Penny's mouth dropped open. What had just happened here? And how could he think … ? Well, okay, she supposed he actually had every reason to think she was wild, but she'd hoped she'd succeeded in explaining all that away the other night in the limo. Apparently not. "Listen, I told you, that was just a onetime thing, a person I made up-"
"Sure, that's what you told me, but … "
She blinked in disbelief. "Are you calling me a liar?"
"I'm just saying … maybe you're a little wilder than you think you are."
"How would you know what I am?"
"Because you can't fake what we did together."
His answer hit Penny low and hard, and she struggled for a reply, feeling defensive now that his words hung in the air. "Well, you were just as wild back, and-and you didn't even think I was someone you knew! At least I thought I knew you."
"Well, I'm not the one denying I'm wild. I'll admit I have the capacity to be that way, but I can't because I came to Cincinnati to settle down and be a good boy."
"If you're such a good boy, then why did you respond in the limo?" Aha, Penny thought, she had him now.
But when their gazes met, she quit feeling defensive. His eyes were such a warm, alluring shade of brown and he looked … desperate, passionate.
"I couldn't resist," he finally admitted.
At least ten feet lay between them now. The fronds of a potted palm jutted in front of Penny's face. There seemed safety in distance, but his eyes were enough to melt her and she suddenly wished the limo hadn't been dark, that she'd had the pleasure of gazing into them as heatedly then as he gazed at her this moment.
"Can't now, either," he said, getting to his feet. He closed the distance between them before she could even think, let alone protest. He reached for her hand, pulled her up next to him, then lifted his palms to her face.
Don't. The word echoed inside her, but didn't make it to her lips. It was an automatic response, but not what she really wanted.
The kiss was as gentle and fleeting as the one just a minute ago, but this time Penny savored it and let the pleasure trickle warmly through her body. "Oh … " she breathed. "This isn't me."
"Yes, it is," he assured her, and she had no choice but to believe him when his next kiss came stronger, laced with the same thick desire she'd felt from him in the limo. She remembered the power, the restraint she'd felt in his kisses because she felt it now, too. And as she let herself get lost in the sensation of his mouth on hers, she longed to ask him to let go of that restraint and do everything to her.
"Your hair," he murmured in her ear as he sprinkled hot kisses just below. "It feels different than the other night."
Penny could barely find her voice. "I … curled it then."
"It feels so silky. And it smells so good. I thought it was your perfume, but it's your hair."
"Sh-shampoo," she managed, yet his breathy hot voice had turned her knees to jelly and she didn't want to talk anymore. Lifting one hand to his cheek, she led his mouth back to hers. As much as she loved being kissed other places, right now she needed to feel his magnificent kiss on her lips.
She'd never imagined such powerful chemistry could exist between two people, but it had the other night, even in the dark, and it pummeled her now, too, making her feel completely won, completely weakened, completely at his mercy.
That's when he pulled back, breaking away from her. "Oh God," he said, his gaze planted behind her as things came to a grinding halt. "I'm sorry."
She followed his eyes to the desk, to the large vinyl portfolio Martin had given her to store her paperwork on the system design. The words Schuster Systems were emblazoned across it in bold gold lettering.
"It's okay," she said, trying to come to grips with all of this-his fabulous kisses, and the fact that, for both of their sakes, she should not have accepted them.
"No, it's not." He shook his head. "I can't do this."
"Neither can I."
"I shouldn't have. I don't mean to be a jerk."
She spoke quietly, gazing again into eyes she thought more beautiful each time she looked at them. "I don't think you're a jerk. I think we're just … in a weird situation." She paused, trying to clear her head. "We shouldn't be working together alone like this."
"I know, but how would we explain that to Martin?"
She glanced down. "That's the only reason I agreed to it-I couldn't figure out a way not to without looking suspicious." Raising her eyes back to him, she sighed. "But I think you should probably go now."
"Definitely."
Penny watched from the same spot where she'd stood kissing him a moment ago as he moved to the desk and hurriedly packed his laptop and the notes he'd taken during the day. Cramming it all in a leather bag, he strode to the front door, and only then did he stop to peer back at her.
"Penny," he said, looking desperate now, "I'm really sorry about kissing you. It was way out of line, weird situation or not. I just … " he sighed " … well, never mind."
I'm just so madly attracted to you I couldn't stop myself, Ryan had wanted to say, but no good could come from that much honesty. He couldn't believe what he'd done, how much more difficult he'd just made things for both of them. What had he been thinking? But then, that was the whole problem-he hadn't been thinking, he'd been reacting. To her. To everything about her. Damn his impulses.
"I'll see you tomorrow," he went on. "That is, if you still want to work with me on this project. Because if you don't, I'll figure out some other way, some reason I can't do it."
Penny shook her head. "No, I … actually think we work well together … when we're not kissing."
She looked nervous, but he reassured her. "So do I." It was the truth. "Good night," he said a little more brusquely than he'd intended as he headed out the door and proceeded down the front walk toward the curb, where he'd parked.
Pausing on the sidewalk, he looked over his shoulder to find Penny peering at him from inside the screen door. "One last thing," he said, feeling bolder than he had a right to.
"What's that?"
"Are you gonna marry him?" It was presumptuous as hell, but he had to know.
Behind the screen, she hesitated, and Ryan felt his heart balancing precariously on her answer.
"No," she finally admitted in little more than a whisper. "Of course not. How could I now?"
A flood of relief washed through him. "Good," he said. Then he turned to walk on, taking a full two steps before he stopped and looked back again. "But that still doesn't change things between us. Because Martin's still my boss and you're still too wild for me." He'd just wanted to make sure they both knew where they stood.
"Hey, you're the one who keeps kissing me. All you have to do is stop."
"Right." He nodded. "And I will."
Still, even as he slid behind the wheel of his car, started the engine and drove down the street, even as he reminded himself what was smart and right and rational, Ryan couldn't help feeling inexplicably happy that Penny was no longer tied to another man.
* * *
4
The green awnings beyond the plate-glass windows shaded the sidewalk from the scorching midday sun. The lunch rush had ended not long ago and Penny heard the sounds of dishes being washed in the pub's kitchen.
She wiped down the bar, then glanced at the clock. Ryan was probably upstairs finishing his sandwich right now, probably still working in Martin's corner office, too. Thankfully, Grace had been at her desk when Penny had dropped the lunches off today, which had kept her from having to hang around the place. But whether or not she bumped into Ryan at Schuster Systems didn't really matter since he would be showing up at her house again in about an hour. She drew in a deep breath, then let it slowly back out, wishing she didn't feel so twitchy inside just thinking about him and all that had happened.
She kept reliving the moment when he'd brushed that impossibly soft kiss across her lips. It had melted through her like the thrilling purity of a first kiss, like first love, as if she were sixteen and untouched and waiting for that first magical taste of romance. Every time she thought about it, she felt his mouth grazing hers again. But it would probably be wise to stop thinking about it because- Oh, poor Martin!