Chapter Text
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b side.
penelope
“Camping? As in, spending time…outdoors? …You?”
Disbelief is plastered all over Eloise’s face. Penelope quickly ducks her head to avert her best friend’s gaze, her cheeks flushing behind the curtain of red curls that fall into her face as she leans forward, packing another cardigan into her bag.
Eloise reaches over and pulls out a much-too-short-to-wear-camping silver sequin dress. She holds it up and twists it back and forth in the light, creating a disco ball reflection across the bedroom walls.
“Penelope,” she says, pity and desperation dripping in her voice. “Please. Be so for real right now.”
Penelope ignores her, snatching back the dress and throws it into her “put away” pile, instead of packing it back into her bag. She knew it was a tad much for camping.
“I’ve been thinking,” she says, ignoring Eloise, who is trying to peer over her shoulder to get another look into her bag. “That I should really try to spend more time in nature. Go and touch some grass, as they say. Plus, Colin thinks it will be good for my writer’s block…” Penelope trails off.
“Touch some grass,” Eloise flatly parrots back to her.
“Mhmm,” Penelope murmurs, nodding her head. “I like… grass,” she finishes weakly.
“You know there will be bugs out there, right? Like, a lot of them probably.”
“I bought bug spray.” Penelope huffs, wrestling to fit a pair of wedges into her bag.
“What if there are bears?” Eloise asks firmly.
“Bears?” she snorts. “Eloise, you cannot tell me that at twenty-seven years of age you don’t know that there are no bears in the country you grew up in. Even I know that.”
“Why are you even going?” Eloise asks abruptly, her voice rising slightly, and Penelope knows her well enough to know that this is not a question, it’s an accusation.
“Well,” she starts slowly, diplomatically. “It’s Colin’s newest hyper-fixation, and he wanted someone to come test–”
But Eloise cuts her off, “Yes, I am aware that my brother is a serial hobbyist with the attention span of a goldfish, thank you very much. I am asking why you are joining him, specifically in an activity that everyone in the world, including Colin, knows you despise.”
“I don’t despise–”
Eloise cuts her off again, raising her hand.
“What if it rains, Penelope? What then? You won’t be able to enjoy your precious ‘nature’ all weekend, stuck in some stuffy cabin!”
“It won’t rain El, it’s meant to be nearly thirty degrees all weekend. Besides, Colin has these heavy duty tents so even if–”
“TENTS!” Eloise shouts, jumping to her feet and throwing her arms into the air. It startles Penelope so that her head snaps up, causing her to finally make eye contact with her best friend. She does not like the knowing look she sees on her face.
“Penelope. Anne. Featherington.” she hisses (hisses!), index finger outstretched towards her. “You dated Alfred Debling, nature enthusiast extraordinaire, for three years and he couldn’t get you to stay outside for more than thirty minutes at a time, and now, you’re telling me, that you plan to spend an entire weekend outside, sleeping in a tent!? Being in nature, doing what exactly? Touching grass with my brother? What in the ever-loving fuck are you even talking about?”
Penelope’s mouth falls open in genuine shock. She knows what Eloise is implying. It’s not that Eloise didn’t know about Penelope’s lifelong crush on her older brother. It’s just that, up until now, she had chosen to vehemently ignore it altogether. She ignored it when they were younger and Colin was a faraway fantasy for Penelope to daydream about. She ignored it as they got older and Penelope and Colin developed a friendship of their own(separate from Eloise). She even ignored it as the two of them grew closer than what might be considered normal for two people who claim to be just friends (she knows it is not normal for them always to be touching the way they do, but Colin is just a touchy person!).
So even though she’s still going about it in a round-a-bout-Eloise kind of way, for her to be calling Penelope out like this feels unsettling. Maybe if she plays dumb she might be able to deflect for long enough to get Eloise to drop it, for both of their sakes. She takes a deep breath.
“I–”
But Eloise doesn’t give her the chance. “Are you two finally together, then?”
“Together?!” Penelope squeaks out in surprise, but Eloise just continues to stare her down, arms crossed, tapping her foot impatiently.
“Camping, Penelope Anne! Outside!” Eloise’s voice rises slightly in both pitch and volume with each word.
“Stop full-naming me!” Penelope whines in response.
“Okay. Fine.” Eloise rolls her eyes so far back that the grey almost disappears completely. “Pen,” she pauses to let out a long dramatic sigh, “Are you, or are you not, sleeping with my brother?” She looks as if just saying the words are physically causing her harm.
