Page 32 of Undoing the Grumpy Guy

Reed nods. “Yes, when I take a pill beforehand, I can have sex. But there’s no spontaneity. Everything has to be planned.”

“Then you took a pill earlier?”

A soft sigh flares his narrow nostrils. “Yes.”

It suddenly dawns on me that’s what he must have been doing in the bathroom and why he didn’t take off his boxers until after he had already gotten me off two times. “Oh, okay.”

“Okay?” he repeats, the dark slashes of his brows lowering as he regards me. “That’s it? Okay?”

Shrugging, I smile, glad that this wasn’t anything super serious. “Sure, why wouldn’t it be?”

A harsh laugh escapes him as he gets off the couch and closes his pants. “I don’t think you fully understand, Winnie. This means without taking a pill, we can never just suddenly decide to have sex. I could be hard one minute and then go soft before I even enter you. I need almost constant stimulation to maintain an erection and even with that, I might not last long.”

“Well, we already know you’re good with your fingers and tongue, so I don’t think getting me off will be a problem.”

Reed stares at me for a long moment and then shakes his head. “You’ll tire of that and will wonder why I’m not able to get hard for you.”

He’s been through this before, I realize with a pang of sympathy.

Pushing up off the couch, I go to him and carefully reach out and place my hand on his arm, feeling the tight bunch of muscles under my palm quivering. “Reed, I like being with you. Sure, the sex is amazing, but so are you.”

The tension leaves his body and relief fills me that my words are getting through to him until I see his face and the grimace that twists his handsome features into a mask of pain.

Wounded blue eyes hold mine as a sad smile lifts the corners of his lips. “I know you mean every word you say, Winnie. But I’ve been through this before. I’ll never have a regular sex life, so any woman foolish enough to settle for me will be stuck being unsatisfied and hurt until she leaves me.”

The level of his pain hits me, and I want to cry that he’s been hurt in the past. “Sex isn’t everything. Companionship, respect, and love are what matters in a relationship.”

“Being in love won’t magically fix me, Winnie.”

“Someone in love won’t care about that,” I say softly. “Reed, you’re more than your dick. Behind your hard exterior I know a tender heart beats. You’re caring, kind, and sweet.”

Hope flares in his face as his eyes search mine. “Do you mean that?”

Scraping my teeth along my lower lip, I decide that Mimi and Elliot wouldn’t mind me spilling this secret. “A man who pays for his grandmother’s care and tries to hide it to spare her pride is a man worthy of love.”

“Winnie.” His hands reach for me, cupping my face in his warm palms.

“So enough of this leaving you talk. I don’t know that you can get rid of me at this point.”

His laughter washes over me and when his lips claim mine, I kiss him back with everything in me, hoping he can feel how much I care and how much I love him.

I came close to confessing my feelings just now, but I don’t think either of us is ready for that yet.

But with a secret this big, I don’t know how long I can hide it for.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

REED

Our relationship doesn’t falter when my ED is revealed. It flourishes without that hanging over my head. I feel free to love Winnie with everything in me as we learn more and more about each other.

Nights are spent at her place, as I actually prefer her snug little apartment over my own empty house.

Most mornings she laughs when she finds me singing in the shower and then she joins me. No longer am I putting in long hours at work, preferring to delegate more and more responsibilities to the paralegals and junior partners in the firm. That’s why they’re here, to learn and work, so why deny them this chance?

My law partner, Logan, tips me a wink whenever he happens to be around and Winnie, looking adorable in her colorful outfits, pops by the firm to have lunch with me. One evening, we even run into Mitch and Sophia out at the cat café. I don’t know whose eyes were bigger, Mitch’s or Sophia’s. Guess I’m not allowed to be human or a man in love.

We go to my house so infrequently that Winnie brings it up one night when we’re sitting on her couch enjoying a late dinner of homemade pizza.

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