by Leslie North
Goose bumps rose on the back of her neck, spreading down the length of her spine and curving around her hips. It was one kiss, and a short one, because Drew still held Logan in his arms.
“Daddy, I’m hungry,” Logan said.
Penny was hungry, too. She was hungry in more ways than one. Her stomach felt like a hollow pit, but more than that, the kiss on the cheek—the whole conversation—it had felt like something worn-in and familiar and right. Was this what it looked like to have a happily ever after with someone? A home and a child and a husband she could go back and forth with on things that were important to them?
The vision was so powerful it took over everything else, dropping down like a scrim over Drew’s office. But it only lasted a few moments.
“You ready to head downstairs?” Drew asked his son.
“Yeah! With Miss Penny!”
Penny stood up and swept Logan out of Drew’s arms, twirling him around in a big circle. He laughed, his head thrown back, and she caught a glimpse of Drew’s eyes on the two of them. Could he see it, too? The pure fantasy of a life together?
That’s all it was, she told herself as she went down the stairs with Logan in her arms and set about making him breakfast. A fantasy. It would probably end when the deal closed. That would be logical. Why keep it up, after that?
She leaned over the counter, chatting with Logan as he ate toast with peanut butter. Drew swept into the kitchen a few minutes later, hair neat, blue eyes shining, and outfit flawless. He wore navy slacks and a white button-down with the sleeves rolled up above his elbows. Penny’s mouth watered. He had nice arms.
“All right. Everything good, buddy?”
Logan nodded, his mouth full of toast.
“Everything good?”
Penny nodded, too. Only it would have been better to unbutton all those buttons, one by one, and take off the white T-shirt underneath, and…dance together. Yes. That was it. Dance.
“Don’t forget,” he said, patting his pocket absently. “The barbecue is tomorrow, and we’re playing the host couple. So if there’s anything you need to do to prepare…”
Some of the tension had come back into his shoulders. “I’ve got the part of Drew Preston’s wife down. You’ll see.”
“It’ll be different from the dinner,” Drew insisted, worry creeping into his tone. “A lot more people. A lot more conversation.”
Penny crossed her arms over her chest, jutting one hip out. “Don’t you have a presentation to finalize, mister?”
His eyes flicked down over her body, lightning fast and just as hot. “You’re right about that.”
“You know I am.”
“I’ll see you after work, Mrs. Preston,” he joked, and Penny gave him a little wave, kicking her heel up behind her.
Logan laughed. “So funny.”
“So funny,” she said back. Drew left after a quick hug and a kiss from Logan.
“Did you see?” Logan said to her as the front door closed. “Daddy left.”
“I did see.” And it reminded her again that no matter how easy it felt, she could not fall madly in love with Drew Preston. It would only end in heartbreak.
7
The bounce house was a hit.
“I don’t know why I’ve never rented one before,” Drew told Penny as they looked out over the barbecue in full swing. The guests spilled out over Drew’s massive back deck, down the stairs, and into the manicured lawn beneath.
“I can’t believe it,” she joked, leaning in a bit closer. His heart felt like it might leap from his chest and fly away. “You seem like the kind of guy who rents a bounce house every week.” She chortled. “Honestly, you seem like the kind of guy who would just own a bounce house.”
“I should rectify that.”
“Logan would love it.”
Logan came tearing up the deck stairs, followed closely by Drew’s brother Charlie, whose assessing glance took in Penny and Drew in an instant. Drew’s face heated under the scrutiny. This was their first big performance, and it was basically act two of the presentation he’d made to Jack the day before.
“Penny, I jumped so much,” Logan said. “Look at me.” He jumped again. “Look!”
“I see!” She reached out a hand and ruffled his hair. “You’re a good jumper. Are you going to go back in the bounce house?”
“He said he was hungry,” said Charlie, smiling down at his nephew. Then he looked back at Penny. “Penny, I’ve seen you at Preston a couple of times, but I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced.”
The two of them shook hands, and Drew felt a burst of pride. At what, he wasn’t sure. How kind she was to Logan? She was always kind, engaged...present. At how beautiful she was? That was also a given.
“Logan, let’s get some food. It’s great to finally meet you, Charlie.”
Drew’s brother took Penny’s place at his side, and they watched Penny take Logan down to the catering station. He ran to the end with the desserts, and she put her hands to her mouth and called him back.
“You started dating the nanny and you didn’t even tell me?”
“That’s not what’s happening.”
“Oh, please. Everyone at this party can tell that’s what’s happening. Except...that’s not what they think is happening, is it?”
Drew looked his brother in the eye. “If you’ve heard rumors that I got married, then they’re half true.”
Charlie laughed out loud. “What do you mean, they’re half true?”
It had seemed like the kind of thing he’d want to keep a secret, but Drew felt a weight lift from his shoulders as he told Charlie what was, in reality, a simple story. Jack was a family man. He wanted to sell his company to a family man. And so they simply hadn’t corrected his mistake.
Charlie raised his eyebrows. “You expect me to believe this is all an act?”
“It is all an act.”
“Seems pretty real to me.” Charlie put a hand on Drew’s shoulder. “Great party. Jack and Lisa are having the time of their lives.”
