“You ready?”

Penny jerked her head up at Lexi’s voice. Shit. Was it noon already? She’d made lunch plans with Lexi this morning. Penny glanced at the clock on her computer. Twelve on the dot. Crap, she was so behind today. It was the first day back after the extended holiday weekend. She had a surprise training session with Kevin, where he’d refused to take notes again, and now she was behind. But she needed to get out of the office before she drove herself insane. She saved the file she was working on and pushed away from her desk.

“I am now,” she said, standing up and grabbing her phone.

“Can’t wait to escape already?” Lexi teased. Penny leaned over her desk and clicked save one last time for good measure before slipping on her coat.

“End of year craziness, but we scheduled lunch, so I’m ready.” And now that she thought about it, she was hungry.

“We can skip if you want,” Lexi said just as her stomach growled.

Penny laughed. “Your stomach disagrees.”

“I thought those Christmas cookies I had for breakfast would hold me over, but I was wrong,” Lexi said, and Penny chuckled.

“Christmas cookies for breakfast? Did Abby get cookies, too?” Penny asked. Not that she would mind cookies for breakfast. Especially the Italian treats that Grant’s mother had no doubt provided. Damn. Now she wanted cookies.

“Of course not. She had a well-balanced breakfast of cereal. And not a sugary kind, thank you very much. I wasn’t in the mood to make anything for myself, so cookies it was,” Lexi said, and then grinned. “The usual?”

“Sure,” Penny replied. They headed out of the office, and to the café down the street.

“So, bad day?” Lexi asked after the waitress had dropped off their drinks and taken their lunch orders.

“Just the usual. Kevin is driving me insane. We all know he only has his job because of his father. He’s not even applying himself, or taking any notes. Robert assigned him a small, standard account. A married couple with regular jobs, a primary home, and no kids. I mean, it’s basic tax preparing 101, and he still asked where to list the mortgage interest.” She shook her head. “Did he even go to school for this? Yes, we aren’t doing actual live returns right now. We are at least a month out, but come on. How is he going to keep pace over the next few months when we are slammed and I can’t correct every file?” She huffed in irritation. She’d never had this much trouble training someone, and it rankled.

“Yikes. I think even I could prepare that return.”

“If he can’t handle a basic tax return, how is he going to handle our clients with multiple properties and multiple businesses?” Penny grimaced. He was not going to ruin her perfect record of trainees, dammit.

“Why don’t you talk to Alan, or even Robert, about it?” Lexi asked.

“It’s a dicey situation since he’s Alan’s son. How am I supposed to tell him that basic calculations stump his son?” 

“It completely sucks, but you’ll whip him into shape,” Lexi said.

“This one might be a lost cause. And what will that say to Robert and Alan? Why would they promote me if I can’t bring Kevin up to snuff?” She hated how whiny she sounded, but it freaking irritated the hell out of her that Kevin’s lack of giving a shit would reflect poorly in how the company owners viewed her ability to train efficient staff. Robert hadn’t brought up the possible promotion recently, but she had to believe it was still on the table.

“You’ll figure it out. Now, enough about the clueless one, tell me all about Christmas.”

“What?” Penny sputtered, almost knocking over her glass at Lexi’s abrupt change of topic.

“Christmas. You know that holiday we had a few days ago? Presents? Crazy family drama? How did it go?” Lexi asked. She smiled as she took a sip of her soda.

Lexi got right to the heart of it, but Penny didn’t want to talk about running out on her family. It still hurt. She ducked her head, taking a long sip of her soda, mumbling, “It was fine. Yours?”

Lexi sat up straighter, her eyes locking with Penny’s. “Oh no, what the hell happened?”

“Just a standard family holiday dinner. Jill is pregnant. Mom commented on my hair. And Michael was invited.”

Lexi visibly recoiled. “What the actual fuck?”

“Oh look, here’s lunch,” Penny said, heat staining her cheeks. The waitress had definitely heard Lexi’s outburst.

“Sorry for that,” Lexi said. She gave Penny a pained smile. “Are you serious? Good thing Amanda isn’t here. She would’ve been a lot louder.”

