Page 121 of Dear Grumpy Boss

Her teeth were digging into her bottom lip. “You have no idea what my dress looks like.”

“If you’re in it, it’ll be sexy.”

“Weston,” she sighed. “You really are sweet.”

“To you and you only.”

“Good. Now, eat your sushi so I can go back to work knowing you’re not withering away.”

Something in my chest tugged me forward toward Elise. A visceral urge to grab her, press my face to her middle, and not let her leave this office. The need was so fervent I had to hold on to the arms of my chair to stop myself.

“Go, before I don’t let you.”

She slipped off my desk, angled down, and touched her lips to mine. “I’ll see you tonight, Westie.”

I growled. “Stop spending time with him.”

She giggled and kissed me again. “Bye, grumpy.”

Then she disappeared through my door, and I heaved a long breath. Before her, Andes was my life. It had never bothered me to skip obligations to spend more time at the office. Then Elise came along and, without even trying, dismantled everything I’d thought to be true about myself.

It was a dizzy, disorienting feeling, but I wasn’t fighting it.

Not when it meant I could have Elise.

I could prove Elliot wrong and be the man she deserved.

Chapter Twenty-nine

Elise

Saoirsepeekedherheadinto my room. “Your Prince Charming has arrived, and he looks positively delicious.”

I turned to her, smoothing my palms over the skirt of my burgundy gown. My nerves were fluttering. “Am I suitable?”

Her breath caught. “Oh, babe. You look like a pinup. So stunning. Weston is not going to know what hit him.”

Laughing, I shook my hands out. “I don’t know why I’m so nervous.”

She crossed the room, taking my hands in hers and rubbing them gently. “It’s like your big couple debut. I get it. But you have to remember this isWeston. He’ll be by your side the whole way. It’s going to be romantic as hell.”

“It’sWeston,” I murmured to myself. The flutters still happened, but they were for him instead of nerves. “Is he wearing a tux?”

She nodded, her eyes rounding. “He is, and he’s looking like James Bond, the Daniel Craig era.”

I sucked in a breath. “Okay. Let me go look at my man.”

My floor-length gown swished as I strode out of my bedroom in my strappy heels. This dress had been more expensive than my rent, but being on Weston Aldrich’s arm at a black tie fundraiser called for a splurge. I wanted to look good for him, like we belonged together.

I turned the corner, and there he was, standing in the middle of my living room. I wondered if he’d waited there to give me space to make an entrance.

“Hi.” My teeth dug into my crimson-painted bottom lip. My heart flipped in wild circles. My man was gorgeous, always, but in a tux? Weston Aldrich put every other man to shame. And the way he was standing, his hands tucked in his pockets like he was casual, his heated eyes and tight jaw telling a different story, made me want to drop to my knees and tell him he could do anything he wanted to me.

“Hi, baby.” His gaze trailed over me, from my red toenails to my pin-curled hair. “Come over here. I have something for you.”

My movements were automatic. He called, and I answered. With each step I took toward him, the high slit in my skirt revealed my leg all the way to midthigh. The boning in my bodice straightened my spine, pushing my breasts out, making me feel graceful and sensual. And from the hunger in Weston’s eyes, I looked that way too.

After an eternity, I reached him. He took my hand, kissed my knuckles, then spun me around. His mouth was beside my ear. His lips pressed to the shell, then his tongue darted out for a taste.

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