It was kind of the perfect moment, she thought. She had no idea what was going on outside, but inside, it was just the two of them and she felt like her heart was beating just a little too hard. Hopefully Spencer would think she was just nervous from almost falling and not from having her hands all over his inseam!
One minute passed, then two – at least that’s what it felt like – when she finally took a step back. His grip didn’t release easily and it was a thrill to think that he was as reluctant to let her go as she was to move away. “Um…thanks,” she said softly, before walking over to the desk to mark down his measurements. “So…I think that’s everything. I have all of your measurements noted and on file. Martin will have them here for you whenever Brett comes in with the rest of the groomsmen.”
Her voice was slightly high-pitched and shaky but…dammit, he made her nervous. Normally, Penny was extremely confident – especially at her job. And yet the last thirty minutes with Spencer had reduced her to a quivering mass of hormones!
Again.
There. She said it. She was nervous being around him and beyond turned on.
Busying herself at the desk, she figured he’d go get changed and leave. But he didn’t. Instead he stood and simply watched her for a minute.
“Um…since you’re not ordering tonight, you won’t need to leave a deposit or anything. You’ll just need to call and let Martin know when you’re coming in again,” she said, standing firmly behind the desk. Her grip on the desktop was enough to turn her fingertips white.
Nodding, Spencer walked toward her – slow and predatory – and her throat went dry. “I appreciate your help tonight,” he said casually, and he looked so damn good in that tuxedo that she wanted to scream.
“Not a problem,” she said as she attempted to straighten up the already-clean desk area.
“Are you ready to close up now?”
She nodded but focused on the stack of receipts that didn’t really require any attention. “Yup. As soon as you’re done, I can call it a day.”
“Okay then,” he said and then turned and walked back to the dressing room.
Penny almost sagged with relief when he was out of sight. This was ridiculous. She was embarrassed and mortified that she was reacting this strongly to him and kind of wished he would leave so she could breathe normally again. And maybe so her cheeks would stop feeling like they were on fire!
While Spencer was changing, Penny busied herself with putting things away and straightening up. Chances were she’d walk out with him – partly because it was late and she didn’t like to walk out alone and partly because she was clearly a glutton for punishment.
Good to know your strengths and weaknesses.
He stepped out a few minutes later and handed her the tux he’d been wearing. Penny hung it on the rack behind her and shut down the computer. Without a word, Spencer stood and waited for her to finish and together they walked out of the shop. Gate closed and locked, she faced him.
“You don’t need to hang around and wait with me. I’m going to stop back in at the bridal shop and check in with Hailey before I go. So…have a good night.” There. That sounded good, didn’t it? Not like she was trying to get rid of him or anything, she was just stating her intentions.
All Spencer did was nod as they both walked toward the exit. The bridal shop was the closest to the door and as they got closer, Penny’s heart sank a little.
The gate was down.
The lights were off.
Hailey was gone for the day.
Dammit.
For a second, she was almost afraid to look at Spencer because she knew – she just knew – he’d be smirking. But when she looked at him, he had a very serene smile on his face.
“Have you had dinner yet?” he asked.
And her stomach decided to answer for her in a very loud, very unladylike growl. She let out a nervous chuckle and said, “Not yet. I was planning on picking up some takeout on my way home.”
He nodded. “I was planning on doing the same.”
Part of her got a little thrill in imagining that his definition of “same” was that he was planning on getting some takeout on his way to her place, but she knew that was just her overactive imagination at work.
Again.
They walked out the main doors and Penny set the alarm and locked up and she wasn’t surprised when Spencer walked with her to her car.
Okay, this is crazy, she thought. Why is this so damn hard? It wasn’t like Spencer was a stranger. They’d known each other for most of their lives. And did they have a history? Yes. Did that have to mean anything right now? Well…it did. It was the reason she was talking to herself so damn much lately. And if she really thought about it, there was nothing wrong with hanging out with a friend. She could totally think of him as just a friend.
If she tried really hard.
And on top of that, she thought – desperately trying to give herself an excuse for what she was about to do - he’s not staying. He lives seven hours away. But…I really want to spend time with him.
Because this is how it always was – a little time with him was always better than none.
“I wasn’t planning on anything spectacular,” she blurted out. “Just some Chinese takeout if…if you’d like to join me.”
The look of pure pleasure on his face at her invitation made her knees weak and as soon as his smile broadened to show his dimples, she knew she was lost.
And she didn’t even have the will to care.
It wasn’t until they were walking through Penny’s front door that it really hit Spencer that he wasn’t dreaming this.
She had invited him to join her for dinner.
At her home.
Alone.
Honestly, he had thought he was going to have to do a hell of a lot of convincing to even get her to agree to go out with him for dinner. Never did he even allow himself to imagine a scenario where she was the one to ask him out.
But he was certainly thankful for it.
