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I ignore him, thighs burning as I pick up my pace, but it’s no use. Penn is a full head taller than me with the legs to match. I’m not getting out of this.
Sure enough, a big hand catches my arm and pulls me around to face him, so suddenly I gasp, nearly falling backward. Penn steadies me though, holding onto my other arm.
“I’m sorry.” He pants. “Fuck, I’m sorry.” His hands fall back to his sides. “Let me just take you home, all right? It’s late.”
I’m too tired to argue.
My building is three blocks away, and we don’t say a single word for the entire walk. There were a few times I’m sure I feel the weight of Penn’s eyes on me but keep my own gaze resolutely forward.
I can’t stop thinking about that call. Granted, I was pretty drunk, so the details are hazy, but I wasn’t so out of it that I don’t remember Penn’s rough voice ordering me to come.
It’s the only piece of this I don’t understand. He sounded so angry, so pissed off at me. Did he want me to finish so it would just be over?
I don’t allow myself to consider the alternative.
I’m the one who’s messed up. I’m the one who wants what I shouldn’t have.
As we walk, the streetlights get further and fewer between, graffiti begins to crawl over more and more of the brick townhouses lining the street, and the cars get older and rustier.
I’ve only been living here a month, and two of my neighbors have already had break-ins. I’m beginning to concede that my father might have had a point when he said this neighborhood wasn’t the best idea.
When we finally stop in front of my apartment building, Penn’s eyes move over the crumbling front steps, the bars over the windows, and the group of guys watching us with interest from the steps of another building a few down from mine.
I’m pretty sure being it isn’t the best idea to be seen with one of Philadelphia’s local heroes, a man who could probably buy this whole block without a problem. People are going to think thatIhave money, and when they rob me, all they’ll find will be secondhand furniture and an embarrassing amount of canned spaghetti.
“I should go,” I tell him, carefully avoiding his eye. I don’t want to hear the lecture about personal safety that’s surely coming my way. I’m not sure my dignity can take another blow right now.
I go to turn away, but Penn’s hand comes out to grasp mine, physically stopping me from leaving for the second time tonight. “Wait a moment.”
My stomach knots as I raise my eyes to meet his. We’re standing very close together, closer than we have in years.
“Penn-“
“The piece you sent me for my birthday is sitting on the windowsill of my studio.”
My heart is suddenly lodged in my throat, and I can barely draw enough breath to reply. “What-“
He looks so intense, almost frantic. “I see it every day. I love it, absolutely love it, Daisy. I should have told you that the moment I opened the box, and I’m sorry that I didn’t.”
The wind rustles the ends of the curls escaping from beneath his baseball cap, and I wish I could push it off and weave my fingers through it, wish that I could pull us even closer.
Like he’s thinking the same thing, Penn’s eyes drop to our sides where his hand is still holding mine. Heat burns through me at the sight.
“I want you to take the job, Daisy.” He rumbles gently. “Please, think about it?”
My heart sinks. I want him so badly, want to be near him every day, but not at the expense of my own dreams. They might seem small and insignificant beside my famous family members, but they’remine. I won’t disappear into the version of my life that Dad and Penn want for me.
I back away from him slowly, tugging my hand free. “I don’t want it, Penn.” I can feel the weight of his dark eyes on my back as I turn to hurry up the steps to my building.
Chapter Four
Penn
Iwalked into that diner trying to think of ways to keep Daisy from taking the job, and by the time I got home, I’d just finished all but begging her to take it.
She isn’t like I remember her being, sweet and gentle. The last years have turned her into a woman, a fierce, intelligent, beautiful creature who knows who I am better than I do.
I’m no match for her, and I barely manage to make it home before collapsing into the chair closest to the door, burying my head in my hands. Those first stirrings of attraction werenothingcompared to the roaring inferno burning inside me now from seeing her, hearing her, touching her.
