Page 12 of Undoing the Grumpy Guy

I was certain he was going to heave a big sigh of relief and race out of there so fast, off to do whatever it was that rich, attractive men did during their free time.

Instead, he told me he couldn’t stop thinking about me and then kissed me senseless.

Now, I’m sitting in a cat café with him, and the entire thing feels so surreal that I’m wondering if I’m dreaming it all.

Just to be sure, I give my forearm a pinch and flinch at the sting.

“Are you okay?”

Reed’s baritone is a smooth and delightful rumble that makes a shiver of pure need tingle down my spine.

Remember that lack of boldness? Yeah, that’s coming back to bite me in the butt. If I would have had a twinge more confidence, we’d still be at my apartment right now and that sexy voice would be crooning sweet nothings in my ear as he made hot and glorious love to me.

A girl can dream.

“Winnie?”

Blinking, I come back to reality and the fact that I never answered him. “Oh, I’m good. How many cats do you have?”

“None.” His gaze drops to his new friend. “Growing up, we always had a few cats and dogs, but I never got around to getting any of my own.”

“That’s strange. I would have thought you’d have at least one.”

Those bright eyes focus on me. “Why?”

Laughing, I point to the cat sprawled out in his lap and the small orange one weaving around his feet. “You brought me to a cat café!”

That beautiful mouth of his dips into a frown. “I thought you were the one that loved cats. I saw the cat bumper sticker when I walked you to your car.”

I can hardly breathe as my entire body shakes with the force of my giggles. “It was already on the car when I bought it!” I gasp out, thinking about the bright pink cat momma sticker on my car.

“So you don’t like cats?”

Wiping under my eyes and composing myself, I can’t stop the grin pulling my mouth wide. “I like cats. Just not as much as my car’s previous owner.” That sets me off into another round of giggles that Reed patiently waits out.

“Do you have any pets?” he asks when I get myself under control.

“I am the proud owner of a bright turquoise blue beta named Bert.”

Dark eyebrows swoop low. “Bert?”

“Sure, Bert the Beta.” Leaning forward, I prop my elbows on the table and rest my chin on my cupped palms. “What would you have named him?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe Alexander, it has a noble ring to it.”

“Oh my! I guess for a fish that works. What about kids? Would you give your children names like that?”

A thought hits me. “Do you have children?” I blurt as my mind whirls. Reed is older than me. We’ve already acknowledged that. What I haven’t fully thought through is the fact that he’s old enough to have a child in their early twenties. Depending on if he started young enough, he could even have one my age!

“No, I don’t have children,” he says, picking the snuggling cat off his lap and placing them carefully on the floor.

“Do you want them?” It slips out before I can fully think it through, and my cheeks burn as I mumble to the table. “Sorry, that’s rather personal.”

I jerk my head up at his quiet chuckle. That panty-melting smile is back again along with real humor on his face as several laugh lines fan out from the corners of his eyes. “I thought that was the purpose of dating. To get personal and learn about the other person.”

The heat in his eyes makes my thighs clench.

Unable to speak, I nod and try not to think about all the ways we could get very personal.

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