“Way to hurt the skinny guy’s feelings.”
There’s that smile again. “Lean, not skinny,” he corrects, and I swear to God, is he checking me out right now? That’s impossible. Maybe I hit my head when I fell, and this is all a hallucination.
“All right, tough guy,” I say. “I guess you can be He-Man and I’ll be the damsel in distress. How do we do this?”
“Easy. I’ll do all the work.”
I almost choke when he says that, and I have to remind myself to behave.
“Do I jump into your arms or…”
“No way. You might have sprained your ankle. You’re not jumping anywhere. Lean on me, ok? I’ll be gentle.”
Just as he says the words, he lifts me, supporting my back with one arm, and my legs with the other. And he wasn’t lying about being gentle. My leg barely got jostled.
“You ready?”
I look up at Booker’s face. “No. But we better get moving anyway,” I say honestly because the truth is that I’m not ready for what Booker makes me feel. But I realized a while ago that I’m powerless against it.
* * *
Booker
Ian’s body feels good in my arms.
That’s just a fact. I don’t know what the heck to do with this information, but it’s true. He’s heavier than Lexi was, not that I ever carried her around. But he’s strong and…his body is just built differently.
My body is noticing all those differences, and I need to recite hymns backwards and get us down this hill before he figures out just how much I like holding him.
I’m halfway throughHow Firm a Foundationby the time we make it to my car. The doors unlock and I set him down carefully so that he can lean against the frame while I open the door for him. It takes a minute to get him situated, and I’m grateful the seats move back as far as they do. Ian’s on the shorter side of average, but I want plenty of space for his ankle, so it doesn’t get bumped or anything.
“Ok, I’m taking the long way to avoid the speed bumps. But it’s only a few minutes longer, so I think it’s a good call.” I say, drumming my hands on the steering wheel when I pull up to the first light.
“Thanks. For that and for carrying me and everything. I feel like such a dumbass right now. I’d have you take me home, but ice is probably a good idea, if you don’t mind. I’ll text Mel and have her come get me.”
“That’s cool,” I say because, apparently, I say the lamest things ever in front of this man.
We sit in silence for the remaining few minutes it takes to drive the back way through campus to get to my place. I pull into the driveway, and it takes a few minutes, but we finally get Ian settled on the L-shaped couch with a stack of pillows and a bag of frozen peas.
After wrapping his ankle, I bring him a tall glass of water and some ibuprofen. “This will help with the swelling. Unless you’re allergic or something?”
“No, I’m good. Thanks,” he says, taking the pills and swallowing them down with water like a good patient. “Seriously, though, don’t let me and my stupidity keep you from whatever you’ve got going on. Mel hasn’t texted back yet, but she might be babysitting for Professor Asshole—I mean Ashman. She’s usually done around this time, though, so I’m sure she’ll be here soon.”
I should go take a nap, but I’m a little too wired for sleep, so I grab my own water bottle and take a seat on the other end of the couch. Are there other places to sit? Yep. A lot of them. Do I have a giant screen TV in my room? Yep. But for some reason, this couch seems like the perfect spot.
“I have to get to the rink in an hour,” I tell Ian, “but I’ve got a little time to kill. Do you want to play NHL Ice?”
“Play hockey with a hockey player? Uh, no thanks.”
“It’s not real hockey,” I tell him. “Although you really shouldn’t skate for a couple weeks, at least.”
“It’s cute that you think I know how to skate.”
“You can’t skate?” I ask. Skating is literally my favorite thing to do. I realize I’m in the minority here, but still.
“Nope. I tried once in the eighth grade. PJ, my older brother, had a crush on a girl who was a figure skater, so he dragged Luke and me to the rink in Greenfield to practice. Neither of us had ever been on skates before, but apparently, PJ thought learning to skate would be a breeze and would easily win him this girl’s heart.”
“That’s kind of adorable. Did it work out?”
