Page 49 of Penny & Royce

Nausea reared its ugly head, and dizziness hit her hard.

This couldn’t be happening.

She’d felt it. The connection they’d had couldn’t be faked. He wouldn’t have married her only for it to be one big mistake, right? He wasn’t cruel.

No.

Royce was better than that.

Unless the reality of their choices had come crashing down on him like they were for her in this moment.

That could make a man flee, couldn’t it?

She was going to be sick.

Tossing aside the comforter, she scrambled to the bathroom and lost the contents of her stomach immediately. She couldn’t think clearly enough to make plans. What was she supposed to do? Call one of her brothers and expect them to bail her out? What was her uncle going to think?

A sick sense of dread replaced the anxiety.

What about her mother?

She rested her forehead against her arm on the edge of the toilet seat.

How could she have let herself get so far ahead of reason? What had gotten into her?

At that moment, the door to the hotel room opened.

Her head snapped up.

Then she felt his presence in the bathroom doorway.

“Hey, dream girl,” he said, his voice warm but tinged with caution. “Are you feeling sick?”

The sound of plastic bags being placed on the ground was followed quickly by his footsteps into the tiled bathroom. She twisted just enough to look up at him.

He was wearing the suit from last night. That explained why his clothes hadn’t been out. She hadn’t noticed his luggage, but it was possible he’d tucked it away in the closet.

“Royce?”

“Yeah?” He crouched beside her and pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. “You feel a little warm. Are you sick?”

The concern in his face only deepened the longer he watched her.

A surprised laugh burst from her chest. “No. I’m… You…” She swallowed, suddenly embarrassed by the panic that had overtaken her. “You left.”

Three deep grooves lined between his brows. “I got us some breakfast. You were out cold when I got up, and I thought it’d be nice to have something ready for you to eat before we get our day started.”

She blinked. “You got us breakfast?”

His easy smile was back. “Of course I did. You’re my wife, Penny. That means I get to take care of you.”

Get to. He gets to take care of me.

The words raced through her head over and over. Royce hadn’t abandoned her. He was still here. He was still committed.

Penny did her best to shove at the guilt that came with her overreaction. She’d married him because she believed, somewhere in her gut and her heart, that this could be right. Then at the first sign of something going wrong, she’d spiraled.

She stared up at him in awe. “I’m glad you came back.”