The Rampage MC #4: Max and Briony

Chapter 35 (Briony): The Naked Option

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

From the look on Max's face and the heat in his eyes when I uttered the word naked, I expected his lips to hit mine as a prelude to our clothes being torn off. In fact, my eyes started to close, and I tilted my face up to his...and then he straightened up and stepped back from me.

"Shit. Shit. Fuck," he muttered, running his hands through his hair. 

"Max?" I said for the first time...but not the last. "What's going on?"

"Briony, you have no idea how much I want to take you up on that naked offer. No fucking clue how much I want that."

"Great, we're on the same page then, so..." I said with a smile, not understanding yet the extent to which the mood had just changed.

However, Max was not smiling back at me. In fact, he looked like he was about to be sick.

"I have to know...no, I need to know why you're willing to go there with me now."

"Max --"

 I tried to interrupt, still not realizing this man was on the verge of a meltdown in front of me.

"Are we moving from friends to friends with benefits? Or do you want more?"

"Max --"

His face was twisted in pain, almost as if he was afraid of my answer and that's why he barreled on without giving me a chance to respond.

"Because I don't think I can do that, Briony. Shit. I thought I'd take whatever you were willing to give to me, but I...I fucking can't. I can't go there with you unless I know it means something to you, that it means you're ready to move forward with me."

"Max --"

"I love you, Briony. I love you so damn much I can't even tell you. I need to know this isn't some friends who happen to be having sex arrangement. And I know, I know even if that's what you want, I know I should be grateful to even get that from you, but I can't go there if that's all there is, if that's all you can offer. Fuck!"

"Max!"

He stepped closer and took me by the upper arms, his eyes drilling into mine.

"I'm just going to put it out there once and for all so you know, so there's no doubt in your mind. I love you, Briony, and I want to marry you, spend the rest of my life with you, raise a family with you, build a home with you. I know what I did -- that night, even before that night with running to help Wendie, failing to commit to you because I was so fucking insecure -- but I can't take any of it back, and I'd give my right arm if I could. I'd take it all back if I could, swear it on my life."

This time, I didn't try to interrupt him because he needed to work this out, and once he got everything off his chest, I could have my turn. 

"Briony, I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but that hasn't stopped me from hoping that someday you'd find your way to it."

His intensity, the raw emotion and pain was shocking to me. This had begun so playfully with the cookie negotiation and had taken a sudden and serious turn. I'd never imagined that my saying the word naked would be such a trigger for Max. 

"I was hoping that somehow my remorse would be communicated to you through my actions, that you'd see I would give my life to keep you safe. I will never leave you, Briony, and I would die a thousand times before I'd let you be hurt again."

Tears hadn't slipped down his face, but they were right there in his eyes, beading on his long eyelashes. For the moment, he seemed to have run out of words, so I slid into the opening his silence had left.