Free Dare To Love Series: Daring Ink (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Avery Flynn

betraying employee. No. This was all his fault. He should have told her everything before he’d slept with her—hell, before she’d given him a tattoo. Really, he should have never taken that bet.
    “It was just a dumb bet.” Wanting more than anything to reach out to her and draw her closer, but knowing she’d probably knee him in the nuts if he did, he shoved his fingers through his hair. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
    “What, that you’d sleep with me?” She laughed in his face. It was a cold, brittle sound, so unlike her laughter in the tattoo studio earlier today. “Was that what this was all about? Is this why you volunteered out of the blue to help me?” She paused and smacked her palm to her forehead. “It was! I should have known but I was blinded by charm and abs. What a fucking idiot am I.”
    Shame. Pure, burning cold shame rushed through his veins infecting every part of his body until he dripped in it. “It wasn’t that I’d sleep with you, only that we’d go out on a date.”
    She glared at him and then turned on her heel and stormed down the corridor to her front door. Not knowing what to say but knowing he had to stop her, he ran after her.
    “Please, you’ve got to listen. You’ve got to know how sorry I am.” He was begging and he didn’t care. This thing, this connection, between them was new and fragile. He didn’t know where it was leading but he had to protect it, and the only way to do that was with the truth. “That stupid bet was the reason why I initially offered to help, but after we talked and I saw how much catching the thief meant to you, there was no way I could walk away.”
    “Really?” She didn’t bother to look at him as she shoved her key in the lock of her front door. “I find that hard to believe.”
    He grabbed her chin and tilted her face up so she had to look at him. She had to see how this was tearing him apart. “Why?”
    “Because I have no problem walking away from you.” She shook off his hand, unlocked her door and stepped inside. “Try not to make so much noise with one of your club girls tomorrow night. Some of us need our sleep.”
    Before he could say another word, she slammed the door in his face. As a series of thumps sounded, one for each lock, he watched the peephole. If it stayed dark, that meant she was just on the other side of the door. He still had a chance to talk to her, to plead his case.
    “Penny.” Her name left his lips, half in prayer, and then a light appeared, singing through her peephole and he knew she was gone.
    He’d lost her before he ever really had her.

 
    Ch apter Eight
    The next night, Sawyer sat on his bed with his ear pressed to the wall that separated his bedroom from Penny’s, listening for any hint that she was home. It was fucking pathetic, but he couldn’t think of another way to get through to her than by talking.
    “Honey, are you there?” he asked.
    Silence that punched him right in the gut.
    He tapped on the wall.
    Nothing.
    “Please. I know you’re there. I heard you earlier.” He thunked his forehead on the wall. This isn’t creepy at all. I’d totally want to date me right now. “I’m sorry. None of this is coming out right. Penny, just give me a second chance. You won’t regret it.”
    Nada.
    He settled back into bed and flicked off the light. “Goodnight,” he said to the wall. “Hope to talk to you in the morning.”
    *****
    Alone in her dark bedroom, Penny barely dared to breathe, which made the whole crying sniffling thing a lot harder on her. But she wouldn’t answer him and she refused to answer him or let him hear her cry. God, she was crying. She didn’t cry when she found out her mom had been lying, she got mad. She didn’t cry when she found out the whole scholarship to art school had been a lie, she’d done her best to prove she was supposed to be there. She didn’t cry when she realized that someone she trusted at Daring Ink had been stealing her designs, she’d