Page 64 of The Grump I Got Stuck With

“Don’t sound too impressed yet.” I laughed. “I might be absolute garbage at it.”

“I can give you a lift to town,” Alistair said. “Kenna’s been asking about visiting the cat café. We can hang out there while you do your lesson.”

“The roads should be clear, so there’s no reason my van and I can’t manage the one road to the high street,” I said.

“Mmm, I don’t know if we have any evidence of that yet,” he teased. “You probably shouldn’t be left alone to navigate.”

“That’s only a problem when I’m trusting poorly designed travel apps that don’t take the weather into consideration,” I joked.

He grumbled, reaching for me again, his hand settling on my thigh.

This time, Lena caught her lip between her teeth to keep from outright grinning at us. There was no denying that she’d picked up on this thing between us. “You know what I was thinking?” she said suddenly. “Why don’t the girls have a sleepover tonight?”

Weston glanced at her. “You told Aisling she needs to be in bed early because she stayed up too late last night.”

“Psssh,” Lena said, waving her hand. “They’re young. Let them have fun.”

“Who are you and what have you done with my wife?” Weston murmured, staring at her with a bemused expression.

Lena eyeballed him hard, but Weston was simply not getting that she was trying to give Alistair and me a childfree evening tonight. I covered my mouth to hide my laughter.

“Well, I’m game if the girls are,” Weston said, clapping his hands together. “Girls!” They came running into the room a beat later. “How do we feel about a sleepover tonight?”

Aisling and Kenna made sounds that could have knocked the planet out of orbit.

I rubbed my ear. “I think that’s a yes.”

“I suppose we’ll exchange you one shrieking child for one yappy dog,” Alistair said, getting to his feet.

“You’re off already?” Weston said.

Lena got to her feet, too, standing behind Weston. “Madison and Alistair are eager to get home.”

“They are?”

“Yes.” She squeezed his shoulders, leaning close to his ear. “Very eager.”

“Uh-huh,” he said, frowning as he glanced between us. Then his eyes almost bugged out of his head. “Oh! Oh?”

Lena tittered with laughter as she swept from the room to wrangle up Princess. I didn’t even have the decency to look embarrassed at Weston’s realization. My insides were already fluttering with anticipation.

Was I eager to get the hell out of here to let Alistair have his wicked way with me?

Hell. Freaking. Yeah.

And I didn’t care who knew it.

“Listen,” Alistair said. “We’ve got to establish some boundaries here.”

I paused in the hallway, hearing his voice drift from the kitchen. Was he on the phone? We’d only just returned from Lochbrae, and I’d popped up to my room to freshen up a bit. Maybe Alfie had reached out with an investment situation that needed to be dealt with urgently.

My stomach sank. I dropped my head back and sighed. So much for our evening together.

“Tonight I’m trying to get shagged, okay? So you need to make yourself scarce.”

Laughter bubbled up my throat. He wasn’t on the phone; he was talking to Princess. She barked once in response.

“I don’t want to hear it,” he said. “This isn’t up for discussion. You’ve got an entire castle at your disposal. Find yourself somewhere to be that’s not pawing at our bedsheets or nipping at my damn toes, got it?”