Page 26 of The Grump I Loathe (The Lockhart Brothers #3)

EDDIE

“ I f this is you trying to be stealthy,” I grumbled, cracking my eyes open long enough to see Connor shimmy back into his pants. “You really missed your calling for the spy academy.”

“Didn’t mean to wake you,” he said, shooting me a smile from across the bed.

I wiggled my eyebrows. “I’m glad you did. Please do that little shimmy thing again now that my eyes are fully open.”

He smirked, buttoning his pants. He grabbed his shirt from the floor, our clothes having migrated into the room at some point last night, but didn’t put it on quite yet. I decided to make it my mission to keep it from getting put on at all .

I rolled over, slowly tugging the sheet down my body. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Connor’s gaze washed over me.

I kept tugging, revealing one pert nipple. “I’ve got some things I’d like to discuss. ”

Connor’s jaw ticked, his chest rising and falling in a very distracting way, muscle and a dark patch of hair on display. “Don’t tempt me,” he growled.

“Oh, this?” I said, tugging the sheet down a little more. “No, I’m just stretching.”

He dropped his shirt and climbed back on the bed, settling over me. “Grace will be up soon,” he said, leaning down to kiss me. “And I can’t…I need this to be discreet.”

“Kids,” I said, smiling into the kiss. “I get it.”

“If she realizes I’m not in my bed…”

I started laughing. “Feels like we’re the teenagers sneaking around, and Grace is the parent.”

“She’d definitely give me a lecture,” he said, hand wandering beneath the sheet. He found my thigh and I gasped in anticipation, already throbbing at the memory of him.

“Whatever would you need a lecture for?” I teased.

“Maybe some of this,” he said, dipping his fingers into the wetness between my legs. My thighs parted and I sucked in a stuttering breath.

“Very poor behavior,” I agreed.

“And this,” he said, catching a nipple in his mouth and sucking until it was rock hard against his tongue.

“Mmm,” I hummed. “And?”

“This,” he said, crawling down my body until his mouth was in position for his tongue to part my folds and lap at my clit.

I almost choked on my gasp as my entire body seized with pleasure. God, he was so good at this. So good at unraveling me. I never wanted it to end. He licked and sucked and pulled the orgasm from me until I was jerking against his mouth, the bliss wiping my mind of all coherent thought.

When I came back to myself, he sat up, but I caught his arm. “What about you?”

He gave me a wan smile. “I’ll be fine. But I really do need to go now. Grace will be yelling for breakfast soon,” he said. “I’m just trying to protect her.”

“I get that,” I said. It wasn’t a surprise he wanted to shield Grace from whatever this was. “Just wanted to return the favor.”

“That wasn’t a favor,” he growled. “It was a taster. For next time.”

My heart thumped hard against my ribs.

“Now put some clothes on,” he said, a hint of gravel in his voice.

I grinned, rolling over as he stood to finish getting dressed. “Am I tempting you like this?”

“You’re always tempting me,” he said, his dark gaze traveling over me. “But naked, you’re simply irresistible.”

The world started to melt away at his words. “Are you only worried about Grace?” I wondered.

“And the no-dating policy at the office,” he admitted.

I frowned.

“I can’t revoke it just for myself,” he said, leaning over to kiss me, “when I’ve only just instituted it. Hence us needing to be?—”

“—discreet,” I said. Warning bells sounded in my head.

Between Grace and the policy, where could we possibly be together, out in the open?

Not at work. Not here. And those were the two places where he spent most of his time.

Every moment we spent together would be stolen. I’d be his dirty little secret .

But the way he was looking at me right now, I had a hard time seeing that as a problem. Our jobs needed protecting. Grace needed protecting. I could understand. If I wanted him to keep looking at me like that, like he really saw me, then I had to play along.

“Okay.” I plastered on a smile. “Being someone’s secret is a little hot.”

Connor snorted. “You’re just hot. Period.”

“Mm-hmm, you’re just saying that so you’ll get lucky later.”

