Cruel Fortune (Cruel #2)(58)

The night was everything Jane wanted it to be. And after my second glass of champagne, I was finally feeling a buzz. Enough of one to stop feeling like there were eyes burning into the back of my head. Like Penn was following us around the room…even though I hadn’t seen him since I told him no.

It was probably just my imagination. But it was as if I had a sense of his presence. Despite the fact that I couldn’t see him.

“Let’s go get another drink,” Lewis said.

He took my hand and pulled me off the dance floor. I mopped at my glistening forehead as he scooted into the bar to get us another drink. I fanned my face and looked around the large space to all the drunken revelers.

And I found him again. Penn. He was standing with Rowe, talking and laughing. Rowe was about as animated as I’d ever seen him. Which basically meant, not at all. Then Penn’s eyes flicked over to the dance floor. His eyes narrowed, brows scrunched together. He craned his neck, as if trying to spot someone in the crowd.

Me.

He was looking for me. I wasn’t crazy. He had been keeping tabs on me. My heart hammered at the realization. That he was here just to…what? Watch me? Spy on me? Wait for the moment I was alone, so he could yell at me again?

My anger flared and then dimmed. He needed to stop. I needed to stop this.

Lewis appeared then with my drink. “Here you go.”

I turned back to look up at him. “I need to go talk to Penn.”

Lewis coughed on the sip he’d just taken. “What?”

“I need to tell him to stop. I don’t want to keep doing this at every event.”

“I would be happy to go tell him that. I believe you said I should use my fist next time.”

My hand touched his, and I shook my head. “No, I need to do this. He’ll listen to me.”

“Doubtful,” he grumbled.

“It’ll be fine. This is important.”

“All right,” he said with a sigh. “But if it looks like it’s getting heated, I’m going to come intervene. I don’t need him pissing you off again.”

I nodded in understanding. “I’ll be right back.”

Then, I took a deep breath and strode toward Penn Kensington and a conversation I desperately did not want to have.





Penn





25





Where the hell had she gone?

One minute, I’d been talking to Rowe, and the next, Natalie was nowhere to be found.

She’d told me no when I showed up to talk to her and tell her the truth. I respected that. Even if I didn’t want to. I could have shown up with some stupid model and flaunted her in front of Nat, like she was doing to me. Hurt her like she was hurting me. But that was petty and would only prove her right.

And after all, I was the one who had hurt her in the first place. I wanted her to be happy. Just not with him. She didn’t get to choose Lewis and move on in my face.

Rowe nudged me and cleared his throat.

“What?”

He pointed in the other direction, and then I saw her. And she was walking toward me. What the fuck? Hadn’t seen that coming. Not after she’d turned me down earlier.

“Is this when I’m supposed to vacate?” Rowe asked.

“Uh…I don’t even know.”

“When Penn Kensington doesn’t know something about women, it is a new day.”

“Ass.”

Rowe smirked and then disappeared, likely to find the model he’d come with. He was only able to stand her presence in increments, as he found her relatively brain dead.

But my eyes were fixed on Natalie. That green dress that popped against her pale skin. The long, flowy silvery-white hair that stood out in the crowd. Those bright red lips that I missed and her blue eyes that said she was about to rip me to pieces.

I straightened at the fire in that look as she appeared before me. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked calmly.

For all that fire, the closer she got to me, the more uncertain she looked about whatever mission she was on. But, since I didn’t know what she was going to say, I couldn’t prepare myself. Decide if I should wear my Upper East Side mask that she hated and deal with her or just be me…the guy she’d fallen in love with. Both came with their own problems.

“I can feel your eyes on me all over this club. I want you to stop.”

I arched an eyebrow. “You’re that attuned to my presence that you know when I’m looking at you?”

“Please, stop,” she repeated.

I glanced over her shoulder to see Lewis standing in our line of sight, watching her, watching us. A light flipped in my head, and I stepped forward toward her.

“Ah, that’s what you told him so that you could come see me?” I asked. My voice was low and seductive.

Her eyes flicked to my lips and back up.

“Don’t do this,” she pleaded.

“What will he do if I touch you right now?”

“Probably punch you. So, please listen to my words.”

Her eyes searched my face, pupils slightly dilated. Her chest rising and falling at an irregular beat. She clasped her hands together in front of her. Probably to keep them from shaking.

“I can hear what you’re saying. Your body is the one not listening,” I said, taking another step forward.