The door opened and a group of three girls stumbled into the bathroom, giggling. “Oh my god,” one of them said, “he was so cute.” “I know, right? Didn’t I tell you?” “Jonathon Ashby,” the third one sighed dreamily. “I can’t believe we actually met him.” “Jonathon Ashby’s here?” Mia asked. “Uh-huh,” one of the girls said, holding up a little bag of chocolates that Peyton recognized immediately. “He was just at the bar handing these out.” Mia grabbed Peyton’s arm. “Come on,” she said, “this is my chance to finally meet him.” Peyton rolled her eyes but let herself be dragged from the bathroom. She felt a little sorry for Jonathon. He’d been getting an awful lot of press lately and from what she knew of him, he hated it. Mia pushed through the crowd, heading for the bar with single-minded determination. Peyton was a little worried about just how obsessed Mia was becoming with Jonathon. It was one of the reasons she had never introduced them. Pl
Finn knocked on Jack’s door. He knew it was late, but he also knew Jack would be up. The man barely slept, from what Finn could gather. The door opened and Jack stood there, his hair sticking up in all directions and his eyes sleepy. “Shit,” Finn said, “did I wake you?” “It’s okay,” Jack said with a sigh. “I fell asleep on the couch.” He stepped back and opened the door wider. “You look like you need a drink.” Finn stepped into Jack’s apartment and looked around. It was basically a carbon copy of his own apartment except it was two levels below. There were two apartments on this level, but only Jack’s was occupied. They had talked about getting a tenant in for the empty apartment, but the five of them kind of liked having the entire building to themselves. “What’s going on?” Jack asked as he handed Finn a drink. They walked over and sat on the couch and Finn sighed. “I don’t know what’s happening with me,” he said. “This thing with Peyton…” he faded out.
Finn let go of Jack and ran his hands through his hair. Fuck. He had it bad for this girl. Jack slapped him on the back. “Look,” he said, “I think you’ve gone past the maybe stage with Peyton. You are definitely falling for her and I think you should see where this thing goes. What is the worst that could happen?” “She could rip what is left of my heart out of my chest and stomp on it,” Finn replied. Jack chuckled. “There is that. But what if she doesn’t? What if you actually find happiness with her? What if she can restore what Chantel stole from you? Did you ever think of that?” Could he risk it? Could he just let this thing between them happen organically? He exhaled roughly. There was only one way to find out.Peyton smoothed the dress down with shaky palms. After Liam had told her that Finn had seen her at the bar with Daniel, she expected him to call off their date. He hadn’t. Instead, he had called her to confirm it. She was nervous. For the first
Rhonda was not what Peyton expected. The woman was a knockout, and tall. Taller than her husband. Rhonda pulled Peyton into a hug. “So glad to meet you. You’ve come on a good night. I’ve made lamb shanks.” Finn groaned and Peyton looked over at him, surprised. “Sorry,” he said with a grin. “I love Rhonda’s lamb shanks. She cooks them in Guinness. They’re amazing.” “Come on, let’s get you a table,” Phil said. “You get back to the kitchen, woman,” he said affectionately to Rhonda. She bopped him on the butt and laughed as she walked back to the kitchen. “Here,” Phil said, presenting a table to them. “The best seat in the house. I’ll be back with the wine.” Finn held out her chair for her and she smiled up at him as she sat. “I love this place already,” she said. “I’ve been coming here forever,” Finn said as he sat. “The food is always good, but I just love Phil and Rhonda.” “You’ve really never brought a date here before?” Peyton asked.
She got a pensive look and ducked her head before speaking again. “So why me?” she asked, not looking at him. “Honestly?” he asked and waited for her to look up and nod. “I don’t really know.” He smiled at his own honesty. “There’s just something about you, Peyton Smith. Something that makes me want to get to know you better.”“Sorry to interrupt,” Phil said, coming to the table with an abashed grin on his face, “but we’re closing up and…” Finn looked around to realize they were the only two people left in the restaurant. “Oh God,” Peyton said. “We’re so sorry.” How had that happened? How had the night simply disappeared? It felt like they had only just gotten here and now it was time to go. Finn wasn’t ready for the night to be over. “Sorry Phil,” he said, standing and then holding out his hand to Peyton. “We’ll get out of your hair now.” He had paid the bill a while ago, now that he thought about it. He had been so lost in Peyton that he hadn’t even rea
Peyton was nervous as they rode the elevator to her floor. It had been a long time since she had been with a man other than Dale. Finn seemed way out of her league. Oh, but she wanted him. Her nerves were in part because she was afraid he would change his mind. God, please don’t let him change his mind. Finn held her close as the lift ascended. He kissed the tip of her nose and her cheeks. He threaded his hand through her hair. He skimmed his other hand down the length of her spine. It wasn’t what she expected. There was no desperate kissing and tugging at each other’s clothes because they couldn’t wait to get each other naked. It was almost as if Finn was savoring the moment, memorizing each minute that passed. It built the tension in her. In some ways, she wished he would just let go and ravish her. She needed a good ravishing and she didn’t doubt that Finn would be the man to do it. But he took his time, driving her to distraction. Her nipples were hard and painful, rubbi
His fingers caressed her hips, tracing the line of her panties. Some part of her brain wished she hadn’t thrown out all her g-strings. Another part of her brain told her that Finn didn’t seem to care. And then her brain stopped thinking altogether as his fingers slipped down between her legs to cup her silk-covered mound. She made a weird groaning sound and couldn’t help but rock her pelvis into his hand. That seemed to jumpstart her brain. She needed to be naked. She needed him naked. Her hands found his buttons and she fumbled with them, rushing to get them open, not caring if she ripped the buttons off in the process. Finn lifted his head and his hands cupped her face, and kissed her, stilling her. Then he stepped back and pulled his shirt over his head. Her eyes ate him up greedily and then she was pressing her naked, needy breasts against his chest. She rubbed against him like a cat, the few wiry hairs on his chest rubbing against her nipples deliciously. “On
Who knew sex could be like that? Now she understood the sly smile that she sometimes saw on her sister’s face. Wow.Finn reluctantly dragged his body away from Peyton’s. He rolled to the side and took care of the condom, wrapping it in a tissue and dropping it into the wastebasket beside her bed. To say that his world had been rocked would be an understatement and he needed a moment to understand what the hell had happened. There was nothing earth-shattering about what they had done, except that it had completely shattered his world. He liked sex and he’d had a lot of good sex, but there was something different about sex with Peyton. He didn’t want to admit the truth, but he knew it was more than just their bodies connecting. Sex for the sake of sex was always good - well for him, anyway. Two naked bodies finding pleasure in each other? What could be better? That. Whatever the hell they had just done? That was better. He rolled back onto his side and pulled her int