Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
Asher
It feels strange to have everything out in the open.
Like a weight off my chest, even though it means our agreement has ended, for better or for worse.
Part of me wishes I had stormed into the room and leapt to Penny’s defense, but I know it’s not my place.
This is not my battle. All I can do right now is support her in whatever she decides.
“Did you mean what you said downstairs? About regretting not asking me out sooner?”
I look up from my suitcase to see Penny standing there in the doorway. “Yes, I—”
She holds out her hand, “Wait, I need to get this out, and I am kind of on a roll here.” She closes the door behind her, cutting off the low murmur of the party below.
I stuff the blue box into my pocket and straighten with a nod, “Okay.”
“I noticed you too, and I haven’t stopped noticing you since we met, but I was too chicken to actually talk to you.
It was safer to keep the crush than to risk losing everything.
” Penny paces, looking down at her fingers, pinching and squeezing them.
A nervous habit I picked up during the drive up.
“But then you saved me back in Harrington Park, in so many ways you can’t even imagine, and I realized I had been missing out this entire time. ”
“Penny.” I mutter.
She stops in front of me and looks up into my eyes, “You deserve more than a fake relationship, and I’m thinking I do too.
” She falters, her gaze dropping to my shirt collar, “Hazel told me to ask the world for what I want. Well,” her eyes find mine again, “I’m asking for you.
I want to do this properly. I want to learn everything about you.
I want to make our own memories, not manufacture them to make someone else happy. ”
Penny takes my hand, “Please, give me another chance. Don’t leave, or if you do, take me with you.”
“I wasn’t leaving.” I say, squeezing her hand, “I admit I was a little shocked at how your mother acted, but this isn’t about me. I knew you had to fight your own battles.” I reach into my pocket and pull out the jewelry box. “Though it doesn’t mean you couldn’t use a little backup.”
“What’s this?” She asks, taking the box and pulling at the thin navy ribbon.
“When I saw it downtown and figured it was fate. It’s the exact pendant you described as the Amulet of Luck. I know it’s silly—”
Penny lifts the necklace, her eyes light up as it dangles between us, “It’s not silly. It’s beautiful and so very sweet.” She smiles, “Will you put it on for me?”
“Of course.” I pluck it from her fingertips, and when she turns her back to me, I gently drape the chain across her neck and secure it. The gold necklace practically glittering against her bare shoulders.
Penny twirls, throwing her arms around my neck, pulling me into a kiss. “Thank you,” she whispers against my lips, the vulnerability in her voice twists inside my chest.
“For what?” I ask, gliding my palm up and down her back.
“For sharing a little of your Christmas magic with me.”
“I have more than enough to share, thanks to you.” I lower her to the ground, my hands going to her waist.
“Oh, that reminds me.” She slips out of my arms and rushes over to her suitcase, pulling out a small ornate hardwood box covered in stars. “I might have gotten you something too.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Inside the box is a set of seven polyhedral dice nestled in a bed of black velvet. Each piece mimics a nature scene, complete with trees, green vines and tiny purple flowers suspended in the clear resin with bright gold numbers painted on each side.
“I figured you could use them for your next druid.” Penny picks up the d20 and turns it before putting it back in its spot. “Honestly, I’m surprised Elsie kept it secret. We were texting for most of the week trying to figure out which kind to get, and then we found these at The Fairy Market.”
“These are perfect.” I smile, kissing her forehead.
“Does this mean you want to do this for real?” She asks.
“It’s always been real for me, Princess.”
“In that case,” she pauses and pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, “can we get out of here? I’m not feeling in a holiday party mood.”
There’s no way in hell I can say no to her gorgeous face. I want to lean down and press my lips against her neck until she giggles and pushes me away.
“Are you sure? It’s going to be over two hours back to Madison.”
“I don’t care as long as I’m with you.”
We pack and quietly leave the party, spending the drive back to Madison singing along to the radio and playing twenty questions. Once in the city, we stop by the local corner grocery store to grab a tube of cookie dough and pick up takeout from the closest pizza place still open on Christmas Eve.
Back at my townhouse, we spend the rest of our evening in the kitchen, babysitting the cookies while eating pizza and watching the last half of The Wizard of Oz on the local TV station.
For the first time in so many years, it feels like Christmas.
I never needed the perfect house, the snowball fights or to be surrounded by people to rekindle a familiar sensation.
All I needed was Penny. We can create our own traditions, cut out our own peace in the stressful season and slowly invite the rest of the world in, not the other way around.
“Next time, we’re getting way less pepperoni.” Penny says, covering her mouth as she chews.
Next time. I like the sound of that.
She looks like a goddess sitting on my kitchen counter, her dark blue dress fans out along her full thighs. She crosses her ankles and picks the pepperoni off of the rest of her slice then stacks them on the paper plate.
“Not the biggest fan of pepperoni? Noted.” I push off the countertop and settle myself between her knees.
Penny lifts her slice of pizza up to my lips as an offering, “Here.”
I take a bite, nodding as I chew, “We have the leftover pizza, the cookies and it is,” I glance over at the clock over the stove, “nearly midnight, and there is only one thing that can make this night better.”
Her eyes flit to my lips, and she raises her chin, closing the distance. “Oh?”
Reaching into my back pocket, I pull out a tiny green sprig of leaves with bright red berries and hold it over our heads.
Penny bursts into laughter. She sets the leftover pizza crust on the paper plate and dusting off her fingers, “I love what you’re thinking, but that’s holly, not mistletoe.”
“You aren’t even going to humor me?” I tilt my head.
She leans forward, her wildflower perfume calling to me like a siren song as she places a chaste kiss on my lips, “I can think of another thing.”
“Is that right, Princess?” I toss the holly aside and slide my fingers along the back of her neck, then cover her mouth with mine.
Her legs fall open, her calves caging me in while her fingers tangle in my hair, nails scraping along my scalp, and sending a chill down my spine. Penny is so close I can feel the warmth from her cunt.
With a single flick of her tongue, she deepens the kiss, and cocks swell and press uncomfortably against my boxers.
“Do you think I could make one request?” She asks, pulling away to look into my eyes.
Right now, I’m willing to give her anything she wants. The heavens, if it were possible.
“Name it.” I drag my fingertip along her jaw, watching her eyelashes flutter.
“Can you shift?” Penny runs her hand over my chest to pick at the buttons of my shirt. “I want to see the real you, wings and all.”
I chuckle, covering her hand with my own, “Shifting is a little different for us demons. The feeling is a lot like letting go and embracing my more primal instincts, my powers. The last time I shifted in your presence, I was on the verge of a rut.” One brought on by her sudden heat.
Those feelings were nothing compared to now.
“I trust you.”
Slowly, I let go of my human form.