Page 29 of Penny & Royce

Goosebumps rose on her arms even though her office was the perfect temperature. He’d been spontaneous and sensual. The way he’d held her had changed her brain chemistry.

There was no denying it.

Royce had stirred something awake inside her, and all she could think about was when they would see each other again.

She hadn’t wanted their date to end, and apparently, he’d felt the same. Penny still couldn’t believe they’d stayed out until the sun came up. Thank goodness she hadn’t had to work the following day.

The only disappointing thing about Sunday had been the fact that Royce hadn’t reached out. Not a call or a text. He was probably busy. Or maybe he’d needed sleep more than she did.

Or maybe she was overthinking.

That seemed likely.

But now it was Monday, and all she wanted was for the workday to end so she could call Royce and invite him over for dinner.

She chewed on her lower lip. Jason’s wedding was quickly approaching, and she still hadn’t selected a plus-one. Based on how quickly things were moving between herself and Royce, she wondered if he’d be open to coming as her date.

Her phone rang, and she picked it up without looking at the caller ID. “This is Dr. Klein.”

“Penny, we need your help. It’s really important.”

Penny rolled her eyes and sighed. “What happened?”

Jason was like this sometimes. Her brother used to get himself into trouble, but that was before he’d fallen in love with Isabelle. She traced a finger along the spine of her book and waited.

“You need to ask Emerson out on a date.”

She nearly choked. “What? No.”

In the background, she could have sworn she heard Mathew mutter something along the lines of, “Told you.”

Jason sighed. “Mathew messed up and hurt River, and now he needs a chance to explain things to her.”

Penny closed her eyes briefly. Jason was pulling out the big guns. He knew she couldn’t resist helping when it came to something like this. It was in her DNA, but it was also part of the reason she was such a good therapist.

“What did he do?”

There was silence on the other end. Then more mumbling.

“Jason, if you don’t tell me, I’m not going to help.”

He groaned. “Mathew didn’t tell River he’d been married.”

“You’re kidding. That’s like First Date 101.”

Shoot.

This was probably partly her fault. She’d mentioned the divorce to River, assuming she knew everything.

“And guess who showed up in town?” Jason asked.

Penny gasped. “No.”

Well, that made things ten times worse.

“Yep. Victoria herself. In the flesh. And River bumped into them.”

Penny pinched the bridge of her nose. She might have been partly to blame for this fiasco, but meeting Victoria had probably pushed things over the edge. “How is me going out with Emerson going to help things?”