Cruel Money (Cruel 1)

“What about you?”

“Spaghetti.”

“Yum. More importantly…favorite dessert?”

“You have a sweet tooth?”

I grinned. “I wouldn’t say no to a doughnut.”

“My favorite is probably the German chocolate cake my longtime cook, Tiffany, used to make for me. Nothing tastes like hers.”

“Of course you grew up with a cook.”

He stood to adjust something. “She taught me how to cook too. Told me it was the only way I was going to survive college. She was right.”

“Your parents didn’t send a cook to you for college?” I joked.

“They tried, but I wanted to get away, so I tried to distance myself from that lifestyle.”

“Jesus,” I muttered.

He sank back down next to me. “Favorite book?”

“Easy,” I said, reaching for his hand on instinct. “Pride and Prejudice.”

“Ah, and the romantic finally comes out.”

“Oh, shush. What about you?”

“The Great Gatsby.”

I rolled my eyes. “Tragedies. Right. I almost forgot.”

“Gatsby is classic.”

“You’re right. It’s genius but still so fitting.” I stood and turned my face into the wind. “My turn…favorite road-trip destination?”

“Never been on one.”

I gasped and whirled on him. “You’re joking!”

“No,” he said with a laugh at my reaction.

“Never?”

“I’ve driven to places before, but usually, it’s like between the Hamptons and the city.”

“That’s insane. I started road trips young. My parents loved them even though I could never figure out why they wanted to be in the car for that long. But part of it was just the journey rather than the destination. Then, Amy and I road-tripped to Los Angeles one summer.”

“Fuck! LA? Seriously? How long did that take you?”

“Two weeks. It’s about three days of actual driving, but we stopped along the way. Her cousin was going to UCLA and didn’t want to make the drive. Her parents offered to ship the car there, but Amy and I decided to drive it out.”

“That’s insane. Who would want to be in a car for three weeks?”

“It’s the basis for my book actually.”

“The one you won’t let me read?”

“I won’t let you read any of them,” I told him playfully. “But no, not the one that I just sent to Caroline. This was the one I was working on when I first got here. I’m going to go back to it when I finish the new one.”

“What’s the new one about?”

I looked at him with wide, innocent eyes. “A woman’s journey and love and finding the place she belongs.”

“Isn’t that like…half of all books?”

“Exactly.”

“All right. You’re not ready to tell,” he conceded. “How about Christmas plans? What are you doing for the holidays?”

“Oh,” I said in surprise. “It really depends on this job, I suppose. I’ll probably go back to Charleston for the holidays with my parents and Mel. But, otherwise, I haven’t thought about it. What about you?”

“Christmas is the best time to be in the city. But usually, I have an uncomfortable brunch with my family. Then I get together with the crew and exchange presents. Open a really expensive bottle of scotch and finish it.”

“Besides the uncomfortable brunch, it sounds nice. You’ve found family with your friends, and that’s important.”

“That’s a good way to think about it.” He nodded at me. “Your question.”

I chewed on my lip and tried to think of what to ask. I had a question I knew that I probably shouldn’t ask. But I was extremely curious.

“Any exes?” I asked to the wind.

Penn froze where he was seated, which answered my question well enough.

“Never mind. That’s awkward. You don’t have to answer that. We’re not dating or anything.”

“No one important enough to mention,” he said and then stood to grab me closer. “And I don’t want you to answer.”

“Really?”

He threaded his fingers up into my silver hair and brought our lips together in a sensual, intimate kiss that made my toes curl.

“I don’t want to think about you with anyone else.”

I melted into putty in his hands. Then I nodded. Not that I had anything to really say. Serial relationships or not…none of them had ever really mattered. It was hard to wonder what I’d seen in any of them when I was staring up into Penn’s clear blue eyes.

“Come on now,” he said. “I’m going to teach you how to sail.”

“Oh god, really?”

“Yeah, get your sweet ass over here, and I’ll show you how to handle a big stick.”

I rolled my eyes. “Pretty sure I’m already a pro at that.”

“Touché,” he said and then went into a lecture on terminology.

Thank god he was pretty.

Natalie

22

“If you ask me one more time which way is starboard or port, I will take my heel off and stab you with it,” I warned him.

Penn chuckled. He was leaning against the doorframe in his Upper East Side penthouse bathroom. Totle was curled up on the bed unhappy that we weren’t paying attention to him since we were getting ready for the Chloe Avana concert instead.

“You’re going to get it eventually.”