Operation: Endeavor (When The Mission Ends) (20 page)

He shook his head.

“She earned her degree in Theater Arts…acting. She did that entirely to get out from under her parents’ tutelage. She has such an aversion to someone trying to bend her to their will, she’ll do anything including sabotaging her own life. Why do you think she developed the party girl attitude?”

He felt more and more sick as Cassie talked, but he still wasn’t quite getting the full gist of what she was saying. “I’m not sure.”

“No one has expectations from the spacey, party girl. They figure she’s in her own little world and leave her to it. That’s all Penelope wants…to keep control of her own world. From the sounds of it, this morning you tried to take control of her world and she reacted the way she always does. That’s her defense mechanism at work and this morning you triggered it.”

“So how do I fix this?” There had to be a way to fix it.

Cassie looked at him and started shaking her head. “Colt, you’re a control freak. I’m not sure you can fix it. Everything about you is hard-wired to take control of the situation and move it according to your dictate. Penelope doesn’t work like that. She can’t work like that. Her entire life has been spent trying to pull herself out of that type of situation.”

“I can’t accept that.”

Her voice softened. “And therein lays your problem.” She reached across and grabbed hold of his arm. “Colt, you may not be able to fix this and if you try, you’re both liable to get hurt even more.”

As he raised his eyes to hers, she gasped. “It’s too late, isn’t it? You’re in love with her.”

Penelope looked at the clock on her cell phone. Ugh, it was only 11:32. This day was never going to end. It held such promise when she woke up this morning in Colton’s arms, but quickly degenerated into a clusterfuck of grand proportions.

She took the Bus in to get the window fixed, but ran into a major roadblock. The VW Bus was from an earlier era and there weren’t that many parts available anymore. It meant she’d lost her transportation for the whole freaking week while they waited for a part to come in.

Hannah didn’t show up for her shift so they were shorthanded at the bookstore when she already had a million and a half other things that needed her attention.

She tried to smile at the customer eyeing her from the New Fiction section, but it probably looked as bad as it felt. She felt brittle… like she could shatter at the slightest provocation. Alix kept shooting her questioning looks, but luckily they’d been too busy for Alix to corner her yet. Thank God, it was almost time for Jon to arrive so she could retreat into the corner of her office. She didn’t know how much longer she could be pleasant with the customers and not burst into tears.

At that moment, the bell above the door rang and relief surged through her as Jon walked in. She only had to hold it together for a few more minutes. She gave him a tight smile and greeting as she came around the back of the desk. She was halfway up the stairs to her office when the bell rang again.

Out of habit, Penelope looked to see who entered. Her breath caught and the tears surged forth as Cassie walked in. No, no, no. She couldn’t deal with this today. Not today.

Cassie took one look at her tear-brimmed eyes and rushed over to her side. She gathered her into a huge hug before Penelope could escape. Penelope couldn’t say anything as the pressure on her chest suffocated her and she valiantly tried to gain control of her emotions.

“Is anyone else here besides Jon?”

She nodded and managed to croak out, “Alix.”

Cassie pursed her lips and gave her a sympathetic smile. “Okay, good.” She turned to Jon. “Can you let Alix know I’m taking Pen to lunch?”

“Sure,” he said, watching them curiously.

“Thanks. I’ll bring her back in a couple of hours.”

When they got to Cassie’s jeep, she pushed her into the seat and handed her a wad of tissues. Cassie patiently waited while the sobs subsided.

“I’m sorry. God, I don’t usually get this emotional. It must be hormones.”

Cassie pursed her lips. “Or… it could be your heart is breaking and you don’t know what to do about it.”

Penelope looked into the eyes of her best friend, but also Colton’s sister. “So is this where you say, ‘I told you so’?”

“Nope. This is where I take you out to get some good chocolate, continue to hand you tissues, and try to talk some sense into you. You know he really likes you right?”

Penelope’s eyes started to tear up again as she nodded. “It seemed like it.”

“There’s no ‘seemed’ about it, Pen. He came and saw me this morning and he’s just as torn up about this as you are.” She waved at the pile of tissues in Penelope’s lap. “Except he’s more of a guy… he does it without the waterworks and emotional display.” She glanced over to Penelope as she drove. “Regardless of the evidence to the contrary right this minute, I may have been wrong.”

Penelope gave a bitter laugh. “How do you figure? It seems to me you were right on the mark this time.”

“Maybe on the surface, but I’ve never seen you this torn up over a guy before. That alone tells me this is something more…maybe something worth fighting for.”

“Do you really think so?” Did she dare to hope?

Cassie nodded. “At least consider it. Obviously I’m biased because both of you fall into my favorite people category, but you could find some sort of compromise to make this work. Colt’s not unreasonable. Yes, he’s overbearing and domineering, but he’s still a good guy. Talk to him about it. Tell him what you’re feeling. See if you can find some sort of middle ground.”

What Cassie said made sense. Yes, it meant opening up for possibly more hurt further down the road. But when she thought about last night, Penelope’s body reacted with tingles and chills even though it had been several hours since she’d seen Colton. That had to mean something. It also meant something that she wanted to pick up the phone to talk to him, even though he was the one who upset her. Already she relied on him for his friendship and support.

They pulled into a parking spot at the local cupcake bakery and Penelope smirked at Cassie. “I thought we were going to eat lunch.”

Cassie feigned an innocent look. “What? They’re full of cocoa beans. You’re a vegetarian and beans are good for you. Besides, all those tears mean you need chocolate to revive your system. Chocolate is a known cure for dehydration from crying.”

“Hmm, that almost sounded believable.”

