look on Liz’s face as the two of them relaxed on Alex’s bed last week during their lunch adventures. Liz had wanted - something, and Maria thought now that if she’d pushed it, Liz might have caved in to her feelings. At least, that’s what she was hoping.

She’d assured Isabel and Tess that if anyone could break down Liz’s walls, it was probably her.

"You ‘think’?" Liz questioned her. It looked like they were pretty sure to her this afternoon at lunchtime.

Before Maria could answer, the swinging door at the back of the restaurant opened and someone who was a complete stranger to her strolled into the diner. He was tall, loose limbed, wearing faded denim jeans, a black t-shirt, black cowboy boots with a matching Stetson. He was like the Marlborough man and the Lone Ranger rolled into one tightly coiled package. Liz and Maria both had to remind themselves to close their mouths.

He came abreast of the two girls and stopped. "Hey gorgeous," he said to Liz, his rich voice practically a caress in and of itself. "I was hoping I’d see you today." His warm smile was slightly wolfish as he glanced over her slender form appreciatively. "Remember, you promised your dad you’d show me the sights. I sure am looking forward to it, and to getting to know you better. We’re practically kissin’ cousins, you know, and I want to know everything about you." Liz was staring at him, entranced by the sexy timbre of his voice and how it resonated into her ears before dispersing into other parts of her body.

"How about we get together later tonight?"

Maria sat up and narrowed her eyes at the guy. If he thought he was going anywhere with Liz, well, he had another think coming. And she was gonna tell him so, except, before she could open her mouth, Liz was already answering.

"Oh, I’m sorry, but I can’t," Liz said, sounding truly regretful. "We have to study."

It was no more than he’d expected and he barely suppressed a chuckle. It was so easy, like taking candy from a baby. Still ‘subtle’ was the name of the game and it wouldn’t do to come on too strong despite the fact that Liz was primed and ready for the picking. He figured he’d give her one last push, then step back a bit. Looking at her plate, he saw the treat she’d been nibbling on and innocently asked, "Oh, is that one of the Delectable DeLuca Pies I’ve heard so much about? May I?"

Without waiting for permission, he took Liz’s fork from her lax hand and scooped up the last of the pie. He put it in his mouth, making appreciative noises as he pulled the utensil back out again – slowly, with a slight suction ensuring that it was completely clean before returning it. After giving Maria a once over that left her bristling, he sent Liz a sexy grin with a wink. "Later."

Liz smiled shyly. "Bye, Tucker."

Tipping his hat, he sauntered on outside.

Maria grabbed her friend’s arm. "Ok, who the hell was that?"

"Hmm?" Liz asked absentmindedly as she watched how his ass filled out his jeans while he was walking away. "What? Oh, him. Tucker’s a family friend of sorts. He’s staying here for a little while."

"What? Here? He’s staying here? Where, ‘here,’ exactly," Maria asked suspiciously.

"Well, here, you know, like on the sofa in the living room."

Maria gasped in outrage. That sofa was like three feet from Liz’s bedroom door. To think that the jerk was practically within touching distance… ‘Kissin’ cousins, my ass,’ she thought heatedly. He wanted Liz, that much was obvious, and with her sleeping so close and available… Maria had only one thought to that: "Max isn’t going to like this."

Liz frowned at her friend’s odd reaction. "He already knows. What’s wrong with you? It’s not like we’ve never had company before."

"Liz! This guy’s not exactly Grandma Claudia, you know!"

"Who’s not Grandma Claudia," Jeff Parker asked finally arriving with the long awaited list.

"Tucker," Liz answered.

Jeff chuckled. "You got that right. He snores loud enough to wake the dead." Handing his list to Maria, he said, "Tell your mom to drop this stuff by anytime. The only thing we’re really low on are the glow-in-the-dark coffee stirrers, which she already knows."

"Sure thing, Mr. Parker," she answered as the two girls gathered up their books and notes for the night’s studying.

"Bye, Dad," Liz said.

"Don’t stay up too late honey," he admonished to their departing backs.

An hour and twenty-seven minutes later, Maria slammed her books closed. "That’s it," she announced, flinging herself back onto the bed. "I’m done."

Liz looked up with a scolding expression, but Maria cut her off. "Don’t even start with me. Plays aren’t meant to be picked apart like this, I don’t care who wrote it."

With a sigh, Liz carefully marked her spot and closed her textbook, too. It was easier to cave than to argue, she knew.

Grinning at having won a respite, Maria asked what had been in the back of her mind since they’d left the restaurant, "So, what’s with that Tucker guy?"

"Nothing. He’s just staying with us for a while. He’s on break from school."

"Why you guys? I mean, when did the CrashDown become a shelter for academic refugees?"

Laughing, Liz replied, "His mom and my dad go way back. They’re like fourth or fifth cousins, but they kind of grew up together. Dad still talks to her every couple of weeks or so. They live in Texas, so this is the first time I’ve met him."

"I don’t like him," she announced.

"Maria! You don’t even know him. You met him for what, like thirty seconds?"

"Trust me, it was enough. I’m telling you that this guy is bad news. He gives me the creeps."

"You know, the last time you said that to me, you were talking about Michael, and look at you now."

"Yeah, well, with Michael, there were extenuating circumstances."

"Aren’t there always," Liz teased.

Maria decided to let that pass. "Speaking of the Czechs, I talked to Tess after school. She invited us over Wednesday after school to hang out and stuff. Maybe go swimming." Frowning, she added, "She asked me to tell you specifically that there would be no guys there. Kyle has practice or something and the others aren’t invited. What’s that about?"

Liz flushed, remembering what had happened the last time she’d gone to the Valenti’s. She’d been looking for an opportunity to tell Maria about kissing Michael, the guilt of it weighing her down the whole weekend long, and now looked like the time. "I went there, last Friday, you know, to start trying to get along with Tess and Michael showed up. After dinner the four of us, me, Kyle, Michael and Tess were playing this stupid game of Truth or Dare, and Tess asked me who was the first person I’d ever kissed. So, I told them about how we used to practice kissing on Alex. Then I made this stupid comment about how not all of us are just born knowing how to kiss."

Liz looked at Maria to see if she was following. The two of them had talked at length about how amazing it was that Max and Michael were such great kissers last year considering they’d never had any practice – that they knew of.

Maria nodded for her to continue. "Michael asked me about it, you know, if I was talking about him, which of course I refused to answer," Liz said, stating her loyalty towards her friend. "The next thing I knew, he was daring me to kiss someone there - other than Kyle."

Maria’s eyes widened. "Someone other than Kyle? But that left…"

"Yeah, Tess or Michael. And the kiss had to last for thirty seconds."

Maria’s mouth hung open. They hadn’t told her about this yesterday as they’d made their plans for Liz.

Finally, she managed to ask, "And did you?"

Huskily, Liz said, "Yeah. I did."

"Which one?"

"I just couldn’t kiss Michael," Liz said, looking to her friend for understanding. "So I…"

"You kissed Tess."

"I kissed Tess," Liz admitted. "The thing is that Tess would have let me back out. I didn’t have to, but I… I,"

"You wanted to," Maria finished for her. Nodding, Liz was scarlet with embarrassment. She was looking at her fingers as they twisted nervously in her lap. Maria’s heart went out to her friend. That wasn’t an easy thing to confess and she was surprised at her courage. Lord knows she had never said a word to Liz about the failed initiation with Isabel, even when she came to Liz for help.

"How was it?" Maria asked softly.

Liz’s eyes flew up and searched Maria’s face, looking for and not finding any traces of the censure or condemnation she’d expected to see. Maria seemed to be taking this turn of events much better than she’d anticipated. Of course, Liz hadn’t told her the worst part yet. She knew she was stalling, but she couldn’t resist admitting, "It was amazing."

Definitely a good sign, Maria thought. She couldn’t help but wonder, if Liz had enjoyed kissing Tess the other day, then why hadn’t anyone told her about it? This was good news.

She was trying to think of what to say next, when Liz softly added, "But that wasn’t the only thing that happened."

"What do you mean, what else happened?" Maybe Isabel had shown up, she thought happily. Liz quickly disabused her of that notion.

"Well, Michael was timing the kiss, and when the thirty seconds was up, he was there and I… I’m so sorry, Maria, but I kissed him, too."

"What do you mean you kissed him?"

"I had all of this pent up desire for Tess, but I was holding it back, you know, because it seemed so wrong, but it was *there*, and when Michael pulled me away, I practically like attacked him. I’m sorry, Maria. I didn’t mean for it to happen. It was just a kiss, I mean, nothing else happened, I swear. He loves you so much. It was a mistake and it won’t happen again."

