The Sexy Devil

6

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.

“You could say we’re having a…relationship?”

“Yes, you could say that,” Max replied.

“Would you say that?”

He nodded. “Yes, I would say we’re having a relationship. It’s a little weird at times, but it’s interesting.”

Angela sank back into the leather seat and smiled. “All right.”

He reached across and slipped his hand around her nape, furrowing his fingers in her hair. “Feeling better?”

“Absolutely,” she said. “I’m glad we got that cleared up.”

“THIS IS AMAZING,” she murmured. “It’s so beautiful. And quiet. It’s hard to believe Chicago is only four hours away.”

Max handed Angela a glass of wine, then drew her over to one of the Adirondack chairs on the porch. “Sit,” he said.

She shook her head. “No. Let’s walk down to the lake. We can sit on the pier.”

“All right,” he said. He laced his fingers through hers and they strolled down the steps to the dirt path that led to the water. “I haven’t spent much time up here since I bought the place six years ago. My brothers come up and fish a few times each summer. And my sister brings her kids up, but the place is closed most of the time.”

She drew a deep breath. “I love the smell. The trees and the lake.”

“You act like you’ve never been on vacation,” he said.

“I haven’t,” Angela said. “I’ve traveled for business. And I spent the usual semester abroad. But, until recently, I didn’t have the money for a real vacation.”

“You’ve never gone on vacation with your family?”

She shook her head. “Not a relaxing vacation. When my family vacationed, it was always a teaching opportunity. We visited museums and historical sites. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been to Washington, D.C. We never just sat on a beach and relaxed. My parents believed that sitting around was a waste of time.”

“We had the best vacations when I was a kid,” Max said. “We’d all pile into the family van and we’d just go. Four kids, my parents, and the dog. We’d camp and hike and cook over a open fire and spend as much time as we could outside.”

“Sounds nice. There were times when I seriously wondered if I’d been adopted. I never fit in with my family. My two sisters and I are so different.”

“How?” he asked.

They sat down at the end of the pier and stared out at the setting sun. “They were so focused in everything. From the moment they exited the womb, they had a plan. My parents were so proud.”

“They weren’t proud of you?”

Angela laughed. “Sure. But my parents never really knew who I was. I pretended to be one thing for them, but inside I was different. I was a dreamer. I lived in my own little world. When I was a kid, I didn’t have just one imaginary friend, I had a whole roomful of them. An alternate family, with brothers who took me horseback riding and sisters who loved to play dress-up.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“My parents and sisters don’t have any imagination. I used to think my name was magical and that’s why I was so different. I was like an angel. My sisters are Susan and Mary. Very practical names. But my name was…romantic.”

“I like your name. You look like an angel.”

Angela laughed, remembering his attempts the night they met. “And you are so full of it, I can barely tolerate you,” she teased.

“You don’t take compliments well at all.”

“I’m not used to them. My parents never complimented us. We were expected to be confident and self-possessed. We weren’t supposed to need coddling.” She paused. “I love my parents, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I think I could do a better job raising a child.”

“I think you’re perfect just the way you are,” he said. “And if you ever need me to tell you that, you just speak up.” Max kissed the end of her nose. “Do you want to go for a swim?”

Angela shook her head. “I’m hungry. Maybe we can make some dinner first?”

Max stood up and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet. As they walked up the rise to the cabin, he lagged behind her, taking in the view. “You have a very lovely ass, too,” he said.

She turned and looked at him, a bemused smile curling her lips. “Don’t think that’s going to get you anywhere, buddy,” she said.

He caught up with her, grabbed her around the waist and tossed her over his shoulder. “We’ll see about that,” he said.

When they reached the house, it only took them a few seconds to strip off the clothes they wore. Max lifted her up on the kitchen island, his lips wandering over her body. She was perfect, every inch of her a delicious revelation.

This was exactly how he imagined weekends at the lake. A little wine, a little conversation and a lot of sex. He’d just never found the right companion, until now.

“I’ll bring the cooler in. It’s too heavy for you!”

The sound of his brother’s voice shocked Max out of his haze of passion. Angela jumped, then quickly slid down beside Max. A moment later, the screen door opened and Dave and his family bustled inside.

