Operation: Endeavor (When The Mission Ends) (17 page)

Overall, the effect was pin-up girl worthy and incredibly sexy. He started his internal mantra of plane checklists so he wouldn’t get any harder than he already was. It was going to be a long night. With her parents. And his erection. Fuck.

He smiled at her quizzical look. “You look beautiful.”

“Thanks, you look pretty nice yourself.”

Colton pulled the door to the loft shut and locked the deadbolt.

“I don’t think you’ve ever met my parents before, have you?”

“No.” And there went those nerves again.

Penelope gave him a sour look. “Then I probably should warn you.” She hesitated. “They can be a bit much, but don’t let them bother you. They’re just very set in their ways. They never understood me as a child and that’s affected things.” She shrugged as if indifferent, but the stubborn tilt of her chin told of very different feelings under the surface of what she said. “Just don’t let them get to you. The night won’t last forever, right?” She gave him what he assumed was supposed to be an encouraging smile, but he felt more sick and nervous now than he had before.

They’d walked down to the parking garage as they talked, but they both stopped dead when they looked at the Bus with its broken window. They hadn’t been able to get it into the shop yet. “Crap, I forgot about that,” Penelope moaned.

“It’s okay. We’ll take my motorcycle. Just let me run back up and grab the helmets,” He looked over her outfit critically and added, “I’ll get your jacket.”

“Thanks Colton.” She turned back toward the Bus as he headed back to the elevator, but he didn’t miss Pen’s comment under her breath. “Arriving on a motorcycle will start the night off great. Mom’s going to love it.” She sighed deeply.

* * *

Riding to Penelope’s parents’ house on the motorcycle was nothing like the ride earlier in the day to the airport. That ride was pure eroticism as Colton felt Penelope’s curves pressed up against him. On this ride, all he could feel was the tautness of her body and muscles.

Finally, they arrived at the gated community where her parents lived. Penelope’s hair hadn’t quite survived the helmet-covered ride, so she ripped out the scarf and banded it around her head, leaving her golden locks flowing in wild disarray down her back. How did women restyle so quickly like that? The stitches in her forehead caught his eye and he was happy to see that the bruising around them was virtually non-existent now.

Penelope noticed him looking at them, brushed her bangs back over her forehead, and warned him, “By the way, my parents don’t know about the break-in at the store. I’m just clumsy, okay?”

He frowned at her. “Why lie?”

“It’s complicated. You’ll understand better after meeting them. Just try to go along with whatever I say.” She looked at him tentatively and chewed her bottom lip.

He tugged her lip out from under her teeth and rubbed it gently wishing he could lick that lip. “It’ll be fine. Just try to relax.” He gave her an encouraging smile and linked his fingers with hers and drew her up the door.

The door swung open before he got a chance to raise his hand and knock. He got his first look at Dr. Pruitt and wasn’t encouraged by the distaste reflected on her face. Her immediate focus was on the motorcycle parked in the drive behind them. She pursed her lips then turned to Colton and offered him a lukewarm smile. She didn’t even try to hide her perusal and he got the feeling he didn’t pass inspection. That was a first. He always made a good first impression.

Penelope introduced them. “Mother, this is my new roommate, Colton Robertson. Colt, this is my mother, Dr. Anna Pruitt.”

Colton reached out a hand to shake hers. “I’m pleased to meet you, Dr. Pruitt. You have a lovely home.”

“Thank you, but please call me Anna. Do come in. Penelope, your father is back in the library. You haven’t been by to visit him since his return from Europe and he’s missed you.” The recrimination in her voice was undeniable. “Why don’t you two go join him for a drink? I’ll take your jackets.” With one last frown back toward the motorcycle she closed the door behind them.

“Thank you, Mother. That sounds nice.” As Penelope shrugged out of her jacket, Anna, who was standing behind her, gasped.

