One Size Fits All (The Classy ‘n’ Sassy Series Book 3) (17 page)

“But that was for you,” Bryn said, genuinely sounding deflated.

“I don’t want your charity.”

“That’s not what it was.” Bryn’s voice now held a little edge. She took the money and put it on Penny’s lap. “I gave it to you because we’re friends and I thought you deserved it. I know how hard it is to be a waitress.”

“That wasn’t about friendship or me deserving it. It was about you thinking you’re better than me. Or maybe you feel guilty or sorry for me. Whatever it is, I don’t need you to just give me money. So take it back.” She held the money up, maybe an inch from Bryn’s face.

“Get that out of my face.”

“Not until you take it.”

Bryn took it all right, and threw it on the floor of the truck. This was not what Thor had envisioned when he bought those rounds of shots for the girls. Not at all.

CHAPTER
Twenty-Three

T
hor lay
in bed, Penny beside him, both of them still awake, still silent. When he’d pulled up in front of Bryn’s house, she muttered a quick “Thanks” before jumping out and slamming the door. Penny didn’t say a word. Not then. Not when they arrived at his place. Not after she crawled in bed in just her Red Brick tee.

Should he say something? But he didn’t know what to say.

“Tonight was pretty shitty, huh? You want to talk about it?”

“Nope.”

“You sure?”

“Yep.”

Okay. One-word sentences. That was a great sign. Maybe a good night’s sleep would help. And maybe it would give him some perspective on the female mind.

“You wanna know what really pisses me off?” she said.

So much for not wanting to talk. “What?”

“She hopped in your truck like nothing had happened. Like she hadn’t just completely insulted me.”

“I don’t think she meant to insult you.”

An audible sigh.

Thor continued. “I’ve known her for a long time and I’ve never seen her be malicious about anything. I mean, come on . . . you’ve known her for how long? Do you honestly think she has one nasty bone in her body?”

Penny was silent for a moment. “No, but that doesn’t mean she can’t change.”

He rolled to her, her back flat on the mattress, gaze on the ceiling. He cupped her cheek and turned her face toward him. “I truly think she was just trying to be nice.”

“Of course you think that. You’re not at Classy ’n’ Sassy. You don’t see what I do.”

“I don’t, but it’s gotta be a misunderstanding. She’s not a nasty person.”

“Seriously? Whose side are you on?”

“I’m not on anyone’s side.”

“Whatever.” And with that she turned away from him, presumably to go to sleep. So he turned over, too, his back to hers. This was fucking perfect.

Thor closed his eyes, breathing deep, an attempt to calm himself enough to fall asleep. But his brain wouldn’t quit.

Why is she being like this? What am I supposed to do? I’m not going to bad-mouth my lifelong friend. I should’ve known this relationship thing was going too smoothly. Maybe being single is easier. But I really like her. How can I make this up to her? How can I help her overcome her insecurities?

He tried to brainstorm ways to help Penny, but came up with nothing.

Thor glanced at his cell. Shit. Just past 4 a.m. Friday mornings were always rough after working the bar the night before. It was the only day during the week that he had to manage on less sleep. But at this rate, he’d be lucky to get an hour, compared to the four he normally got.

This day was going to suck.

---------

PENNY JOLTED
as Theo’s alarm blared from the nightstand. He silenced it immediately, then was up and out of bed. A few seconds later, the shower started.

It was 5:45 already? At least she didn’t have to be at Classy ’n’ Sassy for a few hours yet. She’d barely had two hours of sleep. She’d spent the better part of the night trying her damnedest not to sob out loud. She couldn’t let Theo know she was crying about how badly it hurt that he was siding with Bryn.

Okay, maybe he wasn’t siding with her exactly. But he sure was defending her. And maybe Penny had overreacted about the money, just a tiny bit. It was possible that Bryn was feeling guilty about denying her raise and that Penny had to work a second job.

Was she just being nice? Being a friend?

Ugh. What an asshole Penny had been. No—worse. She was acting like a crazy person. She wouldn’t blame Theo if he broke up with her. But, oh my God, she so did not want that to happen! Tears were back. She might have just screwed up the best thing to happen to her in probably forever.

The water stopped. He toweled off and brushed his teeth. She cried some more. He came into the room and slowly opened a few drawers, then went to his closet. He was being careful and quiet. Even after she’d been such a bitch, he was trying not to wake her.

She didn’t deserve him, but she wanted him. She never wanted to let this wonderful man go.

She listened to him get dressed then head back to the bathroom for another minute—the three seconds it took to put a smidgen of gel in his neatly cropped hair.

