Page 28 of Falling for a Grumpy Hero

“Luke’s family has a memorial barbecue for him every year.

They always invite me, but I’ve never been able to bring myself to do it.

To go to Florida and attend a memorial for a guy who had so many plans, you know?

I survived. He didn’t. How am I supposed to look his parents in the eye when their son didn’t come home and I did? ”

Features tight with all kinds of emotion that I couldn’t even begin to understand, he looked back out at the storm.

Unsure of what to do, I glanced at Rook, noticing that he seemed to have relaxed a little.

While Ford was obviously distraught, he wasn’t in distress anymore. That was a good thing, I supposed.

Sensing that he needed a moment, I gave his leg a gentle squeeze but just sat with him for a long time before I finally spoke, keeping my voice as quiet and calm as I could.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that.

I’m sorry that you’re still going through it.

I wish I could’ve met Luke, but I’m sure his parents would love to see you.

They wouldn’t keep inviting you if that wasn’t true. ”

He grunted but didn’t respond, just nodding thoughtfully.

I scooted back and stood up. “I’m going to go look over those plans for Heritage House. I’ll be in the living room when you’re ready.”

For the next twenty minutes or so, I pored over the plans spread across his coffee table, assuming they were the ones he’d wanted me to take a look at.

When he eventually came to join me, he didn’t say anything else about his time overseas or the best friend he’d lost. We spent the rest of the afternoon quietly discussing the project while the storm kept raging on outside.

Eventually, we’d hunted down some candles for light. When there was no sign of the wind or the rain letting up when day turned to night, Ford finally made the call. “I’m not driving in this and you’re sure as hell not riding your bike home. I have a guest room. You’ll sleep here.”

“You have a guest room?”

“My parents stay occasionally when they’re in town,” he explained briefly. “Are you hungry?”

“No, I’m okay. Thank you.”

“We’ll get you something to sleep in then, unless you ride around with pajamas in your purse?”

“I don’t.”

He stood slowly, wincing as he put weight on his leg, but I didn’t offer to help him. I wished I could, especially after he’d essentially gutted himself earlier by telling me everything he had, but I just silently followed him down the hall instead.

When we walked into the furthest room and I realized that this was his bedroom , my mouth dried up. I’d been expecting him to show me to the guest room, thinking that he would fetch me something to sleep in by himself, but nope.

I was in my boss’s bedroom—the same boss who I was very much attracted to and had started to understand just a little bit better only hours ago.

The fact was that hearing what he’d been through had made so many things about him make so much more sense, and I respected him even more now. Liked him even more now.

He wasn’t just an asshole without a cause, an alpha with an attitude problem whose big dick energy had gotten away from him to turn him, as a whole, into a big dick.

The man was traumatized. He had been hurt and he was still healing.

That he’d gotten as far as he had under the circumstances said a lot about him.

So did his bedroom. It was as sparsely decorated and tidy as the rest of the house, like he was hellbent against part of his personal space feeling like a home.

The bed was huge, pushed up against a wall between his bedroom and what appeared to be an en-suite bathroom, but other than one nightstand, a dresser, and some built-in closets, it was all that was in here.

If the afternoon hadn’t been as heavy and emotional as it had been, I might’ve entertained a few fantasies about being this close to his huge bed with him, alone, but I resisted the urge to make a move. Resisted even the thought of those fantasies.

I stopped in the center of his room and watched him stride to the dresser, pull out a clean T-shirt, and bring it to me.

He looked deep into my eyes as he handed it over and something squeezed in my chest at the tenderness of the gesture.

Our fingertips brushed and my heart started racing.

Electricity snapped between us as our gazes caught.

But he sliced through the moment by breaking the touch and striding toward the door.

Staring at his broad back made me realize that maybe nothing really could ever happen between us. Ford Callahan was a broken man, someone who was rainy when it was perfectly sunny, and I wasn’t sure he could move past that to let me in. I wished he’d try, but I just didn’t know if he could.

As he led me to another door, I rose up on my toes and pressed a soft kiss to his shaven cheek, some stubble from the day prickling my lips as I brushed them across his skin. “Good night, Ford.”

“Good night.” He leaned slightly into my touch, but in the end, he turned away and went back to his bedroom.

Rook tried to follow after me, but I shook my head and gently whispered, “There’s someone else in this house who needs you more tonight. Watch over him for me, would you? He’s going to need some help tonight, and somehow, I doubt he’s going to accept it from me.”