of the car, and he hadn’t shot her dead on the spot, but still ... a part of her dared to wonder if that would be the case. Nothing in this life was ever promised.
“Do they know what you’re doing right now?” she asked, referring to the people probably racing down the dirt path to catch up.
But also the people he left in Nevada.
Dare, too.
Wherever he was.
Cree surveyed the dark sky, shrugging his broad shoulders under the black, cotton long-sleeve he wore. “They should, but—”
“I’m doing what’s right.”
His stare slammed back into hers when he replied, “Well, I just don’t think you’re wrong. And I’m making choices here ... ones I might not be able to take back. Go, Penny. Before you can’t.”
Luca slammed on the horn—had he rolled down the window to listen? It didn’t make much of a difference, and Penny didn’t bother to say goodbye to Cree—or even a thank you—before she ran back to the car. She didn’t even get the door closed before Luca had taken the vehicle out of park and slammed on the gas. Cree had just managed to step out of the way when the car sped past, rocks and dirt spitting out from the tires on the way by.
The only thing on Penny’s mind?
She wanted this to end.
It needed to be over.
“Luca?”
If he looked her way, she couldn’t tell. Penny was too busy staring out the window and letting her mind wander.
“What, babe?”
He was going to argue.
She was willing to fight.
For this, always.
“You need to go home,” Penny said, finally looking his way. Luca’s mouth immediately opened to refuse, but she was quick to say, “I can’t finish this with you, and I’m not the girl that needs to be saved, anyway. It’ll be better if you’re—”
His hand slammed into the steering wheel palm first.
Penny didn’t even flinch.
“Why—I can help.”
He could.
But that also meant ... “I don’t want you to; I want to come back to you, Luca. Don’t you understand? I’m not running away. I’m running back.”
His attention drifted between the steering wheel and her. She already knew how this would end between them. He would agree; she wouldn’t have to say much to make it happen. He loved her.
This man loved her. Luca would do anything for her.
He already had.
PENNY STARED AT THE gate that led into a large, three-level suburban home tucked away in a gated community that seemed safe and quiet. Then again, with only the street lamps on to give the place any life, she knew the place looked a lot different in the daylight.
It wasn’t her first time here, after all.
She should have been thinking about the man in the house that she had come here to see, but instead, her mind kept drifting back to Luca. He let her keep the car, but she dropped him off two miles away from his parents’ home. She would have figured out something if he didn’t let her keep the Vanquish, but he hadn’t seemed concerned.
He simply said, “Dad’s already gonna kill me for the lodge—who gives a fuck about the car?”
And then he kissed her.
She could still feel the way his lips molded against hers when he leaned inside the opened driver’s window to say goodbye. Even the strokes of his tongue and the graze of his lips were still imprinted on her memory long after he was gone.
She still felt it.
Still tasted him.
She hung onto that memory even when the gate guarding the driveway’s entrance started to open. Luca’s kiss still teased her senses and felt like a ghost on her lips as the car crawled closer and closer to the Donati family home.
Luca didn’t know—she hadn’t told him—but asking him to go home and let her finish her job alone wasn’t easy. In fact, it was the hardest thing she had needed to do yet when he was ... still her safe place at the end of the day. But she wanted him to keep being that for her.
This needed to happen.
Penny hadn’t expected to find Cross waiting for her on the front porch of his large home. She certainly hadn’t thought Nazio would be standing there beside his father when she parked the Vanquish, either.
Neither man seemed shocked when she stepped out of the vehicle. Penny was sure she was still quite a sight—despite getting fully dressed—with her wild hair, calm demeanor, and sure stride. She could have lost her life tonight; it was just another night for her, though.
They didn’t know that.
“I