Imperfect Penelope (Wild Crush)

by Sami Lee

  “European sports cars ought to be opened up once in a while. Besides, this in an emergency situation.”

  “We’ll tell that to the cops if you get pulled over.”

  “I have a feeling I’d be able to defend the ticket easily.”

  “You know a good lawyer, right?” He heard the smile in her voice.

  “And I have a fantastic defense. The promise of sex with a beautiful woman. I suspect I’d get a police escort.”

  She laughed softly and turned to gaze out the passenger side window. In his peripheral vision, Greg saw the way she brushed a hand over her hair, as though to smooth it. It was an awkward gesture, and he didn’t think it was the mention of sex that made her uncomfortable. Not the woman who kissed him lustily and almost came in the front seat of his car. That woman knew the demands of her body and wasn’t reluctant to meet them. It was something else that had made her go quiet.

  In that moment Greg discovered a fact about Penny he hadn’t noticed before. She didn’t think she was beautiful.

  He’d been entranced by her for so long, it had never occurred to Greg that Penny might not be one hundred percent confident of her appeal. Suddenly the things she’d said on the dance floor made sense. When he’d forced himself off her that morning, she’d seen it as a rejection of her inconsequential assets, and not as the semi-noble attempt not to maul her that it was. No wonder she’d kicked him out.

  Reaching across the car, Greg put a hand on Penny’s leg. “Penny.”

  “Hmm?”

  “Do you have any idea how much I want you?”

  He took his attention off the road long enough to look at her, so she might see the desire in his eyes. She turned from the window and her lips formed a twist. “I know. You said it had been a while.”

  “No, that’s not it.” He gave her leg a squeeze. “I don’t want to want you, but I do.”

  “Riiight,” Penny said slowly. “Because you don’t do relationships. I know that, Greg. I’m…I’m not expecting anything from you, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m not a moron. I know this is just sex.”

  The words hit him like small blows to the chest. Just. Sex. She was right, of course. That was all there could ever be between them. Any fool could see they were too different, completely incompatible and ill-suited. She was a vegetarian new-age hippy who didn’t believe in impulse control, and he was a red-meat-loving control freak who wore a suit to work. They were prone to misunderstanding each other and arguing heatedly.

  There was also the complication of her being his brother’s ex, which would certainly put a new spin on meeting the family. Once he’d confirmed Bryan’s affair with Penny had been casual, Greg no longer thought there was any reason to feel guilty for wanting her, but a relationship with Penny would be out of the question even if he weren’t already closed off to the idea for other reasons. Reasons like being jilted at the altar and never wanting to fall in love again. He couldn’t give her anything beyond the physical if he wanted to.

  Yet the words just sex didn’t seem quite right. They seemed inadequate. How could he explain the fixation that had taken over him, the frustration, the lost sleep, the sexual enchantment that wouldn’t let him go? In a deposition he was terrific with words. At this moment he couldn’t find the right ones to articulate what he felt, but he couldn’t let her go on thinking she was merely some sort of…receptacle in which he wanted to stick his inconvenient erection. So he lifted Penny’s hand from where it rested in her lap and transferred it to his.

  He groaned aloud when her touch burned him through his trousers. His cock leapt against her palm, desperate for a firmer grip. Greg kept his other hand on the wheel with knuckles that were no doubt white. Perhaps this wasn’t such a great idea. Instead of removing her hand, he pressed it more tightly to his pained erection. His voice was a thick rasp. “This is what you do to me.”

  A breath shuddered out of her. “Oh boy.”

  “You turn me on. This is not just because I haven’t been with a woman in almost a year.”

  “A year?”

  “I was hibernating before. Then I started doing yoga with you and this happened. I could never get through a session without thinking of all the different ways I wanted to fuck you. At night I’d have this to deal with and I’d have to…”

  He trailed off before he said something crude. He’d never actually detailed his masturbatory habits to anyone before, nor stuck a woman’s hand in his crotch. The heat in his body traveled to his face, and Greg realized he was blushing. Blushing. He was glad it was too dark in the car for Penny to notice.