“Eloise, I am not sleeping with your brother!” Penelope gasps, eyes wide and darting around the room (as if afraid that Colin might pop out of the closet at any moment).
Her face and neck flush that deep embarrassing splotchy red that it always does when she lies; which is totally unfair for her own body to betray her like this, when she isn't even technically lying!
She isn’t sleeping with Eloise’s brother!
She just…slept with him. Once. Just one singular time.
Two months ago they had gotten so drunk on a night out, that well, she’s not really sure how it happened, only that it did. The real problem now, though– besides having had the most incredible sex she’s ever had with the love of her life, who is also one of her very best friends and the older brother of her other best friend, not to mention that one time she overheard him loudly proclaim to his brothers that he would never ever date her– is that she’s not even sure Colin remembers it.
In fact, she’s almost positive he doesn’t. They’d gotten up the next morning, neither of them mentioning a thing (it wasn’t even the first time they’d woken up naked in a bed together, though all of the other times had been strictly platonic), and it has been business as usual ever since.
Penelope hemmed and hawed about them needing to talk about it, but like fuck was she gonna be the one to bring it up. She couldn’t bear to deal with the humiliation of not only him not remembering, but then possibly having to see in real time a look of regret settle upon his beautiful face.
Besides, two days later he’d ended up changing his flight and leaving London even sooner than he had planned, so, if he did remember, well, that’s an answer in itself then, isn’t it?
Eloise wouldn’t understand. She tells Penelope all the time that she just has to go for what she wants, as if it were that simple. Like if Penelope simply asked then something as special and beautiful as Colin would just appear at her feet. She knows Eloise’s way of thinking partially comes from being raised as a Bridgerton (special and beautiful things have been placed at their feet for their entire lives), but also from how fiercely she loves Penelope. Eloise really believes the same could be true for her. It’s sweet of her, really. Delusional, but sweet.
Penelope knows better. She and Colin are just friends. One drunken hook up doesn’t change that, and this camping trip is the perfect opportunity for her to prove to herself she can be normal about this. That she can continue being friends with him and act like nothing ever happened between them. No need to blow up one of the most special relationships in her life over one silly drunken escapade, right? She’s gone most of her life not knowing what it felt like to have him inside of her, and surely it can’t be too hard to pretend that she is still the Penelope of before. The Penelope that existed before Colin had ever slipped his hand up her skirt during the cab ride home; teeth tugging at her earlobe, whispering filthy things she never dreamed she would hear him say.
After years of pining for him, she just needed to get him out of her system, and now she’s done that. Poof! He’s out of there, like he was never there to begin with. So what if all this time she had actually been underestimating how good sex with him would be…
It’s fine! Now that Penelope knows, she can just be happy with that knowledge, can’t she? Happy that what she’d once thought was so far beyond reach, she was able to have, even if it was just the one time, and even if it was so insignificant to him that his brain didn’t even bother to commit it to memory. Now she can finally let go of her feelings for him and they can carry on as genuine (and platonic) friends.
Eloise sighs, bringing Penelope out of her head.
“Fine, fine,” Eloise says, shrugging her shoulders with a frown, clearly still unconvinced.
“Just… no details when you do. I beg,” she says, as she sweeps out the room, leaving Penelope alone to finish packing.
🏕️
It’s the last weekend of May but the English weather has really pulled through for once. The sun is shining and the temperature is meant to stay hovering around 25°C for the whole trip. A bit hot for Penelope’s liking, actually, but Colin has promised her that there will be plenty of shade. Still, he’s asked her three separate times if she’s packed enough sunscreen, and regardless of how many times she has said yes, she still spots two brand new bottles of SPF 100 in the back when she climbs into the passenger side of his (obnoxiously yellow) SUV.
He passes her his phone once she’s settled in and tells her to put on the playlist they’d crafted last week, specifically for the drive.
She pulls up his Spotify and starts halfway down the list where her song picks start. Colin side-eyes her after a couple songs once he clocks that she hasn’t put it on shuffle.
“If you’re not gonna shuffle it, surely you’re meant to start at the beginning, Pen. Side A, if you will,” he playfully chides, poking fun at her love of vinyl records, but she just ignores him and sticks her hand out the window as they pull out of her driveway.
