Page 92 of Pretend Girlfriend

He clapped his hands as I drew near. “Almost done.”

“They’ll know I’m a fraud,” I wheezed. “I’m so slow!”

“Aw, hell. Just blame it on the humidity. It’s stickier than the devil’s armpit out here. I’ll back you up, if need be.”

He winked at me.

It was such a small thing, but coming from the handsome Texan, it made my stomach flutter. Especially since he was shirtless, and absolutely chiseled with lean muscle. In spite of everything, I grinned at him.

And then stepped into an uneven section of sand, falling to the ground in a heap.

38

Joanna

I went down like a bag of apples, face-planting in the sand. My ankle flared with pain, and I cried out.

Austin was on his knees next to me in a flash. “You okay?”

“I think I rolled my ankle.”

“Don’t need to think about it. I saw it happen. You gotta watch where you’re stepping on this sand.”

“THEN YOU SHOULDN’T DISTRACT ME BY WINKING,” I shouted at him.

I was angry and frustrated, so I pushed up onto my knees and tried to get my foot underneath me. That was immediately a bad idea; it wouldn’t bear any weight, and I went down again.

“Now just hold on,” Austin purred at me. “Take a breather. You weren’t gonna win that race, anyhow.”

“Thanks for reminding me!”

“Let me see that.” He tried touching my ankle.

“No! I’m fine!”

“Hope so,” he replied. “But let me take a look, just in case.”

I leaned back and extended my leg in his direction. His touch was tender as he examined my ankle, gently maneuvering my foot a few millimeters in one direction, then another.

“OW,” I hissed at him. “That hurts.”

“It’s not broken, but it’s twisted real bad,” he agreed. “You’ve got no range of motion at all.”

“Gee, thanks for the breaking news,” I muttered.

Austin stood up and gazed down the beach. Clark and the other groomsman were no longer behind me; they must have decided to give up rather than start the second lap.

“It’s a ways back to the resort,” Austin said.

“I can walk just fine.” I pushed to my feet, putting all of my weight on my good ankle. As soon as I tried putting any amount of weight on the bad one, debilitating pain shot up my leg.

“Let’s take it slow.” Austin put an arm around me. “One step at a time.”

Even with his help, every step was excruciating. After ten steps, I shook my head.

“I can’t. I need help. Can you go get someone?”

“Like who?”

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