Peyton fell back against the pillows, breathing hard. Lucas's arms gave way and he came down on top of her, unable to move for a moment. He rested his forehead against hers and lay a soft kiss on her lips. When he tried to roll off of her she wrapped her arms and legs around him playfully.

'Where do you think you're going, scott?'

'Nowhere,' he purred. 'I just thought I might be crushing you.' He leaned forward and initiated another hot make out session. Peyton squirmed beneath him and he smirked into the kiss. He broke the kiss and rested himself on his forearms above her.

'As much as I enjoy your enthusiasm I think it'll take more than a thirty second break before I'm ready again.' Peyton laughed, he looked so pleased with himself.

'And as much as I enjoy your sexy confidence, I'll have to disappoint you. Get up, I need to pee.' His smirk was gone and they both laughed at his misunderstanding.

'Way to kill the atmosphere Peyton.' He rolled off of her and she got up to make use of the facilities. Lucas pulled out his phone to check for messages, then switched on the TV to pass the time while waiting for Peyton.

When she came out of the bathroom she looked a little annoyed, he flicked off the TV and reached out his hand to pull her onto the bed beside him.

'What's wrong?'

'There's no hot water or soap and the towels look like they haven't been changed in months.' She made a disgusted face and the corners of his lips twitched up in response.

'Peyt, you can just take a shower when you get home,' he leaned in and nuzzled her neck.

'But I wanted to shower with you,' she said seductively. He grinned widely and pulled her down on top of him.

'I know you hate coming to hotels but it won't be for long. We have a couple of places to go see tomorrow. We have a good deposit and enough to rent a decent place so we should be able to move soon.'

'I know. And I don't hate hotels. I think this whole sneaking around in hotels thing could be sexy if we lived close to a decent hotel. This place is just awful.' She looked around the room in disgust.

They lay quietly for a while, just enjoying the closeness. This was the most time they had been able to spend together since their reunion. Lucas was thrilled with the return of his mother and sister but he would admit to himself the timing could have been better. Andy had now joined them and home was starting to get a little crowded. Karen loved having her family around her but she had understood when Lucas told her he was looking for a place with Peyton. She would stay the night with him in his room sometimes but it was a little awkward. They wouldn't have sex there as Lilly had yet to master the art of knocking before entering a room. The tension was unbearable when she stayed. She'd be lying next to him, looking gorgeous and smelling sexy and he'd be unable to touch her. It was much the same when he stayed at her house, Brooke and Lilly had a lot in common when it came to privacy! He was shaken out of his thoughts when she suddenly sat up a little, her hand on his chest and a smile on her face.

'I forgot to tell you, the band and I are going to LA for a couple of days at the end of the month. I sent their demo to a few of my old contacts and this great producer wants to work with them. They're going to be recording their first single!' The excitement in her voice was amazing. He tried to grin but his face felt odd.

'That's great Peyt, so great,' he tried to sound genuine but the look on her face told him he hadn't quite pulled it off.

'What's the matter? It's only a couple of days Lucas and I should be back before we move.' She sat up and crossed her arms over her chest. He sighed, sitting up and resting against the headboard.

'It's not that, you know how proud I am of you and I want you to go, it's just...I'm not sure how to...It's that Chris guy OK! I know I have no right to say this but I don't like you hanging out with him! There, I said it. I'm Sorry,' he said, not sounding at all sorry. When he dared to look at her face he could see the thunderous look in her eyes.

'You're damn right you shouldn't say it. I'm not the one who was ENGAGED to his editor, the editor he still talks to, the one you share your writing with, the one who'll probably be there on you next book tour. I can't believe you Lucas, what the hell do you think I'm going to do?'

'Nothing, I know nothing is going to happen,' he back tracked. 'It's just, I know you guys are close and I guess I'm still a little jealous. You must admit, he does have a resemblance to a certain ex of yours and You've always had a thing for musicians. I'm not scared you'll cheat, I'm scared you'll fall for him and realise that you deserve better than me,' he averted his eyes from her intense gaze and looked out of the window.