Penny half-grimaced, half-smiled, and let out a small huff of laughter. “You think? I will be relaying this info to her via text.”

“I’m half-tempted to tell her to get over here now.”

“Please don’t. I’ll work up to telling her. She’s going to lose it. More than you just did. You’re the more rational one of the group,” Penny said, hating the hitch in her voice. She would not lose it at lunch. Over the last day and a half, she cried tears she didn’t even know she still had.

Lexi reached out and squeezed Penny’s hand. “Whatever bodily harm you want me to inflict on him, just let me know. Or I can send Grant over. He can be scary if you need him.”

Penny barked out a strained laugh. “Good to know. And I don’t believe that about Grant.”

“Believe it. He keeps his temper under wraps. I’ve only seen it a few times. Remember that douche you set me up with that Grant ended up punching? Not that the ass didn’t deserve what he had coming to him.”

“I’m still so sorry about that. Michael said he was a nice guy. Of course, coming from Michael, that’s not saying much,” Penny grumbled. She’d been so freaking pissed when Lexi had told her about the set-up that had gone horribly wrong. Michael had recommended one of his friends and co-workers for Lexi to meet, and Penny hadn’t vetted him. She hadn’t even asked her father about the guy.

The guy had tried to get Lexi drunk and had gotten super handsy. Luckily, Grant had swooped in and rescued her—a task he excelled at—and punched the guy in the process. It’d been well-deserved from what Lexi had told her. Penny had been furious with Michael, but he had just shrugged it off, saying his friend had too much to drink and wasn’t usually like that.

His blasé response should’ve been another red flag, but Penny overlooked it. She’d overlooked a lot.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s kind of hot when Grant gets caveman-y.” Lexi grinned, pulling Penny back from her thoughts.

“Now. Stop distracting me and tell me about dinner,” Lexi continued.

“Okay. My mother asked me to answer the door, and there he was, bottle of wine in hand, smug smile in place. I mean, how could they?”

“Seriously, what the hell is wrong with them? I mean, I get that Michael works for your father, but blood should take precedence over business. And it was freaking Christmas dinner.”

Penny continued to rehash the events of Christmas dinner, and Lexi’s anger grew. “You really should’ve stabbed him with that fork,” Lexi said.

“I know, but instead I bolted. I’m trying to put everything behind me and fix my relationship with my parents but they are not helping. Then I cried myself to sleep and wished I could call Ethan.” Penny’s hand shot up, covering her mouth. Dammit. She hadn’t meant to bring him up.

“Oh, Penny. I hate that you are going through this, but you’ve been holding out on me.” She tsked and shot Penny a grin. “So, what’s going on with Ethan, and why couldn’t you call him?”

“It’s nothing. It’s not like we spend a lot of time talking on the phone, or hang out, or anything like that,” she said, and then took a bite of her sandwich. Maybe if her mouth was full, she’d stop offering up info she wasn’t ready to share. If she didn’t talk about Ethan, then she wasn’t putting herself out there with him and risking her heart again. She internally shook her head. Did she want to put herself out there with him?

A shouted yes, you idiot rang through her head. Not that she hadn’t already figured that out. She just wasn’t in the mood to admit it yet.

“What’s going on in there?” Lexi asked with a wave of her hand, her sandwich forgotten as her grin widened.

“Nothing. We had dinner last week, and he kissed me, and then we ran into his ex.” And there she went again, offering up unsolicited information.

“You kissed him?” Lexi asked. Penny didn’t think her friend’s grin could get any wider.

“No. I said he kissed me.” And then she’d kissed him, and he’d returned the favor multiple times. God. She wanted to see him again. Stupid away games. But he said he’d be home this weekend. Not that they’d made plans or anything.

“Oh. And I’m sure you didn’t climb into his lap and kiss him right back.”

“I did not. We were in a restaurant.”

Lexi laughed. “Wait. Is that so wrong? You should try it sometime.”

Penny rolled her eyes. That’s exactly what Lexi had done on her first non-date with Grant. She’d never known her friend had it in her. Amanda, definitely. But never Lexi. And after everything Lexi had been through, with her husband leaving her to raise their infant daughter alone five years ago, Penny was grateful that Grant had stumbled into her friend’s life.

