Penelope panicked, looking around the packed bar for the man who would act as her saviour. Finally, she found him and was at his side in seconds. "Can you put your arm around me and pretend to be my boyfriend for the next ten minutes?" She asked, her eyes wide and pleading.
"Sure," the man answered without a beat, an amused smirk spreading across his lips.
Penelope's eyes were now wide with shock. She hadn't expected it to be so easy. She also hadn't expected the man she picked to be so damn attractive, but she pushed that thought away for later. "O-oh," she stammered. "Wow, you took very little convincing."
The man grinned, knocking back a drink of what looked to be expensive scotch. "A sexy redheaded woman walks up to me and asks me to feel her up? How could I say no?" He replied, waggling his perfectly sculpted eyebrows at her.
Penelope glared at the man. The absolute audacity! She didn't even know him. "I did not say you could feel me up," she hissed. "Hands above the waist, stranger."
The man continued with that cocky grin, and Penelope had to physically force her sexual urges down. "So your tits are free game?" He teased.
How could a man be so hot and infuriating at the same time? "Ugh, I knew I should have picked someone else," she grumbled, stealing the drink from his hand and taking a swig. Surprisingly, he let her.
"Who's the guy you're trying to avoid? What's he like?" The man asked.
Penelope rolled her eyes, replaying the moments with this other man in her head. "God, he's even more forward than you, surprisingly. I'm friends with his sister, and he hits on me every time I see him, despite the fact that I have repeatedly told him I'm too old for him," she explained exasperatedly.
"Yikes," the man said with a chuckle, taking his drink back from her.
She tensed, yanking him to her side. "Oh God, here he comes now! Don't be over the top about it," she ordered as the second man approached.
"Penelope!" The young man exclaimed.
"Gregory!" She greeted through clenched teeth.
"Colin?" Gregory asked, looking at the man who currently had a hand travelling far lower than he should towards her hip.
"Greggy!" Colin, apparently, bellowed, a self satisfied grin on her face.
"Colin?" Penelope asked dumbly, watching the exchange.
"Babe?" Colin answered, looking down at her and shooting her a wink.
Gregory, meanwhile, seemed just as confused as she did. "Babe?" He repeated. "Okay, what the hell is happening? How do you know Penelope?" He asked, pointing back and forth between the two of them.
"How do you know Gregory?" Penelope asked Colin.
Colin chuckled to himself, swirling his scotch in one hand, his other drifting even lower. "To save everyone some time, Greggy here is my baby brother, and Pen-" He gave her ass a light pinch and she yelped. "Is my girlfriend," he finished.
"Girlfriend," Gregory repeated, looking very suspicious of them. "Why didn't you tell me you were dating my brother, Penelope?"
Penelope swallowed, subtly attempting to nudge Colin's hand away. "I didn't know he was your brother."
Colin didn't budge, and instead grabbed a handful of her ass and squeezed. "Not a whole lot of talking happens when we're together, if you know what I mean, Greggy."
Gregory looked disgusted and as if he wanted to be anywhere else. At least she had accomplished that. "I know what you mean, Colin," Gregory said, unamused. "I'm twenty-two, and stop calling me Greggy." He eyed them suspiciously. "How did you two meet anyway?"
They both answered at the same time. "Book store." "Coffee shop."
Penelope giggled nervously. "It was a book store with a coffee shop in it."
"Right," Gregory nodded, not at all convinced, but luckily not looking as if he was willing to argue. "Well um...congrats."
"Thanks, Greggy," Colin said, just to rile his younger brother up.
Gregory growled, then leaned in Penelope's ear and whispered, "When you're done with this jackass, you know where to find me."
"I'll keep that in mind," she said, maintaining the same level of indifference she always managed around him. "See you later, Gregory." When he was gone, Penelope let out a sigh of relief, then turned to Colin who had yet to let her go. "I didn't take you for the book type," she mused.
Colin finished off his scotch and set it on a table next to them. "I'll have you know that I am very cultured. I've travelled to over twenty countries in the last five years alone."
"So I've heard. Eloise said you've slept with half of Europe. I'm sure you've been doing some very in depth studying of other cultures during your time away," she goaded.
"Can I buy you a drink?" He asked suddenly.
"Gross," she groaned on instinct, once again tampering her desire and ignoring the way her stomach fluttered as he asked her. "How many times does that actually work for you?"
"Hey, you came onto me, babe," he retorted.
Finally, the spell was broken, at least for a few seconds, and she managed to gain some sense. "You can take your hand off my ass now," she demanded.
The smug prick just laughed. "I like you, Pen."
"Uh, thanks..." She said awkwardly, that wretched feeling floating back inside of her. "And thanks for covering for me. I'm sorry if I offended you with all the stuff about Greggy-I mean Gregory. He's really not that bad. I'm just not into him like that."
"Then who are you into?"
Penelope looked up to see Colin staring at her intently. This was not good. She did not need to get involved with this man. One, he was her best friend's brother. Two, he was far too handsome and charming for his own good. And three, she was certain that it would only end in heartbreak. "I-I should go find El," she stammered.
He leaned down and whispered in her ear, his voice low and husking, sending sparks of electricity straight to her core. "Or you could come with me to the loo and we could have hot insane bar sex," he suggested.
This was a bad idea. "You are rather forward, aren't you?" She asked, her face and chest flushing under the heat of his body pressed against hers.
His hands pulled her somehow tighter against him, his lips inching closer to her own until she could feel his breath. "I know what I want," he said, and she shivered with anticipation. This was a very, very bad idea.
