Maximus Read online

  "This book had all the feels. Everyone deserves to have their own Aurei!"

  ~ by Lainey DS - Fictionalbookboyfriends

  "Wow, this book has all the elements for a movie."

  ~ by Debra Sugimoto

  "These two together are scorching hot and we expect nothing less, I love no matter where they are this couple can light up a room, they are perfection. The plot and description is fantastic and so detailed you cant get enough of this couple and it leaves you wanting more of the Golden God."

  ~ by Lisa

  Also by Jessika Klide

  Siri’s Heart Book Series

  Hard-Core, #1, The Prequel

  Seary, #2, The Prologue

  Moore, #3, The Beginning

  Wild Thang, #4

  Aurelius, #5

  Ruthless, #6

  Asshole, #7

  Kitten Thang, #8

  Maximus, #9

  Angel Thang, #10

  The Bastard Son of Thor, #11

  Seary’s Finale, #12

  Standalones

  Donut Dilemma

  I Hope You Dance

  SAM, I AM

  Holiday Novellas

  Zane, A Scrooged Christmas

  Maximus

  #9

  Jessika Klide

  Edited by

  Maria Clark

  Photography by

  Scott Hoover

  Copyright © 2017 Jessika Klide, LLC

  * * *

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, events and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarities to actual events and persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, named features, artists and bands are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used for reference and without permission. The publication / use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used.

  Created with Vellum

  May all your dreams come true!

  Jessika Klide

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Angel Thang

  About the Author

  Everyone has secrets

  Chapter One

  In the early morning darkness, the world seems like a small place. Only the occasional sounds of cars passing tells me the world is still here. My eyes are closed and my head lays sleepily on My Golden God’s pillow of an arm as he drives us into the country to his family’s villa. I hear him humming to himself.

  I think it’s "Dark Side" by Kelly Clarkson, but I can’t be sure. He isn’t humming enough of it to identify it, but it doesn’t matter. He’s happy and I’m happy. Life is good.

  He leans over and kisses the top of my head. "Time to wake up, Sleepy Thang. We will arrive in about 20 minutes."

  I turn my lips to kiss his arm. His skin is warm and soft against them. Umm. He tastes good. I put my hands over my head and stretch my legs out in the front floorboard. "I’m really nervous about this, Aurei."

  "Don’t be."

  "What kind of crazy advice is that?"

  "That’s good, sound advice."

  "Of course I’m nervous."

  "Don’t be. That’s simple advice too."

  "It’s more complicated than that and you know it."

  "It shouldn’t be."

  "And yet it is."

  "Don’t be dramatic, Siri."

  "What?" I cut my eyes at him.

  "Don’t make it more than it really is."

  "I’m not being dramatic, Mr. Moore. I’m being wise. It is more than it really is. It’s not you bringing a girlfriend to meet the parents and family. It’s not even you bringing a Vegas star to the Villa for a romantic interlude. It’s you bringing a stripper, you know the word, to the compound and on the weekend of the family celebration at that! The press blasted you and for that I’m truly sorry."

  He rolls his eyes. "Don’t pay them any attention." He opens his hand and I automatically slip my fingers between his. He cinches us and I feel grounded in his touch, but the nervous butterflies remain. We are heading straight to his family and it feels like I’m the lamb being lead to the slaughter. He brings my hand to his lips and nibbles the back of it. I sigh and my heart lurches with his love. He states simply. "I got this. Stop worrying."

  When he hits the turn signal and slows the roadster down to make the turn, my heart begins to race. I pull the visor down and it illuminates my face. I smack my cheeks with my palms, trying to wake my skin, then I fuss with my hair. "How do I look?" Even though no one is expecting us, I don’t want to look bad if we are caught coming in.

  "You look stunning, Siri. Simply stunning." He teases me. "You always do."

  I sigh and look at him. "You’re such a beautiful, sweet man!"

  As the first rays of light find their way over the horizon, we travel down a small country road. To the left is farming country and to the right is a solid wall that looks like an old castle wall. Its height ranges between 8’ and 12’ tall and the top edges flow with the landscape. It adds to the view, like an ancient architectural design. I see the big arching entrance as Aurei slows down to enter the gate. Over two large stone columns is a sign that reads "Big AL’s."

  "Who is Big Al?"

  "My Grandpa of course."

  "How do you get Al from Aurelius?"

  "The A is for Aurelius obviously and the L is for Liotine and Big because he was larger than life."

  "Big Al," I muse. "I like it. I wish I could have met him."

  "I wish you could have too." He tells me as he spools the window down. "I think he knew about my sex life. Although I paid to keep it quiet, he could have paid more to know about it and probably did."

  I lay my hand on his bicep and give it a gentle squeeze. As he enters the code for the gate and it swings open, I see a small sign that reads "English only."

  "Why the English only sign?"

  "Because Zita is American."

  "Oh! I just assumed she spoke fluent Italian too."

  "She does, but Bob and Ann don’t."