Archer came out the back door and down the steps. “Have you eaten yet? The food smells amazing.”
Drew had hired a barbecue company to cater the event, and it was true—the backyard smelled like a barbecue heaven. The three brothers made their way to the catering station, where Penny crouched next to Logan, talking him through his options.
“And down here,” she was saying, “there are chicken nuggets.”
“Nuggets!” The boy cried, and she scooped five of them onto his plate.
Did it feel a little awkward, pressing a kiss to Penny’s temple in front of his brothers? Could he feel their eyes on him as he did it? Yes and yes. Did it also feel right?
Yes.
But he couldn’t wrestle with that feeling now, even if it was one hundred percent a problem. It felt too right to pull Penny in close.
“You lovebirds are going to have to tell us how you met.”
Drew had been aware, in some part of his mind, that Jack and Lisa were coming across the yard. Here they were.
“Yes,” said Archer, a sly note in his voice. “Tell the story. It’s one of my favorites.”
Penny looked up at him, dark eyes shining. Did anything faze her? “Well...” She began slowly, as if she was savoring every word of it, while also holding Logan’s plate in one hand and Logan’s hand in her other. “It was at a concert.”
“Seattle,” Drew said, and the legend sprang into his mind as if it had really happened. “Carver Row. My favorite band.”
“We both had seats in the fourth row,” Penny continued, “and it was one of those...cosmic situations where my girlfriend bailed and his brother bailed.” Over Penny’s head, Drew saw Archer give an approving nod.
“When the concert was done, we hardly had any voice left, but look at this woman.” Drew gazed down at her as if she were the only person in the world. As if he wasn’t painfully aware of his family and Jack watching them. “I couldn’t let her disappear into
the void. So I asked her out for a drink.”
“We talked more than we should have,” said Penny with a laugh. “And when we found out we were living within fifteen miles of each other...”
“It was meant to be.” The hitch in Drew’s voice wasn’t entirely fake.
“Oh, that’s a lovely story,” Lisa said, and adrenaline burst into his veins, bright and cold. It was like the rush when the encore finally stopped at a concert, when he was suffused with joy and satisfaction.
Only now he wanted more satisfaction.
Drew replayed this story—the story of he and Penny coming up with that fable—for the rest of the party. For the rest of the evening. Right up until they put Logan to bed. And when they stepped into the hallway, closing the door gently behind them.
Penny let out a little sigh. “Success. From top to bottom, don’t you think? Jack and Lisa seemed really into us at the party.”
She stood inches away, warmth coming off her skin from their afternoon out in the sun, and her dark eyes caught his and held. And that smile. He only saw that smile when they were alone or when she laughed at Logan. When she was at ease. Drew raised a hand and tucked her hair behind her ear. “If it was successful, it’s because of you.” A sweet, aching want rose in his chest. “Thank you.”
The words weren’t enough to convey that feeling. Not nearly enough.
Drew leaned down and kissed her.
Their lips met in a slow dance, on a fast inhale from Penny. This time, it wasn’t quick. It wasn’t a crash, like it had been at the concert. Tender. Deliberate. She parted her lips to let him in.
I’d be totally screwed without you. His entire soul bent toward her body. Penny made a soft noise in the back of her throat, low and encouraging, and he was instantly at attention. That sweet, aching want turned urgent.
He couldn’t do this.
If he did this, it would put him right back where he started—his emotions shading his business decisions, putting all of them at risk.
Penny kept her eyes closed as he broke the kiss, and Drew’s breath stopped in his throat as he traced the lines of her face, taking in her thick eyelashes and perfect nose. The fall of her dark hair was a symphony.
“Thank you,” he whispered again, muscles tense with the urge to sweep her into his arms and take her straight to the bedroom. Do not pass go. Do not do anything other than take her to bed.
He stepped back, feeling like he was pressing back against gale-force winds.
Penny opened her eyes, her fingertips going to her lips. “You’re welcome, Mr. Preston.”
Drew took a breath, the air shocking his lungs. It was a gift, that Mr. Preston. A joke between them, now that they’d crossed over into something more than a boss and a nanny. But it was a lifeline, too. He saw it in her eyes. She was giving him a chance at some distance.
“I’ll see you in the morning, Ms. Fox.”
Penny closed the door of her bedroom behind her, the ghost of Drew’s kiss lingering on her lips. She leaned back against the door, the wood cool and solid against her back, and tried to wrestle her crush into submission.
It was awful. He was so handsome; he was so kind—he was such a good father. She hadn’t thought much about kids before she met Logan, but now it was obvious. She couldn’t be with a man who wasn’t dedicated to his family. And right now, in some strange way, she was part of it. Standing at that barbecue with him was like stepping through the looking glass. It had felt so real.
And the kiss.
The kiss hummed through every inch of her as she stripped off the sundress she’d worn to the barbecue and tossed it into the hamper in her walk-in closet, bra and panties following close behind. Into the bathroom, into the shower, and Penny let the hot water run down over her skin.
It should have been his hands, running over her skin. She’d felt that want in his kiss as clearly as she’d ever felt anything, and desire coiled between her legs.
