Imperfect Penelope (Wild Crush)

by Sami Lee

  Greg’s head drooped. He rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands. When he lifted his head, he looked at her, and his eyes were red rimmed. “He told me he was starting a business. I lent him some money for it, and so did my mother. But he was using it to buy into these high-stakes poker games. He actually thought he was going to make his fortune playing cards. Have you ever heard anything that crazy? He’s lost it, of course, everything my mother and I gave him. Thousands of dollars. Plus whatever he took from you.”

  “Oh my God.” She saw the devastation in Greg’s profile, the disillusionment. It made her want to reach out and put her arms around him. She folded her hands in her lap so she wouldn’t give in to the frighteningly powerful urge. “He told you that?”

  “He admitted to everything.” Greg’s lips twisted. “I suspect he only did because he’s broke. He begged me for help, but I told him I wouldn’t lend him any more money. I’m looking at programs he can do, counseling for gambling addicts. He promised he’d go. He seems genuinely ashamed.”

  “I had no idea,” Penny said. “I never even saw him gamble.”

  Penny thought of the time, about three weeks after they’d started seeing each other, when Bryan had disappeared for a few days. He’d stopped texting her. He didn’t call. She’d thought he was pulling away because of something she’d done to put him off, but when he came back he was more affectionate than ever. He’d wanted to take her out to a fancy place, go clubbing. He’d blown through money like he had it to burn. He’d said a business deal had come through.

  “Oh,” Penny uttered as all the pieces fell into place.

  Greg’s gaze sharpened. “What?”

  “It’s nothing.” Penny shook her head. “I just realized I should have seen it.”

  “You’re not alone there.”

  “He’d run hot and cold, and I assumed that was about me. I’m such an idiot. It was never about me. It was always the money.”

  She felt the warmth of Greg’s hand when it came to rest on her back. “Penny…”

  “He had this talent for making me feel like I’d hung the moon,” Penny went on, fueled by leftover anger at Bryan and recrimination at herself. “He made me feel like I was special. We had fun together at first, and I thought I made him happy. But it wasn’t me. It was the money. He was on a high if he won, sullen and withdrawn if he didn’t. How self-centered was I to think I had anything to do with his mood?”

  “He fooled everyone, Penny. Even me.”

  “That’s how I felt, you know. When I found Bryan gone, along with my money. I felt like a fool. I actually thought he might be falling in love with me.”

  “If he had half an ounce of sense he would have.”

  “No, I’m beginning to think it’s me. I have terrible luck when it comes to men. Or terrible judgment more like. I am foolish.”

  Greg’s hand was drawing circles on her back. He used his other to tilt her chin until she was facing him. His brown eyes were steady and earnest in a way Bryan’s never had been. “You’re not foolish. You’re kindhearted and you have faith in people, that’s not a bad thing. You’ve even been gracious to me, when I haven’t deserved it. Trust me, Bryan’s the fool for not seeing what he had in you.”

  To her mortification, Greg’s generous words made Penny’s eyes well up. She tried to turn her head away so he wouldn’t see, but it was too late. He cupped her chin more firmly to keep her in place, frowning at what he saw. “Oh, Penny. Don’t cry.”

  “I’m not.” As she tried to blink the moisture away, one fat drop of it fell down her cheek, making a lie of her denial. Her face flamed with embarrassment. “Let me go.”

  The frown never left his face, but somehow it didn’t look as formidable as it usually did. It looked pained. “No. Come here.”

  Penny knew she should have challenged his autocratic command, but he tugged her forward with such surety and gentle purpose that she found herself sinking into him. He eased into the back of the couch as he drew her against him and wrapped his arms securely around her.

  He was warm and solid. Penny was stunned by how good it felt to be pressed close to him. She held her breath as her mind raced to catalogue everything. His chest was firm where her left breast was nestled against it, his breathing deep as he inhaled the scent of her hair. His stubble was rough against her forehead, his lips soft as they brushed her temple. He brought her head into the crook of his neck with one hand and used the other to stroke her bare arm when she shivered.

