The Billionaire Playboy's Regret (Lark and Max)

Lark sat on the sofa in Max's living room and curled her feet under her. Max poured her a glass of red wine and then draped a throw blanket over her feet. He sat next to her on the sofa and kicked his feet up on the table in front of them, completely comfortable in his underwear in her presence. She kept her eyes firmly on his shoulders and up each time she looked at him but mostly she was focusing on the pretty view of the city outside the wide windows.

Lark took a sip of the wine and looked at Max, "do you think Johan and Ollie are having s*x? Really?"

"I don't want to think about it," he shook his head. "I know lately Johan's been through the wringer in terms of his dating, but this seems a new low."

"Your sister isn't a low," Lark frowned at him. "She's incredible. She's beautiful, smart, a billionaire in her own right and you can't pin her down to one form of sexuality. Max, she has eyes on her everywhere we go."

"But she's Ollie. Loud, obnoxious, in your face, Ollie who tends to like men and women who are trouble." "Maybe she was sniffing it out in Johan. Maybe she's like a pig with truffles. She can scent the ones who are emotionally screwy and right now, as you said, Johan is off kilter."

"I can't believe he asked you out."

"He rescinded. Told me he couldn't do it to you," Lark met his eyes and saw the smile there. "You really liked me in school?

"Yes," he said earnestly. "I really liked you Lark, but I really did think you were embarrassed by me. I thought I was taking the attention off you and onto me."

"A lot of your jokes really hurt, Max," she didn't back away. "I think the one which hurt the most was the time you stood on the table in the cafeteria and said if you got in the back seat with me, you'd have to get in the back seat with the dog. I was teased for months after."

"I'm sorry, Lark. I did think you would have preferred to be thought of as a dog than my girlfriend." "You're weird," she rolled her eyes and sipped her wine.

"Can you ever forgive me?"

"I'm working on it. Nana Prue said I need to learn to listen to the explanations."

"Nana Prue is a wise woman. She warned me this week if I didn't wise up, I'd lose you forever. Between her warning, my mother crying because she feels she is a failure as a parent and my great grandmother Veronique calling to tell me she had vision of me at risk of losing my p***s if I don't convince my girl to love me, I realized I need to shape up."

"She said you're going to lose your p***s?"

He laughed at the way Lark giggled, "she told me her bones were telling her I can go down two paths in life. One is where I lose the only girl I ever loved, fall headfirst back into my whorish ways from high school and lose my p***s or the other is where I get the girl, live happily ever after and my p***s works well enough to give you babies."

"She told you it was me specifically?" Lark was curious but decided not to respond to the comment about her being the only girl he ever loved.

"No. She never mentions names, but I know it's you," he winked at her and sipped his wine. "For the record, I'm very much wanting to protect my p***s, so you and I are going to have to live happily ever after."

"We have to take this really slow, Max. I'm not ready for anything serious right now. A week ago, I was hoping to get an engagement ring from Doug. Yesterday, I wanted to punch you in the face. This morning, you dry humped me in your sleep."

"You sure I was sleeping?" he teased her and when her mouth dropped open, he laughed, "I'm kidding. I definitely was sleeping but I want to know why you know what I was dreaming about? Were you egging me on? Did you sneak a touch?"

"No! You made me fall asleep on your chest, remember? Then you started moving," she flung her hand in the direction of waist, "and when I tried to move away, you rolled over right on top of me."

"Did you like it?"

Her heart thudded at his bold question, "well yeah. It was teenage Lark's fantasy to have you grinding on me."

"How long did you stay?"

"I wriggled out pretty quick and went and took a shower."

"Did you get off in the shower or did you take a cold one?"

She bit her bottom lip, "both."

He gave a bark of laughter at her answer. "Naughty Lark!"

"Pretty sure you left a wet spot in my bed."

"I did not but I did wank one out the minute I got home, in my shower and I was imagining you while I did it."

"Max!" her face was as red as the wine in her glass, and she pulled the blanket up to cover her cheeks. "You're awful." "I'm flirting." He grinned unrepentantly at her. "Come on. You flirted with Seb and didn't get near this flustered." "It's different."

"Why? How is it different?"

"I wasn't really interested in Seb. I flirted because I knew it was making you pissed off."

