Page 228 of If Our Hearts Collide

“Do you like her?”

My blank stare eats its way through every nerve ending, sparking an electricity through me that only puts me more on edge. “Who?”

“Daphne.”

My eyes twitch. “Why are we talking about her right now? And no. At least not how you are envisioning.”

“Rate her pussy from one to ten, with one being a dumpster and ten being a penis paradise.”

My lower jaw goes boneless. “You can’t be serious.” Is this Penny’s version of an anxiety-riddled self-sabotage episode?

“You had to find her hot enough to have a kinky spanking scene with her. Are we going to have a public scene at Limit-X during the contract’s duration?”

“Hell no.”

She props her hands on her hips. “And why not?”

“Because I respect you too much.”

“But you don’t respect those other girls?”

I let out the breath from my lungs. Where is Penny going with this? I’m not used to someone so sexually inexperienced being so sexually bold. It’s like she is taunting me with both her innocence and her dirty mouth at the same time, and I can’t tell which one is winning the battle. “Because I don’t want to share you. Iwon’tshare you.”

“Even if I want to be part of an orgy?”

“Fuck, Penny.”

“Just teasing,” she giggles. “I was just testing you. Don’t worry, you passed.”

“You keep testing me with that smart mouth of yours, and I’ll put it to better use.”

Her smile is contagious, well, until she doubles over into a fit of giggles. I don’t see her face for a solid minute, and when she finally recovers, she bats her eyelashes at me like a temptress. “Maybe that’s been my plan all along.”

I shake my head at her—which I seem to be doing a lot this morning. She does seem to have this running list of all the things she wants jostling around in her head. Never in a million years would I have been able to predict the turn my life is now taking, with this gorgeous girl who I know wholeheartedly I shouldn’t touch. Yet I can’t stop thinking of all the ways I want to dominate her.

Penny doesn’t make me want to be a better man. She makes me want to be the villain. And something deep inside me makes me wonder if she doesn’t want the same thing.

She sparks my darker side, making me territorial and a predator to her. Yet that’s what she seems to desire.

Penny is equal parts temptress and princess, all wrapped up in my oversized T-shirt that she is now lifting above her?—

“What the hell, Penny? Why are you?—”

“Shhh…” She places her finger over my lips. “I just think that having a contract before actually having sex is silly. What happens if we aren’t compatible?”

With any other woman, I would be able to see her point. However, just the way my cock stirs every time this girl is near it is indication enough that we will certainly have fireworks whenever we finally submit to the act.

“And if we aren’t compatible?” I challenge, mostly because I want to hear her next steps.

When I can sift through all the extra words, I can usually find the truth. Motives guide actions, and I’m certainly interested in what drives Penny.

“Then, I will still allow you to bodyguard me.”

I resist snickering over her use of the wordallow, as if her approval is governing my ability to do my job.

I may have been looking for my replacement before, but so much has changed since our almost kiss in the gym.

Since then, I’ve had numerous samples of the forbidden fruit, and there’s no part of me that doesn’t crave a more substantial taste.

---