Peyton didn’t speak as she entered the elevator. Dale followed, wringing his hands like some old woman from a fifties television show. She didn’t look at him. She couldn’t. It was taking all her effort not to haul off and hit him. God! She wanted to hit him so much! Instead, she kept her eyes averted - not looking down, just away from him. She had nothing to feel ashamed about and she wouldn’t let him intimidate her into feeling that way. When the elevator reached her floor, the doors opened and she strode out and down the hall towards her apartment door. He followed. She unlocked her door and walked into her apartment, leaving the door ajar for him. She put down her bag and slipped off her shoes then walked the seven steps to the kitchen to put the kettle on. She needed more than just tea, but that could wait until after he left. She could feel him standing behind her, watching her. She didn’t turn around. He was the one who had turned up on her doorstep, she wasn’t going t
He huffed out a rough breath and sat opposite her, putting his tea down next to hers. “Because I realized that marrying Starr hadn’t solved anything. I was still the same person. I had thought that marrying her, somehow would magically change me. I would become the person that I had always wanted to be. But that didn’t happen. I was the same man as I was before, only now I was married to a woman I barely knew. She quit her job and told me she wanted to come to Australia. My job had given me an extended leave of absence but was holding my position for me when I came back. It all came crashing down on me in that moment. I hadn’t changed anything. I would still be in the same job and I would still be expected to buy the house near my parents and have Sunday brunch and mid-week dinners with them only now I would have Starr, a woman that my mother would hate. I would still become a father.” “Starr is pregnant?” Peyton asked. “No, god no. I don’t think so. God, I hope not.” D
“I fell in love with her,” Finn said again, dropping his head back to look at the ceiling. “But I didn’t get a chance to explain any of that to her because someone else outed me before I got the chance.” “Do you mean me?” Brian asked. Finn shook his head. “No. Daniel Marks. You know how I said there was another site out there stealing my stuff? Daniel Marks is the guy behind Man About Town. He was with Peyton tonight. He was the one who did this,” Finn said as he touched his cheek and winced. “He was the one who told Peyton about my blog and outed me.” “Daniel Marks?” Brian asked, one eyebrow raised. “Daniel Marks,” Finn confirmed. “His site was killing me until I started writing about how to make a woman fall in love with you. I had no idea so many men wanted that. I managed to win my subscribers back and gain more just by writing about our dates. I wasn’t trying to embarrass or hurt Peyton. I didn’t even reference her specifically. Many of my readers assumed who
“Peyton, I don’t understand why you’re asking me these questions. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want those things. They’re the reason I came back. They’re the reason I want you back.” “But what if I don’t want those things anymore?” she asked quietly. “What? Of course, you do. I know you, Peyton. You live for this stuff. You have been telling me for two years how much you are looking forward to our life together.” “You know, I’ve done a bit of soul-searching since you’ve been gone,” she said. “And I’ve come to realize that maybe I don’t want those things after all. I thought I wanted them, but it turns out, not so much. I liked the idea of being married to you. I liked the idea of being Mrs. Dale Hawthorn. But do you know what I’ve learned? I learned that I had this idea in my head of how my life was supposed to look, but it wasn’t really what I wanted. I thought it was what I should want. I thought it was what a woman like me should aspire to. But I realize now that t
“You here, Frankie?” Finn called as he let himself into his uncle’s apartment. He heard a grunt coming from the direction of Frankie’s den and headed that way. There was music playing, but not the Dean Martin or Sammy Davis Junior that Finn would have expected to hear. It sounded more like a funeral dirge and probably was if Finn knew his uncle at all. It didn't bode well for what he would find when he reached the den. Finn stood on the threshold and looked into the dark room. The smell of stale cigars and unwashed body filled his nose and he held back a sigh. It had been a couple of days since he'd come by to see Frankie and he should have realised something was wrong when he hadn't heard from him. Frankie lived life large and when he was flying high, he was always bugging Finn to go to some party or club or other. But when Frankie hit a rough patch, he hid away like an old hermit. Finn had been so preoccupied with his own life that he hadn't even realized his uncle had been inco
Finn stalked into Carter’s office and closed the door firmly. Carter looked up from his desk and rolled his eyes. “What now?” “I can’t do it,” Finn said, throwing himself into his customary chair. “She knows, Carter. Peyton knows who I am and what I do. She knows everything.” “Is she the one who punched you?” Carter asked, leaning back in his chair. “No. Seriously? That’s all you can say? I tell you that the fucking gig is up and all you can wonder about is if she has a wicked right hook.” Carter sighed and leaned forward again, resting his elbows on his desk. “So what if she knows?” he said. “You can’t walk away from it now. You have one more post to write, so you say you crashed and burned. Big deal. The readers will eat it up. They’ll identify with you instead of feeling like you’re some God with women who have them eating out of your hand all the time. I don’t see a downside here.” “For fuck’s sake, Carter. Are you really this cold? Peyton is pissed, man. Seriously pis
In Like FinnI Was WrongThe most feared words by any red-blooded male. Admitting you are wrong is one of the hardest things we will ever have to do. But I’m here to tell you that I was wrong. I was wrong about everything.When I started this blog series it was with no small amount of hesitation. I didn’t believe in love. I didn’t believe that you could meet someone and have such a connection with them that being without that person felt unnatural.I didn’t believe in soul mates or forever love.I went into this whole thing with a good dose of skepticism. I wanted to prove everybody wrong. I wanted to show you, dear reader, that it just was not possible to pick someone out of a crowd and make them fall in love with you.I still believe that. It doesn’t matter what you do, you can’t make anyone love you. I still believe that hormones and body chemistry play a big part in finding your mate and connecting with someone. What I wasn’t prepared for was to fall in love with myself.Yes. You
“Peyton! Come on. Just read it.” “No, Mia.” Peyton shook her head, her mouth set in a hard line. “You have to read it,” Mia said, pushing the laptop across the table toward Peyton. “I don’t ‘have to’ do anything,” Peyton replied, “and I can’t believe you are taking his side on this.” “I’m not taking his side,” Mia responded mulishly. “I just think the guy deserves a chance to make it up to you.” “Should I give Dale another chance too?” Peyton asked. “No way,” Mia replied. “What he did was way worse. The guy married another woman. Finn just made a mistake—” “He made a fool of me,” Peyton said. “He lied to me and humiliated me in front of the entire online community.” There was a knock on Peyton’s door, stopping Mia from saying whatever it was she was about to say. Peyton got up and stalked across the apartment, opening the door with an angry wrench of her arm. “What?” A guy stood on the other side - well, she thought it was a guy. His f