The elevator opens on the 20th floor.

It’s just after midnight now. Anyone still out at this hour probably won’t be coming back until the little hours of the morning, so the hallways are mostly quiet on the way back to Penelope’s room.

I hang back a step, letting Penelope lead as we exit the elevator. She takes a right turn and searches through her clutch for her key. “I know it was down this way...” she says. She finds her keycard and turns it over. “2021!” she says. “Room 2021.”

“That’d be on the left side, then,” I say, picking up my pace now that I know where we’re going.

We head down a little further and stop in front of her door.

“Yup. This is it.” She thumbs the edge of her key without swiping it in. Instead, she looks up at me, her eyes casually roaming my face. “Thanks for taking me to the game. That was fun. Except the losing part.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t have made it so far without you there. So, thank you. You’ve got good gambling instincts.”

“Hmm...” She squints. “Not sure how to take that.”

“It’s hot. Just go with it.”

She laughs. “All right.”

We pause. We sway in place, our eyes playing with each others. We both try to ignore the blistering heat radiating from her closed door.

“So...” Penelope holds her breath for a second as she reaches out and fiddles with my loose tie. “So, that knee injury, is it like...”

I nod slowly. “Like... what?”

“I mean, is it... like really bad or can you still...”

Jackpot.

“Can I still what?” I ask, absolutely faking my ignorance.

I know exactly what she’s leading up to. That half eye contact. Those flush cheeks and trembling fingers.

She wants to invite me in. Fortunately, so do I, but I’m not about to steal her moment or anything.

Penelope abandons my tie and her hands drop to her sides. “Can you still make it back to your room okay?” she asks.

Or not.

“Uh... yeah,” I answer. “The elevator pretty much spits me out right at the door.”

“Oh, good,” she says, nodding. “Because if not, I was gonna let you in for a drink so you could rest up a bit,” her face twists into a sly smile, “but since you’re confident you’ll be okay, I guess I won’t bother.”

Hot damn.

She’s good.

“Actually, now that you mention it...” I lean onto my right leg, favoring it. “I am starting to feel a bit of pressure...”

She smirks. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Is it real painful?”

“Not yet, but I think it will be.”

“You should really be getting back, then...” Her eyes laugh at me. “I wouldn’t want to be held responsible for extending your leave from the team.”

I step forward, gently easing her back against the door. “Eh...” I say, leaning in. “They’ll be all right.”

I kiss her once. Soft, simple. Close-mouthed and chaste. Just a tease to try and draw her in to kiss me back.

As I break away and open my eyes, Penelope licks her trembling lips. Her eyelids flutter open and her hands rise to rest near the lapels on my jacket. She looks me in the eye and I try and hold out for the next few seconds — waiting until the moment when she really does kiss me back.

Instead, she laughs softly and looks down, quickly covering her mouth with her hand.

“What?” I ask.

“I’m sorry. It’s just...” she says, biting her lip. “This has been a really strange day.”

I chuckle. “Strange in a good way?”

Penelope straightens her face and looks up. “Yeah,” she whispers.

“Good.”

I kiss her again and her hands fist my jacket to draw me against her. Her lips purse, kissing me back and parting slightly to deepen the bond. My tongue twitches with anticipation, just begging to touch hers and taste her skin.

She pushes the door open and shifts inside, leaving me out in the hallway with a fierce erection pressed along my zipper. I pause to grab the door sign off the back and hang it on the outer knob, proclaiming a very serious DO NOT DISTURB to all who might wander by.

I follow her in and my eyes instantly fall to the second double bed as I slip my jacket off. “Expecting a roommate?” I ask.

“I did last night,” she says, setting her purse down. “But he canceled, remember?”

I nod. “Right.”

Penelope steps forward and pauses in front of me. “No, it’s just us,” she says.

I glide a hand up her side, riding the pleasant curve of her all the way up to her cheek. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

She tilts her head up, angling it perfectly for my lips. I graze the corner of her mouth with my thumb and she gently smiles as if out of some reflexive instinct. I continue up her cheek, tucking her strawberry hair back behind her ear before reaching behind her and finding the zipper on her dress. I drop my nose to her neck and inhale the sweet scent of her as I push the zipper halfway down slowly.

