Our receptionist, Luna, arrived at the doorway, severing our conversation for more important matters arising.
“Mr. Cole, the Prescotts are here.”
Jackson snapped forward and rose to his feet. “Thanks, Luna. See them in.”
My chest immediately grew tight as if I’d been punched in the solar plexus. Lungs seized, they refused to inflate even when I stood tall and squared my shoulders.
Voices tracked our way, needlessly hushed, and I steeled myself for their arrival. Luna offered Penny and Paul a friendly smile as she indicated for them to enter the meeting room.
The moment Penny came into view, I completely lost my breath. I couldn’t help but pause. To stare with my teeth working back and forth. To take in her leather jacket, ripped skinny jeans, striped top that gave a ball-tightening glimpse of her toned belly, and fuck me, combat boots—which were certainlynotstandard issue.
Her hair, hacked and jagged yesterday, now hung in a straight, even length above her shoulders. As much as I liked her with long hair, the fresh cut complimented her badass clothing.
Twelve hours ago, Penny was the abducted woman needing locating and rescuing. Her safety had been at the forefront of my mind, and effectively blinded me to her true beauty.
As she stepped into the room ahead of her father, my pulse kicked violently, just like it did when I was sheltering from enemy fire. Absolutely stunning, her appearance punted me for six, straight back to Vegas.
Penny’s eyes held Jackson’s as he extended his hand to her. She offered a small smile as they exchanged pleasantries, then shifted her attention to me. Frozen in place with my clenched knuckles pressed to the table, I stared like a deer caught in the headlights.
Locking all the memories down, I slid on a mask of indifference, easily separating myself from my feelings. The only thing I couldn’t get a fucking grip on was how uncontrollably my body reacted to her.
Taking charge of the situation before it got the better of me, I rose to full height and stepped forward.
“It’s nice to see you again, Miss Prescott.”
Comprehension sparked in her pretty blue eyes. Despite the visible hurt, she outstretched her arm and slid her warm palm into mine.
“Nice to see you again, too, Dante.”
Fuck,I was royally screwed.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
Penny
My stomach flipped and I immediately became ten times hotter.
Yesterday was nothing more than a hazy memory, one where I thought I’d imagined our spark, but today, Dante’s cologne brought it all back.
While my insides were tumbling and giddy, his eyes turned cold and distant when he offered his hand to shake.
“It’s nice to see you again, Miss Prescott.”
Thrown by the unexpected detachment, I struggled to find my voice when our palms connected, then even more so when his touch reminded me of what his hands did to me in Vegas. Where they explored. How they gripped my flesh with uncontrollable need.
Flashing images of his mouth devouring mine while spilling dirty words made my thighs clench. I squeezed them tighter and tried not to sound completely breathless.
“Nice to see you again, too, Dante.” I released his hand and looked to Jackson for information.
“Please sit,” he instructed, apparently not seeing the heat blazing on my cheeks.
Locking eyes with Dante again, my heart dropped to see he’d further withdrawn behind those amber irises. Once shining with passion and life, they were dark and hardened at the edges.
Gone was the compassionate man who tenderly held me in his arms yesterday. Here was a man who looked through me as if I never existed to him.
All my stupid twenty-one-year-old fantasies shattered. I’d been a fool to think that a man more than a decade older than me, would be thrilled to come face-to-face with his one night stand for asecondtime.
I curled one arm around my waist and tried not to be awkward as I sat on the offered chair. For the first time since my birthday, I was grateful for Paul—my father in every sense of the word aside from DNA—being present. I wasn’t left alone to face the brooding wolf silently eyeballing me from across the table.