Authors: Patricia Isabel
Penny stood at the doorway feeling like the deer caught in the headlights. What she saw she couldn’t wrap her mind around, didn’t want to. Feeling somewhat confused, Penny put her bags down and waited for the other woman, the gorgeous other woman, to say something. “Who the hell are you and what are you doing here? How did you get in?”
Lynesse said through gritted teeth. Penny looked at the key still in the door lock and looked back at her, she was speechless. “Well?” said Lynesse, becoming impatient. Lynesse wasn’t aware of this one. Her contacts didn’t mention it and she really hates surprises. This little bird can put a huge hole in her plans. She certainly couldn’t have this
person
here when Shane showed up, it would ruin everything beyond measure. Penny finally found her voice “I’m a friend of Shane’s. He said I could stay here since my connecting flight doesn’t leave until the morning and told me where to find the key” Penny looked around her and noticed the petals on the stairs, she began to feel sick to her stomach. She wasn’t about to say anything more to this woman especially the real reason why she was there. “Shane didn’t mention that he would have another guest here” Penny was hoping she was a long lost sister. “I’m not a guest. I’m his fiancé”
so much for sister
, Penny thought. Lynesse needed to get her out and fast, making her way to the door, she opened it wider “Well, as you can see I wasn’t expecting anyone else aside from my
fiancé
. It has been awhile since we have seen each other. I’m sure you can find a hotel that is close by to the airport so you won’t miss your flight” Lynesse reached over and took the key out of the lock. Penny didn’t quite know what to say, she felt rather awkward and humiliated. “Shane never mentioned he had a fiancé overseas, actually, I don’t recall him mentioning he had a fiancé whatsoever” Penny was beginning to feel faint. ‘
What was going on?
’ she thought ‘
how could she have missed this?
’ “Shane is a private person. He doesn’t like spreading his laundry out for all to see. Only our family and closest friends are aware” Lynesse wasn’t really lying, when they
were
engaged only a handful of people knew. Penny bent down to pick up her bags, she had to get out of there and fast, breathing was beginning to become difficult and she needed air. “Well, I’m sorry for the intrusion. As I said, I didn’t know. Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials” Penny turned and walked back to the car. Hearing the front door close, she tried her best to keep the tears at bay until she got to the car. Feeling foolish, she wiped her eyes and drove away at a speed that would do Cathy proud. Once she got a few miles down the road, Penny pulled the car over and decided to let her heart have its way.
CHAPTER 13
When Shane left the airport, he drove like a madman to get home. Knowing that Penny was there, waiting for him, made him want to get there as fast as possible. He stopped off at the liquor store before taking his exit and picked up a bottle of champagne, to celebrate their reunion. He knew he was being a bit
tacky but he was excited and happy at seeing her again and wanted to show it. Pulling up the drive, he could hardly contain himself. Knowing she was there behind that door was making him feel giddy. When he walked through the door, he noticed the petals on the floor marking their way to the bedroom upstairs. Smiling to himself, he dropped his bags, went into the kitchen for a couple of champagne flutes and followed the path. When he got to the room, he stopped at the surprise he found. Candle light and petals filled the space and a body in his bed with one leg peeking out from under the covers. Amused, Shane put the bottle and glasses on the dresser and made his way to the lying form. Starting at her foot, he slowly slid his hand up her leg until he reached her thigh. Pulling back the blanket a bit, he noticed she wasn’t wearing any panties and that made him as hard as a rock. Resuming his earlier quest, he slid his hand around her ass and heard her give out a little moan. While continuing to explore, he began to unfasten his pants with his free hand, fumbling with the button he was so aroused. Once he finally got it undone, he stopped his ministrations and pulled them off along with his shirt. Standing naked and fully aroused, he slipped into bed and curled into her. Shane pulled the cover from over her head so that he could kiss her and noticed something was wrong. Terribly wrong. The woman who was in his bed wasn’t the woman he believed it to be. “What the hell!” shocked and angry, Shane jumped out of bed and grabbed his pants. As he put them on, he saw the brown eyes staring at him and he was livid. Shane was seeing red and believed he could commit murder. As he was trying to contain his anger, Lynesse rolled over onto her back and gave him a huge smile. “Now there’s a feeling I thought I wouldn’t feel again” she said as she slipped the blankets lower to reveal her breasts “Welcome home, baby” She began to slowly remove the blanket off of her to reveal her full nakedness when Shane turned around and stalked off to pick up his shirt. “I knew you were coming home today so I went out of my way to give you a gift. Come back to bed and let me show you how happy I am to see you” Lynesse made a move to give Shane some room to lie down but he just stood there. “Well?” she asked “are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna come here?”
