Free Closer_To_You by Reana Malori Page A

been expecting. “Why did I leave? When? Sunday morning or today?”
    Leaning back on the couch, his suit jacket opened and she could see his dress shirt pull tight across the rock hard muscles of his stomach. The same stomach that she had kissed and nibbled on to her heart’s content. Damn, she had to think of something else. Bunnies. Puppies. Grandma’s cookies. Not that her Grandma had ever made cookies. Her Grandma Viola was more of a snuff-snorting, tobacco-chewing hot mama, but the idea of her baking cookies was enough to briefly take her mind off of the man sitting in front of her.
    “Penelope? Did you hear what I just said?”
    Turning swiftly to Gabriel, she knew that her mind had wandered far enough that she had missed what he was saying to her. “Oh, no. I’m sorry. What did you say?”
    Taking a long sigh, he reached for his drink and took another sip, seemingly intent on making her wait and drawing this out. “I said, both. Why did you just leave on Sunday morning? I woke up expecting to find you next to me and you were just gone.”
    “Well, I didn’t want to overstay my welcome.” Which was true. The morning after a one-night stand could be the hardest. What could she have said to him, ‘thanks for the amazing fuck, it was better than anyone I’ve ever had before you’? She could only imagine how well that would have went over.
    “And today?” Penetrating eyes stared at her, daring her to answer him truthfully. “How could you overstay your welcome at your own office?” He paused for a moment and looked to the side as if searching for something that was just out of reach. “I came out of the conference room and looked for you. Don’t you feel we should talk about what happened?”
    Okay, this was going to be harder than she thought. “Actually, no. I don’t.”
    Now it was his turn to be tongue-tied. She knew he would never have expected that response from her. This was not some fairy tale and she was no Cinderella, Princess Tiana or Snow White. Things would never fall into place so easily.
    Penelope was old enough to understand the deal and she had no illusions about what Saturday night had been, and what it had not. Would she like to repeat it? Hell yes and yes, again. Realistically though, she was not going to put herself in that situation, no matter how much she hoped it could be different.
    “Well, I do.” His lips had thinned out into a firm line, and she could tell he was annoyed. Too bad. She was standing firm.
    “Gabriel, I walked away because what we had that night was perfect. Yes, the entire night. I have never been so caught up in the moment with anyone else, and you brought out something in me that I didn’t even know I had.” Standing up from her seat, she began pacing back and forth, as if focused on convincing not only him, but herself as well, that she was right. “You and I both know that it was cleaner that way.”
    “How do you know what I want, Penelope?” Gabriel stood up from the couch and walked over to her, grabbing her by her arms to halt her progress. “Why are you running?”
    Pulling back, she stared at him as if he had just lost his mind, “Running? I’m not running from anything. Especially you.”
    “Yes, you are. You ran away twice. Our night was more than just a one-time thing. You felt it. I felt it. There was something more between us and instead of waiting to see what more it could be, you ran.”
    “Are you just trying to make yourself feel better about me leaving? Plus, you’re only here for a couple of weeks. You told me so yourself. Why would I stick around only to have you leave anyway?”
    “How about you could have stayed because you just wanted to be with me. To spend time with me.” His nostrils flared in frustration and anger, but she wasn’t afraid of him. If anything, she was turned on. It made her nipples tighten and her pussy clench watching him this way. Maybe she was coming down with something. There was no way she should