Connor could hear the sound of someone in the hall – probably Poppy – asking where he was. Standing under the steady pitter-patter of the rainfall shower, he did his best to tune her voice out. He needed this moment. After last night’s torture, he needed a release.

Because despite the fact that they had both desperately wanted to, he and Peyton had not had sex.

Shortly after they’d come through the door, Jackson’s voice had rung out from the great room. Connor had had Peyton pressed up against the door when they heard it, his tongue trailing the swell of her breast and her ribbed tank top in a puddle at her feet. He’d stretched the straps till he could pull them off her shoulders and push them off of her body. She was just about to do the same with his swim trunks when they heard Jackson.

“Hello?” his deep voice called out accusingly, as if he immediately suspected intruders. And suddenly, he was up, his footsteps bounding toward the front door. Peyton pushed Connor off of her so fast that he could hardly react. She was up the stairs by the time Jackson made his way to the foyer, where Connor stood holding Peyton’s tank top over the massive tent he’d pitched beneath his trunks. Immediately, Jackson laughed and clutched his stomach.

“Fuck, man, I thought you were some robber,” he said before his eyes caught hold of Peyton’s top. “Of course you hooked up with one of them already. Which one? Kyle was telling me he was gonna beat you to it but I guess he’s never gonna beat you to shit, huh?”

Connor had laughed it off and luckily Jackson was too drunk to further question him about which of the girls he’d been with. Heading up to his room, he’d prayed that Peyton would be waiting for him in his bed but when he got in, he was surprised to see someone else between his sheets.

Poppy, wearing an ivory satin negligee.

She was asleep sitting up, which had Connor assuming that she had dozed off while waiting for him. It wasn’t uncommon. Back when he had parties at his Doyers Street apartment, there were often female guests who crept into his bed before he went to sleep. Generally, they were awake by the time he got in and generally, they had sex. If the girls were asleep, he either found another or waited till the morning.

But with Poppy, none of these options applied. For the first time in his life, Connor was uninterested in the gorgeous girl who’d taken it upon herself to hop between his sheets. For the first time, he had his heart so firmly set on another woman that he found the idea of sleeping with anyone else was simply irritating.

So Connor opted to crash in Jackson’s room since Jackson was back asleep downstairs. But after a few hours of tossing and turning, he got up and returned to his own room, which, to his relief, Poppy had vacated.

Hopping in the shower, he thought of Peyton.

Last night, Connor had seen a new side of her. He had seen her when she wasn’t worried about looking after Kensie. She was loose, happy, free. There was an adorable little glimmer in her eye that made Connor wish that Kensie slept for the majority of the day. Then Peyton could be unoccupied, free to throw caution to the wind and for once, have fun.

And do things like admit to him that she wanted him.

“Fuck,” Connor groaned, balancing himself with a forearm against the marble wall of the shower. Wrapping his hand around himself tighter, he stroked faster, remembering the way Peyton had thrust her body against him last night. He clenched his jaw at the thought of his greedy hands on her breasts, her back arching as his mouth closed over her tight nipple. He breathed hard between his gnashed teeth as his mind replayed the torturous sounds that he had drawn from her lips. It was the memory of her moaning whimper, the way she said his name that finally brought Connor to a twitching, guttural finish. “Christ,” he exhaled hard with a last grunt, catching his breath for a minute before turning the shower head off.

“Thinking of me?”

Connor jumped at the voice that greeted Connor when he stepped out of the bathroom. Looking up, he saw Poppy standing in front of his closed door, wearing a peach-colored bikini underneath a loosely crocheted cover-up. Despite the variations of “what the fuck” that coursed through his brain, he kept outwardly calm. “What are you doing in here?” he asked, tying his towel around his midsection. But it was too late. Poppy’s eyes had already feasted hungrily on what she so clearly wanted. Pouting, she let her gaze linger on Connor’s towel before looking up and batting her feathery lashes.

“I was waiting for you last night.”

“I saw.”

“Then what? You were too much of a gentleman to take what was waiting there for you?”

Connor laughed as he grabbed a pair of boxers from his suitcase. “I’m no gentleman,” he replied. “I just wasn’t interested.”

Poppy pretended to gasp. “Connor Schaffer, how incredibly rude. I’d take offense if I didn’t know for a fact that you’re a liar.”

He laughed. “Come again?”

