Crazy for Love

by Victoria Dahl

  CHLOE SQUINTED AGAINST the brightness of the cabin lights, caught for a moment in the doorway like a deer facing imminent death.

  “Did you two take the long way home?” Jenn asked.

  A blush flared to hot life on her cheeks. “I had to find my pants.”

  “Uh-huh. You sure are bad at coming up with excuses. The explanation is supposed to make you look more innocent. Not less.”

  “Shut up.”

  “So…?”

  Chloe grinned nervously. She couldn’t help it.

  Jenn gasped, “You did it?”

  “No! I mean we did something, but not it.”

  “And?” She made a hurry-up gesture.

  “And what?”

  Jenn grabbed an empty water bottle and aimed it threateningly at Chloe’s stomach. “Don’t hold out on me. You’re the only link I have to the world of real sex. Is he as delicious as he looks?”

  Chloe sauntered over to the couch and dropped into it. “Elliott is pretty delicious-looking, too. Why don’t you find out for yourself?”

  “Don’t tease me,” she groaned. “You know I can’t.”

  “Why?”

  “He’s a serious guy, Chloe. I’m sure he dates serious women. And I’m…not.”

  Chloe twisted around to glare at her friend. “You’re an accountant. It doesn’t get much more serious than that.”

  “You know what I mean.” She waved a dismissive hand.

  Chloe would never understand this about Jenn. She was beautiful and smart and funny…and she had no self-confidence whatsoever when it came to men. “He was seriously interested in your body.”

  Jenn dropped onto the couch beside Chloe. “You think I should?”

  “Should what? Get it on with Elliott Sullivan? Yes! Are you thinking about it?”

  “I don’t know.” Jenn began to nibble on her thumbnail, a sure sign of nervousness. She was definitely thinking about getting it on with Elliott.

  Chloe let her think for a good long while before she interrupted. “So my mom?”

  Jenn’s nose wrinkled. “Your cousin did another interview.”

  “Crap.”

  “It’s going to air tomorrow, but your mom watched it online tonight.”

  Chloe picked up her cell phone and looked at the bars. Two bars tonight. Just her luck.

  “Hi, Chloe,” her mom said before the first ring had finished. Her voice was heavy with sympathy.

  “Hey, Mom. So Tiffany is talking to the press again.”

  “I’m so sorry, baby. I don’t know what’s wrong with that girl.”

  Chloe rubbed her eyes. “She’s nineteen and she likes to be on TV. And she’s a selfish brat. How bad is it?”

  Her mom’s deep sigh didn’t promise anything good. “She says you wouldn’t let her be a bridesmaid because she was too short.”

  “That’s ridiculous! She’s only two inches shorter than me!”

  “Tiffany claims you wanted the bridesmaids to ascend evenly from your maid of honor to your tallest friend.”

  “Tiffany used the word ascend?”

  She was glad to hear her mom laugh. “No, she described a stair-step pattern. And then she claimed you tried on over a hundred dresses before making a choice. And that you threw a bouquet at the florist when she made a mistake.”

  “As if she’d know. I’ve hardly talked to Tiffany in the past six months. But I’m sure as hell going to talk to her now.”

  “Honey, if you do that, she’ll—”

  “I know, Mom.” Chloe sighed. “She’d tell the press I was abusive and insane. I get it.”

  “I’m sorry, hon. Try not to worry about her, okay?”

  Chloe let her head fall back on the couch. “She didn’t know about this vacation, did she?”

  “No. I didn’t say a word to her mother. How’s the trip, by the way?”

  “Good,” Chloe answered. Then, with more honesty, “Great.”

  “You sound much better. Try to have fun and give Jenn my love. I promise I’ll call if there’s anything else. If you don’t hear from me, everything’s fine, all right?”

  “Got it, Mom. I love you.”

  Chloe hung up and tried not to cry. Her poor parents. Retired and living in their small house with its tiny yard, and the press was still stalking them, just because she’d spent a week there before she’d found a place to live. A place that didn’t belong to Thomas’s mother. The press had trampled her father’s rosebushes and driven her mother to wear a head scarf and dark glasses every time she stepped outside.