  She wasn’t cold. Penny thought she ought to tell him, but his touch felt too good. Soothing and yet exciting. Her heart started up that crazy, slightly panicked rhythm, and she figured he was sure to feel it soon enough. She wasn’t even crying anymore. The second she’d curled into Greg’s arms, the tears had stopped and she’d felt nothing but warm and safe.

  This is not safe, Penny.

  Her voice was tremulous. “You can let me go now.”

  Greg only settled his arms more firmly around her. “Not yet.”

  Penny’s heart started thrumming as fast as hummingbird wings. She tried to keep her voice light. “Do you ever do what you’re told?”

  He let out a soft half chuckle that made his chest vibrate against Penny’s breast. “Funnily enough I always did everything I was supposed to do until recently.”

  “So this pigheadedness is exclusively for me?”

  “No.” She felt his lips curve against the top of her head. “But challenging you does give me particular enjoyment.”

  “I’m glad you find me entertaining.” His teasing incited enough irritation that Penny felt motivated to push away from him. She splayed her hands on his chest and levered herself up, only to find the new position brought her face directly in line with Greg’s.

  The smile dropped from his expression, and his dark eyes turned hot and electric. The current running between them made Penny’s arms weak. She couldn’t pull any farther away from him. His gaze roamed her face, settling on her lips with such intense focus Penny sucked in a breath.

  “No.” The word was barely a whisper. “Don’t even think about it.”

  Greg lifted one dark eyebrow. “I never do what I’m told, remember?”

  He speared a hand into her hair, the drag of his fingers on her scalp setting off sparks of sensation. They must have fried Penny’s brain, because when she opened her mouth to protest, all that came out was a soft exhale. No words of objection. Not a single no. Not that he would take any notice if she did manage to object. He’d told her as much.

  The thought was oddly thrilling. He was going to kiss her whether she wanted him to or not, and something about that made her flesh catch fire, made her want it all the more. He curled his fingers into her hair, gripping it as he drew her inexorably forward. It was masterful, so wildly hot, that slight tug on her hair. By the time he pulled her close enough for their lips to meet, Penny’s had parted in acquiescence.

  Then he was kissing her, and oh, God, his lips were incredibly soft and warm. He made no demands right away but she sensed them in him, banked behind his exacting explorations of her lips. He ran his tongue along the seam of them, shared his breath with her, teased her with his restraint for endless moments while Penny’s heart beat out of control and her body bowed into his, eager and willing.

  How could this softly persuasive kisser be the same Greg who’d treated her harshly only days ago? She shouldn’t allow this to happen. She had to stop it and work out who on earth Greg Danvers was before she let him kiss her like this.

  But his tongue slid into her mouth, stroking hers in a sinuous movement that elicited a moan from her. She was officially brain dead, filled with a rush of girly hormones that completely destroyed any rational thought. She matched the glide of his tongue with an experimental swipe of hers. In response, Greg groaned and dragged her closer, turning the kiss from something inquisitive but hot to some
thing untamed and incendiary.

  A sense of triumph suffused Penny the moment Greg’s rigid control snapped. She didn’t want to be the only one behaving like a lunatic. His fingers dug into her hip as he pulled her over him, until she sat astride his thighs. The new position might have given her the impression she was controlling the kiss if his other hand wasn’t still curled in her hair, keeping her close so he could invade her mouth with his tongue. Where at first he’d tasted, explored, now he plundered and every fiber of Penny’s feminine being responded. Her breasts ached, their tips drawing into tight buds where they were pressed into Greg’s chest. Her belly fluttered and her sex clenched. She felt her own dampness seeping onto her pajama bottoms and had no ability to stem the primal response.

  Greg’s hands moved to her waist, spanning it until his fingers almost met at her spine. His thumbs stroked her ribs, moving upward in a way that made Penny’s nipples strain in anticipation. She wanted his touch there. Perhaps allowing him to infiltrate her erotic dreams had been more dangerous than she’d first imagined, because she not only wanted him to touch her, she yearned for it.