Then his footsteps came closer to her. She could sense his presence near her, the scent of him swirling around her. His hand brushed away a stray hair, his finger tracing the line of her eyebrow, a simple touch that warmed her whole body. He placed a kiss on her forehead, an action so tender, so loving, that she almost couldn’t contain her emotion.

Why am I containing my emotion?

He stepped away. He was leaving. She couldn’t let him leave. Not without telling him.

“I love you,” she said.

She couldn’t see him, as her eyes were still closed, but could tell he had stopped walking. Then the weight of him pressed down on the mattress next to her.

“What did you say?” he asked, his voice quiet.

Penny opened her eyes. She’d only told one other man she’d loved him, and it had meant nothing to him. She wasn’t sure she’d ever really been in love with Jack—now that she knew what it was like to be in love for real. And she needed to say it to Theo’s face.

“I love you,” she repeated, a tear slipping down her cheek.

He sat there for a few seconds, and they seemed to drag by like hours. She didn’t know how to read his expression and her heart began to race in a panic.

Theo reached for her and his features softened, the right side of his mouth curling slightly. He bent to kiss her. This all felt like a good sign, but her anxiety spiked anyway.

He pulled back, smiling, his thumb brushing over her lips.

“I love you, too,” he finally said.

“You do?”

“I think I have for a while now.”

“Really?” She had a hard time containing herself and the tears just kept coming.

He wiped them away. “Why are you crying?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just . . . I’ve never been in love for real before and I can’t believe it’s happening.”

“This is real. I promise you that.”

He leaned to her again, kissing her, deeper this time. Penny wrapped her arms around him tighter then she ever had before, needing him as close as humanly possible. He snaked his arms around her and lifted her up, repositioning her in the middle of his bed, their lips disconnecting only when he yanked her shirt over her head.

Theo took off her bra, then pulled away from her hungry kiss, tasting her body as he made his way to her panties. He hooked a finger under the black lace, an outfit she’d been excited to show him last night, before everything had gotten messy. But now she didn’t care. She’d rather they be on the floor next to his boxer briefs.

After inching them down her thighs and off her body, he took his time kissing a path from her ankle to her shin, her knee to the ticklish spot on the inside of her thigh.

He looked up at her. “God, you’re so beautiful.”

Penny’s breath hitched and she willed herself not to cry. Jack had never once said that to her in five years of marriage. But now she had this amazing man that was all hers. And he loved her. Life couldn’t be any better.

Theo rose to his knees, towering above her, and stripped off his shirt. Life was about to get much better.

The belt and pants were next, joining Penny’s clothes on the floor, the boxers the last to go. He didn’t give her much time to enjoy the view before those delectable lips connected with her heat.

As she lay there blissed out, spent from another fabulous orgasm, he crawled to her, kissing a trail through her breasts, then a gentle peck on the tip of her nose. He rested on his forearms and she wrapped her legs around him, caressing his skin with her fingertips.

“I want you to know,” he started, “you’re the first woman I’ve ever loved. I don’t have a clue what I’m doing and I’m so worried I’ll screw it up.”

“Trust me. You’re doing a really great job.”

“You’re only saying that because I just got you off,” he said with a laugh.

“Regardless of how good the orgasm was—and it was fantastic, by the way—I really mean it. You know how my marriage was. There was no love there. What we have is so different in so many ways. This is what I’ve been waiting for my whole life.”

“Me, too. I’ve been waiting for you.”

Once again Penny fought tears. It all felt like a dream. But this was actually her life. And she couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.

---------

THOR LAY
with Penny, her petite body tucked into the crook of his arm. The sun had fully risen now. He glanced at his cell: 7:13. He should have already been on his way to work. If he got up now and left right away, he could still get there on time. The first bell wasn’t until 7:50. The kids got a tardy slip after eight.

But when he looked at the woman lying so peacefully in his arms—the woman he loved, whom he’d just made love to—how could he leave her?

He kissed the top of her head, golden waves messy from sex. It was a good look on her.

“I need to make a call, okay?”

“Sure, I’ll be here.” She lifted off of his arm then lay back down, pulling the comforter tight to her. It sounded corny as hell, even just inside his own brain, but she looked so angelic. He hated to walk away.

Grabbing his phone, he stepped into a pair of basketball shorts and headed to the living room. He dialed the school’s office, since it was too late for the automated system.

“Kenville High School. This is the front office. How can I help you?”

“Hey, Sue. It’s Theodore.”

“Hello. Shouldn’t you be here already?” she asked.

“Yeah, but I need to take a sick day today.”

“Again? Didn’t you call in once already this year? We’ve barely been in session a month. Mr. Smitherson is not going to be happy.”

