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“Time for my dancing,” he murmured, as they pushed the limits of propriety with their sexy bump and grind.
After just a few minutes, he pulled a miniscule inch away. “Still not a fan of the bouncing dance?”
“You’ve shown me the error of my ways,” she said, as he stroked his hands up her thighs to her waist then around her back to rest just above her ass.
“Damn right.”
“I should warn you,” she joked when his hands started to drift lower. “My big brother is here. And my dad.”
He paused then cursed. “Shit.”
For the first time since Gage had shown up, Penny looked around the room. Toby and Rich were standing at the edge of the dance floor, neither man appearing the least bit shocked to see her dirty dancing with Gage. When they caught her looking, Toby gave her an awkward wink.
“You told Toby and Rich about us?” she asked.
He nodded. “Today at lunch. They were the ones who told me to crash your party and steal you away from the neighbor.”
She laughed. “Wow. That was actually great advice.”
Then she spotted her brother and Tony, both watching from their table. Neither man looked particularly angry, rather they were pensive…concerned. They cared about her and would always worry. She gave them a smile and a thumbs-up.
Rhys rolled his eyes, grinning widely, and Tony—while not exactly pleased—wasn’t wearing his usual Russo scowl. Instead, he looked begrudgingly resigned, which she was calling a win.
“Penny,” Gage said, drawing her attention back to him.
“Yeah?”
“Introduce me to your parents. Then…I want to take you home. Okay?”
She kissed him, a quick hit-and-run buss, before she said, “Okay.”
* * *
Gage followed Penny into her apartment. While he had the bigger bed, he’d insisted they spend the night here because he’d missed the cats. And now that she’d agreed to move in with him, he intended to start packing up her stuff immediately. Or…well…first thing tomorrow.
They had other things to do tonight.
She took his hand after he closed and locked the door, intent on dragging him back to her bedroom. He resisted, tugging and guiding her to the living room first.
“Gage.” She pulled back, the two instigating a tug-of-war that he won.
“Talk first.”
It was apparent she’d forgotten his request to explain his actions to her as well as the fact he owed her an apology.
If he’d been in doubt about her and this relationship—which he wasn’t—her actions right then would have sealed the deal. She was forgiving and kind, and life with her would never be hard.
They sat down side by side on the couch.
“I’m sorry I left last week.”
She turned to face him, tucking one foot under herself. “Why did you?”
He’d had a lot of time to reflect on his actions, to try to understand what had driven him out of her bed when all he’d truly wanted was to stay right there and never leave. “My mother suffered from depression. It was bad. She spent a lot of time in very dark places, even though she took medication for it.”
“Oh,” she said, and he could see her rearranging everything he’d told her about his mother, putting the pieces back together a different way. “That couldn’t have been easy for you.”
“I hated the times when she…went cold. I tried to cheer her up, tried to cajole her out of it, but I don’t know if you’ve ever known someone with depression.”
