"Fighting For You" Teaser

As promised, here is a little taste of the Tristan Hart (aka Justin Coale) story!  (Unedited version)

“Damn it, Tristan!  This isn’t what I signed up for!  I told you from day one that I don’t just fall over with my legs up in the air.  I have to know that you feel something in here,” Peyton gently laid her palm over his chest.  Time stood still as Tristan lowered his eyes to see where her palm was connected with the bare skin on his chest.  Clutching his eyes shut tight, he desperately tried to hold back the feelings that were trying to escape from the fortress deep within his soul.  He knew that he wasn’t good enough for Peyton.  There was no way that his battered mind, body and soul could handle the mental intimacy that she deserved…that she needed. 

Tristan watched as Peyton lifted her other hand to rest on the other side of his chest, and then she splayed her fingers across his flesh.  She took a deep breath, slowly letting it go, before she quietly continued, “I’m not saying that I won’t be with you unless you love me.  I’m not that naïve, Tristan.  Can you give me some indication that I mean more to you than one of the whores that you pick up from the bar?”

The word coming from Peyton’s mouth made him wince, as it was almost too painful to hear.  She had summarized with one word what Tristan had accomplished with the last five years of his life.  Never had he ever felt bad about being a love ‘em and leave ‘em kind of guy…until this very moment. 

Willing his body to move, Tristan carefully peeled his lids open, and focused on the sultry green eyes that were staring back at him.  Peyton was studying him carefully, waiting for him to answer.  There was a longing coming from those emerald green orbs, but it was mixed with something else.  Peyton was looking at Tristan with more than just a physically longing, but a mental longing, too.  She saw something in him that was worth all the pain, and the heartache that he was bound to give her. 

Peyton was seeing in him what no one else ever even dared to look for.  When she relaxed her shoulders and added a small smile to her lips, Tristan knew exactly what he was seeing in her eyes.  She was able to see the good in every person, and Tristan was no exception.  Deep in the dark recesses of his mind, he knew that he wanted to have more with Peyton, wanted to see that light in her eyes keep getting brighter. 

Tristan finally answered her question, “You will always mean more to me than anyone else ever has.  I gave up a long time ago on feeling anything other than lust.  But with you, I know that I want more.  But how much more…I honestly don’t know.   I can’t handle forever, Peyton.  Just say you’ll give me right now.”

Peyton closed her eyes, letting her smile spread all the way across her face, giving him all the answer that he needed.  She hadn’t moved her hands from where they lay on his chest, making it easy for Tristan to close the bit of space there was between them. As he pulled her in closer, Peyton’s hands inched up his neck and wove into his hair.  He could feel her hot breath as he leaned down to her lips.  He hesitated at the last second, and whispered, “I care about you more than I have about any other person on this entire earth.”

Tristan softly brushed his lips against Peyton’s at first, and then he deepened the kiss by tilting his head to the side, using his tongue to part her lips.  Peyton had untangled her hands from his hair, and instead was using her fingertips to stroke up and down his back. 

The slow and sensual kiss was quickly becoming a catalyst for all the sexual energy that the two of them had worked up over the last month.  Peyton released a soft moan that Tristan gladly drank from her mouth and then gave her lower lip a quick tug in between his teeth before he released her.  They both were panting, but Tristan didn’t want this simple intimacy to end; he had waited too long for this very moment when he would get to taste the sweetness that this goddess held.