Page 27 of Grumpy Boss in Love

“I’m home! Thanks for the lift. Gotta go.” I was already shuffling toward the door.

Elliot exhaled loudly and raked his fingers through his hair. “Will you just wait a minute?”

Nope. I’d already popped the door open and as soon as my feet hit the pavement, I scurried away from him and temptation.

“Ruby,” he growled, getting out behind me.

“No!” I pointed at him, and he froze. “You… stay in there.”

That earned me a seething look.

Maybe I was overreacting, but I was super rattled by that kiss. “Good night, Elliot.”

He stared at me as if contemplating something. Whatever conclusion he came to in his head must have been the same one I’d come to. There was no way we could go any further or do this again. He gazed at the building behind me. “Let me at least walk you in.”

Of course, he had to be a gentleman.

“No, it’s okay.” With that, I spun around and jogged up the stone steps. All the while, my heart pounded and my mind raced. Elliot and I had… chemistry.Holy shit!

10

ELLIOT

Ruby tentatively stepped into my office, and our gazes locked. The longer we stared at each other, the more pink infused her cheeks. My irritation skyrocketed when she forced out a smile. A plastic one.

It had been one week sincethe incident,and she had been avoiding me like her life depended on it. I let her get away with ducking and dodging until this morning, but it was time we talked.

“Good morning, Mr. Westwood.” She held up a cup. “Your coffee.” Yet she didn’t come any closer.

Gritting my teeth, I told her, “Ruby, you can stop behaving as if I'm contagious.”

The color in her cheeks brightened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

My eyes narrowed to slits. Was she seriously going to pretend as if she didn’t remember our scorching kiss? I had yet to recover from it. It was a lot. Emotionally. It had been a while since I felt that much because I had an unhealthy practice of burying my more intense emotions—a habit since childhood. Showing anyone that they had the slightest power over my feelings was a big no-no for me.

“You know damn well I’m talking about the kiss,” I said.

Ruby gasped and looked over her shoulder at the open door. “Will you keep it down?” she hissed. “What if Simone hears you?”

I shot her an exasperated glare. “You’re the first woman to be ashamed of kissing me. I have to admit, my ego is bruised.”

Ruby’s eye roll was so intense that I worried her eyeballs would dislodge. “And you sayI’mdramatic.” With a sigh, she hurried to the door and closed it. Turning back to me, she said, “Can we not talk about it here?”

“Then when? And you know being locked in my office will only cause more speculation, right?”

She didn’t answer, she just gazed at me with troubled eyes.

Plenty of women would be happy to get this much attention from me. I wasn’t being conceited. It was the truth. My name alone had women throwing themselves at me in droves because, despite my grumpiness as Ruby loved to point out, they saw dollar signs when they looked at me.

So, female attention wasn’t something that I was lacking. However, the one that I was actually interested in—there was no use denying it anymore—was hellbent on keeping me at arm’s length. I should let her because I didn’t do younger women or complicated relationships and getting involved with an intern at my company was probably asking for trouble.

But when I was with Ruby, even for brief conversations, I felt different. Alive maybe? I wanted to feel more of that. It had been so long since I’d felt a genuine connection with someone other than my brother or my cousin Ben. Sure, Ruby’s and my relationship had volatile moments, but it wasauthentic.She’d never pretended to like me because of my money or who I was. It was refreshing.

“Well?” I prompted, getting up to walk around my desk.

She sighed heavily and handed me my coffee. “You reinstated the coffee decree.”

I looked skyward. “Will you stop calling it that?”

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