“Absolutely. If you say it with confidence, people will believe you. Trust me.”

* * *

Feeling better after a couple of hours laughing with Cassie, Penelope returned to the bookstore, ready once again to tackle her huge to-do list. But first, she needed to be a friend to someone else.

She listened to the phone ring and was about to hang up when she heard a harried answer on the other end, “Dr. Lopez here.”

“Damon? It’s Penelope.”

“Well, hey, gorgeous.”

“Hey, yourself. I hear you had to head back to Belize without even a ‘goodbye’ for yours truly.”

“I’m sorry, Penelope. Unfortunately, there was an emergency and I had to get back immediately.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Of course, everything’s fine.”

For some reason, his answer didn’t sound true. Maybe it was the false humor she could hear in his voice even over the phone line. She scowled and wondered what he was hiding. “Are you sure, Damon? Everything doesn’t sound fine.” No answer from him so she pressed on. “Listen, the reason that I ask is that Saturday night after the party, something happened.”

“What happened? Are you okay?” He suddenly sounded frantic, but she hadn’t told him the nature of the incident.

“Yes, I’m fine. Everyone’s fine so far. There was a note on my Bus. It said I needed to return ‘the gift’ and no one would get hurt. But I have no idea what they were talking about. Last night it occurred to me maybe this has something to do with El Regalo.”

“Hang on, Penelope.”

She could hear muffled shouts. The mouthpiece on the phone was obviously covered with something but it sounded like Damon yelling at someone in Spanish.

“I’m so sorry. Please continue.”

“Damon what the hell is going on?”

He sighed deep. “I wish I could explain, but I can’t. This is just a very difficult country to work in and problems arise because of that. But we were talking about you and your issues. Have you had any more problems?”

“No and I’m hoping that stays the case.”

“Okay, stay close to Colton. He’ll keep you safe. I should be back in town sometime later this week. I’ll give you a call then, okay?”

He was rushing her off the phone and she had no idea why. But with him out of the country, there wasn’t a whole lot she could do about it.

“That sounds good Damon. I hope you get everything straightened out there.”

“Thanks. Bye, Penelope.”

Something wasn’t right there. She lifted her shoulders to loosen the tension in them. She couldn’t help Damon if he didn’t want her to. Besides she had her own stresses to dwell on right now.

She hung up the phone and looked at the calendar on the wall. Twelve days until the book signing. And then a week after the signing, the next installment in the Celeste DeMarco series was due to her editor. Luckily, the first draft was done, but it still needed some hard polishing before it was ready for her editor. She had a lot of work to do. It was time to stop worrying about Damon and moping about Colton. They’d talk when she got home tonight.

* * *

Alix gave Penelope a ride home since her Bus was in the shop for the duration. Her stomach did flip-flops at the idea of seeing Colton after this morning, but she was a big girl. She could do this. She climbed the stairs to work off the cupcakes she ate for lunch and to give her more time to plan what she needed to say. First thing, she needed to apologize for the way she’d acted this morning. She cringed at the memory of thanking him for the use of his body. That was really not cool. She would suck it up and make it up to him.

As she entered the apartment, the dead quiet revealed that Colton wasn’t home. She dropped her paperwork in a chair and looked around. On the counter was a single tulip with a note attached.

 
Penelope, I had to leave town and probably won’t be home tonight. I’m sorry. I know we need to talk and hope you will be open to that tomorrow. Last night was amazing. I’ll miss having you in my bed tonight. See you tomorrow. –Colton

Okay, that didn’t sound so bad. Maybe he wasn’t mad about what a shrew she’d been this morning. She really hoped he wasn’t.

She changed into some comfy pj’s and poured herself a glass of wine. Colton’s absence gave her the perfect opportunity to work on some of her writing. She’d printed out the rough draft of
Dominating Clint
at the bookstore today and was ready to go at it with her red marker.

This was the third book in the series about the Hawkins family, six brothers and two sisters running a ranch in Texas. They were definitely an erotic bunch and several of the siblings had BDSM tendencies. This particular book featured Clint, who always considered himself a Dom until he met Ashley and found out he liked to submit to this Domme’s rules.

Penelope had written several books about the BDSM lifestyle, but this was the first time she’d written her heroine as the Domme. It was exciting and fun for a different change of pace. She’d even bought a tell-all book from a practicing Domme to make sure she had all her facts correct. It was most definitely titillating reading and writing.

She took a sip of her wine and imagined Colton in a submissive role. She almost snorted her wine up her nose. Like that would ever happen. She might be able to calm his controlling tendencies down a bit, but she could never imagine him letting go to that extreme.

* * *

Colton tiptoed into the loft. He’d hated that he had to leave town so suddenly. He’d gone to San Antonio to check on a plane for sale. It was only going to be in town for a single night so he didn’t have much choice if he wanted to see it. Unfortunately, the trip was a waste as the plane wasn’t going to work for Mad Rob. He hadn’t planned to come back tonight. But after leaving things hanging with Penelope the way he had, he couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing her. He needed to know things were okay between them.

He lowered his bag to the floor just inside the door. There was still a light on in the living room so he crept in. Penelope was sound asleep on the couch. Looking at the nearly empty wine bottle sitting next to her, he guessed she wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon. She’d pulled her blonde hair up into a messy pony tail and wore some horrible flannel pajamas, but a peace settled into his heart just looking at her. He was such a goner.

She had papers and books spread all over the place and one in particular caught his eye. Just what was Penelope reading?
My Life as a Domme
. Curious now, he took a closer look at the papers surrounding her. It appeared to be a book, but she’d obviously been marking it up. Maybe she did freelance editing or proofreading on the side.