Thor was well aware of that. He’d never been on the principal’s bad side, but he was quickly making his way there. He knew he should go in, but the thought of leaving Penny, after this new step forward in their relationship, he just couldn’t do it. “Tell him I’ll do detention duty for a month.”

“Well, that should help your case. Feel better soon.”

Thor ended his call and headed back to bed. Penny was in the exact same position as when he’d left, snoring softly. So friggin’ cute. He shed his shorts and climbed in next to her, the warmth of her naked body pressed to his, the scent of her on his pillow.

He could get used to this.

CHAPTER
Twenty-Four

S
aturday morning
was a workday for Penny, game day for Theo. She’d never played hooky before yesterday, but it’d felt damn good. Especially since she spent the day in his arms, naked, only leaving the bed a couple of times for food and bathroom breaks. It had been the single most relaxing day of her life. Perfection.

Penny glanced at her phone. Seven thirty. She really needed to get moving if she was going to have enough time to get home, change, and get to Classy ’n’ Sassy by nine. And she was so high on love, the thought of seeing Bryn and Mia didn’t even faze her. She’d long forgotten the incident from the other night and felt complete indifference when it came to them and the shop. The only person who mattered now was Theo.

The first to arrive at the shop, Penny unlocked the doors and flipped on all the lights and the stereo, too, with its sexy playlist. It was a proven fact that consumers purchased more when the music fit the retail environment. Penny had done a ton of research a couple of years ago and convinced Mia to let her create the perfect lingerie shop playlist.

Fun times . . . She sighed, thinking of all the nights they danced around the shop to those songs. But that was all over now. Her time at Classy ’n’ Sassy would be spent working only. Get in and get out. So she’d have more time to be with Theo, the one person in her life who mattered. Who made her feel like she mattered.

“Morning,” Bryn said as she walked into the shop, her tone less chipper than normal.

Hope everything’s okay. Penny almost asked, but stopped herself. Regardless of her epiphany the morning after their big blowup, they were now just boss and employee, and that was perfectly fine with her.

“Can we talk a second?” Bryn asked.

A spike of anxiety surged through her body, but she shook it off. “Sure. What’s up?”

“I need to apologize about the other night.”

That’s not what she was expecting at all.

“I didn’t see your side of things. But I’ve had time to think about it and I get it. I was on my own for a long time, and for a while, things were bad financially. But if someone would’ve done to me what I did to you, a handout like that, I would’ve been livid. I’m really sorry and I hope you can forgive me.”

Penny tried not to let her eyes bug out as they blinked a few times, absorbing Bryn’s words. “Thank you.” It sounded dumb, but she didn’t know what else to say.

“So . . . are you okay? You called in sick yesterday. I hope it wasn’t because of me.”

“No. Not at all.” Penny felt bad that Bryn was concerned about her. Maybe she still had her friend after all. She wanted to spill her news so badly. “I’m great, actually.”

Bryn’s eyebrows rose. “Yeah?”

“We played hooky yesterday.”

“I’m listening.” The sparkle was back in Bryn’s eyes, always the first to demand the dirty details.

“We stayed in bed all day. And we . . . ” Penny didn’t know how to word the feelings that were about to burst out of her.

“What?”

“We said the words. We’re in love.”

“Oh my God!” Bryn threw her arms around Penny. “That’s so awesome!”

“Thanks. I’m pretty excited.”

“You should be.” Bryn pulled back. “You deserve to be happy after all the shit Jack put you through. And Thor is a great guy. I’m happy for you both.”

Penny was happy, too. Maybe for the first time ever. She thought she’d been happy before, but it never felt like this.

And maybe things at the shop would go back to how they used to be. Then her world would be complete.

---------

AFTER SEVERAL
attempts to pull Penny back in bed with him, Thor had finally let her go and got himself up, dressed, and out of the house. Game day was his favorite day of the week. At least it used to be. He loved everything about it—the game itself, but the sounds and smells, too. It was home for him. But he was starting to love something—or rather, someone—more. The thought of spending his Saturday curled up with Penny sounded like a lot more fun.

Falling in love had never been something he’d planned on. But with Penny . . . everything with her was different. It all just clicked. Right from the get-go. But maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be. He wasn’t sure if he believed in the soul mate thing, but he sure as hell had never felt this way before.

He turned his attention back to the game ahead of him. Westmore had always been one of their biggest rivals, since way before he was even a Kenville Knight, and his players were depending on him.

Thor pulled into the high school parking lot. He was usually the first one there, but today a few players had beaten him. He busied himself with setting up for the game as more players and other coaches arrived. Within fifteen minutes they were warming up and running pregame drills.