A door opened upstairs. Connor jerked back from the bed. “That’s Grace.”

Footsteps padded across the ceiling and water started running.

“Brushing her teeth,” Connor said, straightening his clothes.

“How responsible of her.” Something hit me in the face. My pants.

“Get dressed,” he said again, more urgently.

“Where are my underwear?” I asked, getting up and shrugging into my clothes, which were still damp.

“No idea, but there’s no time to find them,” Connor insisted, haphazardly making the bed. I ran a hand through my hair, catching on knots, and we hurried to the door before Grace could catch us.

“Dad?” she called.

“Just starting breakfast,” Connor replied.

“You cook for yourself?” I whispered.

“Yeah? Why?”

“I just thought you’d have a personal chef or something. ”

“No point when the most exotic thing Grace wants on her plate is ketchup. Plus, I don’t mind cooking.”

“Can we have pancakes?” Grace called down the stairs, coming closer.

“Sure!”

Connor grabbed the bedroom door, yanking it open.

“Eddie?”

“ Shit ,” Connor mumbled under his breath.

I wheeled around, peering around Connor’s shoulder. “Hi, Grace!”

“What are you doing here so early?”

“Oh, she was dropping something off for Shadow ,” Connor started to explain. “And she was just?—”

“Your Dad just invited me to stay for breakfast!” I cut in, Connor stiffening beside me. “Pancakes, right?”

“Awesome!” Grace cheered, hurrying down the stairs. “We never have people for breakfast.”

“Grandma comes over all the time,” Connor said, frowning.

“She’s family —she doesn’t count,” Grace explained.

“Socks,” Connor reminded her.

Grace huffed, hurrying back up the stairs to get them.

Connor gave me a flat look when she disappeared. “Not cool.”

I rolled my eyes. “She has no idea,” I insisted. “So just be chill or you’ll ruin it. Besides, this is good practice for work. You really think we can avoid each other every hour of the day?” He grumbled, glaring at me. “Grace?” I called. “Are you a chocolate chip girl or a blueberry girl?”

Grace appeared at the top of the stairs again. “What? You mean chocolate chip is an option ? Dad never lets me have chocolate chips in my pancakes!” She raced down the stairs to my side. I threw my arm over her shoulder.

“Kid, I’m about to open you up to a whole new world of wonder.”

“Admit it,” I said to Connor from across his massive dining room table, “the chocolate ones are so much better than the plain.”

Connor stuffed half a pancake in his mouth at once. “Sorry, mouth full,” he muttered.

“He definitely likes them,” Grace said, reaching out with her fork to stab another pancake off the tray. “He never eats this much for breakfast.”

I grinned, feeling like I was getting insider information. “Is that so?”

As expected, Connor had started breakfast hovering over my shoulder as Grace and I crowded in at the stove with a pitcher of pancake batter and a bag of chocolate chips.

He’d been on high alert, prepared to throw me from the room like I was a grenade about to go off at the slightest hint that I’d done anything to rock the boat.

But when I didn’t spontaneously combust or tell Grace I’d slept with her father, he’d settled, and before I knew it, we had the Spotify playlist on and were dancing around the kitchen island.

Connor might have been freaking out at first, but to me, this morning felt as easy as hanging with Alannah.

That thought stirred something warm and fluttery in my gut.

Alannah was my family. Connor and Grace were… Well, whatever they were, it was nice .

“Okay, here’s one,” Grace said. “If you could be any color unicorn, what would it be?”

“Is rainbow an option?” I asked, licking chocolate off the end of my fork.

Grace wrinkled her nose, giving that thought. “No,” she decided.

“Then I’m going with a bright teal. Like those pictures of the ocean they’re always using to sucker people into vacations. The most perfect mix of blue and green.”

Grace nodded in approval. “You should color your hair like that next.”

I picked at the ends of my hair, the blue faded now. “You’re totally right. I need an update.”

“Dad, when can I color my hair?” Grace demanded.

