Page 59 of After All

Two minutes later, she texted again.Maybe your MOM could come over for lunch.

He grinned. His mom was a teacher. She couldn’t come over for lunch with him. But Peyton knew that and was simply trying to put images of his mother in his head.

Another two minutes later, she sent,Or your GRANDMOTHER. You should have lunch with her.

Yeah, well, he could do that, except that his grandmother was working too. She worked part-time at the flower shop. Also, he had a note on his back door telling him not to leave. But he wasn’t responding just yet.

Finally, she sent,You better not be jerking off while sniffing ground cinnamon or something!

He laughed. She wasn’t comfortable leaving sweet notes? Well, he wasn’t all that great with sexy texting. He hadn’t done it before. So, he’d been pondering what things to send her. Now he didn’t have to. Their conversation was naturally sweet and sexy at the same time.

Couldn’t find the cinnamon. Tried ginger. NOT the same reaction.

Her response was almost immediate and was simply six laughing face emoticons.

Scott settled back into the couch cushions and again startedGrey’swith a very similar look on his face.

Two hours later, he got a photo from Peyton of a vase of flowers.Emma sent me these to say thanks for the cookies and ideas for her garden party this morning.

The second text came immediately after that—you better not find a way of making this dirty.

He hesitated. He loved that Emma had sent Peyton flowers and, more, that she’d appreciated Peyton and was publicly showing it. But he also couldn’t resist sendingReally? A garden party? How can that NOT be dirty?He grinned as he hit send.

A moment later, he got another laughing emoticon.

It was crazy how much he loved the idea that he was making her laugh.

An hour later, she texted,How are you feeling?

You’re thinking of me constantly. That’s sexy too, he replied.

It is not! It’s sweet. I’m concerned.

You being sweet to me is sexy. Sorry.

She sent a frowning emoticon that time. But Scott wasn’t worried.

A minute later, she sent,I’m making strawberry cupcakes today. Thought these were your favorites but I didn’t know about the cinnamon thing.

He replied honestly.I didn’t know about the cinnamon thing either. That’s all because of you. My pillow smells like cinnamon since you’ve been staying here.

And he wanted it to smell like cinnamon every day for the rest of his life. He didn’t add that.

Ten minutes later, he still didn’t have a reply back to that though.

You there?he asked.

Yeah.

You okay?

That was just…really sexy. And I can’t think of something appropriate to say back.

He smiled at that.Can you think of something inappropriate to say?

Definitely.

Let’s hear it.

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