Her condo was small but totally her. Everywhere he looked there were personal touches that made it feel like a home. His place back in Atlanta was nothing like this. Besides being about three times the size, it lacked…everything. Okay, that wasn’t totally true – he had every upgrade and modern convenience, but his décor was more or less on the sterile side.
Funny how he never realized that before.
They worked together to set up the food and Penny grabbed plates and utensils while Spencer poured them each a glass of wine from the bottle he’d picked up while they had waited for their food. Within minutes, they were ready to sit down and eat.
“Can you excuse me for just one minute?” Penny asked. “It’s been a long day and as much as I love these shoes, my feet are killing me. I’m just going to get changed.”
When she walked away, he felt a pang of regret. She looked incredibly sexy in her work attire – the form-fitting skirt, the sky-high heels…yeah, she had nearly knocked him on his ass tonight just by looking at her. And having her touch him while she was taking his measurements? He should get an award for not throwing her down on the platform and taking her right there so she could keep touching him.
Because she had touched him.
A lot.
Honestly, the first pair of pants and jacket had been fine. And so had the shoes. Spencer hid a grin as he thought about how he had simply said he wanted to try on another suit just to have an excuse to stay longer and for her to maybe touch him again.
And she had.
A lot.
Images of them from so long ago flashed in his mind – how they had progressed from innocent kisses and caresses to the wild and out-of-control frenzy the night of Eva’s graduation party. Then he had to mentally shake his head because if he allowed himself to linger on those thoughts, he’d never survive dinner.
He was just about to take a sip of his wine when she walked back in.
She was barefoot and her toes were painted a very sex
y shade of hot pink. As his eyes traveled up, he noted how she’d changed out of her standard attire of sexy skirt and heels and traded them for a pair of snug black yoga pants and a soft looking jade-green sweater. Her hair was loose and…
She was looking at him with an odd expression on her face.
“Spencer? Are you all right?”
He cleared his throat. “Um…yeah. Sure. Why?”
“I don’t know. You just had a weird look on your face,” she said as she sat down at the kitchen table. Spencer took the chair next to her. With a smile, she immediately reached for the container of shrimp lo mein. “Thanks for waiting, but I’m starving!”
She dug in with gusto and that was another thing he both remembered and appreciated about her – she loved food and wasn’t shy about eating. Maybe it was because they had grown up together, but he’d never met another woman who enjoyed a meal quite like Penny.
The food was delicious and the conversation flowed. And even though they were sticking to safe topics – her job, weddings, his sister – Spencer knew he was enjoying every minute of it.
And from the smile on Penny’s face, she was as well.
“So how come Brett sent you to look at tuxes?”
Placing his fork down, he looked at her and knew he had to come clean. “Okay, confession time,” he began warily and noticed that her blue eyes went a little wide. “Brett didn’t send me. Hell, he and Eva have no idea I even went to look at tuxes tonight. I did it on the off-chance that I’d get to see you.”
Slowly, Penny put her own fork down and he watched her swallow hard. “But…how did you know I’d be in the men’s shop tonight?”
“I didn’t. It just sort of worked out that way,” he said sheepishly.
“I don’t understand…”
“I figured I’d use the tuxedo as an excuse to be at Enchanted and I planned on stopping in and saying hello to you and asking if you wanted to have dinner with me or even just coffee again.”
Penny leaned back in her seat. “Wow.”
“Maybe it wasn’t the greatest plan but…I thought about you all week. And I get that you’re hesitant with me and you have every reason to be but...dammit, I didn’t want to leave things the way we…”
“Left them?” she finished for him.
“Exactly!” Then he paused. “Look, I don’t think it’s just a coincidence that we ran into each other again. And I don’t know about you, but to me it still feels like there’s something there. It’s like we can slip right back into that place where we’re laughing and having fun and…and after kissing you, I can’t pretend that I don’t want to try to see where things can go this time.”
She gave him a patient smile. “Spencer, we’ve been down this road enough times to know where it ends. I’d rather that we end this as friends this time.”
“I’ve never kissed a friend the way I kissed you, Penny,” he admitted gruffly and was pleased when she blushed.
“And I…well I don’t kiss friends like that either but…” She paused and let out a loud sigh. “Okay, maybe we have some unfinished business and some left over…feelings. Maybe that’s why this keeps happening.”
That wasn’t it and he knew it, but he wasn’t going to argue with her at the moment.
“It’s obvious that we’re still attracted to each other,” she went on. “So maybe there’s just some lingering…sparks that we just need to get out of our systems so we can finally move on.”
Spencer immediately straightened in his chair. “Um…I’m sorry. What?”
Nodding, she picked up her fork and took another bite of her dinner before she continued. “When are you heading back to Atlanta?”
If this was going where he thought it was going, he was going to say never.
“I’m supposed to head back…soon,” he said vaguely.
She nodded again. “Okay. So what if we…spent some of that time before you left…together?” Penny was studying her plate and she was pushing her food around and he knew what she was saying – or trying to say – and seemed to be embarrassed about suggesting it.
