Page 86 of One Breath After Another

It was on his way back from checking outside that he finally found her. At first, though, he didn’t even realize it was Penny. The royal blue skirt of her dress fell over her hips and the pert roundness of her backside in such a way that he couldn’t help himself but stare when she bent over the side of an infant’s Pack ‘n Play to rest baby Cross at the bottom.

The baby was already sleeping, from what he could see of the still infant at the bottom of the bed. And Luca was still staring at Penny’s ass when she leaned further down to kiss the baby boy on his forehead.

It took him entirely too long to realize it was Penny. That was half the problem. In just a short couple of months, a lot about Penny had started to change. She tried more things—new things that he didn’t expect her to. Like makeup and clothes more suited to a young woman. She still liked an oversized hoodie every once in a while, but at least now, someone could actually see that she did have a shape under all those layers of clothes.

He just wished he didn’t notice.

Luca didn’t need that problem. He refused to even admire the fact that the dress, the matte, flesh-toned stockings, and the matching blue, pointed-toed heels made her calves look fucking perfect.

Too late, stupid.

He shook those thoughts off. And the indecent feelings.

She was only eighteen. Still way too damn young for him and hell ... Luca hadn’t even seen Penny in that kind of way before. He wasn’t about to start now. It wasn’t happening.

Nope.

Stepping back out of view of the doorway, he waited for Penny to finish her business in the baby’s makeshift bedroom for the night. At least, it gave him a few extra minutes to get out of that crazy fucking headspace.

One good thing.

There wasn’t much else.

He hadn’t expected Penny to be wiping away tears when she stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her. To be fair, she hadn’t expected him to be standing there waiting for her, either, if the way she jumped and swallowed a half-shriek into the palm she slapped over her mouth was any indication.

“Sorry,” Luca said. “Naz wanted me to find you. I guess you disappeared. You okay?”

Penny shrugged and played with the long sleeves of the royal blue dress that dipped low at her chest with a cut V neckline. The skirt swished from side to side where it fell a few inches below her knees when she shifted from heel to heel. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Tears don’t usually mean okay, Penny.”

She rolled sparkling blue eyes.

Oh, now they sparkle.

Luca ignored his taunting inner thoughts.

Fucking prick.

“I’m fine,” she said, peeking back at the door she had closed. “Just saying goodbye.”

“Goodnight, you mean?”

Because goodbye implied—

“Yeah, goodnight,” Penny rushed to say, laughing at her mistake. He still thought it sounded ... wrong. Fake, maybe. “Tonight has me all messed up. Too many people, you know?”

Luca grinned. “Yeah, I know. They’re over the moon that you let them do this, though. For the record.”

“I know. I do.”

“You wanna head back to the party or do you need a few more minutes?”

Penny turned her smile on him, and for a second, he just blinked. The soft, natural tones of her makeup really set off the shape of her face while her white-blonde hair had been left down in soft waves to frame her features and fall over her shoulders. She might have been only eighteen, but he was not blind.

She was stunning.

Finally shedding her shell.