52 Lunch with Max and Chris (and others) (1)

The group of seven entered the restaurant with a noisy chatter.

The restaurant is an upscale American Steakhouse with a cozy atmosphere.

In the waiting area, they saw a man sitting on the leather sofa, his face is partially obstructed by the latest GQ magazine. But even with that obstruction, his handsome facial features are impossible to hide. His long legs are crossed at his knees, and elegant slender fingers are holding onto the magazine. It looked like a picture from a magazine of a man holding onto a magazine.

Liz glanced at the man before approaching him. "Dr. Snow, I'm sorry we are late… and for the last minute change…"

Dr. Snow lowered the magazine and his piercing dark green eyes smiled at her. "I thought you said you will call me Chris outside work."

Olivia inhaled sharply.

"Damn…", Olivia said under her breath while wondering, what is with that super-charming smile? Does he know that he has dimples on his cheeks which stole her heart? Can a man have a more perfect face than that dashing nose, and pearly white straight teeth, and even his slightly messy eyebrows are perfect, and his ink black neatly trimmed hair… Oh. My. God! He stood up! He is even more handsome when he stands up and flaunts those long legs, broad shoulders and… height. How tall can a man get?

Olivia likes them tall and strong and… this IS Dr. Dreamy.

Olivia blinked while trying to remember, did Liz say that he is an orthopedic surgeon? Olivia's legs are weak, she will schedule an appointment with him… she might need a surgery.

"Don't forget to breathe…", Mia poked Olivia.

Olivia wanted to swat her hand away, but she only waved at the air weakly. Her strength was gone at the super-killer looks of Dr. Dreamy.

Olivia wondered, how is it possible that Liz has such luck to be surrounded with all these hunks? Did she win a hunky lottery or something?

Liz smiled and corrected herself: "Chris… sorry we are late. Let me introduce you…"

Liz was startled that Max was right next to her. She cleared her throat. "This is Max…"

"Maximilian Anderson.", Max said in an icy voice, without extending his hand for a handshake.

Dr. Snow is not silly to miss that Max's stance is a bit too protective of Elizabeth. He wondered, is Liz dating this man? If yes, why didn't she mention him yesterday but only her two (girl) friends from New York? His conclusion is that Max wants to be more than friends with Liz, but he is not… However, he is unusually close to her. He will figure out their relationship, but for now, he knows that Liz is available. That is all he needs to know.

Dr. Snow smirked confidently at Max. "Christian Snow."

Chris extended his hand toward Max for a handshake and he took it.

They both had matching arrogant expressions while squeezing each other's hand in a test of macho superiority. Their knuckles where white from the force, but neither of them yielded.

The ice storm between two men was impossible to miss. Even Liz felt chills and shuddered involuntarily.

"Are you OK?", Max let go of Chris' hand, placed his palms on Liz shoulders and leaned closer, ready to hug her.

Liz stepped back awkwardly. "Yeah. Don't worry about it."

Hugging in private is one thing, but this is daytime, public place and… those hugs with Max were a one-time-thing, Liz told herself. She is not used to being hugged by guys.

This interaction confirmed Dr. Snow's suspicions: Max is interested in Liz, and she is… not reciprocating.

Chris' smug expression was impossible to hide, and Max wanted nothing more than to punch that smugness out of the face of a snobby doctor in front of him.

It took Liz a second to remember that she was introducing people to Dr. Snow.

Olivia looked at the sight in front of her and shook her head weakly in disbelief. If she told anyone that Max freaking Anderson entered a cold war with Dr. Dreamy over Elizabeth who is absolutely oblivious of two hunky men who are fighting for her attention… no one would believe her.

…

They took their seats and Liz ended up at the head of the table with Chris on her right and Max on her left.

Olivia was next to Chris, and on her right was Hunter with Mia. Bri was on the opposite side, between Max and Quentin.

Quentin liked the fact that his fiery Goddess was not impacted by charms of that doctor. When he saw Olivia's reaction, he was worried. But then… even Mia was not very interested in the man.

Of course, Quentin does not know that Mia was only thinking about the food, and for her, no male beauty comes before filling up her stomach.

Hunter went for the menu right away. He is here for food. And he does not care who is paying, because he is NOT. Max promised him lunch for a favor, and Hunter plans to enjoy to his fullest.

