Something Wild(11)

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!