But even as the game started, Thor calling plays and cheering with his players, he couldn’t stop thinking about Penny. Wondering what she was doing, how her day was going. He knew she was nervous about seeing Bryn after what had happened the other night, even though she wouldn’t admit it. He hoped she wasn’t having a horrible day, but was already brainstorming ways to cheer her up.

This must be what love is all about. Caring deeply for another person, wishing their pain away, wondering how you can make it better. He wanted to be the person she ran to when she was upset. He wanted to be the one to take away her pain. He wanted to make her as happy as she made him.

The whole love thing had never seemed all that appealing before, but now that he was experiencing it firsthand, he wondered how he’d ever thought he could live without it.

---------

“WE NEED
to get you up to speed on what we discussed yesterday, seeing as you were too sick to make it into work.” Mia joined Penny and Bryn at the front counter during an afternoon lull. It was the first time she’d spoken to her other than a quick hi when she came in an hour earlier.

“Don’t be like that,” Bryn said. “She had a good excuse for calling in.” She winked at Penny.

“Regardless, we made some major decisions yesterday about the shop and she needs to be informed.”

Crap. That didn’t sound good. But Penny reminded herself that she didn’t care what happened in the shop anymore. “Fill me in.”

Mia opened a box and spread the Halloween party promotional items on the counter. “Chanel picked these up yesterday and they came out fantastic.”

Penny looked them over. They were nice, but she refused to say so. She nodded instead. But then she noticed something was missing. “Where are the postcards of Logan?”

“We nixed them. He’s not even going to be here.”

“Why? We always do a meet and greet with him.”

“We decided we didn’t want to do it this time.”

“Who decided?” Penny turned to Bryn. “Do you agree with this?”

Bryn shrugged. “I was outvoted.”

“Who voted against it?”

Mia answered. “Chanel thought it was tacky and I agreed.”

Of course Chanel thought it was tacky. She seemed to think all of Penny’s ideas were tacky. “Sooo . . . two to one? I don’t get a vote?”

“You weren’t here. But that’s not even what we need to discuss. Yesterday we decided to shut down most of our social media platforms and concentrate on one. Chanel set up a PikChat account for us and is working on gaining followers.”

Penny couldn’t believe what she’d heard. “Why would you do that?”

“It’s the newest platform and it’s gaining a lot of speed. It’s the most popular social media platform for women and men aged eighteen to twenty-four.”

“But that’s not even our key demographic.” Penny turned to Bryn. “Did you approve this?”

She held up her hands in surrender. “I have no clue when it comes to this stuff.”

Penny faced Mia again. “What about our older customers? They still adore Friendspace and the other platforms. You can’t abandon them. The thirty-five to fifty-four demographic is the one with money.”

“She’s right, Mia.” Penny was glad Bryn was taking her side. “We didn’t think of that yesterday.”

“But Chanel thinks we need to grow our younger customer base. They’re the ones who will carry us into the future.”

“Then maybe we should do both,” Bryn said.

Mia shook her head. “No, Chanel says it sucks too much time to be on every social media platform. All we need is one, if it’s done right. And this will eventually catch on with the older demographic, too.”

Penny was so sick of hearing about Chanel and her ideas. And she was so wrong about this. Penny had heard of PikChat. Its sole purpose was so millennials could send each other dick and tit pics. The photos were viewable for five seconds and then disappeared forever. How the hell was this even remotely good for a retail business?

Penny was done playing nice and keeping her real opinions to herself. “Well, I think it’s a dumb move and you’ll regret it.”

Both Bryn and Mia stared, obviously not accustomed to bluntness out of her. She’d kind of surprised herself as well, and tried not to beam with pride.

“We really don’t need your negativity,” Mia said.

“She’s not being negative,” Bryn butted in. “I think her opinion has a lot of value.”

“You agreed with us yesterday.”

“There were things we didn’t consider yesterday.”

“It’s already done. Chanel deleted our other accounts and has already spent a ton of hours building the new platform.”

Penny breathed deeply as she tuned out Bryn and Mia. Unbelievable. Not only had she been completely eliminated from the decision-making process, but they had destroyed everything she’d spent the last few years creating.

After one last breath, she spoke, interrupting a pretty heated debate. “I’m going to do the rehangs and clean the bathroom, since you really don’t need me for much else around here anymore.” She walked away.

“Penny . . . Wait . . . ” Bryn said to her back, and she turned. “Maybe we’ll try this for a little while, and if it doesn’t work, we can go back to your way. Okay?”

What else was there to say? “Yeah. Sure.”

Penny returned to her duties, and back to not caring what happened at Classy ’n’ Sassy.