  “I see.” The bashful note in her voice made Greg wonder if she was feeling flushed herself. “I’ve never been anyone’s…inspiration before.”

  “I highly doubt that. More likely no man has ever been indecent enough to tell you.”

  “I think I like you when you’re being indecent.”

  To punctuate the point, Penny gave his stiff cock a squeeze. The breath backed up in Greg’s lungs. He used his grip on her wrist to try and pull her off him. “I’ve made my point. You can stop that.”

  “You started it.”

  “Very ill-advised of me. We’re going to have an accident.”

  “Then you’d better put both hands on the wheel.”

  Greg had little choice. He saw the turnoff to his house coming up and had to use both hands to execute the hard right. When he was safely on the new road, Penny started stroking her hand up and down.

  “Oh God…Penelope.”

  Extending her seatbelt as far as it would go, she rested her chin on his shoulder as she kept stroking him. Up and down. Up and down. “You know I secretly love it when you snarl Penelope like that. I only pretend to hate it.”

  “That’s…good…information.” His words came out on long, dragging breaths. Speech was almost impossible when Penny was teasing the hell out of his already teased-to-breaking-point erection. “I’m going…to fuck you…so hard for this.”

  “If you think that sounds like a punishment, you’re way off.” Her fingers moved to his belt buckle. “Maybe I should—”

  “No,” Greg barked. If she opened his fly he’d be done for. Ejaculating prematurely before they even reached home was not exactly putting his best foot forward. “You should not.”

  She giggled softly. “It’d help if you didn’t live this far out of town. Where are we going—New Zealand?”

  “Quit complaining. At least out here nobody will hear you screaming my name.”

  “Arrogant, aren’t you?”

  “Goal-oriented,” he corrected. “And my goal is to make you come so many times you can’t remember how to use your legs.”

  His audacity was rewarded by the excited hitch in her breath, her impatient words. “Seriously, how much farther is it?”

  “We’re here.” He turned left into his driveway and took the steep incline up to his house. “The remote control’s in the glove box.”

  Penny undid the latch and pulled out the garage-door opener. Her hands must have been shaking because she fumbled as she went to hand it to him, and the device fell and landed in Greg’s crotch.

  “I’ll get it,” she quipped and made a show of diving for the remote.

  Greg mock frowned at her as he got the remote himself and pressed the right button. “You’re incorrigible. And God help me, I like it.”

  The tilt of her lips was coy and sexy at once. “I’ll try to be incorrigible more often.”

  He cupped Penny’s jaw and drew her towards him until their lips almost met. “Don’t you dare be anything you don’t want to be.”

  He kissed her and this time opened himself up, allowing her to do the exploring.

  Penny grabbed both sides of Greg’s face and tried to urge him into another one of those devouring kisses she’d come to expect. She loved the way he tugged on her hai
r and just planted his lips on hers like he had every right to do it, the way he conquered her mouth with his tongue. She’d never been with anyone quite so determined to get his own way, and it was unexpectedly hot.

  Yet this time he didn’t take over. He parted his lips but held back, as though waiting for her to make a move. Distantly, she heard the soft whirr of the garage door easing up. She moaned with impatience, wishing she could transport them both in the house and into bed. Her panties were drenched, and her pussy ached with an emptiness she desperately wanted Greg to fill.

  It had been almost a year for him. He must be about ready to explode. But he didn’t take the kiss to deeper waters. When Penny whimpered in frustration, Greg murmured against her lips, “Take what you want. Take it.”

  Penny did. She shifted her hands until her fingers clutched at the back of Greg’s head. She half pulled him down, half lifted herself to meet him as she pushed her tongue into his mouth. His long, low moan was the only encouragement she needed. She slid her tongue along his, enjoying the faint spice left over from the food he’d eaten overlaid by the taste of good scotch. Unclicking her seatbelt, she rose to her knees and tilted his head back until it hit the headrest. With her hands on his shoulders, she kissed him like her life depended on it because it felt like it did.

