Page 16 of Falling for a Grumpy Hero

LILA

M y working weeks at CE were passing faster and faster. The more I got into the work, got to know the company, and interacted with the clients, the more I loved my job. It made the days pass in a blur of joy and learning—and Ford.

Sitting at the small dining table in my apartment, I worked on my project for school, but as I flipped through the designs I’d done for it so far, I realized they weren’t good enough. All the bones I needed were there, but something was missing.

I took a sip of coffee, the lukewarm liquid that hit my tongue making me grimace. Ew. How did that go cold so fast?

I moved my gaze to my laptop’s screen and sighed. Oh, right. It didn’t cool down so fast. I’ve just been sitting here a heck of a lot longer than I thought.

I’d developed a tendency to waste away my Saturday afternoons getting lost in my schoolwork, but I didn’t mind. I really loved the course. I just had to figure out how to impress my lecturer with this assignment and what I had so far wouldn’t cut it.

In the corner of my screen sat the folder I’d created for the Heritage House project.

The small yellow icon caught my eye and I sank my teeth into my lower lip, the tiny stab of pain what I needed to click into it.

Even though I wasn’t the actual designer on the project, I’d spent a lot of my free time this week working on some of the things Eliza and I had spoken about.

Things I could use for my project, I realized, a spike of excitement shooting through me and sending my adrenaline levels skyrocketing. I’d poured so much of myself into these designs and I knew they were perfect. With a few tweaks, they would work like a charm for my assignment.

As I scrolled through the folder, I couldn’t help but think back on the conversations I’d had with Eliza that day—and who else had been with us.

For all His Grumpyship’s faults, he was a pretty darn good boss.

During our visit, he’d let me brainstorm with her while he had inspected whatever he’d needed to and had taken his time in the areas that would receive his attention first.

It’d been exhilarating for me, getting to consult with an actual client about their needs and I’d been pretty taken aback that he’d given me free rein with her. He hadn’t interfered at all, only interjecting to take charge of the meeting when he’d needed some of his own questions answered.

For the rest of it, he’d left me to it. Not only that, but our afternoon together that day had turned out to be weirdly fun. I was starting to realize that I actually kind of liked Ford.

As a friend, obviously. And a boss. Nothing more.

While it was absolutely true that he was beyond gruff, could be abrupt to the point of rudeness, and often shut down when a subject came up that he didn’t want to discuss, it was strangely refreshing to talk to him.

I could honestly say that I’d never spoken to anyone as direct or as blunt as he was, and there was something truly liberating about speaking to someone you could trust to give it to you straight.

Ford wasn’t the type for small talk or polite chatter.

He meant what he said and he said what he meant.

He didn’t mince his words and he didn’t give roundabout answers.

There was no vagueness or uncertainty. When he didn’t want to answer a question or give certain information, he just didn’t do it and he wasn’t shy about it.

I was learning to appreciate that about him.

While I worked on the designs, I pulled my new tablet closer and completed some more sketches, eventually going to stretch out on my couch with the tablet.

I kept working, but I also couldn’t quite stop thinking about him now that I’d started again.

Mental images of him sitting across from me that day at the food truck kept flashing through my mind and my lips tugged into a smile even though I hadn’t meant for it to happen.

Ford really was an incredibly good-looking man. The strong, clean-shaven jawline, broad shoulders, and slightly narrower hips? Yum .

I’d caught those stormy eyes on me a bunch of times this week, and without fail, I’d felt a little tingle of something shoot through me whenever it’d happened. And okay. I’ve thought about him at night too, when I’m alone in the dark in my bed.

I’d even wondered what it would be like to kiss him. And if I’m being completely honest, I’ve wondered about doing a hell of a lot more than just kissing him.

But I knew that was ridiculous. I couldn’t be fantasizing about my boss when I was supposed to be on the hunt for real love—the passionate kind. The kind I’d seen in movies where the guy professed his undying love—and to be able to get that, I needed a man who actually talked.

Ford, however, was a man of few words and the words he ended up saying were always gruff.

I doubted he’d ever corner me, cage me in, and tell me that I hung the moon for him against a sea of stars.

He wouldn’t twirl through the rain with me, kissing me hard before telling me that he’d burn the world to ash and lay it at my feet if anyone ever crossed what was his.

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.”