Chapter 13 #2
“He also reassures me that Baker can be very…persuasive. He knows people. Lots of people. People you and I would never cross paths with, and wouldn’t want to cross paths with.
I’m sure he casually let Colvin know that if he does anything to fuck with you, he’ll disappear off the face of the Earth with no trace he’d ever been here to begin with. ”
“Um…wow,” Penny said, a little shocked at the venom she heard in Pyro’s voice.
“I’ve got your back, and you’re safe,” he repeated.
Penny had never felt so special in all her life.
She’d always been the girl who was overlooked.
Who no one wanted. Who’d been left to her own devices as she navigated childhood and adolescence.
Even as a woman in her twenties she’d been largely on her own, as John hadn’t really cared much about what she was doing or who might’ve given her any trouble anytime she was outside their home in Gabon.
The lengths Pyro and his friends had gone to just to ensure she was safe from Colvin were hard to believe. “Do you have to go back to work?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No. I told Casper what Tex said, and he told me to get over here to tell you in person. So here I am. I don’t have to go back.”
“We have about an hour before Bowie gets out of school,” Penny said. She fingered the zipper of his flight suit, then slid it down an inch or so.
Pyro wasn’t a stupid man. He caught on immediately. “Yeah?” he asked, slipping his hand under her shirt and caressing the small of her back, skin on skin.
“Uh-huh.”
“You get all your hours in for work today?”
Penny scrunched her nose. “No. I need a couple more.”
“I’ll pick up Bowie today and you can stay here. I’ll take her to the park to play before we head home. That should give you time to get your hours, and then you’ll be free to hang out with Bowie and me before her bedtime.”
This man. How did she get so lucky? “That sounds awesome, thank you.”
“No need to thank me,” he said. “Arms up.”
Surprised, Penny did as he ordered—and it was an order. He had her shirt up and over her head before she could blink.
“But before you log back in, and since we have an hour, I think we should celebrate your freedom from extortion and assholes.”
She smiled at Pyro, and in response, pulled the zipper on his flight suit downward.
What followed was a frenzy of clothes flying, kisses, and a desperation to be closer on both their parts. Pyro took her right there on the floor of the living room. And it was glorious. Penny had never felt so wanted. So needed. So loved.
Even in the midst of their lust, Pyro made sure she was comfortable, with a pillow under her head and a blanket under her ass, so she didn’t get rug burn from his thrusts.
As usual, he made sure she came at least twice before he let himself go, which wasn’t difficult, since the second he touched her she was ready to explode.
Penny loved the small sounds of pleasure that escaped his lips as he came deep inside her body. She squeezed him with her inner muscles and was rewarded with another little grunt of satisfaction from him.
Still connected intimately with her, Pyro lifted his head and smoothed her hair away from her face. “I’m sorry I scared you earlier. By telling you we needed to talk without giving you an idea of what it was about. I won’t do it again.”
“Thanks. And now that I know the true impact of those words, I won’t do it to you either.”
“I love you.”
Penny blinked.
Pyro looked sheepish. “Probably not the best timing, but I needed you to know. If I knew you were out in the world waiting for me when I was a teenager, I probably wouldn’t have been as cynical growing up.
If I knew I’d someday find a woman who made me feel as if I’d finally found a home, it would’ve made everything I was going through so much easier to endure. ”
“Kylo,” Penny whispered, feeling overwhelmed.
“Make no mistake, I know what I’ve got. I was a kid and then an adult who had nothing and no one.
Yes, now I have great friends who are like family, but it’s not the same as actually having a family of my own.
Being with you and Bowie? I feel as if I’ve finally found the family I’d hoped for growing up.
And I’m not expecting the words back. I can be patient.
I don’t want you to say them until you’re absolutely sure.
Until you know deep in your heart that I’m the one you want… forever.”
Penny didn’t hesitate. “I love you too, Kylo Mullins.”
The look on his face was one she’d remember for the rest of her days. Full of love, and hope, and disbelief. Probably the same expression she had.
They were two foster kids who’d never experienced unconditional love…until now.
She felt him harden inside her, and she smiled.
His hips began moving even as he lowered his head and kissed her. It was an emotional vow, a promise both given and received. He made love to her slowly and tenderly, all the while peppering her face with kisses, saying “I love you” over and over.
Penny repeated it back every time he said it. It felt amazing to share her innermost thoughts with him. To finally say out loud what her heart was screaming every time she was near him. It was freeing and cathartic. To be loved by this man was…everything.
By the time they both came again, and Penny had gotten cleaned up, it was time for Pyro to go get Bowie.
He hugged her, holding her against him for a long emotional moment as they stood by the door to the apartment. Then Pyro smiled. “Today’s the first day of the rest of our life.”
“Cheesy,” Penny pointed out. “But true.”
He grinned. “Go log in, do your thing. I’ll be back in about two hours with Bowie. That work?”
“Perfect.”
He kissed the tip of her nose and reluctantly dropped his arms from around her. Penny stepped back and watched the man who’d blown into her life and upended it in all the best ways, as he walked down the hall toward the stairwell.
She was still smiling as she logged into the program on the company laptop she’d been given, and when the phone rang with a call from a concerned mother-to-be.
The day seemed brighter, the weight she’d been carrying on her shoulders for over two years was lifted, and she felt incredible.
More optimistic about the future. There was still a long road to walk before she was financially stable, but she had a roof over her and Bowie’s heads, food in their bellies, money in the bank, and a man who loved her as much as she loved him.
This was the beginning of good things. Penny knew it.