  Chloe slung her arm over her eyes and groaned. “Tell me again that I wasn’t a Bridezilla.”

  “You know you weren’t.”

  “I did cry at the dress shop,” Chloe whispered.

  “They screwed up the hem, and you got overwhelmed. You weren’t a bitch.”

  She took a deep breath, but the lump in her throat didn’t budge. “I must’ve been. I must’ve been a bitch to Thomas. I must’ve been an obsessed, type A ice queen with a scary attitude, or none of this makes any sense.”

  Jenn’s arms wrapped around her waist and she snuggled her head into Chloe’s shoulder. “That’s not true. You’re sweet and kind. And maybe a little bit type A, but just a little. Don’t cry.”

  But she was already crying. “My life was so normal.”

  “I know.”

  “What did I do?”

  “Aw, Chloe, you didn’t do anything wrong. It was Thomas! He… He must have gotten cold feet.”

  “When men get cold feet, they don’t jump out of a plane and hide out at a beach resort in Florida! I don’t know what I did!”

  Jenn made soothing noises and rubbed her back until Chloe stopped sniffling. “Thomas was a mama’s boy. You knew that. He didn’t know how to stand up to his mom, and apparently he didn’t know how to stand up to you, either.”

  “But I don’t even know why he wanted out.”

  “Does it matter?”

  Did it? Chloe took the tissue Jenn offered and wiped her tears. He’d wanted out. Badly enough to chew off his own foot to escape the trap. How was she supposed to excavate a logical, thoughtful reason from a mess like that? “Maybe it doesn’t matter. I’m sorry I get so weepy.”

  “I’m sorry about your cousin.”

  “It wasn’t that. I think your vacation just worked a little too well. I kind of forgot all that craziness for a while. I let my guard down and it snuck up on me when I talked to my mom about Tiffany. And…and I’m kind of freaked out that I’ve been able to forget Thomas so easily. When I was making out with Max… How could I enjoy that so much if I was in love with Thomas just a month ago?”

  “You don’t have to feel bad about that. You don’t owe him anything after what he did!”

  Chloe crumpled the tissue in her hand. “No, but if I’m already getting over Thomas after a month…then we really shouldn’t have been getting married, right? Thomas was right.”

  “Thomas wasn’t right about anything.”

  “He—”

  “Look, Chloe, I knew him, too. I’ve known him almost as long as you have, and I’ve spent time with him and…Thomas was nice and smart and handsome, but he was weak. And he was a liar.”

  She took a deep breath. And then another. “Yes. He was a liar.”

  Jenn’s hand touched hers. “So if you’re moving on, I’m happy about that and you should be, too.”

  “Okay.”

  “So tell me about making out with Max Sullivan.”

  The tears had taken something dark with them. Chloe felt lighter than she had in a long time. Maybe even months. So she smiled and told Jenn exactly what had happened on the sand. By the time she went to bed, her eyes were swollen, but her sides ached from laughter. Not a bad trade-off, really.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  THE WAVES SLAPPED the sides of the boat as the wind pushed spray above the bow, and Max’s heart pounded. Another day on the water. Another day of making sure his brother didn’t sail into a storm or flip t
he boat or wreck them on the rocks.

  But this time Max’s heart wasn’t pounding with anxiety. It was pounding because Chloe Turner was lounging on one of the captain’s seats, her feet balanced against the railing as she grinned into the wind. Her red bikini glowed like a siren in the sun, alerting him to what they’d been doing the last time he’d seen it. Wow.

  “Slow down as you come up on these buoys,” he said to Elliott without taking his eyes off Chloe’s belly. His fingers tingled at the memory of that soft skin. “Keep the red on the starboard side and the green on the port. That’s left.”

  “Got it.”

  She turned to look out at the water, her thighs flexing with the movement. God, he had to touch her again, soon.

  This celibacy thing was backfiring. His mind was swimming with the taste of her mouth and the firm push of her nipple against his palm and the slick heat of her sex beneath his fingers…

  “A little slower,” he murmured. The pitch of the engine didn’t change, so Max sighed and pulled his gaze from Chloe’s body. “A little slower!” he called out, and Elliott gave him a thumbs-up and cut the speed.

