Page 52 of One Step After Another

She had a feeling Luca wouldn’t care if she tried to explain. Five years of his life had been dedicated to finding her and bringing her home. If that wasn’t an obsession, then she didn’t know what was.

Did he even realize it?

That was the real question.

“What else would I be talking about?”

“I was thinking maybe that you realized I don’t really see you like the same broken little girl I used to ... and it fucked you up.”

Penny swallowed hard. “Well—”

“Penny.”

She looked his way.

He hadn’t looked away.

“What, Luca?” she whispered.

“It fucks me up, too.”

“What do we do with that, then?”

He flashed his teeth in a grin. “Maybe this.”

“What—”

He closed the distance between their chairs before she even knew what was happening. When his lips pressed against hers, there was no hesitation in Penny’s mind before she answered his kiss back. His hands threaded into the loose waves of her white-blonde hair before finding her jaw. Every stoke of his lips against her own coaxed open her mouth until his tongue tangled with hers.

There she was.

Stupid, again.

Breathlessly dumb.

But happy.

All because he kissed her.

When he did finally pull away, Penny was left with more confusion than before. At least when she only had her own attraction to deal with, things were easier. Adding his to the mess made all of this far more complicated. Because it—they—couldn’t be anything. Ever. Certainly not like this.

“I wanted to see,” he murmured, his thumbs stroking the line of her jaw with a touch that sent heat spiraling throughout her body.

“See what?”

Her words were air.

He didn’t seem to mind.

“If you wanted me to kiss you again.”

Penny could only ask, “Did you figure it out?”

“I did.”

And then he kissed her again. Penny let him. She wanted it.