by Christi Snow
“Thank you, Mother. That sounds nice.” As Penelope shrugged out of her jacket, Anna, who was standing behind her, gasped.
“A tattoo? Please tell me that isn’t real. Tell me you haven’t destroyed your beautiful skin like that. First a motorcycle and now a tattoo? Penelope, what are you thinking?” She turned to scowl at Colton like he single-handedly corrupted her daughter. He felt like laughing at the thought, but didn’t think that would go over too well either.
“Mother, stop scowling at Colton. I got the tattoo months ago, long before he moved in. It’s just been cold so it’s been covered up and you couldn’t see it. In fact, it was my last roommate, Frankie, who gave it to me. As for the motorcycle, we’re perfectly safe. Colton’s a good driver and we both wore helmets. There’s no need to over-react. We’re going to go find Dad now.”
She dragged Colton down a long hall. Before they entered the room, she stopped him, took a deep breath and nodded back toward the direction they’d come. “Sorry about that.”
She looked so distressed he wanted to take her in his arms and comfort her. “Don’t worry about it. I’m used to dealing with angry generals. I can handle your mom. It’s okay. Shall we go see if I can make a better impression on your dad?”
She laughed softly and that simple sound helped to relax him a bit. “You should be fine with him. He’s definitely easier to get along with than my mother.”
They entered the library. Obviously, Penelope came by her love for books naturally. The room was massive with wall-to-wall shelving full of books. Seated at a very large desk was a bearded and distinguished gentleman who had to be Penelope’s father. He was so engrossed in his book he didn’t even notice them come into the room.
Penelope turned to look at him with humor filling her eyes before she cleared her throat. “Daddy,” she said softly.
He looked up, startled, before he realized who was in the room. He gave a glowing smile to his daughter as he stood up and reached around the desk to greet them. He was a tall man, easily as tall as Colton, but he had a lankier build. With his grey beard, mustache, and glasses, he had the professor look down. Colton would guess both her parents were in their early 60’s, but they carried their age very lightly. He could only hope to look this healthy when he became that age.
As they exchanged introductions and pleasantries, her father beamed at Penelope, until he spotted her stitches. He moved closer to her and brushed aside her hair. “What happened?”
It didn’t escape Colton’s notice that Pen’s mom saw the motorcycle and tattoo, but it was her father who saw her injury.
She deflected and waved her hand to brush the subject aside. “Aw, you know me….just clumsy. It’s no big deal.”
Her father looked at her with suspicion and then looked at Colton for affirmation of her story. He wasn’t comfortable with that so he tried to change the subject. He looked around the room. “You have quite the library here, sir. It’s impressive.”
“Hmm, thank you.” He wasn’t buying Colton’s diversionary tactic. Luckily, Anna came in and told them dinner was ready so they adjourned to the dining room. Colton sat across from Penelope at the dinner table with her parents on the ends. After several subtle stabs from her mother about everything from her manners to her life choices during the salad course, Penelope withdrew into herself. She stared down at her plate and toyed with her food. He didn’t understand how a parent could treat their own child this way. Granted, it had been a long time since he had parents, but he knew that they should be supportive, especially of their adult children. Why couldn’t her mother see what an amazing person Pen was and be proud of that? Why would she want to change her? Couldn’t she see that Penelope was near perfect just the way she was? He gripped his fork tightly. He didn’t like seeing the normally bubbly Penelope subdued like this.
The cook brought in the main course for the evening. The salmon looked and smelled succulent, but Colton frowned at Penelope’s plate which held the same entrée. Surely, her own mother knew she was a vegetarian. Penelope noticed his frown and gave him a subtle shake of her head. She didn’t want him to make waves, but he didn’t understand why her mother wouldn’t cater to her eating habits when she invited her to dinner.
Penelope looked decidedly uncomfortable toying with the salmon, so Colton decided to put some of his small-talk skills into practice, if only to divert the attention off Penelope.