  The water was rougher today, so they’d decided to take the boat all the way back to the protected waters of the bay. A forty-five-minute trip, but what the hell. Chloe was there, totally relaxed, sending him secret winks every time he made a move to control the situation.

  God, she was hot.

  “Does this look good?” he asked Elliott, gesturing toward a little curve of the shoreline. What he meant was Stop here. But asking for input was a much more effective way to maneuver people. When Elliott nodded, Max said, “I’ll drop the anchor.” The engine cut off and a faint ribbon of peace washed over him with the silence. The sound of water was more muffled here in the protected confines of the bay. The most prominent sound was the trilling of birds and the rattle of insects and the soft laughter of the two women who’d asked if they could accompanying the men on their fishing trip.

  Max took a deep breath and let the anchor fall. Then he turned toward Chloe and her bright grin. She clearly enjoyed being in on his secret, and Max felt lighter than he had in years.

  Chloe was… Chloe was an oasis.

  Perhaps that was an odd metaphor in the middle of a warm bay, surrounded by lush greenery. But there was nothing peaceful for him here. Nothing but Chloe.

  “Hey, Max!” she called out, the corner of her mouth edging up. “Can we take off our life jackets now that we’re stopped?” She’d already pushed the boundary by leaving only the top buckle buttoned, but since she’d exposed her stomach, he hadn’t complained. Much.

  “Shush,” he called. “I told you the Coast Guard has eyes and ears everywhere. After that incident with the admiral’s twin daughters, he’s out to get me on any trumped-up charge he can. The life jackets stay on.”

  “Oh, the twin daughters. Right. Got it.”

  “Welcome to my crazy world.”

  Laughter danced in her eyes. “You got a rod for me?”

  He raised an eyebrow and grabbed a fishing rod as an excuse to go sit next to her. “Have you ever fished?”

  “It’s been a long time. My dad used to take me out when I was little, but he took care of all the details. The worms and the…fish.”

  “Right.” His knee brushed hers, just as it had the night before. He looked down at the creamy skin of her thigh. What would’ve happened if they hadn’t been discovered? She’d just been starting to make the best sounds. If he’d—

  “So are you going to take care of it for me?”

  “Hmm?”

  “The worms?”

  “Oh, sure. The worms. We use squid strips, actually. But I’ll bait the line if you like.”

  “I like.”

  He showed Chloe what to do, glancing up to see that Elliott was doing the same for Jenn. Chloe looked familiar with the rod and reel, so he stepped back to wipe off his hands and let her cast. The movement pitched her body forward, and Max cringed and reached for her. His mind spit out a charming line as he pulled her back against his chest. I was looking for an excuse to touch you, it said. Then, Maybe you need a little more hands-on instruction.

  Max stayed still, one arm wrapped around her waist, the other hand holding her elbow. And he realized that he didn’t need to find a charming line to lull her. He could just…say it.

  He took a deep breath. “Could you not lean out like that again?”

  She turned her head enough that Max could see her profile as she watched him from the corner of her eye. “Okay.”

  “Because it makes me think you’re going to fall out.”

  “Surely the water’s not so deep here.”

  “No, but that doesn’t matter. You could hit your head or get caught up in vegetation you can’t even see.” Max held his breath, waiting for her to snap at him, to say something like, “Yeah, I’m not an idiot.” Or “I can take care of myself.”

  But Chloe nodded. “Okay. I’ll be careful.”

  “Thanks,” he said lightly, even though his heart was struggling to pound out of his chest. It was so much harder to be honest. If you were charming, people couldn’t throw it in your face. If you were funny and flirtatious, they wanted to indulge you. But simply taking a deep breath and stating your thoughts aloud…Christ, that seemed like an outright invitation for rejection.

  But Chloe was still smiling, and when she leaned her head a little closer to his chin, Max brushed his lips across her temple.

