Victim of Love Read Online Free Page B

sure?” His eyes were suddenly sincere. “Come on, don’t go yet. Hang out a bit.” The soft expression on his handsome face, and the feel of his fingers gently kneading my shoulder, was distracting—as it was clearly meant to be, because as I got lost in his eyes for that brief moment, he used his other hand to snatch my phone, and took off down the beach again.
    “Son of a bitch!” I ran after him. “This just stopped being funny,” I shouted. The object of my pursuit disagreed, as evidenced by his cackling laughter.
    My legs pumped as I crossed the sandy beach, getting farther away from the resort. “Stop!”
    To my pleasant surprise, the figure in the distance did stop, and looked back. Thank God . He remained there, waiting, watching my approach. It seemed to take forever for me to reach him. He’d covered a good distance with that sprint, and I was short of breath by the time I came upon him, stumbling as I slowed my stride. “What the hell!” I glared at the smiling stranger, who held my phone over his head. “What is the matter with you? Come on.” I held my hand out. “Give it back.”
    “I just had an idea. I want to go up there.” He pointed to a huge mountainous sand dune covered in sea grass, like a hairy, sleeping mammoth looming over the beach.
    I sneered up at it, then looked at him. “You want to climb a sand dune. Now? Dude, you’re shitfaced.”
    “ Dude . I don’t care. Wanna race me?”
    “No I don’t want to fucking race you. You know what? I’m done. Give me back my phone.”
    He shook his head. “Nope.”
    “What do you mean, nope? Give it to me.”
    “Race me up the dune and I’ll give it back.”
    I took a swipe, trying to grab my phone out of his hand. He dodged me, and hid it behind his back, snickering.
    “Very mature,” I said. “Come on, quit fucking around. I want my phone.”
    “You want it?” Fast as a whip, he reached around and slapped my ass. “Come and get it!”
    My mouth fell open as he took off toward the dune and began scaling the sandy slope. I stood agog, watching the shirtless figure crawl like a spider, higher and higher, heading toward the peak.
    This was not the kind of excitement I’d craved tonight, so I refused to even entertain the ‘be careful what you wish for’ cliché.
    I watched as he reached the peak and stood triumphantly, holding my phone over his head like a prize as he howled in victory.
    He has to come down some time .
    I could wait. He’d tire of this eventually, and when he came down, I’d get my phone by force if necessary. I wasn’t a fighter, but was reasonably sure I could overpower him in his intoxicated state. But how long would that be? I couldn’t stand here all night. I reminded myself that this man was drunk, and could possibly just pass out up there.
    Wind whipped at my shirt as I stared up at him. He held his arms out to the sides. “Are you coming? The view is great!”
    “I don’t want to climb up there. Come. Down! ”
    “No! You come up.”
    I moved to the base of the dune and craned my neck, looking up as he gave me that cute grin from above. “Toss down my phone at least!”
    “I’ll give it back, I promise, dude . But you have to come up here first.”
    I regretted waking the guy, because now I wanted to kill him myself. This thought propelled me forward, and I began to climb. Sand spilled over my sinking feet, working against me. I whispered a litany of curses, clinging to clumps of sea grass, the sharp blades stinging my hands. My quads burned. The stranger above me laughed, and I glared up at him, pushing myself harder.
    Finally reaching the summit, I collapsed onto my back, breathing heavily. I’d thought I was in good shape, but clearly my regime of biking and weight lifting hadn’t prepared me for this. Perhaps I’d have to add dune climbing to my workout repertoire.
    “You okay there?” my unwelcome companion asked, seating himself beside me.
    “As soon as I catch my breath I’m