Page 20 of Falling for a Grumpy Hero

FORD

K issing Lila was not something I had intended to do. My body and heart had acted before my rational brain had had a chance to catch up, and now I’d crossed a line I couldn’t uncross.

So I did the only thing I could do under the circumstances: avoid the office at all costs. It’d been a few days and I was hoping the distance I’d put between us since would make up for my monumental lapse of judgment.

As skeptical as I’d been after I’d first met her, she really was a fantastic assistant and I didn’t want this to affect our professional relationship. Walking around the site at Heritage House, I kept glancing at the wall on the porch I’d pushed her up against and it did not do good things for me.

“The foundation work is nearly completed,” Jason was saying when I wrenched my gaze away from that damn wall and looked back at him. “We’re ahead of schedule and we’ll be ready to start phase two within the next couple days.”

I gave him a curt nod. “Thanks, Jason. I appreciate your diligence on this project.”

The guy’s eyes nearly bulged out and I didn’t blame him. He’d worked with me on quite a few projects and he knew I rarely expressed my gratitude or appreciation. In this instance, it was warranted, though.

After he and I had had a long conversation about my drawings and I’d thoroughly explained exactly what needed to be done, there hadn’t been any more missteps or misunderstandings. He and his team had worked tirelessly this week to ensure that everything was on track and being done correctly.

That wasn’t always easy to find in a contractor, and I truly did appreciate what his team had achieved here. And okay, maybe Lila had something to do with it, too.

The woman had been messing with my head for weeks. More and more often now, I found myself imagining the look she would be giving me if she had been with me, and acting the way I would’ve if she had been here.

It’s still completely and utterly fucking ridiculous. Why her? What is it about her that’s getting to me the way she is?

I had my suspicions about the answer to those questions, but before I wound up wasting half the damn day thinking about her, I spun away from Jason and headed over to check on the next crew, but I wasn’t even halfway there when a familiar car came crunching up the gravel driveway.

I felt my eyebrows knitting together in confusion as I watched Jared roll to a stop and climb out of his truck.

“What are you doing here?” I asked bluntly as he jogged up the front steps. “Since when do you have any interest whatsoever in residential projects?”

“I don’t, but word around the office is that this place is worth checking out.” A slow smirk spread on his lips. “Plus, I haven’t seen you around all week, so I figured I’d better come see what you’re getting up to out here.”

“Is there a reason why you didn’t just pick up the phone?” I scratched the back of my neck, unable to shake the feeling in my gut that he hadn’t only come here because the place was worth checking out. “What is it, Rexton?”

My gut was never wrong, so I rolled with it, arching an eyebrow as I stared him down. He ran a hand through that blond hair and my stomach gave a painful clench. Luke was on my mind a lot more often these days and it made many of Jared’s mannerisms even more difficult to live with.

My teeth clenched of their own accord and Jared must’ve noticed because he sighed and took a big step back, lifting his hands and showing me his palms. “Easy, boy. I was worried about you. Not seeing you at the office for a week when you’re in town is unusual.

Lila said she hadn’t seen you either, so here I am. ”

I tightened up when he mentioned her name, squinting at him as I lifted my arms up to my sides. “This is a job site. Lila is my assistant, not a contractor. She doesn’t have to be on site while there’s active construction going on.”

Jared just smirked in response, hooking his thumbs into the pockets of his jeans as he shook his head. “Okay. Well, since you’re breathing and all, I suppose there was no reason to be worried.”

“There wasn’t.” A lie when I considered how rough the last few nights had been, but he didn’t need to know about that. No one did. “Do you want a tour or something while you’re here? Why aren’t you on your way back to the city yet?”

He chuckled, green eyes studying me as if he could tell there was something else going on. Hell, maybe he could. There was no telling what differences he’d noticed about me, the good, the bad, or the ugly.

“I would like a tour actually. Are you offering one?”

“No, but feel free.” I swept a hand out toward the front door and stepped out of his way, but I wasn’t surprised when he didn’t move.

