by Sara Daniel
Only her heart.
Ethan perversely enjoyed the panic blooming in Penelope’s eyes. Still sitting on the stool in front of the lab table, he leaned back and clasped his hands behind his head.
“I don’t have a clue what you want from me, but I know for sure I don’t have it,” Penelope insisted. “You’re perfect for Olivia. I don’t understand why you’re trying to sweet talk me into bed when you have a chance with her.”
Ethan’s heart squeezed with tenderness. She was living in the shadow of her perfect sibling too. He put his arms down and leaned forward. “We’re so alike.”
She gaped at him. “We are nothing alike. You’re — ” She waved her hand uselessly. “You’re everything and I’m nothing.”
He clasped her cheeks gently between his palms. “Don’t you ever, ever think that. You have an amazing business and an amazing talent for creating perfumes. My brother, as much as it pains me to admit it, has a talent for seeing how relationships work and making them better, which makes people’s lives happier. Your sister created an ideal world for vacationers to retreat from reality.”
“What’s your point?”
“Everybody makes something to make the world a better place. Except me. I don’t make anything. I can help you sell what you’ve got, but you have to come up with your wonderful product first. I can’t do a thing on my own.”
Penelope squinted at him. “Didn’t you just spend an hour trying to convince me my product is worthless without your brilliant wisdom to bring it to the people who really want it and are willing to pay for it?”
She didn’t understand. He dropped his hands and backed away. He’d bared his soul. He’d never before agonized aloud over his uselessness, and she had blown him off.
“You’re using reverse psychology on me,” Penelope accused. “You’re forcing me to prove how great you are by letting you handle all my marketing and business decisions. I’d have to be total scum to let you go on thinking you’re worthless. Not only that, I’ll have to live with the nagging fear you’ll throw yourself off a bridge into some icy water and it’ll be on my conscience.”
It seemed to Ethan she was using a little psychology of her own to get him to recognize how ridiculous his fears were. It was time to get back into his comfort zone. He stood up and walked around the table to her. “I’m glad we had this chance to get to know each other. Now we’re ready for intimacy.”
She tried stepping back, but he trapped her against the table.
“I’m talking about pleasure, not a death sentence.” Now he wanted to erase the panic in her eyes. “We’ll only go as far as you’re comfortable. Kiss me. I’ll stop as soon as you tell me to.”
“I don’t get pleasure out of kissing.” Her tone was deadly serious.
He couldn’t imagine not getting pleasure from kissing her. “As a scientist, you know every hypothesis has to be thoroughly tested to prove its validity.”
“It’s been tested.” Her jaw settled into a stubborn line he couldn’t wait to nibble on.
“Not by me.” He bent his head and touched his lips to hers. He’d kissed a lot of women, but he was nervous now. Doing this right could make all the difference in how Penelope viewed kissing. He moved his mouth slowly, not wanting to scare her.
Her lips were tightly closed beneath him. She was tense, completely frozen. He wouldn’t pull back and ridicule her, but he could feel her bracing for him too. Ethan silently cursed every male in the Midwest. They were all idiots to not see the true beauty and sensuality in Penelope MacDermont. Before he could enjoy it, he had to make her see it.
He added a little more pressure to her lips, but she tensed even more. He relented and tried a different approach. He nibbled on her bottom lip, tugging, sucking, and teasing until it was full and pouty and curved into a smile.
Yeah, babe, this really can be fun. He didn’t say it out loud though. If she took his coaxing for patronizing or thought he was mocking her, he’d lose his chance. She wouldn’t grant him another one.
He continued making love to her lips, adding more pressure. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d taken so long with a closed-lip kiss. Likely never. Why was he always in such a rush? There was good stuff here, tastes and textures he missed every time he hurried to the hot-and-heavy necking. His hormones were engaged. He and Penelope weren’t going nearly far enough tonight to satisfy them. But he was going to enjoy the ride and hopefully teach her the pleasure of kissing.