He turned to Anna. “Did the University come to an agreement with Damon?”
She shook her head and frowned. “No, not yet. In fact, there was an issue at the El Regalo dig site and Dr. Lopez had to return unexpectedly.”
Penelope looked up in mild alarm. “Damon’s left town?”
Her mother nodded. “Yes, but he plans to be back within a week. Then we hope to finalize the details of our partnership.”
Penelope suddenly jerked her focus to him and whispered, “El Regalo means the gift. That’s the name of Damon’s dig site. Could there be a connection?”
“Penelope what are you muttering about?” her mother demanded.
Colton grabbed onto what Penelope was saying. The note asked them to return the gift, around the same time Damon mysteriously and suddenly disappeared. Did he have something to do with it? He turned to ask Anna, “When did he leave? Do you know what the problem was?”
Anna shook her head, “No, I got the message this morning, but I’m not sure about the details of what happened.” She looked at the two of them, perplexed. “Is there something going on between you and Dr. Lopez? You didn’t do something to him, did you, Penelope?”
She brushed off her mother’s question. “No, Mother, but he’s a friend. Of course, I’m concerned about him.” The frown was back between her eyebrows, but Colton realized she didn’t want her parents to know about the problems she’d been having, so he worked to change the subject again.
“So are you all privy to the author Penelope’s bringing into the bookstore?” He tossed her a teasing smile, but her eyes widened in warning. Damn. He really needed to keep his mouth shut around this family. It was like traveling a field of land mines to figure out what the safe subjects were. Obviously, anything that meant something to Penelope was off-limits.
It was Anna who responded. “Hrmph. Knowing the owner of the bookstore, I’m assuming it’s probably one of those trashy pornographic authors.”
“Mother, that’s not fair. Erotic romance is not porn.”
But Anna wasn’t going to be dissuaded from her tirade. “When I think about you wasting your life and what my sister has done to you. You could have been so much more than a clerk. It’s such a waste of your abilities and the opportunities we gave you.”
Colton’s anger levels had been simmering all evening, but in the face of Anna’s disgust with her daughter, he couldn’t stand it anymore. “Now wait just a minute. Penelope does an amazing job at the bookstore. She…”
Penelope interrupted him. “Colton, it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. Has she even been in the bookstore to see what you’ve built there? Your bookstore is wonderful and what you’ve created there is a huge contribution to the community.”
She looked at him gratefully with tears in her eyes and a gentle smile, before turning to her mom. “Mother, dinner was wonderful, but I think it’s time for us to leave.”
Her mother sputtered, “But you didn’t even finish and we still have dessert to go.”
Very gently but sternly, Penelope replied, “Thank you, but no, we’ve had enough for one evening. It’s been a long day and we need to get going.”
As they settled back onto the motorcycle, Penelope reached around his waist and settled her head on his back. He closed his eyes and savored the moment of closeness. “Thanks for trying to defend me, Colton.”
He could hear the emotion in her voice. She’d let her mother get to her and that made him angry on her behalf. “No problem,” he told her gruffly. He cleared his throat. “Are you hungry?”
He felt her
nod. “Starving.”
“Okay, let’s go find you some food you can actually eat.”
Chapter 20
Colton pulled his motorcycle up at the end of the runway outside the fenced border. Penelope looked around at the high chain link fence and the ‘No Trespassing’ signs posted further down. She flipped up the visor on her helmet. “Are we supposed to be here?”
He pulled his helmet off his head, got off the motorcycle and cocked an eyebrow at her. “I thought you were supposed to be the rebel in the group?” He pulled her off the motorcycle in a smooth motion and then unfastened the strap on her helmet.
She smiled at him. He really was cute when he relaxed a little bit. “Rebel meaning I’m not afraid to do my own thing. I am afraid of doing something that means I’ll end up with a cellmate and playing bitch to a woman called Big Bertha.”
He tilted his head, his eyes sparkling in the ambient glow off the runway lights.
