Kelly stuck her tongue out at me.
The guy’s smirk froze on his lips. Clearly, he wasn’t used to women rejecting his charms. “No, that’s not how it works. It’ll be the both of you, so don’t go running off now.”
Huh? Who the hell does he think he?—
The guy lunged for me.
I leapt back, my heart pounding. “I said, don’t touch me!”
A fist came out of nowhere and slammed into the guy’s temple. His expression froze for a moment, all smushed against the mystery fist. Then he was flying backward, crashing into the crowd waiting at the duck-shooting booth. People shouted and leapt out of the way. Beer pitchers and cups of Coke spilled, and a kid howled as his corn dog was knocked out of his hand.
“Shesaidnot to touch her.” A deep voice with an even-more-perfect English accent growled from behind me.
“Ow, fuck!” The black-haired bellend yelled, grabbing his face. Blood cascaded from a cut above his eye. He tried to get to his feet, but several of the jocks in the crowd shoved and kicked him. Not because they were trying to save my honor, but because they were jocks and that was what they did.
“Hey, thanks for—” I turned to my savior and stopped short.
For the first time ever, I knew what it meant when authors talked about being “mesmerized by beauty,” because I literally could not tear my eyes away from this guy. He stood with tree trunk arms folded, glaring at the bellend with emerald eyes pierced with light. They looked like prisms that might shatter at any moment. A soft nose and strong jaw completed a face thatwould’ve looked right at home on a men’s shaving commercial, complete with midnight skin and a mop of dark, curly hair that stuck out at all angles, a wild mane I wanted to tangle my fingers in.
Tattoos spiraled down both his arms – intricate Celtic knots weaving over his toned muscles. He wore a black t-shirt with some indecipherable band logo on it, dark jeans, and heavy black boots coated with a layer of Arizona dust. He was staring at me like I was the only thing that mattered in the whole world.
This was the kind of guy who carried around a suitcase of broken hearts. He was the guy all lonely female country singers wrote songs about, except he looked more like a rockstar than a lone ranger. Why was hehere, at the Coopersville county fair, of all places, and why was he bothering to rescueme?
“Are you okay?” he asked, the syllables rolling off that sexy British tongue of his.
“I—” articulation wasn’t happening in the presence of such a fine specimen of humanity. “Um…”
My phone beeped. I tore my gaze away from my hot rescuer, and checked the message. It was Mom. The thirty heart emojis at the beginning of the message gave it away without even having to read the “from” bar.
Mum: “We’re in line. Hurry up!”
Kelly slammed into me. “Who’s this guy?” She flashed Mr. British a toothy smile. Obviously, she was already over her infatuation with the bellend. “You saved us from a crazy stalker. What can we do to repay you? Can I buy you a drink?”
Inside, I groaned.Typical Kelly.Not two minutes ago she was practically purring on the other guy’s lap, and now he was our crazy stalker?
Well, too bad, she wasn’t getting her hands onmyemerald-eyed hero.
“You’re not twenty-one, remember?” I elbowed her out of the way. Kelly glared at me. I flashed Mr. British what I hoped was a flirtatious smile. “But I’d be happy to.”
“What about Mom and Dad?” Kelly moaned, suddenly desperate to see them now that I had the guy’s attention. “We can’t just keep them waiting at the Ferris wheel forever.”
As if on cue, my phone beeped again. Mom.
“Where are you?”and about twenty sadface emojis.
I handed the phone to Kelly. “Reply to that. Tell her we’ll be there in a second.”
“It’s your phone. You do it.” Kelly tried to shove it under my nose, but I jerked my head away and turned back to Mr. British, who was staring at me with this intense expression that was almost unnerving, if it didn’t make my stomach flutter in a way I’m definitely not used to.
“What?” I asked. “Do I have cotton candy up my nose or something?”
Mr. British shook his head, his dark hair waving around his face. “You’re just… enchanting.”
That was such a ridiculous line it should have made me snort, but instead, the butterflies in my chest danced like crazy. The intensity in this guy’s eyes when he said that…It was as if he really believed it was true. It made me feel like a goddess, instead of the frumpy science nerd.
My phone beeped again. Kelly glanced at the screen and smiled. “Never mind. Mom said they just hopped on. They want us to wait for them at the bottom, and they’ll go again with us.”
“I’ll walk you,” Mr. British said, with a glance over to the bellend, who was now having a shouting match with two of the jocks. Mr. British picked up my hand and looped it in his, like an old-fashioned gentleman escorting a lady to a ball. Electricity fizzed up my arm. My gaze fell on his lips again, and my body heated up as I wondered what it would be like to kiss them, all soft and sensual.