Shane was shaking. He was so furious at her that if he didn’t put distance between them, his father was soon to become a widow. He went to the bathroom to throw some water on his face, to try and calm himself from wanting to put some serious hurt on someone. He
had never hit a woman before but there was always a first time. As he grabbed a towel, he felt arms slide around his waist and a mouth on the back of his neck. Untangling himself, he gently removed her from him and put some space between him and the woman he wanted to hurt. Seeing her bag, he grabbed it and tossed it at her. “Put some clothes on and get out” he said through gritted teeth “you got five minutes or I’m tossing you out as you are”. That said, we walked out of the room and headed for the stairs. “Shane, you’re being ridiculous! Come back here!” this rendez-vous certainly wasn’t going according to plan. He was supposed to be grateful and enamoured that she went through all this trouble to be with him. Lynesse threw on a negligée and confronted Shane at the front door. “Shane, stop being childish and come back to the room. We can talk about it there, comfortably” Lynesse put her hand on his arm and was insulted when he shook her off. “What is wrong with you!” she tried to put as much hurt in her voice as possible but what she was really feeling was anger. Shane counted to ten before he responded “I want you to leave. I don’t ever want you here ever again. What the hell made you think I wanted this…with
you
!” he was beginning to lose his temper “We are through, Lynesse!
You
made sure of that five years ago! If I ever see you again, it will be too soon! Now…GET OUT!” and with that last statement, Shane grabbed her by the arm, pulled her towards the porch and slammed the door. Fuming, he stalked his way up the stairs, back to his room and grabbed her things. Debating on whether or not he should burn them, he heard Lynesse banging on the door and yelling. ‘
Thank god I don’t have neighbours
’ he thought to himself as he walked back, with bag in hand, to the front door. Opening it, Lynesse looked like she was about to grow another head. So, Shane decided to give her a reason to do so and tossed her bags at her and, once again, slammed the door and bolted it. After hearing Lynesse curse her way back to her car and screeching down the driveway, Shane began to wonder what happened to Penny. Where was she? What had Lynesse said to her? Shane wanted answers and he knew he had to find her to get them. Sitting in front of the phone with the yellow pages, Shane called every hotel in and around the city hoping she was in one of them, no such luck. After calling and leaving messages on her cell phone and home phone, Shane was feeling a bit lost. He didn’t know what to do so he called Gabe asking if he would come over. Hearing the hurt and anger in his brother’s voice, he left immediately.
As Gabe approached the door, Shane opened it quickly and
waited for his brother to cross the threshold. Running his hand through his hair, Shane walked over to the couch and sat, looking forlorn. “What’s wrong?” Gabe sat next to him and looked at his brother. The only times he had seen Shane look like that was when their mother died and when Lynesse betrayed him. Shane put his face into his hands “It’s over. Before it had a chance to begin, it’s over” he looked up at Gabe not knowing what else to say. Shane couldn’t understand exactly what happened either but with Penny not answering her cell he figured it couldn’t be good. “Why don’t you tell me what happened and start at the beginning. We’ll see if we can clear this up” Gabe got up and went to get them both something to drink. He had a feeling Shane needed one and it’s better to drink sorrow with company than it was to drink it alone. After handing him his glass, Gabe sat and listened to what happened, hardly believing what he was hearing. From the talks with Penny, to Shane sending a key, to finally finding Lynesse in his bed. Gabe choked on the last bit of information he heard “Yea, I pretty much did the same thing after I saw her in bed. Right before I wanted to kill her” said Shane. “I’ve been trying to call Penny but her voicemail keeps picking up. Gabe, it’s been three hours since I’ve left message after message and still she hasn’t called. I’ve called every hotel in town and she’s not at any one of them” Shane was sounding more and more depressed and Gabe felt for him. He didn’t know what exactly Lynesse was up to either but he was sure going to find out now. As for Penny, he didn’t know what to tell Shane. “She could be on a flight home, you know. Good reason not to answer a phone. Give it another couple hours, I’m sure she’ll check her phone once she lands and sees how many messages she’s missed” That was the only thing Gabe could say to try and make his brother feel somewhat better. “Maybe you’re right. Would you mind sticking around for a while?” Gabe couldn’t ignore the tone in Shane’s voice and agreed to stay. “Well, if I’m staying, you’re cooking. Was about to head out to supper when you called and I’ll be damned if I have to sit here and listen to you wail on an empty stomach” Gabe gave his brother a hearty slap on the back and Shane smiled, his first one since walking through the door. Feeling a bit more hopeful, Shane got up and made his way into the kitchen to prepare a dinner for his brother. He hoped Gabe was right and Penny was going to call him.
