Racked with nerves, I buy myself some time by leaning on an old trick: messing with Penn. I set down my purse, kick off my boots, then slide off my coat, taking a truly obnoxious amount of care to fold it neatly over my arm.
“Well,” I say, with an air of finality. “Thank you so much for theride home. I must say, you were a bit more handsy than other drivers, but your music didn’t suck, so I’ll make sure to tip.” I try not to crack a smile before I turn toward the staircase.
Penn lets out a breathy laugh and wraps a hand around my wrist, pulling me into him. My coat falls to the floor as he looks down at me, affection etched into the lines beside his eyes. “You’ll never stop messing with me,” he whispers. “Will you?”
“Never.”
He smirks. “Good.”
We stand there, teetering on the edge of something. Slowly, Penn skates his hands up my arms, leaving behind a trail of goose bumps. His gaze falls to my shoulder, where he slips a finger beneath the silky strap of my shirt and gently sweeps it aside.
Need knots inside me. With Penn’s hands on me, my internal safety mechanism has shut down. All bets are off.
He brushes his thumb across my collarbone, and every soft stroke plucks at the final shreds of my self-control until one thin, tensed thread breaks after another. Until I don’t trust myself any longer.
“Penn.” I exhale his name. “We can’t go upstairs.”
He kisses my shoulder and whispers into my skin. “Okay.”
“I mean, I want to,” I admit. “But…”
Penn straightens. “But…”
I take his face in my hands. “There would be no coming back from it. From any of this,” I warn. “Do you get that?”
The edge of his mouth ticks in amusement. “Back from what? What exactly are we doing?”
I can’t look away from his lips, parted and perfect. I want that stupid mouth on mine. I want to kiss that smug smirk right off him.
So, I do.
My fingers twist into Penn’s hair as I pull him closer, and he kisses me back with his whole body. His hands wander up my waist, cradle my face, then drift down the column of my neck. The kiss is deep and deliberate, and when I lick at his lower lip, a sound catches in his throat.
He pulls back, eyes darting to mine. “Maybe we don’t have to come back from this,” he rasps. “Maybe we can just…stay in it.”
My chest rises and falls, my whole body thrumming with the kind of heat that needs a release.
Problem is, we can’t stay in this.
This isn’t real life, and if I ever make it back to reality, I’ll have to look Real Penn in the eye at Christmas, at every birthday, and in dark bars, desperate for him to stare at me like he is now, all lust and longing. I’ll have to pretend I’m totally fine when Real Penn is wildly unaware of what’s happened here, and who we could be to each other, if only we’d let ourselves.
His thumb grazes the hinge of my jaw. “Ruby,” he says softly. “I’m trying to read you, but…” He swallows hard. “Do you need this to slow down, or stop, or…”
No.Certainty drops like a stone into my gut. This could be our only chance. I have to know.
“Keep going,” I whisper. “Please.”
Penn’s mouth curves into a wry grin. “Okay, then. Since you asked so nicely.”
He inches forward, edging me back to the console table before he picks me up and sets me on top of it. One after the other, he takes my arms and wraps them around his neck. My hands dangle over his broad shoulders as he shifts closer, eyes dark and glinting.
“If we can’t go upstairs, then we can stay right here.” He hitches my leg around him and smirks. “Does that solve the problem?”
“You’ve always loved a shortcut.”
“Oh, don’t get the wrong idea,” he says. “I’m not taking any shortcuts tonight. I told you. You get as much of me as you want.”
“What if I want it all?”
