Page 34 of The Grump

He swallowed hard. “Closing the kitchen door, turning the lock, and taking you right here on this counter. And next to it and on the floor and on that chair. And every other place there is.”

I could barely breathe past the tension gathering in my body. How did we go from zero to dirty talking in no time at all? I didn’t have time to mull it over too much, though, because someone joined us again.

“You can have another kissing session once the guests are gone. Come on, let’s go.” It was the same voice as before. It belonged to Beckett, who winked at me before leaving.

I covered my face with my hands and groaned. “I can’t show my face out there. What will your family think?”

Xander caressed the back of my head, then kissed the top of it. The gesture warmed me in a different way altogether. It was sweet, and that wasn’t a word I thought I’d associate with this man.

“Don’t worry about Beckett. He won’t say anything to the family or put you on the spot. He’ll give me a hard time, but not in front of anyone else. You can trust me on that.”

“Maybe we should go separately, so it’s not too obvious, I guess?”

Xander looked at me with an expression I couldn’t read. “Sure, if that makes you feel better. Go ahead. You can tell everyone I’m still checking on the eggnog.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” I quickly made my way around the island.

When I reached the doorway, Xander said, “Bailey?”

“Yes?” I looked over my shoulder.

“This conversation we started here isn’t over.”

And just like that, my pulse was out of control once again, but I gave him a smile. I hadn’t thought it was either.

“By the way, I need that recipe. I wasn’t paying attention to anything other than your forearms.”

He laughed wholeheartedly. “I’ll go one better. Whenever you want to make some, I’ll come to your place, and we’ll make it together.”

Chapter Nine

Xander

“If no one has anything else to add, I’ll adjourn this meeting,” I said. My brothers were all in the meeting room of my office building to discuss next year’s budget.

Beckett put his hands on his head, interlacing his fingers. “I don’t have any questions, but just so we know, are you hurrying to get somewhere?” he asked, smirking.

“I’ve got no more updates. And there’s no shortage of work that needs to get done.” I knew where he was going with this, but I wasn’t going to tell him a thing.

“Dude, can you relax a bit? It’s almost December,” Chad said. “Take it easy. I thought it was a good sign that you stopped by the mansion for the house tour, but you’re still as uptight as usual.”

“It wasn’t for us,” Beckett said. “He had an ulterior motive.”

What had gotten into him? Last night, I’d lectured him back at the house to keep his mouth shut, and he had.

“He was just showing off for Bailey,” Anthony jumped in helpfully.

Chad cocked a brow. “Why?”

“I want to be on good terms with her and her sister. I don’t like creating unnecessary conflict while we’re deciding next steps,” I explained.

“Xander, you want to close down the confectionery. It’s an open conflict no matter what you do,” Chad said.

“I’m managing it.”

“But this is the funny thing, though,” Zachary said. “Whyareyou ‘managing it’? I still can’t figure that out. You usually don’t care about what others think. I’d understand if you put in theeffort to achieve an amicable relationship with a company you’re trying to acquire, but this is different. You must really like her.”

Beckett’s smirk grew even more pronounced. They were starting to ride my ass too much. It was one thing to harass each other when we met privately, but we were on the clock. No time to waste.

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