Hazel St. James - Fighting For You (Redemption#1)[ (15 page)

He muttered into her flesh, “I love your ass.” Giving in to her whimpers, he pulled her down for a passionate kiss and held her face in his hands, letting go of his favorite part of her body in the process.

Peyton moaned into his mouth, and pulled back enough so that she could get her hands onto the hem of her shirt.

Tristan stilled her hands and said, “Not yet, Peyton.”

She whined, “What? I said I’m not following the three date rule anymore! I need you, Tristan. Please!” Peyton tried launching herself at him, but he held her firm.

“The definition of a date is
me
picking you up, dinner, some activity and a kiss goodbye. Is that not true?”

Peyton pouted, but stopped trying to wrestle herself free. “I guess.”

Tristan nodded encouragingly and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips, “Then this was date two. I will be back to pick you up at six o’clock for date three.”

Peyton bounded up and down on his lap and giggled, “Ooohhh. Where are we going? Can we go dancing, or maybe we could…”

Tristan silenced her with another kiss, but lingered long enough this time to make her relax again. “It’s a secret.” He pushed his chair back from the table with both of them sitting in it, and Peyton climbed off his lap.

After one more kiss, Tristan rubbed noses with Peyton and she sighed from somewhere deep inside her tiny body.

“Six o’clock, baby.”

Chapter Sixteen

P
eyton giggled as she climbed into the passenger side of Tristan’s Jeep. She was turning every which way in her seat, looking around the inside. Tristan pulled the seat belt around her and clicked it into place as she craned her neck over to look at the gauges. “Pretty cool for a free car, sweets. I like it.”

Tristan gave her a quick kiss, and answered, “I like it, too. It just needs some body work, but I think I know somebody that can help me with it.”

Peyton was scrolling through her cell phone when Tristan got behind the wheel and buckled up. He pulled out of her driveway and was a good five blocks away from her house and she was still staring at her phone with a look of concentration. “If you stare at it long enough, is it going to do something cool?” Tristan asked playfully.

Peyton didn’t look up, she just shook her head. “No, I think that Sara’s boyfriend used to work on cars. In fact, I think he’s still working there part time while they get their club open. I’m not completely sure about it, though.”

Tristan sighed and gave her an exasperated look. “Baby, I appreciate your concern, but I’m capable of doing some things on my own, you know.” He didn’t mean for it to come out of his mouth so harsh, but his angst built as he said the words, and by the end, he could feel the heat from his own mouth.

Peyton snapped her head up from her cell phone, looking at him with fear in her eyes. She stammered, “I k-k-know that, Tristan. I was just trying to help.”

Tristan kept his eyes on the road, and took a few deep cleansing breaths. It was a shitty way to respond to what he knew was just something that Peyton innately did for everyone, but it was time that he took control back of his own life. At least the parts he could handle.

“Baby, don’t take this the wrong way. I love that you take care of me. But, I gotta have some control back in my life, or I will be completely dependent on you. That’s not the kind of relationship I would ever want to have with someone.”

“Oh,” was her only answer. Her face lit up like a Christmas tree when she did finally look up at him. Tristan could only peek at her occasionally as he drove them out of town, but he could see her gorgeous smile that stretched all the way across her face, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. She was playing at being happy; it wouldn’t have been obvious to anyone else, but Tristan had memorized every line and curve in her sweet face, and could read her like a book. Still, he was at a loss for what to say or do next, and opted to just let it go.

They rode in silence for the remainder of the ride, except Peyton did reach across the seats to hold his hand. Tristan was glad for the contact, and brought their joined hands up to his mouth to kiss her knuckles before resting them on his thigh.

It was almost seven o’clock by the time they’d picked up supper and arrived at the location for their first official date. Well, Tristan was calling it their
third
date in his mind for nefarious reasons.

“This is it,” Tristan told her as they pulled into a lighted parking lot on the top of a tree covered hill.

“You brought me parking?” Peyton giggled nervously and Tristan barked out a return laugh.

“No, baby. But if you’re only here for my body, then let’s skip the formalities and get this over with,” he mock acted like it would pain him greatly to do so.

Peyton rolled her eyes at him and gave his shoulder a firm push. “Jerk.”

Tristan opened his door and motioned for Peyton to do the same. Come on, fancy pants. Let me show you why we are here.”

“Why do you call me fancy pants? You said it a few other times, and I never really thought much about it. But, now you’ve got me curious.”

Tristan laughed, “I was wondering when you would finally cave and ask me what that meant. The very first time you were in my apartment, you bent down to pick up some clothes off the floor, and your ass was so fucking hot in those pants you had on, and in my brain it morphed to fancy pants.”

By the time he finished explaining, Tristan had grabbed their supper and a couple of large blankets from the back of his Jeep. Peyton was glaring at him, with her arms crossed over her chest and tapping her foot against the asphalt. “Seriously?
That
is why you call me fancy pants?”

“Yup,” Tristan didn’t back down at all, and gave her a quick peck on the cheek as he walked past her.

“And if I told you that I didn’t like it?”

Tristan didn’t stop walking, and shot back over his shoulder, “I wouldn’t say it anymore. But I think you like it, baby. Otherwise you would’ve said something before now.”

