Page 33 of When I Found You

“I want you to come as long as it’s what you want,” I tell him honestly. I suck my bottom lip between my teeth as I wait nervously for his answer.

Peyton brings his hand up to cup my face, sliding his thumb across my bottom lip as he pulls it from my teeth. “First off, it drives me fucking crazy when you bite this lip like that. I’m the only one who should be biting it. Second off, I want to spend every single second with you that you’ll let me this week. Don’t worry about my friends or my dad. They’re all big boys who can take care of themselves. They also don’t need me warming their beds at night,” he says before dropping a kiss to my lips again, ending it when he sucks my lip into his mouth and bites down on it, then quickly soothing the sting with a swipe of his tongue.

“Okay then,” I reply. “Let’s go drop my car off, go see your dad, and then…” I trail off, letting him fill in the blanks on what the rest of the night will bring our way.

“Good to see you again, Stacey,”Robert says as I take a seat on the couch. He mutes the baseball game he has playing on the TV.

“You too. Did you have a good day?”

“Can’t complain. Finally kicking this crap that’s had me under the weather the past few weeks. I actually got out of the house today and went somewhere other than the doctor’s,” he says on a laugh.

“That’s great to hear,” I tell him as Peyton hands me a glass of water and takes a seat next to me.

“Let’s see the tat,” he says to Peyton.

“He still needs to do some coloring on it in a few weeks to finish it up. But he wanted to let this part heal first,” he tells his dad as he pulls his t-shirt off over his head. I have to bitemy tongue to keep from letting a small moan slip out when his rippling muscles come into view. Seeing him without his shirt on turns me on in seconds flat. He tosses me a quick glance and winks, knowing damn well he’s making me hot, sitting next to me, shirtless, and the brat is enjoying it.

I help him remove the cover on his new tattoo so he can show his dad. It’s an intricate set of wings that span across his entire shoulders. The details Ethan included in it are amazing.

“Looks good,” Robert comments, after getting a good look at it.

“He did a great job with the idea I gave him,” Peyton confirms.

I help him cover it back up and he slips his shirt back on over his head. After adjusting it over his torso, he places his arm around my shoulder and pulls me into his side, where I stay for the next hour or so as we visit with his dad.

When his dad calls it a night, Peyton heads into his bedroom and bathroom to grab a few things to bring back to my place with him tonight.

“Ready?” he asks, coming down the hall with a bag slung over his shoulder.

“Yep.” I step back from the living room wall that’s covered in pictures from when he was younger.

He grabs my hand and leads me to the front door, where we both slip our shoes on and head out to his truck. Once we reach it, he opens the back door and tosses in his bag. Before opening my door, he backs me up against it and kisses me. I immediately open to him as I wrap my hands around his neck and anchor myself to him. I can feel his hardness pressed against my lower stomach and know exactly what lies ahead for us once we reach my place tonight.

Chapter Eleven

PEYTON

I lie herewith Stacey sound asleep in my arms. We practically ripped each other’s clothes off once we got back to her place earlier. My thoughts race as I have her in my arms like this. She has me second-guessing every single thing I thought about women. She has me reconsidering my stance on relationships. I still don’t know what this is between the two of us, but I damn well know I don’t want this to end. The distance once I return to base will be a small hurdle to deal with, but as she’s said already, it isn’t really all that far when you think about it. Hell, there are people that commute every day for work from more than an hour away.

All I know for sure is that I want to spend every possible moment I can with her this week. After that, we’ll figure things out as we go.

I eventually drift off to sleep, my mind finally settling down as I think of the positives having Stacey in my life can bring and not allowing my experiences in the past to bog me down anymore.

The week passes quickly—waytoo quickly, in my opinion. Stacey was busy the rest of the week each day with work, and I took advantage of the time to spend with my dad. Once he was finally over being sick, we headed out during the day, hitting up a gun range one afternoon and a driving range on another. Each night, Stacey came over and we all had dinner together before I’d follow her back to her place, where we’d spend the rest of the evening in bed.

Tonight, I’m taking her out for a nice dinner before we spend our last night together, since I have to return to base tomorrow. I never expected to meet the most amazing woman while on leave, nor did I expect to be returning no longer a jaded, relationship-avoiding man. This woman has captivated me this past week and completely turned my life around.

“Hey,” I say, opening the front door for Stacey. I pull her into my arms and seal my mouth over hers. I’ve come to crave the feel of her lips against my own and know it’s going to fucking suck not being able to kiss them every day after tomorrow.

“Hi, how was your day?” she asks once we break our kiss, though we are still tightly wrapped together. She lays her head against my chest, right over my heart. The very heart she so quickly swooped in and now holds in her hands.

“Good, kinda lazy. Sat around drinking coffee with Dad once I got home from your place this morning. Ran a few errands with him while we were out for lunch. How was yours?”

“It was good. I finished up the paperwork I needed to finish today. We got our official schedule for the awards show. Reese is the opening artist and will be singing a medley of her hits from this past year, so we’ll be working on the arrangement over the next couple of weeks.”

“That’s awesome, I bet she’s excited about that.”

“Oh, absolutely. It’s pretty big to get the opening spot.”

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