Chapter 8
ROYCE
Hello.
There were no words to describe the hollow feeling in Royce’s chest when he caught sight of Penny sitting across from Emerson.
He wasn’t normally a jealous person. He’d always been confident in who he was and what he had to offer in a relationship. But seeing Penny with another man had done something to him. It made him wonder if he had enough to offer a woman like her.
For one reckless second, he’d been tempted to walk into that coffee shop and make his presence known. Not because Penny owed him anything. She didn’t. They’d spent one day together. One perfect, impossible day that had ended with her sleepy smile and his promise to do things right.
So as much as he wanted to go in there, he reminded himself of that promise he had made.
So he stayed outside. He waited.
And before Penny emerged, he saw her pull her hand away from Emerson’s.
It should not have relieved him as much as it did.
His hands rested on her upper arms now, steadying her after she’d nearly collided with him. He let go before he was tempted to keep holding on.
“I’m glad you have friends you can count on,” he said.
There was less bitterness in his voice than he’d expected.
Her mouth dropped open, and her eyes bounced between both of his. “Really?”
Royce chuckled. “Of course, beautiful. You need people you can count on.” He studied her face, wondering if she was willing to be as honest as he was trying to be. “Does Emerson fulfill that role in your life?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know him that well. But to be fair, I don’t feel as though I have many friends. I’m… sort of married… to my job.”
The answer tugged at him more than it should have.
“Well,” he said, his voice softer, “you can count on me too. I’d like to earn that, anyway.”
Surprise returned to Penny’s expression, but it was quickly replaced by a shy grin.
“Would it be okay…” Royce glanced around the street, which was getting busy with the lunch rush. “Would it be okay if we went somewhere quieter? I’d like to spend some time with you. Just us.”
The second she nodded, he reached for her hand, giving her the chance to take it.
She did.
He tugged her gently down the street toward his truck. “Do you have time to go to lunch? When do you have to head back to work?”
“I have an hour or so before I have a session scheduled.”
“Then we’re going to make the most of it.” Royce pulled open the passenger door and motioned for Penny to climb inside. “What kind of food do you want to eat?”
She tilted her head, smiling like she had when they’d gone on their date. “Pizza.”
“A girl after my own heart.”
Their eyes locked for several moments, and he nearly closed the distance to kiss her. He wanted nothing more than to show her just how much he cared for her.
In time.
Soon enough, he’d make his intentions known, and she’d be able to decide what she wanted.
Royce couldn’t take his eyes off Penny.
The woman in front of him had captured his heart, mind, and soul. Maybe more than was wise. It physically hurt to be separated from her, especially when he knew that she wasn’t in the same place he was.
And he couldn’t ask her to be.
That was the part he had to keep reminding himself.
Penny had mumbled something at the end of their day-long date, half-asleep and sweet enough to wreck him. But he wasn’t going to build his hopes on words she might not even remember saying.
What mattered was what she chose when she was wide awake.
“What?” Penny asked, licking some sauce from the corner of her mouth.
He smiled at her, then reached for a napkin and held it out. “You’ve got a little sauce.”
She took the napkin, her cheeks pinking as she dabbed at the corner of her mouth. “Thank you.”
When he continued to look at her, his thoughts running away from him, she laughed softly and nudged his boot beneath the table with the toe of her shoe.
“You gonna tell me why you keep looking at me like that?”
“It’s hard not to look when you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
Penny glanced away, a faint blush spreading across her cheeks. “You keep saying things like that.”
“Because they’re true.”
She eyed him. “Do you realize it makes you look a little…”
“If you say crazy, I’m only going to agree with you.”
When she laughed, he couldn’t help but grin. It was moments like this one that helped him forget about all the turmoil waiting for him at home. Penny clearly hadn’t experienced being loved by the right man.
But Royce would change that.
He leaned forward, lowering his voice so she had to lean in a little to hear him. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”
Her smile faded into something softer.
“I know it doesn’t make sense,” he continued. “I know it’s fast. And I know that probably makes you want to list all the reasons we should slow down.”
“Alphabetically or by level of concern?”
His mouth curved. “See? That’s one of the things I like about you.”
“My ability to identify red flags?”
