Her hair hung down at the sides of her face where she sat waiting on the soft luxury of Max’ bed, a bed so large it took up nearly half of the room. From behind that curtain of her hair, Alice peered anxiously at the man standing in the doorway, his shoulders as wide as the doorframe, his eyes as mysterious and deep as an arctic lake.
For a while he stood watching her, his gaze shrewd in its appraisal, his body tight beneath a black shirt and linen pants. His mannerisms were more fitting for an affluent man that had stepped out of the past into the modern world and he had the swagger that came with the silver spoon life, the hawk-like gaze of a man that could rule any room he happened to deign to enter.
Unsure why he reminded her of a time long gone, she trembled where she sat, attempting in vain to ignore the frantic beat of her heart beneath her ribs, the pulsing nervousness that echoed across her bones with every solitary second he stood deathly still and studied her.
It was the first night they would spend together, the first time they would go further than a breathtaking kiss. It wouldn’t be the first time Alice had sex, but she doubted that barely legal man she’d snuck in her window at the college so many years ago was anything compared to the one that now stalked towards her.
Max’ steps were measured in his approach, each one closing the distance between them. Her muscles tightened with every step, the shaking of her body becoming more violent with every foot of space between them that was lost.
When he'd come within arm's reach of her - when he paused as if this single moment would be the one that made her writhe in pleasure over a bed of elegant silk - he paused long enough to make her mouth go dry, to add fuel to the already blazing fire of need that burned across her mind. She didn’t know what he would do to her – what he could do – but she knew she needed him like she needed air to breathe.
Max didn’t touch her. He simply walked away and a gust of breath blew over her lips, the anticipation too much for a woman who was just now learning what it meant to step away from a nightmare life into a dream.
Max disappeared into the shadowed interior of a large closet, lost to Alice's sight as quickly as he'd appeared in the bedroom doorway.
Releasing a shaky breath, Alice’s trembling hands wrung in her lap, her heart rate dropping back to a steady rhythm that didn’t pound violently through her entire body.
His absence wasn't long. Within a minute, possibly two, he returned from the black shadow of the closet, a flowing garment of pristine white held tightly in his hands.
And like every time he approached, Alice's heart sped back to a dizzying, frantic rhythm, her breath caught in her lungs burning for release. Alice watched his boots move across the floor, finally arching her neck to gaze up at the beautiful face of a man who was as silent as he was still, who wore unbridled lust as a second skin, who gazed back down at her with desire behind his sharp, observant eyes.
"I brought you something to wear," he said, the nightgown falling from his hands to puddle on her lap.
"Right here?" She swallowed down her nervousness, her eyes flicking between him and the bathroom, unsure if she should get dressed in front of him, or move to where she could hide behind a closed door.
He inclined his head, taking a few steps back to allow her room to stand.
Barely able to force her muscles to move, she picked up the nightgown from her lap and pushed herself to her feet. She was being ridiculous and she knew it. Everything inside of her wanted to be with this man, he would see her naked eventually, there was no point in being shy now.
Max didn’t move, his body so still she would have sworn it was made of steel or stone, hard, impenetrable plaster like that of the statues she’d admired in a museum so many years ago. Not a twitch of his muscles. Not a tick of his jaw. The only part of him that screamed there was life inside his body were the ever-watching, haunting eyes that spoke of wicked secrets, breathless trysts, and passionate desires.
Unable to pull her gaze away from the silent witness in the room, she loosened her grip on the nightgown to place it on the mattress, her hands clenching and releasing as she summoned the bravery to reveal her body to him for the first time.
A shiver ran down Alice’s spine, but she kept her attention on Max, allowed her eyes to settle on his eyes before chasing the lines of the mottled scar that ran across his left cheek.
What caused it? She wondered. What nightmare did he suffer that undoubtedly shaped the beautiful man he was now?
Letting out a tremulous sigh, she squared her shoulders and told herself to calm down because this was just the beginning of a new and wondrous life.