Chapter 9 #3
“Was it that bad in Gabon?”
“I’m probably not being fair. But where we were, people struggled daily for just about everything.
Kids were only in school until around the fifth grade before they went to work for the family to help feed everyone.
Any disabilities made life extremely tough not only for the child, but for the family as well.
So I don’t blame them for wanting to keep their distance from Bowie. ”
“I do. That sucks,” Pyro muttered.
“I know I’ve said it before, but I feel like I need to say it again. Thank you, Pyro. For all you’ve done for us. I don’t know where we’d be if you hadn’t helped us.”
“You’ve done a lot for me too, you know,” he told her.
She snort-laughed. “Oh yeah, sure. Totally disrupted your life.”
“I think I needed disrupting,” Pyro said seriously.
“You and Bowie have made me realize I was holding on to a lot of anger about my childhood. But that part of my life is over and done. I need to stop living in the past. And you and Bowie are helping me do that. Seeing what an amazing mother you are, despite having the same background as me, makes me ashamed I’ve been so bitter and against relationships and families. ”
“I have my bad days too,” Penny said. “Days where I’m sure I’m screwing up Bowie for life.
But I made a vow to myself that no matter what, she’d come first. I’d never let her feel unloved or unwanted, no matter how difficult it was to have an abusive husband, no money for food, or trying to raise a blind child with no resources to help me. ”
“And you’ve done an incredible job for six years.”
“Thanks.”
“It’s okay that I’m coming over tonight with pizza, right? I didn’t ask you before I promised.”
“Of course. Bowie loves seeing you.”
“What about her mom?” The question popped out before Pyro could think twice about asking.
“I love seeing you too,” she said quietly. Her cheeks had pinkened, and she bit her lip the same way Bowie did, when she was unsure or nervous.
They’d arrived at the lobby doors of the apartment complex, and as much as Pyro wanted to walk her up, he was running late and needed to get to the base. Casper and the team would be waiting on him to start sharing intel.
Throwing caution to the wind, he lightly touched her upper arm, waiting for Penny to look at him. “I’d like to kiss you,” he said bluntly.
In response, Penny licked her lips in what Pyro hoped was anticipation…then nodded.
He leaned down slowly, savoring the moment. This was their first kiss, but hopefully not the last. He brushed his lips against hers gently, feeling an immediate spark shoot straight to his cock.
When she sighed against his lips, and he felt her hand on his chest, he increased the pressure.
Her lips parted, and he licked her bottom lip before slowly easing his tongue inside. She opened further and tilted her head—and suddenly the light and easy kiss he’d planned shot out of control.
His hand slid to the back of her neck to hold her steady as he took their kiss to another level. And Penny gave as well as she got, her tongue caressing his, pushing into his mouth to explore, then giving way as he did the same.
Knowing he needed to pull back before doing something he’d regret—like touching her inappropriately on the sidewalk in front of the complex’s lobby doors—Pyro lifted his head.
He couldn’t help but lick his lips, trying to get every taste of this woman into his body that he could. She stared up at him with a glazed look in her eyes, before she slowly focused.
Then, to his relief, she smiled.
“Wow,” she whispered.
“Yeah…wow,” he echoed, running the backs of his fingers down her cheek. “If you think about it, shoot me a text and let me know how things went today for Bowie. I don’t think I’ll be able to concentrate this afternoon if I don’t know if she was okay or not.”
“I will.”
“Is six o’clock okay for me to come over? I get off at five but need to go home and shower, then call in the order, pick it up, and drive over here.”
“That’s perfect. I’ll give Bowie a snack to tide her over until dinner.”
Pyro was reluctant to move. He liked being in Penny’s personal space. Liked the feel of her hair on the back of his hand. Liked seeing the obvious evidence of how much she’d enjoyed their kiss.
“For the record…I want to date you, Penny Burns. I want to take you and Bowie out. Dinners, movies, maybe bowling—though I warn you, I’m horrible at it. I know you and your daughter are a package deal, and I’m more than all right with that.”
“I…I’d like that.”
Pleasure bloomed within Pyro. “Awesome.”
“Yeah.”