She weaves and waves her hand through the breeze as they drive along the motorway, humming along to the music while absentmindedly thinking of how the air feels like water flowing between her spread fingers. They eventually turn off and begin down a long and winding dirt road. It’s lined with hedges of hawthorn, with white blooms scattered all across them and a mixture of tall grass and brambles running alongside it. Eventually they come to a wall of trees that meet overhead, creating a magical little tunnel. Penelope rests her head on her arms, leaning slightly out through the open window as they drive along, spying all the wildflowers speckled throughout the forest. She can’t help but feel like they’re entering into some woodland fantasy world.
“Pretty, huh?” Colin asks, bringing her out of her reverie.
“How did you know about this place?” Penelope asks, unable to hide the wonder in her voice.
Colin chuckles as he turns the car down yet another winding road. “Oh, you know,” he says, leaving it at that. And she lets him, because she does know.
Really, Penelope knows everything about Colin. When she lets herself be a little silly about it, she thinks that she somehow knew him before they ever met.
Still, it’s not a real answer, Penelope muses, as they pull into what can only be their camping spot. A clearing spreads out under a canopy of trees, complete with a picnic table, firepit, and a clear view of the lake just a bit further down past a small grassy hill.
They both hop out of the car and move to the boot to get out their things. Colin hands her his portable speaker and instructs her to hook up the music before joining him in setting up the tent.
“Bossy,” she chirps, but she happily takes the speaker and moves over to the picnic table with his phone to connect the music.
Daisies and tall grass spring up through the cracks of the picnic table and although it doesn’t look like this place has been used in some time, Penelope can’t help but be enchanted by the quaint cosiness she feels, huddled beneath the trees in a little world of their own. Though it has most of the makings of one, it’s not part of a proper camp site, so now Penelope really is curious as to how Colin knows about this place. But, just like with her new found openness to spending time in nature, she’s trying not to get hung up on every little thing when it comes to him. Genuine. Platonic. Friendship. she repeats to herself.
Penelope starts the playlist from the beginning and Swim Naked plays from the speaker. She can’t help but smile and roll her eyes. How fitting, she thinks. Pen sets down the phone and makes her way back over to Colin to lend him a hand.
Colin is bent over sorting out the pieces of the frame, with the tent itself spread out ready to assemble. Penelope blinks. She can’t help but rake her eyes over him as he works. It’s way bigger than she had imagined, and she quickly realises that the one tent alone will take up most of the levelled out area.
“Oh,” she says, a little dumbly.
Colin looks up, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. “All ok?” he asks.
“It’s just, well,” she hesitates, “Where will the other one go?”
“The other what?”
“The other tent?”
A slight frown tugs at the corner of Colin’s mouth for the briefest moment before he quickly corrects it.
“Oh– I,” he gets up from off the ground, clearing his throat. “I ended up just bringing the bigger one. It will be better for if it rains. I didn’t think you’d mind, sinc–”
“Oh, no! No, it’s fine!” she squeaks out, her cheeks flaming red. “I just thought you had said two tents, is all. Not like we haven’t, um, shared a bed before or anything,” she clamps her mouth shut.
She can tell he’s trying not to smirk. “I already know that you snore, Pen.”
“Oh, shove off,” she mumbles under her breath, and leans over to pick up the tent poles, giving her something to do with her hands.
The weird tension brewing between them quickly dissolves once Everlasting Love begins to play on the speaker and they both sing along as they effortlessly work together to build their tent.
She watches Colin hammer down the final peg, securing the small awning that covers the entrance. God, it really is huge, she thinks. There’s enough room that even after Colin has pumped up the large double air mattress, there’s still plenty of room for their bags, both the food and drink coolers, and even leaves space for the foldable table and chairs he’d brought in case the picnic table hadn’t been fit to use. Colin can even stand straight up.
“Well then,” Colin says, dusting off his hands on his thighs once they’d finished. “A job well done, if I do say so myself. I think we deserve a drink,” he says, smiling widely, eyes bright.
He grabs both coolers out of the tent and they make their way to the picnic table. Colin makes up some sandwiches as a late lunch (two for him, one for her) while Penelope grabs him a beer, and then pours herself a small tipple of pinot blush into a tiny plastic wine glass.
Penelope allows the stress to slip away as she sips her wine. She’s not sure why she was so worried about spending time with Colin. It’s not like it’s the first time she’s seen him since… that night. Things have always been comfortable and easy when they’re together, so she finally shakes herself loose a bit and begins to let herself truly relax. She surveys their surroundings once again, breathing in the fresh air and listening to the lake lapping up against the shore. And, she thinks smugly to herself, not one bug so far. Maybe she should text Eloise.
