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“That’s good! I knew you guys would crush it if you could get along for long enough.”
“There haven’t been any fights,” I tell her. “Scout’s honor.”
Penelope snorts. “Now you sound like Xavier. I think he’s rubbing off on you.”
“You take that back.”
She laughs and then goes quiet. “Okay, let me stop bothering you now. I know you have important CEO things to do. Tell Tristan and Xavier I said hi.”
“I will,” I promise.
“Thanks. Good luck with the rest of your trip.”
We say goodbye, and I hang up the phone. Tristan and Xavier are still talking to the clients, but I know they’ve had one ear on our conversation. They can tell the gist of what was said, and they look at me, both with similar expressions on their faces.
I don’t know when I started being able to read them so well, but I know from what I see in their eyes that we’re all on the same page right now.
“I forgot why I don’t do this,” Xavier says, groaning as he stretches his back. “It doesn’t matter how nice the seats are or how much leg room is promised, these long flights always suck.”
We just touched down back at the airport at home, and the three of us make our way through the crowd of people to get our bags.
“Jonas is outside,” Tristan says, checking his messages.
“Thank fuck,” I grumble. “I’ve had enough of people for the day.”
We step outside once we have our things, and Jonas is there as promised, standing at attention next to the car.
“I wasn’t expecting you for another couple of days,” he says, smiling knowingly.
“Plans change, Jonas,” Xavier replies, grinning back as he ducks into the car.
That’s all that needs to be said about it, and it’s a quiet drive back to the house.
The lights are all off, which makes sense seeing as it’s nearly one in the morning when we get there. We move quietly, putting our things in our rooms and changing out of our plane clothes before meeting up outside Penelope’s room.
None of us even discussed the plan to do that with each other, but it’s just second nature to gravitate to her now, to seek her out after being away from her for any length of time.
Tristan eases the door open, and we look in on her. A shaft of moonlight falls through her window, lighting on her hair and making it glow in the darkness. She’s curled up in the middle of the bed, face cushioned on a pillow. Her eyes are closed, and she breathes gently, her lips slightly parted. There’s a furrow in her brow, like her frustration from the day carried over into her sleep, but even with that she’s perfect, and so fucking beautiful.
I’m sliding past Tristan to move across the room before I know it, drawn to her like a moth to a goddamned flame.
The other two follow quickly, and we climb into bed with her, settling around her as we make ourselves comfortable.
Penelope stirs, blinking in confusion for a few seconds before her sleep addled brain catches up with what’s happening.
“Am I dreaming?” she mumbles, reaching up to rub her eye. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
“And yet, here we are,” Tristan says, reaching over to stroke her hair back from her face. “We didn’t mean to wake you, angel.”
“I’m glad you did. And I’m glad you’re back, but why are you back? Is everything okay?” She looks at me and then turns her head to look at the others.
“Everything’s fine,” I tell her. “You needed us, so we came back.”
“Oh.” The moonlight highlights the blush on her cheeks. “I mean, I would have been okay. You didn’t have to?—”
I cut her off, pressing a hand over her mouth gently. “We missed you too. And we wanted to be home. The deal is done anyway, so there was no reason we needed to stay.”
Her eyes waver for a moment, and it looks like she’s going to argue some more, but then she relents, and I lift my hand away from her mouth. She smiles, looking a little bashful. “Well, I’m glad you’re here.”