Page 85 of The Show

He was going to be more in demand than ever.

My teeth gritted before I could stop them. It wasn’t something I’d ever thought much about, mostly because Lauren always gave Penn shit for the trail of women he left in his wake at any possible opportunity she could get.

But now I was one of them.

Yesterday he’d said there was an ‘us’, but how many other women did he say that to?

“They’re here!” called Rafe, when we reached the table, but the only thing I could see was the waitress with her hand on Penn’s shoulder as she simpered down at him.

I wasn’t even sure what she was doing there, seeing as the table was already laden with food and the bustle of other wait staff hurrying around meant she was surplus to the requirements of Rafe, Beulah, and Penn.

In his defense, he wasn’t looking at her; he was too engrossed in whatever was on his phone and didn’t even seem to have noticed her hand was on his shoulder, but I couldn’t decide if that was better or worse - that he was so used to being pawed at, women all blurred into one.

I jolted hard at the vicious right hook planted on me by the green-eyed monster. I’d experienced jealousy before; I was familiar with the wretched knots of envy which squirreled through your veins. But right now, the undiluted - not to mention wildly uncharacteristic - rage surging through me had me wanting to scratch that woman’s eyes out if she didn’t remove her taloned fingers from Penn’s black polo shirt immediately.

What made it worse was that while I was still glued to the spot, every other member of our party was hugging and kissing, while passing Bell round for more hugs and kisses. Not one of them had noticed I had yet to blink.

My body stayed rigid as it was grasped into a bone-crunching hug by Rafe, followed by Beulah.

“Are you okay?” she asked with a slight frown as she stepped back.

I pulled myself out of my trance where I was currently plotting ways to get the waitress fired. Or murdered.

What was the matter with me?! Who had I become?! And what spell had Penn Shepherd bewitched me with?!

“Yes, yes,” I smiled finally and firmly, hugging her back. “Hello, just hungry. Low blood sugar or something.”

“Me too,” she grinned. “Let’s eat.”

There was a tap on my shoulder.

“Don’t I get a hello hug?” Penn’s deep timbre rolled over my skin, like sinking into a hot bath on a cold day, and I turned to find him peering down at me, his grey eyes so intensely focused on me that my mouth dried up in an instant.

It was hard to believe he’d been naked in my bed less than four hours ago, or that his fingers - those magic fingers which were right now subtly slipping under my t-shirt and brushing against my feverish skin - had given me so much pleasure as he slowly and deliberately pumped them inside me until his name was echoing around my apartment from the volume of my cries.

Shivers rippled across my skin from his hot breath blowing against my neck when he pulled me in. My arms were still dangling down by my side, frozen in place from the assault every single one of my nerve endings was currently enduring.

“I can’t wait to get you naked later. You’re going to be soaking my cock.” Penn’s voice was so quiet even I could barely hear his whisper, but it didn’t stop my stomach caving in from the flurry of butterflies, and jumping back like I’d brushed against a live wire.

Pennwasthe live wire; dangerous and tempting and begging to be touched, even though you knew it was a terrible idea. How was I going to get through an entire day without making it obvious what we’d been doing, and what I still wanted to do right here and now? Audience be damned, I was seconds away from letting him rip my clothes off and spread me across the table.

Yet as I blinked my sight back to focus, not one of our friends noticed how my brow had become slightly damp, or that I was trying to contain the heaving in my chest as I struggled to take a full breath, or that my pupils were undoubtedly shot with arousal. And it was made all the more obvious by Penn’s leer, because he was fully aware of what he’d just done to me. He knew my panties were no longer dry. He knew my heart was pounding like a prisoner desperate to be freed.

He knew.

By the time I’d regained as much composure as possible, the waitress had disappeared, Barclay was in his usual position under the table, a bottle of champagne was being poured, and Lauren was tucking into a large English muffin.

On the plus side, I wasn’t sitting next to Penn, because that would have been a disaster.

On the downside, he’d taken a seat opposite me, which was worse, because now I had to force myself to actively not look at him. Something made harder by the fact he was always looking at me whenever I happened to glance his way. And instead of just turning to continue whatever conversation he was in, the corner of his lip would slant ever so slightly as he held my gaze for a beat longer than he should have done, and in a way that made it so obvious to anyone paying attention that he’d left my bed at first light.

“Muffin?”

I looked at Beulah, holding a plate of English muffins in front of me and took one just for something to do with my hands. “Thank you.”

“Are you okay? You seem distracted.”

I debated for a second whether to confess my sins, but this was neither the time nor the place. Beulah, however, would make a good listener I decided. And if I was going to tell anyone what I’d done, I’d probably tell her. She didn’t strike me as the judgmental type.

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