And then I attempted to march off with as much grace as I could muster while wearing only one shoe. Which, admittedly, wasn’t a whole lot. Especially when I put weight on my rolled ankle and gasped at the pain that shot up my leg, reaching out to steady myself on the nearest object.
Which just so happened to be Ford’s chest.
It was firm and warm, solid and steady, his heart thrumming a fast rhythm beneath my hand. I yanked it back as if I’d been burned, but I couldn’t move away because even the slightest pressure on my foot caused me to gasp in pain.
“Yeah, that’s not happening.” He stepped in front of me, blocking my path. The expression on his face was calm and casual, as if nothing in the world bothered him, but his posture was anything but. His shoulders were stiff, and a muscle ticked in his jaw as he stared at me. “In my arms or over my shoulder? Your choice.”
I huffed out a disbelieving laugh as I stared up at him, carefully balancing on one foot. “You’re not going tocarryme,” I said, gesturing to myself, which only made him scowl.
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“I’m fine.” I tried hard to hide the grimace that crossed my face when I applied the barest weight on my left ankle, but he saw it.
He raised an eyebrow, and I wanted to slap that insufferable smirk right off his stupid, handsome face. “Last chance, kitten.”
“Oh my God, donotcall me— Hey!”
Before I could even get the words out, Ford scooped me into his arms—one at my back and the other below my knees—with as much ease as if I were a couple bags of groceries and started strolling toward the parking lot.
“I gave you the option. Next time, be a little quicker on the uptake. You’re normally snappier than this.” He glanced down at me, his full lips quirked up at the side. “I’ve got you flustered, don’t I? You can admit it.”
I shoved against his chest, ignoring the soft feel of his T-shirt and the firmness of his chest beneath it. “Put me down!”
He tipped his head to the side. “Did you prefer over my shoulder? You should’ve just said so.”
“Iprefernot being carried at all. I can walk, you jackass.”
“Oh, so I didn’t just witness you roll your ankle?”
“No. You didn’t.”
His brows lifted, and he stared down at me with something that looked an awful lot like admiration. “Goddamn, woman, I can almost feel the threads of history rewriting themselves just because you declared it so.”
“Shut up already andput me down.”
“Put you down,” he repeated flatly.
“Yes.”
“So you can, what? Walk?”
“Obviously.”
“Are you telling me that if I put you down, you’ll be able to hustle your sweet ass to your car again like your pants are on fire?”
“I was not—” I cut off, grinding my molars together as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Being calm and collected was my wheelhouse. It was literally in my job description. And yet, every ounce of that flew out the window whenever I was in this man’s presence. “Yes,” I bit out. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
Without a second to allow me to acclimate myself, he stopped and set me down, then raised a brow as if to say,let’s see it, then. I steeled my shoulders, preparing myself to hustle away as fast as humanly possible. But I didn’t make it half a step before I stumbled, the pain in my left ankle ricocheting up my calf and stealing the breath straight from my lungs.
I gasped. “Motherfuc—”
“That’s what I thought. Up you go.”
This time, he didn’t carry me in his arms. Nope, now I hung upside down over his shoulder, being hauled away like a sack of potatoes and feeling about as sexy as one. I pressed my hands against his lower back and pushed away, snapping my head up and glancing behind us. Probably one of my worst ideas tonight, and that was saying something.
I could’ve gone my whole life being blissfully unaware of the dozen or more people who stood with their gazes locked on us, mouths agape, as they watched Ford cart me off,over his shoulder. One of those people was, of course, Mabel, her phone trained in our direction and a huge smile on her face.
“Are you serious right now?” I hissed to Ford, then pinched his side for good measure. “People canseeus.”
