Page 48 of One Second After Another

She didn’t actually hide. Everyone was looking for her where she couldn’t be found.

“Mr. Titchens?”

Luca’s distraction cost him the sight of Penny heading for the elevator. The receptionist gave him a smile—probably thinking he was tired and over the entire day after the tale Penny spun for the woman—and then nodded after the piece of art currently looking back over her shoulder at him. The wavy, textured length of her white-blonde hair fell down to her mid-back, swaying just over the spot where he knew she had two dimples above the curve of her backside. But her ass was still quite a sight covered in tight, black cargo pants.

It wasn’t even the time.

He had better—far more important—things to focus on other than how hard he could get just watching Penny walk away from him. Except he couldn’t think about anything else but that because Luca was fucked.

Penny winked and tilted her chin in a silent demand for him to follow. He shook his head with a chuckle, not even bothered by the fact she watched him check her out without shame. Why should he be? Look at her.

She was still there.

Still real.

Things were already looking up.

13.

Penny

LUCA wasn’t a loud man—never had been—and it was one of the things Penny liked about him the most. He was such a presence without actually making himself present. He didn’t fill the silence when someone else was quiet. She couldn’t even remember a time when he had tried to take center stage ahead of anyone in his life.

He reminded her of a pillar. Fortitude in the storm. Strength under pressure. Everything that she was sure he didn’t even realize about himself. Because why would he—the man was too busy trying to make the rest of the world happy instead of taking care of himself.

She was part of that, too.

Penny knew it.

She also knew Luca would never tell her that, so when he was quiet in the elevator ride up to the room she had managed to snag for the night, his presence felt heavier to her. Not for any particular reason that she could pinpoint; his face gave nothing away when those shadowy green-blue eyes of his darted her way.

He just ... was.

Maybe he did want to fill the silence. She could feel the way his gaze crawled over her as the elevator moved higher—beyond the third floor. A slow trek upward. She decided to say something for Luca. Or perhaps she just couldn’t take the quietness anymore.

“You can’t go back to your apartment,” she said, wishing her voice had more strength to it and less ... quiver. Luca’s stare jumped from the spot where it had been lingering on the column of her neck to meet hers. “It’s not safe. Especially if someone connects you to me tonight and—”

“I get it.”

Penny nodded once. If he didn’t want to argue about it, then she was grateful. “Thanks. It’ll still be there when this is over.”

The hint of a smirk teased his features when he asked, “But what does that even mean—when this is over? What’s over, Penny?”

She really wished there was an answer. At least, one that would satisfy him.

But ... “I don’t know. But it will be over. Someday.”

It had to be.

She was kind of banking on that now.

The headiness of her sadness filled up Penny’s chest without warning. She didn’t want to be sad—couldn’t afford an emotion with consequences that had always left her hurt and bleeding in the past. In one way or another.

“Hey,” she heard him say.

He was still watching her. Probably wouldn’t let her out of his sight, she knew. Strangely, she was okay with that.

She thought he had something to tell her—like he was reading her mind—but instead, his hand reached for hers. It started with nothing more than the graze of his pinky against hers. Just the tip, and then the side of the digit brushing hers softly. It took nothing for her to slide her palm in alongside his. Their fingers wove tight, and she watched how well his hand fit with hers.