Sighing, he forced his hand to slide out from under her hair. Then he took a step backward. “Text or call if you need anything. I can stop at the store on my way over.”
“We’re good. Thank you.”
“All right. But if anything happens…if anyone you don’t know tries to contact you, please let me know immediately so I can pass the info on to Tex.”
“Of course. But I’m thinking we’re okay. We haven’t heard anything since we’ve been here. I don’t even know how Colvin would learn where we are.”
“Don’t underestimate the man, Penny,” he warned. “He’s got money. Lots of it. And money can open a lot of doors and allow him to get a lot of intel. Stay vigilant.”
“I will.”
The truth was, Pyro didn’t know how much of a threat Colvin Jackson really was.
Until he surfaced again, he and Penny, and Tex, were in the dark.
But the second he learned she or Bowie were in danger, Pyro would be glued to their sides.
He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if anything happened to them and he could’ve done something to prevent it.
“I’ll see you later.”
“Yeah.”
There was so much more Pyro wanted to say, and he yearned to feel her lips under his again, but instead, he forced himself to turn and walk toward his car. He’d see her again in nine hours or so.
Suddenly that seemed like way too long.
Taking a deep breath, Pyro decided he’d talk to Obi-Wan or Buck about this obsession he had with Penny.
Had they felt this way about Zita and Mandy?
He didn’t want to do anything that would make Penny second-guess agreeing to date him.
He felt as if he was in over his head, and the last thing he wanted was to be clingy.
Or overly possessive. Or too protective.
As he drove away, Pyro looked in his rearview mirror.
Penny was still standing outside the lobby doors, staring at his car.
He smiled a little, not upset in the least that she seemed just as reluctant to see him go as he was to leave.
He had no problem with her being clingy, or possessive, or protective… as long as it was toward him.
* * *
Pyro didn’t get a chance to talk to his friends about their relationships because he was busy from the moment he stepped on base.
There was a surprise inspection of the choppers, which involved the men taking them up for a check-off flight.
As a result, they were late starting their meeting on the intel briefing, and they missed lunch altogether.
One of the highlights of his day was the text he received from Penny. She’d gotten a call from Miss Blake, reassuring her that Bowie was settling in fine and doing great. It was a huge relief, considering how worried the girl had been.
By the time he was able to leave the base for the day, it was five-fifteen. He was going to be late with the pizza for Penny and Bowie, and that bothered Pyro more than he could say.
He loved his job. Was proud of the work he did to keep his country safe, but suddenly he had something more important in his life. It was a difficult thing to absorb.
He rushed home, called in their dinner order, took the fastest shower ever, and was back in his car fifteen minutes later, his hair still wet as he drove to the restaurant. He picked up the pizza and tried to ignore his growling belly as the delicious smell of the food filled the car.
Bowie answered the door and immediately began talking a mile a minute.
“Hi, Kylo-Pyro! The pizza smells awesome! I had a great time at school! Abigail’s my new best friend, she’s so nice.
She helped me all day and she did a great job describing stuff I couldn’t see, like Mommy does.
We did math, and I got all the questions right!
Then while everyone else was doing reading, I got to work one-on-one with Mr. Samuels on braille.
Isn’t it neat that they have a braille workbook for me?
At recess, Abigail and I ran around and played tag with a bunch of other kids.
I felled, but I’m okay. And before you ask me, yes, Abigail held my hand while we ran so I wouldn’t smack into anything.
I didn’t like music class. It was really loud because everyone was banging on drums. Then I sat with Abigail, Marie, Leigh, and Bobby at lunch, and laughed and laughed.
In the afternoon we did a science experiment.
And Miss Blake’s laugh is so pretty! No one made fun of me all day, and I heard Marie and Bobby arguing over who got to be my buddy tomorrow! I love school! It’s so fun!”
Pyro had entered the apartment while Bowie was talking and put the pizzas down on the kitchen counter.
Penny had a huge smile on her face as she watched her daughter enthusiastically recount the activities of the day.
She’d surely heard all about it already, but obviously didn’t mind getting another rundown.
“Wow, it sounds like you had an amazing day,” Pyro told her.
“I did! I can’t wait to go back tomorrow!”