“What?”
“I’m just imagining you in one of those orange jumpsuits and in a catfight.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “What is it about guys and prison fantasies?”
“I don’t know. I think it has something to do with stubborn women and needing to get them under control.”
“Ah, yes, we’re back to your Dom/sub fantasies.” She winked at him. The thought of Colton dominating her in that way sent tendrils of awareness throughout her body. Tendrils that she needed to ignore if she was going to keep her distance from Colton. He was temptation personified and she definitely wanted to give into his lure.
“Well, sweetheart, a guy’s gotta keep hold of his dreams.”
He was dangerous to her self-control tonight. “I thought you were going to feed me. Or was that all just a ruse to lure me here?”
He reached into the saddlebag on his motorcycle where he’d stashed her veggie sub they’d picked up. Then he surprised her when he pulled out a blanket and spread it on the ground. Who knew the guy was such a romantic at heart?
As she ate, he watched her seriously. “So have things always been like that with your mom, or have things gotten worse over the years?”
She gave a bitter laugh. “No, if anything, it’s actually better than it used to be.” She paused and looked at him mischievously. “How old would you guess my parents are?”
“I’m guessing early 60’s, although they both look really good still.”
She smiled at him indulgently. “That’s very nice for you to say, but you’re wrong. They look amazing for their ages. Mom is 72. Dad is 75.”
Colton’s mouth dropped open in shock.
“I know. They were both well into their 40’s when they had me. I was an accident. They both had fully established careers and a child was never in the plans for them. But they figured they were both intelligent adults and this was just another challenge for them to conquer. I was just another challenge for them to conquer.” She tried not to let the bitterness bleed through in her voice. Colton reached over and pulled her to his chest so she leaned against him. She inhaled his comforting scent of masculine spice. He wrapped his arms around her and his embrace felt way more right than it should.
“So anyway, they just thought you could treat a child like an adult and that child would act like an adult. Not so much. Although I will admit, I did a pretty decent fitting into their expectations until puberty and then everything went to hell.”
“What happened?”
“Like anything else, it built up over time, but the final blowout was between my mom and me when I was thirteen. Eighth grade isn’t easy for girls and I was no exception. I was discovering boys and wanted to fit in at the same time I was trying to find my own identity. But mom refused to see that I needed to be something other than her little clone.” She closed her eyes and thought back to that horrible day. “We were at a Geography Bee. God, I hated those things, but my parents always insisted I participate. The only intent is to show the world how smart you are. I mean seriously, it’s all about ego for one kid. The winner. For everyone else, it’s just a lesson in humiliation because you weren’t as smart as that other kid.”
She took a deep breath. “My mom left for a little bit and I was sitting in a corner backstage when a boy and his father came through. It was awful. The father threatened this kid with what would happen to him if he didn’t win and what he said was horrific.” Her voice broke a bit as she remembered him. “I’d always seen this kid around, but never knew him. He was shy and quiet. When it came down to the end, it was just him and me. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let him face that fate so I blew the match on purpose. My mom knew it and was irate. Losing was not an option in our household, at least not when it came to academics. That day was a turning point. I decided they weren’t going to decide my fate any longer. I make my own fate.”
“Do you know what happened to the boy?”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Yes, seven weeks after that, he was beaten to death by his father when he came in second at another academic contest.” She shuddered. “Thankfully, by that point, I’d refused to enter any more of those things so I wasn’t there, but I always felt like I should have done something more for him. I’d told my mom what I’d heard, but she was so mad at me at the time, she didn’t pay attention to what I said. I should have done more to get him help.”
“You can’t blame yourself for that. You were just a kid, too.” His voice had gone low and quiet.
“I know that. In my mind I recognize that, but you can’t help looking back on those types of things and wondering. My parents had their moments where they were truly awful, but they never laid a hand on me and I definitely pushed their buttons over the years.” She looked up at him over her shoulder, needing to lighten the moment. “Do you know the story of Odysseus’s Penelope?”
