The Grump's Guide to Chaos: A Small Town Grumpy-Sunshine Romantic Comedy by Valerie Pepper

Author:Valerie Pepper [Pepper, Valerie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stafford Lane Publishing, LLC
Published: 2024-01-12T00:00:00+00:00

Feeding thirty people isn’t hard, but it isn’t easy, either. I boil an army’s worth of pasta and make three pots of sauce and seven loaves of garlic bread, completely by myself in the kitchen because I waved off the multiple offers of help. I need the focus. Because I’m going to have to share a bed with Tori, and I’m pissed. Or maybe it’s not even that I’m pissed, but instead I’m…highly irritated? Angry. Terrified. Frustrated.

Fine. I’m pissed.

But the way she’d looked as that flush had crept down her cheeks and onto her neck, disappearing behind the high-necked shirt she wore…I wanted to know how far down it’d gone. Then I wanted to lick every bit of that heated flesh, and help myself to the rest of her body while I was at it.

And there will be absolutely none of that happening. Thinking I could handle three months of no-strings-attached sex with Tori Welch was the stupidest thing I have ever done. All I can do at this point is hope a row of pillows down the middle of the bed can save me.

I roll my shoulders and will the tension to leave my body, but I know it’s here to stay. I’ve been coiled like a goddamn spring ever since Tori rolled back into my life nearly two months ago, and no amount of stretching is going to change that. I pull out the paper plates, cups, and plastic ware that Price got from his emergency run to the store this morning, and let the ground floor know that dinner is ready. Then I make my way up to the second and third floors, knocking on doors and to alert them as well. It’s early, only five-thirty, but I need them all to eat so I can clean.

It’s loud and crowded when I come back downstairs. Two kids dart in front of me, chasing each other, and I bark, “No running!”

They skid to a stop, eyes wide, and the younger one’s eyes immediately fill with tears. A woman I don’t know appears, grabbing both of them by the hands and looking at me with a familiar expression of fear. “Sorry,” she says, then turns to the kids and leads them away.

“Was that really necessary?” Tori asks from behind me, her voice low and chiding.

I turn and stare down at her, clenching my jaw. She doesn’t understand. What if they tripped and fell? Kids do that shit all the time. And I can’t risk them getting seriously hurt right now. This isn’t the time. My phone’s pinged multiple times with all the alerts the station is getting, so I know what’s happening out there. It’s not good. We’re in a bubble here, and I need it to stay that way. A nice, safe bubble, free of broken bones and gashes.

But I don’t say any of that. I never do.

Tori watches me, not speaking. Then she nods, seeming to have come to some conclusion that’s probably wrong, and moves past me.

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