The white strands of her hair fell over the shoulder of his jacket as she stretched her arm toward the water. With two well-aimed shots of her gun to the helmet, it finally sunk below the water with a bubbled glub-glub, and that was it. A sad little goodbye, really.
The night was almost over.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Luca told her.
Penny’s right eyebrow quirked up when she replied dryly, “Might as well use the other bullets for something useful.”
Ouch.
He said nothing when she dropped down to sit at the edge of the dock. Instead, he moved to stand behind her so that at the very least, he was there if she needed him. For anything.
“It’s not over,” she told him.
“Not yet,” he agreed. “Now we go back to the drawing board and figure out where we go from her.”
Down below, her head bobbed with a nod. He couldn’t help but notice how she didn’t correct his use of we when it came to their next plan. Hell, wasn’t that a battle won in itself? He sure as fuck thought so.
As the silence stretched on, another question nagged at Luca. It would be in his best interest to stay quiet and not ask it, but he wasn’t the type. For one. But for two ... he hated to think Penny might be hurting in that moment because of what she had done—in some way—and he wasn’t helping her.
Fuck him for having a heart.
Right?
She probably didn’t want him to ask anything at all. Silence and running were her best friends, after all. He couldn’t help himself, though.
“Did you get a hit back at the restaurant?”
Penny’s shoulders stiffened, but otherwise, she didn’t move on the dock below him. “I did—and while it wasn’t Allegra, it was about as good as her.”
“Who?”
She’d been able to recognize them as they passed? Shit, he’d been breaking seventy at that point. After they’d gone by entirely, he gunned it further and brought the front tire up from the road. At least by then, Penny had been back to holding onto him. God knew they didn’t need to end up rolling across pavement at that point.
“Penny?” Luca asked when a minute passed without a reply. “Who was it?”
Her head tipped down, and he hated that he couldn’t see her face to understand why. Her next words helped a bit with it. “My grandfather, Charles. He would need to go eventually—had the original plans moved forward, he was next on the list. Essentially anyone else was useless and easy kills. They could send teams for them. It would have left me with only Allegra and ... she would have had to know it was me.”
“Coming for her,” Luca supplied.
Penny exhaled harshly. “Well, she does know. At any rate, it works.”
Then, Luca had another thought. Fuck his thoughts lately, too, because they were getting him in more trouble than they were worth. So was his damn life.
“Did your grandfather abus—”
“No,” she interjected before he could ask more. “He had a revolving door of children at his disposal—he was the gatekeeper. They would give him anything to get what they wanted. Allegra, though ... that was different. She was always jealous whenever he paid me any kind of attention. I look so much like her and back then, it was worse. It was bad all over.”
“How so?”
“You don’t want to know, Luca. It’s all ... rotten.”
A chill settled deep in Luca’s veins, but he didn’t show it. Everything about Penny’s history was uncomfortable. To deal with, to talk about, or even think inside the privacy of his own mind. He couldn’t imagine what it must be like to actually be her.
“And I just hate her,” Penny added. “In the end, that’s where I settle it. I hate her.”
Well ...
He understood that.
Too well.
“We should go,” he murmured.
He hated to do it. Penny seemed content in her quiet stillness on the dock. With her legs hanging over the edge, swishing to and fro, she didn’t seem ready to move. Not that it mattered; they didn’t have a choice.
“Better not linger,” Luca added. “We wouldn’t want to be noticed when I’m sure every hound in this city is out sniffing for you.”
Penny dared to glance over her shoulder, her blue gaze glittering up at him when she asked, “Literally or figuratively?”
“Well,” he considered, “maybe a bit of both.”
Her laughter was the best sound in the world, but especially because he hadn’t been expecting it in the first place. Before he could think better of it, Luca placed his outstretched hand down for Penny to take. Palm up, he left it open.
She could take his help—even if it was only to get up—should she want to. Or, his hand could be there for her to take when she stood up without his help.
Luca grinned when she pulled on his hand to steady herself to her feet. The windswept mess of her hair still managed to look good, especially with that smile stretching over her pretty face. Then, her hand squeezed his when she asked, “He told you I came back—little Cross, I mean?”
“Yeah, he did.”
“Did he tell anyone—”
“You mean like his parents because you could have put him in serious danger just by being anywhere near him?”
Penny’s stare narrowed. “I didn’t mean for him to see me in the first place. He was just ... there. And then I couldn’t even trick or lie to him because he’s—”
“Way too smart for that.”
“Kind of amazing, actually.”
Luca smirked. “Some people call him strange.”
“Yeah, well, fuck those people.”
He chuckled.
Right.
Fuck those people.
“But I didn’t lie to him,” Penny whispered, locking stares with Luca when she inched closer. “I do want to go back.”
“I know. That’s why I’m here. We all want that.”
“Even you.”
“Especially me.”
He dared her to ask why.
He wanted to tell her.
“If you’ll let me,” he added quieter.
Instead of asking the question he wanted her to, Penny asked, “But what does that even mean?”
“Stop running. You don’t do this alone. It means I’m here.”
“So—”
Luca yanked her closer using their still-connected hands until they were chest to chest and eye to eye. “What’s the plan, Penny?”
He really only wanted one thing.
Right then, anyway.
She gave it to him when her plush, pink lips pressed against his without warning. And just like that, Luca couldn’t breathe all over again. His chest tightened with every dance of her lips across his, and then when her tongue darted into his mouth for a taste, he swore the world tilted. Just a little. Just enough.
He wanted to touch her.
Gets his hands all over her.
He wanted her safe.
He just wanted her.
Luca didn’t care what the plan was—not as long as they did it together.
“THANK YOU, MRS. TITCHENS. Enjoy your stay for the evening—and your husband. I hope you can get a refund at the other hotel for the cancellations.”