“I’m not uncomfortable here,” she replied, sweeping up her mug of coffee. “It’s much better here than it would be going home to visit my mom for Christmas. Let’s put it that way.”
“I get the sense that is supposed to make me feel better, but I don’t know what I’m comparing it to.”
“You don’t need to know,” Penny said. “I have to get ready for the day. Thanks for trying to clear the air, but I’m an adult. I’m not necessarily an innocent when it comes sex.”
She left the kitchen with the last part of that sentence lingering in the back of my mind. Fuck me. Somehow, it turned me on even more. I ran a hand through my damp hair in aggravation as I left the kitchen to sit down at my desk to do a couple hours’ worth of work. I needed to do something to keep Penny off my brain. It was an hour later that Alyssa stopped in the living room to kiss me goodbye.
“Do you want to come with us?” she asked, squeezing my shoulder and smiling. “It’d be fun to have you around. It’s a Saturday too, Dad. I don’t know why you’re insisting on working right now.”
I offered a forced smile because I could see Penny visibly stiffen in the foyer at Alyssa’s invitation. “You two go on. I have to keep working on this presentation. Have fun, the both of you.”
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Yes, go on
. Have fun.”
I let out a pent-up breath the second that I heard Alyssa and Penny shut the front door. I listened to their retreating steps and voices as they walked in the direction of the elevator before rising out of my chair. Nothing would ever make any sort of a relationship with Penny right. I sat down on the edge of the couch to flip through a few channels in an attempt to find something good to watch. Nothing caught my attention.
The buzz of my cellphone on my desk broke through the silence. I rose from the couch, tossed the remote carelessly on the coffee table, and looked down at the caller ID. This would be a good distraction, at least.
“Hello, Neil,” I said. “What are you up to?”
“Michelle and the kids have gone away for the weekend,” Neil said. “I thought enjoying the silence in the house would be nice, but I’m going fucking crazy over here.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose with a sigh. “I know that feeling very well.”
“I have a proposition for you,” Neil continued on. “Since Michelle is out of the house this weekend, I have no one to answer to.”
I rolled my eyes at his excited tone. “Good for you. Make sure to throw a big house party, drink all her alcohol, and then get the house cleaned up before she comes back home at the end of the weekend.”
“Very funny. I was going to ask if you wanted to go back to that club we were at the other night.”
I grimaced at the thought of alcohol after that nasty hangover the following two days, and the prospect of going back there didn’t sound appealing at all. It had landed me into some solid trouble.
“I’m not sure,” I replied, crossing the living room to gaze out the windows. “I have some issues going on here at the moment that started with that night.”
“Do any of those issues have to deal with Penny Marshall?”
I went rigid as a board at his suggestion. Swallowing thickly, I tried to think of a way around the question. I had no idea how Neil knew who Penny was, or that something had happened between her and I. It set me on edge, thinking that anyone had seen something that night. If they did, it was only a matter of time before something was said.
“How do you know about Penny?” I asked stiffly.
“Her name was brought up to me when I came back into the club to pay for my tab,” Neil said, and I could hear the frown in his voice. “I went back to the booth, but the curtains were closed. That’s when the security guard told me that you were talking in private with a woman named Penny Marshall.”
“That doesn’t make sense. The security details in there don’t even know her name.”
“Well, this security guard seemed to know her name,” Neil said. “It doesn’t matter though, Gabriel. I’m your best friend. Do you think I’m honestly going to say something to you about it?”
“You’re the one bringing it up,” I muttered tersely. Silence stretched on the other end. “I’m sorry, Neil. I’m just nervous with this clusterfuck of a lawsuit going on around me. I don’t know who I can trust anymore these days.”
“You can trust me,” Neil said firmly. “Whatever you do in your personal life is your business. I don’t want to know any details of it, but you’re right about one thing, though. You need to be careful about who you trust these days. That sort of thing could destroy your reputation in the public eye.”
I returned my gaze to the city full of people below my feet. The public eye had become very important to my career the moment I had gained the government’s trust. Scandalous reports about any impropriety with Penny going public could destroy my credibility.
CHAPTER TEN – PENNY
“I can’t figure out what is going on with my dad.”