  Cool air hit her back as he eased the zip of her dress down. His hands slipped inside the fabric to touch flesh. Delight shivered through her at the contact, and Penny deepened the kiss, letting him see the need in her.

  “Penelope,” he growled when she came up for air. “I need light. I need to see you when we do this.”

  Penny shivered at the words when we do this. Oh, yes, they were definitely doing this. No ifs about it anymore.

  “Drive,” she said, and transferred her lips to his neck as he fumbled with the steering wheel. The Alfa’s tires screeched on the garage floor as he drove in and landed on the brakes hard. Greg caught Penny before she collided with the dashboard.

  She giggled. “This is getting dangerous.”

  “That’s an understatement. Wait there.”

  Greg got out of the car and walked around the front of it. Penny waited where she was because she needed the moment to catch her breath. There’s greater danger here than you bumping your ass into the dashboard, Pen. She pushed aside the inner voice because she didn’t want to think about potential consequences.

  Besides, she knew the score. Just sex, like she’d said. Greg hadn’t contradicted her. They both knew what was going on. It made sense to simply enjoy tonight and be one of those sophisticated creatures who moved on from a one-night-stand without a single expectation.

  Penny could only hope walking away would be easy.

  A light came on. The car door opened and Greg leaned in. “Come here.”

  When she realized he intended to lift her out of the car, Penny laughed. “Are you crazy?”

  “You hurt your foot before,” he said. “I don’t want you walking on it.”

  He lifted her out of the vehicle, Rhett Butler-style, and cradled her against his body. Penny rotated her foot left and right for him to see. “No need to worry. It’s fine now.”

  “You can never be too careful.”

  He carried her inside through a door to the left, and Penny figured she might as well settle in for the ride. She wound her arms around his neck and held on, unable to resist closing her eyes and snuggling her face into his neck. His quality cologne teased her nostrils, and underneath it she could detect his unique manly scent. Penny breathed deep until it filled her and made her head swim pleasantly.

  Her eyes shot open when she noticed what she was doing. She was loving the whole romantic sweeping-her-off-her-feet thing. But this wasn’t romance. It was sex. Hadn’t she just reminded herself of that in the car? “You can put me down.”

  Her words only made him pull her closer. “In a minute.”

  Penny sniffed. “Obstinate man.”

  Her momentary annoyance, which came at her like a lifeline, was quashed when Greg put his lips to her forehead. She could feel the way they curved, and it made her chest constrict. “I like holding you.”

  Greg paused to switch on a light before striding purposefully through the house. Penny got an impression of shiny hardwood floors and white leather furniture. She tried to peer into the shadows because she wanted to see more, to find out if Greg’s house gave her any insight into him. She had to mentally slap herself. She didn’t care about him. She was going to fuck him, that was all. Fuck him and walk away like a sophisticated, savvy woman.

  Greg walked into another room and switched on the light. Penny blinked at the brightness, looking at him questioningly when she saw all the white tile and shiny chrome of a bathroom. “Sorry, do I smell?”

  His lips twitched. “Much as I love the idea of showering with you, no. This is a short detour.”

  He set her ass down on the vanity counter and opened the medicine cabinet. While he searched inside it, Penny stared at the strong column of his throat, at the dark shadow of beard that would probably grow in by morning. His tie sat askew. She must have bumped it out of alignment at some point. The loosened knot was too great a temptation, and Penny worked her fingers inside it until it came apart. Then she started working on the buttons of his crisp white dress shirt.

  She felt Greg watching her, but she kept her focus on the buttons, and on the inches of taut skin revealed as she parted the fabric. His abs were rock hard and well defined. When she touched them, they contracted and formed a six-pack shape that made Penny’s mouth dry out.

