26 NOT a date 3

Liz saw Max inch away after some unknown measure of time. Her hands were still frozen in the air, one holding the silver clutch while the other one was gripping her phone and she swallowed hard in an attempt to push her heart down from her throat.

She can see that he is smiling at her, obviously pleased with her reaction.

"Why did you do that?", Liz asked when she found her voice.

"Isn't it normal for two grownups to kiss at the end of the date?", he asked with a victorious smirk.

Liz's eyes shifted few times before answering: "Date? This was not a date."

"And how do you call what we did today?" Max was confused. How does her brain work?

Liz realized his game. Now she is confident that he treats her like one of his other girls with whom he needs to pretend to be a playboy in order to hide his true nature.

She kept her phone in her other hand and placed her palm on his cheek gently.

"It's OK Max. There is no need for you to pretend with me… I know…", she said with a compassionate voice.

"What do you know?" Max straightened his back and narrowed his eyes at her.

Liz slowly retracted her hand from his cheek while gathering her courage to speak up.

"I know about you and Quentin.", she responded in a small voice, knowing that he does not like to talk about it.

"What about me and Quentin?", he continued asking. There is something fishy going on, and he will get to the bottom of it!

Liz sighed. It seems that he is set on keeping that a secret… but if she is going to let him know that she accepts him for who he is without judging him, she needs to make things clear.

"I know that you two are partners, and that you are dating all these girls just to hide your relationship. I assure you that I have no problems with it. I told you, I accept you for who you are. There is no need for you to do this playboy act in front of me."

Max is sure that his mind just exploded.

He inhaled a choppy breath. "You. Think. That. I. Am… Gay?"

"I don't think, Max. I know. And it's OK… Really I don't have…"

"I just kissed you!", he interrupted her.

"Yes, yes, you did.", she confirmed in a soft voice. "Many gays are forced to act straight due to pressure from the community, and I'm sorry that you need to go through it. I have more than one gay friend in New York, and even though we are not very close, we are getting along fine. I will not judge you. If you ever need a pretend girlfriend for your family, I am available. You can send them few photos from today if you wish, I don't mind."

Liz is more than happy to help Max in pacifying his family until they accept Quentin as his partner of choice. It's not like she has any relationship going on that can be spoiled by faking one with Max.

She took a step back and glanced down. "I will return you the dress when it gets back from the dry cleaners, it is too much for me to keep it. I want to thank you for today. I really had a great time. Feel free to stop by or call me to go out anytime Quentin is not available, and you are lonely."

Liz turned around and punched the code from her apartment, opened the door and paused. She turned to Max and walked to him, got on her toes and kissed his cheek. "Good night, Max. I know that you are an amazing guy no matter what the rumors say."

Liz got inside, closed the door and leaned on it.

She saw that Max was frozen and she is confident that it came to him as a shock how she saw through the elaborate show he is putting for everyone. But she is not everyone. She is Elizabeth Williams, with a keen eye for details.

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Liz is aware that it will take Max some time to go over this shock of her seeing through him, and when he comes out of it, Liz is confident that Max will realize that her accepting him are not just empty words.

Liz took a deep breath and touched her lips while remembering the kiss. Oh, it was a good one. The earth shattering one… and if he is not swaying the other way, there is a big chance that Liz would be carried away in the rapids called Maximilian Anderson. Ah, Quentin is a lucky guy.

But Liz feels lucky also… for the first time, she experienced a kiss which was not just wet and uncomfortable. She will engrave this kiss in her memory as a proof that kisses can be nice. And this one was more than nice. This kiss will be a measure for all future kisses, until she finds the guy who is made for her. But that will come later. Now she needs to focus on her career.

Liz checked the time on the phone which is still in her hand. It's 10:23 PM. She will go shower and get ready for the night. She has work tomorrow. And she will leave a message for Olivia to take the dress to the dry cleaner. Oh, Dr. Snow starts working tomorrow. She smiled at the thought that she will work side-by-side as an equal next to one of her idols! She needs to leave a good impression.

…

In the hallway…

Max is standing and staring at the closed door with '31A' on it.

His brain refuses to process what just happened.

For the duration of the ride from the restaurant he was thinking of the best way to make their first goodnight kiss memorable. And he was confident that it will be the first of many because Elizabeth is an amazing woman. Smart, caring, considerate, very attractive. And for the first time in a long time Max had a desire to take it slow and enjoy the process of building a relationship.

Max was so confident that Liz is into him that the possibility of her not being interested didn't exist. The whole day was perfect and even better than that because Liz is astonishing. What can go wrong?

They reached all the way to the top floor of their apartment building when Max realized that he is running out of time. If he does not do something quickly, she will end up kissing him, and he can't allow that because Maximilian Anderson is the one who takes the initiative to swoop the girl off her feet.

He saw her getting her phone from the purse and he got the timing right and… Oh, God! Her lips are softer than he imagined. She tastes great and that faint perfume which filled his nostrils is absolutely addictive. He can't wait to get more of her… a lot more of her.

The way how she was lost in the kiss to the point of not responding was more than he thought he will accomplish, but then… he is amazing like that.

He inched away, confident that she will plunge at him, asking for more… but then she threw a bomb at him and he is still not able to wrap his head around it.

Back to present…

Max robotically turned toward his apartment and got inside. He leaned on the door after closing it and took few deep breaths.

How the hell did Liz come to a conclusion that he is gay?!! And that his partner is Quentin?!!

Quentin, right! Quentin met with Liz and that bastard must have told her something!

Max took his phone angrily and called Quentin.

"Where are you?!", Max squeezed through his teeth.

"Black Rose.", Quentin responded. Girly giggles and loud music from the background should be an obvious hint of his whereabouts.

"Don't move. I'm on my way!" Max ended the call and stormed out of his apartment.

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