Perfect Grump: An Enemies to Lovers Romance

by Snow, Nicole

  She whimpers again as I nip her breast with my teeth.

  I need to be inside her right now, but I’ll hold out until she cries for it.

  I want this to be a night she remembers. A night she’d change nothing about. A night so intense it torches every doubt inside her head.

  Her hands move to my pants.

  I snort like a caged animal as she grabs the button, insane with anticipation.

  Still, I keep my hands on her hips until she’s pushed my pants and boxers down past my thighs in a ragged heap.

  I work the pajamas off her like a man possessed. When it comes to her panties, my patience is gone. Nostrils flaring at her scent, I rip them in half, throwing the tattered cloth across the room.

  “Need you, sweetheart. Need you fucking now.” My voice is so guttural it almost scares me, my dick pulsing so hard I’m almost faint from blood loss in my head.

  Goddamn. I might actually die from this fuck, but if I do, know I went to meet my maker happy as a lark.

  We toss. We wrestle. We roll with delight.

  She lowers herself over me with a fraught look.

  Every muscle in my body goes taut, coiled with a tension I want to throw into her. An endorphin storm engulfs me, and there’s still too much space between us.

  Shifting us to the edge of the bed, I sit so I can press her body to mine. This spell only works with her skin on mine.

  Her arms and legs tie around me as I move her like a doll, shoving her down on my length in one jerk.

  “Nick!” It’s barely a breath on her lips.

  It’s my name. Equal parts curse and vow.

  It’s a sound I never thought I’d hear again—one I’m not sure I deserve—but now that I’ve got it, I mean to own it for the rest of my days.

  I respond the only way I can.

  My lips on hers, tugging and harsh, so greedy I understand how a starving lion feels.

  My tongue swipes into her mouth, begging—no, demanding—more.

  Demanding everything.

  And she gives it back with a fluttery moan, another swivel of her hips, riding me into pure passion.

  My hand crashes across her ass. She jerks with delight, quickening her pace.

  The room quakes and my vision spins.

  Every last shred of my focus shifts to making her come so hard she can’t think, can’t worry, can’t do anything but ride my cock across the bridge to ecstasy.

  I fuck her so she knows I’m the man who’ll always give her his life.

  It’s hard to even call it fucking when it’s beyond any sweetness or sin I’ve ever known.

  It’s impossible to do anything but let it take over, this rabid desire lashing our bodies together. One rampant thrust after the next, where we collide like we want to do damage.

  When she’s had as much as she can take, her nails scrape the back of my neck. Her body clenches around my length and I slam into her harder, grunting through bared teeth in time to her panting breaths.

  “Oh, Nick. Oh, shit. Ohhh!” Her mouth spills into mine again.

  Her tongue moves frantically, pleading for more.

  I become a human jackhammer, hurling myself into her, until her climax makes my spine a lit fuse.

  My whole body stings with a blinding current until I’m gone.

  I’m so fucking gone.

  I throb inside her once.

  Twice.

  Explosion.

  I erupt like a madman, knotted deep inside her, a receptor for the biggest sensory overload of my life. I feel like a human corkscrew popping, all liquid fire as I’m emptied the fuck out.

  “Reese, Reese!” I’m grinding her name, rutting for what feels like an eternity before I collapse against the mattress, taking her with me.

  “I...love...you,” she whispers between torn breaths.

  I love you too, darling.

  Tonight. Tomorrow. Forever.

  I pull a blanket around us. We pass out for several hours just like that, our naked bodies wound together.

  She steals the blanket at some point. I wake up cold, but don’t struggle to reclaim it.

  She’s too beautiful. She’s giving me a second life, a family, and she needs her rest.

  I get up and pad into the kitchen with my stomach growling like a bear. Reese has about three ingredients.

  Loaves of bread, instant mac, and barbecue potato chips. I laugh and shake my head.

  When I head back into the living room, something rustles across the room. I glance over to the biggest surprise of the night—Reese opening that bag of cotton candy.

