Page 11 of Undoing the Grumpy Guy

Winnie ends the kiss first, drawing back with a lovely flush on her face and a wild sparkle in her eyes. “Oh my, maybe our grandmothers were on to something.”

Laughter shakes me and I draw her close once again, brushing my lips over the top of her head and inhaling her scent. “Elliot is wily, no doubt about that.”

Drawing back, her pale eyebrows lift. “Why do you call your grandmother Elliot? Is that really her first name?”

“Elliot is actually her maiden name. When she married my grandfather, she insisted upon keeping it and started going by that instead of Mrs. Jackson or even her first name, which is Helen.”

“Different,” Winnie muses.

Rubbing my check against her soft hair, my smile grows. “That she is. So, will you go out with me?”

Her forehead slams into my mouth as she jerks her head up. “Oh! Sorry!” She pats at my face.

Capturing her hand, I still her tapping fingers. “I’ll be fine. Was that a yes?”

“After almost knocking your teeth out, I’d say I owe you a date.”

I press a series of fast kisses to her fingers with my stinging lips. “I’m fine. Let’s go.”

CHAPTER SIX

WINNIE

Glancing around, cats of every color, breed, and size doze on fluffy cat beds, chairs, and shelves, while others play with a variety of brightly colored toys dangled by happy customers. Everywhere I look there are cats. One is even sitting in Reed’s lap, and I watch as the big and handsome attorney strokes the cat’s dark black and gray fur and observe his grin as he stares down at it.

Reed took me to a cat café. Definitely wouldn’t have been my choice for a second date, but hey, he humored me with the gardens, so I suppose this is only fair.

I quickly cover my hot chocolate to avoid the clump of drifting pale fur that is floating through the air precariously close to my yummy drink and stuff a shortbread cookie in my mouth.

Chewing, I glance around the room so I don’t gaze at Reed like a love-sick teen. Or worse, stare at him and drool.

Because the man is handsome, in and out of a suit. Today he dressed down. Or at least his version of it in a pair of dark slacks, a black belt, and a short-sleeve forest green polo shirt tucked in and showing off his lean waist and broad shoulders to perfection. When we entered the café, all female eyes went right to him and stayed there for several long minutes as we placed our order and found an empty table.

I swear I even heard a few gusty feminine sighs when he pulled out the bistro-style padded chair for me. And the estrogen levels positively shot through the roof when the tabby cat hopped into his lap, and he stroked it and started baby talking to it.

It’s hard to avoid the gazes of envy and jealousy that my eyes occasionally collide with, so I turn my attention back to the plate of cookies and the man across from me.

When he called after I had given up on hearing from him again, I didn’t know what to think. I’ve been attracted to him since I first spotted him at Mimi’s retirement home, sitting with his grandmother. But that was purely physical attraction. After spending a few hours with him- okay, after those kisses, I was thoroughly smitten. And then crushed as the days went by without a single text or call from him.

If I were a braver woman, I would have called him and asked him out. After all, women do it all the time. So why not?

Why?

Because that’s not me.

And that will never be me.

I can carefully plan things in my mind and then when the time comes, I do the exact opposite. Coming out of that bush was big for me. Kissing him? That’s about as bold and daring as I get.

So calling him was out of the question.

Then he called me and, even better, he showed up at the appointed time for our date. Opening my apartment door to see him standing there all dark and handsome was like a fairy tale come true. Girls like me don’t get the leading man in real life, yet here it was happening.

Until I opened my mouth and began to self-sabotage everything!

I actually tried to talk him out of this date and gave him an easy out. It was as if the dam holding back all my insecurities chose that precise moment to bust wide open and sweep my chance with Reed away.

It was like an out-of-body experience. I heard the words coming out of my mouth while the saner part of me was frantically yelling to shut up!

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