Maria sat there, speechless. Liz and Michael? Liz and Tess was one thing, but Michael and Liz was another. Her thoughts had scattered in a hundred directions.

Liz watched her friend’s face expectantly. She felt terrible for practically blurting it out like that, but she knew she had to get it out in the open. It was killing her to keep something so important from her. "I would have told you sooner, but I didn’t know how," she whispered, answering one of the questions Maria had tumbling around in her head. Liz was waiting in an agony of suspense for Maria’s temper to ignite, knowing that she deserved whatever the other girl was about to do or say.

Having the background information that the whole thing had probably been instigated to make Liz sexually aware of Tess, Maria pushed back her hurt feelings. She would be sure to take them out and air them to Michael the next time she saw him, but she held Liz blameless for the kiss. It was just a kiss, like Liz said. It’s not like they saw into each other’s souls or something, right?

Liz looked so guilty over the whole thing that Maria was immediately prompted to exonerate her. But as she took a breath to speak her intentions, an evil little devil suddenly appeared on her left shoulder and began whispering into her ear, "Maria, wait! Why waste this opportunity? I mean, just look at her. Right now, she’ll do anything to get back on your good side. Think about it. She’s completely at our mercy."

Now, wait just a minute!

Before she could set him straight, she was interrupted again, this time by an outraged gasp from a tiny angel sitting on her other shoulder. "Ahh! I can’t believe you would suggest such a thing. To take advantage of Liz like that when she’s so vulnerable. How could you? Liz is our best friend. She needs our caring and support. She needs to know that we forgive her."

"And she will. I’m just suggesting that we have a little fun with her first."

"A little fun with her?! Look at her!" Obediently, devil, angel and girl turned and scrutinized Liz who was staring dejectedly at the intertwined fingers in her lap. "Does she look like she wants to compound the issue by kissing you right now? She’s confused enough as it is! We should be comforting her, not making her feel worse!"

"What I had in mind will be very comforting, and she’ll be feeling tons better in a little while, I promise," the devil whispered with a leer. Maria rolled her eyes in response.

The angel pounded her hand into her fist and said adamantly, "No. Absolutely not. Maria, don’t you listen to him!"

"Oh for crying out loud, do you want to kiss the girl or not? You may never get another chance like this! Now, go get her!"

Poof. Both angel and devil were gone, now leaving Maria facing a guilt ridden Liz.

The devil had a point, she acknowledged.

"You know, Liz," Maria said slowly, "I think the only way this is going to be right between us again is…"

"What?" Liz eagerly grasped at the proffered olive branch unaware that she was just about to find herself dangling from the self same limb while Maria busily sawed away at it from the other end.

"This…" It was all the warning she got before Maria cupped her face between her palms and brought their lips together. Not giving Liz time to react, she thrust her tongue deep into the other girl’s mouth, relishing the sensations. Liz tasted exquisite, far better than she’d ever imagined and she was tempted to draw the kiss out, but Liz’s utter lack of response forestalled her. Apparently, Liz was every bit as appalled today as she’d been last week.

If only that were the case…

At the first touch of Maria’s mouth, Liz had gone rigid, but not for the reasons Maria supposed. Liz wasn’t reacting out of distaste but rather surprise. She was surprised that Maria would kiss her, but more than that, she was surprised at the reaction she was having to it. This was nothing like their brief kiss from last week. This was different.

She’d been surprised then, too, and though the taste and memory of their brief contact had lingered in her mind the rest of the week, it hadn’t affected her as much as this kiss. This time it was stronger, more compelling somehow, as if something inside her had changed during the past week. Maybe it was the lunches spent watching porn side by side in Alex’s bed, maybe it was the shocking kisses from last Friday. Maybe she was just loosening up. Or maybe it was the jealousy she’d felt at discovering that Maria, Isabel and Tess had grown close to the point that they were hanging out and having sleepovers, which excluded her. Maybe… maybe she wanted to claim some part of Maria for herself. Maria was her friend first, Liz thought irrationally as she suddenly responded heatedly, pulling Maria closer. Hers, not Isabel’s, not Tess’s. Hers. Liz’s tongue swept into Maria’s mouth for a quick foray before pulling back again. Maria, she thought. My friend, mine. Crushing their mouths together, Liz again sent her tongue past Maria’s lips, stroking deep inside. She was soon fighting the impulse to push Maria back on the bed and have her way with her. And that shocked her more than anything.

Gasping for breath, they finally broke apart and looked deeply into each other’s eyes. It was a sight so familiar, yet altogether new, each thought. Even with last week’s antics, they’d never seen one another look quite like this before, one needy, one possessive, both wanting more. Their heads inclined together again.

"Maria, Liz! Dinner!" Amy Deluca’s voice rang out, breaking the spell that had been cast over them. Their breathing was heavy in the silence.

"Be right there," Maria called back as she watched Liz’s eyes drop and color bloom in her cheeks.

"Liz," she said softly, hoping to recapture the moment.

Liz, however had returned to earth with a thud. What was wrong with them? she wondered. Now, she had yet another kiss she had to explain to Max, and she had the added guilt of knowing that it happened while she was going out with him. They weren’t on a ‘break’ this time. "What was that for, Maria," she asked painfully.

Defensive and afraid of the rejection she read in every line of Liz’s body, Maria blithely explained her actions, "I was just thinking that if we kissed, then the two kisses would cancel themselves out."

Taken aback, Liz asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Well, me and Michael have kissed, and you and he have kissed, so if we were to kiss, it would even things out, and we could pretend like it never happened." God, how she wanted to kiss her again, Maria thought as she gave her lame explanation. "It was like a kiss for a kiss, see?" Liz’s lips were wet from their aborted kiss, and they seemed to beckon her. Down, girl, she admonished herself.

Liz nodded, accepting the story at face value.

The two girls stared at each other, unsure of what to say in the aftermath of a kiss that had in some way changed everything between them yet changed nothing.

"Girls!" Amy called again, but caught in their own world, they ignored her a bit longer

Finally, Liz cleared her throat and asked, "Friends?" A small, unacknowledged part of her hoped Maria would say ‘no’ thus requiring another kiss to be offered.

Maria was too thrilled over her unexpected good fortune of the first kiss to do anything but agree, "Friends."

Then they sat in a stilted silence before Liz repeated quietly, "I am so sorry, Maria." Somehow she couldn’t believe that Maria could be over her betrayal with Michael so quickly.

Maria reached over and took the hand of her best friend in the world and said, "It’s ok, Liz," before adding, "I’m not mad at you."

"Why not?" Liz asked curiously. If the situation had been reversed, and it had been Max and Maria doing the kissing, Liz would have been unbelievably upset. Somehow she knew the ‘kiss for a kiss’ method of dealing with it wouldn’t have worked for her.

"I don’t know. I just know that I’m not mad at you. It’s not like you set out to kiss him or something."

"It just happened," Liz affirmed.

"I believe you."

Liz let out a sigh of relief. One down… Her happiness was short lived as she faced the problem that had been plaguing her since Friday. "Oh. God, Maria, what am I gonna say to Max about Michael?"

Seeing the guilt stamped once again on Liz’s face, Maria gathered her into her arms for a reassuring hug. "I don’t know babe. You’re on your own there but somehow, I don’t think Max is gonna be mad at you. My Spaceboy’s days might be numbered, but I think you’re safe from the alien king’s wrath. Either way, you know I got your back, though, right?"

Liz’s arms came gratefully around Maria, and she buried her face in her friend’s neck.

Maria closed her eyes, and fought against an urge to turn the comforting embrace into something more erotic, that one small taste having only wet her appetite. She was kinda sure that Liz would enjoy it, too, but not enough to push the issue.

Holding Liz, Maria thought about how different their situations were now. While she was free to bask in the warmth and love of her new family, seeking love and acceptance in their open arms, Liz was still shut out in the cold. Left in the dark and unaware of the alternatives that existed, Liz seemed to Maria to be trapped in a dark place. And the worst thing was that she didn’t even know it. It was so sad.

Maria was bound by her vow of silence to Max not to mention what the other girl was missing, but she could try to steer her in the direction of self-discovery. Everything would be better once the truth was revealed and she wouldn’t have to keep quiet about something so important to all of them.

Chapter ten

Liz stood anxiously outside of Max’s window, not sure if she had the courage to knock. Once she’d left Maria’s, Liz had driven around for a while until she’d found herself stopping out front of the Evans’. After having confessed everything to her friend, Liz just knew she wasn’t going to sleep tonight until she told Max, too, at least about Michael. Granted, when the kiss with Michael happened, Liz and Max were still officially broken up, but to Liz it still felt like a betrayal, and she couldn’t live with that. Somehow, now that she had a chance to calm down, the kiss she’d shared with Maria didn’t seem like a big deal. She wasn’t sure she was up to examining why that was.