It was too much to keep trapped beneath her skin.
Ms. Fox.
Oh, how she’d wanted him to insist he call her Drew. She’d wanted him to kiss her again, this time with a growl, and whisper in her ear that she wasn’t to call him that anymore. She’d wanted him to stop holding back. Penny slipped her fingers between her legs, spreading them apart to get better access.
She was already sensitive from the kiss, and her body responded. It was a desperate move, getting off in the shower this way, but with her fingertips on her clit, working furiously, she lost herself in the fantasy.
The one where he wasn’t such a stickler about mixing business and pleasure.
The one where he couldn’t help himself—he took her to his room and peeled off her sundress himself.
The one where they did far, far more than dance.
The orgasm spilled out of her, shaking her muscles and tipping her head back underneath the water.
She was still trembling when the door to the bathroom opened.
A surge of hope almost knocked her to the floor. The clear glass door of the shower offered no visual barrier between her and the door, and whoever it was would see her. Oh, god, she hoped it was Drew. She hoped he’d been feeling the same way and had padded down the hall, taking his own shirt off, and his jeans, and his boxers...
But there was nobody there, in the strip of light falling into her suite from the bathroom.
Her heart slowed.
Of course there was nobody there.
Penny took a big breath in and let it out. She could feel the blush in her cheeks, even though the room beyond was empty. She hadn’t shut the door all the way in her rush to get into the shower. That’s all it was.
She closed her eyes and tipped her head back again, raising her hands to work the water through her hair.
Even if the kiss was as far as it was ever going to go with Drew, it had been hot.
Yeah...there was no denying it now. She was into him. Way into him. And that was fine. “That’s normal and fine,” she said out loud to herself as she rinsed out the shampoo and added conditioner.
But you’d better be ready for when this is over. You can’t let it catch you off guard.
8
“Is Logan already gone?”
Penny stood in the doorway to Drew’s office, slightly out of breath, a red truck in her hand.
Her beauty struck him so hard, it was like the truck had grown to its full size and run him over. Pink cheeks. Dark hair in a bun on top of her head, a few shiny locks escaping. She wore jeans that hugged her hips in a way that made him jealous and a tank that reminded him of how her body moved under the lights from the concert stage. At first, the sight wiped her question from his mind, replacing it with the kiss after last week’s barbecue. That kiss was making it impossible to stand next to her in the kitchen without wanting to take her hand in his and press her knuckles to his lips or run his fingertips down the back of her neck, or any number of other things…
“Yes. He and Susan left about five minutes ago.” Susan had finally recovered from what was the worst stomach bug of the year and had color back in her cheeks, and Logan had been thrilled to see her. Drew had heard him telling her about the bounce house at the barbecue until his voice finally faded in the distance. A smile played over his face. “Were you rushing here with his truck?”
Penny looked down at the truck in her hand and blinked, her cheeks going pink. “Yeah, I was. He’s been all about the red truck today, so I thought he might want it over the weekend.”
It stirred something deep in his heart, how thoughtful she was. The last nanny had been efficient and kind and reliable, but she’d never once gone to a length like this.
“I…appreciate it.”
Penny laughed out loud and gave him a little salute. “Compliment registered, Mr. Preston.”
“No, I do.” He smiled back at her. It was impossible not to. “I want you to know that…I really do appreciate these things. But over the winter we bought Logan matching sets of trucks for each house so
he wouldn’t have to be without.”
“Oh, of course you did.” Penny tucked the truck into her shoulder bag. “That makes total sense.”
“The truck obsession is strong with him.”
“Don’t I know it.” She came another step into his office, hand on her bag. “What are you working on today?” He heard the tentative note in her voice. What he should do was tell her that it was nothing. Tell her that she could have the rest of the day off—start her weekend early. But Drew had been wrestling with the presentation all morning and through lunch.
“A backup presentation.”
Penny’s eyes brightened. “For the backup company?”
“Exactly.”
She tapped the side of her chin. “Something tells me it’s not going well.”
“What tells you that?”
“The fact that you were frowning at your screen with your arms crossed when I came in here.” Penny mimicked his expression, which made him laugh. “Is it another missing piece?”
“There are a lot of missing pieces,” Drew admittedly. It felt simultaneously strange and completely normal to be talking about a business project with her, and his mind and heart tussled over it. But she’d found the flaw in his last presentation, hadn’t she? He’d hired her to be a nanny with full knowledge that Penny had plenty of corporate experience. It would be to his benefit if he went ahead and admitted it. He let out a long breath. “I wanted to have this done by tomorrow.”
“What’s tomorrow?”
“The weekend.” She laughed again, and that familiar throaty sound made his nerves buzz with pleasure. “But after the weekend, we have the gala.”
“The gala. Yes. I have to shop this weekend.”
“We have to shop this weekend.” The words slipped between his lips, and Penny raised her eyebrows. An image of her in a gown with a low-cut back, spinning slowly in front of a full-length mirror popped into his mind, followed quickly by a pure, strong desire for it to happen. “What? Did you think I would make you buy your own gown for the gala I’m holding? I wouldn’t make my wife buy her own gown.”