Page 40 of Some Like It Scandalous
“Does it really matter?”He’s breaking my heart and I don’t even know why. We’re not really together and then it feels like we are. How can this stranger be so damn familiar?Her life was not this bag of insanity—she liked everything in its place. She kept it in place.
“Hey, if I need to fly to Los Angeles and kick his royal tushy, I will head to the airport right now. So come on, sis—let the anxiety out. It has to be giving you heartburn by now.”
The acidic bile in the back of her throat confirmed her sister’s assessment, but she didn’t need to tell her that. The sweatshirt was too hot, and her skin itched. After rolling off the bed, she walked back over to the drawers and rummaged through them—she wanted something of her own. It seemed a number of the “guest” clothes had been intermingled with hers. “It’s nothing like that.”
“So what is it like? You know I’m not going to stop asking and if you don’t tell me, well, I’ll just call Mom and tell her he broke your heart again and she’ll tell Tommy and Dad and?—”
“You do realize it’s rude to blackmail your sister, right?” She fished out a worn, three-sizes-too-big T-shirt and stared at it. The simple black shirt with the silver Yale on the front was Charlie’s favorite—he’d worn it everywhere. When she returned to the States and arranged to move out of their apartment, it ended up in her boxes—probably shuffled into their mixed laundry. She’d never returned it. She always meant to do it, butsometimes after a particularly horrendous day, she would slip it on and remember.
When did I become such a sap?
“Pfft. It’s not blackmail when you’re related.” Penny intruded, but Anna traded the sweatshirt and shorts for the T-shirt before answering.
“Oh?”
“Nope. It’s leverage. So, spill. What’s going on with you and Charming Charlie?”
Anna’s eyes widened. “Oh my God. Do not call him that.”
“I kind of like it, it’s got a good ring to it and it comes with bling—heh heh.” Penny chortled, but her laughter was short-lived. “And stop being so evasive. What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. Nothing. Everything. I started this week like any other on a new project, one hundred percent focused on making it a success. Now I’m living with a man that is so damn familiar it hurts and I’m not even sure I ever really knew or know now.” She exhaled, sitting on the edge of the bed. The little girl lost was not her—nor was this horrible loss of options. “Maybe I should suggest I move to a different place, get out from underfoot. I don’t have to be here to be secure and I can’t think this is making it any easier to say we’re not involved when?—”
“One. You’re involved. Two. You’re babbling. Three. What happened?” Penny’s voice sharpened, all of the playfulness evaporating.
“We kissed.” There, she said it.
“Sweet.” Excitement bubbled in Penny’s voice. “Who kissed whom?”
“Does it matter?” She flopped against the pillows. Her lips tingled when she thought about their kisses.
“Of course it matters. Did he kiss you? Did you kiss him?”
“The first time?—”
“First time? You’ve been holding out on me, that’s multiple kisses.”
Anna let out an exasperated huff. “It’s not like that.”
“Uh-huh.”
Anna groaned. “Penny, you’re killing me here.”
“Killing you? You’re the one holding on to all the juicy details.”
“He kissed me first.” She was never going to get her shut up about it until she answered. “But he was mad—I think.”
“Why do you think he was mad?” Bless her, instead of the a-ha Anna had expected, Penny sounded quiet, thoughtful.
“Because he kissed the hell out of me and walked away.” Her body hummed. The heat spreading from her face to her chest and across her belly—she would have made love with him right then and right there, but he walked away.
“Okay, angry kisses are good.” Relief bumped her voice up a notch. “That’s untapped passion aching to be released. And the next kiss?”
“Well, technically…he kissed me again.” Did the gym kiss really count? The firm affection in his manner and his lips left the butterflies in her stomach in an uproar.
“That you have doubt means you need to give me more details…”
She sighed. Penny really was impossible. “We were working out and talking, he had to go. He gave me a quick kiss because he had to go.”
