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“What if he is?”
Her throat dried. “He’s not—”
“Would an unavailable man kiss you like this?” Roman backed Penny against the wall, pressed her hard against it. He dipped his head to hers, tasted her. Lingered.
His touch made Penny shiver; his words made her blush. Her head knocked against the wall. She liked it, the raw intensity of it all. She’d never felt more wanted, more needed. It was her weakness, to be wanted, her kryptonite. And either Roman Tate had fallen right back in love with Penny Sands, or he was even better at playing the game than she.
But as Penny knew, all good things came to an end. This time, the end came in a rush as Penny’s wits flooded back to her. She stepped back, hugging her arms around her body. “You promised! You promised me you’d explain.”
“Penny—”
“That’s the last time you’ll kiss me.” Penny felt tears sting her eyes. “I don’t know why, but I care too much about you to have half of you. And if you aren’t ready to give me everything, then this is where we end.”
Penny waited, watching Roman’s face for a sign he would relent, silently wishing the hopeful part of her would die so she could walk away unscathed. But emotions were stubborn things, and Penny’s refused to let go without a cost.
When Roman couldn’t do more than shake his head, Penny blinked and gave a nod of finality. She turned, striding away from him even as he started to speak. She never heard what he had to say, because she was already gone.
Karma, karma. Penny had taken from many, and now the thing she wanted most was being taken from her. Not that it had ever been hers to have—a small fact that had never stopped her before.
As she stalked out of the studio, she ignored Ryan’s confused wave. She ignored his text, too, and burst out the doorway through the throng of students trying to weave their way inside. Penny got an elbow to the ribs while another student stepped on her foot. She didn’t stop until she was outside, sucking fresh air like her life depended on it.
She didn’t look at her phone until she made it home. A text message was waiting for her.
Four words.
Can I come over?
_______________________________
Penny’s phone beeped.
She cracked one eye open and was rewarded by a shard of sunlight piercing her bedroom window. The shades were pulled, but as most of them were broken or dented, they failed to block the morning’s rays.
The figure next to her shifted, groaned. “Can you do something about the brightness? I’m going blind.”
Penny was too busy reaching for her phone to respond. After one look at the screen, she sat up in bed, pulling the sheets tight to her chest. Another email. Another message from Roman.
“Did you hear me?” Ryan mumbled. “Put your phone down, babe. What’s so important this early in the morning? Don’t tell me it’s him.”
“Him?” Penny froze. Was she that obvious? If Ryan Anderson had noticed that Penny had been obsessing over Roman, who else had noticed? “What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know. You tell me.”
Penny was too distracted by her phone to worry about Ryan’s somewhat cryptic answer. Maybe Ryan had just made a lucky guess, and it was Penny who was driving herself wild with paranoia. Musing over the idea, she hauled herself out of bed and slipped her robe over naked shoulders. Tightening the strap around her waist, she grabbed one of three towels she owned and threw it over the curtain rod to block the light.
“You look nice.” Ryan peeked out from under his arm. “Come back to bed. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Let me put on some coffee first.”
Ryan made a playful, half-hearted swipe for Penny’s robe, but she ducked out of the way and scurried toward the kitchen. Instead of feeling playful back, she felt annoyed. Not that Ryan had done anything wrong. To be fair, he’d been quite generous the previous evening… starting with the big bouquet of beautiful roses and ending with her first orgasm in months. His persistence had to count for something.
Unfortunately for Penny, his persistence was a bit smothering. She found his lavish gifts too forward. His thoughtful, frequent texts annoying. She hated the way he called her on the phone just to talk. She shrugged off his advances every time they were in public and he tried to kiss her or, God forbid, hold her hand.
She was being ridiculous. Other women would kill for the attention Ryan was trying to shower on her. But Penny’s logic had broken somewhere along the line, and as her thoughts of Ryan coincided with her memory from the previous evening, a rush of warmth climbed Penny’s spine, followed by a slow drip of guilt into her belly.
She’d kissed Roman. Slept with Ryan. And the fact that she’d done both in one day meant she’d probably been trying to scrub Roman’s kiss from her mind by sliding between the sheets with Ryan.
Penny shoved the carafe a bit too hard into the coffee maker, rattling the glass walls. She scrunched her eyes shut to prevent the nausea from overtaking her. Penny’s mother had warned her about men like Roman, but she hadn’t listened; she’d thought she could handle him. But Penny Sands was no match for Roman Tate.
