Maxine dropped her paper bag of weekly groceries onto her cheap Wal-Mart dining table. It wobbled upon impact, a result of a disastrous effort to put together her own furniture without calling her dad for help.

The man had enough things to worry about and she hated to bother him. Besides, she was an adult. How hard was it to put together a table?

Pretty. Hard.

The screws were not secured as tight as she assumed they were. And truth be told she was too stressed to even worry about it now.

She began digging through the contents, pushing aside a stack of mail and take out boxes, to arrange items in groups to be put in their proper places.

Eyeing the junk beside with rueful disgust, she paused from the groceries, and grabbed a trash bag from underneath the kitchen sink and began to stuff items into the bag.

This was not like her.

She was orderly and prim, everything smooth and shine. Hell, her books and magazines were in alphabetical order, the latter associated by title and publication date. She had two browns used for separate arenas of the house, certain towels were meant for a designated place. If used other wise, she tossed it and purchased another.

She admitted she was a little OCD. But everyone has their quirks.

So when she backslid from protocol, she gave a no flying fuck, threw her hands up and went with the flow. The past two weeks had been harshly catastrophic.

First, her grandmami broke her hip coming down the crooked steps she'd given her baby cousin money to fix months ago. That money was now on her cousin's feet, a pair of knock off Jimmy Choo Panna sandals. Apparently there was a a hand bag, also fake, involved as well.

Conveniently, she was away visiting her parents in their native Virgin Islands for a few weeks. An email was sent saying that shit was going to be brutal as fuck when she returned to their grandmami's.

Her blood was boiling to maximum heat and if she could get away with murder...man. Or at least slice off the bottom of her ankles so that'd she'd never be tempted to purchase an expensive (or inexpensive) shoe again.

A week's worth of work did not smile up at her in big numerals when she received her check. She spent it in Savannah while her grandmami suffered through long hours of surgery and then recovery.

Maxine's father hired a home health aid to assist with her further care, and to prevent Max from having to call out more days from work. Now he was away on a business trip and unsure of his return home. So that left all responsibility to her.

And she was ready and willing until her tires decided to simultaneously flatten one after the other.

Used tire shops in town either had one size right and others too small, or none at all. Now without her own steady form of transportation, she car pooled with her co worker and best friend, Alicia to work and the health aid happily picked up some extra hours to make sure her father's mother was taken care of.

Her checking account depleted as she tried to stay on top of her bills, write checks for co-pays, medications, and hunt for decent tires-matching tires-that seemed lost in the land of nowhere, and come up with the cash to pay someone directly to construct sturdier steps.

Cramming the last box of stale pizza crusts into the trash, Max stood, brushing her hands off on her shorts and placed the bag by the front door to take out later. Fist perched on her hips, she spun around her small abode to calculate which mess to attack first.

Basket of clean clothes sat atop one of her end tables by the couch, that woulld take about twenty minutes. Then there were the boxes of junk she'd hauled over from her Mummy's shed and promised to go through. They stood against the wall by her tv stand, void of any sort of television since her 42" inch flat arrived and adorned her bedroom dresser.

There was too much to do. She felt tired and just wanted a cup of coffee, a dozen chocolate iced, sprinkled donuts, and her pillows.

"Dats wha mi gonn do." She spoke aloud, grabbing a few cold items off the table and placing them in the fridge. Grabbing her container of Folger's out of her snack cabinet, she began to scoop grounds into a fresh filter. Yes, coffee was a good idea.

Relaxtion first, then she would dive head first into getting her living space cleaned.

After filling the pot and dispensing it into the coffee machine, she leaned against the counter and watched as steam rose from the back and liquid slowly began to drip.

Yes, this is what she needed. Well, a fat blunt of loud wouldn't hurt either. And she was broke when it came to extra expenses , and didn't want to bum of her friends.

Always something, she mused.

The day held a silver lining: Perrin.

A long sigh escaped her lips as she felt her body go mush and tingly at their little reunion in the food aisle. Seven weeks passed without a phone call, text. She knew she had sold herself short on the hopes he'd hit her up like he said. That cup of coffee with lots of extra cream he promised was all she could think about!

Encores never happened whenever she choose to do the deed with a random stranger. And she'd had some decent one night fucks, a few others faltering below the performance line. Matter of fact, she pointedly told one that he ought to never have sex again.

He was that bad.

She shudder as the flashbacks of that mistake played in her mind.

Perrin surpassed them all in various ways, sexual and not. He made her laugh, and she enjoyed company that could take her mind off the staid realities of life. Her ride home the morning after with him had been mild conversation, his banter clouding the tiny twinges of awkwardness she felt.

His dark auburn hair had been sloppily combed back, a few strands sticking out from the side. The long sleeved maroon shirt he wore was severely wrinkled, and his black jeans weren't any better. Sleep still clung to his eyes, and morning stubble shadowed his rounded jawline, making him even more appealing than the night before.

She wanted more then anything for him to park them in a secluded spot and have a good fucking, ass backed up against his steering wheel, his fingers gripping the firm flesh of her thighs while she bathed his groin in the hot creaminess of her core.

Shit, he might have obliged had she confessed her fantasy. And if she had known it'd be seven weeks before she saw him again...

After it all it was he who had said that he wished they could repeat the nights long festivities again. Prompt and motivated, she had produced a Chinese take out menu wedged between her seat and wrote her number.

"Yuh know wheneva yuh are ready to guh fah round two." She gave her best seductive smile, lips parted and eyes lowered devilishly.

"Man," he grunted, leaning forward so that their faces met, "You are making me ache."

With a grin, Max placed a hand on his rough cheek and kissed him thoroughly, tongue twirling around his as he kissed her back , moaning against her mouth. When they broke apart, his eyes glistened from the arousal.

"If only I didn't promise my mama I'd come by for breakfast..."

She laughed and shook her head.

He promised to be in touch soon and they parted ways.

Long story short, he never did and though disappointed at first, she quickly recovered, concluding that their night of animalistic passion was not meant to be repeated.

But then there he was, standing in front of her, looking sexier than before-and humorously guilty.

Did she count on him calling this time?

Not really.

Since that time she made no attempt to jump fast into bed with another man. Sure, a few passes had been made at her, to which she brushed off with polite humor. And at least one local had shown interest in a serious commitment but the fact that he had baby mama drama was a turn off and Max didn't have the tolerance to deal.

To crave a carnal desire and not have it was torturous and maddening.

Eventually she'd have to move on and seek sexual fulfillment else where and it seemed it'd take another round of bad hook ups before that happened again.

Time to get back to reality. No sense brooding over the possibilities and the pending disappointments.

One night stands were what they were for a reason.

Mentally giving herself a gut punch, she grabbed her favorite mug, a chipped Snoppy she found at a GoodWill, and poured half a cup of the hot brew adding four spoonfuls of sugar and cream.

Savoring the flavor, she walked back to her living space and sighed. Real life with real problems were afoot. There was no time to mull over her desires. She needed to get mobilized and take care of her grandmami until her father returned.

Setting down her coffee, she found a broom and got to work.

Next chapters will be introducing some backstory into perrin's life and how he and max met. bare ith me. i post chapters and then rewrite them so chapters will be edited with updates sometime soon. probably wont post another chapter until Thursday. I'm pacing myself at 30-60 pages a day depending on my creative flow. i usually stop when i run out of fumes lol. enjoy and read and review!