Penelope hums a soft moan as she starts flicking the buttons open on my shirt. Her dress hangs loosely off her shoulders but I take it slow, wanting to savor every moment of her.

She was absolutely right before. This is a strange night. By this stage of a hook-up, I’d have her completely naked with her knees propped up over my shoulders, but tonight, this feels... different.

She’s not a wild sports fan or a housekeeper or some chick I met in a bar — even though I did meet her in a bar but I wasn’t there looking for her. She fell into my lap, a desperate woman seeking my help and I somehow can’t stomach the idea of taking advantage of that.

But isn’t that exactly what I’m doing right now?

Aren’t I just going to wake up in the morning, walk out of here, and never see her again?

Isn’t that how this usually goes?

“Hayden?”

I blink, quickly locking eyes with her. “Hmm?”

“What’s wrong?” she asks, smiling. “Seems like I lost you there for a minute...”

I look down, feeling her warm hands on my chest, stroking my pecs and abs through my shirt and inching closer to my belt. Without thinking, I take hold of her hands to stop her and she pauses.

“Tell me more about you,” I say.

Penelope blinks. “What?”

I ease a step back. “Earlier, your dad mentioned you like to hike?”

She nods. “Yeah, I do.”

“Where do you go?”

“Um...”

I head toward the mini-fridge in the corner, quickly popping it open and snatching the first tiny bottle I find. “LA, right?” I ask.

“Yeah.”

“I like to jog around Cahuenga Peak when I’m in town.” I pat my leg. “Looking forward to getting back there for training, eventually.”

Penelope tilts her head with interest. “Cahuenga is usually a bit too crowded for me,” she says. “I prefer to hit up Sandstone when the urge arises but I haven’t had a lot of time to go recently.”

I twist the cap on the tiny bottle. Rum, by the smell of it. “Cool,” I say. “What else do you like to do?”

She squints and bites her cheek. “Did I... do something wrong?”

“No. Why?”

“Because...” She looks at my open shirt and pinches the sagging neckline. “I mean, we were kinda in the middle of doing something and then...”

I step forward and offer her the tiny bottle. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Penny,” I say. “I just... felt the urge to talk to you. Get to know who you are a little before...”

Penelope accepts the bottle. “Does that urge usually strike you mid-kiss?” she asks.

“Honestly, not really.”

She hums and takes the slightest swig. “Fair enough.”

I take the bottle back and she shifts over to the right bed, softly kicking off her heels before sliding onto it. “I work at a hair salon in Burbank,” she says.

I sit down on the left bed, facing her. “Oh, yeah?” I ask, remembering her photos online. “How’d you get into that?”

She lies down on her side and props her head up on her elbow. “Oh, it’s my dream job, basically,” she says. “While all the other kids were dressing their dolls in various clothes, I was constantly fiddling with the hair.”

“I know what you mean,” I say. “Not about the dolls, obviously, but while my brothers were all about music and video games or whatever, I just wanted to play baseball.”

“My mother hates it. I didn’t pay to put you through one of the most prestigious private schools in the country for you to play makeover,” she mocks.

“Which private school?” I ask.

“Belle Academy.”

“Oh, those losers.” She frowns and I laugh. “Sorry. I went to Pryce.”

She laughs louder. “Oh, those assholes.”

“We deserve that,” I say as I extend the bottle toward her again.

She pauses and takes a sip. “To this day, she’s still holding out on me changing my mind and going to law school so I can work with her. At twenty-five.”

“What’s she do?”

“She’s a lawyer. Works for Keith Monahan.”

I blink, vaguely recognizing the name. “The guy who represents Italian mob bosses and stuff?”

“That’s the guy.” She scoffs as she passes the bottle back to me.

“Well, personally, I think you made the right choice.”

“Me, too. I sleep better at night knowing that trimming the occasional Michael Corleone haircut is the closest I’ll get to being morally bankrupt.”