But maybe – she looked at the lit display on her watch – twelve o’ five on a school night wasn’t the best time to discuss it.

She should go, she told herself. Max was probably sleeping… in his bed… possibly with very few clothes on. Her cheeks got warm at the possibility.

Well, maybe she should go take a look you know, to see if he was up or not. If he was sleeping, she’d just go, but if he was awake, then they’d talk.

Ok, she told herself, just a quick look.

Tip toeing closer she cupped her hands around her eyes and peered inside the room.

Max was laying on his stomach on the bed, his head turned away from her. The moonlight coming through the window cast his skin in a ghostly pale. As she watched, one of his fingers twitched slightly. Something about his position caused her to frown. There was something… She could swear that she’d seen him exactly like this sometime before…

The dream. Liz’s eyes widened as she remembered dreaming about giving Max a massage, and having him fall asleep on her. He’d been in this exact position, only more in shadow as the moonlight hadn’t penetrated very far into the room then.

He just looked so peaceful…

"Liz."

Isabel’s voice coming from the adjacent window scared the life out of her. The dark haired girl jumped back with a stifled shriek. "Oh my god, Isabel, what are you doing there?"

Isabel chuckled to see the normally unflappable Liz Parker so easily startled. "Me? I live here," she stated humorously. "I was going to ask you the same thing, actually."

Liz looked from Max’s window to Isabel’s and began, "I was… um, well, there was … and I… but he," she waved at the window next to her, "so I um… Umm, what was the question again?"

Laughing outright, Isabel held out her hand. "Come on, I’ll let you in. I take it you wanted Max?"

How did she know? "No," Liz quickly denied as she climbed inside before realizing that Isabel wasn’t speaking about sexual wanting. "I mean, yes, I mean, I do want to *see* Max, but I just wanted to talk."

Isabel glanced at her clock. "At twelve fifteen on a Monday night? This couldn’t wait until morning?"

"Yeah, maybe I should go," Liz said. "I don’t even know what I’m doing here."

"No, it’s fine. Let me just go wake him up and make sure he’s decent." Isabel quickly left the room. Liz listened in embarrassment and impatience to Max’s sleepy voice complaining of the intrusion. Isabel answered softly and suddenly there was a flurry of activity in the next room. Within seconds, a sleepy-eyed Max was standing in the doorway. "Liz," he whispered, "Is something wrong?"

"No. Not really. I just wanted to talk to you, and… this was a big mistake." She started edging toward the window. "I can just talk to you at school tomorrow."

"It’s ok, Liz," he said catching her arm. Giving Isabel a significant look, he pulled Liz out of her room and into his, closing the door softly. "What’s going on?" He sat down on the edge of his bed and waited to hear whatever it was that had brought her to his house so late at night.

Liz was pacing nervously, wishing she’d thought to prepare a speech or something. But here she was, and he was looking at her so intensely, and he was wearing a white tank that showed off the muscles in his arms… ‘Just stop right there, Parker! You’re here for a reason so quit stalling and get to it.’

There was no easy way to say it, so taking a deep breath, Liz finally blurted, "I just needed to tell you about something that happened a couple of days ago."

Before she could continue, there was a light tapping at the door. With an apologetic look, Max stood to answer it, and Liz saw Isabel standing in the doorway completely dressed to go out despite the lateness of the hour. She and Max had a briefly whispered conversation at the end of which, Max handed over the keys to the Jeep and admonished, "Be back before Mom and Dad get up."

"Yeah, I will." Raising her voice slightly, she said, "See you at school tomorrow, Liz."

"Where are you going?" Liz stepped forward to ask.

"Nowhere. Just for a drive. Maybe, I’ll just go to Alex's." She hurried away before Liz could ask her why she felt a sudden need to escape from the house in the middle of the night.

After closing his door, he turned to find Liz standing right next to him with a slightly puzzled expression on her face. Hoping to divert her attention, he asked, "Is this about Michael?"

Shocked at his accurate guess, Liz stared at him. "Did he tell you?"

"No," Max said, shaking his head. "You did." He pointed at his temple, indicating he’d gotten a flash.

"Oh," Liz said, her eyes downcast. "Look, Max," she began but he put a finger to her soft lips, silencing her.

"Michael and I already talked about it, and we understand each other. Forget about it." He caressed the bare skin of her arm briefly before pulling her into his embrace. "I love you, Liz. There isn’t anything you could do that I wouldn’t understand and forgive you for. As long as we can be together, that’s all that matters to me."

Looking deeply into his golden eyes, Liz whispered, "Me, too."

Bending slightly, Max brought his lips to hers and kissed her softly.

Surprising him, Liz threw her arms around his neck and returned his kiss passionately.

Max’s desire for Liz exploded and he caught her close against his body, amazed that she was again in his room where he could bask in the freedom to enjoy the warmth of her heart, body and soul.

Liz vaguely registered the sound of the Jeep peeling away down the street as she gave herself over to the mastery of Max’s kisses. He’d already pulled her light summer jacket down her arms and was lowering her to the bed before she knew what hit her. With the feel of the firm mattress against her back, Liz sighed softly into his mouth. She had one hand curled in the softly curling hair at his nape and the other was around his shoulders hugging him to her tightly. Max, my Max, she thought possessively. She twined one of her legs with his allowing him to slip into the cradle of her thighs. She gloried in the feel of his hard erection pressing against her aching center. God, how she wanted him! With his parents right down the hall, Liz knew that tonight wasn’t going to be the night they saw this thing between them to it’s natural conclusion, but she ached to please him, to see his face as he lost himself to ecstasy in her. So far, he’d resisted her overtures, but tonight would be different, she decided. Tonight she wasn’t going to let him stop her. Maybe it was her need to show Max how much she loved him, maybe it was a reaction to his easy acceptance of what had happened with Michael, she didn’t know. All she was aware of was a need to prove to him that he was the only one for her and she for him, and this certainly seemed like the best time and place to do it.

Pushing against him, she silently asked him to roll them over, which he did, so that she was now laying full length on top of him. He groaned appreciatively at the freedom to caress her back and sides with his large hands, while he continued to eat at her mouth with his.

Her knees naturally fell on either side of his hips, opening her womanhood for a closer contact against him. Max’s erection was throbbing strongly against her and she couldn’t resist an experimental wiggle to settle him more deeply against the aching bud that was reaching out for him. She silently damned the clothes that separated them, but not for long. She had other plans.

Pulling her mouth from his, she buried her lips in his neck, gasping in pleasure and breathing in his distinctive scent. She ran her hands down his chest seeking and finding the edge of his untucked t-shirt. Skimming her fingers underneath, she lightly caressed his warm skin, enjoying the strong, smooth ripples of muscled flesh she found there. Exploring higher, she found his tight, masculine nipples were like tiny little points against his otherwise sleek chest. He shifted slightly beneath her, telling her silently that he enjoyed her touching him there.

Shoving his shirt out of her way, she brought her mouth to those small pleasure spots, lightly tonguing his responsive flesh. Max pushed his fingers into her thick hair to hold her against him, basking in her loving touch. Liz was rarely aggressive when they made out, and each time it happened, it gave him a silent thrill.

With one elbow supporting her weight, Liz continued to lave him while her free hand stroked his skin. Sometimes she used her fingernails against him, causing a storm of goosebumps to appear, sometimes she just lovingly caressed him. Shifting around slightly, she brought her knees up by his elbows so that she was crouching over him. Sitting up, Liz began tugging at his shirt in earnest. She wanted it off him. Max sat up beneath her and helped her divest him of his garment. She tossed it across the room where it landed precariously half on, half off his small desk.

Resting his hands passively on her thighs, Max laid back and allowed her to gaze at him. He loved that look she got in her eyes sometimes. The look that said she couldn’t quite believe he was there; that he was hers. That look humbled him and made him feel more powerful than Superman all at once. It was that look that made him believe in happy endings. It made him want to do whatever it might take to bind her to him for all eternity. If he could find a way to capture that look, so he could take it out and gaze at it again when his future got dark and empty, he would.

"What?" she whispered, caught in the wistful longing she saw in his golden gaze.

"Nothing," he denied. Cupping her cheek in one hand, he pulled her back down on to him, missing her warmth already. Her hair fell around them in a sweetly scented waterfall, cocooning them in their own private heaven. "I love you so much, Liz, that sometimes it hurts," he whispered.

