AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s not that I think you’re not good enough it’s just…” She paused. “I hadn’t dated anyone in almost three years when I started seeing Simon and look where that got me.”
“Whoa, why haven’t you dated anyone in three years?”
“Well, like you said, running a non-profit program at my age doesn’t come without hard work, so something had to give, and that seemed to be my social life. With Simon’s schedule, he was away so much it made dating seem like a possibility, but I don’t know.” She sighed. “I’m out of practice, and I wasn’t entirely sure what my feelings were about him. At first, I didn’t want to rush things, and he was really sweet and seemed fine with that. I’m not too proud to admit my ego liked being pursued by him and knowing he liked me enough to wait.”
“Any guy you’re dating should like you enough to wait until you’re ready Peyton, that shouldn’t be unusual.”
“Well, unfortunately, in my experience it is.” She pursed her lips. “Then when we almost had sex and got interrupted, he was a jerk, reminding me more of the guys I used to date and suddenly I remembered all the reasons I hadn’t been dating. Then at the party, I really found out who he was and I’m not all that interested in trusting anyone like that again.”
“I can see that, but not every guy is like Andy. You trusted me the other night.”
Peyton blushed and dipped her head slightly. “That’s different. That was sex, not a relationship.”
“I don’t know. I think the fact you don’t want to date me, but you do want to fuck me is a good thing.” He set his own napkin on the table and leaned back in his chair. “Hear me out. You’re not ready for a relationship and I sure as hell don’t want one. According to you, all I have going for me is my bedroom skills. Maybe you should take advantage of those while you have the chance, work your way up to trusting someone with more than just sex.”
“Oh I should? Should I?” Peyton smirked. “And what did you have in mind exactly?”
“Like you said. The Hawks’ schedule is crazy, but so is yours. I don’t have that many things I need a date for in the next few months, but I can absolutely see the benefit to us meeting up regularly to enjoy this chemistry, as you put it.”
“So what? Instead of being a fake couple, we’d be sex buddies?”
“Exactly, sex buddies who also fake date when necessary. You learn to trust a little and I’m more than willing offer up my body for the cause.” He raised his eyebrows and smiled.
“How gracious of you.” Peyton rolled her eyes. She sat forward, resting her elbow on the table. “Don’t you think that would complicate things even more than we already have?”
“Why would it? Do you plan on falling in love with me?” He smirked.
Peyton snorted. She actually fucking snorted, like the idea was ludicrous.
“Uh, no, definitely not.”
He winced a little. A simple no would have sufficed. Shaking it off, he sat up straight. “So, what do you say? When I’m in town between games, we hook up and blow off some steam?”
Peyton chewed on her bottom lip and watched him for several seconds. She picked up her glass of wine and took a drink then set it down and still didn’t say a peep. What the fuck? Was it really that hard of a decision?
Finally, a sexy smiled curled up her mouth and her eyes heated. “I definitely think we should blow off some steam. Lots and lots of steam.”
“Check please,” he called and held up his hand.
Peyton lay sprawled across Ryan’s chest, absently tracing her fingers along the ridges of his abdominal muscles as they flexed each time she dragged her nails lightly over his skin. Who knew he was so ticklish?
The past six weeks or so had been amazing. Fake boyfriend or not, she’d never been in any kind of relationship that was anywhere close to as amazing as what they had. Sure, they didn’t go out all that often and maybe they spent an obscene amount of time in bed, but who could blame them when the sex was this flippin’ good?
In the beginning, he’d barely stuck around after having sex, but for the past month or so whenever he came over, he stayed. It almost felt like an actual relationship. Not that they’d ever talked about altering their original agreement. But honestly, did they need to when it felt like this?
Ryan’s fingers combed through her hair, and she closed her eyes. Now she understood why cats purred. It felt so good.
“How’s it going with Kirsty? You guys plotting all the ways you can make the team participate?” he asked.
“It’s coming together. I think if your teammates jump on board like Kirsty thinks they will, it’s going to be amazing.”
“They will.”
She pushed herself up on his chest so she could look at his face. “How do you know?”
“Come on, Peyton, you know how cool your program is. Once the guys get over there and start getting to know some of those kids, they’ll be all in.” He continued to comb his fingers through her hair. “Besides, if they don’t, I’ll kick their ass,” he said with a wink.
“Do you think it will come to that?” She really wanted this program to be a success. Now that the kids and the neighborhood knew about the program, she’d been fielding questions left, right and center. She couldn’t stand the idea of letting the kids down.
