Michael walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “So what is your expertise going to cost me?” he asked, nuzzling her neck and grinding against her butt, his large hands burning a path down the side of her body.
“You can’t afford me.” She barely got the words out before one of his hands slipped inside of her robe and cupped her breast. Stroking. Teasing. Squeezing. Peyton whimpered when he tweaked her nipple. A frisson of heat raced through her body, and the flashlight slipped from her fingers and tumbled to the concrete floor.
“You sure we can’t work out a payment plan?”
Peyton moaned and leaned into him, soaking up his warmth as desire consumed her body.
“Okay. Okay, maybe we can work something out.”
Chapter Fourteen
Ten long days since seeing Michael and Peyton was suffering from withdrawal. Sure they might have only known each other for just over a month, but they had a connection. A connection like nothing she had ever experienced. Peyton told herself that she could do the “friend” thing, but who was she kidding? The long distance was killing her.
She pulled a tray of chocolate chip cookies from the oven and placed them on the cooling rack. Baking and watching television had become a part of her life since returning from New York. Five amazing days with him weren’t nearly enough. She wanted more.
Peyton moaned after biting into a cookie. “Definitely worth the wait,” she said into the quietness of her kitchen. She had spent more time preparing meals and baking in the past couple of weeks than she had over the last three years. Her original plan after leaving New York was to head to Vegas, then on to Los Angeles. That was before she had the pleasure of getting to know Michael better. Traveling around the country alone after leaving New York wasn’t as appealing.
Peyton leaned on the kitchen counter and stared out into her backyard. She had one week left before she needed to head back to work. She spent the last couple of days thinking about her future. She loved her family and was totally committed to Jenkins & Sons Construction, but having this time off gave her an opportunity to think. She couldn’t go back to working twenty hour days. That hectic schedule would send anyone to an early grave.
Michael’s handsome face and sexy grin flashed across her mind. They usually talked twice a day, but it didn’t seem like enough especially since Peyton could envision a future with him. She was in love. Well, at least she believed she loved Michael.
Peyton pushed away from the counter and placed the remaining cookies in a container. Still, she didn't trust her own judgment when it came to men. Three or four times of picking the wrong man had to be proof that she wasn’t a good judge of character where they were concerned. Her poor choices started in high school and ended with her loser ex-husband. Dylan was her ultimate failure.
Her cell phone rang, and she hurried to the kitchen table to get it. An unexpected warmth started in her cheeks and spread through her body when Michael’s name showed on the screen.
“I was just thinking about you,” Peyton said when she answered.
“I’ve been thinking about you too,” his deep sexy voice sent a shiver through her body. She would never get used to that voice, or him for that matter. Now if she could just see him face to face rather than talking on the phone, she would be crazy happy.
“How are you?”
“I’d be better if you were here spending the day with me. I miss you.”
Peyton couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across her mouth. “I miss you too. I know you said that you were coming here Memorial Day weekend, but maybe you should think about moving the date up.”
When he didn’t respond, she feared she’d played her hand too quick. She wanted him to know that he was on her mind, but she wasn’t ready to reveal just how much. Neediness wasn’t a good look.
“I think you’re right,” Michael finally said surprising her. “I’ll look into some dates and get back to you.”
“That sounds great.”
“So what have you been up to today?”
“Baking cookies…and thinking.”
“Thinking about what?”
“Everything. Work, my life, and I’ve been thinking about this house.” She glanced around the large, open floorplan. The four bedroom, three-bathroom home was too big for one person.
“What’s going on with the house?”
“I’m thinking about selling it.”
“Really? Why? I thought you loved the place.”
“It’s a beautiful home, but it’s too big, and there are too many memories. Not all good memories.”
“Why didn’t you sell it right after your divorce?”
She shrugged as if he could see her and strolled into the great room, dropping down on the oversized sofa. “I wasn’t ready. Letting go of the past has been hard, despite the circumstances.” She didn’t tell him that the house had once represented what she’d always wanted. A home with a loving husband and children running around.
An ache stabbed her in the chest remembering how much research they had done during their house hunt. The Kenwood neighborhood was perfect for raising a family and that had been the plan when she and Dylan purchased the house. Each time she thought about how she had wasted five years of her life with him, she got angry all over again.
“Peyton. Peyton?”
“I’m sorry, what?” She shook her head trying to free thoughts of her ex from her mind.
“I was asking, what’s the plan after you sell the house? Where would you live?”
“I haven’t thought that far ahead.” She knew what she wanted. She wanted him in her future, but no way was she going to tell him. It was way too early to profess any feelings although she knew in her heart that he was the one for her. She loved the way he was with his daughter and how much he loved his mother. For some people, a generational curse was real, but in Michael’s case, she felt his fears were unwarranted.
Her doorbell rang. She pushed off the sofa and went to the door, groaning when she looked out and saw Dylan standing on her stoop.
