Page 58 of One Second After Another

Of a woman.

And he made her feel like that, too. Like a woman who had more purpose than just sex even though he could spend hours devouring her. She was someone desired. He stared at her with hunger, and she felt it on every exposed inch of her body.

Especially walking out of that pool. Water fell down from her breasts and hair in droplets while the cold air pebbled her skin and nipples. Was someone really swimming if they weren’t doing it naked?

Twisting more water from her hair, Penny came to stand in front of Luca with a smile. “Did you just come down here to stare at me?”

“Well—”

“Not that I don’t like it. You give me an ego.”

Luca laughed a sexy sound and leaned over to steal a quick kiss. Penny didn’t even have time to react when she was still trying to wring water from her hair, and the kiss was over before it could begin. Another tease.

“You should have an ego,” he replied, winking, “and no, that wasn’t the only reason I came down here. Thank you very much.”

Hmm.

Penny arched a brow. “Is there any news?”

He had contacts that he promised to put to use to find any information on what was happening in New York. Whether that information was about The League’s movements, or whatever plans Allegra might have in the works, she would take it. Penny was running blind at the moment—hoping that her previous plans put the rest in motion while she was away. She didn’t mind letting Luca do the legwork of finding info when his phone was apparently a burner, and untraceable.

Three days wasn’t a lot of time to let shit happen, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t, either. She figured it was better to know if something was going on sooner rather than later. If they could find out anything at all.

“Nothing big,” Luca told her, shrugging as she pulled a large, white towel from the waiting rack beside the doors. Warm from the heated vent that constantly blew on the pile of towels to keep them ready to use, the soft cotton stopped Penny’s shivers the second she had it wrapped around her frame. No longer naked, that didn’t stop Luca from still admiring her. Only now, it was the tip of his finger tracing the exposed line of her shoulder. “A funeral is in progress, though. Or the planning of one.”

“For my grandfather.”

Luca nodded. “Yeah.”

“I expected that.”

“But there is something else,” Luca said.

His tone dropped.

He also looked away.

“Something bad?” Penny asked first.

“No, but—”

“Something about New York?”

His gaze slammed back into hers. “We’re going to have visitors. You should probably get dressed.”

Penny’s heart slammed hard in her chest. “Who?”

But she thought she probably already knew.

• • •

“YOU lied to me,” Penny hissed, tossing the hoodie away that Luca tried to offer her. One of the over-sized black hoodies that she kept in her travel bag when she was working because it was a staple in her wardrobe. A must. Hoodies made everything better when she put one on and flipped up the hood—she could hide away—except right now. Nothing was good now. It might have been cold outside, but she didn’t want to take something he tried to give her when she was pissed. Petty? Maybe. She was allowed her moments. “You made me think we were going to come here because it was safe, but really it was to get Naz and Roz—”

“Penny, stop it.”

Luca’s words weren’t even sharp, but the way he glanced at her—those green-blue eyes of his piercing right through her rant with enough force to shove her next words back down her throat—had Penny quieting. Even if she did glare when she did it.

“I didn’t lie,” he said. “I only told Naz where we were in a way that he would understand. What he chose to do after that was out of my control. Shit, he didn’t even tell me they were making the trip until he was already halfway here. You think Naz is stupid? He knew I would tell you. Don’t worry—my friend knows where my loyalties are right now. He had to learn the hard way. Just like everybody else.”