Chapter 4 #2
It looks like the fire originated from several power strips chained together in the first floor apartment.
No sign of arson. I’ll follow up more tomorrow once it’s light out, but I wanted to let Penny know right away.
Since I’m assuming her phone was lost in the fire, and I heard she was staying with you tonight, I thought you could tell her.
She can call me any time with questions.
Once she’s finished reading, Penny looks back up at me. Her features twist like she’s trying not to cry. After a shaky breath and exhale, she says, “Maybe it’s strange to be relieved. But I was afraid it was somehow my fault. Maybe I’d plugged in something I shouldn’t. Or maybe… it was Mark.”
“He’s still in jail, Pen. He can’t hurt you.”
“Logically, I know that. But I couldn’t help worrying. Thinking maybe he escaped, that he came after me for revenge…”
I know her ex, Mark, is serving a ten-year sentence with no chance of parole for another few years, but I make a mental note to ask one of my computer whiz friends to check him out. Just in case.
“You would know if he got out,” I remind Penny. “And he apologized at the trial, didn’t he?”
“Yeah.” She hesitates. “He sent me a few letters, too.” When I instinctively tense, she adds quickly, “Nothing bad. Just apologizing. Telling me how he’s working on getting his college degree. I think he meant it. But still… I worried.”
I quickly add another mental note to my list—see about adding extra security to wherever Penny ends up living next. Just in case.
With a tiny shake of her head, Penny adds, “Anyway. I’m glad everyone is okay. And that it was accidental. Not that it makes the damage any better, or brings back all the things I lost…” Her face falls. “All my books. My clothes. My sun catchers.”
“We’ll help you replace everything, Pen. While you were at the hospital, all our friends were asking what they could do to help. You won’t have to deal with this on your own.”
“I know.” She gives me a small smile. “My parents will help, too. When I talked to them earlier, my dad said they’re already looking for the next flight back to the States. It might take a couple of days, since the area of Kenya they’re working in is so remote.”
Penny’s parents are both doctors with Doctors Without Borders, and they’ve been in Africa for the last six months.
I’m glad to hear they’ll be coming back to support Penny, and it’s on the tip of my tongue to offer to have them stay here.
But I swallow the words back. Don’t push, I remind myself. If she brings it up, then I can offer.
A beat later, a lightning strike hits me. “Wait.” I jump up and hurry towards the kitchen and the door that leads to the garage. “I have something in the car for you.”
Penny glances at me in confusion. “Now?”
“Yeah. I’ll be right back.”
And true to my words, I’m back in under a minute, the sparkly gift bag I left in the passenger seat now clutched in my hand.
As I sit back down on the couch, I hand it over, explaining, “I was going to give it to you earlier. And then—well, obviously, I couldn’t.
But you mentioned sun catchers, and that reminded me. ”
She sets the bag in her lap and stares down at it. “You got me a present?”
“It’s nothing big.” Doubt twists my gut. “Maybe now’s not the right time, though. We can wait—”
“No, I want to see.” Anticipation sparks in her eyes. “There’s never a wrong time for presents.”
I let my hand rest on her shoulder as she plucks the tissue paper from the bag and reaches inside. Then she pulls out the sun catcher, gasping as she sees it.
“There’s an artist in Sleepy Hollow who does stained glass,” I explain. “So I asked if she could make one for you. It has some of your favorite books, and old style library cards… I know it doesn’t make up for the ones you lost. But it’s a start. And I can help you collect more, if you’d like.”
“Mitch. This is beautiful. I love it.” She stares at the colored glass in her hand, then carefully tucks it back into the bag. As she looks back at me, her chin wobbles. Tears swim in her eyes.
“Don’t cry,” I plead. “I didn’t mean to make you sad.”
“You didn’t.” Swallowing hard, she adds, “It’s more that… I’m mad at myself.”
“Mad?”
She nods. “Yes. Because tonight, I realized how stupid I was being—holding back because I was scared of being hurt again.”
“That’s not stupid, Pen. It’s normal.”
Her gaze holds mine. “But it was stupid. Because you’ve never given me any reason to doubt you. Since I met you, you’ve been kind. Honest. Patient. You’re not like those jerks from my past. Not even close. It wasn’t fair of me to make you wait—”
“I’ll wait as long as you want,” I interject. “Forget what I said about needing more right now. All I need is you. However much you want to give.”
“But I don’t want you to wait anymore. I realized… I don’t want to keep going the way we have been. I want to be a real couple, Mitch. I’m not scared of it anymore. How could I be, when you’re the most incredible man I’ve ever met?”
My heart swells. “Pen.”
A smile touches her lips. “And I promised if I escaped, I’d tell you how sexy you looked climbing up the wall like that. All strong and intense and determined.”