“Well, you’re a screenwriter. It’s your job to make up stories - no?” Poppy said, sauntering over and plopping down on his bed as he got dressed. Leaning back on her hands, she fixed her stare on the knot of his towel, as if willing it to fall before he could pull his boxers up underneath. Connor watched her as he she watched him. She was doggishly assertive when it came to sex – he’d give her that. Normally, he’d happily give in but today, it wasn’t happening, and he was almost as surprised as she was.

Grabbing the first pair of jeans he saw, Connor yanked them up onto his body. “Sorry. I know it seems in line with my character but if there’s one thing I actually don’t do, it’s lie,” he said before grabbing a T-shirt off the dresser and heading downstairs.

* * *

In the afternoon, most of the crew boarded The Regina, a one hundred-sixty foot yacht named after Russell’s second wife.

“I don’t know. It kind of felt like a job yesterday,” Kensie said as she and Peyton sat on the white couches at the stern of the boat, watching Jackson teach the others to fish while Connor and Kyle laughed about something or another by the bar. “Like, it feels like I should be with a nice guy like that,” Kensie said, gazing at Kyle, “but then I feel almost like he’s… too nice.”

“What? Too nice? Kensie – ”

“No, no, hear me out. I’m not saying I need bad guys like Blake but I think I need someone who’s at least got a little bit of bad boy in him, you know what I mean?” Kensie asked.

“I guess. As long as you recognize that Blake’s not the type you want to be with,” Peyton said, wondering if Kensie was keeping mum about getting any sort of texts from Blake recently. Her only comfort was knowing that since arriving, pretty much nobody had been getting service on their cell.

“Yeah. I mean Blake’s… he’s just… going through things. He’s not a bad guy deep down, he’s just – ”

“Kensie!”

“Okay, fine, he’s horrible, yada, yada! But my point is that I need a man with an edge to him. Someone who’s bad without being actually bad. You know?”

Peyton said something or another in response. She was trying to listen and give her full attention but for once, she was too busy reliving her own memories from the night before. It was hard not to with Connor standing a few yards away, eyeing her every couple of seconds and then biting back his grin before returning his attention to Kyle.

God help me, Peyton thought when Poppy Somerville splashed the guys from the water, forcing them to roll their eyes and peel off their wet T-shirts. Can’t even be mad at her for that one, she thought as Connor balled up his T-shirt and tossed it aside.

Lord. That rock-hard torso. She had felt every ridge of it last night. As her eyes trailed downward, Peyton recalled the other part of his unreal body that she’d felt last night.

It had been as impressive as was rumored, and she had surprised herself by wanting it. Instantly. By being a hundred percent sure that she was ready for it. She hadn’t had sex in about six months but she was certain she could handle Connor because she’d never, not even once in her life, been so incredibly turned on. Whatever he’d done to Peyton had ruined what she’d known of arousal. It had disrupted something in her entire being that for years had made her complacent – content with mediocre sex and mild attraction. That type of knock-your-socks-off, sweep-you-off-your-feet, get-you-literally hot-and-bothered kind of lust didn’t actually exist. That was for movies, Peyton told herself during college, during her first big relationship. It was a gross exaggeration of reality, and it simply didn’t happen in day-to-day life, she’d decided.

Except it did. And it felt so good that Peyton couldn’t even regret it if she tried. Why should she? As it turned out, Connor Schaffer was not only fucking gorgeous but also a decent man.

And she liked him.

“I think I need a man like Connor Schaffer.”

Peyton smiled. But then she blinked, realizing the words hadn’t come from her own mouth. Looking over at Kensie, her eyes fluttered. “Kensie… say that again?”

“I think I need a man like Connor Schaffer,” Kensie repeated. “I know I keep flip-flopping about which one I want but I’m pretty sure it needs to be Connor because he’s got that edge to him that I like. And I don’t think I ever stopped crushing on him, really, ‘cause he’s like, a good guy who’s a bad boy, so it all works out. With Kyle, it’s just like… he’s so pretty and he’s such a nice guy. He’s America’s sweetheart. I don’t think I’m normal enough to be with someone like that. Right?”

Peyton stared. For the first time since last night, she stopped fantasizing about Connor and started thinking about Kensie. “I… don’t know. I liked the idea of you and Kyle,” she said genuinely. “Did he seem interested when you were talking to him last night?”