Sitting on the picnic bench with her knees pulled up to her chest and her cup of wine pressed to her lips, Penelope’s gaze follows Colin as he moves the food cooler back into the boot of his car. He smiles when he catches her watching.
“So we don’t attract the bears,” he offers as an explanation.
Penelope narrows her eyes at him.
“You two aren’t funny, you know.”
“Whatever do you mean?” Colin asks sweetly.
“No. I need to hear you say it.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I need you to say that you, and the rest of your family, know that there are no bears in England.”
“Penelope, you can never be too careful,” he deadpans.
“Colin…” she huffs, crossing her arms and scowling at his gleeful expression.
“So, what would you like to do now?” he asks, ignoring her ire. “Fancy going for a swim? I’ll have to check the lake for sharks firs–”
But he is interrupted by the distinct sound of raindrops hitting water. The light pitter-pattering hits their ears for a brief moment before the sound turns deafening.
They look over to see a wall of torrential rain heading their way.
“Shit, shit!” Colin exclaims, jumping up. He tucks the speaker under his arm and together they gather the rest of their things just as the sudden onslaught of rain catches up to them.
They sprint over to the tent, diving in and landing on the air mattress in a heap with all their things. They sit up side by side, bodies flush against each other and watch as the rain encompasses everything around them. They slowly turn their heads and stare at each other, wide eyed and a tad breathless. A beat passes between them and Penelope bites down on the insides of her cheeks, trying not to laugh. Colin breaks almost immediately, flopping down onto his back, clutching at his stomach in a fit of laughter. She snorts, and he pulls her down with him, both of them dissolving into giggles.
“Oh my god,” Colin breathes out, once their laughter subsides. He props himself up onto his side so he’s facing her.
“There’s so much rain,” Pen whispers, turning over and tilting her head up towards him. He reaches out to gently tuck a loose curl back behind her ear.
His eyes bore into her and the intensity of it momentarily drowns out the sound of the rain. Penelope blinks in confusion, roving her eyes over his face trying to make sense of the look he’s giving her. It’s not a look she ever remembers seeing from him. With a sinking feeling in her stomach she starts to wonder if maybe she doesn’t know everything about Colin, afterall.
Colin clears his throat and abruptly sits back up, staring out toward the lake.
“I’m sure it’ll pass soon,” he says a moment later, looking back over his shoulder at her, a small smile on his lips.
🌧️
It does not pass soon.
If anything, the rain gets worse. Colin, however, proclaims that these are perfect writing conditions, actually, and it’s exactly why it was such a brilliant idea for Penelope to come along with him. Now, he says, she can settle in and properly focus on her writing.
They sit in the foldable chairs for a while and Colin reads while Penelope writes. She finishes her rain-wine before eventually moving to the bed with her notebook. The tent has a little covering at the entry way so they keep the door unzipped and watch as the rain pelts the lake ahead and the ground around them, without it actually getting into the tent. Penelope stretches out on her stomach, enjoying the occasional breeze that manages to make its way inside.
Regardless of the bit of air wafting in, and how large the tent is, it’s quickly becoming unbearably muggy. The moisture clings to the walls of the tent, condensation running down it, and sweat begins to trickle down the back of Penelope's neck. She shucks off her cardigan and is left wearing only her small tank top and cut-off denim shorts. Colin brings her over a fresh glass of wine, and helps himself to another beer. A couple hours or so of comfortable silence passes between them like this before Colin slides onto the bed next to her, stretching out his long limbs.
“How’s it going?” he asks, trying to peek over into her notebook.
“Not well,” she says with a sigh, smiling up at him. “It’s fine, Col. I’ve been stuck for months so it’s no surprise, really.”
“Time for a break then,” he says, hopping up off the bed.
Before she can say anything Colin is slipping on his shoes and ducking out of the tent, sprinting towards the car. A couple minutes later he makes his way back inside, holding an all too familiar box under his arm and a bottle of whiskey in his hand. He shakes his head like a dog, droplets spraying in Penelope’s direction and she squeals trying to shield herself.
“Just cooling you down,” he says with a wink.
“No. Not with whiskey,” she says, eyes darting between the box and the bottle.
“You love it, actually.”
“I definitely do not.”