She made a small sound in her throat. It pulsed through his blood, encouraging him to move to the next level. He touched his tongue to the seam of her lips. She immediately tensed again.
Trust me, Penelope. He stroked his hand over her short, silky hair. He returned to stroking and nibbling on her lip and she slowly granted him access to her mouth. The urge to thrust nearly overpowered his senses. Penelope hadn’t opened herself up to many, if any, other men this way. He wouldn’t violate her trust.
He tasted her slowly, making sure that each touch whispered tenderness instead of the frantic pulsing of his hormones. She rewarded him by reaching her hand up to clutch his shoulder. He rarely took notice of such a simple gesture. Coming from Penelope, it meant everything. She had reached for him. She was taking the first step toward taking a chance on him.
Ethan wrapped his arms around her back, wanting to surround her and bring her closer to him. He couldn’t hold her as close as he wanted to. Plastering her against his throbbing groin was sure to send her running in the opposite direction. But he wanted her that close, and then even closer. This exercise of sensual bliss was obliterating his objectivity.
He tangled his tongue with hers, coaxing her to participate. Then he withdrew, hoping she would follow him into his territory and kiss him back. She didn’t, but the little moans she emitted each time he pulled away drove him back to consume more of her sweetness.
His hands roamed her spinal column, caressing her neck. He loved feeling her pulse beat beneath his thumbs. He slid his hand down again. In a last burst of clarity, he realized he was about to unlatch her bra through her shirt.
He wrenched his mouth free, knowing he should gradually end the kiss but unable to continue giving himself in half-measures. He continued to hold her in his embrace, stroking her back, trying to regain control of his breathing. Trying to regain any control at all.
“Now,” he managed, “you have proof there is pleasure in kissing.”
Chapter 13
“You have to kiss me right now.”
Caleb opened his bedroom door to the incessant pounding, expecting to find Olivia. Instead, Penelope was standing on the other side, clearly agitated. “Excuse me?”
“I need you to kiss me,” she repeated.
He hoped he’d heard wrong, but apparently not. He didn’t want to kiss her. He wanted to kiss Olivia, to explore the yearning that was building inside him. He concentrated on Penelope. “Slow down. Let’s sit and you can tell me why a kiss is so important.” He gestured to his desk chair.
She glanced around, looking nervous now. Good, she was having second thoughts. It didn’t stop her, though, from stepping past him through the doorway.
Without her in front of him, Caleb noticed Ethan. He was leaning against the hall wall. His expression as he watched Penelope was bemused but incredibly intense. After she walked in, he straightened and started to follow.
Caleb blocked his path. “What are you doing?”
“Watching.”
Like hell. He had no intention of kissing a woman while his brother graded his technique. But if he closed the door on Ethan, he risked giving Penelope the wrong impression about their level of intimacy. She’d demanded a kiss from him when they were separated by a closed door. God knew what she’d demand locked in a bedroom with him. Caleb turned his back on Ethan to tackle the problem.
Penelope stood rigidly next to the chair, watching him like he was a stalker. This was a disaster waiting to happen. What was she doing here? She didn’t want him to kis
s her. Something else was going on. He wasn’t about to touch her until he got to the bottom of it.
“I’m not going to kiss until we talk,” he said.
“Well, that’s a problem because I don’t want to talk. I want to kiss.” She glared at him in defiance.
He stayed as far across the room as possible. “You came to this decision because?”
“I want to know if kissing you is like how I’ve been kissed before or how it is with Ethan.”
“You want to compare me to Ethan?” Caleb whipped his gaze between them, not knowing who to direct his fury and incredulity at. He focused on Penelope, since Ethan seemed to want to turn the whole thing into a spectator sport. “I thought we were friends. Why are you suddenly demanding we get physical?”
She stared at him, her eyes big and round. “You’re angry.”
“Yes, I’m angry. You want me to audition to be your man based on whether I can kiss as well as Ethan. A relationship is based on more than good kisses.” He repeated the words to himself in the context of Olivia. There was so much more important in life than kissing. Like the effect of those kisses on her son.
