Something Wild(24)

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.