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He kept smiling.
“Oh, for the love of Pete.”
“I’m not letting you hop. You might hurt your ankle more.” Mac paused, his smile fading. “Unless you’re afraid I’ll drop you?”
“As if you’d drop me crossing a flat parking lot after mountain goating with me down the trail.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“If you carry me inside, everyone’s going to stare.”
Ouch. Jodie was embarrassed to be seen with him? That stung more than thinking he’d drop her.
Jodie squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “It’s just that they’ll assume we’re newlyweds and that I hurt myself doing something kinky.”
He stared at her. “Are…are you serious?”
Jodie’s eyes widened. Then she started laughing. “Oh my God. Your face.”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.” Too late, he felt the heat crawling up his neck.
“No, you’re not.”
No. He absolutely was not. He was going to file it away for later when he was alone.
Newlyweds. Kinky.
This woman is trying to kill me.
“Okay, fine, you win.” Jodie sighed dramatically. “Carry me.”
“Thank you.”
He slid one arm behind her knees and the other around her back and lifted her out of the truck. Jodie automatically wrapped an arm around his shoulders like she’d done it a thousand times, and she fit so perfectly against his chest, like she belonged there.
“I feel like Scarlett O’Hara.”
Mac grinned. “Pretty sure Rhett Butler didn’t drive a Ram.”
“He would’ve if they’d had them. You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” she asked him. Her lips were slightly parted, as if it were just occurring to her.
Oh, yes, definitely enjoying carrying the woman of my dreams all afternoon. Yes indeedy.
“Maybe a little,” he said as he carried her through the automatic doors.
The nurse behind the reception desk looked up. Her gaze went to Mac first, then Jodie as her eyebrows rose slowly.
“We’re not married,” Jodie said quickly.
Mac nodded. “She doesn’t like me that much.”
“I like you more than I like the guy who abandoned me on the mountain.”
“Low bar.”
The nurse covered a laugh with a cough.
“Sorry,” Jodie said. “Long day.”
