A hush fell over the crowd as Peyton stood and looked at Finn. She couldn’t believe this was actually happening. She was willingly putting herself in the spotlight for this man even after her recent brush with fame had been so disastrous. People were looking at them, smartphones raised capturing every single moment. She should be running in the opposite direction, but she wasn’t. She was here, ready to face him. Ready to accept what he was offering, regardless of the people standing around and watching. On the cab ride over she had pulled up the blog he had written and read every single word. He had laid himself bare before her and she recognised the man she had fallen in love with in his words. Then she rewatched the video of him appealing to her to meet him in Federation Square. Her heart yearned to be with him. It felt like a physical pull inside her and she had barely restrained herself from urging the cab driver to go faster. But it hadn’t been the words he wrote in the
He kissed her then and everything else just faded away. It didn’t matter that several hundred people were filming the very private moment on their smartphones. It didn’t matter that it would be all over social media within minutes. It didn’t matter that there was a near-deafening roar of the crowd cheering for them. She didn’t even care about the probable media fallout and being stalked by the paparazzi again. None of it mattered because Finn was holding her in his arms and kissing her and her world finally felt like it had been righted and was now spinning on its correct axis.Finn lifted his head to hear the cheers and applause of the gathered crowd. He had completely forgotten that they had an audience and he held Peyton just a little bit closer to try and protect her from the scrutiny of the hundreds of people who had gathered. Maybe doing this in such a public way hadn’t been the smartest idea, especially when all he wanted to do right now was bury himself inside Peyton and
“I booked us a room at The Mayfield,” he replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. It was really just an excuse to touch her. She smiled. “Confident much?” He grinned but shook his head. “Not at all,” he said. “If you had turned me down flat, I intended to lock myself away and drink myself into oblivion. On the slim chance that you would actually give me another chance, I had some food and drinks ordered so we could celebrate with our friends before I whisked you away to have my way with you.” “You mean let me have my way with you.” “Yes. That. Definitely that,” he said and then kissed her quickly. “Peyton,” he said when he lifted his head, his tone serious. “You do know that I meant every word.” She searched his eyes for a moment before she nodded. “I can feel them,” she said, tapping her chest. “Here. I can feel them here. I could feel the truth of them as you spoke. I’m still mad that you used me for your blog series, but I know you had good intenti
He groaned with satisfaction as she tangled her fingers in his hair to hold him in place. He was on his knees in front of her. He had stripped away her blouse and bra and had slipped off her shoes and skirt. She stood there in just her panties and he could hardly believe that this incredible woman wanted him as much as he wanted her. He let her nipple slip from his lips with a soft pop and then moved to lavish some attention on the other one. His arms were around her waist, his hands splayed against her lower back. Her soft, rounded bottom was cradled in his elbows and he couldn’t think of a better position for him to show his appreciation for her wonderful body. “Finn,” she breathed, her voice raspy and needy as he bit down just slightly on the hard bud in his mouth. He could spend all night just worshiping her, but he needed to be closer to her. He was still dressed and his clothes chafed at him. He needed to feel her skin against his. He pulled away from her and
“Okay, I’ll admit that I was wrong,” Peyton said as she looked at Finn who sat beside her, staring at her like she hung the moon. “You can fall in love in a month.” Liam rolled his eyes and turned his back on the television screen. Finn and Peyton had gone back to Wake Up, Australia in the hopes of calming the media storm that had blown up around them after Finn’s grand and very public declaration of his feelings for her. Since that night, the press had been camped out on both Finn’s and Peyton’s doorsteps - which was a very bad thing for Liam. Love was the last thing on his mind. He was happy for Finn, but Liam had other more pressing matters on his mind. Namely, the super-secret project that he had been working on and the added pressure of the press’s attention was not at all what he needed if he wanted to continue going undetected at his current place of employment. And if he wanted to find out the truth, then he needed desperately to stay under the radar. Going unde
Mia flopped down on Peyton’s couch…well, it was her couch now, she supposed. Peyton had moved out and moved in with Finn and they were happily shacked up together in a huge apartment in a converted wool store, the same wool store where the other guys from The Playbook had apartments. Mia had jumped at the chance to move out of the tiny room she’d rented from a little old lady who’d disapproved of nearly everything Mia did. It hadn’t mattered that the room was above the garage, or that Mia was twenty-four and an adult, Mrs. Reynolds felt it was her prerogative to snoop in Mia’s private quarters as often as she could. That resulted in Mia’s favorite sexy lingerie mysteriously going missing only later to be found in the garbage can. She would have moved out sooner except she couldn’t afford to, not with her uni fees and the paltry part-time job she had at Forever Young. But all that had changed. Now she was almost a university graduate with just one more subject to complete to prove
Mia wiped away the tears that had snuck out of her eyes from the force of the uppercut she gave herself and looked down at the blood on her hand. Her nose was bleeding. Fabulous. That was just perfect. More annoyed now than embarrassed, Mia got to her feet. She turned around and got back in the lift. She rode it in silence back to her apartment and went straight to the bathroom where she washed her face, removed the mascara-soaked tears from her cheeks, and gave herself a critical look in the mirror. She was going to have a black eye tomorrow. Of course, she was. Shit like this always happened to her. Mumbling about the unfairness of her life, Mia stripped out of her blood-spotted t-shirt and pulled on a well-worn Kensington Cougars AFL supporters t-shirt. She eyed her trackie dacks but turned from temptation. She might feel a little miserable now after her embarrassing spill, but she wouldn’t give in to the seductive call of comfortable fleece and a stretchy waistband. She
“What the fuck, Mia?” Ant said, followed by an oof sound as their mother backhanded him in the gut. “What was that for Ma?” he asked looking at Maria. “Language,” she replied. “It might be fine for you to speak like that on the job site but I will not have that language used under my roof.” Ant rolled his eyes. “What’s the problem?” Luca asked, squeezing into the kitchen beside Ant. “Mia’s got a job at a men’s magazine,” Ant said, his eyebrows pulling down in a frown. Luca looked at her critically. “I don’t think she has the rack for that,” he said. Mia shot him the finger and stuck her tongue out. “Is this true, Mia?” Frank asked, frowning as he lowered his newspaper. “It’s not that kind of men’s magazine,” she said. “I already told you all about it last week. Doesn’t anyone listen to me?” “What’s Minnie Mouse squeaking about now?” Frankie asked pushing past his brothers. Ant and Luca were not ones to let a chance for a bit of argie-bargie go unanswered. They pushed