Page 6 of Forbidden Grumpy Boss

I hate myself for noticing.

“I remember this one time when Ezra and I were kids.” I start, not thinking about where I’m going with the story, just desperate to fill the silence, to get out of my own head. “He was always the daredevil. Once, he climbed this massive oak tree in our backyard, and I had to drag his ass down when he got stuck.”

Leah laughs softly, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “Sounds like you two are quite close.”

“Yeah.” My voice cracks, and I hate how fragile I sound. “We were.”

She shifts closer, her fingers brushing against mine on the bed, and the touch sends a jolt through me. It’s innocent. Barely anything. But it makes me realize just how close we’re sitting now. Her thigh is pressed against mine, and I can feel the warmth radiating off her body.

“Silas,” she says softly, turning her head to look at me. “He’s not gone. Don’t talk about him like he is . . .”

I swallow hard, nodding. “I’m trying. It’s just, hard. Why hasn’t he reached out?”

“Maybe he lost his phone in the chaos?”

I say nothing. I just sit still, thinking about Ez and how I can smell the fruity shampoo Leah used to wash her hair. If she’s noticed how close we are sitting, she’s not calling attention to it.

“You’re a little too good at this, you know?”

She frowns. “What?”

“Comforting strangers.” I let the words hang there, not bothering to sugarcoat them.

“Maybe I don’t see you as a stranger,” she says quietly.

There’s a long pause, and then, I ask, “Do you have any siblings?”

“No.” She shakes her head. “It’s just me. My dad’s, well, we don’t really talk. It’s really why I’m in Rome. I wanted to get away from him.”

“Estranged?”

“Yeah. That’s one way to put it.”

There’s something in her voice, something that resonates with me. I know what it’s like to be at odds with family, even if it’s not the same. Our thighs are still touching as we sit side by side. I’m acutely aware of how soft her skin is against mine.

“You know, almost dying makes you realize how fleeting life really is,” Leah says. “One second you’re here, the next you’re not.” I keep staring at the dancing flames. “It makes you want to throw caution to the wind and do whatever you want.”

Then, I look over at her, and she’s already staring at me. The flames are dancing in her brown eyes. There’s something else in there, too. Something that makes my blood rush.

“What is it you want to do?” I ask, my voice a low growl.

“Right now?” she whispers, shifting even closer. “I really want to kiss you.”

Before I realize what I’m doing, I reach out, brushing a strand of her damp hair behind her ear. My fingers linger on her skin, and how she looks at me—God, that look—it undoes something in me.

I should pull away. She’s much younger than me. Thisscreamsdaddy issues. I should stop this before it gets any further. But I don’t.

Instead, I lean in, my lips brushing against hers, testing, tentative. She doesn’t pull back. She kisses me back, soft at first, then harder, more desperate, like she’s trying to drown out the chaos of the world around us with this one moment.

Her lips are soft, and my hands carve through her hair as I deepen the kiss, giving her my tongue. Suddenly, her hands are on my chest, pressing me down as our kiss intensifies. She moans into my mouth as I thumb her ear.

“That feels good,” she says breathlessly.

I pull back to look at her. “You’re so fucking beautiful,” I murmur against her skin, my voice low, almost a growl.

She responds with a breathless laugh, rising to straddle me. Her hair falls over my face as I lift my chin to meet her lips. Her robeslides off her shoulder, revealing the smooth, pale skin beneath, and I kiss my way down her neck, savoring the way she gasps, the way her fingers dig into my hair.

“I’m so fucking wet already,” she rasps. The way she says it—so casual, so confident—it drives me wild. I pull her closer, my hardness pressing against her.

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