He looked hot, as usual. Though that was to be expected. I couldn’t recall a single time this man had looked anything less than gorgeous, and it was truly unfair. There should’ve been some kind of rule that your nemesis looked like a haggard old troll rather than a model peeled straight off the pages of a magazine. The bastard hadn’t even had the decency to go through that awkward, cringeworthy stage in fifth grade like the rest of us.
His dark hair, cut close on the sides and longer on top, was in careless disarray. Enough stubble covered his sharp jaw that Idefinitelynever wondered what it would feel like on my skin, and his full lips were curved in their perpetual state of amusement. He wore a pair of threadbare jeans that hugged his ass perfectly—not that I’d been looking—and a T-shirt that showed off the muscles he worked hard for at the fire station and being the handyman at his family’s resort.
Yeah, no. This interaction wasn’t happening. There was no way I was talking to him tonight. He wanted answers. I could see it in the determined set of his eyes, focused on me. But consideringIdidn’t even know why I’d just done that, I had nothing that would satisfy his curiosity.
I spun around, set on heading straight for my car and getting the hell out of here, but I nearly ran into Mabel in my haste to leave.
“Quinn,” she said, phone pointed in my direction like she was recording. Her phone case was bright pink, large sparkly letters proclaimingAsk me about my favorite toyscrawled across the back. “So glad I caught you! Mind having a quick chat with me for my watchers?”
Mabel and her fucking Facebook Lives. I’d become well acquainted with them since moving back, considering I was renting a room from her and her husband because the rental game in a town this size was abysmal. I’d hoped the reason for my first broadcast would’ve been when the clinic got transferred over to my name, but no. Of course not. It had to be me, looking harried as I attempted to escape the man I just spent a fortune to go on a date with. Like I couldn’t get one by any other means.
Regardless if it was true or not, that was exactly how my parents were going to see it, and I couldn’twaitto hear about it. About how my doing that looked forthem. And there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that this would get back to them, even all the way in Florida.
And now that fact was going to be forever immortalized on the internet. Fantastic.
“Actually, I—”
“Great!” She smiled sweetly at me, but she wasn’t fooling anyone. She may have been Starlight Cove’s Grandma—if your grandma was a horny old woman—but she was a piranha out for blood. “The viewers at home want to know what your plans are for your date with the devastatingly hunky Ford McKenzie.” She waggled her eyebrows. “The views shot up when word got around about your bid.”
“When word got around—” I pressed my fingers to my temples and closed my eyes. “That was ten minutes ago.”
She shrugged. “Spread like wildfire. It’s not every day we see a pairing like this of two people so volatile together. So tell me, what are you thinking? Going to make him scrub our toilet with his toothbrush?” She tapped her finger on her chin, her expression contemplative. “I wonder if they make a French maid’s costume for men. If they don’t, you could just make him walk around shirtless and—”
“Mabel,” I interrupted, absolutely not needing that visual in my head. I glanced over my shoulder, noticing Ford was far too close for my liking. I needed to get out of here, and I needed to do it quickly. “I’m late for another engagement, so you’ll have to excuse me.”
Without waiting for her to reply, I left her sputtering behind me and took off at a brisk walk. I might’ve been wearing heels, but I’d perfected the no-nonsense walk eons ago. I could run in these things if I needed to. I had half a mind to do just that, but that would only call more attention to me, and I certainly didn’t need that. Especially when Ford was behind me, calling out for me to wait and drawing the gazes of everyone around us. But nope.No. Absolutely not. I was not going to have a conversation with him right now. Not after the day I’d had.
But, like everything with Ford, it didn’t matter what anyone else wanted. When it came down to it, it was all about him.
He grabbed my wrist, his fingers brushing the delicate skin and sending a shiver down my spine, and tugged me to a stop.
“Jesus, woman, are you training for a marathon?” he asked, not even having the decency to be out of breath after jogging to catch up with me. “You have earbuds in or what? I’ve been calling your name.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and sniffed, glancing to the side and planning my escape. “I heard you.”
“Heard me and just decided to, what? Ignore me?”
I glanced up at him—he had to be at least 6’3” because he still towered over me, even when I was wearing heels—and simply raised an eyebrow in response. Because, yeah, clearly that was exactly what I’d been doing.
“What the hell was that all about?” he asked.
“What was what about?” I could play dumb with the best of them.
He huffed out a laugh and gestured behind him to where swarms of Starlight Cove residents still milled about, far too many of them pretending like they weren’t watching us like hawks. “Uh, the whole you just paying as much as my first car to go out on a date with me. If you wanted me so badly, all you had to do was say so. I’m sure we could’ve worked something out.”
I ground my teeth together, my lips pressed in a tight line. “I didn’t come here foryou. Everly is my friend, and I promised your sister I’d support this festival.”
“So you decided your best option to do so was to bid on me?”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself. I got here late. You were literally mylastoption. Now, are we done?”
Without waiting for him to answer, I stalked off, forcing myself to act as dignified as possible and not like I was running away from the big, bad wolf. Except I hadn’t gotten even three feet when my heel caught in a crack on the sidewalk. My ankle rolled, a sharp snap sounded—my shoe, thankfully, and not a bone, though it still hurt like a motherfucker—and I went tumbling backward on a gasp.
“Son of a—”
“Jesus.” Ford lurched forward, catching me before I could fall to the ground, his thick arms wrapping around my waist to steady me. “You all right?”
“I’mfine.” Ignoring the feel of his solid body against mine, I jerked away from him and reached down, snatching my broken heel off my foot.