My eyes cut across the table to Connor who chewed thoughtfully on his pancake. “Are we talking temporary dye or permanent?”

I hummed, a little surprised but delighted it wasn’t an immediate no. Grace pursed her lips, considering. “I don’t know. What do you think, Eddie?”

“Maybe start off with temporary. See how you feel about different colors.”

“What do you mean?”

“Different colors can make you feel different things,” I explained. “Blue always makes me feel bold. Pink is for fun.”

“Don’t they say blonds have more fun?” Connor said, his lips twisting as he took another bite of his breakfast.

“I wouldn’t know,” I said. “I’m more of a funky color girl. ”

He laughed. “Well, I can confirm. Briefly. For a short stint one summer.”

I pointed my fork at him. “A blond Connor Lockhart? Explain.”

“You know,” he said lightly, “there might be some high school photos floating around where I have frosted tips.”

“Well, well, well,” I said, barely containing my grin. “I am learning so much today.”

“What pictures?” Grace demanded, frowning at the information. “I haven’t seen them.”

“That’s because they’ve been hidden away.” Connor chuckled, running a hand over his face as he was caught by the memory. “I looked horrible.”

“Doubt that’s possible,” I muttered.

“I’m serious. My brothers and I got it in our heads that it would be the cool thing to do, but we didn’t really have money to get it done professionally.

Finn heard you could use lemon juice and sunlight to lighten your hair.

We spent a week rubbing lemons on our heads and throwing the ball around the yard. ”

Grace and I laughed. I caught her eye. “Okay, so your new mission is tracking down these pictures.”

“I’m totally asking Grandma.”

“It gets worse,” Connor cut in. “Because the thing they don’t tell you is how citric acid damages the hair, making it brittle.”

“Oh no,” I said, already envisioning where this story was going—straight to the clippers. “You didn’t?”

Connor nodded.

I winced .

“All three of us had to buzz our heads to fix it,” he said, still chuckling at the memory. “Liam was devastated. He’d been trying to get the attention of this girl all year, and he really believed the frosted tips would sell it.”

I resisted the urge to laugh. “Poor Liam.”

“He refused to come out of his room for an entire weekend. Finn walked around with the digital camera, making sure to document the entire experience.”

“I’m really going to need to see these photos.”

Connor snorted as he shook his head. “With any luck, Liam deleted them all.”

I turned to Grace. “And this is what we call a cautionary tale. Just promise not to resort to lemons.”

She crossed her heart.

“All right,” Connor said as Grace finished up her last pancake. “You have art class. Why don’t you load your plate in the dishwasher and go get your things before you get Eddie on a retainer?”

I snorted.

Grace nodded. “Okay. See you, Eddie. Thanks for hanging for breakfast.”

“Thanks for being a great sous chef. Have fun at art class.”

“I’ll walk you out,” Connor said, giving me a soft smile as Grace took off up the stairs.

“See?” I said, bumping his shoulder. “Everything was fine. I think if I squinted, I even noticed you having fun.”

“I admit to nothing,” he said, stopping at the door. He stuffed his hand in his pocket, digging out a card. “Here. Grabbed this while you two were cooking.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“My lawyer’s card. Give it to your dad. Ben’s the best in the business. He’ll be able to make sure Alannah’s still in your dad’s life. And yours.”

The space in my chest wasn’t big enough for the emotion that gathered there, and I rubbed at the ache. “Thanks,” I said gratefully, pressing up on my toes to leave a chaste kiss on his cheek. “I mean it. For everything. Opening the door last night and the orgasms and the pancakes and …all of it.”

Connor caught me before I could pull back, turning my face to catch my lips and deepen the kiss briefly. “You’re welcome,” he whispered.

Footsteps drew close. “Look for my underwear,” I muttered before backing out the door. “I need those. All my spare cash is going into outfitting Mr. Cheesers’s closet.”

“I’ll buy you new underwear.”

“You can’t afford it either,” I teased. “You’re springing for his penthouse.”