You let yourself into the yellow house after knocking on the door once, calling out to the inhabitants of the home that you have arrived, and locking the front door behind you. You toss your bag and your keys on the kitchen island as you walk down the hallway, pulling your hair into a bun on the top of your head pausing in the doorway to her bedroom to watch the duo paint one wall. Lex was currently situated on Luke's shoulders as she ran a paintbrush across the wall belting out the lyrics to I just can't wait to be King. You tilt your head back and laugh when Luke roars with the song causing both father and daughter to turn and look at you. Lex had decided that the first thing she wanted to do on her summer vacation was to repaint her bedroom, and of course, you had been recruited for the job. After knowing the small girl for close to eight months you knew that there was no telling the child no, and so you cleared your schedule, canceling Girl's Night with JJ in order to be here.
"Penny!" the little girl yells, squirming her way off of her father's neck and sliding down his back in order to run to you her little arms wrapping around your legs before you can lean down to give her a hug.
"Hi, Penny," Luke says, turning back to the wall and continuing to brush the light blue paint onto the previously yellow walls.
"Daddy, only Penny's best friends can call her that," Lex reminds him, walking over to dip her brush into the pan. "And you are not her best friend." she finishes, sticking her tongue out. You laugh, peeling your sweatshirt off of your body and tossing it into her closet. Luke has the decency to feign hurt as you walk over to the pile of unused paint tools.
"She has a point, Luke," you say as you pick up the nearest paint tool and walking over to dip it into the paint before moving to his other side. By the time the first wall is finished, Lex has receded to the other side of the room to play with her toys as you and Luke move onto the next wall, painting in silence.
"Thanks for coming," he says and you look over at him and smile, noticing the flecks of blue paint on his cheeks and in his beard. You chuckle and he looks at you confused for a moment before you reach out to wipe a small bead of paint off of his cheek. He smiles at you, leaning his face into your palm for a second before he realizes that it's wet. You're grinning at him and Lex lets out a loud peal of laughter when she sees a blue handprint on her father's face. "Oh, Penny, you're going to regret that," he says as he leans down to press both of his hands into the paint, giving you a few seconds to take off to the other side of the room, hiding behind Lex. "Don't think I don't know she's your accomplice." He says, stalking closer as you and Lex both take off out of the room and race to the backyard.
The both of you hide on the side of the house, and when it is silent for a few moments you send Lex into the backyard, telling her to let you know if her father is around. When she announces that it's clear you remove yourself from the small walkway, letting out a shriek when you see him standing at the door to the backyard, hands still full of paint. You look at Lex who shrugs her shoulders at you. He comes into the backyard chasing you as you zigzag across the lawn and eventually make it back into the house, making sure to slam the door shut. You don't hear him come in and so you let out a deep breath when after five minutes neither father nor daughter enters the bedroom.
When you finally pick up your paintbrush to continue the job you came here for he bursts into the room, wrapping his arms around you, effectively smearing paint over your white tank top. You spin in his arms swiping the paintbrush across his face in the process and gasp when he looks down at you with a wide smile. And for a moment the world stands still around the two of you. He's looking at you with such intensity, and you're hyper-aware of the way your breasts are moving against his chest, his fingers burning holes into your sides. When he slides his hands up your arms to cup your cheeks, he trails the blue paint with him as you let out a gasp, a shiver of excitement spreading throughout your body. You close your eyes in anticipation of what is sure to happen, talking yourself into letting him kiss you because Derek was right, after all, you did have it bad for him.
"Daddy, what're you doing to Penny?" you have to physically stop yourself from groaning as he pulls away from you, the warmth his body provided receding with each step that he took.
"Nothing baby, I just finally caught her." he says before reaching down to pick up his paintbrush again.
"I love the color she chose." you say as you sit down beside him on the back porch, peeling dry paint off of your arms, realizing that you can't wait to get home and take a shower. Luke turns to look at you, smiling and hands you a beer, which you take with a small thank you, tipping the neck of the bottle towards him.
