Deep inside a thick and pathless woodland, howling winds and pouring rain cleansed the earth from its acc.u.mulated grime and filth. However, none of it could be heard inside the cabin right in the heart of nothing but towering oak trees. 

The only evidence of the thunderstorm outside was the intermittent flash of lightning, revealing the raindrops that streak the glass of the tall windows and french doors.

A woodsy, balsamic aroma filled the cabin as cedarwood burned into ashes in the fireplace. 

There was little to no movement and everything was quiet, let alone for the flames dancing along with the crackling of the logs which echoed inside the open space.

Meanwhile, huddled on the sofa were Maxen and Olivia.

On the right end of the sofa was Maxen, sitting with his stretched legs propped on the sofa whilst his eyes focused on his phone.

Olivia, on the other hand, busily tapped on her laptop whilst her legs were sandwiched between Maxen's. Subconsciously, her toe would rub on Maxen's calf every time she came across a complex clause on the doc.u.ment she was reading.

Suddenly, coming across something funny in the book he was reading, Maxen snorted. He snorted and snorted louder the more he read along. Olivia sparks is free to read in at tinyurl.com/oliviasparks If you want to see the story's ending, please show your support and motivate your dear author by ditching the pirate site you are using. 

He did his best to tone down his noise by covering his mouth to avoid disturbing Olivia but failed. Slapping his t.h.i.g.h, Maxen apologized, "I'm sorry. Please ignore me."

Peeping towards Maxen's direction, Olivia shifted her eyes from her laptop screen to her husband. "What's so funny, Max?"

"Nothing." He waved his hand in a no. Olivia went back to work but paused when Maxen exploded with mirth, dropping his phone in the process.

Folding her laptop closed, Olivia cleared her throat to get Maxen's attention. It's not that he was disturbing her, but she was curious to find out what was making her husband roll in laughter.

"Baby? No. I… I promise I will keep my voice down," Maxen assured her with his palm held up in a promise. He bent down to pick his phone on the carpet.

"Go on. I'm done anyway. I just checked the doc.u.ments twice just in case I missed something the first time."

Flipping his phone so the screen would face Olivia, Maxen chortled. "It's the app Ava recommended. I just started using it last night while waiting in the hotel room."

"So you're telling me, Ava suggested an app, and you downloaded it." Olivia crossed her arms and her brows furrowed upon seeing Maxen nod his head. "Interesting." For a second, it almost slipped her mind to ask her next question. "What about waiting at the hotel last night? I thought you were home?"

"Oh," Maxen let out an audible syllable. "Ollie dragged me to the hotel last night to watch over Ava." Maxen gulped, skipping the part that he was the first one to board the car last night.

"He dragged you or you're just waiting for him to say the magic word?" Olivia nudged his calf with her foot when two seconds passed and Maxen sat speechless on his seat. 

If she didn't know Maxen enough, his chronology of facts would come off as the truth, but she knew him too well. 

Maxen couldn't sit still whenever she's not beside him, especially now that the Huks were armed and ready.

"Perhaps." Maxen shrugged. "You know how Ollie could get a little bit slow sometimes I have to overtake him on the way to the car even if I don't want to."

Suppressing a smile, Olivia said, "Just so you know, your nostrils are flaring."

"No, it's not." Maxen's hand flew to his nose, touching it. He squinted his eyes on Olivia who stuck her tongue out on him. 

"Admit it, Maxen. You were itching to check in on me."

Grabbing Olivia's toe, Maxen squeezed it enough to elicit a giggle from Olivia. "So what? It's my job to make sure my wife is safe."

"From Natalia?" Olivia raised a single brow towards Maxen, unsure if they were on the same page with a list of people that Olivia should be wary about. "You should be more worried about her than me." 

Olivia wiggled her toe and on cue, Maxen started massaging her foot.

"Speaking of Natalia, are you sure she won't ever bother you again?" Maxen asked.

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles," Olivia quoted a verse from the Art of War and shrugged. "She could come to me anytime she wanted. I'm not afraid of her. I know, and she knows, that it is I who have the upper hand between us. That should keep her away from me for a while… or for good if she's smart enough to use her common sense."

Maxen regarded Olivia, and something about her air of confidence intoxicated him, hardening the log between his legs. "What am I going to do? I am married to the most exquisite woman on Earth. Please don't get tired of me, baby."

"What are you talking about you silly boy? I must admit, but you're not bad yourself." Olivia beamed, loving the playful scowl on Maxen's face. 

She shifted in her seat and crawled towards Maxen, leaning against his c.h.e.s.t. 

"Tell me about the app," Olivia said, drawing circles on his c.h.e.s.t. Before she could get her answer, Maxen held his hand up in a stop. "Just a disclaimer, this app could get addicting."

"Nothing comes close to the kind of addiction you bring, Max." Olivia winked.

An hour later, Maxen held the phone, doing the honor of tapping the screen to change the page.

"Can you read slower?" he gritted between his teeth. While it was nice reading along with his wife, he couldn't match her speed in reading and it annoyed him every time Olivia would subconsciously wiggle her toe once she was done reading a page and he was still crawling through the words in the middle of a paragraph.

Peering up at him, Olivia made sure to roll her eyes just to show him her annoyance. "I'll download my own app then."

Maxen grinned and didn't protest, happy to get his hostaged phone back.

He shifted in his spot when Olivia peeled herself off of him and crawled on fours to the other side of the couch where her phone was sitting on top of a side table. "Max, I have a request."

"Yes?" he asked, moving his gaze from his phone screen to Olivia.

"I need Level S code for Connor's files."

Maxen scratched the skin above his eyebrows to hide the smirk on his face. At times when Olivia asked for his help, he couldn't help but feel victorious. "If you don't have a code, then you haven't earned it yet."

Olivia threw him a look, and her glare pierced through him—it made him gulp.

Raising a single brow on him, Olivia challenged, "You know I can get those codes from you, right?"

"If you say please, then maybe." Suppressing a smile, Maxen crossed his arms over his c.h.e.s.t. Even if she didn't ask him, he would still give it to her on a silver platter. But where's the fun if he didn't get to see her all worked up over a simple code?

"Please?" Olivia jutted her bottom lip out and fanned her eyelashes. The two laughed at how ridiculous she looked.

Yanking her back to his embrace, Maxen skimmed his hand on her t.h.i.g.h. She angled her head, granting him access to the length of her neck.

"Because you're a good girl and knew how to say please, then…" Olivia smiled when Maxen untied her robe with one hand. Her cleavage peeping out from her fluffy robe when Maxen exposed the side of her shoulder. "I will say the code once. Are we good?"

Breathing a labored 'yes', Olivia bobbed her head. She submitted to her heightened senses, getting high as a path of goosebumps formed along the wake of Maxen's finger tracing every inch of her inner t.h.i.g.h.

"Zero," Maxen said. Her breath hitched as she parroted Maxen who was busy planting kisses on her exposed shoulder.

"L." He kissed that s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e spot behind her ear.

"One." He moved along, biting the shell of her ear. Olivia hissed at the sharp p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. Three characters in, yet it felt like Maxen uttered a complicated code.

Her hand flew to his, tightening his grip on her. Dusting his lips on the length of her neck, Maxen rattled off his code. "V, One, Four. Say it again, baby," Maxen commanded. He pinched her chin and tilted it to the side so he could see her lips mumble a part of him that should never be shared.

A code that only a Sui-born could know. But what was a silly jumble of characters to him when the look of surprise on his wife was all he craved and needed.