  "Oh! Well, that makes sense then."

  "Affirmative." He grins at me then says with his imitation of his Grandpa’s accent. "Welcome to the Farm."

  I giggle at that. "Can we ride with the windows down?" He doesn’t answer, he just puts my window down too. I look out over the beautiful landscaping. "It does look more like a sprawling Texas Ranch with the white picket fencing, than an Italian Villa."

  "That’s why we nicknamed it, The Compound." He smiles at me. "My Grandfather loved his Texas Ranch and when he moved home to Italy, he brought as much of it with him as he could. The main house is a replica of his ranch house and the cabins are replicas of his first house. Mine is the first one. Ann’s is the second one. Everyone else will be staying up in the Big House."

  "How many will there be?" I ask curious. He cuts his eyes at me and my panic button is pushed on again. "Never mind! No need to know."

  As we get closer, I see the sprawling ranch house sitting on top of a small hill. It overlooks the pastures and is made of white and gray stone with gray roof tiles. To the left is a giant red barn, and matching stables, to the rig
ht is a cabin which is rustic wood with a front porch complete with rocking chairs.

  Aurei takes the drive to the cabin and circles behind. It is surrounded by its own white picket fence and covers roughly 3 acres. It is breathtaking! "Wow! This is a shocker." The 'front’ is actually a false facade and the 'cabin' is a full size house. We pull into a separate garage that’s connected to the porch of the house by a trellis which is covered with aged ivy.

  Aurei laughs. "Yes, like I said, Grandpa didn’t do anything small." He pops the trunk as the automatic garage door lowers. "Stay."

  "Yes, sir." Fidgeting, I watch as he hauls out my luggage, then comes to get me.

  When he opens my door, he leans in and offers his hand to help me up. My converse sneakers touch the ground of the compound first and I place my small hand in his massive one. He pulls me easily to my feet and says. "Come on, Shorty. Let’s get you settled in."

  Without my 6" heels, I feel completely dominated by his towering person and the Godlike presence he holds in my mind is reinforced. I smile up into his laughing eyes. "I prefer Petite Thang, thank you very much." I stick my nose in the air and give him a full drama queen hair toss.

  He laughs, grabs my luggage and tells me. "Follow me, Petite Thang."

  We exit through a side door and come out under the covered trellis. The sound of early birds chirping fills the air and the clip clop of horses being exercised floats to me when we exit the ivy and go up the stairs to the porch. I know from the familiar sound that there are multiple horses being ridden.

  At the front door, Aurei enters the code. The locks open and he turns around to tell me. "Remind me later to reset this." He pushes the door open and waves me in. I walk through and I’m stunned again by what I see. The living area is very large, and is richly decorated with heavy, oversized, dark leather furniture. A man’s decor. Off the left wall is a small foyer area and two closed doors. Probably bedrooms. My eyes travel clockwise and see that on the back wall there is a small dinette set that adjoins a full size kitchen which is separated from the living area by a full length island counter with bar stools. Continuing my scan around, I find on the right wall a long hallway. The end is out of my sight.

  "Wow!" I utter and he laughs as he rolls the luggage in and stands beside me.

  "The door there on the left is the guest suite and a bathroom. The door at the end of that hall is my suite." He grins as I try to pass, eager to explore on my own like I did in his Rome apartment. "Hold on." He scolds me and holds out his hand. "I’m the tour guide this time."

  I reluctantly give him my hand.

  Opening the door to the guest bedroom, he leads me in, then stops and lets me absorb the details. I see raw, heavily lacquered wood furniture, with different sizes and colors of Mexican style rugs littering the wood floor and on the walls hang colorful Mexican blankets. The windows on the left run the length of the wall and are solid sheets of glass. They are framed as if they are pictures and the view through them is of the rolling pastures surrounded by the white fences. It looks like a picture from a professional studio. The bathroom is across the room. Against the back wall on the right in the center sits a king size bed. The headboard is large and has intricate wood carvings of Cowboys and horses. Surrounding the bed on the walls are western paintings from oilfields to cowboys. Very masculine.

  "Sweet!" I tell Aurei. "Who stays in here?"

  "No one." He laughs. "It’s a 'just in case you want a guest' room and I’ve never wanted one."

  "Ummhmm." I give him my 'I find that hard to believe look.'

  He grins, but doesn’t respond to my doubtful face. "Now on to the Master’s Suite." He tells me as he pulls me out the door.

  I giggle. "I hear what you did there."

  He laughs out loud and the sound fills the room with warmth as we cross the living room again. At the luggage, he stops and tells me as he bends down. "Climb on." Thinking I’m going to ride him piggy back style, he braces for my jump, but I put my hand on his shoulder, and my foot on his bent thigh, swing my leg over and hoist myself to sit on top of his shoulders. "That’s not what I had in mind ... but comfy?"

  "Very." I tell him as I hook my feet under his arms and squeeze him. I wiggle my ass to get my balance.