“Michael, hold on.” She lowered the phone to her side and swung the door open. “Dylan, what are you doing here?” She had seen him a few months ago walking with a woman, who she’d heard he was engaged to. He still looked the same. His hair was cut close to his head, and his face, the color of mocha was as handsome as she remembered. His mustache and goatee were perfectly trimmed, and he was immaculately dressed, as usual. Her gaze went back to his eyes.
“Can we talk?”
Peyton stared at him wondering what in the world they had to talk about. She put the phone back to her ear. “Michael, can I call you back?”
“I heard you say, Dylan. What the hell is he doing there?” She heard the edge in his voice. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Babe. Let me call you right back.”
“Wait!” he yelled, but Peyton disconnected anyway. He’d have more questions than she had answers. One thing she knew about Michael is that he was way too overprotective.
“What do you want, Dylan?” She stepped outside.
His gaze traveled the length of her body, reminding her that she was still dressed in her cleaning clothes, an old fitted T-shirt, worn jeans and house shoes. Her hair was pulled into a messy ponytail, and she hadn’t bothered to put on any makeup since she had no plans to leave the house.
“You look good, Peyton.”
“Thanks. Now why are you here?”
Her cell phone rang, and she held it up to see who was calling. Michael.
“Did you like the flowers I sent you a few weeks ago?” Dylan asked regaining her attention. “You used to love yellow roses.”
“I used to love a lot of things,” she said without missing a beat, “but my taste has changed. So is that why you’ve been calling me for the past few weeks? So you could find out what I thought of the flowers?”
He sighed loudly and shoved his hands into the front pockets of his dress pants. He was dressy for a Saturda
y afternoon, wearing a dark suit, striped oxford shirt with a bold print tie and a nice pair of black leather shoes.
“So who’s Michael?”
“None of your business.”
He stared at her for a moment before speaking. “I’ve missed you.”
She let out a humorless laugh. “You gotta be kiddin’ me. That’s the excuse you’re using to just up and stop by? We haven’t spoken in forever and all of sudden now you’re calling, telling me how much you miss me?”
“I know. We were once good friends, and I should have stayed in touch. I’m sorry for everything I put you through. I just wanted to tell you that…that I’m sorry. I know you hate me, and you have every right to. What I did was unforgivable, but I’m hoping you have forgiven me.”
Peyton shoved her cell phone into the back pocket of her jeans when it rang again. “What does your fiancée think about all of this?”
The surprise on his face was comical. Peyton didn’t know what he was up to, but she wasn’t buying that all he wanted was forgiveness.
“We broke things off a few months ago.”
“Why?”
His left eyebrow rose. No doubt he was shocked she was questioning him. There was a time she took his word for everything and didn’t ask many questions. Those days were gone. She learned the hard way the importance of asking questions, especially when her mind screamed that something wasn’t right.
“She said that I wasn’t over you.” He glanced away, seeming to debate with himself of how much to say before he returned his attention to her. “I do care about her, but I’m still in love with you, PJ.”
Her mouth dropped open, but she quickly recovered. “You don’t cheat on someone you love!” she spat, anger roaring through her body. If only she had something to throw at his head.
“You do when you’re not thinking straight. PJ, honey, I am sor—”
“Get off my property!” She said through gritted teeth. Everything she felt the night she caught him with his assistant came rushing back. Anger, disgust and hurt all rolled into one. “And stop calling me!”
He stepped forward and she took a step back, bumping into the door.
“Come on, PJ. Be reasonable. I know I messed up, but I’d hoped we could move…”
They both turned when a dark Lexus pulled into her driveway. She knew, immediately, that it was Luke’s car before he opened the door. What she didn’t expect was for her brother to step out of the passenger side.
“What are you guys doing here?” She said looking from one to the other.
Jerry glared at Dylan. Her brother had threatened Dylan the day after learning of his infidelity, promising to kick his ass if he ever came near her again.
“Jay, don’t.” Peyton jumped in front of her brother when he moved toward Dylan. Jerry was over six feet tall and had at least fifty pounds on her. Standing between them was probably not a good idea.
“Are you okay?” Luke asked her.
“I’m fine” She pushed against her brother’s firm chest, backing him up to ensure he didn’t do anything stupid. “Why are you two here?”
“Mike called,” Luke explained as if that answered everything.
Peyton rolled her eyes.
“Why is he here?” her brother asked jabbing his finger toward Dylan. “I know you didn’t invite his cheating ass over here.”
Another car with dark windows screeched into her driveway, and Craig stepped out.
“Oh, this just keeps getting better.” Peyton threw up her hands. “Dylan was just leaving, weren’t you?” she said to her ex-husband.
“We need to talk,” he said, clearly not realizing his life was in danger.
“We have nothing to talk about. I think you better leave.”
“Peyton, I—”
“She said leave! Or would you prefer I throw your ass out of here?” Jerry lunged, and Craig grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back. Peyton didn’t know who had called Craig, but having a police detective in the family had served them well on more than one occasion. Right now, her brother looked as if he wanted to kill Dylan.
“It’s time for you to go,” Craig said to Dylan, the authority in his voice had Peyton standing straighter. Craig had a short fuse when it came to nonsense like this.
