Page 17 of Falling for a Grumpy Hero

“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.”

“I’d say.” She suddenly frowned. “You know, I saw him that night at the bar. He’s not an ogre.”

“What do you mean?” I asked carefully, but I started to get the feeling that she was finally putting things together in her head after all I’d told her about him. “I never said he was an ogre.”

“No, but you also never said that he was hot, and he is, which makes me wonder why you never mentioned it.”

“Uh, maybe because he’s my boss and I can’t look at him that way?”

“Just because you shouldn’t look at him that way doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

” She cocked her head, black-brown eyes boring into mine.

“You haven’t really shut up about the guy since you met him.

Now he’s showing up at your place after an argument with expensive gifts, and he’s basically given you your dream job, and he’s doing what he can to help you get your certificate. ”

“ And ?”

“And I think you’re running the risk of falling in love with this guy, Lila.

Have you noticed how you always make sure to stop while you’re talking about him to mention what kind of guy he is?

You haven’t only spoken about him as a boss, but as a man.

You’ve told me about his life, and his heart, and even his dog.

Employees don’t normally talk about their bosses that way, girl. Not if they’re only a boss to you.”

The statement stopped me in my tracks. Is that true? Am I at risk of falling in love with His Grumpyship?

I was harboring a tiny crush on him, sure.

Normal people didn’t talk about their bosses the way I spoke about him.

I got that. I didn’t think she’d ever even mentioned her boss to me at all, but being curious, and intrigued, and perhaps a bit attracted to a guy didn’t mean I was falling in love with him.

But I also haven’t been able to get him out of my head. That could be a bigger problem than I thought.

I drained the rest of my beer and shook my head. “Nah. That’s not it at all. Let’s go dance. I’ve got some steam I’m dying to blow off.”

“Yeah, I bet you do.” Addy gave me a knowing look, her head shaking as she chuckled, but she got up and followed me to the area where people had started dancing without pushing me to face the truth. Probably because she knew I didn’t quite know what to do with it.

Am I at risk of falling in love with Ford? And if I am, is it possible that he could ever feel the same way? Is it possible that he’s the one for me even though he’s not what I think I need right now? I honestly just… I really, desperately do not know.