“Noo…” he said slowly. “Surely, I’ve heard it, but I don’t remember it.”
“It’s a bit convoluted, but the overall message is true. Penelope was Odysseus’s wife. When he went off to war, he was gone for a long time and she had many suitors. She put them off by saying she had to finish weaving her father’s funeral shroud before choosing another lover. She wove on it lovingly all day, every day and then at night she would unravel all her work. They say she’s the model for loyalty and faithfulness, but I say she chose her own destiny by using her brain and making it work for her. My parents chose to name me after her so…” She shrugged and smiled up at him, but became caught in his gaze when she met his midnight blue eyes.
He looked at her like he wanted to eat her whole. He reached around to cup the side of her face while he leaned down to kiss her. His lips were soft and searching. She thought about backing away, but couldn’t deny herself just one taste of him.
He lingered. He caressed. He made her feel like she was the most treasured creature on earth. As he nibbled down her neck, she lost all track of thought besides getting closer to him. She couldn’t bring herself to draw away from his allure.
Pulling him around in front of her, she tugged at the buttons of his shirt. She wanted more of him. She needed to feel more of him. Finally, she got the buttons free and reached in to explore the hard lines of his torso. Goose bumps rose over the planes of his skin while she explored with her fingertips. It wasn’t enough.
Her fingertip found a hard nipple and she reached down to caress it with her tongue and teeth. He groaned deep and started his own exploration. She quickly shrugged out of her jacket without raising her mouth from his chest.
Shivers rippled over her skin as she felt him kiss the swoop of the bird tattoos on her shoulder. He lowered the strap and pulled a breast free. Her breath caught as he lifted her and took the nipple into his mouth.
“Aw, God, Colton.” Her voice didn’t even sound like her own anymore and he took advantage of her arousal and ripped the shirt off over her head.
She threaded her fingers through his thick, dark hair as he loved on her breasts. Caught up in the sensations, she hadn’t realized he’
d unbuttoned her pants until his fingers slipped under her panties and caressed her heat. She gasped as he delved in and her hips automatically thrust to him. Her body was on fire as she pulled his head back to meet her fevered kisses. Her moans echoed through the night as he continued to work her body, alternating between caressing her folds and teasing her tiny bundle of nerves. It was too much. Her nerves jumped and bunched. Completely lost in the sensation, the force of her orgasm shattered her as she screamed his name.
Her body continued to convulse around his hand and he laid her back on the blanket where he swiftly removed her shoes, pants, and panties. She laid there nude watching him as he stood and removed his own pants, his hard thick erection bobbing in the soft light from the runway. He was built like a Greek god, one intent upon conquering her. He reached into his wallet for a condom, but she took it from him.
Kneeling before him, she had to take one taste. There was a drop of moisture dangling from the tip of him and she wrapped her tongue around him to capture it. He groaned hard and low as she did so and shoved his hands into her hair. She laid kisses down the vein running the full, long length of his shaft before taking him full into her mouth. His whole body shuddered at the onslaught before he pulled her away.
His voice was deep and husky as he said, “Sweetheart, you do that much longer and I’m not gonna last.”
She nodded and gave him a final lick before she sheathed him in the condom. As she lay back on the blanket, she pulled him on top of her. She wrapped her legs around his waist which lined up their bodies perfectly.
At the intimate contact, they both moaned. Colton kissed her hard before he propped up to meet her eyes. He breathed heavy and shallow and passion filled his eyes. She couldn’t look away as he slid into her all the way. Oh wow. This had never felt so good before. Having him within her was heaven. She tilted her hips to meet him thrust for thrust which caused another groan to escape from him. Still his gaze never left her eyes. She was trapped by the emotion she saw there as much as she was imprisoned by his hard, pulsing body. She closed her eyes to the ecstasy of it all, but when his fingers slid between them and touched her clit, they flew open again.