  With a groan she tore her mouth to the side, only to be assaulted by the hot imprint of his lips on her cheek and her jaw. When they made their way to the sensitive flesh of her throat, Penny shivered. “This is crazy. I can’t let you do this.”

  “You’re doing this too.” He pulled away from her throat and rested his head on the back of the couch. His eyes were heavy-lidded, his dark irises glittering as he studied her face. “I didn’t mean what I said before. If you tell me to stop, I will.”

  Of course he would, because that was the right thing to do. Greg might still be a mystery to her in many ways, but his ethics weren’t one of the things she questioned. It was his code of honor that had compelled him to defend his brother so staunchly in the first place, which meant she’d been in his line of fire. Now that he’d learned the truth, his natural protectiveness would never allow him to take advantage of her.

  She had the perfect opportunity to stop this in its tracks. Right now, Penny told herself. Greg’s hands inched a little higher, working inside her T-shirt until his thumbs brushed the underside of her breasts. Penny’s head dropped back, her eyes closing on the pleasure, and she thought, Not just yet.

  Chapter Six

  Somewhere in the back of his exhausted mind, Greg knew Penny was right. What they were doing was crazy. But sanity seemed overrated when he was reveling in the feel of Penny’s skin, so supple and smooth. Logic was impossible to grasp when he covered her breasts with his hands and she let out a soft, keening moan of pleasure. It disintegrated completely when he felt her pointed nipples jutting into his palms.

  Had he given her enough time to tell him no? Greg wasn’t sure, because time seemed to stand still as he watched Penny’s long, sinuous body undulate in response to his caresses. He repositioned his hands, cupping her breasts and flicking his thumbs over their turgid peaks. Penny’s head snapped forward until she was looking at him with wide green eyes gone bright with arousal.

  “Does that feel good?”

  He could tell by her actions that it did, but her quick nod filled him with satisfaction. She wanted him, and he liked knowing that at last. Liked knowing his infatuation hadn’t been entirely one-sided. He continued to fondle her sweet mounds while he tilted her forward. He buried his face in her cleavage, breathing in the scent of her warm skin and the fragrant cotton of her pajama shirt. He put his mouth on her breast, finding the sharp point of her nipple and drawing it into his mouth through the fabric.

  “Oh, cripes,” Penny whimpered. She sank her fingers into his hair, clutching him to her as she arched her body, feeding him more of her flesh. Greg took what she offered eagerly, feeling himself growing more out of control with each little moan Penny uttered. His erection strained painfully inside the denim of his jeans, throbbing with the need to find release. Preferably in Penny’s slick womanly flesh.

  He hadn’t come here for this. He’d come because he couldn’t wait until a decent hour to apologize to her for all the assumptions he’d made and the subsequently idiotic things he’d said.

  Kissing her had been a bad move, because once he’d started, stopping had been impossible. He’d wanted her lips on his for too long.

  Longer even than this past week, if he was honest with himself. He’d noticed her lips, how lush and full and easily smiling they were, on that first date. The night when she’d been his brother’s companion, not his. He’d noticed, and his body had responded, before he’d swiftly closed a door on those thoughts because he was not the kind of man to covet his brother’s woman.

  He’d only found out two hours ago that Bryan had no lingering feelings for Penny. It was only a bit of fun, were his exact words, words he wouldn’t repeat to Penny for fear of hurting her. Bryan had exaggerated his feelings to Greg so he’d feel sorry for him and give him the money, which was all he’d ever wanted. He hadn’t wanted Penny.

  Still, he’d found that out two hours ago and here he was already kissing her, on the verge of throwing caution to the wind and fucking her senseless.

  Greg tore his mouth away from her breast. His head banged into the back of the couch in his rush to stop himself devouring her. He dropped his hands to her hips, moving them away from the mind-addling temptation of her breasts. He held her still, trying to halt the sexy gyrations she was doing. She wasn’t close enough to feel his killer hard-on yet, but if she put her body tight to his she’d feel it all right, and she’d know how close to gone he was. How close he was to taking her right there on her couch.

