One Second After Another (The After Another Trilogy Book 3)

by Bethany-Kris

  Penny arched a brow. “Maybe, but still ... I take enough risks.”

  But not with them, he knew. Hell, she ran away to become an assassin just to protect them. Luca didn’t think it was the right time to point that out, however.

  But that gave him another thought.

  “All these years, huh?”

  Penny had been reaching for the handles of the duffle bag, but froze mid-grab. Her bright stare darted upward, slamming into his when she asked, “What are you talking about?”

  “Naz’s father knew for all these years. Where you were, I mean. What happened. Cross knew all of it because he orchestrated it.”

  A slow, steady stream of air left Penny’s parted lips, but otherwise, she gave nothing away. Even when she replied, “It’s not him I have to worry about here. He just signed a paper once—cleared up the details, so to speak. The rest was me.”

  “You don’t think he has influence with one of the organizations currently hunting you down right now considering he was the one who brought you to The League?”

  Penny’s jaw flexed. “They’re not the same as The Elite. Regardless of what they’re doing right now, they’re not the same even if their goal is a similar one.”

  “Your point?”

  “They’re the least of my worries. Like my ex-boss.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  Because he thought they might be the only real threat left when it came to her safety. She had already severely wounded The Elite as an organization—their hired dogs on Penny’s trail were probably about as useless as the people in control of their leashes at the moment. The League was not the same. And the only connection between her and them that could be helpful was Cross Donati. He figured that was an important detail.

  “Are we done talking?” Penny asked, snatching up the duffle bag. “Because if so, we need to go. No point in staying here longer than we need to. The city is buzzing right now.”

  Luca heard what she didn’t say. “I know a place we could go for a couple of days, or whatever you need.”

  Far away from city lights.

  “What I need,” Penny muttered, “is time to let things work.”

  “What things?”

  Her answer?

  “Everything, Luca.”

  He wasn’t surprised.

  “We’ll need a car,” he called at her retreating back while he gathered his few possessions left in the room.

  “And I bet you can get that figured out, too. Right?”

  “Maybe.”

  Penny winked over her shoulder where she waited by the hotel room’s door. “That’s why I need you, Luca.”

  Right.

  That was why.

  WITH A LITTLE TIME and inspiration, Luca could figure anything out or make shit work. Some might say he was resourceful, but he thought it was a lot simpler than that. Habit bred obsession, in his case, and he was a product of exactly that. He didn’t like unanswered questions, of any kind, so he had taught himself how to find the answer to problems no matter the issue.

  Penny needed a vehicle?

  Last second?

  No worries.

  “Which unit is it again?” Penny asked.

  “Three-oh-six. We’re almost there.”

  The echoes of their footsteps carried down the long corridor of storage units. The wide—and tall at eight-feet—orange doors with silver numbers seemed to go on forever. He hadn’t explained much about the vehicle they were there to get out of storage. Only that he knew where they could get one without much trouble. He was one of the few people who could head into the front office of the facility, give his first and last name and passcode, and be granted full access to every storage unit on the property connected to his surname.

  “Is it yours?” she asked.

  “Not really.”

  So to speak.

  “Are you purposely being difficult?”

  Luca grinned her way, saying again, “Not really.”

  Penny didn’t even hesitate to swat at him, which Luca dodged easily. Just as fast, he came back into stride alongside her, slinging an arm over her shoulders to drag her close. Penny’s laughter muffled against the arm of his jacket when he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. When he did finally let her go, although not too far because he kept their hands connected even if it was only by their pinkies, she didn’t ask more.

  Not about the car.

  Or the storage place.

  He was grateful; this shit wasn’t simple, they didn’t have the time to linger for a long explanation, and he really didn’t care to get into all of it. The storage unit they were visiting wasn’t his, but he—like every Puzza in the state—had access to it.

  It was his father’s. The Aston Martin Vanquish was one of his father’s favorite—and least used—car in the man’s fleet. Zeke liked to keep his many cars spread out across the state. From the Jeep he kept at the weekend townhouse, his parents sometimes used in the city to the expensive storage unit where the Vanquish stayed safe and mostly undriven.

  Zeke only brought it out on special occasions. Luca didn’t even have to call and ask his father whether or not the car was available. Not that he would—hell, the man wouldn’t even know the vehicle was gone before he put it back.

  When he put it back, that was.

  The storage facility wouldn’t bother to call Zeke, either. It wasn’t unusual for people with wealth to have other people handle their business for them. Unless something seemed off or they had a reason to call, then they didn’t.

  It worked in Luca’s favor.

  He really didn’t want to drag his father into this. The two still had other things to deal with, and he was sure Zeke’s opinion would differ from his own about how to handle the entire Penny situation. He just didn’t care to know that opinion. It made no difference to his own.

  “Here we are,” he said, releasing Penny from his grasp just long enough to punch in a code on the electronic lock for the unit housing his father’s car.

  “I just realized I didn’t even ask what kind of car it is.”

  Luca gave her a wink, his smile growing wicked when he replied, “Oh, and that’s the best part.”

