Page 64 of Defended By Love

In the background, sirens wail, bemoaning the loss of a place I once loved. But instead of mourning the place, I’m smiling in the arms of a handsome man as we fly among the tips of the city’s skyscrapers. I’m smiling, I realize, because I think I’m starting to like weird, too.

Chapter 29

“This is… not what I was expecting you to pick.” His eyes widen as he takes in the scene in front of him.

Neither was I. Mostly because I didn’t pick this. Not really. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had no idea what I wanted to do if working was off the table. And so, I stole an idea.

“Welcome to Coffee and Karaoke,” I say proudly, gesturing widely at the scene in front of me.

It took some finagling, but I convinced one of the local karaoke places to open early. I promised to pay them triple the cost to use one of their little rooms. Then, since all the charges would be reversed come midnight anyways, I also had a local place cater in a full spread of breakfast treats and coffee. Not quite as much food as what Grant’s mom made yesterday, but still enough to feed a dozen or so people.

Which is needed.

“I also invited some people,” I add. I don’t know if that was strictly part of our agreement or not. “It’s just this was all Beth’s idea. I stole it off her desk, so I figured it would only be right to invite her.”

Grant raises an eyebrow. “Look who’s lying now.”

Fair.

“Okay, I picked this because it was out of my comfort zone and then I had a major freakout because, well, it’s outside my comfort zone. I figured if I invited a bunch of people from the office, I could go heavy on the coffee and light on the karaoke.”

I sent out the invite just after I sent out my ‘doing okay’ status update. Look at me, learning from the loop.

Grant nods. He picks up a pain au chocolat and takes a huge bite. He looks at me while he licks an errant bit of chocolate off his finger. Suddenly, I’m flushed. I had no idea coffee and karaoke would be so sexy. How could I when it was sandwiched on a list between escape (mail)room and shorts?

“Maybe I should cancel on everyone else,” I suggest, raising my eyebrow.

Grant just looks confused, like he seriously had no idea that licking chocolate off his finger was heart-stoppingly sexy. Then he gets it. With a smirk, he gets it. He gives me a little half nod and my heart jumpstarts back to life.

Cocky Grant is just as sexy as nerdy Grant.

Not fair.

“Well that depends—have you fallen for me yet? When I fuck you in the way that I fuck my soulmate, is it going to scare you?” he asks slowly, dipping his finger back into a pocket of chocolate on the pastry. It oozes an impossible amount of chocolate, getting it all over his hand. He goes to suck on it, but hits his chin instead because he’s trying to nod his head suggestively at me.

“No,” I say blandly, doing my damnedest to keep the laugh out of my voice.

“Then, no,” he answers seriously, despite the chocolate smeared across his chin. He sighs. “Guess I’m going to have to serenade you with love songs until I break down those walls of yours.”

“And, at some point, are you planning on wiping the chocolate off your face?”

Grant slaps his hand to his cheek, smearing even more chocolate on his face. “Do I have chocolate on my face?”

“Yes. On your chin and cheek now.”

He rubs his chocolatey hand across his other, previously clean cheek. “How’s this?” he asks, in what I now understand to be a playful voice.

“Perfect,” I deadpan.

He just grins. “You think this ole mug is perfect?” He gestures to his ridiculously handsome and ridiculously messy face.

The truth is, yeah. All in all, it’s completely perfect.

“I decline to answer that.”

“That’s lawyer speak for yes.” He grins even wider. “Then here, let me help you with your own face.”

He reaches towards me with his hand still somehow soaked in chocolate. Seriously, how much chocolate can one pastry hold?

---