Free Saving This (The McCallans #5) by Hadley Quinn

three minutes with someone could determine that. I mean I could say you’re a self-absorbed little diva, but would that be fair?”
    She narrowed her eyes at him. Was he implying that she was a self-absorbed diva, or was he just trying to get under her skin?
    “Think whatever you want,” she shrugged, trying to act unaffected.
    He smirked. The fucker smirked . What the hell did that mean? She had to tell herself he was extremely good at his craft; acting whatever part he wanted to probably came easily to him.
    “I don’t know what to think, I barely know you.” He spoke in a level manner to drive a point across, so she took the bait.
    “Point taken.”
    Yes, she’d been a bit unfair. But God, she strongly disliked the celebrity life. Her parents had dragged her through it as long as they’d been allowed until she finally put her foot down.
    A pro athlete—a female surfer , for that matter—wasn’t exactly equal to McCallan prominence, but it had been hard enough on her. The networking, the interviews, the mandatory meet-and-greets put on by her sponsors, sports fans right and left… It was exhausting.
    She held out her hand, choosing to start over. “Anna Evans, nice to meet you. Possibly.”
    He gave her another one of those smiles—maybe he was amused, but he still had that self-important aura to him—and carefully shook her hand. “Max McCallan. It’s a pleasure to meet you too. Definitely .”
    He was polite now, suave and classically mannered. That was obviously his public persona, the one he saved for kissing ass. She felt like she was sitting here with a professional liar.
    Anna stood, not willing to give him any more opportunities to switch roles on her. Not tonight, at least. “My apologies for telling your brother you’re an asshole. That was an unfair assumption on my part and I thank you for calling me out on it.” She moved toward the side of the house to walk herself around to the front. “However, he seemed quick to agree,” she added smugly. And before he could offer any type of retort, she also said, “I’ll pick you up at five a.m. Teague says there’s a ton of surf gear in the garage, find yourself a board and wetsuit.”
    “Wait—What? Why?”
    Ha, she liked that look of surprise on his face. Well, maybe it was suspicion, which made her feel evil for liking the fact that she’d made him worry.
    “We’re going surfing,” was all she replied as she disappeared around the house.
     
    ***
    She pounded on the door louder than the last two times. If he was blatantly ignoring her, there would be hell to pay. All he’d had to do was tell her he wasn’t going with her—
    The door suddenly opened.
    A sleepy face appeared, complete with eyes squinting. It wasn’t the handsome face that triggered her heart this time; it was the fact that he was just in a pair of shorts. She’d seen how nice his body was in movies and pictures and whatnot, but in person—
    “You were serious?” he asked her.
    Anna blinked, clearing her throat to remind herself why she was even there. “About surfing? Yes.” She pushed her way past him, and fortunately, he easily let her by. “Go grab some clothes, I’ll meet you in the garage.”
    He sighed as he shut the door. “I stayed up working until just two hours ago. I don’t think I’m going to be much good on a board.”
    He ran his hands over his face—the stubble that she wasn’t used to seeing…she liked it quite a lot. Maybe that was his vacation look, but it suited him. The clean shaven, pretty boy look worked well for him in Hollywood, but for whatever reason he’d let himself grow a shadow…she could totally dig it.
    His arms dropped to his sides and he stared at her, waiting for a reply. She didn’t have one right away. She didn’t want to be sympathetic and give him an easy out. Instead, she headed for the garage to find out what type of gear Quentin had in there. Teague said it was all good stuff, so she wasn’t surprised she