The Sun Always Sets in Paradise

Unlocking the door while in Max's arms had been much easier than I thought. Max kicked the door shut and set me down once we were inside.

My arms were still around his neck. Max lazily wrapped his arms around my waist. In the dark, there we stood; holding one another. I rested my head against his chest and sighed deeply.

"Thank you for coming with me." I whispered.

"You're welcome." His smooth, Russian voice sent involuntary shivers down my body.

I finally pulled away from Max and he reluctantly released me. I pulled my blazer off while simultaneously turning the light on at the same time. Max followed suite and placed his jacket on the stair steps next to mine.

I walked silently into the living room, while turning on the light on the way, and plopped down onto the couch. Max took off his shoes before joining me. He sat up on the far and of the couch, away from me.

So, I decided to get comfortable by lying my head on his knees and stretching me legs out on the rest of the couch. Max just merely looked at me and cast a sexy half smile down at me.

I smiled back at him. I was so tired to the point where my mind would not shut down. I began to think about Dmitri.

"Max..." I began slowly so that I could gather my words correctly.

"Yes?" He cautiously inquired.

"I," I looked away from him at the far wall, "I need you to tell me about your uncle. And you."

Max didn't answer me right away so I looked back at him to see that he was watching me with a guarded expression. "Why?"

"Because, for one, I hate not knowing about you. I want to trust you so badly after what-" I paused, "uh, yeah, but I can't. I don't really know you. You are still a complete and utter stranger to me still, even with all of the time we have spent together.

"Plus, I need to know more about your uncle. Just trust me on that one." I whispered that last part.

Max sighed deeply. "Alright. I'll tell you everything. But first, we should probably get to bed, just in case you start to fall asleep. You look exhausted, Desiree."

I blinked slowly before sitting up. Now that he mentioned it, I was pretty tired. I followed him slowly to my room, suddenly feeling like I was going to collapse onto my bed.

"Maybe, I'll just have to tell you tomorrow." Max whispered hopefully.

"No." My refusal was distorted by a yawn. “I need to know.”

"You can wait. You need to get to bed."

I shook my head while passing Max and going into my room. I looked longingly at my bed but trudged over to my dresser and pulled out some pajama shorts and a tank top.

I had gotten much more comfortable wearing clothing like this when i was around with Max. Especially when he stayed the night because I found that it was horrible to wear any kind of warm clothing. I always seemed to wake up wrapped up in his body and practically dying of heat.

I slipped on my shorts and pulled them up underneath my dress. I then lifted my shorts up far enough to undo the garter belt from my pantyhose and then began to unroll them.

I was unaware of Max's fixated stare as I did this.

My hair was falling out of the bobby pins that I had holding it back, so it fell into my face when I reached my toes. It irritated me.

I sighed before straightening up. I still didn't notice Max's unwavering gaze follow me over to where my stereo was. I turned it on and the local pop station played quietly. They played basically every 'today hit' that was near the pop genre.

A familiar song reached my ears and I sang quietly along with Swedish House Mafia's song 'Don't You Worry Child.'

My fingers fumbled with my zipper at the back of the dress until it got snagged.

"Max? Will you unzip me?" I whispered to him from where he stood taking his black undershirt off.

The bare, sculpted chest shown as he pulled his shirt over his head. I had to quickly avert my gaze to prevent the blush from appearing. He still made me feel this odd way every time he got ready to sleep in bed with me.

I refused the feeling and just turned around. Max's nimble fingers unsnagged the zipper and he pulled it down just above the waist of my shorts. I knew he could see my garter belt plain as day but I was thankful that he didn't mention it.

I slipped on a tank top over my loose dress before slipping out of the dress. I unhooked my garter belt from the back and pulled it up from my shorts. I tossed it onto the floor and pulled a comfortable sports bra out of my dresser.

Max held a pair of basketball shorts in his hand. He began to step out into the hall to change into them and give me privacy. I smiled slightly to him as he shut the door. Quickly I unclasped my strapless bra, pulled off my spaghetti straps, and slipped on my sports bra. I tossed my strapless bra into my clothes hamper.

Shorts, tank top, sports bra and underwear. That's what I usually wore when we slept together. That way nothing showed on accident but I was still comfortable.

I walked over and turned off my radio. Then I walked over to my door and knocked lightly. Max knocked back to tell me that he was decent. I smiled as I opened the door and walked past him to my bathroom.

He followed me to the bathroom. It seemed funny how he had some clothes and essential toiletries at my house. Then again, he had been staying with me a lot. Very rarely was I left alone and I was appreciative of that. I wanted to be alone but I couldn't stand it at the same time.

We brushed our teeth and I threw my hair up into a messy bun. Max smiled at me as I took all the make-up off my face.

I met his eyes with a questioning glance; only half my face was clean.

"You are so pretty without make-up." He whispered with a big grin.

I blushed furiously. So I tried to cover it up with a roll of my eyes and went back to cleaning my face.
When I was all done, we headed back to my room. I pulled out my iPod from my end table drawer and opened my Pandora. I let it load and sit on my end table. Max sat on my bed with his back against the wall.

I sat inbetween his legs and rested my back against his torso. I had only done this a few times before. it was awkward at first but we had come to have neutral feelings about it.

All it was, was a comforting gesture for me when I felt frayed and just... not right. Which was fairly common nowadays.

The light was still on in my room and music played softly from my iPod.

"Now will you tell me about your uncle?" I whispered, tilting my head so I could look at Max.

He had a distant look to his eyes but gradually wrapped his arms around my stomach and nodded.

"You seem to be more awake so I guess so." He was reluctant but I didn't care at the moment.

Finally I would understand him better and know what to possibly look forward to in the future. I waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts and start speaking.