Andrew nodded. He and I would talk later. This wasn’t the moment to trade thoughts. But for some reason, I wanted him to approve of Penelope and to say, “Yes, I see. She’s special.”
But that wasn’t necessary. The inner knowing reaffirmed every moment that she was my one. The fates had been extremely kind. I smiled. It was then I met Andrew’s eyes in the mirror.
“I can feel it,” Andrew said so low it was no more than a ripple in the air currents of the limo, but it was enough for me to know that he approved.
Penelope
When I woke, probably because the limo’s gentle purr had changed, and I could tell that the limo was slowing down. I opened my eyes to see that my head was in Timothy’s lap, although I definitely didn’t remember putting it there. I sat up. No drool. That was the first thing I took note of, right after the position of my head relative to his lap.
“Whoops, sorry,” I more or less whimpered.
He chuckled with that low chest vibration of his that sent a tickle throughout my body, the kind that counseled that I needed kisses and embraces of the extremely close kind. I did my best to ignore it.
“Are we at the zoo already?” I asked, resolving to brave it through and not comment about how I’d ended up with half of my body stretched out on top of his.
Timothy’s eyes twinkled. (Honest, I never knew eyes could do that. His were like tiny, golden lights of suppressed laughter. Was I really that amusing?)
“No. We’re stopped for that breakfast I spoke of. Anyone interested in coffee?”
I broke out in a grin so wide I could feel my lips complaining. “Oh, yes. And a restroom would be nice.”
The limo turned into the parking lot. There were only a sprinkling of cars around, but I still saw no place big enough for the big limo that Timothy had hired for the day. (I assume it was hired. No one actually owned a limo, did they?)
“What is your driver’s name?”
Timothy tilted his head as if he’d just learned something else about me and wanted to file it away in a side pocket of his brain. “Andrew. He has been with me for many years. He’s a reliable driver, a trustworthy employee, and a good friend.”
I hadn’t asked for all that information, but it struck me that Timothy probably hadn’t just rented a limo and assigned his favorite driver to it.
“Does that mean that you own this wooly mammoth?”
That brought a toothy smile. Timothy was really devastating when he displayed one of his all-out grins. The guy was seriously creeping under my skin. It would be very easy to get used to having him as a constant in my life.
As we crawled out of the limo, Andrew stood there, holding the door open with a hand outstretched to help. The chauffeur was a fine-looking black man in a jazzy black and grey uniform that didn’t prevent me from noticing that he had the kind of muscles the weightlifters down in the basement idolized.