  The large, metal door lifted to expose the Vanquish before Penny could even ask why. There was something to be said about the sexy, sleek lines of the shiny slate gray luxury car with its chrome accents and wheel rims that practically glittered under the automatic lights that turned on to greet them. It was like showing it off for the first time, every time.

  The way Penny stared at the car as a low whistle cut past her lips said she liked it. A lot.

  He could relate.

  “Nice,” she said.

  Luca nodded. “I thought so.”

  “But that wasn’t the best part.”

  He looked her way as he headed for the lockbox where he knew the spare set of keys was kept on the wall. “Why is that?”

  “You still haven’t told me where we’re going.”

  Ah, yeah.

  He liked having secrets, and she was fine with letting him work something out for a stay outside of the city—or even the state—as long as they were safe. His idea would serve all of that just fine.

  “You’ll find out soon,” Luca said. “You never know, you might even get to pretend like the rest of this shit doesn’t exist while you’re there.”

  Penny only shook her head, but those eyes of hers told the truth. He didn’t even know if she realized it, but with him, she was ... happy. She smiled and it beamed. Who else made this woman laugh? He dared to believe he gave her some sense of joy. Even when they were running for their lives.

  Couldn’t forget that.

  “WELL, WHAT DO YOU THINK?” Luca asked.

  Ahead of him, Penny spun a circle in front of the perfect view of the three-level lodge that his father had bought for Katya on their twentieth anniversary. Tucked away on ten acres of private, wooded land that the locals of the small Connecticut town had dubbed Tori Mountain, his
parents had renovated the already existing cabin into a modern, spa-like experience to use for a weekend away.

  Or longer.

  There was even a pool.

  Underground—in the basement, partially. A section of the basement was nothing more than a glass view of the mountain and the rough, winding dirt road leading out of it.

  “It’s perfect,” Penny finally replied.

  Her sigh echoed.

  “Maybe we could pretend here, huh?”

  Luca smiled. “Yeah, maybe.”

  He stayed leaning against the car, sneaky enough to shoot a text through on his phone while Penny’s back was still turned. To Naz, his words simply read, Connecticut lodge. By the time she had turned around to face him again, Luca was already tucking away the phone before she knew what happened.

  Penny would worry.

  But other people were already doing that, and they had been worrying about her for a long damn time. Naz had asked to be kept updated. After all the shit Luca had already hidden from his friend—and still was in the case of the man’s father—he figured he could at least do this.

  What would it hurt?

  He also did want Penny to just enjoy the lodge.

  “And was that a stone chimney I saw?” Penny asked as he approached.

  Luca laughed deeply. “Sure is—I can even light it up for you.”

  “Tell me there’s a rug in front of the fireplace.”

  “Bearskin, babe. Canadian black bear.”

  Penny sighed again.

  That time, it sounded like sin.

  With tightness in his throat, all humor gone, Luca passed her by and said, “Let me get started on that, then.”

  She smirked. “You better.”

  IF LUCA’S LIFE DEPENDED on his ability to describe temptation, it would be the sight of Penny lounging on her side, head propped into the palm of her hand, in the middle of a large bearskin rug. The black fur surrounded her creamy curves from all angles. He immediately regretted the decision to indulge her request for wine when he dared to mention the wine cellar earlier.

  Had he not went in search of the years she asked for, then his hands would still be plastered to the alabaster canvas of her skin. He’d nearly mapped all of her to his memory with nothing more than his fingertips. He knew there were more parts of her skin that were scarred and rough to the touch than perfect and silky. It would take him nothing at all to find the spots where she would shake and break the fastest.

  Except he found new things to enjoy about Penny every time he had the luxury of fucking her. Something else for him to learn—because he just couldn’t help himself.

  “What’s wrong?” Penny asked, falling to her back as Luca neared the side of the rug.

  Chuckling to himself, he set the two wine glasses down to the floor beside the rug and then went about pouring the wine to an acceptable level in both. He’d at least had the foresight to uncork that shit downstairs and give the wine some time to breathe.

  “Nothing,” he murmured.

  Penny hummed under her breath, pointing a single finger at him. “Liar. You even had a little knot right there between your eyebrows like you do when you get mad ... or confused. They do a whole thing.”

  Luca glanced upward, freezing as he did so, muttering, “My eyebrows do a thing?”

  A whole thing, apparently.

  Penny pursed her lips into a pout, saying, “Well—”

  “I wasn’t mad.”

  “You definitely were. The eyebrows did the thing.”

  Fine.

  Luca gave her a devilish smirk when he said, “I was annoyed—I could have been buried balls deep in you up here instead of digging around in the wine cellar for thirty minutes. My eyebrows must do the thing when I’m annoyed, too.”

  She had not been expecting that. Not if the way her cheeks heated, and the color rushed down the delicate column of her throat to the valley between her perfect tits, was any indication.

  “I love that I can still make you do that,” he told her.

  Penny’s gaze narrowed playfully below him. “At least you got my wine. Even if you did suffer blue balls and shrink—”

  “Hey.”