A heavy sigh fell out of me and I crossed my arms over my chest. “Spit it out, Jared. What else is on your mind? This is no super-center. It might be a beautiful, historic old home, but you and I both know you didn’t come here for that. ”

“I’m having a barbecue at my place this weekend,” he said, seeming amused about something as he said it. I just didn’t know what it was just yet. “You should come. Bring the dog. It’ll be fun.”

I groaned and swiped a hand over my face. “Thanks, but I’m going to be busy with this all weekend.”

Not only was I not feeling particularly sociable, but Jared had a golden-doodle who acted like it had a pea-sized brain.

It yapped and licked, carrying on like it was the happiest creature who had ever walked the face of this earth.

Rook didn’t like it at all and I knew I wouldn’t be doing him any favors, dragging him over there with me.

Between the two of us, we’d probably just make the rest of the guests—human and canine—uncomfortable. Misery loves company and all that.

Jared still didn’t seem to be getting ready to leave and I frowned. “What? This is a big project. It’s going to be taking up a lot of my time until it’s done.”

“I get that, but you deserve a break and Lila is going to be there,” he said, watching me closely before flicking his gaze back up toward the house. “Maybe she doesn’t need to be at the job site with you, but I’m sure she’d like an update on the progress here. It looks like it’s going well.”

Fuck. Lila is going to be there? “Yeah, okay. I’ll come around. It’s like you said, I deserve a break.”

“Good.” He smirked at me again. “I had a feeling you might change your mind. Are you coming back to the office today?”

Annoyance surged through me over the fact that I’d accepted the invitation as soon as I’d found out she was going. There is something very seriously wrong with me.

“No, not today.” I stared stonily back at him, not willing to give him any kind of in to ask about my sudden change of mind.

“I need to be here to keep an eye on things. The owners are trusting us with this mostly because of stuff Lila has told them, which means I have to deliver on someone else’s promises. ”

Bullshit. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.

Jared’s brows swept up. “ That’s why you’re spending so much time on this site? Because of promises she made?”

I shrugged. “She’s an employee of my company and the clients are keeping a close eye on us. They’re not completely confident in their choice of firm and I don’t want that coming back on any of us.”

“Uh-huh.” He sighed, green eyes locked on mine as he finally started backing away. “If you ever want to talk, I’m around, man. Until then, I’ll see you Saturday.”

He held my gaze for another beat before he spun and jogged down the stairs, waving at a few of the contractors he knew on his way out. I watched him go, strongly suspecting that he knew how scrambled my brain was over my assistant.

Once he was gone, I continued checking in with the contractors, going over my plans, rolling up my sleeves and showing them what I meant when I needed to. At the back of my mind though, I was still thinking about Lila.

The woman had been dominating my thoughts for weeks now and being here, at the scene of the proverbial crime, really wasn’t helping get my mind off her. Ever since, however, I’d realized that I definitely hadn’t been the only one who’d almost lost control that day.

Sure, I had crossed the line by kissing her, but she’d kissed me back, alright. There hadn’t been any hesitation. Maybe a few moments of shock, but zero resistance.

The only logical conclusion to draw from that fact was that she was as attracted to me as I was to her. I couldn’t let either of us indulge that attraction again. We weren’t good for each other.

More accurately, I’m no good for her.

Beads of sweat formed on my brow as I helped one of the teams dig a trench for a pipe.

It occurred to me that there was only one thing for it.

I couldn’t avoid my own office for the rest of my life, which meant that I simply had to tell her that we couldn’t do this.

All that remained was to figure out a reason why.

For the life of me, that didn’t come as easy as the decision not to do it again, but I knew Lila would want a rock solid reason, and if I couldn’t come up with one, my plan would be dead in the water and I couldn’t have that.

I just really don’t actually know why yet. But I will. Soon. I have until Saturday to figure it out and then we can put all this absurdity behind us.