Page 32 of Petting Penelope
“Penny! Rachel!” Tay, the person they’d had lunch with the previous day, ran over and grinned at them. “What d’you think of my costume?”
They were wearing what looked like a Victorian male bathing suit, which they modeled proudly. “Isn’t it fun?”
“So fun!” agreed Penelope.
“Tay!” A woman in pigtails came bounding over. “Shall we cannonba—oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there.” The brunette seemed to switch modes almost instantaneously. “Hi there, I’m Sadie Hawkins. You must be… Penelope and Rachel?”
“That’s right,” said Rachel, offering the brunette a hand to shake. “You and your husband run the Ranch, right?”
“That’s right.” She smiled at Penelope. “I like your suit. Do you want to come cannonball with us?”
“She’s not a Little,” said Tay.
“I’m not,” said Penelope, “but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a good cannonball. Can you hold my sarong, Rachel?”
“Absolutely,” said the other woman, and took it from her with a kiss. “Go have fun. I’ll find us a lounger and get some food.”
“Thank you!” Penny said. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until Rachel had mentioned food. It had been a long time since they’d had breakfast. “I won’t be too long.”
“Take as long as you like, darling,” said Rachel, who kissed her again, and then headed to where Bex, Faith and Guilia had waved her over.
“She’s nice,” said Sadie.
“Isn’t she?” sighed Penelope. “I think she might be my girlfriend.”
Tay and Sadie looked at her open-mouthed.
“Wait,” said Tay. “She came all this way with you, and shewasn’tyour girlfriend?”
“She was my Domme,” explained Penny, as they started to make their way round to the deep end of the pool. “We’d been doing quite a lot of non-sexual kink, but here it’s somehow turned into something more.”
“A good something more?” There was a note in Sadie’s voice that had Penelope smiling at her reassuringly. “Oh yes. Definitely a good something more. I mean, my brain will probably freak out over it every now and again, but that’s trauma for you.”
Sadie nudged her with her shoulder. “That’s trauma.” The two of them exchanged a look, and in that one glance, Penny saw a traumatic history of Sadie’s own.
“And now we have this,” Sadie said, gesturing round the pool, and then over to where Rachel was now sitting.
“Now we have this,” repeated Penelope. She squinted over at where Rachel sat, checking for signs of overwhelm, but the other woman seemed comfortable.
“Don’t worry,” said Tay, slipping an arm around Penny’s shoulders. “Faith’s really good at keeping an eye on people, and when Mandi arrives, she’ll have spare earplugs, in case Rachel needs them.”
They shrugged when Penelope looked at them questioningly. “There’re some of us who are neurospicy here, and we recognize one of our own. Rachel’s in good hands, I promise.”
“Enough chit chat,” said Sadie, surveilling the pool. “Cannonball time. Now where will cause the most chaos…”
CHAPTER 28
Rachel
As Tay, Sadie and Penelope hit the water in perfect unison, there were shrieks all around the edge of the pool.
“Tay and Sadie aren’t the most sobering influence,” said Bex, with a laugh. “But I must say that it’s good to see Penny smiling like that.”
“You knew her, before, right?” asked Rachel.
Bex nodded. “And I knew her when she was dating Cristina too.” She paused and pulled a face. “I’m sorry, I probably shouldn’t talk about her ex.”
“It’s okay,” said Rachel. “Most of us have exes, even if not all of them are as shitty as Penny’s seems to have been.”
