man sitting beside her in the back of a black town car that had arrived earlier at his mansion to pick them both up. “Men tend to do that a lot, don’t they?”
“Do what?” Cross asked.
“Think women constantly need your help—even in little ways.”
“It could also be a way we’ve learned to show we care.”
“Because it makes men feel better in some way to provide. Even if whatever their providing isn’t really needed.”
Cross dared to crack a smile, clearly amused by Penny’s challenging stance to what was a kind gesture. She would never say it was anything but, either. That didn’t mean she couldn’t also see the intentions of others—but especially men—for exactly what they were at the end of the day. Not that she thought this man had any bad intentions for her, but she also couldn’t change the part of her that would forever be protective of her very self.
Besides, she didn’t think it was wrong to believe women should be taught to love, serve, and care for themselves before a man ever did. After all, how could a woman be expected to know what she wanted from a man when she didn’t even know what she wanted for herself?
“If I wanted to be a real prick just because I could,” Cross told her, his amusement lifting one brow high while he regarded her, “then I would make a comment about women wanting to fetch good husbands who can and do provide, but that’s not my style. And my wife would pickle my balls.”
Even Penny smiled, then.
Cross’s grin stretched wider, as though he had gotten what he wanted from her. Maybe he did—some sign of life that she was there despite what they were driving toward. “Relax, Penny. This needed to happen. At least ... consider that you’re going to finally know how this will end. One way or the other. There’s solace in that—try to find it.”
She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Damn. Maybe she had needed him to tell her what she didn’t want to hear.
“How much longer?” she asked.
A man in the front seat, a trusted enforcer for the Donati crime family, spoke up before his boss could answer the question.
“Ten more minutes to the meeting spot,” he said.
Cross gave her another look. Penny only turned back to the window where she could watch the trees. It was easier. She thought about things a lot less ... felt less about everything. It was the only way she could do this.
IT HAD BEEN CROSS’S idea to make contact with The League—to extend the offer of a sit down so that two organizations could come together for a peaceful discussion on the current situation. She hadn’t been agreeable ... to say the least.
At first.
But the man explained the benefits to what he had called a meeting on no man’s land. No weapons. No guards but for their drivers. Out in the open ... mostly. Because apparently a man’s word was everything in their world, and if both sides gave their promise to a non-violent meeting simply to discuss a possible alternative option to hunting Penny down like a dog, then she would be foolish not to take the opportunity.
Again, so Cross said.
As she had been the one to seek him out and ask for his help, who was she to say that he wasn’t right? She was trying to trust him.
As much as she could.
Penny was surprised to see Dare followed through on his promise to only bring as many people as the Donati side of things. They made two, and their driver made a third. Cree stood a few feet behind Dare with his hands folded at his back, as usual. The man who didn’t exit the black four-door SUV kept his window rolled down with a sharp gaze on the new arrivals.
Penny and Cross stepped out of their vehicle at the end of a dirt road that stopped at the mouth of a large farming field far outside of New York City’s limits. Rows of gold wheat swayed like waves against the black backdrop of the open sky. She might have admired the many stars that dotted the sky and how peaceful it all seemed far away from the noise and movement of the city, but she couldn’t.
Not considering the circumstances.
“I appreciate you agreeing to this meeting, Dare,” Cross said.
The League’s highest-ranking member didn’t reply. Not at first. His piercing stare followed Penny’s every footstep until she and her companion