  “You’ve been holding out on me,” she said as she trailed her fingernails over each ridged muscle. “You do more than jog.”

  “I have weight machines downstairs.” His chest grew still, his breath held tight within it when Penny moved her touch upward and over his pecs. “Plus I enjoy crunches.”

  “Nobody enjoys crunches.”

  “I enjoy the way you’re looking at me, so they’re definitely worth the effort.” He grabbed her wrist when she brushed a finger over his flat, brown nipple, halting her explorations. “Your turn.”

  Penny’s heart thudded in her chest. The bathroom light was unforgiving, and it was hard to forget the way he’d turned away from her last time she’d disrobed for his benefit.

  “Penelope.” He put two fingers under her chin and lifted her face so she could no longer avoid his gaze. His eyes glittered with banked passion. “You have no idea how hard it was for me to walk out of your house that morning. Do you?”

  She bit her lip and tried to turn from him, but Greg gripped her chin and held her still. “I’m not walking away this time. Please. I need to see you.”

  His words did nothing to calm her heartbeat, and the adrenaline made Penny’s fingers tremble when she reached for the shoulder straps of her dress. Greg had already unzipped it in the car, and the lightweight material fell down her arms with little urging. Penny pulled her hands free of the dress as it pooled at her waist. Her pulse hammered in her throat as she watched Greg’s face.

  The desire that had been simmering in his eyes flared, lighting up those glowing flecks and turning his irises from deep brown to bright gold. His hot gaze fixed on her breasts. His avid attention made their peaks distend and spill over the top of her lacy demi-bra.

  “Good God,” Greg rasped, and reached out a hand until his fingers grazed the tip of her nipple. Penny’s body jerked and any remaining self-consciousness fled. She arched, inviting him to touch because she wanted him to. She wanted him to touch, and caress and pinch. Her breasts might be small but they’d always been sensitive, and Penny couldn’t hold in her whimpers of pleasure when Greg did as she’d wished.

  He brought his right hand up to cover her other breast. His fingers were warm and skillful as he played with her nipples like a master musician played the strings of an instrument. When he gave each nipple a lig
ht pinch, Penny dropped her head back and moaned aloud.

  “Jesus. I need you in bed. Now.”

  Penny lifted her head and looked at him. “Don’t stop… Feels so good.”

  “Penny…”

  Letting her thighs melt apart, Penny perched a knee on either side of Greg’s hips and used the leverage to draw him forward. She reached out and touched his chest, enjoyed the slight tickle of the fine hair coating his pecs as it brushed over her palms. “Kiss me. Kiss in that way you do.”

  Gripping her hips, he moved into the V of her open legs and stared down at her. “What way is that?”

  “Like you own me,” Penny said. “Then I want you to fuck me like that too.”

  Chapter Nine

  He groaned and yanked her forward until, at long last, she could feel the solid jut of his erection pressing against her mound. Then his mouth was on hers, devouring, conquering, just as he had allowed her to do to him in the car. If it weren’t for that, Penny might have thought they weren’t evenly matched, that it was too easy for him to turn her to mush and that she was in big, big trouble. But he wanted her to take what she needed, not merely to let him have his way. And she would. Like a sophisticated, savvy, sexually aware woman.

  She pushed at his shirt until he took the hint and tore it off his arms without breaking contact with her lips. Penny ran her hands over his shoulders, enjoying the width and solidity of them, before moving her touch up to his hair. She pressed herself tighter to him as she ran her fingers through the short strands. Her nails dug into his scalp, but he didn’t seem to mind. In fact the savagery of his kiss intensified. It stole Penny’s breath, replaced every coherent thought with pure need.

  When he reached inside the flowing skirt of her dress and found the edges of her panties, Penny dropped her hands to the vanity behind her, lifting her hips. Greg yanked the underwear down her legs, or tried too. He couldn’t get them past her splayed thighs.