Kate Hoffmann - The Sexy Devil

ANGELA SAT AT HER DESK and stared at her computer screen. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t seem to concentrate on work. Max had been gone for two whole days. He’d called a few times, but their phone conversations had been stilted and short, like two strangers trying to find something interesting to say to each other.

He hadn’t been sure when he was going to get back and though she’d been anxious to see him again, she didn’t want to press him on the matter. She’d tried her very best not to want him too much, but the effort was taking a toll on her heart and her body.

“Look at this,” Ceci said. “Someone posted another comment on Max. SunkissedGrl goes into great detail about how he charmed her, then never called her again.”

“It didn’t take him long,” Angela said.

“You don’t think he went out with this girl this weekend?” Ceci said.

“He could have,” Angela said. “How do I know what he’s been doing? He could be having an orgy down in Florida for all I know.”

“Angie, you need to accept the fact that this guy might really like you. You can’t automatically think the worst of him.”

“Why not? What makes me different from all those other girls? He’s here in Chicago for the summer. Obviously, he wants to find someone to…seduce. Why not me? I was handy, willing.” Angela moaned, burying her face in her hands. “And stupid. I was stupid.”

Ceci reached out and rubbed her arm. “No, you weren’t. You just led with your heart instead of your brain.”

“And now, I’m falling in love with him. After just a few days together. I try to stop these feelings but I can’t. It’s like I’m sitting on the Metro tracks and there’s a big train coming and I can’t move. All I can do is wait for the impact.”

“There’s nothing wrong with falling in love,” Ceci said. “Sometimes you have to take a risk.”

“But don’t you see how ridiculous this is. I’m doomed to fail, yet I can’t help myself. When he finds out about the Web site, he’ll hate me. When he finds out we went to high school and college together, he’ll mistrust me. And when he finds out I’m falling in love with him, he’ll run away as fast as he can.”

“You don’t know that. He may be the exception.”

“Stop saying that!”

“You just assume everything will fall apart,”

Ceci said.

“It’s much easier than thinking about a real future with Max.” She paused. “I can’t believe I just said those two words in the same sentence. Max. Future.

Sometimes this does seem like a dream.”

“It’s real. I was at the ballgame. He was there. In the flesh.”

A shiver skittered down Angela’s spine. Putting the words Max and flesh together created a brand new flood of sensation. “I can’t think about him right now,” she said. “It’s making my brain hurt.”

Angela picked up her cell phone. She’d checked it at least a hundred times already that day. “Stop it,” she scolded. “I feel like some silly teenager. I was this silly teenager, mooning over him, wondering where he was and what he was doing every minute of the day.” She stood up. “I have to go home.”

“We could get some lunch. Eating always takes your mind off your worries.”

Angela shook her head. “No, I’m not hungry.

Maybe I need a nap. I haven’t really been sleeping the last few nights.”

“Nothing to tire you out?” Ceci asked.

“Right.” Angela forced a smile. She grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow is Sunday. Will and I were going to drive out to-”

“Sunday,” Angela said. “I knew that. Monday, then.”

She stepped out into the heat of a Chicago summer day, the street busy and the sidewalk crowded with pedestrians. Angela walked to work most days and had done it so many times that she could find her way home with her eyes closed.

She stopped at the grocery store and picked up a deli container of chicken pasta salad. At the last minute, she bought a bottle of wine. Maybe a few drinks would put her mind at rest and allow her to sleep.

Angela walked home slowly, her thoughts focused on Max. She’d been thinking about him all day, waiting for him to call, wondering why he hadn’t. Of course, she could have called him. There wasn’t anything improper in that. They were sleeping together. The rulebook had been burned the moment they tore off their clothes and jumped into bed together.

She reached into her bag and searched around for her cell phone, then checked again to see if she had any messages. “What does this mean?” Angela murmured. Was this how it would end? He’d just stop calling and move on to another girl?

As she turned the corner and approached her flat, she noticed a BMW sedan double parked on the street. Angela’s heart skipped a beat. It couldn’t be him. Just wishful thinking. He would have called to tell her he was coming back.

She slowly approached and when she was beside the car, the passenger-side window lowered and Max leaned over the seat, a wide grin on his face. “Get in,” he said.

“You’re back. Why didn’t you call?”

“I did. Three or four times. And I just called the office. Ceci said you were on your way home.”

“You called? I didn’t get any messages.”

“Something’s wrong with your cell phone,” he said. “Come on, let’s go.”

She reached for the door. “Where are we going?”

“Away,” he said.

“How far away?”

“I thought we’d drive up to my cabin and spend a few days,” he said. “It’s not a vacation. Just a long drive with a bed at the other end. And a lake. And a boat.”

This time, Angela wasn’t about to refuse. He’d been gone for two days and she’d barely survived his absence. Another two days apart and she’d be ready for the psych ward. “Shouldn’t I pack some clothes?”

He shook his head. “You won’t need any. And if you do, we’ll buy them on the way.”

Angela stared at him for a long moment. This was exactly what she’d always wanted from a man-excitement, spontaneity, romance. How was it possible to go from the depths of doubt and despair to this, all in the course of a few minutes? This is exactly why people ended up going crazy over love. “You just want to leave, right now?”

“Yeah,” he said, waving her inside. “Let’s get out of the city and have some fun.”

She opened the door, then hopped inside the car. “All right, let’s go.”

Before long they were racing north through the sparse Sunday traffic. Inside the cool interior of the sedan, soft music played beneath their conversation. He was back and it was as if he’d never left. Everything was exactly the same between them.

Yet everything that she’d gone through in the past few days wasn’t that easily forgotten. Angela couldn’t imagine surviving another separation without a better understanding of how he felt about her. She drew a deep breath and turned to him. “What’s going on with us?” she said.

He glanced over at her. “What? We’re going to my cabin.”

“No, I meant, with us. You and me.”

“Oh, no,” he said, shaking his head.

“I just asked a question,” she said. “I mean, we’re dating, I know that. But are we exclusively dating? Would you be angry if I told you I went out with another guy while you were gone?”

“You went out with another guy while I was gone?” he asked, his brow arching in surprise. His jaw twitched and his gaze remained fixed on the road.

“No. Did you go out with another girl?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“So…we’re dating.”

“Exclusively,” he said.