“Your ability to be honest about them.” His smile softened. “But I can see something with you, Penny. Something real. I’m not saying you have to be in the same place as me. I’m just saying I don’t want to pretend I’m feeling casual about this when I’m not.”
He’d expected her to stare at him in surprise or brush him off.
Heck, he’d prepared himself for her to tell him he was crazy again.
But she didn’t do any of that.
Penny dipped her eyes to her nearly empty plate. She had a napkin in her fingers, and she was twisting it as she whispered, “I guess we’re two peas in a pod.”
He straightened.
Could she actually be saying what he thought she was saying? It was impossible, right? Had he found a kindred spirit in Penny?
“Beautiful?” he asked gently. “What are you saying?”
Her eyes flicked to him, and her blush intensified. He wanted to reach across the table, cover her hand with his, and steal away the embarrassment she was clearly battling with.
He kept still instead.
She cleared her throat. “I’m saying I can’t get you out of my head either.
The whole time I was in that coffee shop with Emerson, I was thinking about you.
I was wishing I could spend the morning talking to you.
Smiling at you.” She dropped her napkin and covered her face with her hands.
“Gosh, this is so embarrassing. I’m a realist. I shouldn’t be thinking—”
Royce reached across the table and gently wrapped his fingers around her wrists. He tugged just enough to ask.
She let him lower her hands from her face.
“You can’t stop thinking about me?” he asked.
She shook her head as she bit down on her lower lip.
His heart did something foolish and dangerous.
For a second, he wanted to make a joke. Something big enough to hide how much her words meant. Something wild enough to match the way she made him feel.
Then it hit him.
Maybe wild wasn’t the wrong direction. Maybe wild was exactly what she’d been hoping for when she wrote that list.
He rubbed his thumbs over her knuckles, his gaze holding hers. “What would you say if I asked you to do something really reckless with me?”
Penny’s eyes narrowed. “How reckless?”
“Reckless enough that you’ll probably ask whether I’ve lost my mind.”
“That doesn’t narrow it down much.”
A smile tugged at his mouth, but his chest was pounding hard enough to make him feel unsteady. “Marry me.”
Her eyes flew wide. “What?”
“I know.” He squeezed her hands once, then loosened his hold so she could pull away if she wanted to. “I know it sounds ridiculous.”
“It doesn’t just sound ridiculous. It sounds completely insane.”
“I’m not denying that.”
“Royce.”
“I’m serious, Penny.” He kept his voice low and steady. “Not because I think you owe me an answer right now. Not because I think one perfect day means we’ve figured out everything two people need to know. But because when I think about what I want, I keep landing on you.”
She stared at him, pale now, her fingers still resting loosely in his.
“Think about it. You made that list,” he said. “A list that would help you find a new kind of happiness. Dancing with a stranger. Getting a pet. Doing something out of character.” He paused, careful with the next words. “Falling in love.”
“I haven’t fallen in love yet,” she interrupted.
“I know,” he said.
That seemed to catch her off guard.
He let out a slow breath. “And I’m not asking you to pretend you have.”
Her shoulders lowered a fraction, though her eyes stayed wide.
“I’m asking because there’s something here,” he said. “You feel it. I feel it. And maybe that doesn’t mean we run off and make a lifelong decision over pizza.” His mouth tipped up faintly. “But maybe it means we talk about it.”
“Talk about eloping?”
“Talk about what reckless looks like when it isn’t careless.”
Penny blinked.
“You don’t even know all the practical things,” he said before she could start listing them. “My last name. Whether I want kids. Whether or not I believe in God. How I handle money. Whether I leave socks on the floor.”
“Do you?”
“Leave socks on the floor?”
Her mouth twitched. “Believe in God.”
His teasing eased into something quieter. “Yeah. I do.”
Some of the tension in her shoulders softened. “Me too.”
He nodded, like that mattered to him. Like he was tucking it away with all the other pieces he was learning about her.
“And the socks?” she asked.
His mouth curved again. “Sometimes.”
She let out a startled laugh, then looked irritated with herself for it.
His smile softened. “See? These are important details.”
“They are.”
“I know.” He nodded once. “So ask me.”
Her brows drew together. “What?”
“Ask me the things you need to know before you decide whether I’m reckless in a charming way or reckless in a run-for-the-hills way.”
Penny searched his face, suspicion and curiosity warring in her expression. “You’re really going to answer?”
