Page 75 of Fan Favorite

The words tumbled out of him with no planning or discretion, just a ramble of adoration he wished he’d crafted and rehearsed into the sort of epic romcom declaration that Edie deserved. But it wasn’t his fault! He wasn’t some practiced Prince Charming. He was just some guy. But wasn’t there also something great about that? Maybe he didn’t have to be anything other than just some guy who was learning what real love was now that it was right in front of him. He stopped pacing and looked at her.

“Edie,” he said, not sure how far he was willing to go until the words were out of his mouth. “I’m falling in love with you.”

Slowly, she turned to face him. Her eyes were wide.

“What did you just say?”

“I saidI’m falling in love with you. And I don’t know if you’re into me or Bennett but”—Peter threw his hands in the air—“I hope it’s me, Edie. I don’t even care if it makes me a dick. Itcannotbe him.”

They stared at each other.

What the hell was he doing? He was telling a contestant that he was in some sort of love with her? He hadn’t said the wordloveto anyone since Julie, and he had intended never to say it to anyone again. And Edie was in the final four, for chrissakes! But it suddenly occurred to Peter that he didn’t care. Right this second, he didn’t care about his career or the show or what anyone would think. All he cared about was her. And telling her he was in some kind of love with her couldn’t be worse than not telling her. Well, actually, it could. But the bottom line was that he didn’t care. He kept waiting for his heartburn to surge, but it didn’t. And, strangely, even though that speech had been totally out of character, inside he felt calm, like all the moments of his life had led him here, to this moment.

Edie put both hands over her face and inhaled slowly. When she dropped them, her pretty gray eyes were wet, and her face had lost that hardness. She looked like how she looked on the plane, like she was wide open to him.

Slowly he reached his hand toward her.

“Edie,” he said softly, tracing his finger down the side of her arm. “Please.”

And, just like that, she was in his arms. When he kissed her, there was no caution or apprehension or any of the tentativeness that comes with a first kiss, just an explosion of everythinghe’d ever wanted, and then pretended he didn’t want, and then was starting to accept that he wanted more than anything in the world. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, Edie, who kissed him back with the kind of passion he couldn’t remember ever experiencing in his life, her lips on his, his hand up the back of her shirt, her nails cutting exquisitely into the back of his neck—

The elevator ground to a halt. Someone cleared their throat. Peter and Edie pulled apart. In the doorway was a silver-haired couple, the woman clutching her pocketbook to her chest in alarm. “Get a room,” the man said, guiding his wife onto the elevator.

“Thank you,” Peter said. He reached out and straightened Edie’s shirt. “Negotiations are ongoing.”

Edie stifled a laugh and stepped off the elevator. Peter watched her go, not sure if he should follow.

The doors started closing.

Was that it?

Could that be it?

Finally, Edie looked over her shoulder.

“You coming?” she challenged.

A lifetime of cross-country had Peter out of that elevator like he was Tom Cruise inMission Impossible. He grabbed her hand, and they sprinted down the hall like a couple of fugitives. Until he realized he had no idea where he was going, and she laughed and pulled him the other way. When they reached her door, he pulled her to him again, sliding his hand to the nape of her neck before kissing her slowly, more deliberately than he had before, luxuriating in every second of it.

“God, Peter, who knew you could kiss like this?” she said, a little breathless.

He tried to come up with something witty but just blushed and got shy.

Edie took her keycard out of her pocket and dipped it into the electronic lock. It flashed red. She tried again. Red. One more time. Red.

“Shit.” She turned to him. “Is this a sign? You sure we should do this?”

“Not at all.” He paused. “All I know is I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you right now.”

And then that too-big smile that made him believe in all the fucking fairy tales broke across her face. He took the keycard and with one swipe unlocked the door.

Peter was doing his best to savor every second of this experience—Edie pressed against the wall, gasping into his ear as he bit her neck—but he was also losing himself entirely as he followed her lead. Edie sliding her hands into his back pockets and pressing his cock directly into her crotch. Edie winding her fingers into the waistband of his jeans. Edie pulling his shirt over his head.

“All this time you’ve been keeping a six-pack under wraps,” she teased, throwing his shirt on the floor and placing her fingertips on his stomach. “Not bad, Peter, not bad.”

“Fortunately for you,” he said, moving her from the wall to the bed, “I’m not the kind of guy who needs relentless adoration of his sick muscles.”

“Well, I am that kind of guy,” she said with a grin. “So get to it.”

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