Page 6 of Undoing the Grumpy Guy

“Okay.”

“Okay?” I repeat dubiously, as she angles her phone for another picture of the flowers, all while humming a snatch of melody that I know I’ve heard before yet can’t place.

Flashing me a dazzling smile, she nods.

“That doesn’t bother you?”

Winnie springs to her feet and dashes over to the white wooden trellis almost completely covered with colorful flowers of all sorts. “No, men are usually immature, no matter what their age.” She buries her nose in one of the large red blooms and inhales. “So an age gap doesn’t bother me at all.”

The idea of me being immature is ludicrous. “I’m an attorney,” I huff.

Drawing back, a smudge of yellow pollen dusts the tip of her short nose. “Are you?” she asks, while her gray eyes appraise my suit before moving up to my face.

I stand taller and push my shoulders back, which is plain ridiculous. I don’t need to impress her. Even approaching middle-age, I’m in excellent shape and take advantage of the gym at work most days. “I am.”

An impish grin curves her lips. “Don’t worry, I won’t hold that against you.”

It’s an old joke that usually makes me grit my teeth in annoyance, yet something like relief fills me. Our age difference doesn’t seem to bother her, and while many people are intimidated by my profession, Winnie seems unimpressed.

The urge to brag about my track record wells up, and I bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself.

Shaking my head, I decide it must be all the pollen in the air affecting me. I don’t need to impress anyone, let alone a tiny fairy of a woman with pollen on her nose!

“What’s your employment?” I ask, glaring down at her and trying to resist the urge to swipe my finger across her nose and get that annoying bit of yellow off. Because it’s that, it’s not that I want to see if her skin is as petal soft as it looks.

“Unemployed currently,” she says, crinkling up her cute nose.

I can’t take it any longer and reach out, rubbing the spot of yellow off. She freezes under my touch, her lips parting as her gray eyes go wide.

This is the perfect moment to swoop down and claim her pink lips. To see if she tastes as wild and wonderful as she looks.

It’s impulsive, and I’m not that type of man. Everything I do is carefully calculated, and that includes dating and even fucking.

Yet, I’m tempted. Incredibly tempted.

Before I can act on the urge, Winnie steps back and a tiny giggle escapes her that has my gut and hands clenching.

“I’m a children’s book author,” she says, grinning up at me. “Unpublished, so that makes me unemployed, I guess. Or at least unpaid.” Her narrow shoulders roll in a shrug, telling me she’s not overly concerned about that.

I’ve had women date me for everything from the prestige of being with a top attorney, my looks, and absolutely my money and what it could buy them. Hell, my last girlfriend made no secret about that when she told me even the money wasn’t worth it, and she ended things after eight months together. So gold-diggers aren’t something new or even unexpected.

I don’t think Winnie is one of them. Not that she isn’t dangerous in her own way. A way I’ve never experienced before and I’m uncertain I want to now. “Well, it’s been lovely meeting you, Winnie, but I believe it’s safe to say-”

“Oh look!” she cries out, seizing my hand and racing toward the left. She jerks me off my feet, surprising me again with the strength in her small body.

Stumbling slightly, I quickly find my footing and allow her to pull me along to some tall deep green plants with brilliant bits of orange, purple, and red.

“Aren’t they lovely?” she exclaims, releasing my hand and pulling out her phone.

The plant is all sharp edges, reminding me of myself. “No,” I say flatly.

Her pale eyebrows lift as her lips part and confusion fills her face. Her gaze darts between the odd plant and me. “You don’t like flowers?” she finally asks.

“Not particularly.”

She throws her arms wide. “Then why did we meet in the gardens?”

A smirk curls up my lips. “So you could hide in the bushes?”

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