My eyebrows lift. “And what do you think about their plan, Penny?”
She licks her full lips, her gaze lowered. “I think they’re onto something.”
“Really?” I admit to being surprised. I just walked into a bar and suddenly I have the most delicately beautiful woman I’ve ever seen suggesting we hook up.
Her cheeks flush red and her friends laugh. Lucy speaks up. “What kind of work do you do?”
“I work for myself.”
The women exchange a look I don’t get. “Perfect,” Lucy says. “And where do you live?”
“I’m a drifter.” I drink my beer as they hold a silent conversation about me.
“And let me guess, you aren’t looking for a relationship?”
I laugh. “Didn’t realizing I was gonna get drilled, but no, I don’t suppose I have been looking for one. My life isn’t exactly grounded.”
Penny bites back a smile. “You pass the test.”
“Yeah, you’re looking for a one night, no strings situation, and your friends are encouraging this?”
“You don’t believe me?” Penny asks.
“You just don’t seem like the sort of woman—”
She cuts me off. “You don’t know me.” She tosses back the rest of her dirty martini. And my cock twitches. Damn, she is sexy. Pointedly she adds, “You didn’t ask me a single question.”
Her friends laugh and so do I. Penny’s passion is turning me the fuck on. “Fair enough,” I say. “So what kind of work do you do, Penny?”
She beams. “I’m a poet.”
“Yeah? That’s really cool. My sister’s a travel writer.” I look her over in a different light now. To be a poet I’d guess she’s an introvert, patient, and thoughtful. Looking at the world in a way most people don’t. “And where do you live?”
She twists her lips and answers with a twinge of dismay. “I live here.”
“In Seattle, or in this bar?”
Tori laughs. “In this hotel,” she says, speaking for Penny.
“Okay,” I say slowly. By the way Penny is looking away, I take the cue she doesn’t want to talk about that. “And are you sure you’re not looking for a long-term relationship?”
She lifts her chin at that, her eyes leveling with mine. “No,” she says adamantly. “I’m looking to lose my virginity.”
Penny
He’s a ridiculously attractive man, drifting through town, with nothing keeping him here. If I’m looking for a night of fun, I’ve found my guy. He looks healthy, clean, and up for a good time. I debate googling him to check him out further, but even as I think it, I see Tori pull out her phone. I smile to myself, knowing she’s doing just that.
I get a text myself, and pull out my phone. And since I’ve just told Paxton I want to sleep with him, I want an excuse to momentarily look somewhere else.
Tori: He checks out.
Me: How can you tell so fast?
Tori: TRUST ME
I bite my lip, looking up at the table.
“Are you texting about me?” Paxton asks with a chuckle.
“We just wanted to make sure you weren’t a wanted criminal,” Tori says.
“And what did you discover?” Lucy asks.
Tori looks over at Paxton. Now it’s the two of them having a silent conversation. And maybe other times I would demand all the facts, ask for them to be laid out on the table, but not tonight. Tonight I want mystery. I want the unknown. Maybe it’s the poet in me, looking for magic. Maybe it’s romantic in me, desperate for a fairy tale. Either way, I trust Tori. She’d never put me in harm’s way — we’ve been friends for years. And so that means choosing to trust Paxton Hughes, the complete stranger who I’m going to take to bed.
“Do you want another drink?” Paxton asks.
I shake my head. “No. I want to be totally in control.”
That gets a laugh out of him. “Yeah? You like to take charge?”
Tori and Lucy cover their mouths, cracking up. They’ve been wanting me to take control of my love life forever… now I’m doing it, and they’re finding it hilarious.
“Something like that,” I say, shoving my phone in my purse and getting up from the table. I grab a hundred-dollar bill from my wallet and set it down. Looking at Tori and Lucy, I narrow my eyes. “Don’t you dare tell anyone about this. Understood?”
They faux-zip their lips and Paxton raises his eyebrows. “Are you already embarrassed of me?” he asks, setting a hand on my back. Like we’ve done this before. I swallow, realizing what I’m doing.
Then I smile. There is no reason to be nervous. I’m doing exactly what I want, how I want, when I want.
This is a good thing, and since I’m twenty-three years old, it’s about damn time.
“I’m not embarrassed, I’m just a realist.”
“What’s that have to do with me?”
I wave goodbye to my friends and leave the bar with Paxton. “It means I know this can’t go anywhere, and the fewer people who know, the easier that will be. If my father knows about this rendezvous… I’ll be paying for it for a long time.”
He frowns as I grab his hand and lead him to the discreet side elevator that leads directly to my penthouse.
“Who are you, Penny?”
I exhale. Knowing that question was inevitable, and hoping like hell this sexy bearded man has no idea what it means to be me.
Chapter 3
Paxton
In the bar she was all laughs, sultry eyes while licking her lips. Now she seems flustered. Frustrated. Brought back to reality sooner than she’d like. Hell, I have no problem keeping her high as a kite, I just need to know where this girl wants to fly.
We are in an elevator that only goes to one place — the penthouse. She presses the button and leans against the wall. “I’m Penelope Aurora. My dad is kind of…”
“A billionaire?” My eyes widen. Shit, I thought this girl was classy. She has large diamond studs in her ears and bejeweled rings on her fingers. Her clothing is simple, a cute black dress with heels, but it looks expensive, and I know that a handbag with the word ‘Gucci’ stamped on the front means money.
“Pretty much,” she says, looking to the floor. “Look, if this changes things, I get it. Guys always see me in one of two ways — a way to get close to my father, or a way to get close to my money. I don’t really want to know which you might be.”
The elevator stops at the penthouse. I take Penny’s hand and pull her to me. “What if I don’t want either? What if I just want to get close to your heart?”
She smirks. “And by heart you mean my bed?”
I smile, cupping her face with my palm and drawing her closer. I want her so damn bad it hurts. “How about both?”
I kiss her, hard, taking her breath away. And damn, when her lips meet mine, I’m a goner. She sinks against me in an unexpected way. She says she’s a virgin, but she isn’t timid or shy. She knows what she wants.
My cock hardens knowing it’s me she’s after.