Kensie wrinkled her nose. “Not really. He kept talking about work and the scenes. Like, I didn’t expect him to try to hook up with me on the first night but I kind of thought he’d start planting the seeds and being a little flirty. But he wasn’t.”

“Maybe he’s gay,” Isabel said, flouncing over. Kensie laughed.

“That can’t be true because gay guys love me,” she said, twirling a lock of Isabel’s blonde hair as Isabel shook the ice in her empty drink cup.

“You said we were going to have a cannonball contest once you finished your drink,” she reminded Kensie, whose eyes lit up.

“Oh my God, I totally forgot!”

And with that, she and Isabel joined Jackson and a few others in a cannonball contest, which Kyle recorded on his iPhone. With everyone distracted, Peyton chewed on her lip, waiting for Connor to approach her. She could feel him trying to all day but whether it was Poppy, Kyle or Jackson, he was constantly bombarded.

When she finally did see him coming from the corner of her eye, her heart began to actually pound. Jesus, girl, Peyton teased herself. Is this you having a major crush again? She hadn’t felt this kind of fluttery excitement since liking Josh Roberson in high school. But this was like Josh times a million because just feeling Connor’s body close to hers made Peyton squirm again. Watching him approach made her press her knees together and flex her thighs. It didn’t help to see his sexy hands as he gripped the neck of his beer bottle, bringing it to his smooth, curving lips.

“Don’t give me that,” Peyton scowled jokingly.

“Give you what?”

“That look.”

“Trust me, that’s the least of what I want to give you right now.”

Peyton closed her eyes. “Don’t,” she whined softly.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t make it harder on me than it already is,” she pleaded with a sheepish smile.

He laughed. “Then don’t make those sexy fucking sounds that you make.”

“Fine. I won’t,” she blushed, hugging her knees to her chest as Connor took the seat beside her.

“So, how’d you sleep last night?” he asked, seeming to know the answer since he broke into a giant smile that crinkled his eyes. Peyton grinned. She’d never seen that boyish look on him before.

“I didn’t,” she admitted.

“Me neither,” Connor said, lowering his voice when one of the assistants swam near the boat. “Listen… I don’t know if you were drunk or not last night but – ”

“I wasn’t,” Peyton interrupted. “I told you I wasn’t and I meant that.”

“Okay. Fair. I guess I should’ve known since you didn’t come up to me this morning with some speech about how you regret everything and last night shouldn’t have happened.”

Peyton’s lips twisted up into a smirk. “Did you anticipate that I would?”

“All day.”

Peyton smiled, peering out at the water to make sure that no one was watching their private conversation. “No,” she sighed, biting her lip as she stared down at her thighs. “What happened last night happened. I’m not going to try to take back the things I said or did because I meant them. At the time.” She looked up just as Connor’s eyebrows furrowed. Even his frown was alarmingly sexy.

“So the things you said were true yesterday. How are they feeling today?”

Peyton looked him – at the genuine curiosity in his blue-grey eyes. She never thought that it was possible for Connor Schaffer to look even the tiniest bit vulnerable. “The same,” she answered, watching him try but fail to suppress his look of relief.

“That’s…” He nodded, squinting in the sun for a few seconds before grinning wide and letting go of a deep breath. “That’s good to hear.”

“Yeah?” Peyton cocked her head with a smile. “Why?”

“Because I haven’t thought about anything but you in ten hours,” Connor replied. “And I don’t think I can go one more without being able to touch you the way I did last night.”

Peyton sucked in a sharp breath, his words launching her right back into last night’s state of hot, dizzy breathlessness. Shit. She couldn’t let the others see her like this. “Connor – ”

“Yes or no.” He stopped her before she could start. “You told me last night that you wanted me. Do you?”

“Yes, I want you,” Peyton exhaled as she rose from her seat in frustration. Connor followed as she escaped inside the boat.

“Then why are you about to tell me that you can’t do this?” he asked, his voice trailing her up the stairs. Peyton clenched her jaw.

“It’s complicated.”

