Read Online Crazy for Love by Victoria Dahl - Free Book Online Page B

out the outline of a man, she recognized Elliott’s voice. The clink of dishes drifted through the window behind him. “Max is inside.”
    â€œThanks. I just wanted to ask you to keep an eye on the cabin for me. If Jenn comes looking for me, tell her I’m going for a little late-night swim.”
    Glass crashed inside the cabin, and before the last pieces had fallen to the floor, Max jerked the door open from inside. “Hey!” he said brightly.
    â€œUm, is everything all right?”
    Elliott started to stand up, but Max waved him down. “Everything’s fine.”
    Right. Fine. “Okay… I was just going to take a swim, so if you could—”
    â€œCare for company?”
    Despite her plan, Chloe couldn’t keep the doubtfrom her voice. “You want to go swimming? Right now?”
    Dish towel still in hand, Max leaned against the doorjamb, pretending casualness. “Sure,” he said, the straight line of his shoulders giving away his tension. “If you’re going to be there.” Enough light filtered from the living room that she could see his flirtatious smile. He aimed it right at her, oozing charm.
    Oh, my God, Max Sullivan was a total faker.
    Chloe smiled up at him, letting her expression melt a little. “Sure, Max. That’d be great.”
    His shoulders dropped half an inch on his next breath. He tossed the towel aside and jogged down the stairs to join her. Some of her analytical detachment faded as he drew closer. She remembered the way his thighs had flexed in those Speedos, as if the muscles were barely contained by his skin. Man.
    â€œIt’s a little cool to swim, isn’t it?” he asked, pausing to wait for her to turn and start their walk. It had taken him all of one second to try to change her mind.
    â€œI like it. It feels… thrilling. Tossed around by the waves in the pitch-black.”
    â€œMmm. Well, sure, I like to swim at night, but I have a special connection with the sharks who swimafter dark, too. It comes with the profession, you know.”
    â€œSharks?” she asked, just as he’d wanted her to.
    â€œYeah. They like to hunt at night.”
    â€œI’m sure it’ll be fine.”
    He nodded. “As long as you’re a strong swimmer. The riptides can be a real bitch this time of night.”
    â€œOh, sure. I’m pretty strong.”
    Her feet finally touched damp, packed sand. She turned and followed the waterline, watching Max’s large feet make hollows in the sand next to her.
    Max audibly sighed. “So tell me more about your job,” he said.
    She tossed him a smile. “I’m an accountant at a big accounting firm. What do you want me to talk about? Spreadsheets?”
    â€œOkay, then. Tell me about your family.”
    â€œI have a mom and a dad and a big sister. I grew up in Richmond in a house with an honest-to-God white picket fence.”
    â€œNo way.”
    â€œYep. It was perfectly boring. No scandals. No drama. My sister and I aren’t close, but we get along fine.”
    â€œBoring is nice.”
    â€œHmm. I detect a not-pleasantly-boring childhood.”
    â€œNah, it was fine. There was no white picketfence, but I was hardly Oliver Twist. So why did you decide to become an accountant?”
    So he didn’t want to talk about himself? Well, she didn’t particularly feel like talking, either. “I like numbers. And puzzles. I like figuring things out.” Turning to face him, she smiled and began to walk backward toward the water, wondering what he’d do. She pushed down her shorts and tossed them up to the dry sand.
    â€œAre you coming?” she called as she backed into the breaking waves and slipped her shirt off, as well. The wind touched her belly, warm air rubbing against her like a cat, and she hoped he was checking out her red bikini, since the blue one hadn’t thrilled him.
    â€œOf course.” Max’s