Page 32 of Penny & Royce

What kind of excuse could she make that would be believable?

The truth was always best, right?

She cleared her throat again and dropped her eyes to her cup. “There’s someone else.”

Emerson remained quiet.

It almost seemed as though he wasn’t breathing. He didn’t shift in his seat or react the way she’d expected. But then, Emerson had always been a good guy. And he didn’t deserve to be dragged into this mess.

The next time she saw her brothers, she’d be giving them a piece of her mind.

The man in front of her only showed a flicker of disappointment when he gave a dip of his chin. “Right. Okay. Thanks for making that clear.”

“Emerson…” she said softly, apologetically.

He shook his head. “Really. It’s fine. And for the record, you didn’t lead me on. I don’t want you to feel bad. The conversation we had was a simple invitation to grab coffee. I was the one making assumptions.”

Penny hated the disappointment in his tone. It made her feel ten times worse than she already did. “I’m sor?—”

“Don’t apologize, Penny.” He got to his feet and offered her a genuine smile. “See you around.”

Penny watched him go, and the second he was out of sight, she shoved back from her seat and headed for the door.

Guilt for so many different reasons overwhelmed her to the point that she didn’t notice the tall form standing in her path.

Large hands caught her upper arms to keep her from a full-blown collision. She glanced up, an apology on her lips when she met the gorgeous eyes she’d been daydreaming about since yesterday.

“Royce,” she said breathlessly.

“Hey, beautiful.” Royce’s gaze moved over her face, taking her in. “You okay?”

She nodded, though she wasn’t sure that was entirely true. “I’m fine.”

His attention flicked over her shoulder in the direction Emerson had taken, then returned to her. There was a smallcrease between his brows, but his hands loosened on her arms before dropping away.

“Were you having coffee with someone?”

There was no accusation in his voice. Not exactly. But he had gone still in a way that made her chest tighten.

What was he feeling?

Hurt? Confused? Jealous?

“Yeah, um…” She swallowed. “I had coffee with a friend.”

His focus dipped back to her face as he took in her expression. There was no use hiding what she was feeling. Royce had already started figuring out how to read her.

And she wasn’t going to lie to him even if she could.

8

ROYCE

Hello.

There were no words to describe the hollow feeling in Royce’s chest when he caught sight of Penny sitting across from Emerson.

He wasn’t normally a jealous person. He’d always been confident in who he was and what he had to offer in a relationship. But seeing Penny with another man had done something to him. It made him wonder if he had enough to offer a woman like her.