  “Mmm.” She sighed, as if there weren’t two life vests propping their bodies far apart. But for Max the life vests were a conduit to the pleasure of this stolen moment. He rested his mouth on her soft hair and breathed in the scent of her as a prickle of electricity scattered over his skin. They were on the water in a boat that dipped and bobbed in every wave, but he could relax and breathe her in because she wore a life jacket and had agreed to be careful.

  “You’re not going to rat me out?” he whispered.

  “Never. It wouldn’t be nearly as fun to tease you if it wasn’t a private joke.”

  Max realized the arm he’d wrapped around her waist was pressed against an expanse of warmth. An experimental swipe of his thumb revealed the sweet texture of her bare skin. Chloe’s muscles jumped a little. He did it again and kissed her cheekbone.

  “I couldn’t sleep last night,” he confessed, “thinking about you.”

  “Worried about your secret?”

  “Chloe, pay attention. I’m coming on to you. I was thinking about you on the beach, letting me get to third base.”

  “Ooh.” The parts of her face he could see turned pink. “Is that third base? I forget.”

  “That’s about as third base as it gets. Your lack of knowledge makes me think you were a good girl in high school. Were you?”

  Her blush deepened to a color close to red. “Maybe.”

  Max’s entire body heated in immediate response. He dipped his head to kiss her ear, then carefully pressed his teeth to the delicate lobe, loving the way she shivered against him. Max spread his hand wide over her hot stomach. “Chloe Turner, I think you’re the sweetest girl I’ve ever gotten to third base with.”

  The muscles of her stomach flinched. “That was in high school. I’m not sweet anymore.”

  “Liar. You’re sweet. And soft. And peaceful.”

  “That’s not—”

  “And smart enough to see through my act.”

  “Well, I—”

  When he opened his mouth on her neck and sucked gently at the flesh, Chloe’s words died a quick death in her throat. Max found her sharp gasp immensely satisfying. He edged his pinkie finger beneath the waist of her bottoms, thinking of what she’d let him do last night. Thinking that this wasn’t the time or place, but she’d been so damn hot for him, and he really wasn’t going to touch her like that here on the boat, but maybe just for a second…

  A high-pitched squeal pierced his head, and Max jerked Chloe a foot back from the railing, just in case someone had
spotted a shark. A splash followed the squeal, and he was already kicking off his flip-flops as he spun into lifesaving mode. But Jenn and Elliott were both still on the boat.

  “I’ve got something!” Jenn called, bouncing up and down on her toes.

  Max cringed at the movement, but tried to turn it into a smile. “That’s great! If you want to play Captain Ahab, you’ve got to get some leverage. Take a seat and brace one foot against the side of the boat. Some of these guys can be monsters.”

  She laughed over her shoulder, eyes bright with excitement. Max saw the exact moment his brother got hit over the head with the cartoon anvil of a bad crush. Elliott’s face registered a moment of stark, painful shock as a ray of sunlight struck her wind-blown hair.

  Max paused in his rush across the length of the boat. He should let his brother take care of Jenn. If Max left them alone, maybe the awareness he’d noticed between the two of them would develop into a flirtation. Maybe his brother really would relax and have a good time. Maybe he’d have a wild affair with a gorgeous woman and let go of this idea that he wasn’t cut out for a relationship.

  Max dropped his outstretched hand and took a deep breath, but then the boat bobbed up, and Jenn lurched toward the low railing, and Max leaped forward, covering the last five feet in a blink of an eye. He and Elliott grabbed her at the same time, but Elliott merely aimed an irritated glance in Max’s direction. Max could feel his own face frozen in fear.

  “Look.” Jenn shook off their hands and tilted her head toward the water. “It’s tiny. I can handle it.”

  Worried that she was about to lean out and try to snag the line, Max reached for the net, but his hand knocked into Elliott’s arm as he did the same thing. This time Elliott glared.

  “Right,” Max murmured, feeling like a dick. “Sorry.” He stood and moved away from Jenn, staying close enough to Elliott that he could keep an eye on him as he swept the net out to scoop up the little roundhead she’d caught.

  As soon as everyone was settled happily back into the questionable safety provided by the railing, Max backed away and resumed his place at Chloe’s side.