Page 68 of Grump Hard
“Me, too,” I whisper, my voice rough and my heart so full I can barely breathe.
I’ve never felt anything like this.
Like her…
Us.
I pull in a breath to tell her—or at least try to tell her, though I’m still not sure I have the words—when something lands on my shoulder.
Something small, furry, but surprisingly heavy, that makes my entire body go rigid with shock as it scampers up into my hair…
A beat later, I launch myself backward, Holly screams, and the thing on my head—there is definitely a thing on my head, no doubt about it now—starts to chitter maniacally, its tiny claws digging into my scalp.
As crazy as it would have seemed to Luke from a few weeks ago, I recognize that chitter.
“Cheeks?” I shout, shoulders hunching closer to my ears as I go still.
A beat later, the chipmunk slides down my arm, jumps off my wrist, and scampers to stop on the quilts between us.
There, he pauses, glancing back and forth between a very naked Holly and a very naked me as he gives us a very intense, very animated lecture on the importance of safe sex.
Nineteen
Holly
I scramble toward the top of the covers, my rampaging pulse slowing as I realize we haven’t been attacked by the spirits of the town fathers, angry at us for getting frisky on the floor beneath their portraits.
It’s just Cheeks, up and at ‘em.
And clearly not enjoying the fact that I didn’t wake him to tell him that Luke was okay.
“Oh my God,” I pant, pressing a hand to my chest. “Oh my God, sorry. Yes, Cheeks, Luke’s fine. And Luke, I’m so sorry, I should have told you, I found Cheeks! He was hiding in a birdhouse just up the hill. I tucked him into my coat in the nick of time, seconds before the wind blew it down.”
Luke shakes his head, muttering beneath his breath as he draws part of a quilt over his lap. “I’m so glad he’s all right.”
Cheeks, still parked between us on the rumpled bedding, snorts in response. He widens his stance on his tiny paws, his tail twitching with indignation as he delivers the most judgmental chipmunk lecture in history.
“What’s wrong, buddy?” I demand, crossing my arms over my breasts. “It’s not like we haven’t seen you naked. You’re naked all the time.”
Luke curses, his face going pale as he says, “He was watching us, wasn’t he? The whole time. He was—” His gaze locks with mine, horror dawning in his eyes as he mutters, “Willow’s psychic chipmunk watched us have sex.”
The sheer absurdity of the statement, combined with the scandalized look on his face and Cheeks’s continued scolding, is the final straw.
I start to laugh.
Not a girlish giggle or a chuckle, but breathless, can’t-relax-my-diaphragm laughter that makes my entire body shake. I try to cover myself with the quilt, but I’m laughing too hard, and the blanket ends up twisted around my waist instead.
“Sorry, Cheeks,” I gasp, shoulders shaking as I bring my hands to cover my breasts again. “Yes, I’ll get dressed! Relax! Just turn your little tail around and give us some privacy, okay?”
“It’s not funny,” Luke says, but I can hear the smile creeping into his voice as he adds, “And I don’t think he’s mad that we’re naked. I think he’s pissed that we didn’t use a condom.”
“Chick-chick-chick-chit!” Cheeks interjects, as if agreeing with Luke that this is, indeed, the source of his outrage.
I laugh harder, tears streaming down my face.
Luke heaves a put-upon sigh in my direction.
Cheeks growls beneath his breath.
