Page 27 of Falling for You

One night, she enchanted me, ruining anyone I could want to move on with.

“Tony, it's about time you got here,” Harry snaps as soon as we walk into the bland living area, I snort while my brother rolls his eyes.

The room is full of pompous idiots in suits trying to brown-nose Harry, not because of Harry, as he believes, but because the Vines are here. Today is supposed to celebrate Harry getting a promotion, one below partner, or something. I don’t know; I wasn’t listening, but he isn’t the main attraction.

The idiot’s brown hair is slicked back, and he looks like he should be serving food with his bow tie.

Tony scoffs and states, “I’m five minutes late because practice ran late; Dad was aware.”

Harry narrows his beady eyes and snaps, “Whatever. Don’t embarrass me today, okay. It’s bad enough the disowned daughter is here with her brat.”

Tony growls and steps forward, both Dylan and I move, ready to grab him but he pauses and softens, making me and my brother look to see what caused his reaction. My mouth drops as Dylan stutters, “Wait, is that? I mean, isn’t that?”

I ignore him and push past Harry, ensuring to shoulder-check him in the process, making him gasp and rush over to the redhead. Her eyes come my way, and they widen, but all I can focus on is her features, which are so much like Pen’s except for the eyes—this girl has blue.

“I know you,” I state, and she tilts her head at me.

“What do you mean you know her?” Tony demands possessively, I can’t even make fun of him because I have only one person in mind.

“Well, I don’t know you, but I know the girl you were with that night, your bachelorette party. You’re Penelope’s sister, right?” I say, and the girl, I’m guessing Avery, nods once as Tony stands beside her protectively. Everything in me settles, and my brother sighs in relief, stating, “Thank fuck for that; we’ve been searching for your sister for months.”

Avery doesn’t look at him, keeping her eyes on me. I confirm, “I’ve been looking for her since she upped and disappeared on me.” Tony cuts in and mutters, “It must be a sister trait,” making Avery scowl at him playfully, a small smile on her face before she looks back at me.

“How do I know you’ve been searching for her?” she asks sweetly though I see the fire in her eyes like my Firecracker, “She has spent months trying to get in touch with you, even came to a game only to be blacklisted.”

She really did try to come to see me.

My heart pounds seeing her truth, and I admit, “I sent her season passes for the games. I can even call my dad up, and he’ll give you the receipts proving I’ve been trying to find her but struggled because I didn’t know her last name.” My eyes race between hers, and I beg, “Please, where is she?”

She looks over me for a moment while my brother stands next to me, holding his breath, ready to step in if need be. Then she says, “She’s in the kitchen with my dad but….” Halfway through her talk, I rush away from her as Tony points to where the kitchen is. She calls, “Taylor,” but I ignore her.

I can feel my brother following, but my only focus is seeing my girl again, and yes, she is my fucking girl. I have been looking for her for so long, not once looking at anyone else. She belongs tome, and I her, or I fucking hope I her. If not, I’ll be wooing her until she wants me back.

I rush into the kitchen, my eyes roaming the overly bright room before they lock on Penelope wearing an off-the-shoulder dress that stops just above her knees, her feet in pumps, her hair down and curled perfectly, looking like a fucking vision. I halt seeing what is in her arms, looking around the room with curiosity and my dark blue fucking eyes and Tony’s confession outside hits me like a ton of bricks.

Harry’s wife abandoned her pregnant sister when their parents disowned her for money.

“Fuck me, that is Nurse Vine,” Dylan mutters next to me.

Kaylah’s nurse, the one she wanted me to marry, the one who went on maternity leave. My fucking girl and my…

Oh shit, she was at the charity game just over a month after we slept together not once, not twice, but seven fucking times where I didn’t wear a condom, and her sister said she’s been trying to get in touch with me for months, fucking months.

Fuck me!

My heart pounds, my palms sweat as I look over her and the kid, and my mind can’t seem to catch up.

“Shit, that baby has our…,” Dylan’s words trail off, sounding underwater as Pen looks my way, probably feeling my eyes. Ours lock and everyone around us disappears. The electricity, the chemistry I felt that night, the all-consuming feeling that scared the living shit outta me is still fully there but fuck me it's magnified.

Her eyes tear up, and I don’t think; instead, I move, but before I can get close, she turns from me, handing the baby off to a man beside her, a man I fucking hope is her father, before she moves and meets me halfway around the kitchen.

I plan to grab hold of her, to hold her tight, and never fucking let go, but Penelope has other ideas.

Shocking the shit outta me, she grabs me by my ear, my fucking ear making my brother laugh, and drags me out of the kitchen and through the living area.

“What the…,” I gasp, and she yanks my ear harder. I lock eyes with her shocked sister and a grinning Tony, all while Harry narrows his eyes, but not at me but at my Firecracker.

Fucker, he goes near Pen, I’ll knock him out.

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