"Peter, I can't, I'm really bu..."<br/><br/>"busy?  That's alright, I'm giving you the week off, come with me, Paris is fantastic at this time of the year."<br/><br/>"Peter, I have work and besides..."<br/><br/>Stella was miserable. She really liked Peter Guthrie, he was, even though richer than Kroesus, actually a really nice person. But he didn't understand the word 'No', or was that maybe his reason for success? At any rate, somehow she had to make him understand.<br/><br/>"Is it Anton?"<br/><br/>Stella actually held the phone away from her ear for a moment and stared at it, dumbfounded.<br/><br/>"Are you spying on me?"<br/><br/>"Well, that actually sounds way worse than it is, Stella, in everything I do, I research the possible obstacles and competition, and in this case he's both, please don't be mad."<br/><br/>"Peter, I'm not some acquisition! " Stella didn't know whether to laugh or be angry.  This was so Peter.<br/><br/>"I realize that, I do, it's how I run everything in my life."<br/><br/>"Peter, I am not something to be run, and yes, it is Anton. We're trying to see if that certain something we feel between us, might turn into something bigger."<br/><br/>"Did you sleep with him?"<br/><br/>How red can redheads get?<br/><br/>"Peter!" All of Stella's embarrassment and outrage was in that one single word. "That's none of your business!"<br/><br/>"Ah, so no actually. Good. Because, if you had, I'd invite you to my bed, because, darling, I am sure I'm much better!" Stella could hear the laughter in his voice, and as outraged as she was, she had to laugh.<br/><br/>"You're incorrigible."<br/><br/>"No, I am determined, Stella, and I want to be yours!"<br/><br/>Stella stared at the phone for a third time.<br/><br/>"Good Night, Peter."<br/><br/>"Good Night woman of my dreams."<br/><br/>She heard the click on the other line, and flopped back on her sofa. She was sitting in the dark, had actually fallen asleep after a long day at the symphony, and Peter's call had awakened her.<br/><br/>His words, 'I want to be yours' had stunned her. Didn't men generally say 'I want you to be mine', and thereby claim a woman?  Here was one of the richest, most successful businessmen in the USA and he wanted to be hers. And then there was Anton, lover of fiery foods and felines, of obscure music and fast cars, rescuer of damsels in distress, or at least women who were dumping abusive boyfriends.<br/><br/>hmmmm, sex, she didn't remember when she had last had sex with something other than a girls best friend, now rechargable from a USB port.<br/><br/>Why was life so complicated? Why had Peter not appeared in her life several months sooner? Before she, before.... well, before Anton? In a perfect world Evangeline and little baby boy would be happily alive, slightly noisy neighbors downstairs, and Peter would be travelling with Stella all over the globe. But Evangeline had died, and Stella had fallen for her husband, who clearly had a hard time deciding what he wanted. Not that she could. She loved the attention she was getting from Peter, but felt uncertain whether that attention would stay once he had 'acquired' her.  And was she really someone who would be happy in 'high' society? She knew the types, met them at several events the Symphony put out every year and didn't have the highest opinion of most of them. Except for a few like Louisa Vanderhorst, who was old money, and a complete darling with her conspiratorial smiles.<br/><br/>Stella reached for her phone about to type a message for Peter but then set it down again.  She had sent her available dates to Anton earlier that evening, and he had responded that he would let her know about the cabin by the lake. It was late Summer and they only had a few warm weeks left.