Page 56 of Falling for the Pucking Grump

I’m not going to back out of this now.

It’s do or die. It’s now or never. If Weston wants me, he’s going to need to earn me and what better way than to have Reid help grab his attention? You’d have to be blind not to.

“Are you sure this is gonna work?” I ask because I’m not scared of Reid.

I’m terrified, though, that I’m going to make it look too real when he kisses me. I’m already melting into the car door and barely standing still as it is.

“I’m sure. You just tell me when he’s leaving, and I got you.”

My focus slices up to his, finding him already intently watching me. He looks worried and hesitant, probably for all the wrong reasons, and I have to ease his mind for the right ones. “I’m just nervous.”

“About what?”

“About if he doesn’t care. If he doesn’t do anything. If I’m plain stupid for still dragging you along with me on this ride of Hollyn can’t catch a date.”

“You kept three parents away from me tonight,” he conveys evenly. “I owe you.”

I try to smile at him, but I am too nervous about this whole thing. I look away from him. “This is so childish.”

“This is what men do.”

Shaking my head, I say, “No, I mean asking you to help me. I should’ve just kept it moving. If it didn’t happen…it didn’t happen.”

“Well, I’m here now. And I told you that he was already a waste of precious time.”

“I like him.”

Reid grunts at that but doesn’t say anymore. It’s not for him to understand. I just do.

Or did.

Honestly, Weston doesn’t hold the same appeal as Reid in the sense that I don’t talk to him like this. Reid is always around doing practice with the kids. He’s so focused on them that I can’t help but throw all of my concentration solely on the fact that he can’t pretend anymore that he doesn’t like coaching the boys.

He does.

It just means he has to admit it out loud. That this wasn’t so bad, and he might miss them after a while. Regardless of what he thinks, Reid has been a huge asset to the Wildcats, and his impression will leave something on the boys for some time to come.

However, I get that Reid likes to keep his broody demeanor, and I wouldn’t want to have him crack it. He’s too fun this way and, honestly, easier to predict. If he went soft on me, I’m not sure what I would do. All of this—leaning against the side of my car—is just Reid being a man who wants to prove that he could and can do whatever he wants without giving Weston a second thought.

The problem is, will Weston even care, or will I look more pathetic than I already feel? Reid may be right that I’ve put too much effort into this.

“Why do you look like you’re uncertain about doing this?”

Crap.

I thought I’d be better at this, but I’m not—clearly.

This is worse than the time I was at the doctor’s office, reading a book, and I actually whimpered once because the sex scene was so hot. I had an old guy looking at me like I was totally insane and a woman who actually scooched away from me.

Let’s just say I changed doctors.

“I’m not,” I reply, lifting my chin to make it so. “Just preparing myself.”

Reid perks a brow. “You have to prepare yourself to kiss me?”

“No.” I roll my eyes because this man knows damn well he doesn’t need a girl to talk themselves into this. We’re only human, after all, and he’s a walking and glowering god. “Don’t look for compliments, Reid. It doesn’t suit you.”

“I’m not,” he retorts. “But a woman telling a man that she’s mentally preparing herself to be kissed doesn’t sound too flattering.”

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