I nod. “If you don’t count lying to your family about fake boyfriends, of course.”

“I don’t.”

I raise the tiny bottle. “Fair enough.”

She laughs as I take a slow sip. I don’t know how it’s possible but I think her laugh is quickly becoming my favorite sound in the world. It’s a close second behind the hum of a sold-out stadium, of course, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that got dethroned at some point tonight.

To be fair, I haven’t heard her moan yet.

I set the near-empty bottle down on the bedside table between us and stand up. Her chin tilts up as I rise and she says nothing as I lower myself down to lie on the bed beside her. I face her, my head propped up like hers, and I take a deep breath of the six blissful inches of air between us.

Penelope presses her lips together as her cheeks burn as pink as her hair. “Tell me about your brothers,” she says.

“My brothers?” I repeat.

“Yeah, you said you had brothers. How many?”

“Three.”

She cringes. “Oh, your poor mother.”

I laugh. “It’s all right. She survived. Barely.”

“Any sisters?”

“No. It’s just us boys. My big brother, Graham, works for the hotel. He travels to other locations to uphold the Botsford quality. He checks to make sure they’re following standards, trains the staff in new procedures, things like that.”

“Sounds like fun,” she says. “If you’re into that kind of thing.”

“He seems to enjoy it enough. Then, I have two little brothers. Ira works for the hotel, too. He lives upstairs on the 25th floor, actually.”

Her jaw drops. “He lives here? That sounds like... paradise.”

“He’s head of security. Living on site makes it easy for him to dislodge the stick up his ass and leap into heroic action at a moment’s notice if he needs to.”

“Does he take his job really seriously?”

“Nah, I just like to give him shit. He was a Marine so he can be a stickler about some things.”

“Wow.” She reaches out and straightens my twisted collar. “We’ve got a world traveler, a professional baseball player, and a Marine. Almost scared to ask about the fourth brother.”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Penelope releases my collar and drops her hand, resting it suspiciously close to my own. “Is he an astronaut or something?” she asks.

“Close.” I smile. “Jonah’s a rock god. He’s in a band.”

“Anyone I’ve heard of?”

“Probably. He plays bass for Criminal Records.”

She jerks upward. “No way...”

I nod. “Yes way.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I’m totally serious.”

She bounces on the mattress. “My cousin got us tickets to their show tomorrow night!”

“Awesome,” I say. “Have you seen them before?”

“No, not yet.”

“Well, you’re gonna love it. Jo really knows how to put on a show.”

Her face twitches with excitement. “This is so cool. I’m the fake girlfriend of the brother of the bassist from Criminal Records.”

“Or… you know… the fake girlfriend of the third baseman for Los Angeles…”

She lets out a long breath. “I dunno. Sounds cooler the other way,” she teases.

I feign a playful glare. “It’s a good thing we had this conversation,” I say, inching my hand closer to hers. “It would have been weird if you didn’t know your boyfriend’s little brother was in the band.”

She pauses, her eyes falling to our hands between us. “Yeah, you’re right,” she says. “We’ve been together for... twelve weeks, right?”

“Twelve weeks, three days,” I say.

“Feels like just yesterday. Or, this morning, I guess.” She bites her lip. “Thanks again. For... helping me out.”

My hand moves on its own, gently running my fingertips along her forearm. “You’re welcome,” I say, easing closer. I take another deep breath, holding her sweet scent in my nose for as long as possible.

Penelope raises her eyes, locking on mine as she tilts in toward me. “Hayden...” she whispers.

“Yeah?” I ask.

“What did you want?” she asks.

“What do you mean?”

Her cheeks flush. “You said you wanted something sweeter than money in return. I got the feeling it wasn’t just to sit by you at a poker game.”

I nod. “Yeah, I had something else in mind.”

She swallows. “What was it?” she asks, her voice barely above a whisper.

I let my fingers roam up her arm and shoulder, coming to a soft touch on her cheek. “I’ll let you know in a minute,” I say.

I push in, bridging the short gap between us. I kiss her again, slow but firm. Her lips part and her hand rests on my wrist as I crush my mouth over hers again and again.