“Sorry! I—” we say. I look up and freeze.
“Hey! The Femme Fatale. Don’t tell me… Penelope?”
Holy shit. Lucas Webb is squatting right across from me in the lobby of my office building, doing super-sexy things like gathering up his stuff and mine, remembering my name, and breathing. He extends a hand to help me up.
I cling to him, staring into his eyes—they’re not arrogant or cocky like Jack’s. They’re calm. Self-assured. I’m faintly conscious of whispers crescendoing around the lobby as people realize who I’m holding hands with. I release my grip on Lucas and brush the wrinkles out of my skirt. “Oh, hi. Yes. That me.”Words. Hard.
“You visiting us on set? We’re up on twelve.”
I shake my head. “I’m actually here to work. I work here. In building. On twelve.”Stop. Babbling.
He smiles. It’s a kind smile, but one that lets me know he’s used to starstruck idiots. “I’ve got to run an errand. Nice seeing you again.”
We say goodbye, and then he’s gone, hefting his bag over his shoulder as he walks across the lobby, his slacks absolutely loving his ass. Necks break as people double-take in his wake, and I float up to the twelfth floor on a cloud pulled by cherubs.
I beeline to the boardroom, where I spy Margie’s statuesque frame, but Rochelle heads me off. “Penny, hi! What are you doing Friday night?”
“I—”
“There’s a dinner after my staff meeting, and I’d love for you to come. Sam Greenfield is going to be there.”
“I’m supposed to be at an anniversary party—”
“Maybe you can go after. Listen, this is very important. You can casually work in how the global project’s going, and that’ll grease the wheels when we ask for that raise for you.”
“Or we could just ask for it and point to all my hard work even before this…”
Rochelle’s expression does not change. Not a flicker of an eyelash. Not a twitch of the lip.
“Okay, let me know where to be and when.”
Margie is perched on the edge of my desk when I get to my cubicle. She snorts when I tell her about the exchange. “Pushover. You can’t miss Mr. and Mrs. Vaughn’s anniversary party. Avery rented out the hangar deck of theIntrepid.”
“I know. His dad served on the ship during Vietnam. Look, I’ll be there. Just… Just a little late, maybe? Ugh, I need the money to get my mortgage, Margie.”
Margie shrugs and sucks in her lips. “Okay…”
I decide to change the subject. “I saw Lucas downstairs. He remembered my name.”
“He asked about you, actually. And I don’t know why you’re surprised, Pen. You’re hot, and you spit a joke about murder at him the first time you met him. Not to mention his thing for redheads. But you’re not doing the go-nowhere thing anymore, right? That’s why we’ve had a two-year dry spell?”
“Yes…”
She tugs on a strand of my hair.
“I did a stupid thing,” I confess.
“Besides agreeing to go to a dinner on the same night as your best friend’s party for his parents?”
“Stop making me feel shitty! No. Not that.”
“You slept with Lucas?How?You haven’t seen him since that day you came to set.”
“No, not— No. I did a thing. To Jack.”
“You slept withhim?”
“No! I didn’t fucking sleep with anyone.”
