“Always happy to help.” She winked at Goldie and jogged over to me. “Hold what you got.”
Reality trickled in as her hands gripped my hips. “What?”
Faster than I could yelp, she had me slung over her shoulder. Goldie, clearly in on it, unlatched the gate and held it open for Sloane to hit the sidewalk beyond. Planting my palms on her lower back, I shoved up to get a view of what Liam had in store for Rían.
And, yeah, okay, I was hoping he had tried the same trick with his cousin. I would have paid to see Liam hoofing it with Rían’s feet dangling a foot above the ground behind him. Talk about hilarious. I would’ve used it as the family Christmas card. Maybe forever.
“I dare you,” Liam tempted his cousin. “To beat me to the lake.”
The challenge, and his rapidly disappearing fiancée, broke through Rían’s haze.
Cackling like a fiend, Sloane smacked my butt and sprinted down the sidewalk.
“Girls get a five-second head start,” Goldie announced, slamming the gate shut in Liam’s face.
He bounced off the wood. Hard. Guess she hadn’t totally forgiven him yet.
Rían didn’t make the same mistake, though I did wonder if he used Liam as a stepping stone for vaulting over the fence,based on his sharp grunt. Rían hit the ground running, and Sloane let out an undignifiedmeepof panic as he closed the gap.
“Damn your giraffe legs,” she called back, pouring on more speed.
“You deserved a thirty-second handicap.” I face-planted into her spine because my neck hurt too much to hold my head upright any longer. “But I’ve got to say, your butt looks amazing from this angle.”
“It’s these leggings,” she gushed with a wiggle of her hips. “They really cinch and lift.”
“Weird. I don’t remember you ever wearing leggings. Just scrub bottoms or jeans.”
“I’m trying new things.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Hmm.” I took a shot in the dark. “You’re shadowing Liam again today, aren’t you?”
Part of her enforcer training schedule, devised by the man himself, despite assigning her to Seamus.
“He doesn’t factor into my fashion choices.”
“You’re telling me you bought leggings with some weird seam running up your crack, clearly defining your cheeks, that pushes your butt so high it almost rests on your shoulders, for yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay.”
“That’s the least believableokayin the history of okays. Maybe there’s a hot enforcer I’ve got my eye on that I happened to meet while making the rounds. There are a lot more Walshes than you might think, and not all of them are named Liam.”
“Get ready.”
At the sound of Rían’s voice, I shoved off Sloane’s back in time to watch him catch us. He slid his hands under my arms and stopped where he stood. Since she kept running, her momentum dragged me over her shoulder and into his arms. The jerk of my weight shifting yanked her back, and she fell on her butt.
“Sorry about that.” He skirted her while tucking me against his chest. “Hold on.”
Arms locking behind his neck, I hooked my ankles at his spine, meaning my butt hit around the level of his navel. “Are we playing hot potato, and if so, does that mean I’m the potato?”
