Chapter 22

TWENTY-TWO

The rest of October flew by in a blink.

The infectious Halloween decorating next door had bled over to the cottage. The witchy flamingo had moved down to be paired with a few other birds. We had quite the collection going in the barrel near the French doors.

Penn had found a ridiculous owl with a wizard cape and a frazzled zombie pigeon in honor of our city life.

Bruce was still a staple at the house. He came by nearly every morning for breakfast and kept us company while Penn and I worked on the workshop. In the afternoons, we swapped to our own manuscripts.

Or Penn and Larsen took off to Asher's office.

Otherwise, I was getting used to the crazy Masterson clan and their nosy ways. Penn's mother stopped by at least once a week with some sort of baked goods to talk books and television.

JoAnn was actually becoming one of my favorite people to bounce ideas off of. She was a voracious reader and she was a lot of fun to talk to.

The cookout at Travis and Bridget's place had been such a success we'd fallen into an easy friendship. She stopped by for coffee a few times a week, usually overlapping with JoAnn, which filled the cottage with a lot more laughter than I was used to. I think it was actually helping my words flow.

That and my walks in Crescent Cove when the writing was being extra annoying. Actually, being part of small town life helped me add more depth to my new book than I'd ever had before. Even if it was a bit disconcerting that people were starting to recognize me on the street.

Bridget and Travis convinced us to go into town for something called Trunk or Treat. The cars were all parked along Main Street so the kids could trick or treat safely. I was sure a bunch would got even more candy in the suburbs around JoAnn and Hank's place.

They'd done up their front yard almost as much as Travis had.

I'd even survived the November Masterson dinner. The sheer number of children in attendance had driven me out into the backyard after dinner. It was a delightful and warm chaos, but it was still overwhelming to me.

Penn understood and we bundled up in the swing for a bit of quiet time. Unfortunately, the kids were equally happy to run around the backyard after dinner so the alone time had been brief.

The spaghetti and meatball dinner had been more than worth the unnerving introduction to all Penn's family.

However, I wasn't sure if I was already heading into hibernation mode or what. Ever since that dinner, I'd barely made it past nine o'clock each night. I was perpetually tired.

I shut my laptop when I heard Penn's car outside. He'd been out with Larsen all day. They were doing their first print run of Ryan Moon's Tripod today. I hoped it was going all right.

Penn was getting nervous that the deadline for her massive preorder was coming in hot.

The slider door opened, and he came in all smiles. "Freaking success. I can't believe it!" He held a copy of the book. "I gotta proof it and make sure everything is okay, but we did it!"

He dropped his messenger bag beside the kitchen table, dragged me out of my chair, and swung me around.

The room tilted a little too much, making my stomach go queasy. I grabbed his shoulder. "Penn!"

He set me down and dropped a kiss on my mouth. "Sorry, sorry. Just wanted you to be the first one to see it." He sat down in my chair and hauled me into his lap. "It's not the final cover, we're still deciding on paper."

His excitement was palpable, and his warmth didn't hurt. The nights were getting colder, especially by the water. His strong arms were looped around me as I paged through.

"This is super adorable. And I don't want to be insensitive?—"

"But it's better than the version at the signing? You're totally right." He tucked his chin on my shoulder.

I nodded. "I love this paper. People pay attention to those details now."

"They sure do. Which was why I was worried about going bald to make this work."

I patted his arm. "Don't say that about your luscious hair. It's half your hotness."

He snorted. "Now I have a little something for you too." He reached down for his bag and flipped the black leather open. He pulled out a hardcopy book and set it in front of me.

"What's this?" I picked it up and turned the book to look at the edges which were sprayed in a delicate pink with a cherry blossom design.

"Open it."

I flipped open the linen cover and turned the first blank page to find a title page.

My title page.

Wild Springs, Sara Springs Book 1 by Rita Savage.

It was so weird to see a title page with only my name on it. I'd been dragging my feet on formatting the books I'd taken in our split. I'd managed to do a new cover to use in the charity calendar, but the updated version wasn't in the wild yet.

