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JOHNNY

Maybe the stranger shivered because I’d just plowed into him on a skateboard. Or maybe it was the way I’d called him “sir.” Either way, the intensity in his eyes as he looked at me caused a shiver to run down my spine too. Weird .

Poor man was minding his own business when I smashed into him like a human bullet. Safety wasn’t something I worried too much about myself, but I didn’t usually take bystanders down with me.

“Well, I’ll let you get on your way.” I gave him a quick once-over and tried not to linger on his thick thighs or ripped biceps. He obviously knew his way around a gym. “I hope your clothes aren’t stained or anything.” Especially since I couldn’t afford to replace them, but if he wanted me to cover his dry cleaning, I’d probably be able to swing that.

“Hold on.” He shook his head like he wasn’t ready to let me go. “You can’t even walk. Let me help you get to urgent care or something.”

“Why?” I pulled back and tenderly rested my foot on the ground, not putting any weight on it as I did my best to balance. “Why’d you stop me? I’ve landed in that pond before. It’s not deep or anything.”

He cocked his head and scoffed. “Are you serious right now?”

I shrugged, both turned on and scared that I was pissing him off. “I mean, thank you and all, but you didn’t have to help me. No one ever does.” Fuck, why did I go and say that? I didn’t like showing weakness to anyone, much less a hot stranger.

Just because he was the first person to ever truly put himself in my path and try to help me didn’t mean I needed to lay some kind of sob story on him. I was used to being on my own. I made bad decisions and I suffered the consequences. Alone.

It was…whatever.

But he didn’t walk away like he seemed to be itching to. He continued to look me over, focusing on the tiny drops of blood smeared across various parts of my exposed skin. “You can’t just go bombing down the hill like that. There are kids around here. You could have hurt someone or yourself much worse.” He brushed some dirt off my t-shirt and then took a step back, as if realizing how close he still was.

Not gonna lie, even that tiny gesture was hot. I liked that he seemed so sure of himself and in me, even though he was the exact opposite of the guys I usually went for. This stranger was quickly becoming the superhero star of my personal fantasies. A stranger with a secret identity. The world’s hottest, grouchiest safety officer. “What’s your name, anyway?”

“Sawyer.” The stranger grabbed my hand and put it on his shoulder for balance. He was a little rough, but not in a bad way. The rounded muscle under my palm sent something buzzing under my skin. “Stop squirming.” He reached for my other hand and picked some tiny rocks out of my skin. “You’ll just hurt yourself worse.” He was bossy but not wrong. His knee settled against my hip as he leaned in.

“I’m Johnny.” The tiniest sigh escaped my lips as I pressed my side to him. “Sorry to make your acquaintance in such a dramatic fashion.” He removed a larger rock from my flesh, and I gasped.

All movement immediately stopped, and Sawyer looked up at my face. “Did that hurt?”

“Kinda. But I think I’m just…tired.” The adrenaline spike I got from doing dumb shit was the best high ever. But it never lasted long enough, and once I started coming down from it, I crashed hard. Every muscle suddenly felt weak, and I realized I was shivering. “And a little cold.”

“Fuck. You’re going into shock. We need to warm you up.” He pulled off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders before he slipped his arm around my back and basically carried me toward the walking path. “Let’s go.”

He was a handsome guy with short brown hair and a jaw that was made for the light afternoon scruff covering it. And now that I was pressed up against his body, I could feel how tight it was. He was obviously a few years older than me but fitter than any guy I’d been with. I wanted to burrow right into him.

“Wait.” I hopped on my good leg and tried to turn back toward the pond. “My board. I can’t just leave it.”

“I’ll buy you a new one.” He held me tighter and kept moving, taking me with him.

He couldn’t just buy a new one. It was a Johnny original. But I could make another one, and getting to spend a few more minutes with this guy cradling me to his side was worth the cost of the board. “It’s fine. I’ll make a new one.”

His smile was an incredible thing, especially when it was aimed at me. “You made that?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged and fisted his shirt to get better leverage. “I mean, I bought all the parts and put it together. It’s not like I cut the deck or fashioned the wheels from blocks of plastic.”

“Based on how fast you were traveling, you might have done too good of a job.” His size and intensity was almost intimidating, but then he was sweet and gentle. He was like a cop or a stern principal. Or better yet, like a Daddy.

A Daddy. Okay, now I was just projecting. Just because he was a sexy, handsome older man who wasn’t mad at me for crashing into him, didn’t mean he was a Daddy, much less a Daddy into men. He wasn’t giving me his attention out of interest but merely obligation. There was almost no way he was a Daddy who might’ve shivered when I called him sir. “You doing okay, kiddo?”

I must’ve blinked at him like a confused puppy, because his tone was more insistent. “Johnny, please answer when I ask you a question.”

“Wait, what did you say?” All I heard was kiddo, but there must have been more words than that.

He placed his hand on my forehead as if checking my temperature and then relaxed. It was almost enough to distract me from the sharp pulse of pain in my ankle with every step I took. Almost, but not quite. “Are you doing okay? How do you feel right now? I can call an ambulance if you’re feeling worse.”

“I’m fine. Not worse.” I quickly shook my head and focused on taking quick steps despite the pain that got stronger with each passing second. “My car’s in the lot. I can drive myself home.”

“Dammit, boy.” He scooped me up against his chest, and my arms instinctively wrapped around his neck. “You can’t walk on that foot until we know what’s wrong. I’m not leaving you until you’ve had an X-ray.”

“Wha—” My whole body was wound up and trembling, even though I was completely secure in his arms. “What’re you doing?”

“Getting you to the hospital.” The expression on his face made it clear he wasn’t sure how anyone could be this much of a dumbass. “I don’t need a lawsuit for knocking you down and then leaving you to your own devices.”

There was something almost harsh in the set of his jaw, but there was also a gentleness in his tone. Honestly, I couldn’t read him. Maybe I was a little delirious too because he looked kinda mean, but not really. And then his words finally penetrated through my foggy mind. “I’m not gonna sue you, dude. I ran into you. You should be suing me.”

He barked out a laugh. “Do you have anything for me to sue for?”

“No.” I suddenly wanted out of his arms, but it hurt too much to try to walk…and it felt too good to be carried, even if it was just to avoid a lawsuit. I’d done much worse to get much less from a man. “Do you?”

He just shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. What matters is that we get you fixed up so I can sleep tonight.”

I couldn’t help relaxing against him and resting my head on his shoulder, breathing against his neck as his hot breath bounced off mine. “You must have kids because you’re a great Daddy.”