Page 47 of Falling for a Grumpy Hero

If the afternoon hadn’t been as heavy and emotional as it had been, I might’ve entertained a few fantasies about being this close to his huge bed with him, alone, but I resisted the urge to make a move. Resisted even the thought of those fantasies.

I stopped in the center of his room and watched him stride to the dresser, pull out a clean T-shirt, and bring it to me. He looked deep into my eyes as he handed it over and something squeezed in my chest at the tenderness of the gesture. Our fingertips brushed and my heart started racing. Electricity snapped between us as our gazes caught. But he sliced through the moment by breaking the touch and striding toward the door.

Staring at his broad back made me realize that maybe nothing really could ever happen between us. Ford Callahan was a broken man, someone who was rainy when it was perfectly sunny, and I wasn’t sure he could move past that to let me in. I wished he’d try, but I just didn’t know if he could.

As he led me to another door, I rose up on my toes and pressed a soft kiss to his shaven cheek, some stubble from the day prickling my lips as I brushed them across his skin. “Good night, Ford.”

“Good night.” He leaned slightly into my touch, but in the end, he turned away and went back to his bedroom.

Rook tried to follow after me, but I shook my head and gently whispered, “There’s someone else in this house who needs you more tonight. Watch over him for me, would you? He’s going to need some help tonight, and somehow, I doubt he’s going to accept it from me.”

24

FORD

Early the next morning, I woke up to dark skies but no storm. Heavy gray clouds hung overhead though, gathering in an ominous way that made me certain we were going to be getting more rain later.

Rolling out of bed, I stretched out and gingerly put my foot down, groaning when pain stabbed through my leg. I gave it a moment, slowly standing so I’d be adding weight to it gradually.

It still hurt like a bitch, but I’d been careful not to overdo it and it seemed to be working. Mornings were the worst now, but as the day went on, the pain would steadily become less. As soon as I could manage it, I limped out of my room to check on Lila.

She’d left the guest room door open and she was still fast asleep, that red hair bright against the plain white bedding. Totally tangled in the sheets, her lips were parted and one of her legs was hooked around the comforter, a smooth expanse of pale skin up to her mid-thigh where it disappeared under the fabric.

For a minute, I forgot why I shouldn’t be doing it and just stood in the doorway, drinking her in. The gentle swell of her breasts under my shirt. The way I could dwarf her tiny body under my own. A memory of that kiss we’d had back at Heritage House flashed through my mind, and need built deep inside. My cock was pressing against the front of my sweats as I remembered what it’d felt like to have her soft body against me.

I pushed down on the erection with my palm, shaking my head at myself and turning just as Rook carefully jumped onto the bed and snuggled up beside her. Once again, I wished I could be that mutt.

I gave him a look, challenging him to get the hell down, but when he dropped his chin and burrowed in, I shrugged. He wasn’t going anywhere and I wasn’t going to risk waking her by trying to convince him, so I headed to the kitchen to make some coffee. At least the power was on again and I wouldn’t have to go digging out an old camping stove to get some caffeine into my veins.

As I waited for the machine to start, I stared out the kitchen window, surveying the storm damage in my backyard. It was a complete mess, with leaves, twigs, and branches scattered across the lawn. In my neighbor’s yard, furniture had tipped over, tossed around in the wind, and kids’ toys were scattered around like an invisible giant had kicked over a box in a playroom.

Grateful it wasn’t my problem to deal with, I fixed my coffee. When it was ready, I carried it with me to my front yard. I stood on the porch with my mug, my eyes widening at the havoc the wind had wreaked on my street.

An entire tree had come down and several others were broken. The stump of the downed tree was blocking the cul-de-sac and the rooftop of the gazebo was gone. My neighbors’ pristine yards were covered in water and debris, the street quite flooded too.

I sighed around my coffee, noticing some of the other men in the neighborhood doing the same thing. Drinking their coffee and looking grouchily upon the mess we had to clean today.

Later, I thought. Lila had a late lunch, but no dinner. She’s probably going to be starving when she wakes up.

Why I cared, I didn’t know, but she had been doing her best to look after me ever since I’d been hurt. The least I could do was feed her after she’d gotten stuck here against her will. Okay, and I appreciate that she let me talk yesterday, so there’s that.

It had been the first time that I’d told the story and it’d torn me open on the inside, and while I’d felt like I’d been bleeding all over her, she’d offered silent support. She hadn’t peppered me with questions or tried to minimize what had happened by saying that it was in the past and I should move on. Strangely, she hadn’t said much at all. When I’d really needed her to shut up, that was exactly what she’d done.

She hadn’t pressured me to go to the memorial, nor had she offered meaningless platitudes. The way she’d kept quiet and just let me speak had made it easier to get the words out. How she’d handled it after had made me realize that perhaps talking about it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

Maybe, if I talk to the guys in the support group, I could actually really help some of them.

That thought stuck in my head as I made breakfast for us both, and it was like the glue it used to stick itself to my brain was simultaneously itchy, painful, and soothing. Lila didn’t wake up while I was cooking and I wasn’t about to go yank her out of bed, so I ate, left her plate, and headed back to my bedroom.

Standing under the warm spray of the shower, images of her lying in the bed in the room right next to mine constantly played through my head. She was so close, wearing so little, and my dick was reacting in all the ways it hadn’t done for a long time. I ignored the urges, biting my teeth to suppress a groan as I washed up and climbed out once I was done.

Hard as a rock, every brush of even the towel against my skin seemed like torture, sending sparks of pleasure through me and creating an undeniable need for friction, but I wasn’t the type to jerk off to thoughts of my assistant, sleeping peacefully only a wall away. Focused on getting dressed for the drizzly, cool weather outside and deliberately turning my thoughts to the task ahead, I finally managed to get rid of the erection and headed to the garage.

Being so damn attracted to her was becoming really fucking frustrating, but no matter how hard I fought it, it didn’t seem to be going away. The only thing I could do was to keep ignoring it and hope that it faded over time.

Once I was in the garage, I grabbed some of the tools I’d need to help with the cleanup outside and hit the button to open the doors, not sure why I was crossing the street to talk to neighbors I’d known for years but had never said a word to. I also wasn’t sure why I ended up in Mike’s garage next door, fixing a chainsaw while talking about the last football season over the whirring sound of other people’s chainsaws and axes outside. The neighborhood was banding together to help cut up and move the tree blocking the road and here I was, unexpectedly making friends.

Mike grinned at me after I’d tightened the loose bar nuts that had been making the saw unusable. “I didn’t know you were so handy, Callahan. I might just come knocking on your door every time I’ve got a problem from now on.”