Page 60 of The Grump I Loathe
My heart thumped hard against my ribs.
“Now put some clothes on,” he said, a hint of gravel in his voice.
I grinned, rolling over as he stood to finish getting dressed. “Am I tempting you like this?”
“You’re always tempting me,” he said, his dark gaze traveling over me. “But naked, you’re simply irresistible.”
The world started to melt away at his words. “Are you only worried about Grace?” I wondered.
“And the no-dating policy at the office,” he admitted.
I frowned.
“I can’t revoke it just for myself,” he said, leaning over to kiss me, “when I’ve only just instituted it. Hence us needing to be?—”
“—discreet,” I said. Warning bells sounded in my head. Between Grace and the policy, where could we possibly be together, out in the open? Not at work. Not here. And those were the two places where he spent most of his time. Every moment we spent together would be stolen. I’d be his dirty little secret.
But the way he was looking at me right now, I had a hard time seeing that as a problem. Our jobs needed protecting. Grace needed protecting. I could understand. If I wanted him to keep looking at me like that, like hereallysaw me, then I had to play along.
“Okay.” I plastered on a smile. “Being someone’s secret is a little hot.”
Connor snorted. “You’re just hot. Period.”
“Mm-hmm, you’re just saying that so you’ll get lucky later.”
A door opened upstairs. Connor jerked back from the bed. “That’s Grace.”
Footsteps padded across the ceiling and water started running.
“Brushing her teeth,” Connor said, straightening his clothes.
“How responsible of her.” Something hit me in the face. My pants.
“Get dressed,” he said again, more urgently.
“Where are my underwear?” I asked, getting up and shrugging into my clothes, which were still damp.
“No idea, but there’s no time to find them,” Connor insisted, haphazardly making the bed. I ran a hand through my hair, catching on knots, and we hurried to the door before Grace could catch us.
“Dad?” she called.
“Just starting breakfast,” Connor replied.
“You cook for yourself?” I whispered.
“Yeah? Why?”
“I just thought you’d have a personal chef or something.”
“No point when the most exotic thing Grace wants on her plate is ketchup. Plus, I don’t mind cooking.”
“Can we have pancakes?” Grace called down the stairs, coming closer.
“Sure!”
Connor grabbed the bedroom door, yanking it open.
“Eddie?”
