Free Crazy for Love by Victoria Dahl Page B

into the sand. As she checked them over carefully for clawed animals, Max’s voice emerged from the darkness.
    â€œI didn’t want you to drown.”
    Chloe frowned and turned toward him, shorts clutched to her stomach. “What?” She couldn’t make out his features in the ten feet of darkness between them, but she could see that he’d stopped walking and stood with his hands shoved into his pockets.
    â€œI didn’t want you to drown. Or get eaten by a shark.”
    â€œOkay.” He was talking, at least, but she couldn’t see the logic. “So you came along to keep me from drowning. Why couldn’t you just say that?”
    The edge of his jaw looked hard as rock now. “Because people don’t like to be told what to do.”
    â€œMax—”
    â€œPeople don’t want to hear that swimming at night is idiotic. In fact, if you tell someone they’ve got a really stupid idea, they become determined to prove you wrong.”
    â€œSo you made it seem like a great idea instead?”
    â€œI just thought I’d find a way to distract you.”
    She narrowed her eyes at his words and took a step forward. Now she could see his mouth set in a flat line. “What about the beach fire? You didn’t really come over just to flirt, did you?”
    â€œYour pit was too close to the sea grass. It needed to be deeper, and I wanted to be sure you didn’t build it so high it would stay hot all night long.”
    â€œI see. I suppose I can understand being haunted by Smokey the Bear. Lots of people have a fear of fire.” She crossed her arms. “So what about the diving?”
    He took his hands out of his pockets, then put them back in before rocking back and forth on his heels.
    â€œMax?”
    â€œWhat about it?”
    â€œYou didn’t want to go.”
    His mouth tilted at an incredulous angle. “I asked to go.”
    â€œJesus, Max!”
    â€œWhat do you want me to say? I’m a professional diver. You actually think I don’t like diving?”
    â€œYou did not want to dive with us, so why did you go?”
    â€œBecause diving is incredibly dangerous,” he bit out. “And you were diving with a guy with unknown credentials. Who picks a dive guide off the grocery store bulletin board? ”
    Whoa. Well, he wasn’t being charming anymore. Chloe told herself that was progress.
    â€œSorry,” he muttered, kicking at a clump of wet sand. “I didn’t mean to raise my voice. I don’t know what got into me.”
    Chloe suspected she knew what had gotten intohim. Panic. But now she was getting truly angry. “So you didn’t want to dive?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œAnd you didn’t want to toast marshmallows?”
    â€œNo.”
    Great. Another guy pretending to like her. Just fucking great. She was cursed. “Well,” she snapped, “I’m not going swimming, so you can go now.”
    â€œIt’s dark out here. I wouldn’t want to—”
    â€œJust go! I absolve you of any responsibility, okay?” Wrapped up in her righteous anger, Chloe wasn’t expecting any response from him. She certainly wasn’t expecting him to shout again.
    â€œIt doesn’t work like that, damn it!” He took a deep breath and lowered his voice. “You can’t absolve me of responsibility, Chloe. If I leave you out here alone in the dark and something happens to you, it’ll be on me, because I left knowing it wasn’t right.”
    She shook her head. “I’m an adult. You’re not responsible for me. I can do whatever I want.”
    â€œThat’s the problem!” His hands flew wide, gesturing around him, as if drawing attention to the whole world. “You can do anything you want, so I have to make you want something else.”
    Her breath left her on a rush, leaving behind a painful void in her chest. Chloe pressed her palm to her