Chapter 43: Right Here Next To You

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Penny looked down at her feet and tried to focus on the rhythm of her footfalls, rather than the burning sensation in her thighs. It might have been a mistake, this plan. Going for a run. What was she thinking? She'd allowed her fitness club membership to lapse months ago when she could no longer afford the dues, and she hadn't exactly been a gym rat before then. What had made her think she'd be able to keep up on a run this morning with David?

She snuck a glance at his face, and he met her eyes with the slightest trace of a smirk. He hadn't even broken a sweat yet. Could he tell how she was suffering? Probably. He was probably enjoying it, too. No doubt he was just waiting for her to stop and catch her breath so he could laugh at her. After all, the whole thing had been her idea. It had seemed like such a good plan this morning, when she'd first woken up beside him.

She'd never been much of an early riser, but this morning she'd awakened hours before the alarm. She'd tried to close her eyes again, but she knew it was no use. Not with the way her heart thrummed with giddy happiness the moment she remembered where she was. And who she was with. And the weekend she'd just spent with him.

It had been a bit rocky that first night, but they'd worked it out. She'd come clean to him about everything - or almost everything. There are still a few wrinkles to iron out, but she's told him the worst of it, and he still wanted her. No, scratch that. He still needed her. She couldn't suppress the automatic smile that popped onto her face as she remembered that muddled, middle-of-the-night speech he'd made.

"I need you," he had said. That had been the gist of it at any rate, and the rest of the words hadn't mattered. The look on his face when he said it had told her everything she needed to know. She recognized that look. Not David, the Wall Street power broker, with his fancy suits and his rules and his rigid routines. This was David, the scared little boy, afraid of the monsters under his bed. She'd seen that look on his face before - a few times, as a matter of fact. And in that moment, she'd suddenly realized that she was the only woman alive that he'd ever allowed to see it.

"I need you," he had told her, and she knew that it was true.

They'd both made a mess of things these past few months, but she'd woken up this morning full of energy and plans to get them back on track. She just needed to make a few arrangements. She'd slipped out of bed, careful not to disturb him, and grabbed his Blackberry off the bedside table as she went.

It was a full two hours later before he'd finally emerged into the living room, dressed in his running clothes.

"Finally!" she'd said. "You slept forever."

"My alarm didn't go off. Have you seen my phone?"

"I borrowed it." She'd held up the Blackberry up for him to see, smiling at him sunnily. "You were sleeping."

"Well, that would explain why my alarm didn't go off."

"No, it went off." She tapped the phone with the back of her fingernail and then slipped it back into her pocket. "About twenty minutes ago."

"You didn't think I might want to, say, wake up at that point?"

She'd shrugged, biting the inside of her lip to keep a straight face. "You looked a little haggard last night. I thought you should sleep in."

"Penny, it's a Monday. I have a job. I can't just-"

"So obsessed with punctuality." She'd clicked her tongue in disapproval. "You should really work on that, David."

He'd rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to say more, but he seemed to think better of it. "OK," he muttered calmly. "No big deal. I can just cut my run a little short today, and..." He'd stood on the treadmill and tried to turn it on, but the LED display remained dark. His muttering had given way to swearing. "Come on, you piece of shit. Turn on...."

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