Lone Star Lovers. Jessica Lemmon
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to their engagement.
* * *
“I like this.” Zach touched the F dangling from Pen’s bracelet with his thumb. “Makes me feel possessive.”
Her hand in his, Pen swayed to the music.
He liked her hand in his. He liked her laugh and the sweet scent of her perfume tickling his senses. He liked the way she smoothly handled Barb’s question about a missing engagement ring.
Where is your diamond ring, darling?
Oh, we didn’t want to upstage the mayor on his big day.
Pen was the right partner to choose for this particular snafu. She was a woman at the top of her game. Touching her under the table and listening as her breaths shortened and tightened was a bonus.
“What are you grinning about?” she asked him now.
“I think you know.”
She hummed, not confirming or denying. Like he said, top of her game.
He turned her to the beat of the music, pressing his palm flat on her back and drawing her closer. She came rather than resist him, which he liked a whole hell of a lot.
“It’s kind of your brother to give first-time guests such decadent gifts,” she commented, redirecting his attention back to the bracelet. She waggled their joined hands so the pendant moved against her pale skin.
“You think that’s what this is for?” Zach joked as he clucked his tongue. “You don’t know the underground Chase Ferguson birthday secret.”
Her eyes widened slightly and he didn’t say more. Finally, she broke. “Are you going to tell me or not?”
“Depends.” He leaned in, his whisper conspiratorial. “Are you into multiple sex partners?”
“Zach!” she quietly scolded. A second later her lips parted in a laugh that warmed the very center of his chest. She took her hand from his shoulder to playfully shove his chest. If he wasn’t mistaken, she lingered a bit over his pectoral before resting her hand on his shoulder once again. “You’re impossible.”
He hovered just over her lips, testing her. “You’re wearing the first letter of my last name, Pen. That means you’re mine.”
Blue eyes turned up to his and for a second he thought she might give him the gift of saying, Show me to your room. She hadn’t been the least bit shy the night she’d invited him home with her.
Instead those blues rolled skyward and she hedged with, “Caveman.”
But she’d given him an inch not arguing that she was his.
“What really happens next?” she asked. The crowd was thinning. Only a few couples danced, while others ringed the bar or sat with their coffees at the cleared tables.
“Things wind down. Cigars are smoked. Bourbon poured. Stef and I have rooms here so we usually stay the night.”
“Well, make sure you tell me when it’s the proper time to leave. I don’t want to overstay my welcome on my maiden voyage to the mayor’s birthday party.”
“How about you don’t leave?”
She’d been looking around the room, but now snapped her attention back to him. “What?”
“You heard me. Don’t leave. Stay in my room. With me.” He pulled her closer, resting his cheek on hers as he spoke into the delicate shell of her ear. “Spend the night in my bed, Penelope. You won’t regret it.”
Her hand tightened in his. “I—I can’t. It’s...inappropriate.”
He pulled his face away from hers to find she looked as flustered as she sounded. Her eyes bounced from his face to his chest. Her steps faltered.
Zach dropped the pretense of dancing, and cradled her gorgeous face in both hands. “It’s not only appropriate. It’s expected. To this room of people, you’re my future wife. I would never let my fiancée drive home alone this late.”
A small smile found her face. “My God. You really are a caveman.”
“Aw, honey,” he said with a wink as he laced his fingers with hers. “But I’m your caveman.”
Her silken laughter as he led them to the bar was a good sign she’d join him upstairs when the night wound to a close. Zach wasn’t ready to draw the curtain on their evening yet, but he was anticipating getting her alone again. He’d give her the best night of her life.
Well, assuming the last night they’d spent together could be topped.
It was a challenge he embraced.
“We’re turning in. Happy birthday.” Zach offered his brother a hand and Chase shook it, which Penelope found charming though formal. She wondered if those two had ever wrestled or punched each other in the face when growing up, and then figured they probably had. It wasn’t hard to imagine rough and tumble boys beneath their polished exteriors.
“Penelope, make yourself at home,” Chase told her. “My staff will get you whatever you need.”
“I’ll get her what she needs,” Zach said, taking her hand in his. “She’s my fiancée.”
At his offered wink, Pen let herself smile. Zach was a lot of things—more than she knew before she learned he was Chase Ferguson’s brother—but among his top qualities, Zach was fun. Now that Pen had taken him on, she was breaking her cardinal rule of not sleeping with a client. She’d break it this time—if only for him. He made rule-breaking downright delicious. He focused her attention on the present. Which was the exact reason she’d invited him home that night at the club.
An inkling of warning that her ex had cost her everything vibrated at the back of her skull, but the champagne bubbles swimming in her tummy drowned it out.
Her situation with Zach was totally different. The fake fiancée act was a ruse, true, but she couldn’t see a reason not to take advantage of another night with him. He’d been working that angle since he touched her under the table tonight.
Hand in hand they passed by Stefanie, who pushed her lip into an exaggerated pout. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were engaged to this idiot.” Stef shot a thumb toward Zach.
“Your secret-keeping skills are dubious,” he grumbled.
They’d opted not to share the truth with Stefanie—Chase’s idea. He thought it was better if she was in the dark like everyone else.
“You have a lot of secrets lately.” Stef eyed Zach, her mouth pulling at the corners.
“So do you,” he said. “I had no idea you were working with my beautiful fiancée on a cover-up.”
“It wasn’t a cover-up,” Pen interjected before these two sniped away her good mood. “We simply rerouted the public’s attention.”
“Thank you for that.” Stefanie gripped Pen’s arm and squeezed. “In all seriousness, I’m happy for you two.”
“Thanks, sis,” Zach said as a wave of guilt crashed over Penelope. She didn’t mind contorting public opinion but lying to Zach’s sister felt...wrong.
“I’m not staying here tonight,” Stef told them. “I have a date with another of my brother’s mortal enemies.”
Zach’s shoulders went rigid, a wave of heat emanating from his form.
“Just kidding!” Stef’s grin was wide. She bid them good-night and Pen stroked her hand up Zach’s tuxedo jacket to soothe him.
“Down, boy.”
His eyes snapped over to her, the heat