Page 49 of Taming Grumpy Dr. Beast
My breath whooshed out, leaving my lungs gasping for air. Damn, he got better looking every time I saw him. Today he’d dressed in a casual plaid button down and a pair of jeans that cupped his strong thighs. The thought of me running my hands up and down them had me biting back a moan.
“I, um, you’re early.” I stammered, working to stop my eyes from staring at the lower half of his body. In the rational part of my brain, I acknowledged this was not a good idea.
“My eyes are up here, Lily.” The humor in his voice snapped me out of the weird lapse in judgment I had.
I gasped and yanked my gaze away from his legs, forcing them to meet his amused stare.Shit!He’d caught me, and there was no way I could hide the heat creeping up my neck and face. The more I thought about it the hotter my cheeks grew.
“I know that.” I sputtered, wondering if I could find a good enough reason to hide away from him for the day. “You surprised me.” I finally said, struggling to string together words that made sense.
He shrugged.
“I finished some work early,” I said, taking a deep breath. If he could act so nonchalant about me ogling him, then so could I. “I was about to take Patches for a walk. You could come with us or you’ll have to wait until our scheduled time.”
He raised an eyebrow.
I’d gotten the impression he was used to people doing what he wanted. Well, tough luck for him. I needed the time outside to control my wayward thoughts. Ugh, why did I tell him to join us? That would not help me shove this ridiculous attraction to him in a tiny little box and try to forget it ever existed.
I had to act naturally around him. Easy, right?
What was natural though? I didn’t know how to act around guys I was attracted to. I had one boyfriend.One.We broke up because he said we didn’t spend enough time together. That I let my studies take precedence over my time with him.
He never understood how important my education was to me. I had goals, and a plan I was carefully executing. Get my degrees, and go into business with my father. With Dad handling the restoration and me handling any translations that came our way. Of course, with Dad’s illness, my vision and goals had changed.
When my ex broke up with me, I was surprised. I didn’t know he felt that way and suddenly there was no way to fix the problem. I was about logic. Give me the situation, and I’d reason my way to a solution, but he never even gave me the chance to do that.
Cece had tried to warn me. She said he was too clingy. That he even seemed jealous of the time I spent with her or working at the bookstore. I thought he acted that way because he loved me.
That was a year ago and now I didn’t bother trying to date. It wasn’t worth it when I had to change who I was to be with someone. I wanted someone to love me for me. Maybe my destiny was to be alone. I wasn’t willing to dumb myself down and trade who I was just to be in a relationship.
“Lily?”
I blinked. Oh god, how long was I lost in thought? I hated when I did that. “Yeah, sorry.”
“It’s okay.” He looked at Patches, then at me. “Sure, let’s go for a walk.”
“What?” I hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
He laughed. The deep cadence swirled around in my head, causing tiny little sparks of happiness to ignite.
I smiled shyly at him, my chest fluttering when he smiled back. There was only a tiny tilt to his lips, but I was sure it was an actual smile. I’d already seen enough of his smirks to know the difference. This man needed to start acting like his grumpy, grouchy self soon, or I would seriously consider swooning in his presence as utterly acceptable.
Patches tugged at the leash, yanking me so I stood next to Jaxon. The heat of his body enveloped me. I was so close to leaning against him to see what it would feel like. The sharp bark and Patches jumping all over my leg had me jerking away just in time.
Clearing my too tight throat, I moved ahead and gave a little laugh that sounded nervous even to my ears. “He’s the boss.”
“I thought I was,” his voice made my breath catch. His tone made me think of sex. The way his rough voice grabbed at me, making me want him even more than I already did. I didn’t think my panties could get any wetter.
This walk was going to be torture.
I forced my attention back to the dog, who pulled me to move faster. It was better to ignore Jaxon and these sensations he evoked in me. I needed to think about something else, talk about something else, but my sex addled brain wouldn’t turn off.
We moved to the rear of the house and onto the patio. Once outside I let Patches’ retractable leash extend a good fifty feet so he could run and sniff to his heart’s content. With many stops in between, so the dog could explore, we finally made our way to the pond.
“Tell me about the restoration you’ve done so far,” Jaxon asked, breaking the silence.
Neutral territory. I could work with this. “The red rot is gone and I’ve ordered a leather nearly identical to the color of the cover now. If you don’t mind, I’d like to inlay the original cover so it lays flush with the new one.”
He nodded. “I’d like that. While I wish we could keep the original one intact, I knew once I saw it, we had to replace it.”
