Page 52 of Grumpy Darling

But he ignored my complaint. “Come on, wow my socks off.”

“Fine.” My mind scrambled for something flirty to say. Unfortunately, all I could think of were the pickup lines Bonnie had texted me last night. They were terrible, but something was better than nothing, so I rattled off the first one that came to mind. “You know, I forgot to pack my teddy bear. Will you sleep with me tonight instead?”

“What?” I couldn’t tell if he was shocked, disappointed, or embarrassed by my pickup line.

“I forgot to pack my—”

“No, I heard you.” I could have sworn his cheeks were turning pink.

“And are your socks still on?”

“Firmly,” he replied without hesitation. “Is that really the best you can do? A cheesy line that probably came from Parker?”

“Uh, it was Bonnie, actually.”

The look on his face suggested he thought that made it even worse. “Look, here’s flirting lesson one: don’t use pickup lines. Lesson two: don’t glare at the guy when you say them. If this is what we’re working with, maybe you do need my help after all.”

“You put me on the spot!” I huffed. He was really taking this coaching job seriously all of a sudden. Next he’d be making me skate laps of the lake as punishment.

“I was still expecting better.”

I dropped his hands and jerked to a halt. He wanted better flirting? Fine. But I most definitely wasn’t trying it while moving. He’d stopped a few yards away, probably thinking I had every intention of yelling at him. Little did he know, I planned on proving him wrong. Only problem was, I had no idea how I was supposed to do that.

But as I watched him, I was struck by inspiration. I remembered a trick I’d seen girls pull out here on the lake plenty of times before. I wasn’t sure if I was capable of repeating it myself, but I was so annoyed at Grayson I was willing to try just about anything. Perhaps I really would kill myself trying to flirt while skating.

Before I could rethink it or chicken out, I closed the distance between us, and pretended to slip on the ice, falling gracefully into his arms.

He swore but caught me easily. “Are you okay?”

“Whoops.” I gave a soft laugh. “Told you I was clumsy today.”

My hands were pressed against his chest, and my stomach dipped at the feel of him. His arms were wrapped tightly around my waist as he held me up. I’d always known Grayson was athletic, but it was something else to actually run my fingers over his muscles.

“You’re so strong,” I murmured. The words were out of me before I realized what I’d said. I wasn’t sure if I meant for them to escape my lips, but I quickly added a cautious smile as I glanced up at him from under my eyelashes. I was supposed to be flirting; might as well commit to it now. “Have you been working out?”

His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “Uh, you know I exercise every day.”

“Mm. But you must be benching a lot these days.”

“I guess.”

“Do you think you could bench-press me?”

“Ah . . .” He swallowed again. “Probably.”

I slowly crept my hands up his chest until my arms were around his neck and my fingers were toying with his hair. My stomach quivered with an unexpected rush as I stared up at him. I thought I knew everything about Gray, but I’d never noticed how his blue eyes had a subtle ring of green around the center.

I was getting distracted. I needed to focus on the task at hand. His socks still needed blowing off. I pulled myself up a little higher so I could whisper in his ear. “Maybe we should go back to your house, and get a workout in together?”

He spluttered and coughed to clear his throat. “We shouldwhat?”

His eyes were so wide they looked like they were about to burst out of his skull. Was this how guys were supposed to react? Either way, I was enjoying this far more than last night when I’d been giggling like an idiot and spilling drinks on myself. Flirting was so much more fun when you weren’t actually trying to get the boy to like you. I stared deeply into Gray’s eyes a moment longer, before I grinned and pulled away.

“How’d I do?”

“What?”

“My flirting? How was it? You said you expected better—that had to be an improvement. Right?”

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