Page 29 of My Grumpy Alpha

“Your rudeness?”

Suddenly I’m back on my wobbly feet.

“So…” He coughs into his hand.

“My schedule?”

I take a deep breath.

“You meet with angel investors at noon for the new children's program, the marketing team for the Y right after that and—”

He holds up his hand.

“Not trying to be an ass, Ava, but you can’t just tell me what time and who they are. I need details along with the schedule. Am I driving? What’s the weather like? Do I have any downtime in between the meetings, or will the car meet me at the restaurant? What are the biographies of each individual? How much money for the marketing budget? And how much are theinvestors willing to give? You aren’t in trouble, I just need every minute detail.”

Tears well in my eyes. I hate being corrected, especially when I know the person is right and I look like I’ve been lazy.

“Sorry, it won’t happen again, let me go find all the answers and I’ll come back in.”

“Go.” It’s not a bark, it’s more gentle in nature, but he doesn’t even make eye contact, so I disappear out of his office and tell myself.

Round 2.

It takes me three hours to find all the information he needed, and I end up eating soup and bread at my desk—I’m not complaining, though it was amazing.

I want to take my heels off so badly, instead I make a second journey to his door, knock, wait for him to tell me to come in.

I expect him to be behind his desk, instead his white sleeves are rolled up to his elbows. I see the tribal tattoo again and quickly look away. His caramel brown hair is mussed like he’s been stressed.

He turns to me, he’s so close I can smell him again.

“Back already?”

I keep my mouth shut but want to fight. Does he not realize I’ve been working on this since this afternoon?

I nod my head and suddenly feel the ponytail holder slip from my hair. I want to moan; it happens all the time, my hair just having a mind of its own and breaking free from the elastic band and thrusting itself at people.

I swear if I have one more guy try to seduce me by pulling my hair… He notices immediately, his nostrils flare and it’s like he’s frozen in place before he marches over to his desk.

Great, I’m going to get yelled at again.

He grabs something from inside his desk and picks the ponytail holder off the ground.

“Turn.”

“Pardon?”

It’s like he’s trying to hold his breath.

“Please turn around.”

Slowly, I turn around, then look over my shoulder. What the heck is he going to do with two paper clips and a broken elastic band?

I’m starting to wonder if he’s just going to pull them apart and stab me on either side of the neck he’s taking so long, then suddenly massive hands wrap around my hair, grazing my shoulders in the process, he gently pulls my hair back into a low ponytail and wraps the hair perfectly inside it, nice and tug.

“All done. You can turn around now.”

I touch the back of my hair.