Page 26 of Falling for a Grumpy Hero

Oh, but if he only would. For just a minute, my thoughts ran wild and I imagined all those things with him, feeling his hard body penning me against the wall, his voice throaty and rough with raw desire as he told me everything I wanted to hear. I could practically smell the vaguely spicy, clean scent of his cologne if I closed my eyes, imagining his lips dragging across my neck and his breath ghosting across my skin.

I clenched my thighs together and shifted on the couch. Then I realized that I’d gotten all hot and bothered. While thinking about my boss doing things to me that he absolutely never would. God, I really need to stop reading romance novels for a while, especially since my mind now keeps wandering back to Ford when I’m having these silly, idle fantasies.

I couldn’t have a crush on my grumpy, pessimistic boss—the exact opposite kind of man I needed in my life. Thankfully, my phone chimed and I picked it up to find a text from Addy, asking if I wanted to meet her for a drink downtown. I agreed immediately.

I had to get out of my apartment and, more importantly, get out of my head. Maybe that guy I was looking for was waiting for me at this bar, and I’d never meet him if I just sat here, staring at my tablet and thinking about the man who had given it to me.

After making sure that I’d saved my work on both the tablet and on my laptop, I got up and headed upstairs to my loft bedroom. Warm, late afternoon sunshine filtered in through the window high above my bed, a ray hitting my closet as if it was shining a spotlight on it.

That has to be a sign, right? I need to get dressed up and get out there.

“Yeah,” I muttered to myself, nodding repeatedly as I strode into the warmth of that sunshine and started rummaging through my clothes. “That’s exactly what I need to do. Anything to stop thinking about Ford.”

Just saying his name out loud made my heart flutter and I sighed. I really didn’t know what was going on with me, but I changed into a pair of jeans, some low-slung kitten heels for a change, and a vibrant indigo shirt. Then I brushed my hair until it was smooth and shiny, and even put on some slightly dramatic makeup.

To me, this was going all out, and once I was ready, I stood in front of the full-length mirror mounted against the wall next to my bed and grinned. I looked good. Optimism bloomed like a seed in my chest as I reached up to ruffle my hair just the tiniest bit.

Virginia Beach had been good to me so far. Now if only it would offer up the man of my dreams, that would be great.

Chuckling as I shook my head at myself for the thought, I took one last look in the mirror and decided I was ready. A warm breeze blew through my hair as I headed out on my bicycle, enjoying the last warmth of today’s sun on my skin and looking out at the crimson streaks of the sunset reflected across the water of the bay. I couldn’t even be upset about the fact that the breeze was redoing my hair for me. The view was just too good to care.

Addy’s choice of bar for this evening was situated a couple of blocks away from the beach in a trendy, renovated warehouse with glass sides and exposed wooden beams with a steel roof and supports. Strangely, I found myself thinking about the architectural and structural elements of the building as I walked in, and Addy laughed when I joined her at a cocktail table near what I assumed would become a dance floor later on.

“Stop looking at the place like you’re redesigning it in your head,” she teased, opening her arms to give me a big hug. “You’re off the clock, girl.”

I chuckled and pulled her closer, squeezing her tight before taking a step back and hopping onto one of the stools at the table. A pitcher of cold beer and two glasses waited at the center of it and I frowned. “Taylor isn’t joining us tonight?”

“Nah, he’s at a meeting with that veterans’ support group of his. He might join us when they’re done, but they sometimes grab drinks together after. Not all of them, but a few of the guys like to keep talking.”

Immediately, I wondered if Ford was there too, but I knew Addy wouldn’t know, and besides, I shouldn’t care. Refocusing my thoughts, I smiled and picked up the pitcher. “Well, I’m just glad to see you and to be getting out of the apartment. I think living alone after so long is messing with my head. My thoughts keep running away with me.”

She arched her eyebrows, waiting for me to fill up our glasses before she giggled and gave me a questioning look. “Out with it. What’s been keeping that big brain of yours so busy, then?”

“Work,” I said vaguely. “School. That new project I helped Ford get for CE.”

“Is he actually going to let you work on it? He said so?” she asked excitedly, pausing with her drink halfway to her lips. Her eyes widened as she leaned forward. “Please tell me he’s letting you work on it for sure.”

I shrugged, but I couldn’t completely stop myself from smiling. “I don’t know how much work he’s going to let me do on it, but I’ve been developing some concepts for the client and he let me really pick her brain the other day, so hopefully, we’ll end up using at least some of what I’ve come up with.”

She squealed, dark eyes shining with happiness. “That’s awesome! I’m so proud of you. Maybe you were right about him being a good guy at heart.”

“Maybe. I think so, though. We had a bit of a blowout on Monday. He was in such a horrible mood and he tried to take it out on me.”

“Let me guess, you let him have it for trying to walk all over you?” She smirked. “Good girl. I was wondering how long that was going to take ever since the first time you told me about him and his attitude.”

I laughed. “Well, it didn’t take very long, but here’s the thing. After he helped me that night when I nearly got run over, he saw some of my sketches and he asked me to bring my binder to work, and I forgot it there when I stormed out.”

“And?”

“And he looked at it,” I said, smiling as I thought back to him arriving at my apartment. “Then he showed up at my place after I’d called out for the day and gave me this really expensive design tablet. Sort of as an apology for treating me so badly, I guess, but he just said I should get used to working with the tech. He seemed pretty impressed by my sketches. Point is, there aren’t many bosses who would do that. It has to mean that he has a good heart.”

“I’m sure he was impressed.” She paused for a beat, taking a sip of her drink as she looked at me from across the table like she was trying to figure something out. “Let me get this straight. You have an argument with him and instead of just apologizing, he shows up with a specialized tablet?”

I shrugged. “He tried to apologize normally. Called and texted a few times, but I wasn’t ready to speak to him.”

“So again, he shows up at your place with that super expensive tablet and then lets you work on designs for a very important client?”

“Uh, yep. Something like that. We had lunch on our way back to the city after that project meeting and he also answered a lot of questions I had about an assignment for school. He’s really not such a bad guy after all.”