"Yeah, me too," she agreed against his lips, unable to deny herself the pleasure of kissing him even for a moment. The tips of her breasts pressed tantalizingly against his chest and she rubbed them back and forth in an effort to appease their consuming ache. Reading her urgent body language, Max’s warm fingers came up and cupped her through the light blouse she wore, rubbing the hardened nubs in erotic circles that drove her crazy.

"Max," she gasped out, "don’t stop."

"Never," he promised, as lost in the moment as she was.

As incredible as it all felt, she needed more. She could feel her body was dripping in readiness for him. She needed to feel him against her, skin to skin, even if that was as far as it went tonight. Reaching between them, she grazed her fingers lightly over his throbbing erection.

Max nearly jumped out of his skin. Her soft hand against him, even through his boxers and shorts felt amazing. He couldn’t think of anything he wanted more in that moment than to feel it again. His hips thrust upward seeking out more of her gentle touch.

Pleased by his reaction, Liz repeated the caress, enjoying Max’s near silent groan as she did so. "Like that, huh?" she asked, nipping at his ear.

For an answer, he twisted one of her nipples lovingly, causing her in inhale noisily. He smiled wickedly and said, "About that much."

Liz was not to be distracted from her goal. Reaching for the waistline of his remaining garments, Liz asked, "Max?"

"No, Liz. We can’t."

"I know. Not with your parents home. I just want to touch you. Please, Max?"

How could any sane man resist a request like that? He was helpless against her pleading gaze, and he knew it. Lifting his hips slightly, he helped her pull his shorts and boxers off his legs. Then he watched in loving amusement as she avoided looking at what she’d been so eager to uncover. Apparently, Miss Parker was suddenly shy, he observed with a grin. The same could not be said for him, however. He was so turned on by being naked with her for the first time that his erection was practically standing straight up from his body, needing hardly any additional support to remain upright on its own.

At her hesitation, he flipped them over and came down between her legs. He nibbled at her lips, whispering between bites: "Have I ever mentioned how unbelievably sexy you are when you’re shy?"

Slightly embarrassed, she smacked him on the shoulder. "Stop it."

"Stop what?" he asked in mock seriousness.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly to her, enjoying his weight pressing her down into the mattress. "Stop teasing me," she whispered huskily. Twisting slightly, she caused her lower body to rub against his engorged shaft.

"Ok," he agreed, before catching her lips fully beneath his, loving their satiny texture. He was all serious now as he brought his hands to her face thumbing the soft skin beneath her cheekbones. His fingertips met behind her head and he rubbed in tiny circles against the tendons of her neck until she groaned in delight. All the while, his lips were against hers, their tongues touching, seeking, loving one another.

Their eyes were tightly closed as they abandoned themselves to the sensations of having each other near. So lost in the kiss was she, that Liz momentarily forgot Max’s state of undress. His kisses were like that. She was reminded when she stroked her hands down his back to his waist. When she didn’t encounter any fabric to hinder her downward glide, she just kept going ‘til she hit his thighs and back up again.

Enjoying the sensation, he pressed his erection tighter against her with a soft sigh. Pulling back slightly, it was his turn to stare at her. Liz’s face was a tantalizing mix of innocence and sultry desire, her lips red and swollen from their many kisses. She had never looked more beautiful to him. His gaze shifted to include her perfectly tiny earlobes and soft underside of her neck; it was all tempting flesh that begged to be explored with his lips, teeth and tongue.

Dipping his head, he inhaled the intoxicating scent of her perfume beneath the curve of her jaw and kissed her there. Running his lips to the shell of her ear, he lightly tongued each swirl before dipping inside briefly. Liz tightened her grip around his hips with her thighs and pulled him closer to her as if she were afraid he would stop. She needn’t have bothered; he wasn’t stopping any time soon. He nibbled lightly on her earlobe, flicking it with his tongue before sucking it into his mouth.

"Max," she sighed softly, sliding her fingers into his hair, causing shivers to erupt across his bare skin.

Max slid his hands up beneath the hem of her shirt, seeking out the soft globes that were pressing into him. Cupping their twin weights in his hands, he used his thumb and forefinger to stroke and stimulate the sensitive nipples through the fabric of her bra.

Gasping, Liz twisted against him, in an attempt to heighten the sensation. She inhaled sharply, causing her breasts to swell against him further. Enjoying her ready response, he twisted and pulled harder at her nipples until her breath was sobbing in and out of her lungs. Needing to taste her, he swooped down and took one lace-clad point in his mouth, biting down gently on the tight bud causing her to arch her back and cry out. God, how he loved her!

Reaching between their bodies, he possessively cupped her softness through her jeans. He could feel her heat and the wetness that had seeped into the cloth and all he wanted in the world was the right to touch and explore her fully, until he’d memorized each and every passionate molecule of her. With one hand and a little alien know-how, he opened the front clasp on her bra and pulled the edges back. The nipple he’d suckled was damp and darker in color than the other one. They couldn’t stay like that, so he decisively pulled the overlooked one into his mouth and rubbed the hard nubbin with the rough side of his tongue while holding her tightly between his teeth.

Liz could barely catch her breath. What he was doing to her was so incredible and felt so good. Every part of her was focused on his hands and his mouth and each move they made against her. Each nerve ending was standing at attention hoping to come into contact with his warm body somehow, and those parts that were already in contact were singing with pleasure.

Her warm hands returned to his butt, learning the curves and textures there. She experimentally flexed her fingers causing her nails to dig into his skin and was heartened by his shivering reaction. Remembering her dream from Sunday night, Liz lightly traced the dark cleft with her fingertips. She felt his erection jump against her and gloried in her ability to make him respond to her, too. Oh yeah, there was no way she was putting him to sleep this time.

Suddenly feeling assertive, she remembered her original plan to show Max she loved him by inundating him with pleasure. She pushed against his shoulder and once again, he was on his back, and she was sitting up on his thighs. Aggressively, she kissed his neck and cheek before trailing a path to his chest. She allowed her hands to wander freely over his sculpted belly to the place she was most curious about. His erection was throbbing hotly against his lower abs, nestled against a small bed of crisply curling hair. Stalling, trying to hold her virginal shyness at bay, she stroked around the area: his belly, and upper thighs, even taking the time to run her fingers through the crinkly pubic hair there. He was tense with anticipation, wondering if she would ever touch him where they both wanted her to.

Taking a deep breath for courage, she allowed her fingertips to touch him where she never had before. His skin was hot and completely devoid of hair. It was firm, but not hard, as she’d expected. Its shape was exactly as she’d imagined. (Lunch at Alex’s last week had proved to be highly informative.) Curling her soft fingers around him, she simply held him in her fist for a moment feeling him pulse beneath her sweaty palm. She was amazed at how her own body was throbbing to the same rhythm.

Growing bolder, she began to explore. Moving to the tip of his cock, she ran her thumb across its smooth surface, noticing the slight indention on the underside. Then she moved lightly down the full length to the mysterious sacs hanging between his thighs. Her free hand came down to cup and explore them. There was some sparse hair growing there, stiff and nearly straight. The sacs were loose with two semi hard tissues inside, one on each side. Liz paused in the action of licking one of his tight nipples as she realized that she was literally holding all of the possibilities of future Maxes in her hand. It was a man’s most delicate part, and she was awed that Max trusted her not to hurt him, but at the same time, it was obvious that he was holding himself in check, barely breathing as she’d explored that vulnerable place. Very gently, she released him, careful not to squeeze or bruise him in any way until his testicles once again lay dangling between his legs.

Max was a heartbeat away from attacking her. Liz’s soft hands on his body felt so good that he was memorizing each and every sensation to take out and marvel over in the future. When she released him, he nearly groaned in disappointment, but he wouldn’t push her for more than she was willing to give, and besides, her hands had returned to his throbbing cock, so it was a trade off of one kind of pleasure for another. As she continued to stroke him, learning his textures, Max lost all sense of who he was. He was floating on a cloud of Liz-induced passion that had no beginning and no end. It was a place with no place. Time didn’t exist there. There was only the pleasure cloud and Liz’s soft hands and mouth against his body. He decided it must be exactly what Heaven was like.

Satisfied that she had discovered every nuance of his hardness that there was to discover, she again encircled his cock with one hand and began to stroke him, mimicking what she’d seen on the porn channel. To her consternation, she realized that she had no idea what she was doing. Then to add injury to insult, she accidentally scratched him with one of her nails.

Pulling away, her eyes flew to his face, but besides a slight frown puckering his forehead, he appeared unharmed, so she must not have hurt him too badly. She wanted so much to please him, but she was starting to feel awkward and gauche. "Max," she whispered.