"She says it reminds her of you," he explains, turning his attention back to the yard. "You've captivated my daughter, Penelope." He doesn't reach out to you, and you find that you're too scared to reach out for him. Your mind is filling with doubts that you thought you had combatted long ago, wondering if he was really attracted to you, or was it just the heat of the moment that you both found yourselves in.
"She's captivated me too, Luke," you say, bringing the bottle to your lips and taking a long sip. You can't help the smile that crosses your face when you begin to tell him of how much she reminds you of yourself when you were a little girl, spinning into a story of when you painted your bedroom with your parents many years ago. "You're doing a good job with her," you tell him, placing the bottle between your feet which are also coated in light blue paint.
"I hope so," he says, leaning over to bump his shoulder against yours, sending a shockwave of tingles through your body. "I hope she doesn't ever resent me for not having a mother." You shake your head at him, keeping your eyes trained on the blades of grass in front of you.
"Everyday girls grow up without their mothers," you say, reaching up to brush a tear off of your cheek. "She's lucky that she has a father that cares." You reach down to grab your still full beer and bring it to your lips, taking a swallow before you can delve into tears.
"I'm sorry if I was inappropriate earlier," he says, not turning to look at you. You smile and lean over to brush your shoulder against his. The action sending goosebumps over your flesh and a ripple of excitement through your stomach. He doesn't move away from you when you continue to lean against him, instead reaching out to tentatively wrap his arm around your waist. You suck in a breath and your body stills as his fingers curl around your side, applying pressure and eventually you relax in his half embrace.
"It wasn't inappropriate," you whisper, your eyes never leaving the backyard spread out before the two of you. You're not sure he heard you and you know that you're not going to exclaim the statement louder and face the second bout of rejection when he stiffens. You begin to pull yourself away from him, his hold tightening on you as you try to slide across the deck step. "Luke..." you question, your eyes flickering over to his face.
"The last woman I tried to date ran off when she found out about Lex. She was still a baby then. Then three years ago there was another woman, but between work and Lex I didn't have much time, and when I had to spend so much time working on the Crimson King case...she didn't stick around either. But you're different." He says, rushing the words out before taking another sip of his beer. "You came over after just meeting us. You keep coming back, and I was attracted to you that day in the pet store but it's just grown over the past months. You're consistent, Penelope, even though you get called away for work sometimes, you're a constant in her life when all she's ever had is me and my mother." He takes his final sip of beer. "You make my kid happy and in turn that makes me happy. And I wasn't sure if I wanted to kiss you because I like you or because you love my daughter. But now I know it's both, Penny." He finishes, gripping your chin in his hands and guiding your lips to his.
"Only my very best friends can call me Penny," you say, lips almost touching his and your heart is beating so wildly in your chest that you're sure it's going to fly out of its cavity at any minute. It's a statement that you've been uttering since you were a child and you find that you will never stop saying it to people who presume to know you.
"Are we not friends, Penny." He asks, rubbing his thumb along your cheek, his fingers scraping against the dried paint. Your breathing is ragged as he maintains a firm grip on your waist and you're not sure which hand to focus on when he finally presses his lips against yours. Moving the hand that was trailing along your face to tangle in the back of your hair, pulling you closer to him on his back porch. You find yourself lost in the moment, uttering soft moans of approval as he pulls you onto his lap, his hand moving from your waist to slide up the back of your tank top, leaving heated skin in his wake. Your hips are moving against his on their own accord and you find that you don't want to stop them and so you don't, continuing to press your lips against his. Your hands move up to grip his face, pulling him closer to you as you suck his bottom lip into your mouth and bite it, eliciting a groan from his parted lips. You can taste the beer on his tongue when they finally meet, his hands pulling the elastic from your hair and allowing it to tumble around the two of you, shielding your faces from the harsh light of the moon. Eventually, you pull back in order to continue breathing, realizing that you have essentially molded into one person on the back deck. You're still in his lap with your chest heaving and his hands are still attached to your body, both of them keeping you close to his chest. You reach out to wrap your arms around him, pulling his head to the top of your breasts and leaning your cheek on the top of his head which is also coated in blue paint.
"We can be so much more than that." you whisper into the night as your breathing finally settles back into a normal rhythm.
A/N: In celebration of the season 13 premiere tonight!