Page 163 of Dear Grumpy Boss

“You know all my stories.”

She shook her head. “Then I guess we’ll have to keep making new ones.”

Breaking away from me, she moved to her dresser to rummage through one of her drawers. I sat down on the corner of our bed to watch.

We were getting ready to go on a two-night camping trip with Miles, Luca, Saoirse, and Elliot. It had been Elise and Saoirse’s idea. They had spent the last few weeks planning activities for us.

I had a plan of my own.

It was supposed to happen at sunrise tomorrow. Elise and I would get up and walk down to the creek near our campground. We’d be alone. Maybe it’d be chilly and she’d snuggle into me. I’d get down on my knee and ask her to be my wife.

Her ring was burning a hole in the front pocket of my backpack.

Elise spun around, holding a pair of fuzzy socks and her e-reader.

“I almost forgot this. I would have kicked myself.”

I smiled at her, my little reader. “You’re planning on reading all weekend and not giving me any attention?”

She walked over to me, tossed her things down on the bed, and braced herself on my shoulders. Like it was magnetized, my hands went to her ass, tucking into her back pockets.

She bent down to kiss me. “As if I could ignore you.”

“Come here. I’m needy,” I growled against her mouth.

“Weston…we have to go.” Even as she protested, she lowered to her knees, straddling my lap. “I’m here.”

“Yeah, you are.” Wrapping my fingers around her wrist, I brought the underside to my lips and kissed the tattoo she’d gotten a few months ago. The fine-line drawing of the head of a mountain lion that looked like a heart at first glance had been a surprise to me. It was Elise’s commemoration of the beginning ofus. Catching a glimpse of it never failed to make me feel like I had escaped gravity.

I kissed her wrist again then nodded to her e-reader. “What’s happening in the book?”

She dug her teeth into her bottom lip. “The heroine is falling for the villain. He’s horrible.”

After a year together, I knew all about her books. I hadn’t read a whole one since that first time, but I’d peek inside them to see what got Elise’s motor running.

“Did he kidnap her?”

She snorted. “Yeah. And he murdered her boyfriend.”

I pushed her hair away from her face. “Ah, romantic.”

“Right? The boyfriend murdered the hero’s whole family, so he had it coming.”

“Oh yeah, that makes sense.”

She swatted at me. “Don’t make fun.”

“I would never, baby.” I kneaded her ass and touched my lips to her throat. “You know how much I love you?”

“Half as much as I love you.”

I cocked my head. “You’re mistaken, Ms. Levy. I love you the most. You make me feel crazy sometimes. I want to stalk you, kill everyone who looks at you, chain you to me.”

Her smile was slow and devious. “So, what you’re saying is you’re a dark romance hero?”

“I’m saying I’m yours. Will you be mine forever?”

Her lashes fluttered, brushing her cheeks. “Mmmhmm.”

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