  Chapter Two

  He carries me down the hall and when we arrive at the end, there are a set of wooden, double doors with arched tops and a big growling bear carved in it. The same growling bear as the one on the door of his studio in Rome.

  "Beautiful." I tell him as he pushes them open. "I see you have a thing for bears." He doesn’t have to bend over very much for us to enter and as soon as I catch my first glimpse of the room, I gasp. "Oh my Fucking Golden God! This is gorgeous! Absofuckinglutely gorgeous! Let me down." I say as I let go of my foot hooks.

  He grabs my knees. "Just a second."

  Knowing he won’t drop me, I fall over backwards and hang upside down. I can see the backside of the double doors. They also have a growling bear on them, but this side is of Italian inlaid wood art. The bear is golden and the inlaid wood is intricate, showing the tiniest of fur details. I reach for the floor as he slowly lets his grip go and I slide down his body. When my hands touch, he lets me go completely and I put my feet down, stand up, and then pounce on his back, piggy back style. I hug him with my entire body. "Fucking awesome, Aurei!" I drop off him again and stroll around the room.

  The suite is huge! There are three sets of French doors with arched tops along the back wall. The bed is a monster! It is a king size, heavy, four poster bed, jacked up off the floor on a platform with steps leading to it. It has a canopy top with both shears and heavy fabric curtains. Golds and browns are the colors. It commands the center of the room. The floor is left uncovered except for a real bear rug, complete with growling head and teeth. "Talk about a man cave!" The furniture consists only of a few cozy chairs, a couple of love seats and two couches placed intimately around the walls with lamps. There are several hutches with cameras, video equipment and computers set up. "This must be where you do your editing?"

  "That’s affirmative." Aurei answers, watching me as I float around the room examining everything.

  I step up to the bed and push back the sheer curtain. Sitting on the pillows, leaning against the headboard is a life-size, stuffed teddy bear. I crack up when I see it. "You weren’t kidding, were you? You really do sleep with a teddy bear."

  "That’s also affirmative." He smirks.

  I climb up and wrap it in a big bear hug, squeezing its stuffing hard. Then I lay down on my back and push it over the top of me. "He’s so cute and cuddly."

  "She. She’s so cute and cuddly. My taste has always been strictly female."

  "What’s her name?"

  "Titty Bare, of course." He grins then chuckles. "Because she has none."

  "Of fucking course it is!" I laugh out loud. "She’s perfect! I might just let her join us for a threesome."

  He laughs. "She’ll be thrilled to learn she isn’t going to the closet after all."

  I giggle at him, then toss her to the side and crawl towards him on my knees. Tits dangling, I shake them to tease him. "The closet can be such a scary, cold, dark, lonely place. No one should ever have to hide who they are in there."

  His eyes are watching my generous display, and he has a sweet smile on his face. It visibly softens with my words and he walks up to the edge of the bed. He holds his arms out to me and I crawl into them. He wraps them around me, making me feel safe and secure. I lean my tummy on him and my face back to receive the butterfly kisses he places randomly on there. "You. Are. The. Sweetest. Kindest. Most. Loving. Accepting. Joyous. Soul. Siri. Wright. And. I. Adore. You."

  "You forgot Sexy." I pout.

  "Sexy. Stunning. Sassy. Silly. Diva." He pecks.

  "That’s better. Did you say sensuous?"

  "No. I forgot that one." He grins down on me.

  I point to my lips. "Sensuous goes here."

  He puckers up and gives me a long butterfly ki
ss as our eyes laugh into each other’s. "No tongue?" I ask after a few moments with no more action.

  "No. We don’t want to get interrupted."

  "Ah! No. That wouldn’t be the best way to be introduced."

  He hugs me to him and lifts me off the bed. "So what do you think so far?"

  I look around the room as he sets me down. "It’s cozy."

  He laughs. "I call it my Bear Cave."

  "I love that!"

  "You haven’t seen the best part."

  "There is more with Moore?"

  "There is always more with Moore."

  "Truly!" I wink at him and we laugh.

  "There is so much more with Moore, Siri. So much more I intend to share with you." His eyes grow slightly serious, but his laugh stays in his voice.

  "Are you talking about the suite now or something more?"

  He grins. "Both."

  "Share away, Sir!"

  He walks to the one interior door in the room and opens it for me. "This is the closet and bathroom."

  When I walk through, I enter a dressing room complete with chairs and benches along the walls and mirrors. Along the exterior wall is a rotating rack that allows for laundry to be moved in and out without the need to physically enter the dressing room. I try to whistle, but I only blow air and it sounds like "Whew. I’m impressed!"

  There is also a closet as big as a small bedroom that holds everything from sheets to towels to shelves of shoes, consisting of tennis, athletic, crew, flip flops, dress shoes for any occasion, and a whole wall of boots; work boots, hiking boots, and multiple hides of Cowboy boots, from ostrich to rattlesnake, plus several pairs of English style, knee high, riding boots.