Page 38 of Penny & Royce

The thought sat heavy in his chest, but he forced himself to stay still. To wait. To let her think.

She could fold right here, right now, and he’d have to accept it.

Or she could surprise him altogether and agree to marry him.

What he wouldn’t give to hear those words come from her lips.

“I don’t know…” she murmured.

“That’s okay.”

Her gaze flicked up.

“It is,” he said. “This is an important decision. And I know I’m asking for a lot. But I will point out that you yourself wanted to do something reckless.”

Her mouth twitched. “So this is my fault?”

“Not even a little.” He spread out his arms to the side. “But if you were looking for reckless, marrying a guy who’s crazy about you and whom you’ve only just met does seem to fit the description.”

A slow smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, and in that second, hope hit him so hard he could barely sit still. All he could do was wait for her to say the word.

Thankfully, she put him out of his misery.

“Okay,” she whispered.

Royce went still.

“Okay?”

Penny drew in a shaky breath, then nodded as if she was surprising herself as much as him.

“Okay. I’ll marry you.”

9

PENNY

Penny wedged the phone between her ear and her shoulder. “I’m going to be unavailable for a few days.”

“What? Why?” Jason asked. “Everything okay?”

She bit back a smile as she threw a dress into her suitcase. “Everything’s fine, Jason. I’m just… I’m going to take a girls’ trip this weekend.”

Then she grimaced.

Shoot.

Did Jason know she didn’t have many friends? That she didn’t hang out with hardly anyone?

“Girls’ trip? With who?”

Tamping down the groan that threatened to rise, she cleared her throat. “You don’t know them. But they wanted to get out of town for a few days, and they invited me.”

“Your secretary?”

Sheesh. He wasn’t going to let this one go.

“Yeah. Her.”