Imight not have been in love, but god damn—Chloe was fucking gorgeous. The way the dress hung on her curves—and the curves themselves. They were a mesmerizing sight. When I helped her into my truck, it was hard to look away. I was fighting everything inside me not to just go for a kiss when we pulled up to the shoe store. The chemistry between us was off the charts. I had never met a woman so easy to talk to—so easy to get along with. I chose The Hawthorne because I thought she would expect me to take her to a nice place, and she wanted burgers and fries.
Hell, I might propose to this woman before the end of the night.
I wasn’t really going to propose, despite feeling like she was the most perfect woman I had ever spent part of an evening with. If we were going to follow the rules, we couldn’t even consider intimacy until we had been together for three months. That didn’t stop me from liking everything I saw. It also didn’t distract me from the fact that I hadn’t held a woman in my arms outside of a mistaken one night stand shortly after I left the Navy. Three months with a woman as gorgeous as Chloe was going to be torment. It was enough to make me consider just breaking the rules—it wasn’t like they were going to bind us.
I’m sure a lot of people don’t follow Grace’s rules. If it’s right—it’s right. Fuck, why have I always been the guy who tried to do things the right way?
“Alright, let’s find you something that won’t cause you to fall on your face by the end of the night.” I opened her door and extended my hand to help her down out of my truck.
“Funny, I said the same thing to my roommate.” She chuckled.
And then, as if fate itself decided to intervene or the devil had a dirty trick up his sleeve, she caught the edge of her heel on the running board—and fell. I had one of her hands for support, but that wasn’t going to break her fall. Her foot hit the ground so hard the heel cracked on the pavement and she went tumbling. I reacted with quickness that would have made my old commanding officer proud. I snatched her arm towards me and went down to a knee as I caught her waist. Her hand hit the pavement as I grabbed her waist, but she stayed suspended in the air without kissing the pavement before I had a chance to plant one on her lips.
“Fuck!” She flushed red as I lifted her back and held her hand as she tried to balance on one heel.
“Ah, so you do curse.” I kept her steady with my hand.
“Only when I get excited or angry—a little of both right now.” She reached down and took off her broken shoe with the hand I wasn’t holding. “Lola is going to kill me! She wanted to wear these on her date…”
“It might be repairable.” I took if from her hand. “Got some chewing gum? We can glue it back on.”
“Maybe they can do something with it inside.” She exhaled sharply. “It’s not scuffed too bad.”
I noticed she was trying to hold her bare foot off the ground, and not let her toes touch the sidewalk. I was already holding onto her, so I decided to just scoop her up and carry her into the shoe store.
“Hey—what—oh!” She grabbed my neck when I lifted her off the ground.
“Don’t worry. I’m a firefighter. I carry people all the time.” I grinned and walked over to the shoe store, hitting the door with my back. “We’ve got a shoe emergency!”
“Oh god, now I’m even more embarrassed.” She squeezed her eyes shut, but she couldn’t suppress a giggle.
“What can I help you with?” A salesman, with a tag that indicated his name was George, came walking towards us in a hurry. “We’re about to close…”
“You’re going to have to give us a few minutes.” I turned Chloe towards him. “I’ve got a woman who has already broken one shoe, definitely shouldn’t be wearing heels, and is in dire need of some flats—can you help?”
“Um, uh—yes sir.” George nodded quickly.
“Okay, please fix this shoe.” I pushed the broken one into his hand. “We’ll go find a new pair while you work.”
“You’re too much.” Chloe shook her head and giggled again.
I carried Chloe over to the shoes and put her down on a bench. I knelt down to remove the remaining heel and did my best not to stare at her long slender leg—too long. After both shoes were off, she hopped up to her feet and walked over to the selection that was lining the walls.
“Yeah, these are way too much.” She shook her head back and forth. “Let’s look at the clearance section.”
“Seriously, pick out a pair of shoes.” I walked over and grabbed the first one on the display rack that I saw. “These look fine.”
“Um, those cost more than the ones I wore in here.” She put the shoe back. “Let me look at the cheaper stuff.”
Chloe looked up and down a couple of aisles and finally found a pair that she was comfortable with me buying—actually, I think she just wanted to find something she could afford herself because she insisted on buying them when she brought them over to try them on. I had to pull the George aside and tell him that even if she tried, he was charging it to my card. He was happy getting the sale either way, and it was a few minutes past time for him to close, so he didn’t seem to mind either way.
“I think these will work.” Chloe stood and started walking up and down the aisle to test them out. “Yeah, they feel good.”
“Were you able to repair the other shoe?” I looked over at George.
“Yes sir. It’s waiting for you at the counter.” He smiled and nodded.
“Perfect. Ready to go?” I picked up her discarded high heel.
