Page 23 of Stuck with Mr. Grump

Paige stares at me in disbelief. “Please tell me you’re joking. Anyone with eyes can see how unfairly good looking that man is.”

I frown. “Paige, sweetie. He’s too old for you.”

“I know that,” she hurriedly says. “It doesn’t even matter, especially after feeling all that tension when I walked in here.”

“What tension are you talking about?” I ask, my frown deepening.

“The sexual kind,” she says in a whisper, making me gasp.

“Paige Lornan!” I chide. “I know you’re eighteen, but keep it PG.”

She rolls her eyes. “Seriously, Em. He was looking at you with those otherworldly green eyes like he wanted to rip your clothes off. How can you even look into his eyes? I’d be nervous as hell.”

Trust me, sweetie. It’s not easy.I laugh, despite the sudden unevenness of my heart rate.

“Yeah you’ve got it all wrong,” I tell her. “Not only do I dislike him, but you walked in on us having an argument. That’s the tension you were sensing.”

“I don’t know, Emilia,” Paige sings. “My sister always says fighting’s the best form of foreplay.”

Seriously, what is it with people and trying to pair me with that dark-haired Lucifer? I’m not interested. Plus, he looks like a player. I’m not necessarily saying he is one, considering he does have a little kid and he was married, but a man like that would definitely be more trouble than he’s worth.

“You are completely wrong. And you also have work to do,” I say to the moon-eyed teenager in front of me.

“Just think about it, okay?” Paige says on a laugh.

I shake my head. “That’s the last thing I want to do. Sterling Harrington will not be occupying more space in my head than necessary.”

Paige is still laughing as she heads into the kitchen to get started on making some fresh pastries for the day. Which is a good thing because a couple minutes later, we get our first customer. Although technically Sterling Harrington was our first customer.

I think back to the way he tried to hide his smile earlier. It was kind of cute. He tries very hard to project these fuck-off vibes to the rest of the world, but he’s not fooling me. Deep down, I’m sure he has a heart.

I’m not saying I’d like to be the one to draw it out, though.

Ugh, keep him out of your headspace, Emilia.

“Hi, what can I get you today?” I say with a warm smile to the middle-aged woman in front of me.

The only thing I need to be thinking of right now is saving my café.

I’m sprawled on my couch, the soft hum of the television serving as background noise, when Anika bursts through the door. Her energy fills the room instantly.

“Em, you won’t believe what I scored!” she exclaims, waving two tickets in the air.

I raise an eyebrow. “I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”

She rolls her eyes before plopping down beside me. “Now I don’t feel like telling you. A little more excitement would be nice. Match my energy, sissy.”

I inhale a soft breath before getting into character.

“Whoo!” I exclaim, raising my hands in the air and giving her my best smile. “I’m so excited. What tickets have you got there, Nika?”

“Feels very fake,” she says, wrinkling her nose.

I shrug before lying back down on the couch. “You just can’t please some people.”

“Anyway, I got tickets to the new musical that’s playing at Rocky’s Playhouse. It’s calledHadestownand I think it’ll be really good.”

“Sounds… interesting.”

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