Hunter's hand bumped into Mia's. It seems she is interested in the food as well.

Bri noticed Hunter and Mia glaring at each other while holding onto one menu and she could not believe that they might start fighting over it.

"Here, take this one.", Bri said while giving them a second menu. There are more in front of Liz, why are they fighting over that one?

…

"Can I recommend lobster tail? It goes great with Stella Artois… and their banana cake with fresh raspberries is delicious…", Chris told Liz while looking at the menu.

Liz opened her mouth to respond, but Max was faster.

"Liz prefers steak with bearnaise sauce, red wine instead of beer, and she dislikes raspberries.", Max said smugly.

Liz looked at Max and blinked. "You remember…?"

Max showed his charming smile to Liz, while enjoying Chris' displeasure. "Of course, I remember."

He will never forget that when the two of them went to dinner, he recommended a lobster, but she said that she prefers a steak. Max observed that Liz always gets red wine if she has a choice and once he brought to her apartment for desert a cheesecake with fresh raspberries which she pushed to the side before eating the cake.

…

A waiter came to take their orders.

"Seafood and steak tower…", Hunter and Mia said in unison.

Waiter nodded. "This is to share…?", he assumed because each seafood and steak tower serves four people. It's an assortment of lobster tail, oysters, crabs, clams, scallops, octopus, and a variety of steak cuts.

"Each!", Hunter and Mia said in unison (again) and then eyed each other suspiciously before taking sips from their Heineken. They both drank beer straight from the bottle.

…

The food arrived and Quentin regretted that he said to the waiter: "I will have what she has.", while gesturing toward Bri.

He felt like crying while looking at the plate full of greens with octopus tentacles in it. And he was sure that some of them are still moving!

Quentin wondered, why didn't he order a steak? Looking over at Liz's and Max's plates… oh, yeah… just like that... juicy steak…

He drooled a bit and then he looked at his plate and he felt his life force diminishing.

…

Olivia ordered a seafood soup, but only because it was first on the menu. She was perfectly content to sit between Dr. Dreamy and mysterious Hunter Anderson. And the view of Quentin and Max freaking Anderson is not bad either. Just the hunkiness around her was enough to make her feel full.

Olivia thought about the current situation and concluded that it makes sense: handsome guys hang out with handsome guys.

Yup, she should be friendly with Max, so that she ends up in these kinds of situations more often.

Her brain was spinning while thinking how to take a photo of this lunch. No one will believe her otherwise… but then, even with the photo, they might think she used some image manipulation software because there is no natural explanation for all this handsomeness available at the table.

Who cares if others believe her? She needs a memory of this moment, damnit!

…

Hunter and Mia looked at the tower of food in front of them with eyes full of stars while saliva pooled in their mouths, threatening to spill out into drool. It is literally a tower: a five-tiered serving dish which rotates around the rod in the middle, each of five levels is heaping with yummy goodness.

Both Hunter and Mia looked at their own tower of food and smacked their lips at the same time. They glanced at one another for a second before digging into food which tasted just as good as it looks.

…

Chris was working on his salmon wrapped in chicken and bacon while coming up with thousand ways to torture this frustrating man Liz calls Max.

He tried talking to Liz more than once, but Max always cuts him off.

Chris regretted that he agreed to add more people to the reservation. How wonderful this lunch would be if not for this annoying fly called Maximilian Anderson?

Chris can see that Liz is not interested in this Max person romantically, but why is she smiling at him? And how is it possible that Max knows so much about Liz and her habits? What is their relationship? They can't be too close, Liz never mentioned him before. But maybe they are dating and Liz only keeps her private life outside work? Ah, if he made his intentions clear, then she would tell him if she is dating someone or not and this awkward situation would be avoided.

But, so what if Liz is dating this Max? Is she married? Nothing is permanent... not even a marriage.

Will Chris allow Max to snatch Liz away from him? Thinking that after two years he finally got a chance to get close to this amazing woman… there is NO WAY he is giving up.

This Max person must have some weakness. Something that can be used against him.

Chris stopped chewing and pressed his lips into a thin line while thinking, 'Maximilian Anderson… sounds familiar…'.

He took his phone and started browsing under the table. Today, everything can be found online.

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