Page 56 of Stuck with Mr. Grump

“You think I would drive an hour in the middle of the night for just anybody?”

“And here I thought you were trying to be a good employee,” he says, his voice lightly teasing. “Maybe get a raise while you’re at it.”

“Oh, you’re definitely giving me a raise and paying me overtime for my troubles,” I reply.

He smiles and I feel my heart skip a beat or two.Focus, Emilia. No matter how distracting his smiles are.

My eyes widen when he starts to stand up again. I place a hand on his shoulder to steady him and I’m surprised by the searing heat that rushes from my palm through my entire body at the slight touch. A soft sound echoes under my breath, too low for him to hear.

He rises without me helping him, though, and I automatically take a step backward. Sterling rubs the side of his forehead, looking like he’s in pain, which I guess he would be. Then I remember I requested some water and aspirin from the front desk that he could use when he woke up.

I hurriedly head over to the table in the room and grab the water and the pills, offering them to him.

He blows out a relieved breath. “Thank you. You’re an angel.”

I grin. “Yeah, angel sounds about right.”

“Don’t get cocky,” he states, downing two of the pills before chugging down the entire bottle of water. He looks around the room for a couple of seconds, probably taking it in. The silence feels a bit uncomfortable.

Now what?

I’d been hoping he’d go back to sleep or something but that’s proven incorrect when his gaze latches on to the wooden door in the corner of the room.

“I think I need a shower,” he informs me. “I still feel like shit.”

My eyes widen. “A shower?”

As in he wants to strip down, naked, while I’m right here? That feels rude and inconsiderate. Because the whole time he’s in there, all I’ll be thinking about is his naked body, and that’s the last thing I want to be thinking about.

This entire situation already has me feeling wired. And now I have a feeling things are about to get even worse.

Sterling arches an eyebrow in question and I gulp silently.

“I mean, of course! A shower is exactly what you need,” I say with false enthusiasm. “Go on. I’ll go back to watching the March sisters and their sojourn through life.”

“Who?” he asks, with furrowed brows.

I make a face. “You’ve never watched or readLittle Women?”

“I’ve heard about it,” he grumbles.

“Okay,” I decide with a short clap. “In you go to the shower, buddy. And once you come back, you and I are going to watch one of the best pieces of media ever created. The movie has Emma Watson, Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, and Timothée Chalamet. It’s amazing and we’re watching it,” I say excitedly.

Movies and books have always been my favorite things in the world. Mostly because they served as a distraction from my actual world.

Sterling stares at me for a couple of seconds, giving me a look that causes me to falter. My throat dries and I have a hard time breaking eye contact, but when I manage it, I’m a little breathless.

“Sterling?” I whisper, and that seems to cut through to whatever he was thinking.

“Yeah, right. Shower,” he mumbles, turning around to head for the door.

Once he’s gone, I can finally breathe easier. I settle on the couch, trying my hardest not to think about Sterling or whatever’s going on behind the closed door. I consider texting Anika while I wait for him to return. Although I plan to be back home before she even wakes up in the morning, there’s a possibility she could surprise me and rise earlier than 8 a.m. Although that possibility is incredibly low.

Telling her about this entire situation would only subject me to endless questions I have no answers to. Plus, I’m sure she wouldn’t appreciate the fact that I left the house so late without informing her. It might be a good idea to just keep everything to myself. Anika will be none the wiser and everyone can just go about their lives once I get back home.

The first step to doing that would probably be creating clear boundaries between myself and Sterling. Things can’t go on this way. Whatever this is between us needs to end. I thought I ended it. After that kiss, I was sure I had enough fortitude to resist him. It was hard, telling him to forget it ever happened, but I was doing what was best for the both of us.

One call from him had me dropping everything, though. And that’s dangerous.

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