“Ice?” she suggested.
He gulped down the pain, nodded. His instincts had been right all along. This woman was dangerous.
“Let me help you up,” she said.
He didn’t want to get up. He just wanted to lie there curled in a fetal ball and hope he’d still be able to father children.
He raised a hand to ward her off. “No. Please. Don’t help me.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said again.
“It’s okay.” He made it to his knees, took a deep breath and managed to get to his feet. He’d have felt like a fool if all his attention hadn’t been concentrated on trying to shake off the pain.
At that moment a woman, obviously one of her party guests, came around the corner. “There you are. We were wondering what happened to you.” She took in the sight of the two of them. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Arianna said. “The ladder fell and I was stuck on the roof.” She pointed to Alden. “This is my neighbor, Alden. He put it back up for me.”
The woman gave him an assessing look. Oh, great, the beginning of the notorious girlfriend inspection. He was in no shape for one of those.
“Nice to meet you,” he said. He gestured toward his house. “I’m just gonna go inside and...”Die.
“Thanks again. I hope you feel better,” said the human nutcracker.
“No problem,” he said, and started back to his house, his walk probably looking like a cross between Frankenstein and that old cowboy actor, John Wayne.Ah, yup, little lady. Glad to be of service.Hereallyneeded to stay away from Arianna White. She was hazardous to his health.
“What on earth happened?” Sunny asked as she and Arianna hurried to the garage. The scene of Arianna bending over a wet and muddy man struggling to get up had been movie-worthy.
“Just what I said, the ladder fell when I was getting up on the roof. I was up there hollering like a fool and he either saw me or heard me and came out to help.”
“So why were you guys mud wrestling?”
“I lost my footing on one of the last rungs. These stupid boots have no traction.”
“You could have lost your footing on the roof,” Sunny said, horrified.
“I think I’d have rather done that. I fell on him.”
“You fell on him?” Sunny began to giggle.
“Twice.”
The giggle grew into a laugh. “Oh, my gosh, that’s priceless.”
“Oh, yeah. Priceless. I think I damaged his manhood.”
“Or his pride,” Sunny said and laughed some more. “They’re basically one in the same.”
“I’m glad you can laugh.”
“You guys will laugh about it someday. Is he single?”
“Yes, but I don’t think he’s looking. And he’s sure not going to be looking at me, not after the encounters we’ve had.”
“There’ve been more?” Sunny asked as they entered the garage.
Arianna started stripping off her wet Santa suit and told her friend about their exchange on Christmas Day. “I brought him cookies and apologized but then he heard me yelling at Wyatt. I’m sure he thinks I’m a bitch. Now, I’m dangerous, too.”
“Which makes you intriguing.”
