Page 3 of Romancing the Grump
But then, maybe he doesn’t know. Could that be why he’s frowning? He’s just confused about what I’m doing here?
Oh, no.Could he think I’m here for him?
There are women who do that sort of thing. Who hang out in parking lots outside of games and hotels hoping to meet the players. Not that one of them could have gotten past the security gate here—the guard checked a very official-looking list before he waved me through—but who knows what’s happened in the past.
Maybe someonehasgotten through. Maybe Nathan has dealt with crazy fans stalking him, hiding out and pouncing every time he gets out of his car. And Iwaspretty forward the last time we met. If he thinks I was only in the parking lot because I was waiting for him, that might explain his frown.
I take a tiny step backward, creating a little more spacebetween us. “I don’t know if you heard,” I say, “but I’m the new lawyer for the team. Today is my first day.”
His face is inscrutable—a mask of emotionless stoicism. Then he looks back at my car.
“You stole my parking space,” he finally says with a tilt of his head, gesturing toward my car as if to punctuate his words.
I blink. “What?”
“That’s my space,” he repeats. His voice isn’t cold, exactly. He doesn’t sound angry, more like he’s just making a casual observation. Still. I don’t even get ahellofirst?
I turn and scan the parking lot. None of the spaces are marked. Not with signs. Not with numbers. Not with anything that gives any indication I shouldn’t just park wherever I want.
“It doesn’t look like the spaces are marked,” I say slowly, doing my best to tamp down my growing irritation, or at least keep it from leaching into my voice.
“Still mine, though,” he says. “Nobody parks there but me.”
I lift my eyebrows. Maybe it’s the leftover sting of his rejection when I asked him out all those months ago. Or maybe it’s my certainty that assigned parking isnota thing at the Summit. But I’m not about to back down, no matter how much I love the smooth rumble of his deep voice.
I hoist my bag a little higher on my shoulder, then fold my arms across my chest. “Are you asking me to move my car? Because I really like that parking space. I might even park there tomorrow too.”
Nathan’s lips twitch, but he otherwise doesn’t respond.
I have no idea what I’m doing. Why I’m arguing about something so inconsequential with a man I hardly know. But he’s the one who started it. He’s the one who couldn’t evensay hello before pointing out that he didn’t get to park his monstrous, gas-guzzling SUV in his usual spot.
“Speaking of, you almost killed me when you sped in here like some kind of race car driver,” I add. “Maybe be a little more cautious next time?”
A slight exaggeration, but hewasdriving too fast. I stand by that point.
His eyes flash with something that could be humor but could just as easily be annoyance, then he turns his back to me and pushes into the Summit without so much as a backward glance.
I stare after him as he goes, hating that despite my annoyance, I can’t help but admire the way his muscles shift and move as he opens the door.
Well.
Happy freaking first day.
CHAPTER 2
NATHAN
You stole my parking space.
I’m face-to-face with a beautiful woman—one I’ve thought about more than once since I first met her a few months ago—and that’s the first thing that comes out of my mouth.
You. stole. my. parking. space.
I drop my duffel onto the floor in front of my locker and sit down, my head falling into my hands. I have never been a man of many words, but when I try, I can usually do better than that.
“What’s wrong with you?”
I look up to see Felix shrugging out of his coat and hanging it in his locker.
