Kate Hoffmann - The Sexy Devil

“If you don’t shut up right now, I’m going to kick the shit out of you,” Max warned.

“Okay,” Dave said. “I just never thought you’d be up here. When we saw the car, I figured we’d have a nice family weekend.”

“I do own the place,” Max said. “Is it so difficult to believe that I might want a little privacy?”

“Of course not. But I just assumed you’d be in the city.” He picked up a football from the pile of toys he’d brought along and tossed it up in the air. “Hey, go out for a pass.”

“I’m not in the mood,” Max said. He had been in the mood for sex until a few minutes ago. The interruption had made things a bit uncomfortable for the moment.

“Come on,” Dave said. “Don’t be a pussy. I’ll take it easy on you. You won’t hurt yourself.”

Max trotted across the lawn for twenty yards, then caught a perfect spiral from his older brother. Though Max had played football throughout high school and his first year of college, he’d never liked it as much as baseball. He did remember how to catch a ball, though. “Nice,” he called.

“Throw it back,” Dave said.

Without thinking, Max heaved a pass, then realized he probably shouldn’t be stressing his shoulder outside of his rehab exercises. He rubbed the spot just beyond his collarbone, surprised there’d been no pain.

“You all right?” Dave called.

“I’m fine.” Frowning, he walked over to his brother. “It didn’t hurt. In fact, it felt good. Strong. It hurts when I wake up in the morning, but after I warm up, it feels pretty good.”

“What did the team doctors say?”

“They did an MRI and a few other tests. They said it’s healed and I can start to throw again. I just have to start real easy.”

“Hey, that’s great,” Dave said, clapping him on his back.

“Yeah,” Max murmured.

“You don’t sound thrilled. How come?”

He shrugged. “I guess I just assumed it wouldn’t come back, that I wouldn’t have to make a decision about going back. That the decision would be made for me. But now they’re saying I could start training with the team again mid-July if everything goes well.”

His stolen summer would be over before it really began. He’d have another month with Angela and then they’d go their separate ways, at least until the end of the baseball season.

Max grabbed the football and started toward the water. When he’d come to Chicago for rehab, he’d mentally moved on with his life. Once he’d met Angela, a future without baseball seem even more attractive.

He sat down at the edge of the water. A moment later, Dave joined him. “You want to tell me what this is all about? I thought you were determined to get back in the game.”

“I was. Not so much anymore.”

“Is it the girl?”

“Her name is Angela. And she’s not just one of my girls. She’s different.”

“I can see that. But you say that about every girl you date.”

Max cursed beneath his breath. “This time, I mean it. I can see myself with her…for a long time. Maybe even married to her.”

“What do you know about her? You’ve been together, what? A week? Maybe you ought to check her out before you fall in love,” Dave suggested.

“What do you mean? Like, hire a private investigator?”

“It couldn’t hurt, Max. You’ve got a lot of money.

You need to make sure she’s interested in you for the right reasons.”

“You never suggested this with any of the other girls I dated.”

“Because those relationships were doomed from the start. But you really seem to like this girl.”

“Woman,” Max insisted. “She’s not a girl, she’s a woman.”

“I can arrange for it,” Dave said. “I work with a firm that does background checks on our bartenders. It’s a simple process.”

Max shoved the football into Dave’s lap and stood up. “Nope, there’s no need. I’ve got everything under control.”

He walked along the pier toward Angela. Everything wasn’t under control. There were still a lot of questions that needed to be answered. And he was running out of patience.

ANGELA PICKED A CARD, then showed it to the two girls. “Blue,” she said. She moved her Candyland marker to the next blue square. “I’m winning. You better watch out.”

Brittany grabbed the next card. “No, it’s my turn,” Bethany cried.

“She’s right,” Angela said. She glanced over at Max and he smiled at her, then cocked his head toward the door. Angela nodded and a moment later, Max squatted down next to the coffee table. “I’m going to steal Angela away for a little while,” he said. He held out his hand and pulled her to her feet. “Come on. We’re going for ice cream.”

“Me, too!” Bethany cried, scrambling to her feet.

“Take us. We wanna go,” Brittany added.

“No, it’s late,” Max said. “And it’s almost bedtime for you two. We’ll go tomorrow, I promise. But tonight, Angela and I want to go by ourselves.”

“I bet they’re going to get naked again,” Brittany whispered as she and Bethany walked off.

“Mama says they weren’t naked. They had their swimsuits on.”

As they stepped outside, Max slipped his arm around her shoulders. “We may have scarred them for life.” When they got up to the driveway, Dave’s SUV was parked behind the BMW. Max pulled her along to the road. “We’ll walk into town. It’s only a mile. And it’s a nice night.”

The winding road through the woods was quiet, with only the occasional rabbit or squirrel to interrupt the silence. “My family used to come up here when we were kids. We’d rent a place on the other side of the lake. It was just a small cabin. My folks would stay inside and we’d get to sleep in tents. I tried to buy the place when I was looking, but the family that owned it didn’t want to sell.”

“This place is nice,” she said.

“I remember how much fun it was up here, the freedom we had. My folks would go to bed early and we’d be out until all hours of the night, prowling around in the woods, playing in the water, walking into town.”

As they approached town, the sky grew a bit brighter from the lights. The ice cream stand was a beacon in the dark, neon outlining the facade. The parking lot was crowded with cars and kids. “We came here for ice cream almost every day. Back then a cone was just fifty cents. The place hasn’t changed at all. What do you want-cone or bowl?”

“Bowl,” Angela said.

“Chocolate, vanilla or strawberry?”

“Strawberry,” Angela said. “With just a tiny bit of chocolate on the side.”

Max nodded. “I learn something new every day.

I would have pegged you for a pure chocolate girl.”

He walked up to the window and placed their order.

A few moments later, he returned and they found a seat at a table beneath a tall maple tree.

“This is nice,” she said, licking a bit of ice cream off her spoon.

“It’s nice to be alone again. I feel like we haven’t been able to talk all evening. I’m sorry about Dave and the kids showing up,” Max said. “I had no idea they’d be here.”

“It’s not a problem. I kind of like it. It’s a real family vacation. Lauren was saying that she was happy to see you using the place. She said the family likes having you around.”

“Tell me more about your family,” he said. “Where did you grow up?”

The question seemed to come out of nowhere and Angela coughed, a blob of ice cream catching in her throat. Suddenly, a blinding headache pierced her temple. “Ow,” she said. “Brain freeze.”

Her discomfort distracted him for a moment and Max reached out and rubbed her forehead. “Just breathe real deep,” he said.

When the ache subsided, she took another bite of her ice cream, letting it melt in her mouth. “Around Chicago. The suburbs.”