Page 52 of Keeping Penny

Penny: I’ll be up. And no. I feel comfortably floaty, not drunk, and I had a big glass of water before I got into bed.

Pyro: Good. I bet “comfortably floaty” Penny is adorable. Sleep well, Pen. I’ll take good care of Bowie.

Penny: Thanks. I know she’s in good hands.

Pyro: I’d rather take a spoon to the eyeball than let anyone or anything hurt your daughter. She’ll always be safe with me. I give you my word.

For some reason, his text made Penny’s eyes tear up. She figured it was because this was the first night she’d ever spent away from Bowie…and okay, maybe partly because of the alcohol she’d consumed.

Penny: I know. That’s why I didn’t freak out when you asked if she could stay the night.

Pyro: One of these days I’m going to ask for a repeat, but maybe have her mom join us as well. Good night, Penny. We’ll see you bright and early in the morning. Let me know if you need anything.

Penny: Good night, Kylo.

She ended the connection and lay in bed staring at the ceiling for a very long time. It didn’t escape her notice that he’d basically said he wanted her to spend the night too. And even though they were relatively new and had just started dating…she wanted that. More than she was comfortable admitting.

She’d fallen hard and fast for John, and that had been a huge mistake.

But Pyro was nothing like John. Penny knew that for a fact.

Some people might call her stupid for rushing into a relationship so soon after her life was upended, but Penny had never been happier. Never felt safer than when she was with Pyro. He wouldn’t hit her. Wouldn’t yell at her for not having his dinner ready when he came home from work. And would never, ever put a hand on her daughter.

Time would tell if a relationship between them would work out, but Penny was going to remain optimistic. She wasn’t going to marry the man tomorrow, but wherever things between them went, she was going to go, gladly.

Kylo Mullins was a good man. One of the best.

Penny fell asleep with her phone still in her hand, and she slept deeply, with no dreams or nightmares. Secure in the knowledge that her daughter was safe, and if Penny needed it, help was only a phone call away. Pyro would drop everything to get to her side, of that she had no doubt. It was a comfortable feeling. Like being wrapped in a warm blanket fresh from the dryer on a cold winter’s day.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Pyro was frustrated, but he could tell during his last conversation with the man, that Tex was even more so.

Just over a week ago, Tex had finally located Colvin Jackson—but he’d once more disappeared into the wind.

After leaving Gabon, Colvin had gone back to the United Kingdom via Spain—there was no telling why he’d gone there first, probably to shake down someone else—withdrawn a hundred thousand pounds from one of his bank accounts, and boarded a plane to the US. He’d landed in New York City, and that’s where the trail went cold. Most likely because he’d started using another alias.

Neither Tex nor Pyro were happy with the fact the man was on US soil, mostly because they had no idea why. There were many reasons why he could be here, and none of them necessarily had anything to do with Penny. What worried Tex was the cash. Someone with Colvin’s net worth normally put travel expenses on credit cards. There were few good reasons for a man like him to take a hundred grand in cash out of his account—unless there were purchases or activities he didn’t want traced.

It was possible he had bigger fish to fry here in the States. Men and women who “owed” him even more money than a measly forty grand. But Pyro couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that Penny was in Colvin’s crosshairs.

It made no sense. But everyone had learned from Mandy’s experience, after she was attacked by the least likely person imaginable, not to underestimate anyone.

Since discussing it with his friends, they’d all been on high alert. Penny went nowhere alone. When he could, Pyro walked with Penny to take Bowie to and from school. And when he wasn’t able because of work, he’d arranged for someone else to go with her. Once, it was Jen and Fred. A mechanic who worked with Laryn and a man Pyro worked with on base had also each taken a turn accompanying her.

Thankfully, Penny never complained or protested. And that told Pyro all he needed to know regarding how she felt about the situation. She was afraid. Nervous to go anywhere alone.

This had to stop—but Pyro was helpless to do anything about it.

He’d thought about asking Tex to reach out to the man when he located him again, so Pyro himself could pay off the remainder of Penny’s alleged debt. But there was no guarantee the man would stop harassing Penny regardless. And his gut said paying off Colvin wasn’t the right thing to do at this point. It was an option down the line if the man showed his hand, but for now, they were in a wait-and-see pattern until they found the man anyway.

One of the good things about their current situation was Bowie. The girl was thriving. She and Abigail from her class were apparently best friends now, and having a friend her own age was the best thing for her. The girls recently had a play date at a local playground, and it was so touching to watch Abigail lead Bowie around when they first got there, showing her where everything was and counting steps with her so she wouldn’t run into anything. She was protective, but she didn’t treat Bowie as if she was handicapped. It was beautiful to see.

Abigail’s mother was just as sweet as her daughter. She’d adopted Abigail from China as a single mother and was busting her butt to give her everything she wouldn’t have had in her home country. The pair was as close as Bowie and Penny, and Pyro was happy the two mothers had clicked, as well.

Things between Pyro and Penny were also going better than he could’ve dreamed. They gelled as if they’d been dating for years rather than the couple weeks they had. He either went to her apartment after work to spend the evenings with her and Bowie, or he picked them up and brought them to his place.

While he was ready to move their relationship to the next level—a more physical one—Pyro was content to let Penny set the pace. They hadn’t spent the night together yet, but every time Pyro drove the pair home, or left their apartment, he wished he could stay.