Chapter 12
12
COLLINS
I’m relaxing on the sofa when Penny joins me after a post-sex nap, flopping down onto the cushions. Even I am shocked I was able to pull myself away from the girl who has my heart tied up in knots and let her actually sleep without initiating another round in the sheets.
I wanted to though. And it’s that broken moral compass inside me that would find some way to justify it too. And get off on the control.
Penny makes me feral with need. When she darted through the apartment to get away from me, I wanted nothing more than to track her like a hunter hungry for his prey and then fuck her into the floorboards.
But it’s her delicate nature that made me stop.
She is the sweetest thing to ever enter my apartment, and I want to cherish her just as much as I want to defile her.
Giving me the side-eye, Penny lets out a little cough. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
Twisting her fingers into her lap, she releases a breath. It confuses me how she can be shy now when just an hour ago I was making her insides twist from the intensity of some strong orgasms and probing her ass with my finger, something I’d be honored if she let me do again.
It’s that feeling of being able to teach her and train her that I never expected to enjoy so much.
But I do.
And every time she stretches her boundaries, I claim another part of her that no other man will ever touch.
Even when the contract ends, I want to live in her mind.
“Sorry I crashed afterward. I was so tired.”
“It’s no problem at all—really. I just hope you feel rested?”
She nods. “Very much so.” She toys with her still damp locks that I managed to braid and secure. “When did I shower the second time?”
“Wow, you really were out of it,” I say with a chuckle. “We showered right after you came down from your high. I think you were just too exhausted to notice much else.”
I get up from the couch, pat her on the leg, and go into the kitchen to grab us both some iced water.
Before the contract, I found work to fill up my time in my day, never actually having a shortage of it. Then Penny crashed into my orbit, and suddenly I’m valuing and seeking out ways of enjoying leisure time.
That’s what this girl does to me.
She has shifted my focus—but in the best way possible.
When I return from the kitchen, I hand her the glass and then put my own down onto a coaster on the end table.
“Thanks,” she mutters. “I guess I should continue to hydrate after all of the alcohol I consumed over lunch. I think I went wrong at the third margarita. It was the turning point for sure. That tequila is a crazy bitch.”
“She can be,” I say with a smile. “Keep sipping that water.”
And she does, without her normal fight.
Penny is definitely more agreeable after orgasms. I’ve gathered enough anecdotal data to draw that conclusion. And as a man who loves science, I’ll be running more trials just to further test my theories.
“Thanks for always getting me the nicest things,” she says as she strokes her hand down the leg of her pajamas.
Her compliment warms me from the inside out. She is wearing a matching set of charcoal-gray pajamas that I forgot I even purchased until I was digging in the closet for something comfortable for her after shower number two.
“You are welcome. I enjoy spoiling you.”
Who would think that simple cotton pants and a shirt could look so good on someone?
But that’s the Penny Effect.
She has an understated beauty about her and makes even the most ordinary things sparkle.
It’s her softness that I’m attracted to, yet her fiery personality keeps me yearning for more. I know I shouldn’t want her to the extent I do, but I can’t help myself. The more days we spend together out of the one hundred allotted, the more I wish for time to slow down.
I am her bodyguard.
I am sixteen years older than she is.
And I’m going to end up in a hole in the ground if her brothers find out what I’ve done with their sister.
More time won’t fix this. The only thing it’ll do is cause our bond to become even stronger.
It is taking every ounce of willpower not to toss Penny on the couch and kiss the hell out of her. I want to be rough. I want to be all-consuming. Yet, she deserves better. Penny needs time for her body to heal from our last session.
I need to find a way to curb my appetite for wanting to be inside her all the time, and it’s selfish of me to justify and say that she can handle every fantasy my depraved mind conjures up.
Just the thought of tarnishing her sparkle in any way makes me nauseated inside. Yet, the way she is scowling over every channel she turns to, making a silly face before changing it again, is so cute.
She has already filled my apartment with more joy than it has ever experienced, and the thought of having her leave at the end of the one hundred days and go back to her place in the world sans me causes an unbearable pain at my core.
Pulling out of my self-loathing trance, Penny awakens me by wiggling her toes into my hands, beckoning me to rub them.
“Remind me to never wear stupid shoes again. I forever want to walk around the world barefoot.”
I laugh as my fingers rub circles into the bottoms of her soles. She doesn’t have socks on and her feet are on the cooler side. I watch her tremble as shivers run up her body.
“Feel good?”
Penny leans her head back onto a throw pillow. “You have no idea. It feels like my whole body is being rejuvenated.”
It seems like the alcohol finally has left her system too.
I typically wouldn’t have sex with any woman with anything impairing coursing through her system. Yet I can admit that the margaritas Penny inhaled during lunch had a positive impact on her ability to stop overthinking.
I’m definitely going to exercise better self-control in the future.
