Chapter Twenty Five
SPENCER
I arrived in front of Penny's building half an hour too early. When I’d been on the way, she texted me to come up when I got there. Stepping out of the car, I glanced at the surroundings. It was a safe neighborhood, but it didn't even look residential. More industrial.
Upstairs, the door was half open. I stepped right inside without knocking. The place smelled great. Like she’d just baked something.
"You shouldn't leave your door open like this," I said.
She was moving around in the living room. "I usually don’t, but I knew you were coming."
I glanced around. "You got rid of the TV console."
"Yeah, and the small bookshelf that was there." She pointed to the empty space by the window.
"What you want to do tonight?"
"We can go and watch the sunset together. Maybe at the harbor. We can do a picnic of sorts. I even prepared some snacks for us."
I couldn't believe it. "You don't want to go to a restaurant or something?"
“I'd like us to enjoy the evening outdoors. I think June is the best month to be outside. If you don't want to, we can do something else. I can eat those snacks by myself." She winked.
"No, that's fine. Actually, it's more than fine. I'm just not used to… paying attention to stuff like the sunset."
"Why not? It's so beautiful. I'm ready to go if you are," she said, pointing at a bag on the table. "Our goodies are there."
"I can't believe you actually prepped stuff. We could have bought something on the way."
She shrugged. "This is different. I put my soul into it."
I kissed her forehead, dipping my hand down to her cheek and farther down to her neck.
She gasped lightly when I kissed her neck. "Spencer, one of the reasons I wanted us to go for a picnic was to be alone, but if you'd much rather stay indoors…," she murmured.
“Nah, let’s go enjoy the sunset.”
I took her hand, and she grabbed the bag. "Let's go. If we stay inside any longer, we'll get other ideas,” I said.
“To be fair, I'm not even sure that the bed can take any of our sexy activities. It's practically falling apart."
I looked at her over my shoulder as we went to the elevator. "I'll order you a new one. Something sturdy."
"I'm going to do that myself. I just need to get rid of the old stuff first."
Damn it. I didn't want her to go without any comfort, but my woman was stubborn. And even though it was costing me a lot of self-restraint, I wanted to take things at her pace. Though I was pretty sure that her living here didn’t make her happy.
We headed out to Castle Island, per my woman’s request. I loved that she preferred to do something so simple, so easy. I’d do anything for her, and she chose to see a sunset.
"This is a great choice," I said when we arrived. "I thought everything would be overrun with people at this time of the year."
"No, this place is large enough that it somehow never feels crowded."
We sat on the grass, watching the sun as Penny opened up her bag.
"I made sandwiches, and I even tried my hand at baking muffins."
"You’re amazing. When did you have time to make this?"
“It’s not so complicated. I even saw recipes designed for kids under one year old. Can’t wait for Ben to be a bit older so he can try out stuff.”
Her words brought me to my knees. The fact that she was thinking about Ben so often amazed me.
I put the bag on her other side. I didn't want anything between us. I moved closer, feathering my lips over hers.
"Mm," she murmured. “Decided to taste me instead of the goodies?”
I laughed. “Obviously. Do you know how hard it is to stop myself from asking you to move in with us, again, when you say stuff like that?”
“Spencer… That’s why you wanted to go out tonight? So you could charm me into agreeing with you?”
“No, I’ve got another reason.”
She pulled back a bit. "I'm listening."
"My brother Gabe was in my office today. He's celebrating the opening of Whitley Distillery & Bar next week. And he suggested that I celebrate the acquisition of The Digital Owl at the same time."
"That’s so cool."
"I want you to come with me and meet my family.”
She stopped in the act of reaching out for the bag and glanced up at me. “Really? I’d love that.”
She took a bite of a muffin and then a second one, smiling at me as she licked her fingers. I put an arm around her waist, pulling her on top of me while I lay down.
"What are you… ah. Oh, this is nice.” She was grinning now. I held her firmly with both arms. “You're not going to let me go any time soon, huh?"
"No, I like you on top. Though I like you under me too.”
She gasped. "The things you say."
"I haven't even started."
She pushed herself up, and I loosened my grip so we could both sit up. "Give me some warning. I need some reinforcements first before you unleash all that dirty talk on me."
“Duly noted.”
“How come you want me to meet everyone?” She fiddled with the bag, but I had a suspicion that she wasn’t paying attention to what she was doing.
“Because you’re important to me, Penny.”
Her eyes flickered. "Do you mean that?"
"Of course I do. You're everything I need, Penny. And I know this is fast."
She smiled. "Yeah, it is. But it also feels right. I wish Taylor would get that too."
I frowned. "What do you mean?"
She averted her gaze again. "She recommended me for a job, which I got."
"Congrats, babe! That's huge news. What job?"
"I told Taylor a while ago that I wouldn't mind a new job if it would lead to a fresh start. Anyway, I won't take it."
"Why not?"
"Because it's in London, and even though they advertised it as a remote job, we are expected to be in the London office three days a week. I mean, why even say remote in the title of the job?"
I swallowed hard, adrenaline pumping in my veins. A weight pressed down on my chest. "Why don’t you want to take it?"
She blinked. "What do you mean why? Because I’m not interested in moving."
I took in a deep breath. When I first met her, she said that she was desperately looking for a fresh start. "Would it be a good opportunity for you careerwise?"
"It would be a higher income than right now, but London is also a very expensive city."
"There has to be a reason you applied for it."
"I didn’t realize I’d have to move for it. I thought I could do it remotely."
“You already told them no?”
“No. I only received the offer today.”
“Then do me a favor and think about whether it would be a good move for you, okay? I don’t mind doing long distance if it would help your career.”
Her eyes bulged. “You want me to go away?”
“What? Hell no. If I could, I’d tie you to my bed forever. But I’m not a complete Neanderthal.”
She made a strange noise at the back of her throat. “Ha! Yes, you are.”
I laughed as I took a muffin too, biting into it. "This is good," I said. "It's got blueberries."
"Yeah. I noticed they're your favorite fruit. You always have them in the fridge."
Fucking hell. She was incredible. If she continued saying things like that, I might just throw her over my shoulder and take her back to my house and never let her leave.
But she’d told me that she wasn’t ready for that.
And yet she felt ready to say no to a job opportunity for us?
Maybe that meant there was still a chance I could convince her to move in with me and Ben.