“Oh, really?” My voice dips. “You thought I looked sexy?”
Pink touches her cheeks. “Yes. Not that I want to be in a fire again to see it. But you were very sexy. Like my own personal action hero.”
Though it’s far from the optimal time, given the circumstances, desire surges.
My pants go uncomfortably tight.
My body aches for hers.
I’d like nothing more than to carry Penny into the bedroom—not the guest room, but mine—and peel her clothes off, revealing inch after delectable inch of her skin.
I want to kiss her all over, ravishing her body and committing each perfect detail to memory.
I want to discover how it feels to sink deep inside her, the kinds of sexy sounds she makes, and how gorgeous she looks when she comes.
Afterwards, I want to fall asleep together, Penny’s naked body tucked safely against mine.
I want to soothe her back to sleep when she wakes from her inevitable nightmares.
I want to bring her coffee and breakfast in bed, and show her funny dog videos to take her mind off the horrors of the night before.
Shit, I want to do everything for her.
“There’s something else I was thinking about,” Penny adds. “But I don’t want you to think I’m asking because I don’t have anyplace else to go.”
I sternly command my body to settle. “What is it?”
“Well, Ari and Thea both offered to let me stay with them,” she replies. “And I know they have room. But… I was wondering if maybe I could stay here? Since you already offered?”
My heart leaps. “Are you sure? I mean, of course you can. But I thought—”
“I was being stupid. And stubborn. All the things you said, they were right. Your house is great. Duke is great. And you…” She scoots even closer. “I can see it, living here with you. Making dinner together. Watching those boring baseball games—”
“Hey. They’re not boring. The Yankees are never boring.”
Penny giggles. “Sometimes the games are boring. But I don’t care. I can just read while you’re watching them.”
“True. Or we could watch your favorite shows, instead.”
“We could take turns,” she offers with a smile. “One night, boring baseball, the next, the most dramatic episode of The Bachelor ever.”
I turn so I’m facing her and take her small hand in mine. “Do you really want to move in? Because I meant what I said before. There’s no rush. Really.”
Her brows arch up. “Do you still want me to?”
“Of course.”
“Then I really want to move in, Mitch. It feels right.” She climbs onto my lap and kisses my cheek. “Being with you feels right.”
“Penny.” I brush her hair behind her ear, letting my fingers trail down her neck. “Being with you feels righter than anything.”
Her wide blue eyes meet mine. “Can I tell you something else I’d really like?”
“Anything.”
“Not now, because it’s late and I really am tired, but tomorrow… Maybe we could finally have sex?”
My body springs to attention again. “I think that could be arranged.”
“Okay. Good.” The pink in her cheeks flushes deeper. “Because I’ve been thinking about it for a while now. After our dates, when I’m laying in bed, thinking about you, sometimes I—” Her mouth clamps shut. The flush turns to the color of lobster.
“What do you do in bed?” I ask roughly.
“Nothing,” she replies quickly.
I have a pretty good idea of what she’s talking about. But I decide to leave it for another day. Instead, I cup her cheek, stroking my thumb across her petal-soft skin. “I would love to be with you, Penny. Tomorrow, or whenever you’re ready.”
“Tomorrow,” she says firmly. “I’m ready.”
I lean towards her, pausing just inches from her lips. “Tomorrow, then.”
Her pupils dilate as hunger flares in her eyes. “Tomorrow.”
But for now, a kiss is enough.
So I kiss her.
At first, it’s tender. A slow exploration. Tasting the mint still lingering on her breath and that indescribable flavor that’s only her.
I nip at her lower lip, then caress it to soothe away the slight sting.
She strokes the seam of my mouth with her tongue, and I open for her, inviting her in.
Then the kiss grows deeper. More desperate.
Penny clings to me, her nipples pebbling into taut buds beneath the thin fabric of my shirt. She makes a low, humming sound of pleasure in the back of her throat.
My erection juts hard between her thighs.
Her hand comes to the back of my head, lightly tugging at my hair.
I’ve kissed Penny before. But this time is different.
It feels like a promise.
I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her, I silently vow. Anything.
Minutes or hours pass, I’m not quite sure. But when we finally stop kissing, we’re both breathing hard. I gaze at her, taking in her pretty pink cheeks and kiss-swollen lips and eyes sparkling like the sapphire earrings she wears for special occasions, feeling luckier than I could ever imagine.
As I hug her to me, my heart swells close to bursting. “Thank you.”
Her head pops up. “Thank you for what?”
“For believing in me. Trusting me.”
She blinks. Sniffs. Then she strokes my cheek. “Thank you for not giving up on me.”
I close my eyes as I kiss her forehead. “Never.”