Peyton must have jogged to catch up with him, but Tristan was purposely walking slower now that he was at the edge of the parking lot and they were about to go into the darkness.

With a cute pout on her face, Peyton said, “I guess it’s not so bad. Be careful, though, I may resort to calling you Pook, or something.”

Tristan held out his arm so that Peyton could hold onto it, and said, “There aren’t any lights down the steps, but I know where we’re going. Do you trust me?”

She sobered up quickly and stood there for a minute, looking forward into the darkness. He could still see enough from the lights behind them that she was smiling. She whispered, “I can hear water. Are we at a lake?”

“Yeah, baby, we are. There’s a secluded beach down and around the corner. It’s somewhat warm for this late in November, but if you get cold, I have plenty of blankets with. I thought we could have a moonlight picnic on the shore.”

Peyton was hugging his arm close to her, and whispered, “That sounds perfect, Tristan. Thank you.”

Tristan kissed her hair and started walking down the stairs and Peyton followed behind, holding onto his belt loops. It was pitch black, and the stairs were surrounded by trees, but as they inched closer to the water, the moonlight reflecting on the water made it easier to see. Plus, their eyes were adjusting to the darkness.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Tristan turned to walk along the shoreline, and felt Peyton stumbling behind him. “You okay, baby?”

She absently answered, “Yeah, I can’t see a whole lot, but it’s absolutely breathtaking out here. The water is so calm, and it looks so peaceful.”

Tristan stopped for a minute to look out over the water himself, and he tried to keep the memories from this lake tucked inside, but it wasn’t easy. He’d spent a lot of time here as a kid with his dad and they were all good memories. But it still wasn’t easy to keep the bad stuff from coming back to him with the good. Still, this was supposed to be a romantic evening with his favorite girl, so he needed to buck up.

“There’s a bit of a sheltered area on the other side of that bent over tree. That’s where we’re headed.” Tristan pointed out in front of him at a large shadow on the shoreline. He knew from memory that the shadow was a very large weeping willow tree that had grown so large that its top half dangled over the water.

Tristan led the way to the area and stopped a few times to check around them. It had been almost six months since he’d been here last, and a lot could have changed in that time. When they got close enough to the tree, he held the branches back so that Peyton could duck under with him and they made it through to the other side. Tristan knew from experience that there was no way to see from up above to this area, and the only way to see from the opposite side was if you were on a boat. It was a perfectly secluded location for a romantic picnic.

Spreading the first blanket out, Tristan motioned for Peyton to sit down on the thick comforter, while he worked on unpacking their supper. They’d picked a simple dinner of roasted chicken, homemade rice pilaf and salad from Gabriel’s Supper Club. It was a good idea for Tristan to taste the food from the place he was going to work at before he started spouting off that he recommended anyone eat there.

They ate dinner in amenable silence, with Peyton offering the bits of her salad she didn’t like to Tristan on her fingers. He was more than happy to take the extras, especially since it gave him the opportunity to lick her fingers when he was done. At first, Peyton didn’t say much to him, but the next few times he did it, she would whimper a little when he would bite the pads of her fingers. It was hot, and had his insides stirring.

“I’m so full,” Peyton announced after finishing her dinner. She wasn’t a picky eater, but she didn’t have too much to add when they were choosing meals. It seemed as if she didn’t have an opinion on trivial things.

“That’s too bad because I brought a piece of double chocolate fudge cake. But, I’ll be glad to eat the entire thing if you aren’t hungry anymore. I will gladly take one for the team,” he mock sighed as he opened the Styrofoam container. He purposely had picked up all their previous containers and utensils so that there wasn’t a way to eat the cake, except from his fingers. But before he got creative with food, they needed to have a discussion about a few things first.

Chapter Seventeen

P
eyton eyed the cake hungrily, and licked her lips. “Mmm. I love chocolate.” She was reaching for the container, so Tristan pulled it back out of her reach.

“Not so fast, baby. I want to ask you two questions, and if you answer honestly…” Tristan tapped the container with his finger and it made a faint ting. “I’ll give you a reward.”

Peyton narrowed her eyes, “I’ve never lied to you, Tristan. This isn’t necessary. Ask your questions.”

Tristan laughed at the firmness of her voice, and flicked the tip of her nose, “I didn’t say if you answer
truthfully
, I said if you answer
honestly
…”

Scowling, she shot back, “Same difference.”

“Nope. Truthfully means you won’t lie. Honestly means that you not only won’t lie, but you’ll tell me every little bit of your answer, not the PC version.”

Peyton huffed, but said, “Whatever. I will answer
honestly
...” she played out the last word so she sounded as if she was speaking like a child.

“Okay, question number one…do you think if you hadn’t been hired to work with me, you would’ve given me a snowball’s chance in hell?”

Peyton laughed, but it was laced with hostility. “We are kindred spirits, Tristan. If we hadn’t been put together, I know fate would have brought us together eventually. And, why don’t you think I would date you?”

Tristan ignored her question, and lifted the chocolate cake to her lips, brushing the edges until some of the pieces fell and landed in the cleavage of her V-neck long sleeve shirt. She gave him a smirk as she took a big piece off the cake, biting his fingers in the process. Growling low in his chest, Tristan set the piece of cake back in the box, and leaned down to lick the crumbs of cake from her chest.