Big Dick Energy - Cindi Madsen Page 0,33
Wednesday morning I wanted to plunk myself on her desk and insist she didn’t need to avoid me, because if what she wanted was for me to leave her alone, I would, but that seemed a bit counterintuitive.
Every time irritation rose, I’d recall the flicker of worry in her eyes that night in her apartment and refuse to disrespect the boundaries she’d drawn.
As much as I’d like to insist it didn’t affect me that much, Izzie had asked me why I’d been so grumpy this week.
On Thursday morning, my nerves leapt higher and higher until the clock finally struck two. I practically skipped over to Penelope’s cubicle, emphatic over my legitimate reason to talk to her. I tapped on the top of her cubicle to draw her attention. “I was thinking that since we took your car last time, I’d drive us to the Python’s training field this afternoon.”
Penelope stopped the clicking and unclicking of her pen she’d been doing against her cheekbone. It was a tic of hers. Whenever she was deep in thought, there went the pen. Against her jaw, her temple, her cheek. It was distracting on several levels, the least of which for me was the light noise.
“My car?” She blinked at me, slowly returning from whatever world she’d been lost inside. Then her features smoothed. “Oh. You mean”—straight white teeth sawed across her lower lip—“how you drove me home and then I kicked you out of my place without offering to call you an Uber.”
My senses prickled. I wasn’t sure why she’d worded it that way. A note of regret tinged the words, and some sort of internal struggle showed in her features.
I swiped a hand through the air. “No big deal. I’m the one who said people who want to exercise should just huff it.”
Her jaw dropped. “You walked?”
I bit back a grin, rejoicing at the worry in her voice in spite of myself. “Nah, I was just teasing you. I called my own Uber.”
She tossed her pen at me, and I barely brought up my shoulder in time to deflect the hit. Then I widened my eyes at her. “Jeez, woman. Do I have to get a catcher’s mask to wear whenever I’m around you?”
“I guess that depends on whether or not you’d like to protect that pretty face of yours,” she said, popping up from her chair and gathering her stuff.
My gaze traveled down the length of her, and while my intention had been to check out her ankle, my attention snagged on the bright blue dress with pink and red flowers. The flared skirt landed halfway down thighs that appeared so smooth and creamy my mouth watered.
Right now, my little sister would be calling me a hypocrite for all the ogling I was doing, as we’d had an argument yesterday morning over a similar outfit.
“Are you seriously dress-coding me?” she’d asked, propping a fist on her hip when I’d told her there was no way she was wearing the skirt she had on to school. “You wouldn’t tell me it was too short if I were a boy, and if they can’t focus while looking at my legs, that’s not my problem.”
If I thought the phrase “heaven help me” while taking care of Isobel many more times, an angel was likely to fly down, bop me on the head, and remind me I would’ve had to have been good for the last thirty-one years to request a favor that big.
“I don’t give a damn about anyone’s focus at school but yours,” I’d responded, “but if you were a boy, I’d also be demanding you change into clothing that doesn’t show the bottom of your ass cheeks when you bend over.”
“But this is what all my friends are wearing.”
“That’s an issue you’re free to take up with your friends’ parents. Right now, your issue is finding a new outfit to wear in the next five minutes.”
Izzie had stomped off, cursing my name the entire time.
“Earth to Archer,” Penelope said, snapping her fingers in front of my face. I cleared my throat and adjusted my tie, as if that’d been why I’d stopped breathing instead of getting caught up in the fact that my coworker had legs for days.
“I don’t think I’ve had enough caffeine today,” I said.
“Wow, you’re really selling me on the idea of you driving.”
I leaned my forearm over the top of her cubicle and smiled at her. I’d never dated anyone so funny before. Not that the fact applied,