'Did it ever occur to you Lucas, that the musicians I've had in my life have been there to fill a void. I went out with Jake and Pete only when you weren't available, you were with Brooke. Other than when we first met, there hasn't been a time when I've had a boyfriend and you've been single. I was always waiting for you.' She was nearly in tears now and he felt like an asshole. He reached over and pulled her into a hug, stroking her hair and taking in her scent.

'I'm sorry, just ignore me. I just get so scared that I'm going to lose you again. When you walked into your kitchen that morning and I knew you'd been with him I felt like dying. I'll just have to get over that, you deserve this opportunity.'

Peyton slowly pulled out of the hug and gave him a confused look.

'You think I slept with Chris? You think I would be so unprofessional as to sleep a member of the very first band I signed?' her face was taking on a dangerous look and suddenly he knew Haley had been right.

'We're not all like your ex-skank Lucas!'

He was lost for words, trying to find the right thing to say as he watched her pulling her clothes on at high speed. He suddenly jumped into action grabbing her wrists and forcing her to sit on the end of the bed.

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, look at me Peyton, I'm sorry OK,' he tried desperately as he knelt in front of her.

'Just for the record, if you had slept with him I don't think that would have been wrong, but I should have known you were better than that. I just jumped to conclusions because I hadn't seen you with anyone else, just him at the club. Haley told me I was crazy and I should have listened OK, I'm sorry.' She could hear the plea in his tone and calmed down a bit.

'If it was on your mind, why didn't you just ask me who I had slept with?' she asked through clenched teeth.

'I didn't have any right to ask you that, and I told myself it didn't matter, you came back to me. And it doesn't matter, I was just being jealous and I'm sorry.'

She put both hands on the side of his face and rested her forehead against his, letting out a loud sigh.

'I know you're sorry but this can't work if we're not being honest with each other Lucas. If something is bothering you we need to be able to talk about it, even if it is stupid. Things need to be different this time. If we had talked about our problems back in the hotel room in LA we would probably be married with kids by now. We can't afford to go down that road again, I can't, I'm not strong enough to do it again.' The tears were running down her face and splashing on his hands which were in her lap.

'OK, you're right, I should have told you what I thought. As long as we're on the subject, do you have anything you want to talk about? You're little rant about Lindsay there, do you want me to get a new editor?' She took a deep breath, thinking about what he was asking.

'I'm not jealous of Lindsay, and I don't have a problem with you working with her, I just don't like being around her. Her face just brings back bad memories. As long as I don't have to be around her I don't mind that you work with her, I trust you. You picked me over her...eventually.'

He sat beside her on the bed and took her hand into his, clasping it tightly.

'Peyton, is there anything else you want to say to me? I know I hurt you pretty bad, and not just recently. The morning we argued in your kitchen you were mad about a lot of stuff that happened when we were younger, I had no idea you felt that way.'

'There's a lot of stuff Lucas, but none of it matters any more. We were kids, I was just looking for stuff to throw at you that day.'

'Are you sure that's all it was? It still seemed pretty raw when you were yelling at me.'

'That was mostly about your engagement, you really hurt me so I just brought up all this old crap to yell at you about. I was heartbroken, and angry and as you know I had been up all night.'

'Peyton, I'm not the most clued up guy when it comes to all this stuff so I really need you to tell me when I do something stupid or insensitive. I know you like to act like you can handle anything on your own but I don't want you to do that anymore, we have to deal with this stuff together. We're a team now.'

She looked up from her lap and into his eyes, letting a small smile light up her face.

'I can't promise you it will always be easy. I've been on my own a lot since I was a kid and my first defense is to climb into my shell, but I am going to try.'

'Good, because I think together we are better than we ever were apart. You're the love of my life Peyton, my soul mate.'

'I love you Lucas, always have, always will.'

He grinned and pulled her to him for a deep, heartfelt kiss.

Thanks for all the reviews, please keep them coming. I know mothing much happened in this chapter but I think the conversation was neccessary. Will update soon.