A tiny scream burst from Angela’s throat and Max cursed beneath his breath. They both dropped down to the floor, their heads poking above the countertop. “Ah, Dave?”

His brother glanced over into the kitchen, then stopped. The kids and Lauren ran into him from behind. “Max? There you are. We saw the car. What are you doing up here?”

“I could ask you the same.”

“We thought we’d come up for a few days. Lauren doesn’t have to work on Monday and Tuesday, so we wanted to take a long weekend. I thought I told you.”

“Why is Uncle Max hiding?” six-year-old Brittany asked. “Can I play, too?”

“If you don’t want your kids to get an eyeful, I think you’d better take them outside,” Max warned.

“Everybody out.” Dave and Lauren quickly hustled back out the door and a moment later, the cabin was silent.

“Oh, no,” Angela moaned. “This is not the way I imagined meeting your family.”

He turned to her. “You’ve imagined meeting my family?”

“No! I was speaking generically. Do you think they saw anything?”

“No. But I’m pretty sure Dave and Lauren have a good idea what was going on. And it wasn’t hide and seek.”

“Go get my clothes,” she whispered. “I’m staying right here.”

Max hurried out to the living room and gathered everything up in his arms, then returned to the kitchen. The clothes went on more quickly than they’d come off and when they were both fully dressed, he grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door.

“Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

Angela dug in her heels. “No. I don’t want to meet them. Not right now.”

“They’ll be fine.”

When Max got to the door, he pushed it open.

Angela shook her head, but followed him, stepping outside. The kids were already down at the lake with Lauren and Dave was sitting on the porch steps. He stood when he saw Angela.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” he said, holding out his hand.

“I’m Dave, Max’s very rude older brother.”

“This is Angela,” Max said.

“Weatherly?” Dave asked.

“Weatherby,” she said. She glanced at Max, a questioning look in her eyes.

“Dave helped me track you down after you gave me that bogus phone number. You really made an impression on him.”

“I’m going down to the lake and introduce my self to your wife and children,” Angela said. She walked down the steps and followed the path across the lawn.

“I didn’t see anything,” Dave called to her. “I swear.”

Max jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow. “Don’t make it worse than it already is.”

“I lied,” Dave muttered. “I got an eyeful. But don’t tell her that. And for God’s sake, don’t tell Lauren. By the way, that girl has got a nice body. She’s the first naked woman I’ve seen since I’ve been married. I mean, except for pictures in magazines. And porn.”

“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.”

He stared across the table at her, his spoon poised in midair. “Which suburb? There are so many.”

She glanced up at him, trying to read the odd expression on his face. Did she really want to spoil this wonderful weekend with a fight? “Does it make a difference?”

“Yes,” he said. “I think it does. This is my last question, Angie. The one I was saving?”

Angela took a ragged breath. He knew the answer already, she could see it in his eyes. Somewhere along the line, he recognized her, remembered her or simply figured out she was hiding something. “You know, don’t you? You know exactly where I grew up.”

Max nodded. “Yeah. I do. You’re from Evanston.

We went to high school together. And college, at least for the two years I was there. And you know that next Saturday we’re supposed to meet at a barbecue?”

Angela nodded. “At your parents’ house. Your mother and my mother are tennis partners. My mother called me the day after we’d met to invite me.”

“A little strange, isn’t it?”

A tiny smile curved the corners of her mouth. “But you don’t remember me, do you. Don’t worry, I wasn’t very memorable. I blended into the walls.”

He stood up and they started their walk back to the cabin, still eating ice cream as they strolled. “Why didn’t you mention this when we met?” Max asked. “Why weren’t you just honest with me?”

She sent him a sideways glance, wondering how honest she ought to be. There was a bit more to her story than just a high school crush. “Maybe I wanted you to think I was beautiful and alluring and a little bit mysterious. Maybe I didn’t want you to remember the plain, nervous girl I used to be.”

“I wouldn’t have remembered that girl. We’d never met.”

“But we have,” Angela said. “A number of times.”

“When?”

“You bumped into me during freshman orientation for high school. You said sorry, and then walked away. And once, I handed you a book you’d dropped in the library. And you sat in front of me for a whole semester in physics class.”

“That’s it?”

She shook her head. “I once interviewed you for the college newspaper. It was right after they started scouting you for the pros. You’d just done that calendar for the athletic scholarship fund.”

