didn’t want to ruin things between us. It was so humiliating,” Angela said. “I couldn’t have made what I wanted any clearer if I’d sent him an engraved invitation. Angela Weatherby cordially invites you to rip her clothes off, ravage her body and leave her gasping for more.”
Angela and Ceci paused and waited to cross the street, the morning rush hour alive around them. Horns honked, brakes squealed and a bus rolled to a stop near the intersection. They walked to work most mornings. Ceci and Will’s flat was only five blocks from Angela’s, so they used the walk to get a bit of exercise before starting the workday.
“It’s better that everything turned out this way. I couldn’t maintain my journalistic integrity after sleeping with him. And, considering his frustration with the press, he wouldn’t be happy to learn that I’m one of the people intruding into his private life.”
“That’s different,” Ceci said. “You’re not seeking these women out. You’re not making up these stories. You’re just giving them a place to vent.”
“I don’t think Max Morgan would see it that way,” Angela countered. She took a deep breath and smiled. “So, I’m going to move on. I’ll revise the chapter, choose a new subject to interview and forget I ever met Max Morgan.”
It was time to put her childish fantasies behind her. After all, in sixteen months, she’d celebrate her thirtieth birthday. How pathetic would it be if she were still carrying a torch for her high school crush?
Although… Angela was certain she hadn’t misread the signals. He’d wanted her as much as she’d wanted him. Something wasn’t right, but she didn’t know him well enough to figure it out.
“It wasn’t like I have some deformity he discovered. Everything was in the right place and it looked good.” She glanced down at her chest. “Maybe it was my boobs. He’s probably used to really big ones.”
“You have nice boobs,” Ceci said. “You didn’t have anything hanging from your nose or stuck in your teeth, did you? ’Cause that can really wreck the mood.”
“No! I looked at myself in the mirror and I thought I looked really good. And I know I was turning him on. I mean, that much was evident. He’s very well-endowed, from what I could see.”
“Really,” Ceci said. “You saw him naked?”
“No. He was wearing those silky basketball shorts with nothing underneath. You could see everything. And I looked-a few times-but I didn’t get a chance to touch.” A shiver skittered down her spine. Just the thought of Max naked was enough to set her heart racing.
This was crazy. She’d gone into this ready to finally put Max Morgan in the past, to prove that all her fantasies were just that, silly dreams about a man who didn’t exist. How was she supposed to stop thinking about him now? She hadn’t slept last night at all and since she’d crawled out of bed, he’d been the only thing on her mind.
“I feel like I’m moving backward. Like I’m going back to that time when he just consumed my life. I’d lay on my bed and make up long, elaborate stories about our dream life together.”
“Stop thinking about him!” Ceci said.
“Easier said than done.”
“So where did you leave it?”
“He asked me out for tonight, but after what happened, I knew he wasn’t going to call. If he was really interested, he wouldn’t have stopped when he did.”
Angela smiled weakly. “And now, I can finally put him behind me, for good.”
If she said it enough times, maybe that would make it true. Except, there were all sorts of beautiful memories she had of their night together. And even though it ended badly, the beginning and middle was pure heaven.
“Maybe it’s better that he did stop. I mean, how would you have felt this morning if you’d slept with him last night?”
“If we’d had sex, it probably would have been in credible. Then when he dumped me, I would have been left a lot angrier than I am now.”
“So what are you going to do if he calls you? What are you going to say?”
“He won’t call,” Angela said. “He can’t. I gave him a bad number.”
Ceci stopped short with a little gasp. “You what?”
“I gave him the number for the Thai place down the block from our office. See, this way, it’s kind of like I dumped him. It’s finally over. I’ve put my obsession with Max Morgan in the past and I can go on with my life.”
“Well, you had one night,” Ceci said in a bright tone. “That’s better than nothing.”
Angela’s cell phone rang and her heart skipped a beat. But when she flipped it open, she noticed her mother’s number. She glanced up at Ceci. “My mother. She wants me to come to Evanston for a barbecue next weekend. One of her tennis ladies is throwing it and I guess she has a son she wants me to meet. We’d be perfect for each other, she says.”
Angela turned the phone on. “Hi, Mom. You’re up early.” She listened patiently as her mother laid out a very logical case for meeting this man, reminding Angela that the prospects for marriage were diminishing with each year that passed. It had always been a point of conflict between the two of them. Her two sisters were already married, but Angela didn’t see anything in their marriages that she envied.
Both of her brothers-in-law were dull, unromantic men who didn’t know half of what Max Morgan did about seducing a woman. If Angela was going to have a man in her life, he was going to be sexy and exciting and fabulous in bed. Otherwise, what was the point?
Angela held her hand over the phone. “Now, we’re moving into the guilt phase. My mother knows exactly how to pull my strings.”
When Kathleen Weatherby set her mind on some thing, there was no changing it. “Just meet him, Angie. He’s a very successful fellow. He’s actually a bit of a celebrity, at least your father thinks so.
He plays baseball. Now I know, you might think he’s some kind of arrested adolescent, but from what his mother tells me, he’s made some very wise investments.”
Angela stopped, grabbing Ceci’s arm. “He plays baseball?”
“Yes. On some team in Florida. What was the name of that team, Jack? The Deviled…Eggs?”
“Devil Rays?” Angela asked. “He plays for the Devil Rays?”
“You know the team? Yes, that’s it. Your dad says it’s the Devil Rays. His name is Max. His mother and I have become such good friends and we just got to talking. He’s single and you’re single and it would be perfect for both of you. It’s a week from this Saturday.
Surely, you can fit it into your schedule.”
“Mom, I really can’t. I have to-”
“You cannot continue to avoid social situations like this.” She paused. “Your sisters are both happily married. Don’t you want that for yourself?”
“Mom, I’m not going to marry a guy just so I can say I’m married. I’m happy. I have my work and-”
“That silly Web site of yours is not a career. You spend your whole day with all those nasty men and when a good one comes along, you won’t even try.”
Angela’s expression must have looked worrisome, because Ceci grabbed her arm. “Just hang up,” she whispered.
“I’ll have to call you back, Mom,” Angela said. “The reception here is really bad. Ceci and I are on our way to the office. I’ll talk to you later.”
Angela hung up the phone, then bent over at her waist, desperately trying to draw her next breath. “You won’t believe this. This is so, so weird. I mean, it’s like, spooky weird.” She looked up at Ceci. “My mother is trying to set me up with Max Morgan.”
Ceci dragged her over to a nearby bench and pulled her down. “Oh, my God. Angie, this is like all the karmic forces in the universe have finally converged. I was reading about this at that New Age bookstore on Damen. You can’t mess with this. No matter what happens, you and Max are destined to be together.”
Angela stood up. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, starting back down the street. “It’s a coincidence. Don’t forget, we grew up in the same town, went to the same high school. Our parents live ten blocks away from each other. They belong to the same tennis club. They’d have met sooner or later. It just happened later.”
She picked up her pace. The quicker she got to the office the better. She needed to get back into her routine, work hard and put all thoughts of Max out of her head. As they approached the office, Ceci grabbed her arm again, but this time, she pulled her behind a bus shelter.
“What are you doing?” Angela asked, twisting out of her grasp.
