Page 19 of Falling for a Grumpy Hero

LILA

A few days after seeing Ford outside that bar so unexpectedly, I sat behind my computer at the office, constantly looking up to see if he was here yet. He was a busy man, though. On the move more often than not.

He hadn’t been in at all today, but I was expecting him to make an appearance soon. As if right on cue, I saw him through the glass walls as the elevator doors opened. He strode out of the car with his sharp features stoic and straight.

For him though, not scowling was the equivalent of a smile.

I looked him over while he was still far enough away that he couldn’t see me doing it, and yet, his gaze was riveted on me.

A shiver rushed down my spine, but I wasn’t even sure if he was actually looking at me—or if he was just staring straight ahead.

Even so, in one of his tailored gray suits with a white button-down underneath and that short dark hair neatly combed away from his face, the guy looked good. Too freaking good to be my boss , but never mind that. We’re not going there.

“Get your stuff,” he said as he strode past my office, not even fully stopping at my door as he issued the instruction. “We’re going to Heritage House this afternoon. Construction has started and I need to go check in.”

A moment later, his office door shut behind him, but excitement swept through me and I quickly packed up, practically bouncing to his truck beside him when he finally reappeared.

I took two steps for each one of his long strides, but I grinned, glancing up at his strong profile as I hurried to keep up.

“Have you had any feedback from the contractors? How are they doing?”

“That’s what we’re going there to find out.” He swept a hand along the side of his neck and groaned. “Do you think we can do this with minimal conversation?”

“Probably not, but I suppose we can try.” I chuckled and mimed zipping my lips, surprised when he came around to open my door for me again. Somewhere inside him, there definitely is a gentleman. He just doesn’t seem to allow him out very often.

“Thanks.” I flashed him a smile, but as I looked at him, I realized he seemed a little paler than usual and his eyes were a little duller. “Hey, are you okay?”

He seemed taken aback by the question, waiting for me to climb in before he looked me right in the eyes. “I’m fine.”

He shut the door and came to climb in behind the steering wheel, turning over the engine and backing out of his parking spot, but he was definitely out of sorts.

Once we were on our way, I tried to put on some music to fill the silence, but he turned it down.

He also shrugged off most of my questions and he kept a white-knuckled grip on the wheel all the way out of town.

I hadn’t known him for very long and he generally wasn’t the most talkative person, but there was something different about him today. Something a little unsettling. Something so intense that I could feel it radiating from him.

“What is your problem?” I asked when he shut off the radio completely once I tried reaching for it again.

He shrugged a shoulder, not even glancing at me as he kept staring at the road ahead like it’d wronged him somehow. “Nothing. This is just who I am.”

“You can’t possibly be this miserable all the time,” I said. “You were smiling in the editorial I read about you in Architecture Monthly and I’ve seen you look almost human at times, so don’t lie to me. This isn’t who you are.”

He finally cracked the smallest smile I’d ever seen. “ Almost human, huh?”

“I call it like I see it.” I hid my smile by turning toward the window and drinking in the woods beyond the road. It really is beautiful out here.

“What do you need from me when we get there?” I asked now that he was finally talking to me again. “Is there anything specific?”

“All I need is for you to learn.” That was it, his only apparent motivation for bring me along—for me to learn instead of going to help him with something.

While I contemplated this knowledge, Ford kept staring at the road like he was lost in his own thoughts, and for once, I decided not to interrupt them. I didn’t know what was going on with him today, but he seemed sad.

Until we got to the house. A wave of contractors were doing all sorts of work, the previously quiet, empty parking area now a hive of activity.

As soon as Ford’s boots hit the ground, that profound sense of sadness morphed into single-minded authoritative focus, everything but the job seemingly forgotten as he snapped at me over his shoulder. “Lila, you’re with me. Don’t wander off today. It could be dangerous.”

I double-timed it to catch up, but inside, I was marveling at the work going on around me. Although Ford didn’t know it, I’d never been to a worksite like this before and it was exhilarating, a busy mess with everyone yelling at each other over the whirring, buzzing noise of power tools.

Ford took command, all tough and stern in a way that made my heart quake. It was seriously hot. I was also hot—temperature wise—and also for other reasons. Reasons like watching the muscles in his arms and jaw flex as he checked some of the work the main contractor was doing.

“Didn’t you get the latest structural drawings, Jason?” he growled at the contractor. “If you didn’t understand them, you should’ve called instead of whatever the fuck it is you’re doing here.”

Ford strode over to a large, wooden work table set up on one side of the parking area and unrolled a giant sheet of paper. The structural drawings, I assumed.

He stabbed his middle and index finger down on one side of the drawing. “ This is where the foundation in sagging. Can you see your mistake yet?”

Jason, a burly redhead with work boots on his feet and a deep scowl etched onto his features, rolled his eyes at Ford. “With all due respect, Mr. Callahan, it’s not a mistake. The boys are still preparing the area.”

“Yes, I can see that,” he hissed. “The wrong area. They need to be ten feet that way.”

He shoved a hand out to his left and marched on, away from the work table, leaving a very confused looking Jason in his wake. I saw the man grinding his teeth as Ford stalked away, but then he peered over the plans and suddenly paled.

As the day wore on, Ford checked on every single person at least once. He was walking around with a tablet in his hands, overseeing every little thing with zero patience or tolerance for anything that was not precisely within his plans.

Clouds had been rolling in for only about twenty minutes when thunder suddenly boomed overhead. All around me, people immediately started getting ready to leave. Workers were packing up, the foreman of each team barking orders for equipment to be either stowed away or covered.

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?