“Fine, Brat!” Carla went stomping off up the stairs. A white slip hung clearly visible under the black dress Carla wore, and her pink house shoes scraped across the wood steps.
Penny watched her walk all the way up and sucked her teeth when one of the family photos fell from the wall as Carla stormed past. Penny would have to pick it up later, after she got rid of Jason.
She let out a sigh. “We can talk in the living room.” She turned and he followed her.
Too late to ask himself why he’d bothered coming back to Big Mama’s that evening. He was here now. Time to get his much-needed closure, once and for all.
Sitting in the room where he’d sipped on iced tea and talked with Big Mama each time he’d visited her, hoping she’d mention something about Penny, Jason started to wonder if he wasn’t just a little bit touched in the head. If the stony hostility bouncing off of Penny like shock waves was any indication, she probably wouldn’t be offering up what he needed.
If her taking him into the fancy formal living room with the floral, plastic-covered furniture offered any hint, then she had no desire to make him feel as comfortable as he felt when they were teenagers, hanging out in the den with the pleather sofas she hated.
She had her guard up. But what she didn’t know was that, as a detective, he’d become a pro at breaking down people’s barriers and getting them to tell the truth. It was time for her walls to come tumbling down.
“So, what do I have to do to get you to leave me alone, Jason?” Penny sat down on the sofa, and the plastic squeaked.
He sat next to her and got a strong whiff of her perfume. She still wore Beautiful. He remembered the Christmas during their junior year of high school when he’d given her the perfume for the first time, and his gut clenched. Gritting his teeth, he firmed his resolve.
“You could start by telling me the truth, telling me what really happened fifteen years ago. One minute we were having a baby and planning to get married. The next minute you had a miscarriage and I’m being told you’re in love with Terrill. You even went so far as to say the baby wasn’t mine.”
He felt his voice crack as a sharp pain laced his chest. The raw pain threatening to bubble up in his chest had to be squelched.
Penny’s copper eyes looked away and her stony gaze soon found a lot of interest in the shaking hands folded on her lap. “That’s pretty much what happened back then. So, again I ask you. What do you want from me?”
“I want you to look me in the eye and tell me what we had was a lie. I want you to look at me and tell me you had sex with my best friend. I want you to tell me the child wasn’t mine, that it wasn’t our baby. I want you to look me in the eye and tell me you never loved me.”
Her hand moved to the tiny scar at the side of her right eye.
Jason knew that she always worried the scar whenever she felt under pressure or up against a wall. His eyes narrowed.
She was definitely hiding something.
Her lower lip trembled slightly, and she let out a soft sigh. “Are you a glutton for punishment or something? Why this sudden need to revisit and relive the past? We’ve been there and done that. I’ve told you all of this before. I don’t see the point in the constant repeating. So why don’t you just—”
He couldn’t let her finish, had to cut her off. “Why can’t you do it, Penny? Look at me while you cut my heart out. You owe me that. You didn’t look at me then. You kept your face buried in Terrill’s chest. I was too angry to think there was a reason why you couldn’t look at me.”
“There was no reason!”
“Then look at me, damn it!”
She lifted her head, and her ice-glazed eyes were pooling with tears. “You have no right to come in here and try and boss me around. I don’t have to answer to you, Jason. Get out of my house. I don’t want to see you…Just leave, please.”
Her bottom lip quivered again, and this time it was more pronounced. She appeared to be just on the edge of breaking.
He didn’t know if he wanted to see her broken. He could clearly see that she was hanging on by a thread.
Leaning forward, he cupped her face in his hand, gently stroking her cheek with his thumb. He had no idea what he was doing or why he felt the need to touch her, to comfort her. But he had to, even though he was the one bringing her the stress.
Her lip shook even more, and the tears that had once been content to remain pooled in her eyes started their way down her cheeks.
His heart started beating faster, causing a powerful thud in his chest. It was official; he was the biggest jerk in the city…probably the state…most likely the entire country….
Letting his hand move to caress her cheek and wipe away the tears, he let out the breath he’d had no idea he was holding. “Put us both out of our misery, Pen, please.”
He sighed and placed his lips firmly over hers, kissing her with years of pent-up energy and frustration.
The startled gasp out of her mouth barely registered, and he used it as an opportunity to forge ahead with his tongue. He moved his hands and arms from her face to her back, pulling her over to him and scooping her into his lap. She felt so good against him. Every luscious part of her seemed to be made just for his hands, his only. He continued to taste and touch her even when she started to wiggle and tried to break away.
Penny placed her hands on Jason’s chest, pushing him away. Even as she attempted to do so, she couldn’t seem to get herself to stop kissing him. His taste was everything she remembered, multiplied over and over again. Lord, she could barely resist him.
Insane.
That’s what she had to be. She needed to get her behind on a plane to Los Angeles immediately.
The strength of his hold nearly took her breath away. His thighs felt like the perfect spot to rest her behind. What she wouldn’t have given to just be able to nestle closer to his rippling chest. His muscled arms wrapped around her felt so right. Yes, she needed to stop this now.
She made an attempt to close her lips, pursing them as she tried to finesse her way off his lap. All she managed to do was make him squeeze her tighter and cause him to nip and nibble on her bottom lip.
She opened her eyes and kept her mouth closed until he nipped her a little sharper.
His gaze, hooded in desire, said more to her than words could have at that point. And as if trying to prove just that, he only said one word. “Open.”
No way. She tried to push away.
He held her and nipped her lip again. His tug softened as he whispered, “Open.” It was more of a plea now.
The desire, the plea, they weakened her. Hesitantly, she yielded her lips to his demand. She wanted to kiss him forever. What did that mean?
It means you need to get your behind on the next plane to L.A.
His tongue plundered her mouth at will as his hands roamed her body. Before she knew it, she was beginning to writhe and moan on his lap. She couldn’t help it. Only when he halted the kiss did she get any semblance of control. Except for the panting breaths and the shaking body, she was the picture of poise.
“Tell me.”
“Tell you…Tell you what?” she panted.
Where had all the air gone? Why did it feel like such a struggle to breathe? What had he done to her?
“Tell me what I need to hear, Penny.”
Only a jerk would make her forget herself, forget she needed to protect her heart, forget it was too late, forget there wasn’t a future for the two of them.
Scooting off his lap and standing as best