He drew back in time to see a coquettish look form in her eyes. "Wouldn't you like to know." Mmm, the vixen Penny had arrived.
Lifting a hand to her shoulder, Ryan eased his fingers beneath her tank top to reveal an equally red strap. His heart stopped. "Nice. Can I see the rest?"
"Now?" She looked amused.
He let his eyes fall briefly shut and let out a sigh. "You're right. We have to work, don't we?"
"Not that I don't find you tempting," she said, biting her lip in that provocative way he loved, "but working would probably be a good idea, since we didn't yesterday."
To his surprise, Ryan found holding back easier now, likely because he knew there would be more, and because he no longer had to pretend nothing was going on between them. In one sense, he knew falling into this relationship was insane, but he really had surrendered to her yesterday in a way he couldn't ignore. When Martin came home- Well, they'd deal with that then. But for now, things felt too good to worry about the future.
"My computer was finally delivered to the office today," he said, taking a seat at her desk. "While the wholesale guy was there, I ordered your floppy drive and modem."
"Thank you," she replied, walking over to place one hand to his cheek.
He grinned uncertainly. "It's only a couple of computer parts."
"No, that's not what I mean. Thank you for that, too. But what I'm really thanking you for is … kissing me hello. I was afraid of how things would be when you arrived today. I thought you'd come in here telling me we can't 'get close' anymore, that things would've changed overnight."
Ryan shook his head and admitted to her what he'd been forced to admit to himself. "I think I've proven I have no self-control where you're concerned. I've given up."
She grinned. "A man at my mercy. I like that."
"Be gentle," he begged, teasing.
After another kiss, though, Ryan forced his attention on her computer.
"What are you doing?"
"Reinstalling your printer," he said, finishing the short process. "Why don't you pull up your system notes and see if it works."
A moment later, the printer kicked to life and Penny's notes started filling the white pages that pushed through it. "Great," she said.
Frankly, Ryan found it unbelievable that Martin couldn't have taken care of something so simple for her. Clearly, the guy hadn't even spent five minutes looking at the problem. "You know what this means, don't you?" he asked.
"What?" She snatched up a handful of pages from the printer tray as if they were the most amazing things she'd ever seen.
"We don't have to confine ourselves to working here anymore." Of course, as recently as yesterday, his plan had been to make sure they started working in the office instead, but circumstances had changed since then. "It's a beautiful day outside," he went on. "Yesterday's rain cooled things down. I've heard a lot about EdenPark since I got here, but I haven't had the chance to check it out, even though it's just up the hill from my condo. So what do you say we take your notes and my laptop and get out in the sunshine?"
Her smile returned. "When do we leave?"
"How about as soon as your notes finish printing? I stopped by my place and threw some shorts in my briefcase, so I'll need to change."
"And I'll need my tennis shoes," she said.
Ryan headed to the bathroom to shed his suit, but he got a bit sidetracked upon stepping back into the little peach-colored room where he and Penny had been so intimate just yesterday. They were so damn good together when he let them be, that the thought filled him with warmth. He wasn't inclined to examine it too closely, but he knew he liked what he was feeling, and that he wasn't ready to let it go.
When he exited a minute later in shorts and a polo shirt, he found Penny in her bedroom, pulling her hair into a tortoiseshell barrette at the nape of her neck. "Almost ready?" he asked. The printer had quieted in the other room.
She swung open a closet door. "Just need my shoes. Can you grab a pair of white socks for me from that bottom drawer?" She pointed over her shoulder at an antique chifforobe just behind him.
"Sure." Bending to open the sock-filled drawer, Ryan grabbed the first pair of white ones his hand fell on, but what rested underneath them caught his eye. Without really thinking, he pushed aside the other socks that lay across the clear plastic container he found.
He stopped breathing when he spied, trapped within the plastic, a pair of heart-shaped handcuffs covered in red velvet. And he'd thought she was wild before? This gave a whole new meaning to the word.
Then again, this was the same girl who'd seduced him in a dark limousine. But, knowing her better now, Ryan couldn't resist pulling the package from the drawer, turning toward her, and clearing his throat.
When she spun to face him, the package dangled from his fingertips. "Victim of Love Handcuffs for Lovers?" he asked with one arched brow.
Penny's jaw dropped and Ryan couldn't deny enjoying her stunned expression. "That was a-a gag gift. My sister gave them to me, for some insane reason-" she gesticulated wildly "-on my twenty-fifth birthday."
"Twenty-fifth, huh? How long ago was that?"
"Almost four years."
He grinned. "Keeping them handy for some reason?" She continued to look mortified, and Ryan mischievously took pleasure from it, until she finally let out a huge sigh. "Okay, fine, you caught me. I was cleaning out the basement a few weeks ago and found them. I guess I was sort of saving them just in case … well, you know, in case Martin … "
"Had a wild side," he finished for her.
She nodded, her pretty face nearly as red as the top she wore. "Now may I have my socks please?" She held out her hand.
"Heads up," Ryan said, tossing the balled pair of socks to her. As she caught them, he smiled, but she still looked disconcerted.
He shook his head as he dropped the handcuffs on the bed and came toward her. Although it had been fun for a minute, he didn't want her to be so embarrassed about a side of her that was so fun, so enticing. "Penny," he said, "I like it. And I really don't mind."
"Don't mind what?" she asked, exasperated.
He winked and pulled her into a warm embrace. "What an adventurous woman you are."
* * *
Penny had wanted to die when Ryan pulled those velvet handcuffs from her drawer. She'd forgotten they were even there, and now regretted putting them someplace so accessible. Of course, at the time, she'd thought she'd wanted them accessible, just in case anything interesting ever transpired with Martin. But thinking about that now made her want to throw the dumb things in the garbage as soon as she got home.
Thankfully, Ryan had been merciful enough not to mention them again and now they shared a lovely afternoon. First, they'd stopped at a shop in MountAdams to grab some wine coolers and fruit to snack on. Ryan had also plucked a small bouquet of daisies from a stand of flowers, thrusting them into her fist with a wink as he told the shopkeeper to add them to the bill. He couldn't know how the small gesture had melted her heart, but she still held the flowers, even as she lay on her stomach on the blanket they'd spread next to the pond at the overlook.
Most people came to this particular spot for the view of the Ohio River wending its way through the valley below, but Penny loved the garden atmosphere, the bridge that crossed the stream leading from the pond, the large shade trees that left the grass dappled with sunlight.
"This is a nice place," Ryan said, looking up from his laptop to watch a few kids run across the bridge.
Penny lay next to where he sat, facing the other way, so she twisted her neck to see. "Yeah, Martin and I come here sometimes."
"Oh." Ryan's smile disappeared. "So then this is kind of a … special place."
Penny sighed and snapped a grape from a bunch lying on a napkin between them. "No, not really. And, as I'm realizing more every day, nothing with Martin was actually all that special. It was more like we were two friends going to the park together. Two buddies." She popped the grape in her mouth and stopped short of telling Ryan that today, being here with him, was special. In fact, she found herself noticing the park's details in a way she never had before-the ducks' wakes spreading across the water, the vibrant purple flowers that jutted from the garden to their right, and the cheerful old men with their remote control riverboats, one sporting a working calliope. Oh, she'd seen all of it before, but she'd never really felt it, absorbed it, the way she did right now.