He growls as he reaches the shore, carrying me to where he dropped our shoes. He sets me on my feet long enough to grab them. Then I am back up over his shoulder.
This feels so romantic. So much like what would happen in one of my movies. The guy would grab the girl. Angry that she waded into the dark water, but he wouldn’t stay mad for long. No, he would see her dripping wet, looking like the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He wouldn’t be able to help himself. He would have to kiss her. Strip her clothes from her and force her into a warm shower, where he would take out all his anger on her body.
Oh, the way her body would react. My body. With Max.
I’m horny as hell as my thoughts run rampant.
This isn’t a movie, though.
That small reminder is enough to douse some of the flames.
Max didn’t wade into the water to save me so we could have some intimate tryst in his hotel room.
No, he came after me because he is practical. All he saw was danger, and when it comes to me, he always pays attention to that. He is such a good guy.
Why can’t he like me?
Groaning, I let him carry me all the way back to the villa. He doesn’t put me down, even to unlock the door. It isn’t until we are standing in front of my bedroom door that he finally lets me down.
“You’re getting water all over the floor,” I whisper to him.
He doesn’t say anything. There is this look in his eye I have never seen. I have no idea what it means, but I think I might have gone a little too far this time.
“Go to bed, Iris.”
“Oh, but what fun is that?” I pout.
“Do you know how dangerous that was? There could have been something in the water. You could have drowned. I couldn’t see you for several seconds. What if the current had taken you out further than you realized?”
I sigh. I forgot that Max is so literal about everything.
I shake my head, not even wanting to deal with him anymore.
I pat his chest before I look up into his eyes. “Max, sometimes you have to let go of all the overanalyzing of every situation and live in the moment. You can’t let your mind hold you back forever.”
I don’t wait for him to respond. I open my door and slip into my room.
A long hot shower is calling my name. Then I think I will let myself sink into the plush bed and dream of a different outcome from my antics tonight.
One where Max didn’t see me as only his friend and instead followed me into that water for a late-night rendezvous.
Yeah. I prefer to live in the dream world. Reality sucks.
MAX
Iris is going to be the death of me.
She has always been a little reckless when she drinks, but never to this level.
Watching her run into the dark ocean, disappearing from my sight, is the single scariest thing I have ever experienced. Even when my niece was kidnapped, I was scared, but it felt out of body. Knowing Iris could drown in the dark water was enough to break me from my stupor and make me chase after her.
She looked so carefree before I snatched her up. I couldn’t let her stay in the water where anything might come take a chomp out of her. Not only that, but it was dark and the ocean currents are unpredictable. At least, they are to people like us who have no idea what they are about.
Hell, we didn’t grow up around the beaches like they do down here. We grew up in Boston. We had beaches, sure, but nothing like the ones down here.
My heart is still racing as I look at her closed door.
I have to admit, even though I was scared to death, feeling her wiggle against me as she was over my shoulder, her perky ass right there in my face, was enough to get my blood to start pumping in areas it shouldn’t. Not when it comes to her.
