Page 8 of Sex, Lies, & Techy Guys (Love on the Sunshine Coast)

The way the accused thief covered her tracks has me wondering if she’s the smartest kid on the block or if it’s actually a team, which is pretty common for stealing cryptocurrency.

A knock on the door provides welcomed relief from staring at my computer screen. I click a word processor open to a page where I loaded a few of the pictures we took today.

“Time to eat,” Kyle says as he gets up and stretches.

Penny’s smile grows when she sees the photos on the screen.

“If you need a refresher on what anything is, let me know.”

“We’ve got it,” Kyle says abruptly.

I take it down a notch. “The videos you let me shoot of you giving highlights are helping a lot.”

Kyle reamed me for taking those, for encouraging the lie, but I wasn’t about to pass up a chance to record Penny’s sweet voice and catch the subtleties of the way her body moves. I don’t care if I’m an asshole for doing it. She’s not exactly shy.

“Good. Maybe I could add tour guide as one of my offerings.”

My chest tightens at the thought of her sharing a day with anyone else. Then it notches tighter at the thought of strangers, men, booking nights in her bed, regardless of which room that bed is in. I listen to her musings about improvements she has planned as we grab our plates from the kitchen, then we’re back in our office per Kyle’s mandate.

“Will you want a late-night snack?” she asks, following us back to the room.

“No, we’re good. We’ll bring our plates out in a few minutes,” Kyle says while closing the door.

PENNY

I’ve put away the extra food, tidied the kitchen, fluffed the pillows on the couch, touched up my lipstick, and stared down the hallway wishing they would come out of their room.

Looks like another solo night for me. I chastise myself for being hopeful for anything more.

I’m about to give up and go to my room when there’s a ruckus, cussing, and if I can trust my ears…water spraying.

Adrenaline courses through me and in a flash, I’m at their door which Kyle flings open hard enough it might have dented the wall.

“Where’s your water shut off? A pipe broke.”

“What?” As the word falls from my mouth, my gaze moves past him to the hole where the ceiling should have been. This can’t be happening.

“Where is your water shut off?” He emphasizes each word.

“I’ll get it.” I rush to turn the water off and get back to them as fast as possible.

Lance is moving an upholstered chair. His drenched, white t-shirt highlights the contours of his pecs. His soaking wet boxers also leave little to the imagination. Fuck.

They must have raided the bathroom because the brand-new fluffy towels are strewn across the floor making a patchwork quilt of the pastels that were supposed to comfort bodies.

I step inside their office. Their computers are on the dry side of the room. I exhale hard and am finally able to intake air. So much for pleasing my first guests.

A section of sheetrock that should be on the ceiling is on the floor. Water sprayed across the walls, temporarily darkening the paint. The furniture will be fine but it’s a mess. Tears well in my eyes.

“Hey.” Lance steps in front of me, his hands slowly stroking my upper arms. “It’ll be okay. We got the furniture out of the way. You got the water turned off. It’ll be all right.”

“I can’t believe…” I wave my hand at the mess and my breath repeatedly hitches as sobs threaten.

“It’s okay. We can use the other room. And we’ll make do with the dry part of this room.” Lance pulls me into his chest wrapping his arms fully around me. The dampness of his clothes doesn’t even bother me.

I sink into him, wishing the security of his embrace could make all of the chaos go away. For all the sex appeal he exuded, it’s taken a backseat to tenderness as he tucks stray hairs behind my ear.

“I’ll call a plumber and get this fixed.”

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