Penelope shrunk back until she was plastered against the wall. “I didn’t think. I didn’t realize how insulted you would be.”
“Caleb, stop traumatizing her and give her a nice kiss,” Ethan said.
His encouragement didn’t make sense. “What’s in it for you?”
“A lot, if you’re a lousy kisser.”
He ignored his brother’s smirk and looked at Penelope. He couldn’t allow himself to collect on the kiss Olivia owed him. The first cardinal rule of his life was to not involve himself with any woman who had children. Penelope had no children. He’d laid the groundwork of friendship with her and explored her world. A kiss was a logical next step, although he certainly wouldn’t have planned it with his brother watching. “All right, Penelope. You can kiss me.”
If possible, she looked even more petrified. “You have to kiss me.”
He didn’t see why the difference mattered. But he’d already committed himself to the next step. He walked to her and lifted his hand to touch her shoulder. She flinched, and he let his hand fall uselessly to his side. “If you change your mind, all you have to do is say so. I’ll stop as soon as you want me to.”
He waited, but she remained silent with her dry, pursed lips raised toward his. Caleb refused to look back at Ethan. He didn’t need his brother’s permission to kiss any girl, especially one he’d picked as a Forever model.
There was nothing left to do but get it over with. He lowered his head and brushed his lips over Penelope’s. She closed her eyes, but otherwise showed no reaction.
He didn’t feel much of a reaction either. It hardly counted as a kiss. Yes, he’d considered the same act a kiss when he’d bestowed one on Olivia. He’d felt its effect in his gut and in the constricting of his chest.
Caleb brought his lips down onto Penelope’s again and let them linger, hoping he’d at least feel a tremor in his hand. She was completely lifeless beneath him, and his thoughts strayed back to Olivia. He couldn’t even keep his mind on the woman he was kissing. Disgusted with himself, he broke off the kiss and backed up. “Does that satisfy whatever you came looking for?”
Penelope blinked at him. “Is that all?”
If she expected him to cram his tongue down her throat, she needed to make it a cooperative effort. “It’s a good start.”
She looked relieved. “Yes, I think so too. Thank you, Caleb, for proving my theory.”
He still had no idea what anything of this was about. “I deserve an explanation. You don’t have to give me one in front of him.” He jerked his thumb back to Ethan. “But I want one by tomorrow.”
Penelope hustled out the door before he could change his mind about giving her a reprieve. At least she didn’t look terrified anymore.
Ethan regarded him with derision. “You can’t make it to first base with a woman. No wonder your marriage business is in complete shambles.”
Caleb had been a good sport about this whole fiasco, but now his temper snapped. “We both know you’re the undisputed master of screwing up your relationships. I’ve sat back and let you tarnish Forever’s reputation by association. I won’t sit quietly while you doom my personal relationship.”
Ethan raised a brow. “Your relationship with whom?”
“Penelope.”
“Does she know you have one?”
“I’m building up to it slowly.”
“Good plan. I hope you stick to it.” Ethan turned and walked out the door after Penelope. He wore the satisfied look of a man who’d already made it to first base.
“I’ve been looking for you,” Olivia said to Caleb. And she hadn’t expected to find him in the basement hunched over a book with Penelope.
“Is Liam giving you problems?”
“Of course not.” She smiled at the baby in her arms. “But I need to plan meals, and you originally ended your reservation for today. I also saw the tow truck pulling your car out of the ditch this morning. Yet, you’re still here, so I thought I better check.”
“I’ll take lunch and dinner today and breakfast tomorrow. Please extend my reservation for another night.”
“Sure, no problem.” She couldn’t believe he was speaking so formally. She owed him a kiss. At any moment he could decide to collect. Instead, he was treating her the way he would treat any hotel manager. Last night she felt a connection. She wanted to keep it. “What are you working on?”