Hell, she wanted that. The love, and the ease of being with someone she could count on—could trust. But could she have that with Ethan? Was he ready? Was she?

Her thoughts instantly went back to that dinner. That amazing kiss that was rudely interrupted by his ex. He swore he was over her, but the following night he’d played horribly. She was still trying to figure out the game, but his distraction on the ice had been clear, even to her.

She wanted to trust him. She just wasn’t sure she could trust herself.

Ethan refused to acknowledge the spark that rolled through him as he walked down the hall to Penny’s office. He hadn’t seen her in a week, since that kiss. Christmas and mismatched schedules had halted any follow up kisses. She’d hinted about not having plans tonight, and he didn’t have a game, so here he was, trying to avoid bumping into his uncle and the questions that would follow.

He rapped sharply on her door and ducked his head in when she called out to enter.

“I’m here for that nooner you mentioned last week,” he said. He shot her a grin and walked into her office, shutting the door behind him.

Her cheeks flushed a brilliant red. “Seriously, you can’t say shit like that out loud. People—your uncle—could’ve heard you.”

“I didn’t shout it. I promise no one heard anything. The hallway was blissfully empty.”

“That’s because it’s almost six. A little late for a nooner.”

He loved how flushed her cheeks were as she whispered that last word.

“But now you’re thinking about one,” he said.

“I am not, and I don’t recall mentioning a nooner anyway.”

“Are you accusing me of making that up?” he said, his grin widening as she rolled her eyes and tucked a blonde curl behind her delectable ear. He planned to taste that skin in the very near future.

“Ethan, what are you doing here? What if someone saw you? Like Robert?”

He caught the panic in her voice and felt like an ass. He’d convinced her that not telling his uncle right now would be okay, and then he’d busted into her office after hours.

“I’m sorry, Penny. I know that you are taking a risk, but I did peek down the hallway before heading toward your office, and no one was coming. Plus, I’m a client, so this could totally be work related.”

“That is a weak excuse, at best,” she said. “So, what are you doing here?”

“You mentioned that you didn’t have plans tonight, so I’m here to convince you that you should have dinner and drinks with me instead of washing your hair.”

She laughed. “Washing my hair? Really? You’ve turned me into a cliché.”

“I mean, if you need to wash your hair, I’m happy to help. You know, to conserve water,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her, loving her bold laugh. He’d make it his goal to only make her laugh that way from now on.

“You have a one-track mind,” she said as she ran her fingers over her keyboard and stacked the paperwork on her desk. Clear signs that it wouldn’t take much to convince her to join him tonight.

“And you’ve missed it,” he shot back with a grin. “Now pack up your stuff. I’m busting you out of here. You’re probably starving.”

“I’m fine,” she said, but he heard the hesitation in her voice, so he pressed on, propping his ass onto the edge of her desk.

“Come on. Have dinner with me.” He reached out, trailing his finger down her soft cheek, relishing in the hitch in her breath and the shudder that rolled through her.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“You know you want to, and I bet you’re hungry,” he said.

She nodded, her eyes darkening, and he knew she was interested in more than just food. “Maybe,” she said.

“Me too,” he whispered. He lowered his head, pressing his lips tentatively to hers. At her sharp breath and moan, he cupped her cheek and deepened the kiss. His belly churned with need, and he itched to spread her out on the desk and do what he’d wanted to do since he’d seen her last month.

He ended the kiss and reached down, pulling her from her chair and turning to place her on the edge of her desk.

“Ethan,” she gasped, her hands immediately linking behind his neck, a shiver rolling through him as her nails brushed against his skin.

“I was getting a crick in my neck,” he said by way of explanation. sealing their lips again, and devouring her mouth. She groaned against him, her fingers curling into his hair, scraping against his scalp. He tilted his head for the perfect angle, and she opened her mouth to his questing tongue. She tasted just as amazing as he’d remembered.

He swallowed her moan as their tongues tangled, and she pressed flush against his chest. He broke away and trailed kisses down her throat before finding that spot behind her ear that drove her insane. Her hands tightened in his hair as he nibbled along her collarbone, bathing her skin in kisses, thrilling at every gasp, every indrawn breath, and every soft moan of his name.