"Yeah?" His golden eyes opened and looked at her with such a loving expression that her fears were immediately soothed. Nothing between them could be bad or wrong. She remembered that he was every bit as inexperienced as she was, and that helped give her the confidence to admit, "I don’t know how…"

"I’ll show you," he promised with great tenderness. Taking her tiny hand in his, he led her back to his aching cock. Wrapping his hand around hers, he taught her the motions that would bring him the greatest pleasure.

Letting go, he let her try it on her own. "Like this?" she asked softly.

"Yeah," he said hoarsely. "That’s perfect." Oh God. *She* couldn’t be more perfect, he thought, marveling once again over how lucky he was. Somehow, with Liz the sensations were deeper, more erotic than anything he’d ever experienced before, surpassing the initiations and everything he’d done since then.

Unconsciously, his hips began minutely thrusting against her and the rhythm she was setting.

Liz stroked him for several endless minutes, in her inexperience drawing out the pleasure instead of driving him toward that final peak. She was gazing at him raptly, dividing her attention between his handsome face, flushed with desire and the amazing sight of his hardness slipping in and out of her fisted fingers. She felt heady and powerful. And turned on. But she wasn’t thinking about herself, only about pleasing Max as she pressed onward.

Watching his cockhead disappear and reappear as she loved him, she started getting an impulse to taste him. The guys in the porn movies all seemed to like it when the women did it to them (and when other guys did it, too). Would Max like it? She looked at him surreptitiously from under her lashes. She wouldn’t have thought it possible, but taking him into her mouth seemed to be a thousand times more intimate than what they were already doing. Could she do it? Did she want to?

Max made a softly sexy sound as he shifted beneath her hands, still lightly rocking his hips to her caresses. He seemed to be thoroughly aroused by what she’d done so far, and she wanted this night of firsts to be something to remember, so she decided to just go for it. …But maybe she should work up to… you know. Slowly, she kissed her way down his chest and abs, loving the way his muscles flexed beneath her lips. She stopped briefly to explore the indention of his bellybutton before continuing downward.

Max couldn’t believe that she would want to… but her sexy mouth was definitely heading for… Oh shit. He could barely think, only feel as her hand stilled in its erotic motion and he felt her hot breath feathering over his highly sensitized skin. He wanted to feel her mouth on him more than anything in the world. He tensed with bated breath despite the pounding of his heart as he waited to see what she would do.

Opening his eyes, he looked down at her. Her silky hair was thrown over her far shoulder, cascading down onto his clenched thighs. Her hand was in the middle of his shaft and her face was hovering over him. She was looking at him like he was the last ice cream cone on Earth and she wanted to savor every nuance of her first taste. He felt himself pulse in her hand in reaction to the hot look she was giving him. Slowly, her pink tongue came out to moisten her already glistening lips as more of her warm breaths feathered across his skin.

Her hand tightened slightly as she gradually bent over him. In slow motion, he watched her mouth open, and the tip of her tongue slide slightly outward. He began to tremble, the hours dragging by as he watched her descend closer and closer to his throbbing flesh. He knew this was going to be so good, so sweet and hot. And as soon as he could move, he vowed, he was going to flip her over and return the favor and they would make love all night, parents or no parents, school or no school.

And that’s when he remembered…

"Liz, don’t." He tried to jerk upright, his reflexes uncoordinated under the passionate haze that claimed him but it was too late. Liz’s beautiful mouth lightly brushed against him, her tongue slightly abrasive against the sensitive flesh she held so lovingly.

At the touch of her mouth, his erection deflated like a punctured balloon. One moment, he was in an agony of passionate desire, the next, in another kind of pain all together. Unaware of what he was doing, he knocked her fingers away and covered himself with one of his large hands, doubling over on the rumpled bed.

Liz had stared in shocked disbelief as his erection completely disappeared in a matter of seconds. Then he’d pushed her away from him… She raised her stricken eyes to him, "Max?" unsure of what she’d done wrong.

He was too busy coping with his own upset to notice hers. With his head buried in his other hand, he ground out, "Jesus!" in frustrated desire. How could he have been so stupid as to let things go so far? Michael had warned him what would happen. "Damn it!"

Liz couldn’t think of anything except somehow or another, she’d caused this with her actions. She’d crossed the line between decency and… and *sex* and it had disgusted him. Even as part of her scoffed at the idea, the evidence before her was unmistakable. Max had been completely aroused until she’d touched him like that, and then he just… wasn’t. It must have been her. She’d done it.

Humiliated, and horrified, she scrambled from the bed.

Looking down at herself, she was further embarrassed to discover that aside from being unhooked beneath her shirt, she was completely dressed, while Max… She felt like an idiot and she had to leave, NOW.

Despite the debilitating pain he was in, Max looked up as he felt her move away. Oh god, he was going to have to tell her *something*, but what? "Liz, I…"

She cut him off. "Max, it’s late and I think I’m just going to go. I’ll see you tomorrow at school." Grabbing her jacket off the dresser where he’d laid it earlier, she dashed through his door and down the hallway.

Cursing, Max retrieved his boxers and flung them on as quickly as his shaking body would allow. He felt like he’d been hit with a shock of electricity and nothing was working like it should. By the time he reached the front door, Liz’s taillights were already disappearing down the street. He debated going after her, but since A) he had no idea what to say to her yet and B) Isabel had taken the Jeep, he opted to wait until morning when he could talk to her at school.

Chapter eleven

"Are you ok?"

Liz started at the hand that softly touched her shoulder in conjunction with the concerned voice. Turning around, she came face to face with Isabel, who looked for all the world like a loving friend that was concerned about her. Huh.

Dissembling, Liz frowned and asked, "Of course. Why shouldn’t I be?"

It was third period and so far, she’d avoided meeting any of her friends today by the expedient method of steering clear of her locker and going to all of her classes without any of her books or notes. With mid-terms looming, it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but she couldn’t face Max. Not yet. Her humiliation of last night was still too raw.

After arriving home at nearly two in the morning, having to deal with Tucker’s ‘That must have been one helluva study session’ comment once he’d taken in her mussed appearance, then tossing and turning all night, tormented by images of Max turning away from her in abhorrence, she hadn’t been up for socializing this morning. Avoidance seemed the best route to go until she could deal with what happened. The problem was, she didn’t know what happened. Was it an alien thing? After all, Earth guys seemed to like getting blowjobs, from what she’d seen and heard. Or was it just Max? Maybe that kind of loving was repugnant to him. She should have asked him first. She shouldn’t have assumed that a decent, clean-cut guy like him would go for that kind of thing.

Max was in her next class, and she was seriously considering skipping, upcoming midterm or not.

Isabel had tracked her down to the band room where Kyle had spotted her going a little while earlier, unaware of what had happened. The story of Max’s stupidity had spread like wildfire through their ranks this morning, Kyle, as always being the last to know. They (‘they’ being Isabel, Alex, Maria, Michael, Tess and Kyle) had agreed that of all of them, Isabel was the best person to go talk to her. Maria had strongly objected at first, citing ‘best friend’ status as her argument, but she’d been overruled. Isabel had stated forcefully that Liz wouldn’t appreciate the fact that everyone knew about what had happened, and Isabel preferred to let Liz think it’s just between she, Max and Liz for now.

Sitting down next to her friend, Isabel thought Liz looked every bit as bad as Max did this morning. She still couldn’t believe how her normally intelligent brother had let things get so completely out of control last night.

When she’d gotten home from Alex's at six this morning, she’d been surprised to see Max’s bedroom light already on. Tapping on his door, she stepped inside to ask with a grin, "So, how’d it go with Liz?"

Her smile had faded away as she took in his dejected posture where he’d sat on the foot of his bed, his hands fisted against his mouth. Immediately concerned, she shut the door and asked quietly, "What happened?"

"I completely screwed up with her, Iz. She ran out of here and was gone before I could explain." He gave a scathing laugh full of self-loathing, "Not that I have any idea what I would have told her, even if I’d had the chance."

Putting her hand on his arm, she implored, "Max, tell me what happened. Why did she leave?" though she had a good idea what the answer was.

Staring ahead at nothing, Max admitted, "I let things go too far."

"Too far? You mean?"

Max nodded. "Just like what Michael said happened with Maria, you know before she’d been initiated the first time." Clenching his fists, Max said forlornly, "You have no idea, Iz. It was like being struck by lightening. Everything just shut down. And the look on her face… I can’t begin to imagine what she must be thinking this morning."