“Dylan, just go,” Peyton pleaded.
He started to speak, but with the tension bouncing off of the men in her life, he thought better of it, scurried down the walkway and climbed into his car before driving away.
Peyton glanced around at the nearby homes and didn’t miss some of the curtains moving. How long had her nosy neighbors, Mrs. Hill and Mrs. Barber been standing out in their yards?
Peyton turned to Craig, Jerry, and Luke, pissed they’d come over like a bunch of thugs. No doubt Michael had sent them since she wasn’t answering his calls. Apparently she needed to remind them that she could take care of herself.
“Inside, now!”
*
Michael paced the length of his office, getting more agitated by the minute. Peyton had disconnected the call before giving him a chance to tell her to keep him on the phone until after her ex-husband left. He didn’t know what was going on, but she sounded different when she came back to the phone. After she had hung up, he’d called back, but got her voicemail. That’s when he called Luke. If he couldn’t be there for her, he was glad he had connections in the area.
“Man, you’re going to wear a hole in that rug,” Michael’s middle brother, Bailey, said from the doorway. An Information Technology Specialist, Bailey was on his lunch break and had stopped by to fix Michaela’s computer. “I’m sure you’re overreacting. If she had a problem, she probably wouldn’t hesitate to dial 911.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
Michael continued to pace. Peyton had his heart. If anything happened to her…
Bailey walked into the office, sat on the sofa and crossed his legs as if he had all the time in the world. “So Michaela was right.”
“Right about what?”
“Right about Peyton being your princess. She compared you two to her favorite fairytale, Sleeping Beauty.
Michael stared at his brother and then laughed. “That little girl is too observant for her own good.”
“So it’s true.”
“Sorta.”
“Sorta nothing. Your ass is in love with this woman. I knew it!” He leaped from his seat. “There is no way you would have brought a woman home otherwise.”
It was true that Michael had never brought a woman to his home or around Michaela. But love might be too strong of a word to describe what he felt for Peyton.
His cell phone rang, and Michael snatched it up when he saw that it was Luke.
“Where is she? Is she okay?”
“Man, she’s fine. She’s currently reading her brother the riot act for getting in that chump’s face. Had I known Jerry would get all worked up, I wouldn’t have told him what was going on. We were playing basketball when you called.”
Michael sat on the edge of his desk, rubbing his forehead, glad his brother had left the room. Michael hadn’t been that worked up in a long time. “Why was the ex-husband even there?” he asked Luke.
“I don’t know. You have to ask PJ that. They were standing outside when we pulled up.”
“Good. At least she had sense enough not to let him in the house.”
“She wasn’t thrilled to see us, Mike. She insisted that she could take care of herself and didn’t need any of us playing hero.” Luke grew quiet. “Wait. Has he done something to her? Is that why you called in a panic?”
“He’s been calling her,” Michael huffed. Ex-husbands didn’t come around unless they wanted something and Michael had every intention of finding out what the hell this guy wanted. “What did she say about him?”
“She didn’t say anything, except to stay out of her business. Oh, and as a heads up, she’s still pissed. She doesn’t jump to conclusions like the rest of the Jenkins’ girls, but she’s ridiculously i
ndependent. She’s ticked that you butted in. So consider yourself warned.”
“Duly noted. I can handle Peyton.”
Luke laughed. “Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. Me, Craig, Zack and Paul thought we could handle our women too, but… Anyway, I’ll let you find out for yourself. Maybe things will go differently for you, but I doubt it.” Luke laughed again and told Michael that he would have Peyton call him.
Fifteen minutes later, Michael’s cell phone rang.
“Hello.”
“Why would you send Luke over here?” Peyton spat out and Michael straightened in his seat surprised at the venom in her voice.
“Because I was worried dammit! How you gon’ just hang up on me when old boy shows up? I didn’t know what the hell to think so I called Luke to go over and check on you.”
“Mike, I told you I was going to call you back. That should’ve been enough. You wanted to know why Dylan was here, but I didn’t know yet, and you didn’t give me a chance to find out.”
“So you’re telling me the whole time he was there, he didn’t tell you what he wanted? Why was he there?”
She hesitated for a second too long and every nerve in Michael’s body tightened. He didn’t have any claims on Peyton, but he cared too much about her to let some punk continue harassing her.
“He told me he missed me and wanted my forgiveness for the pain he caused.”
Michael dropped back against his seat. He didn’t know what he expected her to say, but it wasn’t that. He also didn’t know why he was tripping so hard. She was just a friend … a good friend. He closed his eyes and cursed under his breath. Who was he kidding? She was way more than a friend to him. She was special. And the little he knew about her ex, he knew enough to know she was too damn good for him. Hell, she was too good for him too, but still…
“What did you tell him?” Michael finally asked, hearing the edge in his own voice. “Do you forgive him? Do you miss him?”
“I forgive him, but I didn’t tell him that. I didn’t get a chance to tell him much of anything because my brother showed up with Luke, ready to put a beating on Dylan.”
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