“Oh, my God, that’s it,” Max said. “That’s where I knew you from.” He reached out and pulled her into his arms. “When I saw you at the bar that night, I felt as if we’d met before, but I couldn’t remember when. That was it.”

“There was one other time. A few years ago. I was at a sports bar in Evanston, waiting for a table and you were there. And…you looked at me. Across the bar.”

An odd expression, and then one of slow realization crossed his face. “I remember that. I remember how I felt when you looked away. There had been this connection and it shocked me. I’d never had that happen before. Not since then, either.” He paused. “That was you?”

“That was me,” she said.

“I should have introduced myself. I was tempted, but I was with-”

“Another woman,” she said. “Several, I think.”

“My sister,” he said. “I think Lauren and Dave were there, too. It was around Christmas and I was home for the holidays.”

“It’s probably better you didn’t come over. I would have babbled something stupid and you would have walked away wondering who’d let me out of the asylum for the night. I would have been that stupid, silly girl who watched your every move and went home at night dreaming about kissing you.”

“What?”

Now that she had the opening, Angela didn’t want to stop. It was time to tell him everything. Or almost everything. “You might as well know the rest of the story. I had a crush on you in high school. And in college. In fact, that’s why I went to Northwestern. I was supposed to go to Sarah Lawrence, but when I heard you were going to Northwestern instead of straight into the minors, I followed you there. I know, it sounds pathetic, and it really was.”

Max stared at her, his gaze fixing on her mouth. She wanted him to kiss her right then, to reassure her that nothing had changed between them, to put a stop to her clumsy explanations. In all the moments they’d shared over the past week, she’d never felt quite so vulnerable. “A crush?”

“I suppose this changes everything,” Angela said, her voice trembling with emotion. “I’m not the person you thought I was. I’m not exciting or interesting or even the tiniest bit mysterious. I’m just a girl from your hometown who was once hopelessly infatuated with you.”

“How long did the crush last?”

“I don’t know. Six years. Then you went into the minors and I decided to move on.”

“So, you were in love with me and I was just going about my life without ever knowing you had these feelings? You were watching me and dreaming about me and hoping I’d talk to you and-”

“You can stop now,” Angela said. “I’m going to crawl off into the woods and die.” Now that she’d completely humiliated herself, she needed the conversation to move to a new subject. “This is really good ice cream. The sign said it was custard. What’s the difference between ice cream and custard? I never could figure that out.”

“And that night, in the bar, when we met,” Max continued. “That was it. That was probably the last chance for us. If I hadn’t come over to talk to you, you would have left and we never would have met.”

“Well, there’s always your parents’ barbecue,” she said.

“I would have found an excuse not to go,” Max replied.

He seemed a bit stunned by her revelation, by the series of coincidences that had brought them together. Angela knew she ought to continue, to tell him about the Web site and the interview for the book, but he’d already been given too much to absorb. Maybe tomorrow.

Max drew a deep breath, then nodded. “I guess we were lucky.”

“How is that?”

“I was lucky. To have finally recognized what I’d been missing all those years.”

A blush warmed her cheeks. He didn’t seem angry, or offended, or deceived, just…bewildered. A bit amazed. “You’re not angry that I wasn’t honest from the start?”

Max shook his head. “Nope. Hey, I know I have a reputation. Maybe if you’d admitted everything up front, I might not have been…intrigued. But you have me now. And you’re stuck with me.”

Tears swam in Angela’s eyes. “Really? You’re not going to dump me because I’m Angela Weatherby, former Evanston High School wallflower.”

Max hooked his finger beneath her chin and drew her closer, then dropped a kiss on her lips. “As long as you don’t drop me because I’m Max Morgan, former jackass and serial seducer from Evanston High School.”

“Deal,” she said.

“So I guess we’ve told all our secrets and we’re officially in a relationship,” Max said.

She swallowed hard. “I guess so.”

Max dipped his spoon into her ice cream. “You know that means that we can share our ice cream. Can I have some of your strawberry?”

Right now, Max could have anything he wanted, Angela mused. Her heart, her soul, her body. Everything she wanted to believe about him was proving true. He was kind and honest and romantic. And she was falling in love with him all over again.