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windows, but Kevin didn’t care. He had enjoyed watching other men give his girl
appreciative glances, knowing at the end of the day, her heart belonged to him.
Except it didn’t anymore. If it ever really had. He watched as Jimmy Stewart
realized the woman he had fallen in love with now didn’t even know his name. Kevin
had seen this movie dozens of times. Stewart would decide to go back to his life, to pick
up the pieces and move on with the woman he loved at his side.
But what if Kevin decided differently? After a few initial tries, Pam had made it
quite clear she wasn’t going to put up with any of “that bondage stuff” Kevin enjoyed.
At the time, although disappointed, Kevin put it aside, thinking it was a worthy
sacrifice for love.
Then he’d tied up Anna. The memory made him grin like a fool. While the incident
hadn’t been a sexual encounter, he couldn’t forget the look of her clothed body bound
in his ropes, or the fire that spit from her eyes…fire that wasn’t always angry. He could
swear she enjoyed it.
And the dinner at her parents’ house later. Anna had been the perfect hostess,
smoothing over things with her parents and ignoring Pam’s jibes. The more he’d
thought about that dinner over the past week, the more irritated at Pam he’d become.
She had treated him like crap, but he hadn’t had the option of leaving.
The TV droned on, but Kevin didn’t even notice it. Anna had treated him with
respect, even when she had been spitting nails at him. She had shown herself to be
above all Pam’s ludicrous posturing. She had invited him out with her friends, and he’d
found he liked being with her. And above all, she hadn’t called the cops when he’d
kidnapped her. Maybe Tony was right and he was looking at the wrong sister.
47
Diana Hunter
“Nah, Anna doesn’t want me. She has lots of friends and isn’t looking for a
boyfriend right now.” Kevin wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince, Tony…or
himself.
As if to prove it to himself, he swung past Anna’s on his way home from work the
next day. He’d stop in, see if she wanted to go out to get a bite to eat, perhaps make
love to her and get her out of his system. That’s all he needed to do. Make love to the
woman and move on. Just like in college.
Except Anna had other plans. The look of surprise and consternation on her face
were not exactly what Kevin had hoped for.
“I’m sorry,” she’d replied to his invitation for dinner. “I have a date already.”
Feeling like a fool and now a two-time loser, Kevin stopped at the grocery store,
bought two half-gallons of chocolate fudge ripple, took them home, ate his way through
three-quarters of a gallon of ice cream while watching a basketball game, and finally
went to bed.
By Christmas Eve, the early December snow was nothing but a memory. The rain of
the past two days had seen to any leftover piles at the ends of driveways, although a
few car-high mounds remained in the corners of the mall parking lot. Skirting around
the end of one of those black-crusted reminders of the season, Kevin searched for a
parking space. He’d already dropped Tony off at the airport for his flight to New York
and his big family reunion, listening again to Tony’s advice to find a good woman and
sleep away the holiday with her. Feeling restless and having nothing better to do, Kevin
had decided to go to the one place he knew would be bustling with holiday spirit—the
mall.
He wedged his car into a spot made for a much smaller vehicle and decided it was
the best he was going to get today. Making himself as skinny as possible, he slipped
between the car and the snow pile and headed for the food court. Substituting food for
48
A Devil in Winter
companionship wasn’t a habit he intended to cultivate, but it was the only way he was
going to make it through the next couple of days. Deliberately, he pushed thoughts of
his traitorous family from his mind.
The rows of fast-food restaurants were packed with shoppers taking a quick break.
He paused to scan the crowd. Holiday spirit sounded out in the calls to friends, the bells
outside the doors, the carols coming from the carousel. Banners of red and green,
weighted with golden tassels hung from the skylights. Kevin felt his shoulders relax.
How could one stay stressed with so much good cheer in the air?
“Kevin! Hey, Kevin! Over here!”
A hand waved frantically from one of the tables. He headed toward it, unsure who
it belonged to and hoping it was someone he wouldn’t mind meeting in the mood he
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