I’ve only seen Penelope a couple of times since last spring. Once when we went to the lake house, and another time when we all went out to celebrate her graduating from college. I drank too much that night and went off on some embarrassing tangent—all but cornering her at the restaurant—telling her what a good girl she was, that she shouldn’t settle, that she had the potential to be anything she wanted to be. And I’m sure a whole bunch of other bullshit that didn’t need to be said. Penelope is smart as a whip—brilliant, really. And she certainly doesn’t need a drunk idiot, a.k.a. me, mansplaining anything to her.
“Hey, you’re back,” Connor says.
I tip my chin in their direction. “I am. Hey, Penelope.”
“Hi, Wolfie.” She treats me to a warm smile that I’m sure I don’t deserve, and my body responds by heating up a few degrees.
Fantastic.
“Join us. Grab a beer.” Connor’s easy smile is hard to say no to, but that’s exactly what I do.
I shake my head. “It’s late. I think I’m just going to call it a night.”
This gets a laugh out of Connor. “Come on, man. One beer. Penelope came over to visit.” He runs a hand through his already messy hair.
I doubt she came to visit me, but I don’t argue with him. It’ll only raise questions I don’t want to answer. Penelope and I have never really been friendly—mostly because I find any excuse in the world to not be in the same room as her.
After trudging to the fridge and helping myself to a bottle of beer, I join them in the living room, taking a seat on the chair across the room. I can manage sitting here for a few minutes.
“How’s the new job going?” I ask Penelope.
She smiles and curls one leg beneath her on the sofa. “I’m loving the job. It’s the people that have been a challenge.”
“What’s going on?” Connor asks.
Her smile fades and she gives her head a shake. “Well, you know how I was hired as part of that management training program?”
Connor nods.
I’m not familiar with the details, only that she had multiple job offers after graduating from college and that Connor is proud of her. Based on what I know about how they grew up, things have never been easy for them. Nothing was handed to them, and Penelope’s never been afraid of hard work. Connor has protected her every way he can, but I know it must be a relief to see her stand on her own two feet and know she can take care of herself.
“I’ve worked my ass off these past few months, and now I’m this close,” she pinches her fingers together, “to a promotion. But I have a bad feeling it’s going to go to the owner’s entitled nephew.”
“That’s not fair.” Connor leans forward and sets his beer on the coffee table.
“Believe me. I know.” Her normally even voice wavers a bit, and I meet her eyes.
They’re the same color as Connor’s—a light turquoise color between blue and green. But that’s where their similarities end. Penelope’s hair is a few shades lighter than her older brother’s dark blond, and she got practically none of the height he did. She’s only a couple of inches over five feet. And curled into herself on the sofa, she looks even smaller. Delicate somehow.
Penelope breaks the spell, glancing down at her hands in her lap. “Anyway, none of that matters because next weekend I’m going to look like an idiot, and then the promotion will probably be handed to Spencer by default.”
“Spencer?” Connor chokes on a laugh. “What a douchey name.”
Penelope rolls her eyes. “Like I said, it’s not going to matter.”
“What’s next weekend?” I ask.
“The annual company outing. It’s going to be a big bro-fest, I just know it. Everyone is bringing a plus-one except for me, and—”
“I’ll go with you,” Connor says.
Penelope laughs, shaking her head. “Yeah? No. The only thing more pathetic than going alone is bringing your older brother. God, Connor. Honestly.”
Connor crosses his bulky forearms over his chest and leans back. “Fine. Then Wolfie will take you.”
What. The. Fuck.
I expect the look on Penelope’s face to be akin to when someone suggests your cousin take you to the prom. Instead, her cheeks flush and she looks at me with a curious expression, almost like she’s trying the idea on for size.
God, just to be the focus of her attention is dizzying.
She’s gorgeous with her wide blue-green eyes, arched eyebrows, and long honey-colored hair. I shouldn’t notice things like that about her, but of course, I do. My roommate’s sister or not, she’s a beautiful woman.
This only illustrates what an absolute mess I am. The fact that my regular hookup rubbing her tits up against me doesn’t give me so much as a twitch in my pants, but looking at Penelope, who’s in leggings and an oversized T-shirt, makes my body light up like I’ve just bitten into a ghost pepper.
