Page 33 of The Grump I Loathe
“Iknow!” I finally got the door open, and we spilled into the entryway. I could hear the TV in the living room, meaning Luna or Isabel or both of them were still up, probably catching up on episodes ofThe Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, their new obsession. I latched ontoCassie’s arm and dragged her to my room, closing the door behind us. I didn’t need an audience to witness this post-club confusion spiral.
Because what had I been doing dancing likethatwith my boss? Not even my direct boss. My boss’s boss. The boss of the entire company.Gah!A heady swirl of mortification and desire swept through me because it was good.Really good. I dropped my head in my hands and groaned.
“For a second, I thought the two of you were about to start making out on the dance floor,” Cassie said. “It was capitalHhot.”
“How could you let me do that?” I swallowed, feeling the phantom weight of Connor’s hands around my waist. Truthfully, I had no idea Connor even set foot in clubs, never mind that he’d be at Clarke’s tonight.
But despite my protests, I had to admit I wasn’t mad that we’d been left alone. I’d been curious to see what it would take for Lord LockMill to let go a little, and I hadn’t been disappointed in the results. If anything, I’d been caught off guard by howmuchI liked it.
“How?” Cassie cried, collapsing on my bed as she cackled. “As if I could stop you! The two of you were looking at each other like a pair of horny jaguars about to go at it.”
“Jaguars?”
“Or like some sleek, sexy something,” Cassie said. “You know what I mean. You were a hot lioness prowling through the crowd, waiting to sink your teeth into your brooding but very attractive CEO.”
“I was not prowling. He approachedme!”
“You were hunting him with your eyes! Why do you think I went over to the bar in the first place? To catch their attention, duh!”
“There was no hunting of any kind.”
Cassie clapped her hands together. “Waiting for the right moment to strike!”
“You and Max set us up,” I grumbled.
“For the perfect opportunity to jump his bones,” Cassie continued.
“No bones were jumped!”
“But you wish they were,” Cassie said.
I groaned. It was ridiculous, but Cassie wasn’t exactly wrong. I’d felt that moment of connection, just like that day at the school, when I’d glimpsed the real Connor. The tension had wrapped around us like an elastic band. And yeah, part of me had wanted to chase that thrill, see where it led.
“I knew you liked him!” she squealed, sitting up so quickly she almost toppled off my bed.
“I don’t know if I like him,” I argued. “It was probably just all the club endorphins. You know I like to dance.”
Not like that, a voice in my head whispered.Not with just anyone. God, why did it have to feel sogoodto grind back against my grumpy, buttoned-up boss? Sticks in the mud weren’t supposed to have toned, powerful bodies like that, or big hands that cupped over my hips just right.
And they definitely weren’t supposed to pull the rug out from under my feet and ditch me there on the dance floor. What was that about, anyway? Until the moment he’d reared back and bolted across the club, there’d been a spark, right?
“You never get carried away with guys like that,” Cassie said, echoing my own thoughts. “Some part of you must like him. Even a teeny, tiny amount.”
I emptied my purse on my desk. “What does it matter anyway? It’s Connor. Grumpy, frustrating Connor who wouldn’t know fun if it bit him in the ass. I doubt he meant to dance with me at all. He’d probably just had too much to drink and?—”
“Girl, hesowanted you,” Cassie argued. “Even Max said Connor wanted to get lip locked.”
My pulse skipped. I knuckled at the space between my ribs, fidgeting with a tube of lip gloss.Stop, I told myself.You can’t want him like this.
A pair of jeans slipped from my desk chair. I picked them up, a piece of paper sliding from a pocket. I unfolded it to find Alannah’s suspension note.Crap. I’d forgotten to give it to Dad when I dropped Alannah off. I laid it on the desk so I’d remember when I saw them next.
“If he’d kissed you, would you have kissed him back?” Cassie asked.
“No,” I said immediately, tasting the lie on my tongue. “You’re blowing things out of proportion. All we did was dance.”
“There was some serious kiss potential going on. He was looking at you like he wanted toeatyou.”
“He definitely wasn’t,” I insisted.
