AN January 11th, 2020: Just letting you know I'm getting this ready for publication now, and I'm rewriting the section about Claire smiling and being so nice when she tells Cam she thinks something's happening between him and Penny. She's just not that nice, and for the published version that section is going to be completely different 😉

 Penny opened the door cautiously, not sure what she'd find. Regardless of what Cam had said, she wasn't going to just sit around the apartment and listen to the two of them having make up sex. The mere thought of it made her feel ill, for some reason, and she was prepared to shut the door and find a double or even triple feature movie theatre if that was what was going on.

However, she opened the door to one of Mozart's piano concertos, being played very loudly on Cameron's excellent sound system. The lights were on, and the door to the terrace was open to the screen, letting the cold night air into the apartment.

Maybe they were having make up sex? And they liked to do it to W.A. Mozart? Penny had heard of weirder things. She looked over in the direction of Cam's bedroom to see if there was any activity. It looked dark, but so what? People frequently had sex in the dark, right?

But with the rest of the apartment lit up like a Christmas tree?

At that moment Cam emerged from the back of the apartment, wearing his rattiest sweats and a tank top with a rip across the front that exposed part of his six-pack abs. His hair was up in a haphazard man-bun, and he looked pretty magnificent.

The effect was spoiled somewhat by the fact that he was wearing yellow rubber gloves and holding a dripping sponge and bucket.

"Oh, hello," he said, wiping the sweat off his forehead with his arm.

"Hi," Penny answered, keeping her expression normal with an effort. "Um, what are you doing?"

"I'm cleaning the reading room," he explained as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "You know, the library?"

"Right, the library," Penny acknowledged. The back corner of the loft was crammed with bookshelves and rugs and a couple of squashy, comfortable chairs where they both loved to go read.

"Yes. The shelves are terribly covered with dust, as are the tables," Cameron explained.

"I see." Penny nodded. "Where's Claire, Cam?"

Cameron headed for the kitchen. "She left," he called over his shoulder.

"She left?" Penny was shocked. This scenario hadn't occurred to her. She followed Cam into the kitchen, where he was rinsing the water out of the bucket. "But why? She just got here this afternoon. She was supposed to stay for ten days."

Cam looked over at Penny, and she could see the pain in his eyes. "We broke up," he said briefly as he rinsed the sponge under the running water.

"Oh, Cameron, I'm so sorry," Penny said, putting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing.

Cam turned off the water. "It's okay," he said, looking down into the sink. "It's been coming, I've just been ignoring the signs."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Penny asked gently.

Cameron shrugged, and Penny followed him back to the library, where he first turned the Mozart down to a more tolerable level. He spoke as he removed the books, wiped the shelves and put the books back. Penny helped, holding the books, and the work went faster.

"The way she was tonight?" he began. "She didn't used to be like that. I mean, she was always a bit sharp, I suppose, but she used to be so much fun, you know? It seems like after we started spending more time apart she turned into a bit of a shrew, always complaining, always making fun of other people."

He stopped moving the sponge and looked up at Penny. "And I'm so, so sorry about the things she said to you, Pen. I want you to know I've never thought of you that way, I've never seen you that way, ever, I swear."

Penny started to laugh and tell him it was okay, but he cut her off, putting a wet hand on her arm.

"No, Penguin, I'm serious. I mean it. Never, yeah?" And he looked deep into her eyes until she was nearly fainting with the intensity of it.

"Okay," she breathed, staring back at him.

With his hair up and off his face, his features really stood out, his perfect bone structure almost too incredible to look at. His cheekbones and his jawline were parallel to each other, and lips were the most amazing color. Penny wanted to reach out and touch them to see if they were as soft as they looked, but she stopped herself just in time.

His eyelashes, which were a couple of shades darker than his dark blond hair, framed his brown eyes perfectly, and she wondered what he would look like with mascara and eyeshadow. He would definitely make a better looking woman than her, that was for sure.

"Pen? You okay?" Cameron squeezed her arm as he asked.

"What?" Penny shook her head as if clearing the cobwebs and nodded, laughing. "Yeah, I'm fine." She gestured at the bookshelves and the bucket. "So is this what you do when you're upset? You clean?"