He reached out and pinched her toe through the blanket, "not nice."

"I wanted to see for myself if it was true." She bit the end of her tongue and then spoke quietly, "I never noticed either Max. I never noticed you would get upset if I flirted with other guys. I always flirted because there was always a girl hanging off you."

"I had the girls hanging off because I thought you wanted anyone but me. We missed so much," he shook

his head. He took a breath, "Can I ask you something and you tell me the truth?" She nodded, "sure."

"What happened prom night?"

She felt her stomach drop at his question. "Max, it's in the past."

"Let me tell you my version and you tell me yours. Please? It's important to me."

"I don't know if it's a good idea to dredge up."

"Please," he cut her off. "I need to know why it was you cut me out of your life. Please, Lark."

"Max," she whispered quietly.

"See, I thought, you were in love with your date and when he stood you up it broke your heart. When we got to the prom and he cornered you and made fun of you, I dragged him into the bathroom to teach him a lesson, but you were sobbing."

"I was humiliated. It was embarrassing to be made fun of like that," she said quietly, looking everywhere but at him.

"I thought you were devastated because you loved him."

"No. Not at all."

"Lark," he leaned forward, "when you left, I thought it was because you were angry at me for beating him up. I thought you wanted me on the rooftop away from everyone else so you could tell me off and I immediately went in the wrong direction. What did you want to tell me?"

She took a breath, "you beat him up because he made me cry and, in my head, I thought it was your way of showing me you cared for me. Like my knight in shining armor."

"Chere, it was. It so was."

"I was going to confess how I felt," she saw his face fall. "I was going to tell you I cared for you and wanted to be with you and to ask if you felt even an ounce of the same way."

"And I didn't come."

"You didn't come."

"And that's why you left me? Because I didn't come?"

She nodded, staring at her fingers. "I realized, or so I thought I did, I was never going to matter to you the way you mattered to me, and I needed to make a clean break of it. I needed to start fresh without having the curse of loving someone who didn't love me hanging over my head."

"I am so sorry."

The crack in his voice made her eyes flick to his and she was surprised to see the tears in his eyes and the fat droplet rolling down his cheek.

"I hurt you so badly.

"Max," she felt her own tears burgeoning at the emotions he was openly displaying to her.

"I made you believe I didn't care. I will make it up to you, Lark. I will. I promise." The sincerity and love in his eyes were hard to miss and his fingers trembled around the stem of his wineglass.

She took a breath wondering if she should tell him the rest and then deciding against it. There was no need to add more to his guilt than what was already there.

"I am going to hold you to this promise Max. I can't take the thought of you breaking my heart all over again. It almost killed me last time. I feel this is moving at the speed of light and I'm confused and scared. I'm feeling very vulnerable over this Doug s**t and if you hurt me, I'm probably going to destroy you in every way I possibly can."

He reached out and tugged her, so she was in his arms, resting against his chest. He kissed the top of her head and lay his cheek to the top of her head. "Lark. I have never stopped loving you. Not for a moment. I might have put it to the back of my head in order to survive day to day but the love I had is still here. We will fix this. We will fix us. I want to be your best friend first. Your lover next and then everything wonderful which comes after it, will follow."

"Do you know how long I wanted this?" she sniffled against his bare chest.

"As long as I did?" he chuckled playing with her dampened hair.

"Max, what if it's not as good as we have made it out to be in our heads? What if we end up being completely wrong for each other."

"Not possible but if you find you can't love me the way you thought you could, then I will always settle for being your best friend."

She nestled against him again, her wine glass loose in her hand and the throw blanket between their waists. They were quiet, each lost in their own thoughts as they finished their drinks and relaxed into the late evening.

Her eyelids were drooping, and a yawn escaped her lips and Max gave a low chuckle.

"Come on, let's get you to bed. I have a feeling tomorrow we're going to be cleaning up the mess of Ollie and Johan." "Do you think?" she lifted her head sadly. "We just got the band back together," she scoffed. "We'll figure it out tomorrow. For now, bedtime."

He walked her down the hall to the guest room and then pulled the bedding down, helping her into the bed. He kissed her forehead before resting his head against hers, whispering against her lips.

"I'm so glad you're here."

"Me too," she whispered a tired and happy smile on her lips.

"Good night, Lark."

"Good night, Max."