Meet her.
The idea of seeing this perfect creature in the flesh sent his heart racing. He’d been able to open up to her in a way he never had before. The anonymity made it easier, but that didn’t explain the pure connection he felt with this woman. All the warning bells shot off in his head. What if she was taller than him? What if she was fifty years old? What if she was crazy? He didn’t care if she wasn’t as beautiful as Macie. He didn’t care if she was older. And she had to be a little crazy to meet some random guy in person. No, focusing on the positive served him better than focusing on the negative.
Dinner. He needed to eat. Zac turned his attention to cutting up vegetables and chicken then stir-frying them in a sweet teriyaki. He spooned the chicken over rice, savoring the smell. Sitting at the table, he realized it was quiet. Too quiet. The silence left him room to think and that was not what he wanted to do. His mind kept replaying the night before. As much as he wanted to focus on the upcoming meeting with his mystery girl, he couldn’t stop thinking about Macie. Her hands over his skin, her tongue dancing with his. The way her body fit against him. The way she moaned his name. It had been more than sex for her, and if he was honest, it meant more to him, too.
He just couldn’t let go of the girl who’d captured his mind over the last several months. It wasn’t fair to Macie. It wasn’t fair to the mystery girl. It wasn’t fair to him, either. He kept going through the vicious circle, trying and failing to find a solution. There wasn’t one. The only thing he did achieve was killing enough time. He showered quickly, then selected his clothes as slow as a teenage girl on a first date, finally settling on a navy blue button down and khakis. Not too casual, not too formal. It was too business, but that was who Zac was.
The drive to Shaw’s Park took less time than he expected, or maybe that was just nervous energy. He parked with fifteen minutes to spare. Shaw’s Park was north of Lafayette’s sprawling campus and a favorite hangout of students. People could be found jogging on the paths, kayaking in the large man-made lake, or playing a spirited game of disc golf. The gazebo overlooked the lake to the west, giving a perfect view of the sunset. It was where Ford proposed to Lauren last summer during the solstice. That wasn’t lost on him when mystery girl mentioned it, but a lot of people came to the park and the gazebo was a prime spot for romance.
Nobody else was there, fortunately. Zac leaned against the railing, tossing the corn into the lake, and watched the sun drift toward the horizon. Sweat built between his shoulder blades. A hot breeze brought the sweet scent of the nearby rose garden. Zac closed his eyes, enjoying the fresh air and the heat of the sun on his face. Spending sixty hours a week in the office made moments like this more precious.
“You’re early,” an eerily familiar voice said. “I’d wanted to get here first.”
Zac spun around to face the answer to his mystery. When his gaze settled on her perfect features, he fell back against the railing. “You?”
Macie shrugged with a nervous smile on her face. “Me.”
“You,” he said again, trying to grasp this. His heart sped up as he stared at her in an innocent white sundress. She was almost angelic. But this was Macie, not some ethereal being. “You’re her.”
“Or she’s me. Depends on how you want to look at it.” Macie kept her distance, staying at the entrance of the gazebo. “Are you...”
Zac turned away from her. Macie. Fucking Macie. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t how everything played out. Then a thought struck him like lightning. She played him. She played him so easily, so effortlessly. All this time he thought he had fallen in love with this girl online. Then he started to develop feelings for Macie despite how much he denied it. She hadn’t stood him up at Spoons. She. Had. Been. There. She’d known for weeks. He faced her again, the reality of situation falling into perfect place.
“Did you enjoy it?” he asked with pure venom in his voice. Macie stepped back, but she wasn’t getting off that easily. Zac crossed the gazebo, each step raising his anger higher. “Did you enjoy watching me fall for you? Did you enjoy watching me tear myself apart this morning? Did you laugh at me when I left?”
“No,” she whispered. “That’s not—”
“Not what, Chomper?” he yelled. “Not the way you wanted me to react to your grand joke. Well guess what, I don’t find it fucking funny at all.”
“It—”
“And you know the worst part,” he screamed. “I fell for it. I fell for this image you faked online. And I fell for this person you pretended to be. I should’ve known better. I should’ve known you’d stoop so low for revenge. It is a dish best served cold, isn’t it? I finally get that one.”
He pushed by her and headed toward his car. Not once did he look back. Not once did he wonder if she even cared about him. He knew she didn’t. He knew she did this just for her own stupid pleasure. He didn’t even glance her way before he backed his car out of the spot. Anger controlled him as he headed toward the driving range. He paid for unlimited balls and used his nine-iron to sail them as far as they would go.
All this time he’d fallen in love with someone who was incapable of feeling anything but hate.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Macie didn’t know how she got home. She didn’t remember getting back into her wreck of
