Page 59 of The Complete Truth Duet
His explanation mildly relaxed me, dulling even the loudest alarm bells, but as it was so often said: the road to hell was paved with good intentions.
“The best thing you could do for me is to stop talking about her,” I hissed over my shoulder, my pulse thundering in my ears. “If she’s still alive, it’s because she doesn’t want to be found.” I placed my hand over his and threaded our fingers together. “Yes, Penn. I miss her. Yes. I’d give anything to have her back. But knowing she’s not stuck living with her abusive husband and that she’s out of reach from her psychotic father and brothers? Well, that does more for me than any girls’ night out.”
“Shit,” he breathed, his arms convulsing around me.
“You might mean well, but I’m begging you to let it go—let her go.”
He nodded, his chin resting on my shoulder, as we both faced the dingy wall on the other side of my bedroom.
He was staring at nothing.
I was staring at the trim above the doorjamb and envisioning the two hundred thousand dollars hidden behind it.
It wasn’t enough.
Not yet.
But I was getting closer.
And, therefore, so was Catalina.
“It’s a family name,” he whispered before placing a kiss on my shoulder. “Dad, Grandfather, Great-Grandfather. We were all Penn.”
I nodded and glanced at him over my shoulder. “Maybe we should quit for tonight.”
Half of his mouth tipped up. “Probably a good idea.”
Without further conversation, we both settled in for the night.
Penn on his back.
Me on my side, my leg thrown over his hips and my arm draped over his stomach.
I could have stayed like that for the rest of my life. I hadn’t fallen asleep yet, but I was already dreading him waking me up so he could leave in a few hours.
“Spend the night tonight?” I asked, kissing his chest.
“I always do.”
I slanted my head back to look up at him. “No. You either wake me up to leave or leave when the girls wake me up to check in.”
His face was soft, his eyes filled with genuine affection—such a vast difference from the man who had first walked through my door a month earlier. “Babe, your girls call or text all night long. The last usually wake you up at five. Even when I’m in my own apartment, I wake up by five. I’m not racing out of here to crawl back into bed at my place. I leave so I can get a cup of coffee, go for a run, take a shower, throw back some breakfast, and then get to work by seven.”
My brows furrowed. “You go for a run every morning?”
“Yep.”
“Really?”
He flexed his abs under my hand. “I’ll say it again: Your surprise is not doing good things to my ego.”
“No,” I defended, pushing up onto an elbow. “You definitely look like a man who works out. It’s just I didn’t realize you ran every day.”
He smiled. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Cora. Which is exactly why we’re laying in bed, playing Truth or Lie. You’ll learn.” His arm tensed around me, and his lids fell shut even as he aimed them up at the ceiling. After sucking in a deep and content breath, he finished with, “We’ll both learn.”
Like so often with Penn, I fell asleep that night with a smile on my face.
After a slow and toe-curling kiss, he left bright and early the following morning to go for his run.
And because I figured Penn running meant he’d be hot, sweaty, and possibly shirtless, I got up bright and early too and drank my coffee at the railing overlooking the parking lot.
I was right on all accounts.
When he came jogging back up, he was hot.
So sweaty.
Very, very shirtless.
And as he stared up at me, his chest heaving, his hands on his hips, his abs giving the most incredible cameo with his every breath, and a humor-filled grin stretched across his handsome face, I decided that it was my newest routine.
Cora
“Pivot!” River yelled as Drew and Penn carried my brand-spanking-new mattress up the last flight of stairs.
“Oh my God, stop.”
She giggled. “You have to understand that, when you force a person to watch all ten seasons of Friends, at some point, there will be consequences.” She shot me a huge grin. Then she cupped her hands around her mouth and repeated, “Pivot!”
Laughing, I gently slapped her arm. “Stop. He bought me a bed. Don’t make him regret it.”
Savannah gave me a nudge from my other side. “The man bought you a bed that he gets you naked in before he sleeps in it with you every night. I don’t think he’s going to be regretting anything for quite a while.” She winked.
My mouth slacked open. “I will have you know that the only thing Penn does in my bed is sleep, thank you very much.”
