Page 22 of The Grump I Loathe (The Lockhart Brothers #3)

EDDIE

N ever in my life did I think I’d be a company-car kind of girl, but in the three days I’d had Beatrice, she’d grown on me in a hurry. Combining teams at field day meant that when it came to my bet with Connor, we kind of both won—and both lost.

I wasn’t about to let him back out of his forfeit, so he held his ground, too.

It ended with me taking the car and him accepting fun lessons.

So far, those lessons had included Connor posing for a photoshoot with Mr. Cheesers wearing matching LockMill baseball caps.

I’d honestly had no idea there was such a market for rat-sized clothing.

I was pretty sure I would lose my mind when he nonchalantly mentioned that his brother, Finn, had a Sphynx cat named Lord Meowington the Third that wore striped sweaters. Challenge accepted, bossman. Mr. Cheesers was getting a drool-worthy wardrobe, too.

As far as the car went, the cute blue Prius wasn’t overly flashy, but she was a plug-in hybrid—go, environment!

—and still smelled new. The key fob had been left on my desk at the beginning of the week with a note that read, “the color reminded me of your hair,” which had left me smiling like a fool for hours.

I didn’t want to love her, but some silly, frivolous part of me said to enjoy her while my junker was in the shop.

Who knew how long it would be before I got to drive a new car again?

I parked Beatrice in the underground garage and rode the elevator up to the production floor, noting how different the vibe was than it had been back on my first day.

The gray was broken up with posters and sparkly decor, there was a never-ending supply of M&M’s in the kitchenette, which I suspected Connor was keeping stocked, and people actually talked to each other now—out loud and in person, instead of just through emails and messenger apps.

I plopped down at my desk, stuffed my headphones in my ears with a favorite playlist, and immediately started coding.

Most narrative designers only needed to know enough code to translate between the writing department and the programmers, but I’d learned while working indie and missed it sometimes.

I’d had a blast coding Alterbot and Lethal Deception before that.

I swallowed hard at the thought of the game I’d worked on with Ryker in college.

We’d made a pretty good team before he’d stabbed me in the back and stolen all the credit for the project.

I jammed my fingers into the keyboard, resulting in a jumbled mess of code.

“What’re you working on?” Leigh asked, wandering past.

I popped one of my earbuds out. “Just playing around with the fighting abilities for Mr. Cheesers to show the design team. So far, I’ve got a tail whip, a block, and a power roll. I think that’s probably enough. Keep it simple but fun.”

Leigh’s eyes went wide. “That’s…wow, I wasn’t expecting you to be tackling any of that.”

“Why not? ”

She shrugged awkwardly. “It’s just that Connor tends to prefer it when everyone stays in their own lane,” Leigh explained.

Own lane? Like the “not kissing coworkers” lane?

I’d done everything in my power not to overanalyze that day because much like post-club-dancing, Lord LockMill had returned to business as usual.

There were no flirty glances across the office, no secret stairwell makeouts, not even a mention of the kiss.

More heat bled into my cheeks, and a tangle of emotions—desire and embarrassment—clogged my throat. So much desire I didn’t know what to do with myself. Had it all been a mistake? I shoved back from my computer, trying to put that out of my mind. “You know what I don’t understand?”

“What?” Leigh pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

“Why everyone stayed with LockMill after the divorce if they’re so scared of Connor.

” Everyone knew that Ali Miller was the creative force behind the company.

When the courts had given the company to Connor, most people in the industry had expected LockMill’s best and brightest to jump ship immediately and follow Ali to whatever new company she founded.

But that hadn’t happened, and I still wasn’t sure why.

“We’re not scared of him,” Leigh said.

I gave her a flat look. “Noah still stumbles over his words whenever Connor walks by.”

“He can just be a little…intimidating and overly serious,” she said. “At least until you get to know him. Ali was the one who made friends with everyone right away. But Connor’s just not like that.”

“If you were friends with Ali, why did you stay?” I asked.

Leigh sighed. “Ali is an amazing designer, and she’s a lot of fun off the job, too, but honestly, she was a crap boss.

She just has no managerial skills at all.

She’s bad at delegating, bad at figuring out reasonable workloads, bad at keeping people on track, and downright horrible at training or mentoring because she’d get caught up in her head and forget to explain anything she was doing. ”

She waved her hand as if to tell me it wasn’t all bad.

“I love her. Honestly. But as a boss, her tendency was to ask way too much of people and forget to give them any of the support they needed. None of it was malicious—but that didn’t stop it from being a huge problem.

Connor may not have her creativity or her charisma, but he’s a great boss.

” Well, that was good to hear and, from what little I’d experienced, kind of true.

“Don’t get me wrong, the divorce sucked.

And having to choose between them sucked.

But when it came down to it, the choice wasn’t difficult.

Connor was the one— is the one—who looks after us.

He’s why we have the most competitive benefits package in the industry, because he cares about us as people and not just employees—even if he’s not always the best at showing it. ”

Warmth seeped through me again, different from the heat of desire, and a soft smile tugged at my lips.

I’d wanted to believe there was more to him than a brooding grump locked away in his tower lording over everyone, but part of me had worried that was wishful thinking—that I wanted to believe he was better than he really was just because I was so attracted to him.

But this…this was confirmation. I hadn’t been wrong about him.

He really was a good man, underneath the grump.

“So when he wants people to stay in their own lanes, it’s not about him being a control freak?” I asked, just to confirm.

