“You remembered?” She pulls my dinner from the bag, too, arranging it next to hers like we’re at a restaurant. We slide onto the kitchen island stools, and she pops a salty fry into her mouth.
“How could I forget that?” I tease, and Penny laughs sweetly. “I know you’re into health and eat green smoothies that look like seaweed…but I had a hunch that underneath it all was still the sixteen-year-old who craved a bag of fast food on rough days.”
Her smile softens, and she tucks her hair behind her ear, taking another bite. “Well, thank you. You’re not wrong.”
We take a few bites, both ravenously hungry.
“I know you’re tired, but I was wondering if you wanted to stay up with me for a bit?” I ask.
Penny turns to me, nodding with her mouth full.“I’d love that. What do you have in mind?”
“I thought we could catch up.” I shrug, knowing that sounds trivial given today.
Tank plops down next to me at the same time, waiting for a french fry to drop. Fia has ruined him.
“Catch up?” Penny asks in between bites.
“Yeah, you know, since I haven’t seen you in ten years.”
She covers her mouth, laughing.
It’s a sound that’s as beautiful as she looks. I don’t even know what we’ll talk about; all I know is that her holiday break is coming to an end soon. She has to go back to work, and I don’t want to face that. Not yet.
Tonight, Fia’s in the hospital and in good hands. There’s nothing we can do but show up tomorrow morning with her favorite bagel in tow.
But right now, in this empty house, it’s just Penny and me. The walls are down around us, and there’s nowhere left to hide.
And all I want to know about Penny iseverything. I would stay up all night if it meant she just kept talking, laughing, and being the girl I fell in love with.
Penny’s laptop stays straddling her sweatpants-clad lap as she leans back against my pine headboard, pointing at a picture on the screen and turning to me, wide-eyed.
“That’s you?! I thought Fia was just fucking with me.”
Somehow, after barely ten minutes of lying in bed together, talking about only good things—Penny’s rules—we’ve landed on a website with my modeling pictures.
“I wish she was.” I sigh, running a hand through my hair. “This was for the LA Dog Benefit. But let’s move on to you. Show me your business.” I try to pry the laptop from her, but she death grips it, eyes glued to the screen.
“You dirty little whore.” She smirks, clicking through the topless photos of me posing with shelter dogs.
“It was for charity!” I gasp. I need to get these pictures erased ASAP.
“Charity for your dick?” Penny scoffs. “I bet you had dates lined up every night after this calendar went live.”
Smart-mouth.
This time, I manage to grab the computer from her hands. “Alright, you got enough.” I close out of the embarrassing pictures. “And yeah, I did have dates lined up. But I didn’t take any.”
Penny crawls over, sitting between my legs, and I fight my own body. Just the feel of her ass in my lap is making me get hard.
She is oblivious—or purposely ignoring it—and taps her nails on my hand. “It’s okay if you did. You can tell me.”
“I swear.” I cross my heart. “Unfortunately, I dated this girl in high school, total drama queen,” I say, and Penny swats at me. I grab her wrists and swivel her around to lay a kiss on her soft lips. “No one ever came close to her. It’s been a real curse.”
“I can relate.” She rolls her eyes, biting back her smile. “And fine… Two minutes of my life. That’s it,” she says and leans back into my chest as she swiftly flicks through pictures.
“Don’t skip things. I want to know everything. I want the crash course on Penny Hanson.”
She sighs, but I see the grin on the corner of her lips.
