Page 133 of On a Fault Line

“No.”

My face relaxes, as I try to coax her to obey. “Penelope, come here and let me hold you.”

Come on, baby, give in.

Without another word, she climbs into my arms, straddling me.

Good.

She’s exactly where she belongs. Her touch, being this close, is proof of perfection.

I want to demand she tells me what’s really bothering her. I want to wrestle the words out of her mouth and make her promise not to give me the silent treatment again in the future…

But instead, I just wrap my arms around her and hold her to me, with one hand rubbing little circles into her back and the other getting lost in her beautiful hair.

And finally, when her breathing slows and she is relaxed, I peel her off the front of me—ever so carefully—and look at her eyes in the moonlit darkness of the vehicle.

“Why are you so angry with me?”

“You really don’t know?”

“I would rather hear your pure thoughts without my own assumptions muddling anything.”

“You were a jerk to Ivan,” Penny blurts out without any prelude.

“Was I?” I knew she was upset back at the barbecue, but I thought we had moved forward from it. Maybe I just secretly hoped we had. “I actually thought I was being reasonable.”

Penny’s jaw opens, dropping with gravity. “Reasonable?”

“Yes.”

She makes some unintelligible grumble sound but then clears her throat and clarifies, “I’d hate to see what unreasonable looks like.”

“It usually involves a body bag and an alibi.”

“Sheesh! Ivan is a friend. No need to put a hit out on him. Seriously.”

“Guys can’t be friends with girls.”

Her eyes narrow on mine. “Says who?”

“Says science.”

“Well, science can be wrong.”

“We are genetically conditioned to want to mate. So keeping things friendly will be the last thing on his mind. Trust me. He wants you. And I refuse to give you up, Princess.”

“Ivan isn’t like?—”

“Three times you’ve said another man’s name while you are on my lap. Three times, Penelope.” My fingers grip her waist. “When you are straddling me like you are”—I rock her back and forth for added emphasis—“you are never to have another man’s name fall from those lips.”

“Collins?”

“Yes, Princess?”

“I’m really horny. Can you make it all better?”

My eyes darken. I’ve been on edge for the last twelve hours, counting down the time I can toss her onto my bed and bend her to my will.

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