“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.