Page 47 of One Second After Another

“But I didn’t lie to him,” Penny whispered, locking stares with Luca when she inched closer. “I do want to go back.”

“I know. That’s why I’m here. We all want that.”

“Even you.”

“Especially me.”

He dared her to ask why.

He wanted to tell her.

“If you’ll let me,” he added quieter.

Instead of asking the question he wanted her to, Penny asked, “But what does that even mean?”

“Stop running. You don’t do this alone. It means I’m here.”

“So—”

Luca yanked her closer using their still-connected hands until they were chest to chest and eye to eye. “What’s the plan, Penny?”

He really only wanted one thing.

Right then, anyway.

She gave it to him when her plush, pink lips pressed against his without warning. And just like that, Luca couldn’t breathe all over again. His chest tightened with every dance of her lips across his, and then when her tongue darted into his mouth for a taste, he swore the world tilted. Just a little. Just enough.

He wanted to touch her.

Gets his hands all over her.

He wanted her safe.

He just wanted her.

Luca didn’t care what the plan was—not as long as they did it together.

• • •

“THANK YOU, MRS. TITCHENS. Enjoy your stay for the evening—and your husband. I hope you can get a refund at the other hotel for the cancellations.”

Penny beamed at the woman behind the desk. “Me, too. Especially since they lost our stuff. How do you do that in a hotel, anyway?”

Sabrina, according to her nametag, only shrugged when she replied, “Sometimes, things just happen. I was happy to figure something out for you here instead. It all worked out in the end.”

Right, Luca thought.

By worked out the woman meant she had allowed Luca and Penny to rent a room in the hotel for the night—but likely more—all based on a lie. Because they didn’t have identification, at least he didn’t have a fake ID, and Penny hadn’t carried anything on her for the night except what she absolutely needed to. He had twenty-five hundred dollars in hundreds inside his wallet, and money spoke louder than any words they could say, anyway.

Penny made up the lie.

They got the room.

“And here is your keycard—have a good night!”

Penny took the sleek, silver card from the short, redhead with another smile. “Thank you.”

Luca scanned the front entrance of the hotel, slightly uncomfortable with the amount of glass that allowed him a decent view of the street outside. They were far enough inside the business that even if someone did recognize them, they would probably need a second look. He would have preferred a hotel with a less open reception, but maybe that was Penny’s point.