Page 43 of Lovestrung

I crossed my arms when Pen quirked an eyebrow at me.

“Are you going to let him inside?” she asked.

Frowning, I shrugged. “He can wait. We have unfinished business to talk about, Penelope. And don’t even think about asking me to call you Pippa now,” I grumbled. “It’s much too late for that.”

She closed her mouth and mimicked my stance. “I wasn’t going to, but now that you mention it…”

“Don’t,” I warned her in a low voice. My patience was running thin, and before the entire Montgomery family came crashing through the doors, demanding to know what the hell we were doing, I needed answers.

“Guys, come on,” Max whined, though his voice was muffled. “Either of you ever heard of the word, timing? Because you definitely don’t have it.”

“Shut up, Max,” I grumbled at the same time Penelope huffed.

“Fine,” he sighed. There was a thumping sound coming now, as if he was banging his head on the hard wood. “But you better not make any strange noises, y’all, or I’ll go get Mom.”

“Shut. It. Max,” Penelope ground out. She was grinding her teeth so hard, I couldn’t help but grin at her.

When her annoying brother – hell, he was my brother, too – stayed silent this time, I sighed and then took a step toward her. Furrowing my brow, I needed to know if she was taken. If I was too late.

“Is it true? Are you…” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Are you engaged?”

Her eyes gentled as she bridged the gap between us.

“No, baby,” she sighed. “I’m not. Hugo is just a good friend.”

I furrowed my brow, trying to ignore the butterflies of hope that were fluttering to life in my heart.

“He’s not mine,” she continued at my silence. “He belongs to Eliza. I met them both when I was in Oxford, and we ended up travelling together.”

My hands itched to touch her, but I still didn’t feel secure enough to actually do it.

She cocked her head and smiled at me. “Aren’t you going to say anything? While I do think you master the “mysterious and brooding” vibe quite well, a girl needs words.”

“Why did you let me think you were engaged?”

“It got your attention, didn’t it?” She shrugged and started to trail her fingers across my chest. My body tingled at her touch that warmed me everywhere at once through my T-shirt. “I wanted to wait and see what you’d do. The way you took charge was…” she blew out a shaky breath, “really good. You kind of distracted me so I confess it slipped my mind to set the record straight.”

Squirming, I glanced down at her. “Yeah, well…glad I got your attention. I had to do something, Pen.”

“So…what happens now?”

“You, me, dinner tomorrow night at seven. My place.”

Grinning, she shook her head. “Where does this cocky Ethan come from?”

“If you let me cook for you tomorrow, I’ll show you just how cocky I can get.”

“Oh, will you now? Then you’re on.”

Smiling, I couldn’t help but lean down and brush my lips across hers again.

“I have a feeling we have a lot more to discover about each other, Penelope,” I murmured and stepped away before I could get carried away again.

“I’m looking forward to it,” she sighed. “Best let poor Max off the hook now and get down to the rest of the family.”

I nodded and swept a hand to my side, silently asking her to go first.

“Such a gentleman,” she murmured as she passed me.