Crazy For You by Alexander, S.B. (best ebook reader ubuntu .TXT) 📕

I looked back, unprepared for the wave careening toward me. I would never make it to shore before it crested. So I dove under, giving in to mother ocean, a move I’d done many times. Before long, the force of the water would push me in. I swam as long as I could underwater then surfaced. When I did, I’d gotten nowhere. The current was too strong.

Don’t panic. Then a wave took me under and tossed me around like a rag doll. I tried to resurface, breathing in, and I gulped down a mouthful of saltwater.

I gagged and fumbled for air while the ocean kept pushing me around. I tried again to cough out the water, but the wave just pulled me under once again.

Panic gripped me.

Then a strong arm wrapped around my waist, and suddenly I was on the surface, gagging for air in Colton’s arms.

He swam toward shore until he was able to stand. Then he set me on two feet. “Are you okay?” He flattened his big palms on my face, his voice in freak-out mode, which matched his expression.

I coughed a few times, nodding. “I’m good.”

He hugged me tightly, his body trembling. I swore I could feel his heart punching his ribs, or maybe that was mine.

Either way, I said, “I’m okay, Colton.”

He lightly dug his chin on my head as we stood in the surf, the water spreading out like tentacles, claiming the dry sand as the tide roared in. “I’m not.”

“Well, we better get out before another wave decides to fling me around.” I giggled nervously, when all I wanted to do was stay in his arms.

Softly, he tipped up my chin until I met his gaze. “Don’t do that again.” His tone cracked on the last word.

I might if you rescue me, I wanted to say, but I didn’t. I knew the ocean had a way of screwing with his emotions. I knew he would never be the same around the sea. Then something hit me like a hard wind on a stormy day. He didn’t like the beach. He didn’t like the ocean. The way he’d been staring at it earlier suddenly made sense to me. I’d been stupid to think it was all about me, when in fact, he was probably thinking of his brother. He probably had PTSD.

I grabbed his hand. “Let’s go.” He seemed to be the one who needed saving.

He pressed his hand to the small of my back and molded his body to mine. “Not yet.”

I gripped his taut triceps as I sought out Georgia. She, Grady, and Mia were standing on the shore, watching us. I was sure Georgia was freaking out as much as Colton was.

“You could’ve drowned,” he said with so much pain.

I felt like a royal ass. “I know. I’m sorry.” The last thing I wanted to do was scare the crap out of him.

He shivered as we stood in knee-deep water, and the longer he held me, the more an impressive bulge was growing and poking me in my stomach.

He leaned down, his lips on my ear. “Feel what you do to me?” His fingers danced up my back until they were in my hair, then he searched my face. “You’re so fucking beautiful.”

I didn’t have words, and if I did, they floated away when he lifted me, hooking one arm under my knees, and the other around my back.

“I can walk.” My protest was weak at best.

“Maybe, but I need to do something to get rid of my boner,” he said with a grin and a little pain.

“Really, carrying me will take it away?” That didn’t make sense.

Not much did with Colton, except how hard and fast I was falling. Or maybe I’d fallen on the first day of school. It didn’t matter. I was in his arms. He thought I was beautiful. And for that, life just got a hundred times better.

20

When we reached our friends, he set me down. I had to hold onto him for a minute to steady myself, and not because a wave had thrown me around like a volleyball in a tense match. My jitters were due to the brown-eyed guy who was looking at me as though I had saved him.

“About fucking time, man,” Grady said to Colton. “I thought you wouldn’t go through with it.”

Mia, Georgia, and I exchanged a perplexed look. Did Grady mean save me or something else? I didn’t want to ask, but Colton’s don’t-you-dare expression made me go with something else. Maybe he liked me but had been afraid to make the first move, although saving me wasn’t what I’d had in mind.

Georgia and Mia snapped into action, asking me if I was okay.

“I’m fine,” I told my friends.

Mia narrowed her eyes. “Don’t scare us like that again.”

I didn’t plan to. It was a freak accident, and if I hadn’t gulped down the saltwater, I might’ve been able to swim in.

Georgia hugged me briefly. “Let’s not go swimming for a while. Now that you’re good, I have to run. Mom is taking me to dinner for our monthly mom-and-daughter time.”

Normally, depression set in any time Georgia and her mom did the whole bonding thing. I often thought of my mom. If she’d been alive, we would have many similar nights. But with Colton near me, I couldn’t think straight, let alone drop into a deep depression.

“What?” Mia squealed. “I thought we would grab a bite. You know, all five of us.”

I couldn’t eat. My stomach was in a knot the size of Earth, a love knot or a lust knot or both. But if going out to eat meant sitting next to Colton, I was all for it. I wasn’t sure about hanging with Grady. He brought out the feisty side of me, and I didn’t want to ruin the high I was on.

Grady cocooned Mia in his arms from behind, nuzzling her neck. “You’re my dinner, baby.”

I