Free ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT? (Running Wild) by Bobby Hutchinson Page A

window, and an attentive waiter lit the candle and asked if they wanted a drink.
    “India? What would you like?" He’d like to skip the damned dinner and drag her upstairs to the room he’d rented. He’d like to strip her naked and . . .
    He’d been without a woman for too long. He should have taken a double dose of saltpeter before leaving home.
    Her smell was making him crazy. What the hell was the matter with him? He had a massive erection, and he hadn't been around her longer than ten minutes, for cripes’ sake. Thank God they were sitting down.
    “Nothing just now, thank you.” Maxine shook her head. 
    “Wine, perhaps?” Harry asked. “White, red?” She looked undecided. “White, please.” Harry glanced at the wine list and ordered, thankful that he’d written some of the press releases for the place and knew which vintages were highly recommended.
    "It’s a nice evening,” Harry began, feeling like a dork. A dork with a very persistent hard-on. "The sunset on English Bay was spectacular tonight. Did you see it?”
    The only reason he had was because Mrs. Campanato had arrived forty minutes early, and Harry was forced to either vacate the house or listen to one of her lectures on child rearing. She was fixated on the fact that Sadie didn’t have enough contact with other kids, and she went on about it until Harry was dizzy.  It seemed her daughter, Rosalie, ran something called Motoring Munchkins at the community center, not ten minutes' drive from Harry’s door.
    Mrs. Campanato was on a mission to get Sadie enrolled, and Harry suspected it had more to do with Rosalie's recent divorce than with Sadie’s social development.
    Mrs. Campanato started in again the minute she came through the door, so he left early and spent the time sitting in his car in an English Bay parking lot, watching the sun disappear into the ocean.
    “I missed the sunset, but the sky was still beautiful when I got to the hotel," she replied.
    He was having a tough time connecting the voice from the telephone, with the demure and unbearably sensual flesh-and-blood lady across from him.
    It was a tough connection to make; if he’d met her under other circumstances, not knowing what she did for a living, he’d have guessed teaching or maybe nursing. She had the open countenance and healthy looks that should go with those jobs.
    The waiter brought the wine. Harry gave it his stamp of approval, and when they each had some in a fragile glass, he lifted his in a toast.
    "To friendship,” he said, “and an enjoyable evening.”
    She smiled at him and sipped.
    He watched her lips, marveled at the soft roundness of her face, and at last met her eyes. She was watching him.
    "You’re beautiful, India." He hadn’t planned to say it; it just spontaneously came out, and to his amazement she blushed and ducked her head.
    “Thank you.” She looked at him and for the first time he saw a hint of flirtatiousness. “You’re not bad yourself, Harold.”
    Her sexy voice made the compliment erotic, and, delighted, he laughed. “Thanks.” Her words made the trip to the men’s stylist and the new shirt worthwhile. And the sample of men’s cologne that had come in the mail must be potent. “And now that we’ve got a mutual admiration society going for us, we can both relax and have fun, okay?”
    “Okay.” She sipped her wine again, and he saw a dimple come and go in her right cheek. “Are you about to go out of town again on business, Harold?”
    Was he? He was flustered. He tried to remember the last lie he’d told her about his mythical business and couldn’t.
    “It depends," he temporized. “There are a couple of deals pending. I may have to go and complete them.”
    “Exactly what kind of business are you in?” He wished to hell he knew. He understood that she was just trying her best to make conversation. She had no idea that she was making him miserably uncomfortable.
    “Mergers,” he lied, wondering if his nose was