Page 64 of One Second After Another

The view truly was the best part of the lodge even if Luca’s view wasn’t the same as Penny’s. He still thought his current view was damn good, too.

God.

This woman was doing crazy things to him. Even watching her while he did nothing but be silent was something to appreciate. And yet, he was the first to break the silence because he just ... had to know.

“Are you still angry?” Luca questioned.

She was due to have her feelings about the reunion with her adoptive family. He would never suggest anything different. And he knew most of her anger was born from a place of fear—her concern for the people she cared about the most seemed to overweigh almost everything else for Penny. Even her own feelings and wants.

“I wasn’t ... angry,” she finally replied, although he barely heard her over the humming of the pool’s filtration system. That’s how quiet she was—he didn’t like it a bit. “I’m just tired.”

Hell.

Luca understood that.

All too well.

“I parked the car around the side of the lodge. Inside the trail with all the bags in the trunk,” he added, still feeling the weight of the keys inside the pocket of his jeans. “So, that’s done.”

The only other exit from the lodge’s property, actually. The dirt road was more like a path, a long way to the bottom of the private property, and not nearly as comfortable of a drive. But she wanted to leave in the morning, and Luca mentioned the other road in case she might want to use that to go.

Surprise, she did.

“Good,” she heard Penny say absently.

“Hey.”

She didn’t move.

Not even a peep.

“Penny, hey—”

“Could we come back here—someday when ... things are better?”

Luca stiffened at her question. Not because he didn’t like the idea, but more because her request was the first time that he could remember her wanting to make ... plans. Future plans. She suggested an after would come—a time when all of this was over, but even doubts lingered in the back of his mind when her mission sometimes seemed impossible.

At least, not without a tragic ending.

Luca didn’t answer her back right away, instead he rounded the front of the pool to walk along the side to the other end where she waited for him. Penny even turned around in the water to watch him as he came closer, using her arms to prop her up against the side edge until he was right behind her. Luca stared down at the beautiful, broken, perfect woman that had changed so much about his life.

More than she would ever know. He didn’t know where to begin to try and explain, after all.

Without a word, he kneeled and pressed a kiss to her wet lips that still tasted of the pool and that vanilla lip balm she’d been using lately. The soft stroke of her mouth against his answered him back, and he told her, “We’ll do whatever you want, whenever you want.”

And that was that.

Because the truth was easy. What else needed to be said?

Penny grinned against his next kiss, mumbling to him, “Get in the fucking pool, Luca.”

Absolutely.

He wouldn’t say no to that.

Luca made a pile of clothes alongside Penny’s near the window before he dove into the deeper end of the pool where his lover had started to wade water. By the time he broke the surface of the water back at the edge of the pool, Penny was already moving toward him.

His back hit the wall when her hot mouth found his. His arms kept them steady along the side of the pool while her long legs tangled around his waist under the water. There was nothing quite like the sting of this woman’s nails pulling across his skin while her pussy rubbed a rhythm against his cock and made him hard. Her tongue teased his, flicking inside his mouth just long enough to let him get a taste before pulling out of reach.