Page 65 of Offsides Attraction

“Do you know what makes me happy?” he asked.

Penny snorted. “No. I haven’t been able to read you since the first time I kissed you.”

“Is that normal?”

“No.”

“Does it scare you?”

Heck, yes!

“What do you think?” she grumbled, and he laughed.

“I think it scares the crap out of you. You like rules, routines, and schedules.”

“And safety, but I haven’t felt safe since the moment I kissed you.”

“Funny,”—he pulled her to him, and she knew that was a good sign—“I feel like my life’s been in free fall until you. You make me feel safer. But I’m sorry you feel that way. Scaring you is the last thing I want to do.” His sincere apology tripped off his lips like an expert apologizer.

“Who are you, and what have you done with Bash?” she teased, needing to lighten the mood.

“Blame it on the therapy.” She looked up at him and nodded her head as she left his embrace. Therapy looks good on him. Penny stepped over the low fence and settled on a hay bale, patting the space next to her. Bash followed and she felt his old reserve settle on him like a suit of armor.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t think straight when I’m in your arms. My system goes a bit nutso.”

He relaxed. “That doesn’t sound bad to me.”

“Says the thinking man.”

“Sure, as long as you don’t specify which head is doing the thinking.” He smirked and Penny pulled an innocent puppy into her lap, needing it to protect her heart like a junkyard dog.

“We’ve never talked about it.”

“It?”

“My gifts.” She swallowed. Penny couldn’t imagine living without them, and she didn’t want to choose. Although there isn’t a choice since my magic doesn’t work with a broken heart. Bash shrugged and fondled the puppy’s ears before looking at her.

“They don’t matter to me.” The insult pierced her heart before relief coursed through her. “Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s cool, and watching you move stuff when you were sick was eye opening, but the biggest eye opener was being in your apartment for the first time. Seeing who you really were. I’d always felt like you were hiding from me, but there, you were fully exposed. Your books, your travel pictures and mementos, your partnership plan on the table. I saw the real Penny, and I fell for the woman, not the witch.” She smiled through her tears.

“Can we pick up where we left off?” she asked, hoping she wasn’t premature in her assessment. Based on his words and body language, he wanted her. He wanted them.

Bash exhaled, feeling his lungs fully empty for the first time since he’d left the Goddess Bakes. Maggie’s encouragement had filled him with hope, but then everyone at Thistlestone acted as if nothing had changed. As if his world wasn’t better and Penny didn’t love him. But her quiet question undid him. He pulled the puppy from her lap and reconciled it with its siblings. The mother dog gave him the side-eye as she flopped back to let the puppies nurse. He pulled Penny on to his lap.

“With your bare butt on a hay bale? Sure, why not.” She swatted at him, but he captured her hand and kissed it.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know, but we can’t pick up where we left off. I’ve come to know you better and fall deeper for you, and I can’t go back to where we were,” he confessed. Penny’s small smile shot through him.

“Better and deeper work for me, too,” Penny said before kissing him, and Bash hoped she’d meant the double entendre. “So, how serious are you about this celibacy pledge?” She murmured against his lips as her fingers played with a button on his shirt.

“Depends on you.”

“Same rules as last season? Exclusivity?” she asked.

“You’re all I want.”

“Really?”

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