Cameron gave an embarrassed grin and nodded. "Yeah, it's an old habit from when I was little. I was a nervous child, and I always cleaned my room to take my mind off things, you know?"

"How wonderful," Penny said with a small smile. "I'm the complete opposite, like a magpie. I hoard things and make a little nest around myself, it comforts me, I think. My mother hates it."

"Well, this is the last shelf, I guess I'd better get cleaned up myself," Cameron said.

"You go shower, I'll get this," Penny suggested, taking the bucket and sponge from him.

"You don't have to do that," Cam protested, but Penny insisted, so he finally trotted off to the shower while Penny rinsed everything and put it away. She also changed into her pajamas, but was unsure if he wanted to talk some more, or if she should just go to bed and leave him alone.

She finally compromised by sitting in the living room with a book, so she'd be available if he needed her, but he wouldn't feel compelled to sit with her if he'd rather just be alone. She poured herself a glass of wine, and then another, while she waited for him, deciding that being nice and relaxed wouldn't hurt anything.

About five minutes after his water shut off, he came straight out to where she was, smelling wonderful, and sat right next to her, plopping down and making her bounce a little as he did so.

"You don't mind if we talk a bit more, do you?" he asked. "Or did you want to read your book?"

"Of course not," Penny assured him, setting her book aside. "Just tell me one thing first. You didn't break up because of me, did you? Because of what she said about me?"

Cam took a deep breath. "No, not exactly because of you, but what happened with you lit the fuse, I guess you could say." He stared off into space for so long that Penny wondered if he was finished talking. "She said a lot of stuff after you guys left."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"God, I'm going to need a drink if we're going to get into this tonight," Cam muttered. He rose and went to the bar, where he poured himself a drink that was roughly twice the amount that he usually did, Penny noticed.

"Jesus, Cam, what did she say?" Penny asked.

Cam looked at Penny, who looked equal parts goofy and beautiful in the lamplight in her "jammies." tonight she was wearing a cotton nightgown with sunflowers all over it.

He tossed off his drink in one swallow, shocking the hell out of Penny.

"Holy shit, you're going to be drunk in about three minutes," she told Cam.

"Hopefully," he responded with a grin, looking at his glass and swirling the dregs.

"So? What in the world did Claire say that's got you all tied up in knots like this?"

"She said--" Cameron began. He stopped and turned so he was facing Penny more squarely. "She said that the reason I had such an extreme reaction to what she said about you was because I had feelings for you."

Penny was silent for a beat, then she snorted and sat back. "Oh my god, Cam, how did you manage to keep a straight face?" She looked carefully at Cam's face. "Oh, wait. Are you joking? You're joking. Or was she joking?"

Penny flapped her arms against her legs. "What am I supposed to do with that, Cam? I mean, why would she even think that? I hope you told her that you had the reaction you did to what she said because it was rude and mean and for no other reason."

Cam slowly shook his head. "No, as a matter of fact I didn't, Penelope."

"You mean--you mean you let her believe it was true?" Penny's voice had gotten very high by the time she said the last word. At his nod, she added one more word. "Why?"

"Because she's right."

Penny sat motionless, and Cameron suddenly stood up to pour himself another drink, his action so sudden that he nearly tipped her off the couch. He drained his glass while standing at the bar, poured himself another one and returned to the couch.

Penny took the opportunity to lean over and pour herself another glass of wine, which she, too, drained in one gulp, mimicking his actions at the bar. They might not have to finish this conversation, she thought with sour amusement, if they kept drinking like this. They could both just pass out, inebriated, and if they were lucky, they might not even remember what they'd been talking about the next day.

"And do you know what she said when I finally admitted that she was right?" Cam flicked his eyes up to look at Penny momentarily to gauge her reaction to his words.

Penny looked back at him, fascinated, and shook her head.

"She said not to worry, because she was pretty sure you had feelings for me as well," Cameron said, looking at a spot on the couch between them.

"She said what?" Again, her voice came out close to a squeak.

Cam drained his fourth drink and set his glass aside.

