Page 12 of Insatiable Bachelor (Bachelor Tower 1)
She rolls her eyes. “Favorite? I assumed it was the only one you knew.”
I laugh. She’s funny even when she’s not trying to be. “Have dinner with me tonight.”
“Can’t. I have plans.”
Plans? I want to ask her with who but I stop myself. As a practice, I don’t care about who a woman is with before or after me. They’d have to matter for me to care about that and they don’t.
Nor does Penny.
The car pulls up to my building. I lower the window and instruct my driver to leave his phone number with Penny so he can take her home after her visit with her father.
“That’s not necessary. I can take the bus,” Penny says. “I’m not sure how long I’ll be there.”
I slide out of the car. “I have too much work to get through today to worry about how you’ll get home.”
She smiles and my heart does a somersault. “Such a softie under all that growl.”
I close the door and walk away. The anger rising in me has nothing to do with her. Why am I offering my driver to get her home? Because of the rain? Right, because of the rain. That’s why she’s in this car. The fucking rain. First Bachelor Tower, now my car. Fuck.
I’m pissed at myself.
Neither she nor her sister belong in Bachelor Tower.
I can’t forget that.
Wanting her doesn’t mean she is my responsibility. How she gets anywhere and who she sees are none of my business. I storm into my office with an expression on my face that clearly has my staff scrambling out of my way. I grab a stack of files off my assistant’s desk and slam it down onto my own. I will not let the corners of my mind wander to what might be wrong with Penny’s father and why she looked so worried.
Not. My. Problem.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Dalton
“Shit,” I grumble as a complicated contract hits my desk.
“Sorry to give you this so late, but it just came in. Boden said the terms are no longer acceptable. He wants to renegotiate.” Neil apologizes as he pushes his wire-rimmed glasses up on his nose. The kid’s a good assistant. I’m not quick with a compliment, but he knows if I haven’t fired him yet, he’s doing a damn good job.
“Get me updated numbers.” It shouldn’t have gone this far and wouldn’t have if I hadn’t let myself get distracted. If my team thought I was in a bad mood earlier, they are in for a rude awakening. This contract should have flown with no problems. It would have if I had met with Boden myself. Someone had faltered during the signing. That’s all it takes for clients to believe they deserve more. One glimmer of weakness.
“Will do, Boss,” Neil says, skittering out of the office, knowing my mood doesn’t bode well for hanging around. Smart. I’ll keep him around another day.
I pull out my cell and consider texting Penny. We exchanged numbers the night she cooked me a meal. I hesitate. If there’d been a problem my driver would have contacted me. But as I am about to return my phone to my jacket pocket it announces an incoming message.
Penny: Thank you for today.
You’re welcome. I tell myself to stop here, but I add: I thought you had plans for tonight?
Penny: I do. I’m out for drinks with the girls. We get together when we all have the same day off.
I smile. Her roommates. No fantasy of the three of them follows this time. My normally X-rated imagination is cluttered with images of only Penny, and I wonder if her lips would taste of some sugary sweet drink.
Yeah, this has to stop.
Not fucking her hasn’t helped. Maybe sex will clear my head.
Penny: I told them what you said about vanilla sex.
I’d thought instant erections were a thing of the past, but that’s all it took to prove to me they weren’t.
And?
Penny: They think I should see if you’re as good as you say you are. But—
Yeah, no work is getting done now.
But?
Penny: I want to stay on one hand.
What?
Penny: When I meet my soul mate and he asks me how many men I’ve been with I want to hold up the fingers on one hand, not two. That gives me three more mistakes, tops. Depends if I count my soul mate or not. If so, then I only have two more.
I know I’m an ass, but I can’t stop myself from texting:
Seriously? You don’t still believe in Santa Claus, do you?
Penny: Why, do you think he should be one of my last two?
Before I have a chance to answer, she adds: I just laughed so hard I spilled my drink.
That might be a sign.
Penny: Yes, that I shouldn’t text and drink. TTYL
I toss my phone on my desk and shake my head at it. Of course she believes in soul mates.
Even though it’s not a good idea—I know what I need to do: Get it on with her so I can get her off my mind. As soon as possible.
“I sent you the numbers. You need a coffee, Boss?” Neil interrupts nervously as he sees me staring off into space instead of working.
“No,” I grunt. “No interruptions. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Neil replies as he closes my office door.
With new resolve, I turn to my computer and start crunching the numbers. Work first then I’ll play. It’s how I’ve always done things and why I’ve gotten as far as I have.
The part of me that wishes I was there with her at the bar with her friends? That’s the part that has to go—and it will after I have her. Right now she’s a flavor I’ve never tasted. Soon, she’ll be just another one I enjoyed before moving on.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Penny
“Why on earth have you not slept with him?” Millie asks as she hands me my phone. She’s read through our text exchange, and she’s reacted just as I knew she would. “There is absolutely nothing stopping you. Just do it.”
“Did you see what I said? Life coach? That goes against everything I believe. I don’t want to change him.” I don’t have to say why. Millie knows me too well.
“You are not your mother, and he is not your father.”
I let out a shaky breath. There is a worse possibility. “Are we the reverse?”
Millie shakes her head. “Aren’t you the one who has always said that you choose your own path?”
“Yes. It’s just that I get so confused when I’m with him. I want to make him smile. I want to show him there are people he can trust. Then I tell myself it’s none of my business and who am I to judge how he lives his life?”
“You are the least judgmental person I know, but you do like to make people happy. That’s not a bad thing. I’m the same way. From what you’ve told me about him, he could use a little sunshine in his life. What do they say—if you can’t find the light, be the light? Something like that? Be his light.”
“His naked light?” I joke.
Millie throws her head back and laughs so loud people turn to look at us. “Whatever kind of light you want to be.”
I chew my bottom lip. “I don’t know.” I think about the night before and how it ended chastely. “Are you sure I’m not reading more into this than is there?”
“Easiest way to find out? Go home tonight and knock on his door. He’ll take it from there.”
It’s not that easy, but Millie is my friend and she’s trying to help. It’s almost working.
“I still have to live there for a little while until Kylie gets home. We’re going to hook up and then what?”
“Since when do you need a plan? Where is your spirit of adventure?”
“I’m free-spirited when it comes to meditating and not overscheduling my weekends. I’m not all willy-nilly about whose willy I nilly.”
“Girl, you need to stop overthinking it.” She raises her hand to the bartender and orders another round. “We need to get you a little liquid courage. You are doing this tonight.”
“Tonight.” Excitement floods as I sip my drink. Tonight.
“Put a good spin on this. You told Kylie yo
u would take care of her apartment and make sure you held everything down until she got back. You’re making a good impression on the neighbor for her. It’s practically your sisterly duty.”
I laugh at that then lower my voice. “Am I ready for the kind of sex he says he has?”
“Ready? I’d say overdue.”
I take the last sip of my martini and slide the new one closer. “I’m not his type.”
“Oh, I’d say you sure as fuck are.”
“You said fuck. Did I tell you that’s his favorite word?” I start laughing again. It might be nerves or the alcohol or both, but I can’t stop. “He didn’t know I could say it.”
Millie signals to the bartender to cut me off. I laugh harder because the entire conversation is ridiculous.
Like the idea of anything between Dalton and me working out? I stop laughing suddenly and glare at my drink.
Millie pays the tab and announces she’s calling a car for us. She moves the rest of my drink away from me. “My advice? Knock on his door tomorrow night. If you’re going to have the best sex of your life, you should remember it.”