  “I didn’t hear you get out of bed.”

  “Hi.” She tears off a piece of blue fluff, sniffs, gives it a hesitant stare, and then pops it in her mouth.

  “Don’t you hate cotton candy?” I quirk a brow.

  “Baby likes it. I woke up craving a few cavities and since you brought me an elephant pile of sugar...I might as well try it.” Her shy smile makes me feel like my world goes right side up again.

  “I was going to make breakfast. You know, real food.”

  “Okay. I want toast and hot water.”

  “Just hot water? No tea?”

  She pulls off another chunk of blue fluff. “They don’t want me having caffeine and I haven’t stocked up on decaf yet. Something about the baby. I don’t know.”

  “...have you been living on bread and instant mac?” I ask, suppressing a shudder.

  “Mostly bread.”

  “That’s not fucking healthy. The kid needs food, and so do you.”

  She swallows another mouthful of candy and glares at me.

  “Dude. You just showed up. Don’t think you’re coming in here and telling me how to do this. The baby might need more food, but the baby makes me throw up every three hours unless I eat bread or crackers or these weird prenatal vitamin suckers. Also, I don’t have room for bread every three hours plus something else, so you and your baby can smile and let mama eat.”

  Damn, she’s adorable.

  “Anything else?” I ask, leaning against the wall.

  “Just sayin’. Is my hot water ready?”

  “Working on it.” Chuckling, I walk away and paw through the cabinets for a mug before putting her plain water on the stove to heat.

  She comes into the kitchen with her cotton candy and flops down at the small table.

  “Give me the chips. All of them,” she whispers. “Baby likes it. I hate fake barbecue.”

  The tea kettle hisses. I serve up her water and sit down beside her.

  “This is going to be fun as hell,” I say, touching a fingertip to the end of her nose. “Hope you know that.”

  She laughs. “I’m glad somebody thinks so.”

  “You’re not happy?”

  “There was never a moment where I didn’t want the baby, if that’s what you’re asking. And now that you’re back, well...this could be perfect. But I’d kinda like to skip ahead eight months. Or at least to the second trimester.”

  “We’ll get there.” I take her hand and kiss it. “And I’ll be here the whole time, serving up your body weight in junk food.”

  31

  Cinderella-ish (Reese)

  Two Months Later

  Nick sits in the chair behind his desk, and I’m in his lap. “I should probably move.”

  “Why would you do a silly thing like that?” He tightens his grip, holding me in place.

  “Won’t people talk?”

  “You’re having my kid. Anyone stupid enough to run their mouth is already doing it.” He chuckles and closes a window on his computer screen with his free hand.

  “What?”

  “The Chicago Tea is calling you Cinderella. A compliment for once.”

  “They are? Why?” My breath stalls.

  “Because you snagged the Windy City’s most eligible billionaire bad boy, and he’s completely fucking smitten. Duh.”

  “You’re arrogant enough for your title, Prince Charming,” I tease.


  “They just don’t know me like you do.” He kisses me then.

  Of course, I melt all over him.

  I’m destined to meltdown for this man for life.

  “They’re right,” I whisper. “And God forbid they ever do.”

  He kisses me again, deeper this time, so possessive I gasp before he pulls away.

  “We should get to your party.”

  “The totally unnecessary ’happy trails’ party, you mean?” I say with a snort.

  He shrugs. “We just like office parties. You’ve worked here long enough to know the drill.”

  “This doesn’t feel like my last day,” I say, biting a finger at the corner of my mouth.

  “It’ll hit you soon enough when you’re a business owner. You’ll still see everyone. Brandt Ideas is your first client, right?”

  I grin. “But I hope not just because we’re together.”

  He shakes his head. “Nah. Contracting with a known driver was easier than hiring a new one. Plus, since you’ll have your own crew, we don’t have to find someone to keep up with the insane schedules around here.”

  We share a smile. The party is mine, because Nick still technically works here, but it’s more or less his last day in this office too.

  “I’ll miss working with you,” I joke.

