I suck at updating. I got engaged recently so wedding plans are occupying my thoughts most of the time. Don't worry, I have every intention of finishing this story. The next chapter will most likely be the last one though.

Something about this book had reeled Ryan in. Oddly, he found himself hating the guy in the book, waiting for the girl to shut him down, but Peaches, he was enthralled with. Maybe that wasn't so odd since the Frenchman reminded him of Henri-Michel, seducing a young American girl. He had just finished page 112 when a nauseating thought occurred to him.

Ryan dropped the book as if it had burned him, and looked at the name of the author. It couldn't be… He turned the book over, and on the back was a picture of the man who had come to his dorm room and punched him.

Before he could really think about what he was doing, he called her cell phone, figuring she would just be finishing up closing the comic book store. "Hello?" she answered, the tone of her voice letting him know she had looked at the caller ID before answering. He could picture her smiling into the phone and for a moment he forgot he was angry. But only for a moment.

"Why didn't you tell me your ex-husband wrote an erotic novel about you?"

His accusatory tone was new to her and it made her nervous. "What?"

"A Season for Peaches? The best selling erotic novel in France, English translation just came out?"

"An erotic novel?" She knew he wrote about love extensively but she never thought he would publish details of their sex life. Maybe it wasn't too detailed...

"Well, erotic is putting it tactfully. You don't know about this?" he asked, though he could tell she was as surprised as he had been.

Taylor looked out the window of the store and saw a new bookstore with a poster in the window of a book entitled A Season for Peaches by him. And she saw a figure that looked an awful lot like him standing in the store. What was he doing in the bookstore? "Oh no…"

She sounded freaked out. "Taylor?"

"Can I call you back?"

Now she sounded more determined than scared. Ryan sighed. "Fine. Bye."

Taylor ignored the sinking feeling she had from Ryan's tone and marched into the bookstore and found Henri-Michel inside signing copies. When he saw Taylor, he stood up to greet her, leaving a line of women watching with intrigue. "And here she is! My inspiration, Peaches!" He kissed each of her cheeks as Taylor stiffened, glaring at him. When he stepped back, she slapped him hard across the face. When the ringing in his ears quieted he asked, "Peaches, why are you angry?"

"You published a book about…us?"

"You're Peaches?" a woman in the line asked, looking at her with admiration. "On page 47, the part in the Chunnel, how did you not get arrested?"

Taylor glared at Henri with disgust. "The Chunnel?"

"I thought it would be a nice twist," he replied with a wink. "You didn't think so?"

"I haven't read it, but Ryan wasn't too thrilled with it! And what are you doing in Newport?"

"I am just promoting my book."

"Henri, just how detailed is this book?" The woman who had asked Taylor about the Chunnel, handed her the book opened to the infamous page 47. After skimming it, she looked back to Henri-Michel with tears in her eyes. "How could you? This is my hometown, and you're here promoting this book filled with details of my sex life! Enough truth to hurt me, and enough embellishing to make me look like a whore! How could you do this to me?"

"I did not mean to make you sad, Peaches. I just couldn't keep our love to myself; I had to share it with the world!"

"You're so full of it. And if I lose Ryan over this…"

"If this can come between you, was what you had worth holding on to?"

Tears sprang to Taylor's eyes, threatening to fall. "I'm falling in love with him." The realization, more new to her than to Henri-Michel, rang in her ears and without another word, she left.

As Ryan ate dinner, or at least tried to, phrases from the book ran through his mind on an endless reel. He tried not to picture it, to not imagine Taylor with another man, but it wasn't working very well.

Luke sat down with him. "You okay, man? You look like you were zoned out."

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, but even Luke wasn't too dense to see he was not fine.

"Chino, you really suck at lying."

Ryan glared at him.

"Thinking about Taylor?" Luke asked, winking. Sexual frustration had a tendency to make him moody, so maybe that's what Ryan was brooding about.

"Yeah, Taylor…and Henri-Michel."

"Her French husband?"

"Ex-husband," Ryan quickly corrected him. "It turns out he's a best-selling author. You know that book of Marissa's that you lent me?"

Luke nodded, and Ryan saw that he was slowly connecting the dots. "He wrote A Season for Peaches? Sweet, I think I owe that guy a person thank you card."

Well, some of the dots, Ryan thought. "Yeah. French man seduces a younger American girl..."

"He wrote a romance novel about her?"

Ryan nodded.

"Taylor is Peaches?"

"Yep."

"Damn, I knew she'd be wild in the sack."

"That's not the point," Ryan snapped.

"Oh...right." Luke looked apologetic. "Sorry."

"Hey guys," Marissa interrupted, sitting down beside Luke. Sara followed Marissa, sitting beside Ryan. She was smiling predatorily.

Ryan groaned perturbed by Sara's presence. "Hey, Marissa."

"What new with you, Ryan?" Sara asked.

He mumbled an answer, cringing at her presence when another girl approached the table.

"Hey Marissa. Do you guys mind if I pull up a chair?" The girl was petite with striking blue eyes and a warm smile.

"Sure. Guys, this is Savannah. We're in English class together. Savannah, this is Luke, Sara, and Ryan."

"Nice to meet you guys."

"So what classes are you taking?" Luke asked the new girl.

"I'm just taking my gen ed classes right now. English, history, the usual. My physics class is totally kicking my ass though."

"Ryan's really good at physics," Marissa offered. "Maybe he could help you out."

Savannah looked at Ryan hopefully.

"Yeah, sure, I could do that."

"That would be awesome, thank you so much."

Taylor was exhausted when she got home from work. She sighed with relief when Ryan answered his phone. At least he was speaking to her. "He's here."

She sounded so upset that all of his anger from before was gone. "At the Cohens?"

"No, no. Here in Newport. He's 'promoting his book.'"

"You saw him?"

"Briefly. Slapped him. Yelled at him. That was about it."

At this knowledge, a small smile crept onto Ryan's face. "Are you going to read the book?"

"No. Are you going to finish it?"

"No."

"Good."

"I'm going to Newport this weekend."

"Does that mean…?"

"I don't know. It's…I can't get it out my head, but I'm trying."

TBC! Please review!