  Apparently, none of Greg’s attempts to put the brakes on what they were doing telegraphed themselves to Penny, because when he pulled away she grabbed the hem of her top and drew it over her head. She shook out her hair as she tossed the garment aside, and the action caused her breasts to sway invitingly.

  Greg’s breath slammed to a stop. His cock jerked, making demands he was very close to giving in to. Penny sat astride him, her small but pert breasts, her flat torso and her sinewy arms revealed to him. She was exquisite. Lean and strong but still undeniably feminine. She had a little green bauble in her navel, a jeweled piercing. It winked at him, telling him she had a streak of the unconventional in her.

  That streak fascinated Greg, but what made her most attractive of all was that she was unashamed of her body. The women he’d been with in his staid world in Sydney had only gotten naked with an earnest display of modesty. For some he’d suspected it was an act. Women of good breeding were supposed to be modest. With Rochelle it had been real. She’d been shy and unsure of her own attractiveness, which had made Greg want to show her she was beautiful.

  But Penny sat before him boldly displaying herself and making him hotter than any woman had in his life. She looked at him with heat in her eyes—green fire and an invitation. No shyness. No reserve. No false modesty.

  Greg could have her, and it was both a triumph and a torture to know it. He could fuck her, but he shouldn’t. Couldn’t. Not here and not like this, when he was still reeling from what he’d learned about his brother, still wondering if he was supposed to feel guilty for how far back his desire for Penny went. Not when control eluded him and his cock was so hard he knew it would make all the decisions for him. He’d fuck her, but it would be just like that. A base act of animalistic need that would probably last all of two and a half minutes because he hadn’t been with a woman in ten months.

  With a growl of frustration at what he knew he had to do, Greg used his grip on Penny’s hips to lift her off him. He all but tossed her onto the couch on her back. Her eyes flared, and it was excitement he saw in them as he leaned over her on his way to standing. She lay with her arms above her head, her perky breasts bouncing as Greg shifted on the couch.

  “God help me.” Greg squeezed his eyes shut, thinking the lust would ebb if he didn’t see her. It didn’t, and in a
mad scramble that might have been comical if he wasn’t in such agony, Greg stood and stalked blindly across the room. When he came to the kitchen bench, he held on to it with a death grip, mentally counting to ten and using the time to gather some semblance of control.

  “I shouldn’t have done that.” He barely recognized his gravelly voice. “It got out of hand.”

  His erection didn’t deflate—that might have been too much to ask for—but the painful throbbing eased a little as Greg stood and concentrated on taking deep, conscious breaths. When he realized he was practicing the deep breathing Penny had taught him during the yoga sessions, he let out a chagrined laugh. All the time he’d dismissed the benefits of yoga, and it ended up coming in handy.

  At last feeling in control enough to look at Penny, Greg sent up a prayer that she’d put her shirt back on before he turned around. She had redressed, but Greg wasn’t happy to see it after all. She sat on the edge of the couch, her body turned away from him. Her back was curved as it rarely was. Penny walked tall and straight, something Greg knew had become second nature because of the Mountain Pose she practiced daily. But now she appeared almost hunched over. Like she was shrinking away from him.

  Greg felt ill. Had he misinterpreted her responses after all? Had he pushed her further than she’d wanted to go? He’d always prided himself on being a gentleman. He didn’t cajole or seduce, and certainly not force, a woman into giving him more than she was ready to give. But lately he hadn’t felt like himself, and this morning in particular his synapses seemed slow to fire.

  He dragged a hand through his hair, his stomach roiling. “Penny, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s fine.”

  Her voice was terse and flat—very unfine-like. “Please let me explain. I know it’s no excuse, but it’s been a while since… Well, it’s been a while. If I hadn’t been tired I might have realized kissing you was a mistake. But I am tired and you smelled so good…”