Free Homecoming: The Billionaire Brothers by Lily Everett Page A

at this point, so long as it’s horizontal.”
    “There’s nothing worse than a woman who thinks she can manage the entire world,” Logan growled, but out of the corner of her eye, Penny noticed that he didn’t put up much of a fight when Jessica led him back out the front door and closed it gently behind them.
    And then Penny was left alone in the parlor with the man to whom she’d given her body and her heart … before she even knew his real name.
    *   *   *
    “I’m sorry,” Dylan said. He wasn’t sure what to say to keep from getting swallowed up by the black hole of guilt and regret in his gut, but he definitely owed Penny an apology. Might as well start there.
    As expected, it wasn’t anywhere near enough. Penny shook her head in disbelief. “You’re sorry. You mean, you’re sorry your brother showed up here and exposed your lie.”
    The bitterness in her voice pierced him like broken glass. “No, Penny…”
    But she wasn’t listening. Dropping onto one of the overstuffed chintz love seats, Penny covered her face with trembling hands. “Your brother, ” she groaned. “Lord almighty. Dylan Harrington. I feel like such a fool. You must have laughed yourself sick over how easy I was to seduce. Some silly, gullible waitress to play around with because she doesn’t know any better. Are you going to go back to all your rich friends and have a good chuckle over your latest sexual exploits as Dylan Workman?”
    “Of course not.” Dylan stood in the center of the perfect, fussy little room full of touches that reminded him of his grandmother, and knew without a doubt that Bette Harrington would cry if she knew how the boy she raised had turned out. “It wasn’t like that,” he tried to say past the thick lump in his throat. “I never wanted to make a fool of you, Penny, I swear. And nothing about you is easy or gullible.”
    “No?” She raised her face to his, and though he’d braced himself for tears, her eyes were dry, burning with a fierce light. “‘Kid brother,’ Logan said. That makes you the youngest of the Harrington brothers, the one who refused to take any responsibility for the family company. The playboy. Oh, God—the Bad Boy Billionaire.”
    It stung to hear his whole life, decisions he’d agonized and suffered over, reduced to a single biting summation, but he couldn’t deny it.
    When he stayed silent, Penny swallowed and shut her eyes briefly. “Two weeks. That’s all it took to make me fall in love—and into bed—with you. Tell me, Mr. Harrington, is that a record for you?”
    Every word stabbed him like a knife, but Dylan forced himself to stand there and take it. He deserved whatever Penny dished out, and worse. With her tender, generous heart, there was no way she’d dole out a punishment severe enough to fit the crime.
    But still, he had to try to explain. He couldn’t let her compare herself to the models and celebutantes he’d casually slept with and discarded ever since he’d called his wedding off three years ago.
    “Honestly,” he told her, “no. Two weeks is an eternity for me to stay focused on one woman.”
    She winced, laughing thinly. “Great, so I guess I should be flattered. What was it that made me so special? Was I a novelty to you, Dylan? A single, working-class mom, someone so far beneath you it made me exotic?” She shook her head with a sad smile. “There I go flattering myself again. I’m sure you sleep with all the help, don’t you?”
    “Of course not,” he said firmly. “And you’re not ‘the help,’ Penny. You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. You’re strong and warm and kind. You’re an amazing mother. You’re beautiful inside and out, and I don’t think you even realize it. If you believe nothing else I ever tell you—and I wouldn’t blame you for that—at least listen and believe this. What happened between us was real. I didn’t tell you everything about myself, but what I did tell you was true. And I