“Didn’t seem like it last time at Mondrich’s, you drank about half of my drinks, if I recall,” he says, wagging the bottle back and forth at her with a smirk.
Penelope freezes. There has been no mention whatsoever of anything to do with that night and she has no idea what to do in this moment.
Colin doesn’t seem to take any notice though, casually making his way over to the table to start setting up Hook and Ring.
Anxiety swirls in Penelope’s stomach as she watches Colin pour the whiskey into two shot glasses, placing each of them on opposite sides of the table. He carefully arranges the large wooden frame in between and sets down the small rectangular wooden board and playing piece. Hands on his hips, he gives himself an approving nod at the set up, then looks up to beckon Pen over.
Her mind is racing as she crosses the short distance to sit down across from him. The whiskey is just a coincidence. Not even a coincidence, it’s simply just one of Colin’s favorite drinks, she knows this. So of course it’s what he brought along to play a drinking game with. Yes, he has now mentioned that he remembers her swiping half of his drinks from that night, but that doesn’t mean he remembers anything else.
Oh God, what if he’s trying to get them drunk so he can let her down easy? A bit of liquid courage to tell her that he does remember, and it’s clear to him (and everyone else) that Penelope’s in love with him but she’s just not the one for him? She already knows that! She doesn’t need to hear it, especially not from him!
No, no. Penelope takes a deep breath. Colin wouldn’t do that to her. Well, he might. But he would be kind about it. He wouldn’t drag her to the middle of nowhere to do it, leaving her with nowhere to escape.
Pen takes another deep breath to try and steady herself. The whiskey means nothing. She needs to stop catastrophising. There is no reason for her heartbeat to be thudding in her mouth. She bites down on her tongue, letting the sting of it ground her.
“Hold on,” Colin pulls his phone out, completely unaware of the inner turmoil she’s experiencing. “Gonna put our playlist back on. On shuffle this time,” he says pointedly.
You make my heart beat like the rain (Electric Love - BORNS) sings out of the speaker, the words falling in time with the rain drops hitting the roof of the tent. Penelope’s eyes narrow in suspicion and she can’t help but wonder if Colin has some kind of sway over the weather.
Or maybe this was Eloise’s doing, and she paid some etsy witch to curse them with bad weather for the weekend out of spite. Either way, the Bridgertons are always pulling off impossible things, so Penelope shouldn’t put it past either of them. Their family already controls half the local economy, what’s a bit of weather manipulation?
It’s fine. This is fine. Everything is fine. They’ve played this game a hundred times before. They’ve drank together a hundred times before and it’s never led to anything awkward, sexual, or otherwise (bar the one recent exception). She just needs to get a grip. Take a breath. Take a…
She downs the shot in front of her.
“Penelope!” Colin chides as she grimaces at the burn in her throat, but his grin widens.
He grabs the bottle and pours her a fresh shot.
“Turns or Lawless?” he asks.
Hook and Ring had always been a staple during game nights at Bridgerton House. The new rule “Turns” as in, taking turns at trying to hook the ring instead of swinging the rope at the same time, had only been introduced after some of the nieces and nephews had gotten old enough to join in and weren’t quite up to handling the frightening level of competitiveness every single one of the siblings possess.
She scoffs at the implication that he might have to go easy on her.
“Lawless, obviously.”
“Obviously,” he repeats back to her, grinning. “First to ten?”
“Ten!?” Penelope exclaims, “so you are trying to kill me? Was that the plan all along, then? Is that why you brought me camping, so you can just leave my body here??”
Colin’s head tilts back as he lets out an unguarded laugh, loud and warm. The kind that washes right over her, bringing warmth and chills in equal measure.
Just a warm, friendly, chill… she thinks, silently pleading with herself to not dwell on the way it really makes her feel. But then decides to get smart, and uses his laugh to her advantage; swinging her ring and catching the hook on the first try. Smugly, she moves the peg one space ahead, his head snapping back up at the sound.
“Oh, it’s on, Featherington.”
The clanging of metal hitting metal and wood is enough to distract Pen from her downward spiral. Now, there is only winning or losing, and she can’t afford to keep losing. She’s already three shots to Colin’s one, and currently the peg is directly in the middle of the board so it’s still anyone’s game. Her ring catches the hook and she quickly moves the peg one step in Colin’s direction, leaving her one more hook away from him having to take another shot.