“A tattoo? Please tell me that isn’t real. Tell me you haven’t destroyed your beautiful skin like that. First a motorcycle and now a tattoo? Penelope, what are you thinking?” She turned to scowl at Colton like he single-handedly corrupted her daughter. He felt like laughing at the thought, but didn’t think that would go over too well either.

“Mother, stop scowling at Colton. I got the tattoo months ago, long before he moved in. It’s just been cold so it’s been covered up and you couldn’t see it. In fact, it was my last roommate, Frankie, who gave it to me. As for the motorcycle, we’re perfectly safe. Colton’s a good driver and we both wore helmets. There’s no need to over-react. We’re going to go find Dad now.”

She dragged Colton down a long hall. Before they entered the room, she stopped him, took a deep breath and nodded back toward the direction they’d come. “Sorry about that.”

She looked so distressed he wanted to take her in his arms and comfort her. “Don’t worry about it. I’m used to dealing with angry generals. I can handle your mom. It’s okay. Shall we go see if I can make a better impression on your dad?”

She laughed softly and that simple sound helped to relax him a bit. “You should be fine with him. He’s definitely easier to get along with than my mother.”

They entered the library. Obviously, Penelope came by her love for books naturally. The room was massive with wall-to-wall shelving full of books. Seated at a very large desk was a bearded and distinguished gentleman who had to be Penelope’s father. He was so engrossed in his book he didn’t even notice them come into the room.

Penelope turned to look at him with humor filling her eyes before she cleared her throat. “Daddy,” she said softly.

He looked up, startled, before he realized who was in the room. He gave a glowing smile to his daughter as he stood up and reached around the desk to greet them. He was a tall man, easily as tall as Colton, but he had a lankier build. With his grey beard, mustache, and glasses, he had the professor look down. Colton would guess both her parents were in their early 60’s, but they carried their age very lightly. He could only hope to look this healthy when he became that age.

As they exchanged introductions and pleasantries, her father beamed at Penelope, until he spotted her stitches. He moved closer to her and brushed aside her hair. “What happened?”

It didn’t escape Colton’s notice that Pen’s mom saw the motorcycle and tattoo, but it was her father who saw her injury.

She deflected and waved her hand to brush the subject aside. “Aw, you know me….just clumsy. It’s no big deal.”

Her father looked at her with suspicion and then looked at Colton for affirmation of her story. He wasn’t comfortable with that so he tried to change the subject. He looked around the room. “You have quite the library here, sir. It’s impressive.”

“Hmm, thank you.” He wasn’t buying Colton’s diversionary tactic. Luckily, Anna came in and told them dinner was ready so they adjourned to the dining room. Colton sat across from Penelope at the dinner table with her parents on the ends. After several subtle stabs from her mother about everything from her manners to her life choices during the salad course, Penelope withdrew into herself.  She stared down at her plate and toyed with her food. He didn’t understand how a parent could treat their own child this way. Granted, it had been a long time since he had parents, but he knew that they should be supportive, especially of their adult children. Why couldn’t her mother see what an amazing person Pen was and be proud of that? Why would she want to change her? Couldn’t she see that Penelope was near perfect just the way she was? He gripped his fork tightly. He didn’t like seeing the normally bubbly Penelope subdued like this.

The cook brought in the main course for the evening. The salmon looked and smelled succulent, but Colton frowned at Penelope’s plate which held the same entrée. Surely, her own mother knew she was a vegetarian. Penelope noticed his frown and gave him a subtle shake of her head. She didn’t want him to make waves, but he didn’t understand why her mother wouldn’t cater to her eating habits when she invited her to dinner.

Penelope looked decidedly uncomfortable toying with the salmon, so Colton decided to put some of his small-talk skills into practice, if only to divert the attention off Penelope.

He turned to Anna. “Did the University come to an agreement with Damon?”

She shook her head and frowned. “No, not yet. In fact, there was an issue at the El Regalo dig site and Dr. Lopez had to return unexpectedly.”

