When she reached water shallow enough to stand in, she pulled her fins off and walked out of the ocean. She didn’t wait for Brian as she stormed up the beach to the car. Her anger helped her ignore the cold that gripped her, a result of the seawater trapped in her wet suit. When she pulled her zipper down, she felt what little warmth was left in her rush out and splatter on the asphalt.

When Brian reached her, her teeth were chattering and she was having trouble making her fingers work. Brian opened the door and took out a towel. “Here,” he said, wrapping it around her shoulders.

Caddie pulled her wet suit off and dried herself as best she could. She could do nothing about her swimsuit, but she pulled a pair of sweatpants over it and accepted the sweatshirt Brian offered to her. “Get in the car,” he told her. “I’ll take care of your stuff.”

She hated to let him do it, but she did. Huddled in the front seat, she pulled her arms inside the too-big sweatshirt and hugged herself. Slowly she began to warm up, and when Brian, the stowing of the dive gear accomplished, got into the car beside her, she was able to speak without her voice breaking. “Sorry about earlier,” she said.

“Yeah,” said Brian. “Me too.”

He started the car and turned on the heater. Caddie held her hands up to the warm air coming from the car’s vents, grateful for its touch. She’d never been so cold, and she knew that it was only partly the effects of the water and the night. It came from within her, as if her heart had begun to turn to ice.

“Can I stay at your place tonight?” she heard herself ask Brian.

He looked over at her, but she continued to stare straight ahead. Say I can, she begged, hating herself.

“Sure,” Brian said.

Back at his house, she went into the bedroom and stripped, tossing the damp clothing onto the floor. Brian, coming in behind her, said, “You should take a hot shower.”

Caddie turned to him. “Come here,” she said, grabbing his shirt and pulling him to her. Her hands grappled with the belt of his jeans as she kissed him, and when her fingers touched his cock, he jumped back.

“Hey, ice princess,” he joked, “take it easy.”

When his clothes had joined hers on the floor, Caddie pulled him onto the bed. On her back, she spread her legs and wrapped them around his waist, pulling him into her. Her hands moved over his skin, craving his warmth, and his mouth on her nipples seemed to be breathing life into her frozen body.

“I want you in me,” she whispered in Brian’s ear.

He sat up. “Let me get a rubber,” he said, starting to stand.