My Grumpy Old Bear - Jayda Marx Page 0,1

wrong with me? I had a gorgeous man in front of me who not only knew what I liked, but bought my lunch. That was what was wrong with me. He was making it hard to keep him at a distance.

Noah snorted through an eye roll and switched our baskets. “See? I had a backup plan.”

I took a bite of my sandwich before I realized what a bastard I was being. “Thank you,” I said with a full mouth.

Noah gave me one of his blinding smiles. “You’re welcome.” We each ate a few bites before he spoke again. “So I’ve been meaning to ask you; what do you do that allows you to come out to eat everyday? Do you get a long lunch break or do you work nights or something?”

“I’m retired,” I shrugged. It was only part of the story, but I didn’t feel like getting into it right then, because of the whole ‘keeping a distance’ thing.

“Not possible,” Noah said with a firm shake of his head. “You’re way too young to be retired. And way too sexy,” he added after I took another bite. I choked on my mouthful of turkey and had to take a long sip of soda to wash it down. The little shit’s smirk told me he knew what he’d done.

“Trust me, I’m neither of those things.”

Noah squinted his eyes in disapproval. “We’ll agree to disagree. So what did you do?”

“I was a lineman for the electric company.”

“Geez, that’s pretty dangerous, isn’t it?” he asked, looking concerned.

He didn’t know the half of it; my jacked up back was proof the job was dangerous. “I survived,” I replied, keeping personal details to myself.

“Well, I’m glad for that; otherwise you wouldn’t be here for our awesome first date.”

I choked again, and Noah’s grin grew wider. I was beginning to suspect he wasn’t as nice and innocent as I once believed. “This isn’t a date,” I insisted once I could breathe again.

“Agree to disagree,” he shrugged, and shoved a fry in his mouth. We ate in silence for another minute until Noah again took the lead. “Sure, I’ll tell you about myself,” he said with another smirk.

Okay, he’s definitely not as innocent as I originally thought. That was good, though; I liked my men a little sassy. No! He’s not your man and can never be your man! The thought made my sandwich taste sour, but it was how it had to be.

“Well, as you already know, my name is Noah Graham.” I gave him an unimpressed look and he chuckled. “Oh, alright. Let’s see...what’s something I haven’t told you about myself yet? Well, you know I’ve worked here for about seven months, but I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned that before I came here, I worked as a massage therapist. I went to community college right out of high school and got certified. After a couple of years, though, I realized it wasn’t for me. So, long story short, here I am.”

I blinked at him in disbelief. “You gave up a well paying job to be a waiter?”

“Hey, I make good tips here,” he defended. “Except from cranky old assholes who always stiff me.”

“I never stiff you!” I huffed.

Noah tipped his head back and laughed. “I wasn’t talking about you.” His eyes danced with mischief. “So you’re admitting you’re a cranky asshole, huh?”

“Well, of course I am,” I grumped, making him laugh again. “Everyone knows that.”

“I don’t know. I think there’s more to you than that. I think deep down under that gruff exterior, Brooks Webster is a big, cuddly, sweet as honey, teddy bear.” I hmphed at him, but he just kept smiling. “We both know I’m right, but we’ll leave it alone for now. What do you like to do for fun, honeybear?”

“For the love of god, don’t call me that.” Please god, let him keep calling me that.

“Sorry honeybear, I didn’t hear you,” he replied sweetly, batting his eyelashes at me. I wanted to kiss his stupid grin right off his face. I settled for rolling my eyes into another universe.

“I like movies. And music.”

“You’re gonna have to do better than that,” he teased. “Everybody likes movies and music. What kind do you like?”

I should have stood right up, told him the truth; that I was too old, flabby and mean for him, and went on my merry way, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. “I like action movies; cop movies especially.”

“Me too!” he said excitedly. “The more guns and explosions, the