“It’s not remotely complicated,” Connor laughed straightaway. “It’s stupid and I’m sure it has to do with Kensie. She has a crush on me and you can’t have anything she wants. No, you can’t have anything she so much as thinks she wants because… I don’t fucking know, you’re holding onto some guilt over bullshit that probably wasn’t your fault to begin – ”

“Yes, fine, you’re right,” Peyton hissed, pushing through the door that led to the room farthest from the stern of the yacht, turning as Connor shut it behind him. “It’s not my fault but it is my problem. You don’t get it. I owed my life to Russell even before I screwed up Kensie’s. What was it – I think it was two hundred-thirty grand that my mom stole from him before disappearing off the face of the Earth. It might’ve been more. Actually, it was definitely more once you factor in all the money it took to take me in, put me through school, college, buy me presents when it was my birthday. Basically act like the family I never had.”

“Russell hardly treats you like family, he treats you like an indentured servant,” Connor said bluntly. Peyton eyebrows flashed but she tried not to let his assessment get to her.

“Well, that’s the life my mom made for me.”

“No, Peyton. Christ, your life isn’t something that’s already written. You’re allowed to do things to change it. Any day you can start. You just don’t because you’re too scared at this point.”

“And you’re telling me this right now because you want to fuck me, not because you care.”

Connor threw his hands up. “Christ, can I say anything without you throwing that in my face? Trust me, I’m not the type of guy to so much as look at a girl if I don’t give a shit about her. If I’m not getting sex from her when that’s all I want, I’m gone. That’s the asshole you read about. I don’t pretend or sugarcoat or lie. I don’t care enough to do that shit,” Connor said, his eyes fiery but freezing Peyton in place. “I’m telling you all of this because I care about you. I don’t know why but I do. You do everything in your power to be a pain in my ass but on the few occasions that you let yourself laugh around me, I can’t get enough. I really can’t. I’ve never wanted anyone more than I wanted you last night. You were so fucking… happy and you were the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. Shit, on a regular day, you’re the most beautiful girl in a given room and that’s when you’re stressed out, anxious and panicking about something stupid Kensie did. But when you’ve got nothing else plaguing your mind, nothing to think about but yourself, you can take anybody’s breath away. And trust me, you do.”

The hitched in Peyton’s lungs. She blinked at Connor, taking him in with his words. His handsome features were already so damned gorgeous but they were even better tinged with passion, urgency. There was a spark in his eye, a flush to his lips. His chest heaved in a way that made those deep lines of muscle ripple with every hard breath. For once, he’d abandoned his usual calm and cool. He was stripped bare before Peyton and it made her breathless, her heart beating wildly, with no regard for how her body could handle it.

Shit. Suddenly, no matter how hard she thought of Kensie, Peyton couldn’t deny herself. She did want Connor Schaffer.

Desperately.

As her gaze fell to his sculpted lips, she imagined them once again on her skin. She wanted to tell him to fucking do it – to just kiss her already, but she was utterly tongue-tied.

So instead, she moved slowly backward towards the bed, beckoning him with her eyes.

She watched his Adam’s apple bob, the heat in his stare calming to make room for anticipation as she brought herself closer to the plush bed behind her. Once she was perched on the edge of the mattress, Connor stood still before her, his wolfish stare raking up and down her body, delivering a rush of heat to every inch of her skin. Peyton eyed him as slowly, she twisted the hem of her tank top, feeling the cool air hit her as she tugged the cotton further and further down her chest.

“This again?” Connor feigned torment. Peyton smirked.

“So you can continue where you left off,” she offered softly, still pulling and stretching her neckline so tight that her breasts fought against the thinning fabric, threatening to spill at any second and unleash Connor’s wildest beast.

The second her breasts sprung free, a savage growl escaped his throat.

Peyton gasped as Connor pushed her back on the bed, sliding one arm under her back and arching it to bring her breasts to his lips. Flicking his tongue, he teased her, drawing slow, languid circles around her tight nipple before taking her into his mouth. Peyton moaned as he sucked, his groan vibrating against her skin and prompting a deep throbbing between her legs. She squirmed, feeling so wet so fast that she could barely keep track of what was happening.

Jesus. How was this possible? Connor’s mouth on her skin already felt better than any man had ever felt inside her. She was actually fully satisfied with that sensation alone. But then his hand reached under the skirt of her sundress. Deftly untying the side of her bikini bottom, Connor peeled it off till his fingers could trail along the slickness between her thighs. Watching her closely, he slid them gently inside of her.

