Page 31 of Falling for a Grumpy Hero

I stood in the center of it all, gaping at the practiced efficiency of it all as I waited for Ford to tell me it was time for us to head out, too. He didn’t make any moves to leave, though. Still walking around with that tablet, he oversaw all the packing, and covering, and preparations, and as the last of the workers left, I realized we were definitely staying behind.

“Why did you really bring me with you today?” I asked once we were alone under the overcast sky. The winds were picking up, the atmosphere in the air becoming tempestuous in a way I wasn’t sure I’d ever experienced before, but Ford was as calm as if he wasn’t even aware of it. “Don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot by just observing you, but I really feel like I missed something.”

“I thought you might enjoy it.” He finally lifted his gaze away from his tablet to look at me, and as our eyes met, I felt like maybe I wasn’t imagining the way he looked at me. Like deep down, he might want me as badly as I was starting to realize I wanted him. “You’ve seemed particularly interested in this project so far.”

His words were quieter than I was used to from him, an almost gentle undertone to them that made it seem like it meant something to him that I was as interested as I had been. Those eyes, as tempestuous as the very sky above, remained locked on mine. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, I took a few small steps closer.

I wasn’t sure what I would’ve done when I reached him, but before either of us could find out, it started positively dumping rain. Huge, warm drops spattered across my hair and skin, driving in a way I wasn’t used to at all.

I freaking loved it, spinning in a circle and laughing out loud before racing up to the porch. While I was loving the storm, Ford was beginning to grow weary. Ending up on the porch beside me, he finally started collecting his things to leave.

“That was fun,” I called breathlessly, unsure if he would be able to hear me over the thunderous pounding of the rain against the old roof. “Let’s get back out there.”

I reached for his hand, grabbing it and trying to tug him out into the rain, but lightning flashed across the sky and he stood his ground. Glancing at him, I kept hold of his hand and laughed when the rain came to us instead, soaking us through the holes and cracks in the old roof.

Ford stood stock still, eyes locked on mine, but even as water ran from his hair, to his temples, and tracked down to soak the collar of his shirt and jacket, he didn’t move a muscle. I smiled. “You know you won’t melt, right?”

His fingers tightened on mine, and all of a sudden, time felt like it was moving in slow motion. “That’s not what I’m afraid of, Lila.”

As if he was being drawn to me by that same force I’d surrendered to myself just a couple minutes ago, he moved closer until I could practically hear his heartbeat skyrocketing at my next question.

“What are you afraid of, then?” I just about whispered the words, but I knew he’d heard me because his nostrils flared and there was a flash of indecision across his features.

In that moment, everything felt charged. He stepped even closer and my breath caught in my lungs, my entire being yearning for him to close that final bit of distance between us. Neither of us moved, neither of us looking away either.

In the space between one heartbeat and the next, that indecision was gone—and so was the last remaining distance. With one sharp tug, he sent me crashing into him and I didn’t fight the momentum at all, willingly smacking into him. One of his strong arms slid around my hips while he caught my face in the palm of his free hand.

He kissed me fiercely, as passionately as the heroes in all those romance novels I’d been reading. It was rough, hot, and full of suppressed longing, a scorching tangle of our tongues and lips and bodies in all the ways I’d been fantasizing about.

Ford moved us back toward the house until I crashed into the wall, but he absorbed all the pain I might’ve felt with that arm around my hips. I moaned and melted into him, finally bringing my arms up to loop around his neck, but before I could touch him, he broke away from me.

Both of us were panting and I, for one, was in a state of complete shock, but Ford’s jaw was tight as he gave his head a firm shake. “Not like this.”

He muttered the words under his breath, but he was still so close to me that I heard them clearly. Then he pushed away from the wall, spun around, and walked out into the storm, leaving me breathing heavily and frustrated as hell.

What on God’s green earth was that all about, and why, oh why, did he stop just as it was getting really good?

16

FORD

Kissing Lila was not something I had intended to do. My body and heart had acted before my rational brain had had a chance to catch up, and now I’d crossed a line I couldn’t uncross.

So I did the only thing I could do under the circumstances: avoid the office at all costs. It’d been a few days and I was hoping the distance I’d put between us since would make up for my monumental lapse of judgment.

As skeptical as I’d been after I’d first met her, she really was a fantastic assistant and I didn’t want this to affect our professional relationship. Walking around the site at Heritage House, I kept glancing at the wall on the porch I’d pushed her up against and it did not do good things for me.

“The foundation work is nearly completed,” Jason was saying when I wrenched my gaze away from that damn wall and looked back at him. “We’re ahead of schedule and we’ll be ready to start phase two within the next couple days.”

I gave him a curt nod. “Thanks, Jason. I appreciate your diligence on this project.”

The guy’s eyes nearly bulged out and I didn’t blame him. He’d worked with me on quite a few projects and he knew I rarely expressed my gratitude or appreciation. In this instance, it was warranted, though.

After he and I had had a long conversation about my drawings and I’d thoroughly explained exactly what needed to be done, there hadn’t been any more missteps or misunderstandings. He and his team had worked tirelessly this week to ensure that everything was on track and being done correctly.

That wasn’t always easy to find in a contractor, and I truly did appreciate what his team had achieved here. And okay, maybe Lila had something to do with it, too.

The woman had been messing with my head for weeks. More and more often now, I found myself imagining the look she would be giving me if she had been with me, and acting the way I would’ve if she had been here.