Just as she’s about to let go of her ring again, she feels the side of Colin’s foot press against her own. Penelope jolts at the contact, looking over at him, and drops the ring without meaning to. It clanks awkwardly, bouncing off the hook instead of onto it. He doesn’t look up but a deep smirk sits on his lips, stretching even further as his ring lands effortlessly onto his hook. He moves the peg one space back in her direction, and looks up at her, blinking his long lashes with faux innocence.
Penelope scowls, shifting her foot away and grabbing at her string, but just as she’s about to let go, she feels him again. He’s stretched his leg out so it brackets the table, and his foot slides up against the side of hers. She clenches her teeth together trying to focus on the game and shifts her foot over to the left, but he chases her. Colin’s foot settles on top of her toes with a gentle pressure.
He’s just trying to distract you, she tells herself as he oh so slowly runs his foot atop hers. This has nothing to do with anything other than the Bridgerton’s incessant need to win. He’s just trying to throw her off.
Well, two can play that game.
She angles her big toe up and pulls it along the middle of Colin’s foot, from heel to toes and she watches with delight when he shivers at the motion, his smug smirk falling off his face.
A triumphant grin sits on her face, waiting and ready for him to pull back in defeat, but Colin’s foot doesn’t move. Instead he turns his attention back onto the game, as though nothing else is happening.
Well, nothing else is happening, she supposes. It’s just a foot touching another foot. Nothing to write home about.
After they each hook a few more rings, sending the peg back and forth and both needing to take two more shots each, Colin shifts his chair closer to the table and uses his foot to pull Penelope's leg up. He grabs it and places her foot in his lap, then uses his right hand to gently squeeze and massage her while continuing to play the game with his left.
The combination of wine and the whiskey buzz under Penelope’s skin and her cheeks flame as a memory from their night together floods her mind.
Colin is on top of her, pressing her leg up and back, moaning and kissing up the side of her foot as his cock slides in and out of her.
Her whole face ignites.
He hooks two more rings in a row causing Penelope to have her sixth shot of the night.
“Okay, okay, I forfeit,” Penelope finally concedes with a laugh. “I need a break. I’ve just done, like, one hundred shots in a row.”
Colin smiles, but instead reaches down to the cooler grabbing out a can of diet coke and pours them each a long drink.
You can swim naked in the lake, Cause I know that in your heart of hearts that you’ve been looking for some kind of stars (Swim Naked - Betcha)
Pen hums along quietly to the song. She lets out a soft sigh and says “I wish we could see the stars tonight.”
“And not swim naked in the lake?” Colin waggles his eyebrows at her.
Penelope pretends it’s the heat of the whiskey that warms her cheeks, but she doesn’t have to pretend that it’s the whiskey that lets the next words slip out of her mouth.
“I’ve never been skinny dipping before.”
A faint blush spreads across Colin’s cheeks, but he doesn’t look away. She watches his throat as he swallows down, his Adam's apple bobbing.
“Well… that’s a shame,” he says, not breaking eye contact.
The haze of the alcohol and humidity hangs in the air around them. Neither of them say a word as Colin’s fingers continue to trace up and down the side of her foot. He slowly traces tiny circles around the inside of her ankle, slowly inching further and further up her calf.
The look Colin is giving her now, she does recognise. And she should’ve recognised it earlier when they had just escaped the rain as well. It’s the same look he’d given her that night at Mondrich’s. The same look he’d given her in the cab. The same look he’d given her when they stumbled into her flat together and then into her bed.
Genuine, platonic, friendship, she swirls the words around in her mind as her hands do the same with the drink in her hand. Or, (a voice that sounds very much like Eloise says in the back of her mind) go for what you want.
Penelope’s not sure if it’s the whiskey, the heat, or the Colin of it all that’s gone to her head. Maybe it’s all three. Regardless of what it is, she makes a decision and doesn’t give herself a chance to second guess it. Penelope slides her foot out of Colin’s grasp. Then she stands up and walks away from the table. She can feel Colin’s eyes on her, following her every move, but he doesn’t say a thing. Just stays exactly where he is.
“Sod it,” she says under her breath, walking towards the entrance of the tent. Penelope slips off her tank top and shimmies out of her shorts, leaving her in nothing but her lacy, baby blue bra and matching knickers. She hears Colin’s breath hitch from across the room.
“Nothing you haven’t seen before, Bridgerton,” she says, and she walks out of the tent, throwing her bra and knickers back in behind her.