"Penn." I smoothed my hand over the page then I flipped through to find a few special pages throughout. One with the cherry blossom tree I'd used in the engagement scene of the book.

"It's just a prototype from the file you gave me. Asher's in-house graphic designer mocked it up for me."

I looked closer at the tree. "That's not a photo."

"Nope." He kissed my neck. "I read the book."

"What?" I twisted in his arms, letting the book go.

"I read it." He linked his fingers at my hip. "It's really good."

"You didn't need to?—"

"I really did. And I'm glad I did. It's nothing like the books I snuck out of my mother's room when I was a kid to find the dirty parts."

I burst out laughing.

"No contest on the heat levels from those old Harlequin books. But even without the sexy stuff which—girl, that's some hot shit."

I laughed again and rolled my eyes. "Women enjoy sex just as much as men."

"Don't I know it. You're voracious and I love it." He kissed me sweetly. "But the story was amazing. You picked up on the idiosyncrasies of small town and family. Your imagination is a wonder."

My throat tightened, and my eyes stung. "Penn."

"And I know it's your imagination because you told me what you came from. I can see why so many people came out to see you. Why there were a far greater number of people who wanted a copy of this book and not Date with Disaster ."

"Plenty want that one." I sniffled.

He brushed the tear away that managed to escape. "I'm sure it's just as good, but I know this is the one you care about, and I wanted to see the real you in print."

I cupped his face. "Thank you for seeing me."

The kiss was soft and full of the love I was so afraid was going to burst out of me every time I looked at him. Every time I touched him.

Was it too fast?

Was it just this bubble we were in?

He urged me to my feet, and we stumbled toward the couch. He sat down, drawing me over him. I shifted until I was straddling him, his hardness right there for me as always.

He tunneled his fingers under my sweatshirt, groaning when he noted my lack of bra.

"Best part about hoodies," he mumbled against my mouth.

I laughed, then the sound slipped into a groan as he cupped my breast, tweaking the tips until I was rocking against him. Did they seem more sensitive?

I hissed out a breath and he frowned. "Okay?"

"Yes, just…" I groaned at the pleasure that was almost a pain.

He pushed my sweatshirt up and off and latched onto me as my head fell back.

My fingers twined into his curls and held him there. The strong pull had me crying out, which activated an echoing need in him. We fumbled with clothing until I got him inside of me.

And when he did, there was a deep sigh from both of us.

Even if we weren't forever, he would always be the one who unlocked something inside of me no one had ever touched before. The love I'd always wanted, and I had never truly believed I was worthy of.

His hand slid up my back to grip my shoulder, while the other tightened on my hip as he powered into me again and again. He raced his mouth over my neck, and then he bit into my shoulder as I tightened around him.

A mix of my name and Duchess tumbled together as he chased my orgasm with one of his own. Holding me tight the entire time, so there was no air or space between us.

When I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, I realized that there'd been no condom, either. His dark eyes met mine, as if he suddenly realized the same.

"Oh, shit."

I let out a breathless hum. "Oh, shit is right."

"I—"

I shook my head. "It's probably fine."

"Are you on birth control?" His dark eyes were furrowed.

"Sorry, that's a no. I haven't been with anyone in a long time. After Jenelle shocked me with everything, I kind of just existed in my apartment. Birth control hadn't exactly been on the top of my list."

"We're always so careful. I can't believe I did that."

Neither one of us seemed to know what to say.

I was just restarting my career, and Penn was in the middle of finding his way with Duality Press.

But he didn't let go of me.

For now, that had to be enough.

When I shivered, he finally let me ease back. He gently put my hoodie back over my head. "How about we make some dinner?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Sounds like a good idea. I'm just going to go upstairs and clean up."

I climbed off his lap, and instantly, I felt the loss of him.

"Rita," he began.

I just bent down and kissed him. "I'll be back in a few. I've got some chicken marinating, why don't you take care of that?"

His frown was still in place, but I straightened and quickly, I headed for the stairs.

I knew our bubble was going to pop sometime. I just hoped it wasn't too soon.