“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.
7
MAX PACED BACK AND FORTH in front of the fireplace. The night was warm and all the windows in the cabin had been thrown open to catch the breeze. Outside, the trees rustled and he could hear the gentle lap of water on the shore.
He loved nights like this, when everything was so still. He glanced over at the rack that held a selection of fishing poles. He could sit on the end of the pier and fish, but Max suspected that it wouldn’t put thoughts of Angela out of his head. They’d be leaving for Chicago in the morning and he wanted to share this place with her, to show her what her life might be like with him in it.
Instead, they’d been sent off to separate bedrooms, for the sake of the children. Angela was in one room with Brit and Beth while he’d been given another room with Davey, his three-year-old nephew. Of course, Dave and Lauren took the big bedroom, with the comfortable bed, the bed Max should have been sharing with Angela.
Max opened the closet and pulled out a pair of sleeping bags and set them next to the door. If they couldn’t sleep together inside the cabin, then they’d sleep together outside.
He walked down to the pier and tossed the sleeping bags into the boat, then jumped down into the cockpit. The aft seat folded out into a comfortable lounge, almost as wide a bed. He unzipped the sleeping bags and laid them out, then surveyed his work in the pale moonlight. It wasn’t the Ritz, but it was certainly better than what they’d been given.
If Max had had his way, they would have driven back to Chicago as soon as Dave and Lauren arrived with the kids. But Angela had insisted on staying and she seemed to enjoy the time with his family, even if it meant playing endless games of Chutes and Ladders and Candyland with the girls.
Now that they were officially in a relationship, family would probably become part of the picture and strangely enough, Max didn’t mind. He hadn’t introduced a girl to his family since his senior prom date in high school, but he felt reasonably certain that Angela would be in his life for more than just a few months.
As he walked back up to the cabin, he contemplated the possibility that he’d met the girl he was going to marry. Max had always thought once he found her, everything would fall into place. He never considered that he might have to convince her to take a chance on him.
When he walked back inside, he headed for her bedroom. Max knocked on the knotty pine planks, but the knock was met with silence. Was she already asleep? He knocked a bit louder and a moment later the door opened. She looked at him through sleepy eyes. “What are you doing? You’re going to wake the girls,” she whispered.
“What are you doing?” Max asked, his gaze taking in her pretty face and tumbled hair.
“Trying to sleep,” she said. “But it’s impossible. They keep wriggling around every time I close my eyes. They’re all arms and legs. Between the lumpy mattress and their elbows and knees, I feel like I’m being assaulted.”
“If you come and sleep with me, I’ll be much nicer,” he said.
She peeked out the door. “Where are we going to sleep? On the floor?”
“Come on. Come with me.” He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her along through the dark cabin. When they reached the door, he pulled her into his embrace and they stumbled out onto the porch, caught in a desperate kiss.
He furrowed his hands through her hair and molded her mouth to his. It had been at least two hours since he’d last kissed her. “I don’t like sleeping alone.”
“You weren’t alone.”
“I didn’t have you there. That’s alone.”
“Where are we going?”
The moon was nearly full, lighting the way for part of their escape, before disappearing behind a cloud. Though the air was still warm, there was a damp breeze coming off the lake. Angela shivered and Max slipped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.
They hurried down to the pier, then laughing softly, stripped off their clothes and jumped in the water. Though the air was chilly, the water was warm.
Max stood on the sandy bottom, his arms wrapped around her naked body, his face nuzzled into the curve of her neck. “Someday, I’m going to steal you away to a deserted island. Just you and me. No one else.”
“Why?”
“I just want to see what it would be like to be completely alone with you,” he said. “With no distractions or interruptions.”
“We’re alone now,” she said.
Max looked out across the lake. In the distance, a light from a motorboat was visible, slowly skimming across the water. He furrowed his hands through her hair and pulled her into a fierce kiss. “Do you know how difficult it is being around you without touching you?” he asked, sliding his hand over her breast. “I like being able to do this whenever I want.”
Angela sighed softly. “I like it, too. I like falling asleep with you and waking up with you. And swimming naked with you.”
His lips found her breast and he teased her nipple to a peak. She shivered and he pulled her closer. “The very first time I kissed a girl, I was sitting on a pier on the other side of the this lake.” Max pointed to a light across the water. “The white light to the left of the blue one. We met on that pier and I kissed her.”
“So this is where it all began?” Angela asked.
“I guess you could say that. God, I was so nervous I thought I was going to throw up. I didn’t know what to do with my hands. I wasn’t sure where to put them.”
“I see you’ve figured that out,” she teased.
“I remember how exciting it was. My heart was pounding so hard, I thought it would burst out of my chest.” He kissed her again. “Kind of like now.”
“I was a junior in college before I got my first kiss,” Angela admitted.