"Penelope," he said, turning her name into something beautiful. "Please don't play with me. I'm completely pissed, and ready cry at the drop of a hat. Was Claire right? Do you feel something for me other than amusement at how stupidly I behave?"

"Wait wait wait," Penny said, trying to enunciate. "Let's not gloss over the first thing. Are you saying that it's true? You like me? Me? Uptight, snooty, fat, big nose, high forehead, me?" She gave Cameron a shove that was meant to be gentle and playful, but ended up nearly pushing him off the couch.

"Whoa, sorry, sorry," Penny said, hauling him back up by the arm as he laughed. "See?" she lamented. "I'm not any kind of delicate flower, I'm like a huge bear, just knocking things over all over the place, you can't like me--"

"But you do, then?" Cam pressed. "Like me, I mean. Claire was right?"

Penny nodded miserably. "How could I not? I mean, look at you, you're all perfect and everything, and you turn out to be nice and smart and stuff, too, which is even more important to me. But guys like you have girls like Claire, you always do--"

"But I don't, though," Cam pointed out. "And just so you know, she was smiling when she left here, Claire was. She said something about not wanting to stand in the way of true love and grabbed the pull handle of her case and left."

"Really?" Penny was amazed.

"I told you, sharp-tongued, but nice," Cam repeated.

They sat in silence on the couch for a minute, both digesting what they'd just learned.

"So what do we do now?" Penny finally asked, more than a little scared.

"Well, I think now we have to share a kiss," Cameron said seriously.

"What! So soon?"

"Oh yes," Cam replied as he nodded.

Penny let out a shaky breath, then shrugged. "Okay, I guess," she agreed, somewhat unwillingly.

"But first I have to have a wee," Cam said, rising. "Or I won't be able to concentrate on the kissing bit, okay?"

Penny stared at him, then waved toward the bathroom. "Go, knock yourself out," she told him.

"Thank you, love," he said as he sped off.

When he returned, Penny was nowhere to be found. He looked around the living room, and was getting ready to believe she'd changed her mind and just run off into the night in her pajamas when he heard her calling him from the terrace.

"I got hot," she explained when he joined her.

"I don't mind where we do it," he replied, lifting her curly hair over her shoulder. He stood very close to her, so close she could smell the elusive scent of him, his deodorant his shampoo, his soap, and his warm, whiskey-scented breath.

It was so sexy.

"How can you want to kiss me?" she mused.

"What does that mean?" he asked, running a finger along her cheek, making her shiver.

"Well, you're so beautiful, and I'm so not," she replied, gesturing toward him and then herself.

"No, don't say that," he begged. "Whenever I see you like this? In your nightclothes, before bed? I dream about you that night, without fail, I do." He nodded, moving closer and putting an arm around her waist. "At first I couldn't figure out why it kept happening." He gave a little laugh.

He leaned in, bumping his nose into hers, then dragging it along her cheek, taking in a deep breath of the sweet fragrance of her soft skin. He opened his mouth a little, letting his lip brush against hers, just barely touching it before pulling away to look into her eyes. "God, I swear, I could just fall into your eyes and live there forever," he breathed. He turned his head this way and that, letting his lips touch hers over and over, sometimes letting his tongue get in on the action, startling her with its wetness and warmth. She opened her mouth, too, one arm around his neck, looking at him intently, want in her eyes.

He put his fingers lightly on her neck, and finally let their mouths connect completely, all the way around, tongues touching, creating warm suction, letting out a deep moan of satisfaction at the feeling, a feeling he felt he'd waited so long for.

"Penguin, your mouth is so soft, my god," he murmured, taking a breath and going in again, kissing her harder this time, turning his head to get a better angle. He pressed her malleable body against his, reveling in the feel of her large breasts pressed into him, of her belly, of the warmth of her, the heat.

He bit her bottom lip a little, eliciting a sound from her that he felt to his toes. "You make such pretty sounds," he whispered against her mouth.

Penny felt like she was floating off the ground. Pressed against his lean, hard body was doing things to her, making her feel things she'd never felt before.

Kissing Frederick had never, ever felt like this.