Page 46 of Grumpy Boss in Love

After a moment of silence, the room echoed with my booming laughter. The sound was foreign even to my ears. Ruby scoffed and glowered at me, which of course fueled my amusement.

“Shut up, Elliot,” she snapped, and I laughed harder. “I wasseven,” she defended.

My shoulders shook with the force of my chortling. With a huff, she picked up a throw pillow from a sofa and sailed it at me. It bounced off my head and hit the floor.

I stopped laughing to gawk at her. “Really?”

She pursed her lips to hide her grin. “You shouldn’t laugh at my childhood trauma.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’sPinocchio.”

“I’m sorry for hitting you,” she grumbled.

“No, you’re not.”

Her devious little smirk emerged and bloomed into a grin. Eventually, we both dissolved into chuckles. When I sobered up, I addressed her earlier concern. “You don’t have to worry about sharing a room. I’ll take the couch.”

The reminder of us being in a room together all night killed the current flow of humor.

Ruby’s cheeks turned scarlet as she eyed the bed. “Right.”

And in came the awkwardness…

17

RUBY

My guilt mounted the longer I listened to Elliot shuffle around on the sofa. I peeked over at him in the semi-dark room. The sofa was by no means small, but he was no tiny man. A part of his shoulder wasn’t supported by the seat cushion, and his long legs hung over the arm of the sofa.

“Elliot.”

“Hmm.” He shuffled again.

“You’re going to be in so much pain tomorrow. Let me take the couch. I’ll fit on it at least.”

“Stop worrying and go to sleep,” he murmured gruffly.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“How about?—?”

“For the love of God, Ruby, just be quiet and sleep,” he growled.

I scoffed. “You know, I find it weird that you’reannoyedby my concern. What, were you raised by wolves, General Grouchington?”

He grunted and muttered, “I might as well have been.”

That made me chuckle and sit up in bed to peer at him.

When he added, “Although, I’m sure wolves show their young more affection,” my amusement melted away.

“Was your family really that bad?” I asked.

Elliot muttered something about talkative pint-sized blondes driving him up the wall. I rolled my eyes at the dig at my height. “Well, you deserve to be driven crazy for getting me into this ridiculous situation.”

He shoved down the blanket that was drawn up to his chest and bolted up into a sitting position. The scowl he hit me with was more severe than I’d ever seen. “Don’t forget that you’re benefiting from thisridiculous situationtoo. It’s not like I’m taking advantage of you.”

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