Page 32 of Lucky Penny
Jesse steps into the hallway, shirtless, ruffling his wet hair with one hand, the other pulling the door shut behind him. Water clingsto his skin, drops trailing over tattoos and a six-pack of muscle that I haveabsolutely no businessnoticing. But I do.
God, do I.
What happened to the Jesse I knew? The tall skinny emo kid?
And his towel sits criminally low on his hips…like pornographically low.
Like barely an inch above his fucking dick.
He sees me, pauses, eyebrows lifting just a little like he knowsexactlywhat he’s doing.
“Everything okay?” he asks, voice gravelly, and my mouth opens, but no sound comes out.
“Holy shit.” Audrey’s voice brings me out of my chokehold.
I spin, nearly body-slamming my bedroom door, and hurl myself into the room, kicking the door shut behind me like a middle school girl who just saw her first R-rated movie.
I pinch the bridge of my nose, eyes squeezed shut like I can erase what I just saw, even though I know, without a doubt, that image is going to be seared into my brain for a very long time. I turn the video call back toward me.
My face is beet red.
“Well,” I mutter, breath still shallow, “that’s Jesse. No photo needed. You just saw more of him than anyone ever asked for.”
Audrey’s eyebrows are still halfway up her forehead when she smiles devilishly. “That’s Jesse?” She lets out a whistle. “You are so screwed.”
I nod, unable to make eye contact.
I’m well aware of just how screwed I am.
14
Jesse
NOW
The timing of my life is just...classic.
I glance at myself in the mirror, almost laughing.Is the universe playing a joke on me?
Penny’s reaction keeps looping in my head while I move around my room, attempting to get dressed. She gawked at me like she’d never seen a half-naked guy before.
Nope. Don’t like that thought.
Imagining her seeinganyoneelse like that makes my neck pulse. I’m not a jealous guy, but when it comes to Penny, I’m like the territorial alpha male dogs I train. Absolutely feral.
Either way, it can’t be true.
Penny’s laugh is contagious, her smile is borderline criminal, and her body…
Not that I’ve been witness to any of those things since she got here.
She’s serving me up fire only.
I have promises to uphold to both Danny and Fia regardless, and thinking with anything but my head won’t get me far.
Several minutes have ticked by since Penny nearly slammed into my freshly showered body, but it’s still dead quiet across the hall. I’m beginning to question if she’ll ever come out of there.
I glance at my phone—it’s barely 6 p.m.—and I’m not about to sit here in my room and rot. I dig through the dresser until I find a plain black t-shirt and throw it on, then step into gray sweats.
