Page 144 of The Complete Truth Duet
“You have made every single decision for me for the last few months, and while some of those turned out great, others did not. I’m sick of letting everyone else dictate my life. Thomas is doing it. Manuel now too. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you join that cast.”
“I’m not trying to run your life. I’m trying to keep you from running out of mine.” He raked a hand through the top of his hair. “We can figure this out. Manuel is not the be-all and end-all. There’s no need to run anywhere. Not when we’re together.”
“Whether it’s now or later, it’s going to happen one way or another.”
“No. It’s not. I won’t let it. I am sorry, okay? I’ve told you that in every way I know how, but let me try it again. I fucked up, Cora. I admit that. But I can’t let you leave now. And that’s not me trying to run your life or make decisions for you. That’s me trying to be your partner.”
I’d thought about why I was mad at Penn a lot over the last day.
First, it was because of all the lies. Because… well, duh. That was never cool.
Then I thought it was because of more lies, specifically the ones where he wasn’t Penn but actually this rich, vigilante guy named Shane.
But right then, the real reason my heart was broken into a million pieces flew from my lips with the velocity of a nuclear warhead. “Until you leave again!”
His head jerked back. “What?”
“Okayyyyy,” Drew drawled. “I think Cat and I are going to give you two some privacy.” He ushered her out, leaning back in to say, “Penn, man, think about the house in Florida.” He tapped the doorframe twice, shot me a wink, and then shut the door.
Through it all, Penn never tore his irate gaze off me. “What do you mean until I leave again? I’m not going anywhere.”
I let out a resigned sigh. “Come on. Let’s be real here. Once all of this is said and done, you’re not going to be here.”
“Oh, really?” he asked. “And where the hell am I going to be?”
I swung my arms out to my sides, slapping my hands against my thighs as they fell. “I don’t know. Skiing?”
His eyebrows pinched together. “What is it with you and skiing?”
“I don’t like skiing. That’s what it is.”
“You ever been?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because it’s expensive.”
“So it’s a money thing?”
“No, it’s a people thing!”
He scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, okay, I have no idea what we’re talking about right now.”
I groaned at his inability to follow the oh-so-obvious bouncing ball. “Have you ever seen Pretty Woman?”
His eyebrows popped so high that they nearly hit his hairline. “Unless this is your way of telling me that you’ve been working the street with the girls over the last few months, that’s not helping clarify anything for me.”
“I’m not like you, okay? We don’t have the same interests. We don’t even come from the same world. When this is all over, you’re going to realize how different we are.”
I was on the verge of more tears.
But Penn… Well, he smirked, dark and sexy. “Jesus, Cora. Now this I can handle.”
“Oh, fantastic. Handle away.”
He smiled. “Any chance you’ll come lie down with me so I can properly explain all the ways different can be good without you trying to put space between us like a chastity belt?”
Per my body: Yes. Absolutely yes.
Per my mind and thus my mouth: “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
His eyes twinkled with mischief. Taking my hand, he took a few steps back, pulling me with him. “Okay, well, that’s definitely a difference that we have. Because I think it might be the best idea I’ve had in a while.”
“No offense, Penn. But your last idea was faking your own death. I don’t think there’s a lot of competition in the great-ideas-you’ve-had-recently category.”
His smirk grew into a smile, and he continued backing up. “So you admit it’s a great idea.”
“Actually, I’m pretty sure I said the opposite of that.”
My pulse quickened when his heels hit the mattress.
His teasing gaze became heated, which sent a rush through my nervous system. God, I’d missed that feeling. It was like stepping out of the shade and into the sun. I’d thought I’d lost it when I lost him.
But he wasn’t gone.
He was standing right there in front of me.
His hand went to the back of his shirt and then he was suddenly standing right in front of me shirtless. “I personally think we need to strip this differences business down to a very basic level.”
Cora
My breath caught in my throat when his callused hand went to the hem of my shirt.
“You can tell me to stop, Cora. And you know I will. But I’m begging you not to.”