CHAPTER 14
Once Penny left Shane’s, she drove straight to the airport. She’d be damned if she was going to spend the night in town so she checked the flights and found one leaving within the hour. After booking, she called Cathy to see if she wouldn’t mind picking her up once her flight landed. Cathy was surprised to hear from her, as she thought she would be, and told her she would explain everything once she got back. How she was going to explain it? She didn’t know. Penny was still trying to grasp what happened with no luck. ‘
He was engaged?
How could I not know? There were no signs that a woman lived there, not a thing that gave it away, not even private phone calls
’ Penny worked her mind to remember any slight detail that she thought was unimportant at the time but couldn’t find a thing. There was no way a woman lived there, yet then again, Shane did mention that the house was relatively new. ‘
Maybe she just didn’t have a chance to put her mark in it. She did say she was overseas, but how long can an engaged woman be overseas without seeing a finished house? Unless’,
Penny thought, ‘
the house was finished while she was overseas
’. Nothing made sense and she was getting a headache trying to figure it out. She knew she wasn’t going to come up with any answers at the moment so she tried to push it out of her mind. Sitting at the gate, waiting for her flight to take on passengers, she opened her book and tried to read but soon found out it was impossible. She still couldn’t get that woman out of her mind and what she kept saying. It made Penny’s heart sink every time she recalled her saying the word ‘
fiancé
’. Feeling tears beginning to well up, Penny got up and made her way to the restrooms. She didn’t want to make a spectacle of herself in public so she went and hid until her flight was ready to board.
Penny saw Cathy at the terminal entrance and a wave of relief overcame her. She was so tired and drained that, once she reached her, she hugged her best friend as tight as her tired body would let her.
Cathy took her bag and they both walked to the lot where she was parked and gently helped Penny into the car. She could see that Penny was grief stricken and she was going to wait until her friend was ready to tell her what happened. Although the suspense was killing her, she was going to bite her tongue. “So? What the hell happened?” she obviously didn’t bite it hard enough. Penny looked over at her friend and began to cry, Cathy cursed under her breath and drove even faster to get home. “Okay, it’s okay. We’ll be home soon and we can discuss what this bastard did to you” Penny was about to say something but soon thought differently when Cathy cut off a semi-truck and ran a stop sign. She wasn’t about to take her friend’s concentration away from her and risk death. Penny soon realized that they were heading to Cathy’s place instead of her own “I thought you were taking me home?” she asked, not really wanting to say anything lest her friend takes her eyes off the road and hits something, or someone. Cathy took a quick glance down the street before making a turn, “I don’t want you to be alone tonight so you are staying with us. I’m not going to take no for an answer so don’t bother saying it. You can stay in the guest room”. Penny wasn’t about to argue with her, once Cathy had a determined thought in her head, there was no way to change it. Finally making it in one piece, Penny made her way up the walk and was greeted by Greg and the kids. After giving a hug to each of them, she made her way into the house and straight to the bathroom. She still wasn’t ready to lose her composure in front of anyone, even if they were her friends. Hearing Cathy say a few things to Greg and the kids, the house became quiet and she knocked on the door “They’re gone. You can come out now” Penny opened the door to see Cathy standing by the door with her arms out. Penny didn’t hesitate to enter them and she finally was able to shed the tears she had been trying to hold back for hours.