Page 39 of The Complete Truth Duet
“Hey, Penn,” River chirped, sidling up beside me, no doubt running to my rescue. And God bless her because I seriously needed it. “Come on in,” she said, pulling me out of the way.
I teetered on my wedges as I shuffled to the side.
Penn tipped his chin in gratitude as he walked inside. “I noticed you liked chocolate the other day, so I grabbed this from the grocery store.”
“It’s perfect. She loves chocolate,” Savannah said, pulling up the rear in mission Rescue Cora. “Good choice in beer, too.” She winked, taking them both from his hands and carrying them to the kitchen.
Okay, I was acting like a madwoman. I’d invited him to dinner. He was drowning in it. He felt me. He’d been losing sleep while sitting outside my door and protecting me from the inevitable.
Also, I felt him. He caused sparks to flare inside me. And, according to him, I was risking being burned.
This was what was supposed to happen!
But he was bearing gifts of brownies and beer like he had truly read my soul, and he’d dressed up like he was trying to impress me.
“Why are you just standing there?” River hissed in my ear.
“Why is he dressed like that?” I hissed right back, watching him as he followed Savannah toward the kitchen. Which, given the size of my apartment, wasn’t far.
River twisted her lip and then turned to look at him, offering him an uncomfortable smile when he caught her.
“He’s wearing jeans and a shirt.”
“Yes, but it’s a nice shirt. He always wears plain white T-shirts.”
“And?”
“And he looks like he’s going on a date.”
She leaned away to catch my eyes and whispered, “Uh…he is on a date. With you. So stop acting like a nut job before he jumps ship.”
Oh, shit!
She shook her head as if I were insane. And the longer I stood there, the more I thought she might have been right.
“I haven’t been on a real date in a hundred years.”
She slapped my arm. “Well, then you’ve aged nicely, Granny.”
I shot her a glare.
Suddenly, Penn cleared his throat. “Is everything okay?”
I peeked up, finding his handsome face filled with a healthy dose of concern—and amusement.
Damn it! Savannah was right. He was incredibly hot. Not exactly a revelation, but still worth noting.
Abandoning my hysteria in lieu of annoyance, I snipped, “It’s rude to eavesdrop, Penn.”
He smirked, all sexy and crooked. “You’re standing three feet away. It’s hard not to eavesdrop.”
Double damn it! He had a point.
“Right.” I ran my fingers through the underneath of my hair, stopping before I caused any tangles. “I’ll just…finish up with the burgers.” Finally remembering how to walk, I started past him.
But he gently caught my arm. Bending at the hip, he aimed his lips at my ear and rumbled, “Relax. You don’t want this to be a date, it’s not a date.” Then his voice grew husky as he finished with, “Though, if at any point you change your mind, you won’t hear the first complaint from me.”
My lungs seized as I slanted my head so I could see him. He was no longer smirking, but his heated gaze locked to mine like a missile finding its target.
“Okay?” he pressed.
Hypnotized, I nodded an embarrassing amount of times before breathing, “Okay.”
Releasing my arm, he drew a deep inhale in through his nose. “It smells great in here. I’m starved.”
He grinned down at me, cool, calm and flirty, like he and Drew had experienced some Freaky Friday personality transplants before he’d come over.
Staring at his mouth, I asked, “Is that medical condition of yours flaring up again?”
His smile grew. “It seems to happen a lot around you.”
God. This. Man.
“So, did I hear something about burgers?” he asked.
“Turkey burgers, actually.”
“Oh,” he said, sounding rather let down.
“With bacon,” I amended.
This got me a much more upbeat, “Ohhh!”
At least he had good taste.
And, with that, I put one foot in front of the other and focused on dinner—but only so I didn’t have to admit that I was one hundred percent, totally, utterly, and absolutely obsessing about Penn Walker. Again, not a revelation, and this time, probably not even worth noting.
Over dinner, we all loosened up. Penn didn’t quite talk as much as his brother, but he was still far chattier than I’d ever seen him. His eyes never strayed far from me, not even as the girls gave him a meet-the-parents-style interrogation.
He was thirty-seven. (This I knew.)
Grew up in Florida. (This I did not know.)
The tattoos on his arms and hands did not travel any farther south and he had no piercings. (Thank you, Savannah.)
He loved football—mainly pro rather than college. (I had no interest in either.)
And he had shut down completely for a solid five minutes after River asked if he’d ever been married. (Interesting! Though it kind of answered the burning Lisa question.)
