Cruel Legacy (Cruel 3)

Chapter 5

Natalie

I stretched like a cat as I woke to a brand-new world. A distinctly delicious male figure slept soundly on the other side of the bed. And between us was the smallest and yet largest ten-pound dog in existence.

I rubbed Totle’s belly and planted a kiss on his head. “You’re so lucky that you’re cute.”

Pulling Totle’s sleeping body closer to me, I rolled over him and onto Penn’s side. Then I wrapped my arms around his waist like I was the big spoon and sighed in pleasure. This felt right. Unbelievably right.

Like maybe I could live in this life right here, right now. Maybe I didn’t need anything else but this. Especially after the night that we’d had.

But this wasn’t the real world. Penn’s room was like a magical fortress that no one could possibly access. They’d have to slay a fire-breathing dragon to get inside. And there were no white knights in this city. Only dark sorcerers and evil witches set to ruin a princess’s life.

As soon as we left this sanctuary, we’d have to deal with that world out there again. Which I knew and hated and wished weren’t true. But Penn had told me time and time again that, once you were in on the Upper East Side, there was no out. He was proof of that. And while Katherine was trying to drag me out of the Upper East Side by my silvery-white hair, I wasn’t here to play nice. I was here to make sure she never hurt anyone ever again.

That meant…the real world had to come into this perfect place earlier than I would have liked.

“I could get used to this,” Penn muttered groggily. A yawn broke on the last word, and he rolled over to get a look at me. “Morning.”

Despite my dark thoughts, a smile broke across my features at his sleepy greeting. “Good morning.”

His hands slipped around my waist, pulling me flush with him. “Last night wasn’t a dream.”

“That would have been quite a vivid dream.”

“They’ve been vivid before,” he confessed.

“Oh?”

“Not like last night, but usually, I’m fucking some sense into you.”

I laughed and shook my head. “I don’t think it works that way.”

“Think it did last night.”

I made a disbelieving sound. Men!

He pressed a kiss into my hair. “Don’t move. I’m going to take Totle out, and when I get back, I want to return to this discussion.”

“You are unbelievable.”

He hopped out of bed, revealing the taut contours of his impressive ass. I bit down on my lip at the sight. God, that body.

“I think you told me that last night, too, but in a slightly different context.” He winked at me and then patted the bed near Totle’s head. “Come on, Aristotle. Get up, you lazy beast. I have plans for the sex fiend in my bed and want to hurry back.”

I snorted as Totle’s little head popped up out of the covers, and he trotted toward Penn, who was tugging on clothes to brave the January chill.

“Ten minutes,” he assured before disappearing from the room.

I flopped back on the bed.

January. A new year. A new me. A new us.

So absolutely optimistic.

I was going to have to tell him. I’d put it off long enough. And I wasn’t looking forward to what was to come. Because I had plans, and I didn’t know how he was going to respond. But he was the linchpin. So much of this rested on his shoulders. I could do it without him. I could. The means would be uglier, more volatile.

And then there was the matter of trust. Trusting him with my body. Trusting him with my safety. Those were different than simply trusting him. Believing that, in the end, he wouldn’t fuck me over. Just because we could fuck didn’t prove anything.

My phone buzzed on the nightstand, bringing me out of my thoughts. I checked the text from Amy.

Ready to head to the apartment whenever you are. How did last night go?

I’ll text when I’m leaving Penn’s place.

I take that to mean…very well? ;)

Oh, yeah!

How’d he take the news?

Pray for me. I’m about to tell him.

Fuck. You need more than prayers.

I laughed and set the phone back down on the nightstand. She wasn’t wrong.

With a sigh, I pushed myself to my feet. My body was sore in all the best ways. I stretched my arms overhead and then stole a pair of sweats and a gray-and-blue Columbia T-shirt from Penn’s drawers before heading into the bathroom. I was just pulling the tee on when Penn came back into the bedroom. I could hear Totle eating in the other room.

“This was not what I told you. Those are clothes.” He wrapped his arms around my waist. “And you should not be in them.”

“Busy day, Dr. Kensington. I’m going to need to borrow these.”