Allison simply gaped at him. How dare he?
“I will attempt to forgive you for tricking me into thinking you were an honest, generous person. Please forgive me for taking your time and boring you with my life story. Can you get home safely from here or would you like me to follow you at a distance?”
Did he really just dare to … yep, he did. Allison fumed, her stomach flip-flopping and her neck and cheeks burning. She thought about slapping him in the face, but it seemed too boring and cliché. She punched him in the gut instead. Abe would’ve been proud. Her hand felt like she’d shattered it as her clenched fist connected with hard muscle. Birch flinched and grunted, but only because he hadn’t seen it coming. It obviously didn’t hurt him. That stunk. She really wanted to hurt him like he’d just hurt her.
“Again, I apologize for wasting your time,” he said stiffly.
“But you’re not going to apologize for insulting all actresses, including me? ‘Tricking you into thinking I’m honest and generous’?”
He shook his head, but it was clear from his gaze he could think of a lot worse insults and was biting them back. “Would you like me to follow you home or to your vehicle to make sure you get there safe?”
Her eyes narrowed. What a jerk. What a complete jerk. And here she’d thought she’d found a man she really could get behind dating. “No thank you,” she mirrored his formality. “I can’t imagine anyone on this beach is anywhere close to as big of a jerk as you are. I’m sure once I get out of your presence I’ll be as safe as a baby in his mother’s arms. Oh, but not you, right? Your mother doesn’t even like you.” She lowered her voice and said something she knew she shouldn’t say, “I can completely understand your mother’s feelings now.”
He didn’t move. His dark eyes watched her as if she truly were going to morph into a monster and bite his head off. A rock solid, military tough guy who seemed almost scared of her, and who definitely wasn’t interested in her or phased by her insults. All because of her job. What a narrow-minded idiot.
She felt a tiny bit of guilt for her last angry words but not enough to take them back, not with the way he’d treated her. She spun and ran across the sand back toward her car. Her breath came in fast, angry puffs. Birch Merrill was a complete dipwad jerk and she’d never see him again since he didn’t even know her name and from now on she’d choose a different section of beach to stroll on in the evenings. Good riddance to Birch Merrill.