Page 34 of Penny & Royce

What mattered was what she chose when she was wide awake.

“What?” Penny asked, licking some sauce from the corner of her mouth.

He smiled at her, then reached for a napkin and held it out. “You’ve got a little sauce.”

She took the napkin, her cheeks pinking as she dabbed at the corner of her mouth. “Thank you.”

When he continued to look at her, his thoughts running away from him, she laughed softly and nudged his boot beneath the table with the toe of her shoe.

“You gonna tell me why you keep looking at me like that?”

“It’s hard not to look when you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

Penny glanced away, a faint blush spreading across her cheeks. “You keep saying things like that.”

“Because they’re true.”

She eyed him. “Do you realize it makes you look a little…”

“If you say crazy, I’m only going to agree with you.”

When she laughed, he couldn’t help but grin. It was moments like this one that helped him forget about all the turmoil waiting for him at home. Penny clearly hadn’t experienced being loved by the right man.

But Royce would change that.

He leaned forward, lowering his voice so she had to lean in a little to hear him. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”

Her smile faded into something softer.

“I know it doesn’t make sense,” he continued. “I know it’s fast. And I know that probably makes you want to list all the reasons we should slow down.”

“Alphabetically or by level of concern?”

His mouth curved. “See? That’s one of the things I like about you.”

“My ability to identify red flags?”

“Your ability to be honest about them.” His smile softened. “But I can see something with you, Penny. Something real. I’m not saying you have to be in the same place as me. I’m just saying I don’t want to pretend I’m feeling casual about this when I’m not.”

He’d expected her to stare at him in surprise or brush him off.

Heck, he’d prepared himself for her to tell him he was crazy again.

But she didn’t do any of that.

Penny dipped her eyes to her nearly empty plate. She had a napkin in her fingers, and she was twisting it as she whispered, “I guess we’re two peas in a pod.”

He straightened.

Could she actually be saying what he thought she was saying? It was impossible, right? Had he found a kindred spirit in Penny?

“Beautiful?” he asked gently. “What are you saying?”

Her eyes flicked to him, and her blush intensified. He wanted to reach across the table, cover her hand with his, and steal away the embarrassment she was clearly battling with.

He kept still instead.

She cleared her throat. “I’m saying I can’t get you out of my head either. The whole time I was in that coffee shop with Emerson, I was thinking about you. I was wishing I could spend the morning talking to you. Smiling at you.” She dropped her napkin and covered her face with her hands. “Gosh, this is so embarrassing. I’m a realist. I shouldn’t be thinking?—”