  He smirks. “Lucky for you, Brandt Dreams is your second client. You’ll still be driving me around plenty. Although sometimes it’s feeling strange to have my girlfriend driving me all over hell for business...”

  “You drive me enough.”

  “Only off the clock,” he reminds me.

  I pat his face. “Come on now. You’re too slow for rush hour traffic.”

  He pats my butt, and I stand. We walk into the lobby together, hand in hand.

  Granny Bea and Paige are here today for my big send-off.

  Bea hugs me instantly. “Oh, Reese, I hate losing you. But I’ll see you at my house every other Sunday for dinner, yes?”

  “I’ll be there,” I promise.

  “Can’t wait to have you on the girls’ team for family dinners. Somebody else needs to take the spotlight,” Paige whispers, grinning.

  Ward comes up from behind, wrapping his arms around her, and pulling her backward.

  “Like hell. You love Grandma fawning all over you.” He kisses her forehead.

  “I’m going to the ladies’ room.”

  One huge pregnancy perk: I can skip out of almost anything.

  This party is sweet, but I’ve never liked crowds. And since I drove for the C-suite, mostly, I don’t know most of these underlings popping in for free food and bubbly cider.

  Paige knows what I’m doing.

  She’s right behind me, heading into the waiting area in front of the restrooms. She sits down on the couch. “Already had your fill of the party?”

  I sit beside her.

  “It’s awesome. Just...really big. I’m more of a one-on-one kinda girl. That’s why I like driving cars versus tour buses or whatever”

  “But Nick takes you to all of his events.”

  I nod. “I’m a work in progress. Actually, since I’m kind of trash-tabloid famous now...it’s not like I have a choice.”

  “Oh, yes. It happens when you’re with a Brandt,” she says, the only other person who can possibly understand.

  “Yesterday, I walked into the ice cream shop across from his building. This girl comes flying up to me and says, ‘You’re Reeserella!’ I had no clue what she was talking about. Then she screeched ‘You’re Nick’s girlfriend’ in my face and...I was out. ASAP. Some of these crazy fans think they know us personally.”

  Paige throws her head back and laughs.

  “I know, I know. It’s happened to me a few times. Thankfully it’s not as bad with Ward. He doesn’t have a big media footprint these days and sends Nick to most events. I can see why you get smacked with the brunt of it.”

  I smile. “He’s worth it, and honestly? A teeny little part of me loves that my boyfriend is so hot the whole world wants him. The only woman who ever bothered me was Carmen. Now that she’s cooling her heels in a top-notch mental health facility, it’s smooth sailing. The rest can slobber in jealousy.”

  “Oof, talk about a falling star. I noticed she’s not coming up in movie talk anymore. That drug bust-stalker thing must have hit her hard. Good riddance. I’m glad Nick never took the bait and found someone better.” Paige shudders and then winks at me.

  I laugh.

  “She keeps a low profile now. The rehab place is basically some resort in Cabo San Lucas. She might have some legal trouble since she left before her court date, but it should stop any future ruckus.”

  “How do you know all of this?” Paige asks.

  “Nick and I got into a spat last week. I felt jealous and looked her up—dumb, I know—expecting to find her disgustingly gorgeous and still pining away for him. I saw the latest rumors.”

  Paige laughs. “What were you guys fighting over?”

  “The nursery. I wanted to paint it pink. He thought I should wait until we know if the baby is a girl or a boy. I told him it didn’t matter, because my son will have an awesome eye for bright colors, just like his dad.”

  She leans forward. “Do you guys know yet?”

  “We’ll find out next month. But we settled on dark purple for the nursery.”

  “Dark purple?”

  I sigh. “He bought blue paint while I was sleeping. While he was working, I took it to the store and had equal parts pink mixed into it. It came out purple.”

  “Nice! How’d that go over?” she asks.

  I grin. “I had a spool of cotton candy. I shared it and told him I didn’t know what happened to the paint. He was actually pretty happy since purple’s a royal color, totally fit for a ’little prince’ or ’princess.’ His words.”