  Her pealing laughter had Luca darted down to capture Penny in his arms before she could even try to get away from him.

  “I was kidding!” she shrieked.

  It was already too late. He had Penny’s wiggling body pinned in his arms. His fingertips raced down her side as her laughter came out higher from his tickles. He was pretty sure at least one of the wine glasses got knocked over in the process, but he didn’t feel all that bad about it.

  Her panting, uncontrollable giggles filled the space until he heard, “Oh, my God—stop, please.”

  And he did.

  Instantly.

  Luca wasn’t anywhere near being done with touching her, though. His hand dipped lower, his fingertip grazing her navel on the way by, before he found the hot, damp heaven between her thighs. Still wet—still sensitive to his touch—she opened for him the second he made his intention clear. The second his hand was flush against her sex, she pressed into him harder.

  He had to tease her, though.

  It was only fair.

  He stroked the seam of her sex, circled her clit until she was nearly ready to blow, and even used only the tips of his fingers to fill her while he kept one arm locked around her. Then, she couldn’t get more than what he gave.

  “Please,” she gasped, her lips quivering against the underside of his jaw when she tried to turn in his arms. “I need to come ...”

  “You will.”

  On his tongue. Around his dick. Whatever way he wanted to have her. She would come ... eventually.

  Penny’s next words were a whine. “You’re such a—”

  “Tease, yeah. Like you.”

  “I’ll make sure to annoy you more often if it ends like this.”

  Her words were a breath. She’d already lost her air, and he was only playing.

  Luca hadn’t expected the weight of her words to be as heavy as they felt, though. Even if it wasn’t her intention. Feeling her tremble around him when he finally stretched her full with three of his fingers, he swallowed hard and muttered, “Be here long enough to do it, then.”

  15.

  Penny

  PENNY could feel Luca’s gaze on her the moment she broke the surface of the pool. Though it was only fifteen feet long, it did have a shallow and deeper end. Standing up and walking through the water to the marble stairs that led out of the pool, she couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the man leaning against the sliding glass doors. Instead of coming closer as Penny climbed the stairs out of the pool, Luca stayed right where he was between the threshold of the pool room and the rest of the basement and wine cellar downstairs.

  “Quite a view, huh?” she asked him.

  She was talking about the glass wall of windows at the far end of the pool that overlooked the rear of the property and how the tops of the trees lower than their position seemed to go on for miles. Fog still clung to the tops of the trees, not yet ready to let go and drift off while the sun rose higher in the sky.

  It was beautiful.

  Every morning—three so far—that they spent at the lodge, Penny made sure to include a dip in the pool just so she could watch the fog roll off the trees.

  “It certainly is,” Luca returned, grinning deeply.

  Except he didn’t look at the windows. Hell, he didn’t even look away from her. Penny had long since become comfortable in her own skin, and with sex. Or rather, the fact that in the right circumstances, she could enjoy sex.

  Luca made it different.

  He didn’t just see parts of her—certainly not the parts she disliked the most about her body. Discoloration, scarring ... everything that made up her. He saw all of her. Each piece that made up an entire puzzle of a human being.

  Of a woman.

  And he made her feel like that, too. Like a woman who had more purpose than jus
t sex even though he could spend hours devouring her. She was someone desired. He stared at her with hunger, and she felt it on every exposed inch of her body.

  Especially walking out of that pool. Water fell down from her breasts and hair in droplets while the cold air pebbled her skin and nipples. Was someone really swimming if they weren’t doing it naked?

  Twisting more water from her hair, Penny came to stand in front of Luca with a smile. “Did you just come down here to stare at me?”

  “Well—”

  “Not that I don’t like it. You give me an ego.”

  Luca laughed a sexy sound and leaned over to steal a quick kiss. Penny didn’t even have time to react when she was still trying to wring water from her hair, and the kiss was over before it could begin. Another tease.

  “You should have an ego,” he replied, winking, “and no, that wasn’t the only reason I came down here. Thank you very much.”

  Hmm.

  Penny arched a brow. “Is there any news?”

  He had contacts that he promised to put to use to find any information on what was happening in New York. Whether that information was about The League’s movements, or whatever plans Allegra might have in the works, she would take it. Penny was running blind at the moment—hoping that her previous plans put the rest in motion while she was away. She didn’t mind letting Luca do the legwork of finding info when his phone was apparently a burner, and untraceable.

  Three days wasn’t a lot of time to let shit happen, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t, either. She figured it was better to know if something was going on sooner rather than later. If they could find out anything at all.

  “Nothing big,” Luca told her, shrugging as she pulled a large, white towel from the waiting rack beside the doors. Warm from the heated vent that constantly blew on the pile of towels to keep them ready to use, the soft cotton stopped Penny’s shivers the second she had it wrapped around her frame. No longer naked, that didn’t stop Luca from still admiring her. Only now, it was the tip of his finger tracing the exposed line of her shoulder. “A funeral is in progress, though. Or the planning of one.”