Not due to the headache, but because I’ve finally started to erase my birthday night from my memory. It was too fucking good. Way too good. And trying to have sex with someone else other than her has been next to impossible. Took me two weeks to even attempt to look at someone else, and when I went out to bars and flirted, I went home alone. By the end of the night, I simply wasn’t interested.
Last week, I finally kissed someone in the hallway of a bar, which was a huge step for me, but it led to nothing. Absolutely nothing. Because her lips weren’t plump, her moans weren’t sweet, and the grip she had on my shoulders resembled nothing to the way Penny clung to me.
Which only means one thing: seeing Penny today and having to talk to her will be a setback in my process to move on from the best night of my life. I’ve done a good job so far avoiding her, only catching glimpses of her here and there, but being face to face . . . fuck. I just hope when I get to her office, that I don’t feel the urge to pull her onto my lap and run my tongue up and down the column of her neck.
Wishful thinking.
My body is already humming with the thought of seeing her. Settle that down, Hornsby. Her brother is standing right beside you.
The elevator dings, and we all step out. Lawes leads the way down the hall, followed by Posey, and then me. A few staff members say hi as we pass, but the walk isn’t very long, and before I know it, we’re standing at Penny’s door, walking in.
Keep it together, Hornsby.
“Hey, sis,” Lawes says when we step in. I don’t see Penny at first because Lawes pulls her into a hug, but when he steps away, I catch a glimpse of her hair pulled back into a high, tight ponytail. It swishes to the side, distracting me for a moment, just before her face comes into view.
And fuck . . . me.
Beautiful, tempting blue eyes sparkle against her long, thick lashes. Her lips are painted a pink that goes perfectly with her complexion and reminds me of that goddamn dress she wore on my birthday.
The dress that now haunts me.
That pink on her lips is like a punch to my chest and a flashback to a time when I have never been more satisfied in my life. Images of her dress being peeled off her body, revealing enticing black lingerie, play on repeat in my head, followed by the heady look in her eyes when I first entered her. The gasp of total satisfaction when I bottomed out. And then, I’m hit with the memorized sounds of her moans as she came all over my cock.
“Dude, take a seat,” Posey says, snapping me out of my reverie.
My eyes immediately fall on Penny standing next to me, trying to shut her office door.
“Fuck, sorry,” I mumble as I take a deep breath, trying to right my mind. But it’s the wrong move because I’m assaulted by Penny’s perfume. Fuck, that perfume. I’ve been savoring the smell of her perfume on the sweatshirt she borrowed that morning. The intimate scent spikes a wave of arousal in my veins, and before I know it, not only is my head pounding but so is my heart.
Jesus Christ.
I didn’t think this would help, being near her, but I didn’t think it would give me a full-blown attack of lust. An onslaught of human emotions that cause my legs to shake beneath me when we make eye contact.
I’m not keeping it together.
This was why I’ve avoided her. Because I knew the minute I got this close, my body would react in the worst and best way possible.
Holding on by a single thread, I offer her a simple smile and then quickly take a seat next to Lawes, who is relaxed in his chair, manspreading, and looking far too comfortable.
Of course he’s comfortable. Why wouldn’t he be? He’s not the one who fucked one of his teammate’s sisters and still craves for another night alone with her. There are not only cravings but bottles and bottles of need.
No, he met a random person in the woods, fell in love, and is sitting pretty, drama free.
I’m churning inside with yearning and anxiety. So much anxiety because what if I look at her wrong? What if I let something slip? What if, by chance, Pacey can feel that I fucked his sister? I could forget about fixing my headache because I won’t have a head to fix.
Penny takes a seat in her black desk chair and scoots in, then places her hands on the top of her desk. For a moment, and only a moment, I truly allow myself to look at her. She’s so goddamn beautiful. Wide eyes, pert nose, long-as-shit hair that is somehow as shiny as a Christmas ornament, and her tits . . . Christ. What I wouldn’t give just to have one more night sucking on them, playing with them . . . fucking them.
“Thank you so much for coming up here. I know you guys have busy days.”