Isabel silently thought that she had a good idea, based on Maria’s experience with her failed initiation. Liz was surely blaming herself, unaware that it was Max’s alien physiology that was to blame… not to mention his supreme stupidity. Isabel was beginning to get angry on Liz’s behalf.

"What am I gonna tell her?" Max whispered.

"How about the truth?" she asked archly, the pity pool suddenly going dry.

Swinging his head around, he stared at her, taking in her frowning expression. Already angry with himself and the intolerable situation, his temper ignited and he jumped to his feet and said harshly, "Oh yeah, so then she can really hate me. Absolutely not, Isabel." He pointed his finger for emphasis.

"Max, if you would just be honest with her…"

"We’ve already been through this. We are not telling her anything about any of this. Period. End of discussion." Going to his door, he turned around to say, "I’m going to take a shower, and then we’re going to school. I’ll think of something to say to her, something that will make everything right again."

Only Liz hadn’t gone to her locker before school like she usually did. The next thing they knew, it was three periods later and everyone in their circle knew what had happened the night before.

Gently rubbing Liz’s shoulder, Isabel admitted, "Max told me what happened."

Liz winced, and here she’d thought she was already feeling as low as she could. "That’s just… that’s just great."

Hastening to explain, Isabel told her, "I asked him how last night went, and it just came out." Bending to look in her eyes, she added, "He’s pretty upset."

A painful redness flushed her cheeks. "I’m so sorry, Isabel. I didn’t mean…"

Isabel took one of her cold hands in hers. "Liz, stop it. It wasn’t you. It wasn’t anything you did. Please don’t feel bad about last night. What happened was because…" How could she say it without clueing her into the real situation? Isabel damned Max for forbidding her to come clean about the whole thing. He was being so close-minded and adamant about it, that everyone including Isabel just wanted to bash some sense into his head. He and Liz belonged together and they couldn’t be together until she was initiated, and she couldn’t be initiated until he stopped being so bull headed about it. Geez!!

Now it fell to her to come up with some kind of explanation for his unexplainable behavior yesterday. What could she say? There had to be some story she could give that would let Liz know it wasn’t in any way her fault.

A sudden thought occurred to her, and she nearly burst out laughing. Oh, she couldn’t tell Liz THAT, could she? Max would kill her. Then she looked at Liz’s woebegone expression, and her heart hardened. Max had done this to her, made Liz feel insecure about herself to the point where she was hiding in a darkened classroom. It would serve him right… Besides, it was nothing short of the truth, she rationalized.

Putting a sympathetic hand on her friend’s shoulder and hiding a wicked grin, Isabel began, "You see, there’s this thing, and Max should have told you, but he didn’t because he’s afraid you’ll look at him differently, or maybe you’ll decide not to be with him anymore."

Liz was shaking her head. "How could he think that? He knows I’d never turn away from him. I love him, Isabel."

"I know," Max’s sister replied, lightly stroking Liz’s hair, "but he’s always tried so hard to keep things normal between you two, he thinks you’ll freak if things become, you know, too intense, and all that anxiety had caused this sort of *problem* with him.

Deeply concerned now, Liz whispered, "What problem, Isabel? What’s wrong with him?"

* * * * * * *

Max shoved the last of his books into his locker and slammed the door closed, twirling the lock for good measure. It was lunch time and he was both eager and reluctant to make his way to the quad to meet up with the rest of the gang. He hadn’t seen Liz since fourth period where she’d acted completely weird to him.

Weird how?

Well, for starters, she didn’t seem to be angry with him, or upset any longer. Then there were the speculative glances she kept piercing him with. He was beginning to feel like a lab rat from the constant surveillance. When he’d mentioned it to her, she’d blushed deeply, and focussed on their assignments the rest of the period, ignoring him completely. Her sudden lack of attention was so disconcerting he didn’t know which was worse. See? Weird.

He rightfully suspected her strange behavior was a direct result of what Isabel had told her this morning, but so far his devious sister had managed to avoid him, so he couldn’t ask her what she’d said to his beautiful, sensitive girlfriend to take the haunted look from her eyes.

Not that it mattered. Liz was talking to him again, so whatever it was, he appreciated it. He just wished he knew what she’d said.

Not knowing was giving him a bad feeling.

Everyone was already at their table when he got there, including Liz. She smiled sweetly at him and pulled him down into the space next to her. The warmth and love reflected in her warm eyes captured his attention, making it impossible to look away for several long moments, before he finally whispered, "Liz…"

Knowing he was going to say something about last night, Liz placed a finger to his lips. "Shhh," she said softly. "Don’t worry about it, Max." Her eyes lingered where her fingertips lightly stroked the smooth contours of his beautiful mouth for several seconds before she shook herself out of her reverie reminding herself that he was hurting. Leaning over, she whispered in his ear, "It doesn’t change anything. I love you. Nothing about you could change that. We just need to figure this out. Ok?" She lightly stroked his cheek.

"Ok," he agreed, not really having any idea what she was talking about and caring less by the second. All he really cared about was her skin against his, her heat warming him up, her scent drifting into his nose, bathing his senses. He longed to pull her closer and smother her in kisses, but their public location kept him still. Instead, he let his eyes communicate how sorry he was for hurting her as well as how much he loved her.

Seeing how her expression softened as she understood his message only made him love her more. Was there anyone else in the universe who read him like Liz? No. There never would be, either. And if he had his way, no one would ever know Liz better than him, either.

Still caught in his expression, Liz thrilled to the sudden possessive gleam in his eyes as they moved over each of her features as if mentally cataloguing them. She could practically hear him saying, "mine," as his golden gaze stroked her eyes, "mine," at the delicate arch of her eyebrows, "Mine," into the shining beauty of her hair, "MINE!" against the soft bow of her lips. She shivered in pleasure.

His eyes dropped to the hard nipples pressing against her soft shirt, and his hand tightened against hers reflexively. Oh yeah, those were definitely his, too.

So caught up in Max was she, that she completely missed the fact that almost everyone else at the table sat in frozen silence.

Maria was chewing thoughtfully, watching the interaction between Max and Liz. Whatever Isabel had said to her this morning must have worked, considering the heated looks the two of them were exchanging. She glanced at the blonde alien in question and frowned at the stiff way she was holding herself. Beside her, Tess was equally tense.

"Isabel?" Maria asked, just as she felt Michael’s leg jerk under the table.

Michael’s booted foot slamming into Max’s shin brought him out of the Liz induced trance he’d been in with a startled yelp. Rubbing his leg and scowling, Max growled, "Could you stop doing that, Michael? This may surprise you, but it hurts."

"Well, some of us are trying to eat."

"All you had to do was say something."

"Like that ever does any good."

Exasperated, he gritted out, "There’s got to be a better way to get my attention than kicking me or shooting rubberbands at me."

"Yeah? Well, as soon as you figure out what that might be, I’ll be happy to try it. Until then, consider yourself forewarned."

Their exchange broke the spell that seemingly held the others immobile since Max’s arrival at their table. The hungry teens all returned to their lunches, trying to ignore the desire that continued to ebb and flow through Max as Liz spent the next thirty minutes convincing him that she was with him no matter what with her soft touches and lingering looks.

Not to look a gift horse in the mouth and all, but Max couldn’t help but wonder what Isabel had told her. Whatever it was, just thinking about it made the hackles on the back of his neck raise. Somehow he knew he wasn’t going to like it.

Catching the eye of his sister sitting across from him, the smirk on her face confirmed it.

Still, whatever she’d said was worth it, he decided. After all, Liz was here with him, not running the other way.

Really, he told himself, how bad could it be?

* * * * * * * * *

Impotence - the inability to attain or maintain an erection of the penis adequate for the sexual satisfaction of both partners.

The sentence leapt out at her from the computer screen.

Hearing someone approach, Liz quickly minimized her browser window. She was sitting in the school library doing an Internet search to gain some more information of what exactly she and Max were up against. They’d made it through their science lab ok, and while lunch had seemed oddly strained for everyone, Liz had done everything she could to let Max know she wasn’t intending to abandon him despite his affliction. She loved him, and they were going to get through this thing.

Now, it was last period, her study hall period, so she figured it was as good a time as any to do a little research.

When the coast was clear, she popped the browser back up and continued reading. So far, she’d had to weed through several pages of Viagra hyperlinks to get to a site that might actually offer some helpful information and better yet: a possible cure. Liz eagerly continued to read, skimming over the text: …Vacuum Therapy System… treatment for Erectile Dysfunction…

‘Erectile dysfunction.’ Boy did that sound strange in conjunction with Max Evans, she thought. On the other hand, it explained so much, like why he was always the one putting the brakes on whenever they got too close. Here she’d been thinking it was his plan to drive her insane. Now, she felt bad for not realizing it was more than his inherent shyness at work.