“Oh God.” Peyton gripped handfuls of the sheets, her fists pulsing and her body bucking lightly as he tunneled within her, longer and deeper with every stroke. Her back arched tighter as his mouth moved down her body, his jagged breath grazing her ribs, her stomach, her hip bones then finally, between her legs. Her jaw dropped as Connor sank to a kneel, his free hand gently pushing her thighs apart. Peyton gasped, his hot breath hitting her in a way so tantalizing she was sure she’d go actually crazy if she had to wait another second. “More,” she pleaded, her muscles clenching as she felt the heat of his mouth coming closer and closer.

“Tell me what you want.”

Peyton chewed her lip, refusing to say it till he slowed even the thrust of his fingers inside her. “Connor…” she pleaded, grinding her hips.

“Say the words, Peyton,” he murmured wickedly. “Tell me what you want from me.”

She whimpered, resisting for another two seconds before breaking.

“I want you lick my pussy,” Peyton begged in a tortured whisper. She thrust her hands in her hair as a groan rumbled from the depths of his chest. “Now, Connor, please,” she moaned, never so desperate in her life.

Writhing on the bed, she heard Connor’s sexy laugh before feeling the first long, hot stroke of his incredible tongue.

“Oh my God,” she gasped, instantly, throbbing where she’d felt him. Torment knit in her brows as she covered her own mouth with her hand, watching Connor draw back for a second to simply look at her. He wet his perfect lips, a devilish grin spreading them as he studied her pink cheeks and writhing body. One hand still pumping inside her, the other untied his trunks, releasing his hard cock from its confines. He grinned as her reaction to his size flushed immediately in her lips. Watching them quiver, he gripped his shaft and stroked slowly, soaking in the sight of her agonized pleasure. “Connor, please, more,” Peyton whispered hastily, raising her hips and tearing impatiently at the ring of crumpled sundress around her waist. But that only mesmerized his hungry eyes into staring for longer. “Connor, please. Please, it feels so good, please,” she breathed hastily. Finally, with a crooked smile, he relented.

“Okay, baby.”

Baby, Peyton repeated in awe just as she felt Connor’s tongue press against her swollen clit. She gasped as he began circling slowly, torturously.

“Connor…” Peyton clamped her hands over mouth, her abs clenching as his tongue steeped her deep into a world of unbelievable pleasure. As she bucked, he held her down by the hips, keeping her still for his mouth, and lapping greedily as he pumped his fingers inside her. He moved in a rhythm, every second of his touch eliciting some kind of reaction from her.

“Mmm.” Connor groaned against Peyton, sending an electric buzz through her body. It rippled forcefully through her, arching her back so hard that the top of her head touched the mattress. “Holy shit, Connor…” Her pleasure was tinged with panic as his tongue replaced his fingers, sliding deep inside her.

Oh.

My God.

Peyton twisted the sheets. There were stars – actual stars in her vision as he brought her closer and closer toward the edge. Fuck. It felt too dangerously good, like he was going to make her scream. Every second had the last one paling in comparison, and Peyton knew it wouldn’t be long before the world shattered into a million pieces around her.

“Connor, I… I’m think I…”

“Come for me,” he growled before licking up the length of her pussy and sucking her clit.

With that, his name tore from her lips, a year’s worth of ecstasy quaking in her delirious voice. Even as she came down from her bliss, she moaned, the aftershocks pulsing forcefully through her body.

But finally, she relaxed back into the mattress, her limbs wrapping instinctively around Connor as he climbed on top of her, pressing his lips against hers and sweeping his tongue through her mouth. Exhausted, elated, Peyton kissed him back, tasting herself as she reached down to return the unimaginable pleasure he’d given her.

Nipping his lower lip, she wrapped her hand around his rock hard shaft, feeling his breath hot against hers, growing short and ragged as she pumped him from root to tip. She loved the sound of his deep grunts and groans as she brought him closer to a finish. When it came, Peyton watched Connor clench his teeth and fall apart in her hands, practically growling as he pumped the heat of his pleasure onto her skin. Her mouth fell open as she soaked him in, almost as aroused by his climax as she had been by her own.

When he collapsed onto his back beside her, she stretched out with a content sight, naked aside from what she’d coaxed out of him. Staring at the ceiling, Peyton bit back a smile.

She didn’t recognize any of these sensations. She felt oddly powerful and on top of that, filled to the brim with satisfaction. As Connor began trailing his fingertips along her skin, she closed her eyes. Fuck, she cursed, realizing at once what she’d been missing for so long and what she’d never be fine without again.