Well…I can at least try.
“What are your plans for this weekend?”
She sits up and laughs. Hard. Like really, really laughs.
“What’s so funny?” I ask, amused by her humor.
“My uber intrusive bodyguard is asking me—I repeat, me —what my plans are? Ha! Like he doesn’t already know. Don’t you have access to my email and probably texts and such? You probably know even when I go to the bathroom and which part of my cycle I am on.”
She is obviously joking, but must be clueless as to what hurdles I would jump over if necessary to get the information I need. My moral compass broke the day I was forced to leave the military. While I was devastated at the time, my skill set made me a valuable asset to anyone in need of protection. Because I stopped caring.
Settling down became less of a priority.
And my happiness took a back seat to my survival skills.
It wasn’t until I was hired to help the Hoffmans stay secure that I found my passion again and my reason for wanting to live.
The Hoffmans were my turning point.
I try to keep a straight face. “Your brothers said not to pry too hard.”
Penny eyes me with suspicion. “Oh, did they now?” She gives it more thought. “Like that would ever stop you. You love knowing all of the information.”
I shrug. The corners of my lips move up into what I know is a smirk. “I can be intrusive if that makes the image of my job more vivid in your mind. Clearly, you need my services.”
Her mouth gapes. “I’m a good girl, you know? I probably would have done fine without you.”
“You may think you’re a good girl, but it’s the bad girl inside that has the most fun. And fun translates to trouble for you.”
“True. I much prefer my bad-girl persona.”
A warmth washes over me, with the image of Penny on her knees swallowing my cock down her throat, while my fingers tangle in her hair and the words “good girl” roll off my tongue as her mouth works its magic.
Penny may be a good girl, but not in the conventional way she thinks. She would need to learn to pace herself. She would be instructed on how to relax her throat and breathe through her nose. And I would encourage her each step of the way.
“It’s my job to cherish the good girl inside of you and train your bad-girl tendencies.”
Training Penny’s throat to accept all of me would be a great source of joy. I know she would gain a burst of self-esteem the moment she masters how to cope with her gag reflex.
Penny would be my good girl.
I shake my head in hopes to clear it of the filthy thoughts so I don’t fuck her into the sofa cushions when her body needs to relax and adjust to my needy-as-fuck sex drive.
It’s entirely her fault for being so alluring and making me want her at all times of the day.
I never needed sex as much as I do now with her in the protection of my home, where she belongs.
This place may not have been a fuck pad prior to Penny, but she sure is making it into one. I can’t see a surface and not visualize how her body would look pressed against it with me pumping my cum inside of her.
“Can we do that?” she asks, making me snap out of my fantasy reel.
“Do what?”
Gesturing to the screen, I see an advertisement for popcorn.
“Make our own popcorn.”
Grabbing my cell phone, I call Chris.
“Hey, Redeye, what’s up?”
“Can you run to the store and pick up supplies to make homemade popcorn?”
“Like the microwave bags?”
“No, the…” I glance back at the screen before the commercial disappears. “It’s a maker thing, and you buy kernels.”
“Dude, you’re having a midlife crisis, aren’t you?”
“What? No.”
“It’s okay to tell me.”
“Shut up. I knew I shouldn’t have called you.”
“You always think of everything,” Penny says breathily, after she sees me end the call with Chris.
“I enjoy taking care of you, Princess.”
“Then why not tell me the truth?”
My eyes narrow in on hers, clueless as to the direction she seems to be taking this conversation. “What truth are you referring to?”
She shrugs. “Something happened at the Rose City Cafe, and I need to know.”
I feel a lump forming in my throat. “I honestly don’t know.”
“You mean that?”
“Yes.” I pull Penny into my arms, cradling her as the television buzzes on in the background. “I am a man who uses my instincts to keep me out of danger. And there’s something about that cafe that rubs me the wrong way. I can’t put my finger on it, and I have a team of men looking into the possible cause for my paranoia. But until we understand why I feel the hair stand up on the back of my neck every time I enter that building, it’s best that we just avoid it entirely.”
“Mark,” she whispers, “promised me he would get to me.”
“That fucker is in prison. That much I know.”
“But there’s other ways to infiltrate my brain.”
I kiss her on the forehead. “Which is precisely why I hesitate to share any of this information with you at all.”
“But I need to know.”
“No, you don’t, Penny. Let me handle this. It’s probably nothing and just me being overly cautious.”
She nods reluctantly. “Yeah. You’ve been known to overreact.”
I tickle her sides, enjoying the way she squirms in my lap. And when she tries to reciprocate, I rotate us so she is pinned to the cushions with me on top of her. Snaking a hand between us, I give her pussy a squeeze, feeling her body twitch with pleasure.
“It’s almost as if you enjoy being my little fuck doll.”
“Oh, I do. Just don’t forget the purpose is to play with me.”
“You are insatiable.”