Page 74 of Falling for a Grumpy Hero

“Why are you here then, boss? Why do you even care?” She didn’t step aside to let me in, her chin slanting a little higher as she held my gaze. “Just yesterday, you didn’t have a single word to say to me and now⁠—”

“Now something has happened that upset you. Of course, I care.” I moved forward and braced my hands on the door frame. “I care about you, Lila. I know I haven’t shown it as much as I could have and I realize that I owe you an apology, but I came here because I care.”

My throat tightened on the words like my body itself was rejecting the fact that I had to say them out loud. Honestly, it was harder for me to admit than it should’ve been, but emotional vulnerability had never been a strength of mine.

Lila didn’t react immediately—and also not as warmly as I might’ve liked. Her grip firmed on her hips until she was holding them so tight, her knuckles were starting to turn white. Those blue eyes widened and she arched a steep eyebrow at me.

“You care about me?” There was only the slightest lilt to her words, but not enough to make it an actual question. I was still about to answer until she scoffed and shook her head. “No, you don’t. You might feel guilty because you said you’d take me under your wing on this project and it didn’t work out. Or maybe you pity me because you know how much I wanted it, but you don’t care about me.”

My heart started thumping. She looked so convinced that she was right that it tore me up inside. Everything Dan had said to me yesterday and that I’d wanted to talk to her about came flooding into my head, but as I looked at those tear-stained cheeks, I knew now wasn’t the time.

She didn’t need to be focused on me or on what happened over the weekend. A client had wrecked her today by backing out of a contract Lila hadn’t bid for. Hadn’t asked. Eliza had begged her to take it, only to change her mind after Lila had put countless hours into perfecting the designs.

I knew how hard she’d worked. I also knew that in her mind, her career might’ve been made by this. There would always be another client and I knew that, but I realized that this had been a big blow and right now that was all that mattered.

“This isn’t easy for me,” I finally admitted, feeling sweat dot my brow. My stomach flipped. “I’m working on that, but the fact is that I do care about you. Deeply. I hate that you’re upset about this and I came over as soon as I saw the email.”

She sighed, but the honesty seemed to be working. Her grip on her hips had eased, her hands lowering to her sides. “Fine. Come on in, but you better have more than that up your sleeve.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think I do.” I watched as she slowly stepped out of my way, motioning me in. Releasing the door frame, I briefly contemplated trying to offer her a hug. I was itching to get my arms around her and to assure her that everything would be alright, but I doubted she was ready for that. “For what it’s worth, I really am sorry.”

She groaned and scrubbed her palms over her face. “Thanks. So am I.”

Shutting the door behind me, she turned and waved me toward her living area. “You’re welcome to sit, but I’m going to stand. Every time I sit down, I start crying.”

I stopped walking and faced her, hooking my thumbs into the pockets of my jeans. “Have you spoken to Eliza since?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think I’m going to. I’m not sure what happened, but considering she sent that email after I’d sent her my final designs, I’m going to go ahead and assume she didn’t approve of the end result.”

“That’s not it.” I hadn’t spoken to her either, but I did know that she and Lila had been on the same page all along. “You two clicked right from the very beginning. I sincerely doubt she didn’t approve.”

Tears brimmed in her eyes as she shrugged her shoulders. “That’s what I thought, but obviously, we’re both wrong. Now what were you saying about caring about me?”

As she said it, she fought a smile, and once again, I had the overwhelming urge to take her into my arms. I still didn’t move toward her, though. I had a whole lot of making up to do, and since I knew she was vulnerable right now, I wasn’t about to take advantage of the situation.

“Look, this weekend was a mess. I was a mess, but I give you my word that it wasn’t because I don’t care about you. Quite the opposite, in fact, but we’ll get to that. Are you going to be okay?”

She shrugged again. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. Eventually.”

“I really wish there was something I could do about the project, but my mind is going straight to dangling Rodrigo from the rafters of his fancy house by the toenails.”

That made her laugh, at least. “That’s probably not the best idea. Not unless you want to lose the project too.”

“Can I stay a while?” I asked, shifting on my feet and wondering if perhaps I wasn’t too late after all. “We don’t have to talk about the project if you don’t want to.”

She didn’t reply immediately, her eyes just moving from one of mine to the other for a few seconds before she finally nodded. “Sure. Okay. Make yourself comfortable. Can I get you something to drink?”

39

LILA

Rook trotted in behind Ford and immediately made a beeline for me. He pressed his big black and gold head against my leg and I smiled through the tears, scratching behind his ears. “Hey, beautiful boy. Thanks for the hug.”

His tongue lolled out of his mouth and those soulful brown eyes drifted up to mine. Black nose nudging my leg, he cocked his head and stared at me as if he was asking if I was alright now. I gave him another smile—even though I knew it was a sad one.

“I’m going to be just fine,” I murmured. “I’m disappointed, but it’s just a setback.”

Ford shifted on his feet, the movement drawing my gaze back to him. As our eyes met, I felt that familiar electricity humming to life between us, buzzing right beneath my skin. I wished I could throw myself into his arms and spend all day looking into those navy blue eyes, but I still wasn’t sure where I stood with him, and for the moment, it felt like I needed to keep my distance.