“We’re looking through the Forever books that you left down here,” Penelope said cheerfully. “Caleb’s explaining his theories to me.”
“Oh.” She felt like she’d been stabbed. Of course he was treating her coldly. She’d walked in on his courting time with Penelope. Last night he’d acted as if she was the only woman he was interested in. She’d managed to forget she was little more than a sideshow and a nanny to his son.
“They’re not all they’re cracked up to be.” She hoped she irritated Caleb enough to provoke a rise out of him. Anything would be better than this distant politeness. “Look what they did for my marriage.”
“Not a problem,” her sister shot back. “I’m not getting involved with Bryce.”
The comment should have hurt, but it didn’t nearly as much as Caleb treating her like she didn’t exist.
Ethan came down the stairs. He stood behind Olivia, lifting a blanket over Liam’s face and engaging the baby in a game of peek-a-boo, to Liam’s delight. “Ah, the lovebirds are planning their friendly marriage and two-point-five kids.”
Penelope’s eyes filled with annoyance. “What do you want?”
“I talked to a couple investors about your business. They’re interested in learning more. I also have three potential clients lined up who are willing to pay seven hundred dollars for a custom two-ounce bottle.”
“Seven hundred dollars for two ounces of what? Diamonds?” Olivia couldn’t imagine paying that kind of money for two ounces of anything.
“Penelope’s perfume is going to be the hottest thing to hit the celebrity and high-end market.” Ethan slung his arm around Olivia’s shoulder. “Your claim to fame is that it all started in your basement.”
He had to be joking. Penelope’s perfumes smelled good, but they weren’t worth what many families paid for their entire vacation to Galena. “No offense, Penelope. I think your perfumes are great, but delusional theories appear to run in the Paden family.”
“No delusions,” Ethan said. “Caleb knows a good thing when he sees it too. Smart man that he is, he’s acting on it. That kiss last night really started something.”
“What kiss?” Her limbs turned to dead weights. There hadn’t been a kiss. Caleb had claimed he wanted to wait to collect on it.
“Caleb kissed Penelope last night. It must have been a powerful smooch, because they look inseparable now.”
Liam fussed, demanding attention. But Olivia stayed focused on Caleb, wil
ling him to deny it. Instead, his features spelled guilt. He hadn’t cashed in on their bet because he didn’t want to kiss her, not when he could suck face with Penelope instead.
“I missed the signs,” she said, keeping her voice level. She wanted to lunge at Caleb and claw his eyes out, but she would not degrade herself by turning into a raving lunatic in front of everyone. She thrust Liam into Caleb’s arms and then turned stiffly to his brother. “Thank you, Ethan, for bringing me up to speed on the situation.”
Part of her wondered how long Caleb would have teased her with the possibility of a kiss if she hadn’t found out. The rest of her was certain being strung along was better than how she felt right now. She wished she’d burned those Forever books before Dr. Caleb Paden ever set foot in her home.
“My personal life is undergoing some changes. I need you to be gracious and accept them,” Caleb said stiffly. “I may have given off clues I was physically interested in you and that is not the case.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Clues? Like requesting that I kiss you?”
“I have now embarked on a relationship with your sister. I am no longer interested in pursuing our physical chemistry.”
“You’re still interested,” she goaded. “You just want to make sure that when something happens between us — when, not if — you can blame me for violating your good intentions.”
Caleb had led Olivia on and he was sorry for it. The sledding outing had temporarily given him the illusion he was part of a family unit, but the kiss with Penelope brought him back to reality. Unemotional relationships created the stability children needed. He was not a man who would slip in and out of Austin’s life, leaving chaos and a host of abandonment issues in his wake.
Liam screamed and twisted in his arms. The boy needed a rock solid foundation. If Caleb didn’t provide it, no one else would. The chance to show the world he’d applied The Forever Marriage to his own relationship was a side benefit. So what if his theories seemed a little stale and boring as he talked about them with Penelope? He knew they worked. For Liam, that was all that mattered.