Yeah. He knew her that well.
Rather than answer right away, he took another couple of bites of his own dinner. If he was reading the situation right, she wasn’t simply suggesting that they hang out and talk. She was saying…everything he really wanted. And while he knew he should be jumping at this and not questioning it, the thought of leaving in…two days…was beyond unappealing.
Spencer knew he could take more time off – he could work from Raleigh just as easily as he could back in Atlanta. His hours were flexible and he wasn’t punching a clock.
So why was he even questioning it or letting it play into the big picture?
Pushing his plate away slowly, he reached for his wine. After a sip, he softly said her name and waited for her to look at him.
He saw the vulnerability in her eyes and damn if he didn’t want to do everything possible to ease it. “I think I would like that very much,” he said and saw her visibly relax.
“Oh,” she said breathlessly. “Oh…okay.” And then she smiled at him and he knew she was feeling better about everything. “So…um…”
Standing, Spencer said, “Why don’t we clear the dinner dishes and just…talk?”
Nodding, she came to her feet and started helping him.
They worked together washing dishes and wiping down surfaces as Spencer talked about his job – at Penny’s request. He didn’t mind talking about his work – it was something he was used to and comfortable with – but as they finished getting the kitchen back in order, he found that he didn’t want to be talking about himself. He wanted to talk about them – about what was going to happen next.
Taking the dish towel from her hand, he placed it on the counter and then took her hand in his.
She looked at him curiously. “What?”
Slowly, he pulled her to him. “I promise we’ll talk about whatever you want. I’ll answer anything else you want. But I need to do this first.”
And as was becoming their thing, he lowered his head and kissed her.
Chapter Four
She knew she should stop him, but…the man did amazing things with his lips and tongue and don’t even get her started on how great his hands felt!
Penny knew she was in deep trouble and only sinking deeper. Spencer was becoming a bit of an addiction and that’s why she boldly suggested having a fling with him just so they would have an excuse to keep doing this.
The kissing.
The touching.
She melted against him.
The only difference between this time and the last time was that they weren’t in the rain and there wasn’t a reason to stop. She was in complete control of her senses right now and they were all screaming at her to take this out of the kitchen and at least into the living room.
And there were definitely some parts of her that were screaming for the bedroom.
“Spencer…” she said breathlessly against his lips and he instantly stilled.
His breathing was equally ragged as he rested his forehead against hers. “Sorry.”
Penny licked her lips and gave him a shy smile. “Don’t be. I…I was just thinking that maybe we could go…” To my bedroom… “into the living room and sit down.”
He immediately took her hand in his again and led her to the sofa. Damn. She was hoping he would have read her mind instead.
As soon as they were sitting down, she could tell he was going to say something, but she wasn’t ready to talk yet. She was still catching her breath from their kiss and she wanted to lose it all over again. Without a word, she reached up and cupped his cheek and brought his lips to hers again.
Oh yeah, she thought. This is so much better than standing in the kitchen. Or the rain. But still not as good as my bed.
They kissed until neither could breathe.
They stretched out until Penny was beneath him.
They touched everywhere their hands could reac
h.
And it wasn’t enough.
Wrapping her legs around Spencer’s hips, she arched up against him – silently pleading for more. More touching, more kissing, more…everything.
When his lips left hers, he kissed her cheek. He nipped at the shell of her ear and sighed her name.
“I think…” she panted, “I want…”
Lifting his head, Spencer studied her as he swallowed hard. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this.”
And she knew exactly what his next words were going to be…
“Then don’t,” she said breathlessly.
But he reared up and moved off of her until he was sitting at the far end of the sofa. “I really think we need to talk a little more and make sure we’re on the same page and…” He turned his head and looked at her. “I don’t want there to be any regrets.”
Regrets? He could think about regrets right now?
Slowly, Penny moved to sit up and took a minute to get her breathing back to normal. “Okay, um…”
“Here’s the thing,” he quickly jumped in. “Right now, we’re both a little on edge and immediate gratification would be awesome, believe me. But we’re not strangers, Penny, and as much as we’re sitting here saying that this is going to be a quick…you know…I don’t want you to look back and hate that you made a rash decision.”
“You think I’m making a rash decision?” she asked incredulously.
“What?! No! That’s not…I mean…” Then he let out a long breath. “Okay, yes. I think we’re both looking to make a rash decision.”
And while Penny knew that statement should have been like a bucket of ice water being thrown at her, it wasn’t. If anything, it made her want to be…reckless. Their time together was already going to be short, so why waste it talking about how they might feel afterwards? She already knew there were going to be regrets and there was no clear winning scenario here. If she jumped into bed with him, she was going to have regrets. If she didn’t give in and sent him home right now instead, she was going to have regrets. Shouldn’t they take advantage of what little time they had and use it to the fullest?
Glam Squad & Groomsmen Page 5