Page 69 of Grump Hard
“I’m sorry,” I gasp between giggles. “I’m sorry, it’s just—your face— And he’s so p-pissed… I just… I can’t.”
Luke’s lips twitch. “Safe sex is important. He’s right.”
“He is,” I wheeze as I desperately try to catch my breath. “Oh my God, Cheeks, take a chill pill, buddy. I have an IUD, and we discussed safety beforehand. We were grownups about it, I promise.”
Cheeks chirps again, this time with what sounds like grudging acceptance, before settling onto his haunches with a huff. Then, with a dignified sniff, he turns, treating us to his back as he begins grooming his tail with exaggerated nonchalance, as if to say he’s ready to give us our privacy now.
Finally getting my giggles under control, I reach for my bra atop the pile of clothing beside the bed. I’m in my bra and sweater and stepping into my panties when I notice Luke by the fireplace, glancing awkwardly around, the quilt still clutched to his groin, and I start to laugh again.
He shoots a warning glare my way. “Don’t even think about it.”
I press my lips together, willing a serious expression to my face. “Of course. Sorry. You are clearly a very serious man who wants his clothes back.” I nod toward the room where I grabbed the quilts. “I hung them on the display racks to dry.” He heads that way, and I call after him, “But fair warning, they’ve only been on there a few hours. Your pants and socks might not be dry yet. They were soaked. Your sweater and underthings weren’t too bad, though.”
He returns a few minutes later, just as I’m finishing dressing, wearing boxers and his undershirt, looking so good half-naked, I can’t help but bob my brows up and down. “Yummy. Nice fit, Mr. Ratcliffe. I approve of this choice, but aren’t you cold?”
He shakes his head, a sexy smile hooking his lips. “No, I’m rather warm for some reason. I think it might have to do with the sexy woman who?—”
My stomach chooses that moment to let out an embarrassingly loud growl, interrupting the much-appreciated mention of my sexiness. I put a hand to my middle, shushing my tummy, only for it to yee-owl again, louder than before.
Luke frowns. “When did you last eat?”
I shake my head and sigh. “Um. Lunch? Maybe? No, I missed lunch. I had a granola bar before the shoot, but that was...” I glance toward the grandfather clock in the corner, the only piece of “technology” working now that the power’s gone out. The lights bit the dust mere moments after I got Luke out of his clothes, nixing my plan to throw them in the dryer downstairs. “Yeah, that was a while ago.”
“We need to feed you.” He glances over to Cheeks, now perched on the edge of the fireplace, warming his bottom with the flames. “And probably feed him too, before he gets cranky and starts lecturing us again.”
“Let me throw another log on the fire, and we can head downstairs to see what’s in the kitchen,” I say. “My cell phone light is still working, but I haven’t had service for hours.” I wince as I grab a log from the pile. “My poor parents and Willow and the others are probably scared to death. I would have called them from the landline in the office, but it’s locked.”
“Willow knows I went to look for you,” Luke says. “Hopefully, she can sense that we’re okay.” He bends, extending his hand, palm up, to Cheeks. “She wasn’t able to sense you, though, buddy. She was really worried.”
I cluck my tongue. “She should have been. Coyotes were howling in the woods, maybe fifty feet away, when I found him. I was terrified, and I’m much bigger than a chipmunk. Maybe he was just too scared to send out vibes.”
Luke grunts, scowling as we start toward the kitchen. “I can’t believe we’re having a serious discussion about chipmunk vibes.”
“Believe it,” I say, popping on tiptoe to press a kiss to his cheek at the top of the stairs. “You’re in the Silver Bell Falls zone now, baby. It’s all whacky locals and good cheer as far as the eye can see.”
He rolls his eyes, but I can tell the grump act is just that—an act.
The grump is gone, replaced by a man who braved a blizzard for me and laid his heart on the line without a moment of hesitation. We’re out of the woods on the grumpy front. I feel that truth deep in my bones. We still have trials to face and growing to do, but we’ll handle those things as a team, I just know it.
We make our way down the creaky stairs to the basement, raiding the breakroom in the beams of my cell phone and Luke’s flashlight, while Cheeks directs operations from Luke’s shoulder.
Luke finds a bag of air-popped popcorn, a chocolate bar, and a container of trail mix in the cabinets. I grab two beers and an ancient, but possibly edible, apple from the fridge, and we head back upstairs for a picnic in front of the fire.
I get Cheeks settled in the spelling bee trophy I liberated from a display cabinet to use as his bed earlier, lining the cup on top with my scarf so he would have somewhere soft to sleep.
Our chipmunk chaperone munches happily on his nuts and seeds, while Luke and I perch on the edge of the fireplace and pop open our beers. We devour the popcorn and trail mix, and soon, my stomach has stopped grouching. Beers finished, we move on to the chocolate bar, a caramel-filled masterpiece from Kathy’s that has me moaning from the first bite.
Luke cuts a heated look my way, and I moan again, playing it up until he laughs and deems me, “A very bad woman.”
“I’m not, I’m very good,” I say, lifting my nose into the air.
He hums his agreement as he nudges my shoulder with his. “You are. So good it’s going to be very hard to be away from you, even for a few days.”
I nod, not wanting to think about being apart just yet, but forcing an upbeat note into my voice as I assure him, “I know, but we’ll be all right. I’m sure I can come down to visit you a lot after the holidays.”
His brow furrows. “Holly, I know your work is here. I don’t want to?—”
“I know, I know,” I cut in, shooing his protest away with a flutter of my fingers. “But January and February are my slow season, I promise. I won’t miss much. Things don’t pick back up again until March, with the spring adoption drive and school picture day. The school in Londonderry started letting kids bring their pets to school. It’s so adorable, I can’t wait to show you?—”