  The fight also ended with clothes strewn across the room and us feeding each other cotton candy on the floor. But she doesn’t need to know that part.

  “You guys are hilarious.” Her phone buzzes and she glances at it. “Ah, that’s Ward. They’re looking for us.”

  We leap up and I push the door open and walk out.

  Nick stands in the hall. “How you holding up? We’re past the morning sickness, right?”

  The second I close the space between us, his arms are around me.

  “I’m fine. We were just talking.”

  He gives me that smirky smile that’s always brought me to my knees.

  “I hate to steal you away from your own party, but I thought you might want to duck out early. I have a couple surprises of my own. Go have a piece of cake, make your rounds, and let’s escape.”

  “You know me too well.”

  I lean up on my toes to kiss him with all of my inner butterflies soaring.

  * * *

  Half an hour later, we’re in the Maserati.

  “This is how it’s supposed to be,” he says quietly.

  I glance over. “What?”

  “Me driving you around.”

  I laugh. “Whatever. If I were driving, we’d already be there. Where are we going, anyway?”

  “That’s a secret. Are you nervous about tomorrow?”

  “A little. I mean, it’s almost the same job, driving the same people. But now if I hit the brakes too hard, it’s my liability.” I laugh, but I’m only partly joking.

  It’s a scary thought. So is the mountain of business plans waiting, managing people, dealing with insurance...gah.

  “Your billionaire boyfriend is always standing by to help,” he says with a wink that makes me tingle.

  “Ah-ha, I knew I kept him around for a reason.”

  “Brat,” he says, but his eyes are smiling.

  “Only because you’re a bigger one,” I tell him.

  He pulls into a park with a chuckle.

  “I wish you’d mentioned this surprise. I would’ve brought another pair of shoes.” I wore a dress and heels today for the party.

  “You�
��re perfect.”

  “Easy for you to say. You don’t have to trudge over grass in three-inch heels.” I get out of the car and notice a truck selling bags of my new addiction (besides Nick).

  The first time I ate cotton candy, it tasted like yarn dipped in sugar glaze.

  Now, it’s delicious, and even better with barbecue chips.

  If I had a tail, I’d be wagging it as we walk toward the truck.

  “Where are you going? We have to go to the bridge,” Nick says cryptically.

  “Just a minute.”

  “Reese, your surprise—”

  “Candy.”

  “Sweetheart, we have to—”

  “Nick, what is going on?” I squint at him. He’s so weird today.

  “Nothing. If it helps speed this up, I’ll hire the candy man to make home deliveries.”

  “Don’t you dare!” I punch him playfully in the arm.

  Of course, I’m laughing my head off.

  Once I have my precious sugar rush in hand, Nick takes my arm and leads me off to—wherever it is he wants us to go. I’m taking in the pretty summer scenery when a small voice rings out.

  “Auntie!” A familiar small voice.

  “Whoa. That sounded like Millie.” I spin around, eyes searching.

  “You’re hearing things. Hopefully they’ll be back soon.” Nick smiles.

  “Right.” My gut squeezes.

  Abby and Millie are safe, and I’ll see them again one day. That’s all that matters. It’s just horrible not knowing when.

  “Auntie Reese!” Again, that voice—that hallucination?—it stops me in my tracks.

  “Holy crap. That’s definitely Millie and she’s getting louder.” I turn frantically, calling, “Where are you, bumblebee?”

  Two chubby arms crash into my leg before I know what’s happening.

  I lean down, pick her up, and bury her alive in kisses.

  She giggles.

  “How the heck did you get here, little lady?”

  “Mommy!” She points over my shoulder with a lopsided smile.

  Sure enough, Abby comes strolling up beside me like it’s just an ordinary lunch date.

  “I hear you’re a business owner now, sis. Congratulations,” she says.

  “Abby? Oh my God.” I throw out one arm to hug my sister, still supporting Millie’s weight. “How are you here? Is it safe?”