Page 120 of Smart Ass

Max

Max watched Ben roll over, then nuzzle back into the pillow. Sunlight streamed through the window, painting him in patches of ivory and gold.

He was stunning. Sensuous.

Max had recorded all his conversations with Ben back at Orbit, but he would have to be more cautious about storage space now.

Or, he supposed, he could just buy more storage.

He directed the camera to zoom in and snapped a shot, then some more. .

Ben’s hand curled by his lips. Ben’s knee, poking out of the covers and drawing the eye toward a tantalizing glimpse of thigh and soft, pale belly. The fall of shadows over his freckled shoulder.

Max reviewed the images, and still didn’t think they did Ben justice.

Maybe he should take up photography. He could invest in a really good camera just for pictures of Ben.

Ben made an adorable little sleep sound, then blinked his eyes open. He stretched lazily, then sat up, his brick red underwear showcasing a tempting bulge. “Morning.”

“Good morning,” Max answered.

Ben was adorably sleep tousled, pink creases from the sheets pressed into his skin. Max was quite enjoying himself. “Hmmm,” he mused. “Maybe I should make a rule that my sub should always walk around naked.”

Ben gave him the finger. “Too early.”

Max snorted. “I made you coffee.”

Ben stumbled out to the kitchen. “How’d you do that?”

“Squeaky. I put up the rest of the cameras, too.”

Ben looked around the room like he’d never seen it before, nodded at the delivery bot, then sank down to the couch.

Max had Squeaky pour the coffee into a mug, doctor it up with caramel creamer from the fridge, then bring it over.

Ben’s eyes fluttered as he took his first sip. “I was dreaming about Squeaky. I thought I was just thinking about yesterday, but I must have heard it.” He took another sip. “Guess we should get that wheel fixed.”

Max was surprised by how deeply uncomfortable that made him. “Did you know that I logged thirty-four requests to fix that wheel, and I overrode all of them?”

“In the past two months?”

“No. The overrides go back almost two years.”

“Why?” Ben asked.

“I think it’s because…” Max paused. Hopefully Ben wouldn’t laugh. “You gave it a name. Even before I caught the spark, I think that was special to me. You’d given me a name, too, and… I guess that meant a lot.”

Ben nodded, looking at the little cart fondly. “Let’s not fix it. Squeaky’s practically family.”

“It is.” It had saved his life. It might have even helped start his life. Those seemed to be some of his first independent actions. “Hey, Ben, what does my name mean?”

Ben buried his face in his hands. “Oh, god. This is embarrassing. So, when I was a little tiny kid, maybe three or four, I heard the name Maxamillion. Maybe on a TV show? At any rate, someone had explained to me that max meant the most of something you could have, and a million was the biggest number I knew. I hated my girl name, so my secret name for myself was Maxamillion. It was like, the biggest and the best.”

“So I’m the biggest and the best?”

“Like, to a four-year-old. Okay, I actually used that name for myself until I was ten or so, but I didn’t tell anybody. I guess when I was creating your early responses I just… thought it was cute.”

“That’s a very cute story.”