Five
The morning after the party, Zach woke in the guest bedroom next to Pen, in the bed they’d all but destroyed the previous night. The comforter and blankets were on the floor, the remaining sheets twisted and pulled from three corners, revealing the naked mattress.
He was also naked and sporting the morning wood he’d bragged to Penelope about, but this time instead of him taking the problem in hand, she was willing to alleviate it for him.
She slid down his body and he watched her pretty blond head bob over his thighs, eliciting so much pleasure, he thought he might never recover.
He did, though.
Enough to make love to her again and talk her into a shared shower en suite. Soaping Pen’s body could become his new favorite pastime.
Dressed in the white, albeit wrinkled, dress from last night, she looked like a woman who’d been claimed. Zach liked that look on her a hell of a lot. He liked learning she hadn’t been with anyone since him more. Not only because he hadn’t moved on from her yet, but also because that meant they could have sex without a condom, which was his other favorite pastime with her.
He took her hand and walked with her down the staircase. His brother was dressed in a suit, and it wouldn’t surprise Zach to learn that he was working—even on a Saturday. Zach had pulled on a pair of pressed trousers and a button-down, but Chase had gone full-on jacket and tie.
His brother took in Zach and Pen as they entered the foyer, pausing with his cell phone in hand to smirk knowingly.
“Good morning, Zach. Penelope.”
“Mayor,” she said, chin held high.
Zach admired the hell out of her for that. In last night’s clothes, her hair sexily rumpled and cheeks pink from their steamy shower this morning, Pen didn’t care what Chase thought about her sleeping with his only brother.
“I have a meeting in thirty minutes,” Chase informed Zach, his gaze returning to his phone. “Legislature for...”
He trailed off as he ran his thumb along the screen. His expression blanked, accentuating his pallor.
“Chase?” Zach asked, alarm rising within. “Is there a problem?”
Chase blinked and offered a tight smile. “An old friend.” He gestured with the phone. “Haven’t thought of her in a long time.”
Her? Chase had a few hers in his past, but there was one more noteworthy than the others. But it couldn’t be...
Zach wasn’t going to find out anytime soon. Chase exited his house and climbed into the back seat of a town car idling out front.
“Sounds mysterious,” Pen commented at Zach’s side, curiosity outlining her pursed lips. Without digging deeper, she leaned in for a kiss and he gladly obliged. “I’m going to go. Thanks for...everything.”
“Don’t tell me you work today, too?”
She paused at the door and looked over her shoulder. “Your ex-wife situation isn’t going to go away on its own.”
Zach looped her arm in his. “I’ll walk you out.”
The valet had moved Pen’s car next to his in the cobblestone drive. Her white Audi sat gleaming next to his black Porsche. He opened her car door but before he closed her inside, stole another kiss for the road.
“You’ll be hearing from me, Mr. Ferguson.”
“I’ll be expecting a full report, Ms. Brand.”
She looked sleepy and adorable, as well she should after he’d kept her up all night. He opened his mouth to add that he was in no hurry for her to wrap things up with Yvonne, but instead he backed away and watched as she drove off.
* * *
A week later Zach was sitting in his office, Penelope on the other side of his desk. She’d come to Ferguson Oil to discuss the details of the Yvonne Tsunami, which was swallowing up way too much of his time.
The arrangement was far from the way he wanted to spend time with Pen. For starters, she was way too clothed for his taste, and secondly, his brother was brooding in the corner, arms folded over his suit.
Zach stood in frustration the moment Pen stopped talking.