The Vacuum Therapy System causes penile rigidity that can be maintained for up to thirty minutes…

‘Thirty minutes?!? Where do I sign up,’ she thought. A full half an hour of Max loving her with his body sounded like heaven to her.

All right, she was sold, whatever the cost, she was going to buy this ‘doctor approved, medical treatment’ to cure Max of his affliction so they could finish what they’d started last night and have a long life of, well, the term ‘screw like bunnies’ immediately came to mind. A naughty grin graced her lips.

She clicked on the link that would take her to the product information page and waited for the data to transfer from wherever they created such a wondrous home remedy that would solve all her problems. Inch by inch the page began to load as she drummed her fingers impatiently. There was a picture. Of course. There had to be a picture, she silently complained. Let’s just make it take even longer. And, geez, were they running off a 14.4 modem? Could this possibly take any longer? She wanted to be with Max *now*. As in right now, as in drag-him-into-the-eraser-room-and-jump-his-bones kind of now, but noooo, she had to sit here and wait for a picture to load. ‘Stupid web designers; always gotta put in a picture,’ she harangued.

Another student was approaching, so Liz hid the window again, this time popping open a different window with information on the latest images from the Hubble telescope. Pretending to be doing actual schoolwork, she began hurriedly writing down some notes. The other kid stopped about three feet behind her to talk quietly with a classmate about the report they were there to research. Liz began to fidget as they talked in sotto voices. And they talked. Then they talked some more. Soon, the discussion had moved onto their plans for Friday and Liz couldn’t take it any longer. Swinging around, she addressed them, her voice loudly sounding out across the room, "You know, some of us are trying to do some very important research here. If you two want to talk, why don’t you just go outside?"

From the other side of the library some guy loudly said, "Shut up."

"See?" Liz said to the two who were staring openmouthed at her.

"I meant you," the voice informed her. She swung back around and glared in the general direction the voice had come from. Behind her, the two guys moved away without further comment.

Satisfied, Liz eagerly sat back down in front of her screen, and popped open the hidden window… Startled, she shrieked in laughter before clamping a hand over her mouth, causing everyone else in the otherwise silent library to jump.

She couldn’t believe it. Rubbing her eyes, in case there was something in them distorting her vision, she looked again. Nope. It was still there. The doctor recommended Vacuum Therapy System that she had been pinning all of her hopes for fixing Max was nothing more than…

…the Swedish made Penis Enlarger from Austin Powers.

Her shoulders shook in silent laughter as tears rolled down her cheeks. Quickly, she scanned the rest of the page. One hundred and eighty-five dollars for that? A penis enlarger? Max’s penis seemed to be big enough, thank you very much. She was already having some misgivings over how much their first time was going to hurt as it was. If he got any bigger, she’d be worried whether or not he’d *FIT*.

And besides, she thought as she quickly shut down both browsers, she just couldn’t picture him using it.

No, wait, her hand froze as she reached for her notebook, she could.

The image of Max, standing in the middle of the CrashDown, wearing nothing but the Vacuum Therapy System popped in her head. He had a puzzled look on his face as he tried to figure out how to work the sucking mechanism before handing it to her, saying, "Liz, I need your help."

She had to get out of there!

Liz barely made it out of the building before the loud guffaws escaped her mouth. Collapsing to the pavement right outside the doors of the library, she laughed until her belly hurt. Then she pictured him squeezing the little thing that sucked all the air from the tube and she laughed some more. Of course, if they caught him with it he’d deny everything, just like Austin. "Come on, it’s not mine," he’d say. "Really. I don’t even know what this is."

"That’s not my bag, baby."

Oxygen, Oxygen! Call 911! She was laughing so hard that she was going to pass out. Tears were running from her eyes as she lay rolling on the ground. ‘I wonder if it could be used as a weapon, you know, like Austin used it. Nicholas could probably benefit from some penis enlargement,’ she decided, completely undone now.

In her mind, she completely replayed the closing scenes from Austin Powers, recasting her and Max as Vanessa and Austin. Nicholas had them completely at his mercy, but Liz knew they had a secret weapon… the Vacuum Therapy System…

Grabbing it up from the sofa cushions, she called Max’s name before tossing it to him. He caught it and looked at her in disbelief before saying, "Really, baby… It’s not mine."

"No. Use it," she ordered, pointing to Nicholas’s tiny, adolescent member.

"Oh." Quickly, Max plunked it against Nicholas’s cock, and rapidly worked the little suction thingy until little Nicky got his very first erection ever, causing his eyes to roll back into his head. Then, Liz gleefully bashed him over the head with an orb, thus making the world safe once again.

* * * * * * *

Liz didn’t know how long she lay there, weak as a baby, but eventually, she pulled herself together enough to climb back to her feet and head for her locker. She felt positively light headed, and the occasional giggle still escaped her.

She felt a thousand times better than she had this morning. Amazing, the recuperative powers of laughter. Now, she just needed to figure out a solution – a real solution to Max’s problem, and she’d be all set.

* * * * * * *

On the other side of the building, Max was fuming. "Impotence?" he hissed to his sister in their English class.

Shrugging negligently, Isabel replied, "Well, I had to tell her something. And you were no help."

"Ok, I understand that, but Isabel, you don’t going around labeling someone as impotent because that’s how you *make* people impotent in the first place!"

"I don’t see what the big deal is, Max. You said you didn’t care what I told her as long as I didn’t mention the initiations, which I didn’t."

"I didn’t know you were going to brand me as sexually inadequate!" he argued hotly.

She was getting irritated. "Oh, get over it Max. And besides, you *are* impotent." Her voice had gotten a little too loud on that statement, causing the students around them to turn and stare at Max in amazement. A nervous giggle escaped from the girl sitting to his left and he glowered at her until she turned away.

"I am not," he gritted out between clenched teeth.

Isabel pulled out her pocket dictionary from beneath her desk - the one her English teacher insisted everyone bring to class every day – and flipped quickly to the "I’s". Leaning closer, she read, "Impotent, adjective, Incapable of sexual intercourse." Snapping her book closed, she asked rhetorically, "Can you have sex with Liz?" She stared at him for a moment before saying, "Exactly my point." With that, she turned to face forward again, secretly enjoying Max’s mounting frustration. She gleefully anticipated telling the rest of the gang about this latest development after school today.

It was a low blow, she thought, hitting him in his masculinity, but he deserved it, and besides, the best way to make a guy want something was to tell him he couldn’t have it. It was schoolyard tactics, but if it worked, they might be closer to Liz’s initiation than they thought.

* * * * * * * *

‘Stupid initiation rites,’ she thought irately as she pushed open the one door forbidden to her in the whole school and entered the one room guaranteed to get her expelled. Why was she doing this again? she silently questioned as butterflies fluttered nervously in her stomach. To be accepted by a bunch of shallow useless people, was it worth all the aggravation?

It was cold in there, she realized as she rubbed her shoulders with her hands, the frigid air clinging to her skin like an eerie stare. The large, spacious room was silent as a tomb - for the moment, and she dreaded what she must do.

Her sneakered footsteps made no sound as she tiptoed further inside. She needed to find a place to hide. The others were watching for her back outside acting as witness to her success or failure, but that was all irrelevant now, in this place. What had become most important to her was the knowledge that she couldn’t get caught. Not here.

Suddenly a door at the back of the room slammed open, causing her heart to jump into her throat. This was it, she was caught for sure, unless she hid, right now! ‘Move it girl!,’ she silently commanded herself. Taking a deep breath, she dashed down row after row of sterile gray lockers and ducked into a tiled alcove without a second to spare.

Jaunty footsteps accompanied by off-tune whistling echoed around the room as someone neared, unaware of her presence. There was a cacophony of banging and clanking as the person opened their assigned locker, and began removing items.

‘Please, just change and leave. Change and leave, please oh please,’ became her mantra as she listened, barely breathing to the tell-tale rustle of clothing that followed. Suddenly recalling her purpose there, she reached stealthily into the pocket of her sweater, fingering the bulky item she’d put there. It was almost time. Was she sure she could do this? One after another, she heard heavy tennis shoes smack the floor, then the bench creaked as the person sat down on it. More rustling followed, and she guessed at each item’s removal they represented: socks, t-shirt, and gym shorts. He had to stand to remove that last item and the bench groaned accordingly.

Pulling the rectangular object from her sweater, she slowly rose, and peered over the wall of her enclosure. There he was, less than ten feet away, clad only in his navy blue briefs. His back was to her and she looked her fill at his strong shoulders, lean back, tapered hips, tight buttocks, powerful thighs and calves – and back up again.