“As much as I can.”
Her eyes narrowed. “That is a suspicious qualifier.”
“It is,” he admitted.
“Royce.”
“I know.” His chest tightened. “There’s something more I need to tell you about me.”
The words were right there.
Meyers.
He should say it.
He should get it out before he asked her for anything else.
Then Penny’s phone rang.
They both startled.
She glanced down at the screen and winced. “It’s Shelly. I’m sorry. She wouldn’t call during lunch unless it had something to do with a client.”
“Take it,” Royce said, though his pulse was still pounding in his ears.
Penny slipped her hands from his and stood. “I’ll be right back.”
He nodded and watched her step outside the pizza shop, phone pressed to her ear.
The second she was gone, Royce dragged a hand over his face.
Coward.
The word landed hard because it was true.
He’d been right there. One breath away from telling her the part that could change everything. And as much as he hated the interruption, a small, selfish part of him was relieved.
That was the part of himself he liked least.
Penny deserved the truth. She deserved all of it. Not just the pieces of him that made her smile or made her feel like she was checking things off her list.
But if he told her here, in the middle of a pizza shop, before he could explain what the feud did to both families, would she even hear him out? Or would she shut down the second she heard the name Meyers?
Royce leaned back in his chair and stared at the empty seat across from him.
He wasn’t going to keep it from her forever.
He couldn’t.
But when she came back inside, he needed to make sure she understood one thing first.
This wasn’t a game to him.
Penny returned a minute later, slipping her phone back into her purse. “Sorry. One of Shelly’s rescheduled appointments got mixed up with tomorrow’s schedule. Crisis averted.”
“Good.”
She sat, but her eyes searched his face. “You were saying?”
Royce held her gaze.
He should tell her.
Instead, fear and hope tangled in his chest until all he could do was reach for the truest thing that didn’t start with his last name.
“I was going to say that my time with you isn’t something I want to take for granted.” His voice came out quieter than he expected. “I know we don’t get guarantees. Not with people. Not with days. Not with anything.”
Penny’s expression softened.
“I knew from the moment I saw you that I wanted you in my life. I don’t know how to explain that in a way that sounds reasonable.” A faint smile tugged at his mouth. “Maybe there isn’t a reasonable way to explain our love story.”
“Our love story?” She swallowed hard. He couldn’t tell if she was in shock, if she believed what he’d said, or if she simply wanted to run away in this moment.
“My time with you isn’t guaranteed, beautiful. But the way I feel about you is. My feelings…” He placed a fist over his heart. “They’re only getting stronger. So, if you’re up for my crazy idea, I would love to elope with you.”
She gasped. “You’re serious.”
He stared at her for a moment longer, then a laugh broke out of him, drawing a glance from a nearby table. He lowered his voice again, though he couldn’t quite hide his smile. “What part of all that made you believe otherwise?”
“Most of the part where you asked me to marry you over pizza.”
“Fair.” His smile softened. “But I’ll tell you this much. I’m not going to do anything you don’t want to do. I won’t pressure you into a decision you’re not ready for. If you want to sleep on it, sleep on it. If you want to say no, say no. I’d rather you go into this with your eyes wide open.”
Penny continued to study him, her eyes darting back and forth as she took him in.
He’d put almost all his cards on the table. But not all.
The thought sat heavy in his chest, but he forced himself to stay still. To wait. To let her think.
She could fold right here, right now, and he’d have to accept it.
Or she could surprise him altogether and agree to marry him.
What he wouldn’t give to hear those words come from her lips.
“I don’t know…” she murmured.
“That’s okay.”
Her gaze flicked up.
“It is,” he said. “This is an important decision. And I know I’m asking for a lot. But I will point out that you yourself wanted to do something reckless.”
Her mouth twitched. “So this is my fault?”
“Not even a little.” He spread out his arms to the side. “But if you were looking for reckless, marrying a guy who’s crazy about you and whom you’ve only just met does seem to fit the description.”
A slow smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, and in that second, hope hit him so hard he could barely sit still. All he could do was wait for her to say the word.
Thankfully, she put him out of his misery.
“Okay,” she whispered.
Royce went still.
“Okay?”
Penny drew in a shaky breath, then nodded as if she was surprising herself as much as him.
“Okay. I’ll marry you.”