Penelope looked up in mild alarm. “Damon’s left town?”

Her mother nodded. “Yes, but he plans to be back within a week. Then we hope to finalize the details of our partnership.”

Penelope suddenly jerked her focus to him and whispered, “El Regalo means the gift. That’s the name of Damon’s dig site. Could there be a connection?”

“Penelope what are you muttering about?” her mother demanded.

Colton grabbed onto what Penelope was saying. The note asked them to return the gift, around the same time Damon mysteriously and suddenly disappeared. Did he have something to do with it? He turned to ask Anna, “When did he leave? Do you know what the problem was?”

Anna shook her head, “No, I got the message this morning, but I’m not sure about the details of what happened.” She looked at the two of them, perplexed. “Is there something going on between you and Dr. Lopez? You didn’t do something to him, did you, Penelope?”

She brushed off her mother’s question. “No, Mother, but he’s a friend. Of course, I’m concerned about him.” The frown was back between her eyebrows, but Colton realized she didn’t want her parents to know about the problems she’d been having, so he worked to change the subject again.

“So are you all privy to the author Penelope’s bringing into the bookstore?” He tossed her a teasing smile, but her eyes widened in warning. Damn. He really needed to keep his mouth shut around this family. It was like traveling a field of land mines to figure out what the safe subjects were. Obviously, anything that meant something to Penelope was off-limits.

It was Anna who responded. “Hrmph. Knowing the owner of the bookstore, I’m assuming it’s probably one of those trashy pornographic authors.”

“Mother, that’s not fair. Erotic romance is not porn.”

But Anna wasn’t going to be dissuaded from her tirade. “When I think about you wasting your life and what my sister has done to you. You could have been so much more than a clerk. It’s such a waste of your abilities and the opportunities we gave you.”

Colton’s anger levels had been simmering all evening, but in the face of Anna’s disgust with her daughter, he couldn’t stand it anymore. “Now wait just a minute. Penelope does an amazing job at the bookstore. She…”

Penelope interrupted him. “Colton, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. Has she even been in the bookstore to see what you’ve built there? Your bookstore is wonderful and what you’ve created there is a huge contribution to the community.”

She looked at him gratefully with tears in her eyes and a gentle smile, before turning to her mom. “Mother, dinner was wonderful, but I think it’s time for us to leave.”

Her mother sputtered, “But you didn’t even finish and we still have dessert to go.”

Very gently but sternly, Penelope replied, “Thank you, but no, we’ve had enough for one evening. It’s been a long day and we need to get going.”

As they settled back onto the motorcycle, Penelope reached around his waist and settled her head on his back. He closed his eyes and savored the moment of closeness. “Thanks for trying to defend me, Colton.”

He could hear the emotion in her voice. She’d let her mother get to her and that made him angry on her behalf. “No problem,” he told her gruffly. He cleared his throat. “Are you hungry?”

He felt her nod. “Starving.”

“Okay, let’s go find you some food you can actually eat.”

Colton pulled his motorcycle up at the end of the runway outside the fenced border. Penelope looked around at the high chain link fence and the ‘No Trespassing’ signs posted further down. She flipped up the visor on her helmet. “Are we supposed to be here?”

He pulled his helmet off his head, got off the motorcycle and cocked an eyebrow at her. “I thought you were supposed to be the rebel in the group?” He pulled her off the motorcycle in a smooth motion and then unfastened the strap on her helmet.

She smiled at him. He really was cute when he relaxed a little bit. “Rebel meaning I’m not afraid to do my own thing. I am afraid of doing something that means I’ll end up with a cellmate and playing bitch to a woman called Big Bertha.”

He tilted his head, his eyes sparkling in the ambient glow off the runway lights.

“What?”

“I’m just imagining you in one of those orange jumpsuits and in a catfight.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “What is it about guys and prison fantasies?”

“I don’t know. I think it has something to do with stubborn women and needing to get them under control.”