Oh my.

Who was this guy? Was he going with someone? His dark blond hair looked familiar, and she was distracted from her purpose for a moment as she tried to figure out who this Adonis was and whether or not he was available. He stretched his arms over his head as if to work some kinks out, and she literally began to drool. Then he turned.

With a barely suppressed squeal, she ducked back down. That was a close one, she thought before realizing she’d missed her opportunity. Darn it. ‘Ok,’ she thought. ‘Doesn’t matter, just pop back up and do it right this time.’ Ok. Sure, she could do it.

Standing back up, armed with her disposable camera, she snapped two shots in rapid succession before she realized he was again facing away from her. Then he reached for the waistband on his briefs. She was so surprised that her finger jerked on the shutter button again just as the fabric pooled at his feet.

‘Oh God, oh God, oh God,’ she thought as she ducked down again. The whistling recommenced as he then began to pad closer, his bare feet making odd little smacking sounds against the cold concrete floor. He entered into the shower stall next to the one she was hiding in and turned on the water.

Ok, ok, she thought, the sound of the shower running will muffle her escape. This was perfect. Time to go. Before she could make her move, however, the rear door banged open again.

"VALENTI!?" someone called out.

"Yeah?" Kyle answered back, swiping the water from his eyes.

"Coach wants to see you in his office when you’re done."

"’K. Thanks."

The closing of the door was his answer. Stepping back under the spray, Kyle resumed his shower.

She was frozen in her tracks all thoughts of escape gone. Ok, Kyle Valenti, one of the hottest guys in school was naked and wet less than five feet from her. What was a girl to do? Wait till her friends heard about this! ‘Not that they’d believe me,’ she thought with a grin. No one would ever believe that she could get this lucky. After all it was Kyle Valenti, the guy every girl wanted and dreamed about catching. The only way this could get better was if Max Evans were to walk in and join him. Roswell High’s shyest, most elusive hunk and outgoing class stud in the shower at the same time, it was too much to hope for. Hey, a girl could dream, couldn’t she?

Maybe she *was* dreaming. She reached over and pinched herself on the arm. ‘Ow.’ Ok, not dreaming.

This was too amazing, she thought giddily as she listened to him hum off-key. Maybe she could steal his bar of soap as evidence, that way they’d have to believe her. ‘On second thought,’ she grinned as she remembered the camera still clutched in her hand, ‘Who needs soap?’ They say a picture’s worth a thousand words.

Holding the camera tightly, she slid back up the tiled surface of the shower stall, but before she could peek over, the water turned off, sending the room back into silence excepting the residual dripping sound from his showerhead.

She listened in suspended agony as he worked the towel over his muscular body, removing all traces of moisture there before padding back to his locker.

Peeking over the wall, she saw he’d wrapped the towel securely around his waist. Darn it. Well, it had to come off sometime…

She watched avidly as he turned to his locker to remove the clothes he’d worn to school earlier. Again she gazed raptly at his profile, casting her eyes lustily over his beautiful body, this time, however she couldn’t contain the gasp that hit her lips. He was aroused, and not just a little aroused, no. Kyle was hugely aroused, vastly aroused, barely contained within his towel aroused, and she drank in every inch of him.

Her gasp didn’t go unnoticed.

Kyle spun at the sound, looking ready for battle. "Who’s there?" his voice rang out authoritively. He wasn’t the sheriff’s son for nothing. Without a thought to his state of undress, he began walking right toward her.

She was caught! Oh no, what could she do? She looked at the camera in horror as the word ‘Expelled,’ rang clearly through her mind.

"You better come out of there," Kyle demanded as he neared.

There was only one thing to do. She quickly pulled off her sweater, revealing the tiny, thin t-shirt she wore beneath it and rolled the camera up inside its folds. Fluffing her hair, she stood and faced him.

"Hi, Kyle."

Kyle stopped short at the sight of the curvy brunette facing him. He’d been expecting evil aliens, or maybe one of the guys from the Hondo Bulldogs, the rival team they were playing this weekend. Not Donna Thompson, the girl who sat next to him in geography.

"Donna, what are you doing in here?"

"I’m so sorry Kyle," she said, looking at him beseechingly. "I got a note from Derek to meet him in here," she lied. She blushed prettily as she shyly admitted, "It seemed kinda sexy at the time, you know, sneak into the boy’s locker room for a little harmless fun, but I guess he was just playing with me."

"Derek’s going out with Susan Paterson." Kyle informed her, still looking at her suspiciously. He wasn’t buying her story. Derek wasn’t the kind of guy to mess around behind Susan’s back.

Donna nodded. "I know, but when I got his note… well, a girl can hope, can’t she? Someone must have given it to me as a prank." Taking a step closer, she whispered, "I’m sorry, I should have said something as soon as you came in, but I was afraid of being caught. You aren’t mad or anything, are you?" She was trying very hard to keep her eyes on his baby blue ones rather than letting them drop to his crotch to see if he was still turned on.

"No, I’m not mad, but maybe you ought to get on out of here before someone else comes in." He looked around the still empty room as he spoke, and she chanced a peek. Yep. Still there. Her heart was pounding as desire began heating her own blood. Maybe there was an opportunity to be had here.

Another cautious step brought them toe to toe, and she looked longingly into his face. "You won’t tell on me will you?"

Kyle knew that look. She was getting aroused. He wouldn’t be a guy if he didn’t notice but that didn’t mean he had to respond in kind. "No, but you need to go and I need to dress. The rest of the guys will be coming in soon."

It was now or never. Donna startled them both by sliding her hands up his arms, asking, "Are you sure I can’t interest you in a little fooling around? After all, I am here, and you’re here…"

She pressed her lips to his at the same time she pressed her body fully against his, rubbing her pelvis against his straining erection appreciatively.

It was hard to say who was more surprised when his arousal completely disappeared in the two seconds it took him to disentangle himself from her clutches.

Kyle’s head was spinning, not in a good way, as he struggled for breath, keeping a tight grip on her arm as a means of holding her away from him. "Donna!" His tone was accusatory as he glared at her, anger quickly replacing the passion that had been humming through his veins for the last half hour.

Donna, equally surprised, gasped out, "Geez, Kyle. What happened to you?" She stared at the towel swathing his hips in incomprehension.

Still seeing red, Kyle shook her and growled, "I belong to Tess! She’s the one I want, not you. Not any other girl in this school. Only Tess." Without another word, he yanked her along with him as he strode to the locker room doors. Flinging it open, he dragged her into the hall, and unceremoniously pushed her into the lockers opposite of where he stood.

Giving her body, still in the practically see-through nothing of a t-shirt, a contemptuous once over, he turned and left her there, shaking and gasping for breath, and more turned on than she’d never been in her short life.

She was suddenly surrounded by her group of friends who were exclaiming excitedly about the scene they’d just been treated to. Still, slightly dazed, her fingers touching her still tingling lips, she whispered in answer to Kyle’s last remark, "Well, a girl can hope, can’t she?"

* * * * * *

Kyle strode angrily back to his locker and began getting dressed. By the time he was fully clothed, his erection was back again in full force, and he asked himself again for the hundredth time what Michael and Maria were doing. It had to be them, he’d deduced, because he could still walk. If it had been Max, well, walking anywhere wouldn’t be an option.

The eraser room wasn’t far from here, and Kyle was planning to go give them hell as soon as he finished his talk with the coach. The incident with Donna Thompson was already forgotten as he planned the angry tirade he was gonna let loose on Michael’s head for getting them all worked up at school – again.

* * * * * * *

Back in the hallway…

"You are so in, girl. Congratulations!" Iris, the ringleader of their exclusive club hugged her. It was she who’d come up with their initiation rite of sneaking into the boy’s locker room with a camera. Each inductee had to get a picture of some guy in some state of undress. Of the eight girls to have done it, no one had ever been escorted out by a naked guy in a towel before. And the fact that it had been the scrumptious Kyle Valenti, well, that ruled.

Someone else asked, "Donna, where’s your camera? Did you get anything good? Like how Kyle got to be dripping wet and wearing a towel?"

The camera! She’d almost forgotten. Unwrapping it from the sweater, she looked for Chrissy, who was in the school’s photography club. "Can you develop these here?" she asked the short redhead.

"Yeah, sure."

The group of them giggled their way down the hall as Donna finished off the roll. They disappeared into the photography club’s dark room where they stayed for hours as Donna related exactly what had happened to her in the boy’s locker room. Well, maybe there was a little embellishing here and there.