Page 20 of Grumpy Darling

But then she started pointing at every guy that passed. “Dave is sweet, but everyone knows he puts the horn in horny. Oh, you wouldn’t guess it, but Jackson has a six-pack under those Spider-Man tees. There’s Harvey? Everyone knows he has great hands on the field, but I hear they’re even better off it... And Derek—nice guy, but we should probably rule him out. I sit in front of him in English, and he has a serious case of halitosis...”

“Bonnie!” I grabbed her hand, yanking it down beneath the table to stop her from being so obvious. “Are you trying to kill me with embarrassment?”

She laughed. “What? I’ve finally found a good use for my years of observing our fellow students.”

I buried my head in my hands. “I can’t believe I’m already regretting asking for your help.”

“What? I have great taste in guys.”

“Your taste is questionable at best. Just last week you were drooling over that guy on the Netflix show we were watching.”

“And . . .”

“Bon, it was a documentary about a serial killer.”

She laughed. “Speaking of tall, dark, and scary...” She looked up and over my shoulder, just as Grayson cleared his throat behind me.

“Room for one more?”

He was carrying a heaving tray of food, and his expression was as stoic as usual, but I could still make out some uncertainty in his eyes. He didn’t always sit with us at lunch, so maybe he was worried he was interrupting.

“Always.” I smiled up at him. “You know you don’t have to ask.”

“We’re just doing some talent-scouting,” Bonnie said.

Grayson gave me a questioning look, and I had to resist kicking Bonnie under the table. She’d already embarrassed me enough times in the last few minutes, and I was even more mortified at the idea of Grayson being around to hear her comments.

“Uh, Bonnie’s helping me find the perfect guy.” Gray’s expression didn’t change, so I continued. “You know, for that one particular item on my bucket list.”

He let out a low grunt of understanding before lowering himself into the seat at my side. I was struck by the subtle scent of his woodsy cologne, and as his arm brushed mine, I somehow felt warmer and calmer. I was always more relaxed when Grayson was near.

“You’re really serious about this, huh?” He mumbled the words, so I wasn’t sure if he was genuinely asking me or just talking to himself.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

All I got for an answer was another of Grayson’s trademark grunts, before he changed the subject.

“I saw you hadn’t gotten lunch yet, so I grabbed you a few things.” He nodded at his tray. “I hope you’re hungry.”

I lifted one eyebrow at how blatantly he’d avoided my question, but that was Gray. It was going to take him some time to get on board with all this. He was probably still trying to wrap his head around the fact that his best friend was a girl who had lips capable of kissing.

I looked down at his tray, piled high with food. He had enough there to feed a hockey team. Well, maybe nothishockey team—those guys all attacked each meal like it was their last. Especially the Darling boys.

“You sure you’ve got enough for me? I wouldn’t want to leave you hungry.”

“Of course. I can’t eat all of this.”

“You shouldn’t want to eat any of that,” Bonnie scoffed under her breath before taking a bite of her home-made sandwich.

I laughed and did my best to ignore her vendetta against the cafeteria. “I know you, Gray. You can get a little touchy when you haven’t eaten enough.”

“I’m always a little touchy,” he replied. “Just take what you want, Pidge.”

I took a closer look at his enormous lunch. The pizza must be for me—Gray knew it was my favorite. I also assumed the bag of gummy worms were for me too, because he never really ate candy, so I went for them first. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” he rumbled.

“You guys, can we get back to the matter at hand, please?” Bonnie waved at the rest of the cafeteria. “Your first kiss isn’t going to pick himself, Paige.”

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