Page 20 of Find Me
“So, what are you going to do?” Penny called, as Elise heading for the door.
When she reached it, she glanced over her shoulder. “Do what I do best: distract him and put his mind on something else much more important.”
Penny lifted her brows. “Which is?”
Elise grinned. “Me.”
Penny laughed.
Elise took a step toward the door, but then turned back with an exclamation. “Oh, I almost forgot! We’re having a games night tonight at eight,” she said eagerly, wiggling her eyebrows. “Hawke will be there.”
“Oh, my God, Elise, stop,” Penny said, rolling her eyes. “But okay, I’ll be there.” She smiled.
That smile kept popping up all day as she thought about the fun night ahead. But when she got there, she realized it wasn’t just Elise, Archer, and Hawke, but the entire group of friends in the Phoenix circle, and that smile promptly fell.
She stood awkwardly in Elise’s kitchen, finishing off her glass of wine in one big sip. The laughter in the kitchen was a warm blanket, wrapping around Penny as the group beckoned her closer, their smiles genuine and inviting. But that was even more uncomfortable. She felt out of place.
“Try the merlot next; it’s divine,” Nessa suggested from across the marbled island, flicking her honey-blonde hair over her shoulder.
“Yes,” Zoey, Rhys’s wife said. Her light hazel eyes dancing. “It’s literally to die for.”
“Want some?” Lottie offered, moving toward Penny with the bottle of merlot. Lottie, Hunt’s wife and club participant, had the prettiest eyes Penny had ever seen, being an amethyst color.
“Thanks,” Penny replied, handing over her glass, studying the ladies around her.They seem so… normal. She couldn’t wrap her head around that. How did all these people participate in sex shows?
“So,” Hazel said, fluttering her long eye lashes, as Lottie poured the wine. “What’s going on with you and Hawke?”
“Nothing,” Penny answered, too fast considering the smiles around her. “We’re working together, that’s all.”
“That’s not what I heard.” Lottie gave a sheepish grin. “I heard from a reputable source that he was holding your hand.” She winked.
Penny felt the heat climbing up her neck. She slid into the chair at the island, her fingers lightly brushing against the cool marble. “It’s not like that,” she countered. “He was trying to show a solid front is all.”
“Is that right?” Lottie teased, pushing a strand of brown hair behind her ear. “Because from what I see he can’t take his eyes off you.”
“Or his hands apparently,” Zoey added slyly, her lips curving into a smile.
“Stop teasing her,” Elise quipped. Penny could have kissed her for interjecting. Until she added, “We’ve all been there. She’s a goner, and so is he, they just haven’t come to terms with that yet.”
Penny sighed, taking another long sip from her glass.
Laughter rippled through the group. Yet Penny couldn’t help but steal a glance at Hawke in the living room, who was engaged in animated conversation with Ronan, a fellow Navy SEAL, as Archer, Hunt, Kieran, and Rhys stood nearby, his broad shoulders relaxed as he nodded along to some shared joke.
“Nothing going on, huh?” Lottie chimed in, nudging Penny’s shoulder with hers. “Whatever is going on, it’s good. Hawke seems happy.”
“Like I said, things are purely professional,” Penny stated, though her heart beat a contradictory rhythm.
She observed Hawke again, how his laughter seemed to resonate with a genuine joy. There was an ease to him, a sense of contentment that drew her in, a magnetic pull she found increasingly difficult to resist.
She wanted to taste a little bit of that happiness.
“He seems like a good man, that one,” Hazel commented from beside Penny. “Which are always hard to come by, right?”
Penny allowed herself a small nod, feeling the truth in Hazel’s words. Hawke was a good man—there was no doubting that.
“All right,” Rhys said, entering the kitchen, with the others following behind. Zoey nestled under his arm, her expression one of pure bliss—a stark contrast to the fierce independence Penny had always championed. “Here’s to kid-free nights.”
“Cheers,” the group echoed, raising their glasses, Penny included, before taking another sip.
