Page 26 of Sex, Lies, & Techy Guys (Love on the Sunshine Coast)

She drops the paper back onto the table and stares at it.

“I’m sorry we lied to you.”

Kyle clears his throat and Penny purses her lips, waiting for me to continue, or she could be planning how to castrate us.

“I lied to you and in doing so I put you and Kyle in a bad position. I’m sorry about that. I didn’t understand where this would go.”

She focuses her narrowed gaze on me. “Why wouldn’t you tell me what you do?”

“I realize this is going to come across as incredibly pompous, but we can’t tell you. I wish I could take back the lie, but privacy is paramount.”

Her expression is hard to read.

Kyle attempts where I’m failing. “We worked with the American military for years, and we recently started doing private sector work. Our client had us sign a strict nondisclosure agreement. And aside from complete confidentiality requested by our client, it’s imperative that we protect ourselves because of the nature of our jobs.”

Penny purses her lips before saying, “So why didn’t you say that?”

Kyle grumbles.

“I thought we’d sound like jerks, and you wouldn’t believe us. Or it might scare you.” It occurs to me that she’s upset but not angry. She’s letting us tell our story.

“You can’t tell me anything about your job?”

“Nothing, but I can promise that Kyle and I are making good on our pact to make the world a better place.”

Kyle adds in, “We’re working long hours, trying to wrap up our job, so we can focus on you.”

“That’s our goal, but we can’t even get that right, and I’m starting to wonder if the spell you cast is so enchanting it’s affecting our work. We’ve never been stumped on a job before.”

A smile hints on the edges of her lips.

Kyle pulls us back to the facts, “Can you live with us not talking about our jobs? Give us another chance?”

“If this wasn’t so complicated…” I motion between the three of us. “We’d whisk you away and marry you right now.”

“Whoa!” Kyle’s as animated as I’ve ever seen him. “We need to slow down. Deal with the issue at hand, Groomzilla.”

His rare use of a joke saves the mood as Penny and I bust out laughing.

“Yeah, let’s take this down a notch,” she says. “It won’t hurt to put some time between the day we first met and a marriage proposal.”

I pour my heart out. “And yet when something’s right, you feel it with every part of your being. The biggest mistake of my life was telling that lie. I would do anything to make it go away, to erase any fear that you’re going to tell us to take a hike. I want to marry you. I want to know that you’re going to be by my side forever because it’s time to come clean on my other lie.”

I pause to catch my breath and Penny and Kyle are so wide-eyed, they don’t say anything. “I said we’d leave in a week but I won’t be able to. I can’t imagine a future without you, Penny.”

She’s staring at me, and I can’t read her expression.

“Come here,” I pat the couch between us.

As Penny walks over, Kyle surprises me by saying, “He’s right. We haven’t talked about this, but I don’t know how to move on from you either. My life is orderly. I thrive on control. And yet, no matter what, I have a sense of peace, that everything is as it’s supposed to be when you’re around.”

She relaxes and lets us snuggle into her.

Kyle continues, “I would marry you too because I want that certainty in my life.”

“Or do you just want me to make quiche every morning?”

Kyle lifts her up, I scoot closer, and he turns her sideways and wraps his arm around her back. Her legs drape over me.

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