“I mean, maybe a little?” Leigh admitted. “But I think it’s mostly that he doesn’t want people to take on too much and burn themselves out. It’s been an issue before. ”

I nodded my understanding. By and large, the people who worked in video games loved video games, and that meant they weren’t the best at remembering to pace themselves or take breaks.

There were managers to keep an eye on our workloads, but that wouldn’t put much of a check on someone who chose to take on extra tasks they weren’t assigned.

But right then, Leigh was dodging my eye contact suspiciously.

“ You’re not working yourself too hard, are you?” I asked.

Leigh flushed. “I’m trying not to. It’s just…I go home, and it’s really quiet, you know? So logging in and putting in a few more hours doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. But don’t worry, Connor’s already talked to me about how important it is to unplug.”

“So what do you do for fun?” I asked.

“Does repotting my plants count? Because that’s what I did this weekend. Well, Tristan’s plants.” She shook her head. “I don’t even like plants.”

“Did you get custody of them in the breakup?”

She snorted. “I thought he’d come back for them, but it’s been months now, so I guess.”

“You need to find yourself a new plant daddy,” I said.

She threw her head back and laughed. “I’ll get right on putting that on my dating profile.”

“I’m serious. It’s been a few months since your breakup, right? You need to get back out there.”

Leigh sighed heavily. “Honestly, there’s a part of me that isn’t interested yet. The thought of dating just feels…exhausting. But it dawned on me this week that I’ve got Ali’s wedding at the end of September, an d if Tristan shows up, I can’t be without a plus-one. It’ll be mortifying.”

“Okay, so what’s that, like two and half months? That’s plenty of time to secure a hot plant dad. And if not, you’ve always got me as a plus-one backup,” I joked. I’d heard around the office that Ali was getting married soon, but I hadn’t realized it was that soon.

“Thanks,” she said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“But seriously, Leigh. You have to take the plunge. The first date is always the hardest.”

She grunted.

I gasped as a brilliant idea occurred to me. “What if I set you up?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Absolutely not.”

“Absolutely yes!” I said, picking up my phone to text Aidan.

Leigh walked away, I followed. “One of my friends is single, and he’s awesome. He’s a woodworker, so you know he’s good with his hands. Gorgeous, too. And a total sweetheart—like if a golden retriever got a human body with great biceps and shoulders for days.”

We paused in the lounge where Mr. Cheesers squeaked for attention.

“See, even the rat thinks it’s a good idea.

” I opened the cage and held my hand out for Mr. Cheesers to climb up my arm.

Knowing absolutely nothing about rats, I was continually impressed at the little guy’s smarts.

He settled on my shoulder, and I’m sure we made an interesting sight as we both stared at Leigh.

When she still looked uncertain, I made the choice for her, pulling up a reservations app.

“It’ll be so good. I’ve made reservations for two at the Garden. Cool cocktails. Vibes are immaculate. The food is even better.” I messaged Aidan the details, catching sight of Max walking by the lounge. “Hey, Max.”

“Hey,” he said, rushing for Connor’s office. He did a doubletake when he saw me and almost tripped over his own feet. I gave him a little wave and barely managed to keep it together when Mr. Cheesers looked like he did the same.

The rat was smarter than some guys I’d met. I returned my attention to Leigh. Her eyes were flitting between me and Mr. Cheesers. She pursed her lips.

“Okay, fine,” she finally relented. “Text me the details.”

“Yes, girl!” I cheered. “Rip off the bandaid.” I dropped my shoulder and stuck my hand in the opening of the cage so Mr. Cheesers could make his way back inside and then gave him a treat or three before returning to my computer, grinning over my good deed.

A while later, an email pinged into my inbox from Connor. My heart started racing.

Need you to work late tonight. Juni Protocol stuff.

There were no other details. I frowned as I responded. Sorry, boss. I have plans I can’t break. Alanna’s citywide gymnastics competition was tonight, and I swore on the friendship bracelet she’d made me that I would be there.

I need you tonight , he replied. Nonnegotiable.

I killed the little shiver that shot up my spine at his phrasing.

I wasn’t about to cancel my plans for last-minute work, even for a guy that made my heart race uncontrollably.

But I had grown quite fond of this job and the paycheck, especially the dent it was making in my student loans.

With that ringing in my ears, I opted for a compromise.

My plans start at seven, so I can stay for a bit.

No reply. I popped my head over the top of my cubicle to stare in the direction of his office. He stared down at his laptop. Reply, dammit . Why was he ignoring me? I plopped back down and grumbled, my eyes locking on the earbud I’d left on my desk. Maybe it was time for another fun lesson.

I left my desk and logged into the computer attached to the overhead speaker system, setting it to Connor’s playlist just as everyone was gearing up to leave for lunch.

Max laughed, his voice carrying across the floor as he walked toward me. “I’ve definitely heard this playlist before, but somehow, I’m absolutely certain you’re the one responsible for it, not him. I’m right, though, aren’t I? It’s the Lockhart special?”

I grinned. “I’ve been informed it’s Grace’s.”

Max snorted. “Connor’s still pretending he’s not a Rushie?”

A few people chuckled.

“What is going on?” Connor demanded, throwing his door open. “I’m in the middle of a meeting!”

Everyone fell silent.

I stared him down as Scarlet’s “Sunshine Baby” started. “Office dance party, boss.” I gave him my best shit-eating grin. “It’s good to keep the blood flowing. Improves concentration. Enhances creativity. All those great things.”

Connor clicked his tongue, glowering at me. “Thank you for creating such a positive work environment, Edith. It’ll make it all the more pleasant for you tonight when you stay until the work is done.”

I scowled as he stepped back into his office. Response received .