“Ethan, we should stop,” she panted as he continued his torment, his body tight with need. His thigh pressed between her legs, heat radiating off her body. How much damage would they do if he just swept the contents of her desk to the floor? The computer could stay. The rest was in the way.

“You started it,” he mumbled against her throat.

“No I did not,” she pushed back from him in outrage.

He chuckled, pressing his lips to her throat. “Okay, maybe not, but I can’t resist you. Now, shut everything down so we can grab dinner before I send everything on your desk to the floor and kiss you how I really want to.”

She scrambled away from him, saving a file on her computer and tucking file folders into her desk drawer.

“I’m not sure if you really want to get out of here, or if you’re worried I’ll mess up your organized system by knocking everything to the floor.” He shook his head at her glare, but she didn’t disagree with him.

“You are not ravishing me on my desk. My files are perfectly organized and stacked for review. And someone could walk in.”

“I’m not sure what concerns you the most, but I locked the door,” he said, leaning down to nibble on her lips.

She broke the kiss, glancing at the door.

“You don’t believe me? I have no desire for anyone to interrupt us. It’s another reason why I showed up after five on a Friday. Most people have already bailed for happy hours and to start their weekends.”

“That’s very considerate of you,” she said, her desk finally clear of paperwork.

“Isn’t it? So how about I ravish you on the desk now,” he said, grinning and moving toward her. She held him off with a hand.

“Nope. I’m starved—for food. Let’s go.”

“You are a tease,” he said, helping her into her coat, using that as an excuse to brush his fingers under her collar. He felt the shudder rock through her. He resisted the urge to pull her against his body.

She spun in his arms and pressed a hard kiss to his lips, stealing his breath. “So are you,” she said as she flooded her office in darkness and opened the door.

“Oh, Penny. I didn’t realize you were still here,” a woman said, heading down the hall toward them.

Ethan felt Penny stiffen, and then she stepped away from him with a muttered dammit.

“Hi, Jessica. I thought you’d headed out with everyone for drinks.”

“Not yet. Just finishing up one last account, and then I’m leaving.” Jessica focused on him. “You look familiar. Have we met?”

“I don’t believe so.” He held out his hand. “Ethan, nice to meet you.”

“Ethan. Oh right, you’re Mr. Knight’s nephew. I’ve seen you in the office.”

“Yes. Robert assigned Ethan’s account to me, so we were just finishing up some paperwork,” Penny chimed in a little too brightly. Ethan caught the slow smile on Jessica’s face.

“Well, have a good weekend. Nice to officially meet you, Ethan,” Jessica said.

“Shit. This is what I didn’t want,” Penny bit out after Jessica was out of sight.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, keeping pace with her as she briskly walked down the hall toward the lobby. He grabbed her hand as soon as the building door shut behind them.

“She’s the biggest gossip in the office, and she just caught you, the boss’s nephew, walking out of my office after hours.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m your client, so going over paperwork at six isn’t a huge deal,” he said.

“Don’t say that you’re a client. That makes it even worse.”

“Even if we haven’t actually gone over anything yet because the new year just started? Don’t stress. And who cares what she thinks?”

“I do,” she muttered.

 “Well, stop.” He linked his hand with hers, pulling her outside into the crisp night air. It stole his breath for a moment. “If there’s gossip, don’t listen to it. I know you’re concerned about how this looks, you working for my uncle and working on my account, but we aren’t doing anything wrong. Let’s just wait and see if anyone says anything, okay?” He tried to reassure her, tugging her close and brushing a kiss across her brow when they were out of sight of the office. He hoped she’d come to terms with what they were. It was only a matter of time before everything came out. Hopefully not the part about Italy, but everything always came out eventually. They’d done nothing wrong, and he would prove that to her, no matter what happened.

“Now, no more freaking out. I’m starving.”

She laughed when his stomach rumbled. “Far be it for me to let you starve.”

He tucked her into his side as they walked down the street, attempting to shield her from the bracing wind and anything else she wanted to be protected from. He was determined to make this work.