Page 8 of Gideon

“I could wear what I had on for work?” she offered, glancing down at her bag, but as I pulled in, a rough-looking man I would put in his fifties came out of the main door andleaned against the wall, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. Her eyes went wide when she saw him, and she tried to shrink back in her seat.

“Who’s that?” I asked, pretty sure I knew.

“My landlord,” she whispered, trembling, so I quickly diverted out of the parking lot and headed to the exit. “I should go back,” she whispered.

“No, I don’t want him following you inside or seeing you in the car while I go in,” I said and quickly drove back out. She nodded, clearly not liking either thought. I could ask Margaret to go buy some clothes for her. I knew she’d be happy to, and I could easily arrange a driver for her.

Abby’s eyes grew very wide when I pulled into our secluded community and greeted the guard at the gate. We’d built the four houses close enough so we would have each other’s backs, but separate, so we had our privacy. We each had fabulous views over the private beach set around a lake, and we shared maintenance and ground staff. Not that we were here that much. We had a shared apartment over the club that we could crash in if we needed, and it was often more tempting than driving home to an empty house. Dion was here the most, as he had two dogs. I doubted if Walker had spent more than two full nights here in the last six months since he usually went home with whatever sub he fancied. Maddox and I tended to split our time equally between the apartment and our homes. He’d been the only one I’d told what I was doing this morning when we’d met the architect at our new nightclub.

“Now Abby,” I said, pulling into my climate-controlled garage, “Let’s get you comfortable.”

Abby gazed at me. “Why?”

“Don’t you want to be comfortable, baby girl?” I asked, deliberately misunderstanding her, and got out of the car, coming around to the side and opening her door.

“You know what I mean.” I nodded. I did. I just had no idea what to tell her, but she let me steer her inside, through the mud room and into the kitchen. I sat her down on the bench that ran around the window, bent and undid her laces, pulling her sneakers off and, after toeing my shoes off, I reached out for her hand.

“I want you to soak in the bath while I’m getting some food ready and then we’ll talk, I promise.” She deliberated for a few seconds, but then put her hand in mine and let me pull her up. And because I was stronger than she was expecting, she stumbled a little, but I caught her easily in my arms and didn’t let go.

Her gorgeous green eyes stared up at me, widening when she found herselfstill pressed against my chest after she’d expected me to set her on her own two feet, and I bent my head, bringing my hand up to cup her soft cheek. She leaned her face into my hand a little, her lashes fluttering down, and it was such an astonishing and unexpected demonstration of trust, I did the only thing I could possibly do, and I kissed her.

Chapter four

ABIGAIL

The warmest, smoothest pair of lips I’d ever tasted settled on mine at the same time as Gideon’s arm swept me nearly off my feet and pulled me tight to his chest. He was strong and safe and smelled like every delicious thing I’d ever tasted. Warm, soft bread with a hint of chocolate, and the smell of grass after summer rain through the open window.Fudge nuggets.I was in so much trouble.

And the kiss. He took immediate charge but was gentle. Tiny nips to make me part my lips, then he swept his tongue inside and it was heaven. Shivers raced down my body until they reached my core, which seemed to pulse in time to my heartbeat pounding in my ears. My head swam, and I lifted heavy arms to wrap them around his neck, pressing closer, shamelessly grinding against the hard bulge of his—

What was I doing?

Gideon must have sensed my hesitation, because he gentled the kiss, and when our lips parted, he lowered my feet to the floor, brushing a kiss to my forehead. “You’re hard to resist, baby girl, but I can behave.”

It was hard to admit even to myself I wasn’t a hundred percent certain I wanted him to.

Did that make me a—No.I shook my head to clear it of my last foster mom’s words. Helena had no place in my head or my life anymore.

I wasn’t sure what had happened, but somehow before I realized I was soaking in one of the biggest bathtubs I had ever seen, complete with enough bubbles to completely cover me.

Another memory crowded in. Helena had ordered me to run the washing machine and I’d picked up the dishwashing liquid instead of the laundry liquid and been way too generous with it. When she’d returned, there were bubbles over half the kitchen floor, and I was desperately trying to clean them.

That had been another night when I’d gone to bed hungry.

“Are you going to have a soak, or do you want to play?”

My eyes flew open at the deep, husky voice that was all Gideon. Had he left? Wait, had he been there when I undressed? I was suddenly very aware of my clit, which seemed to be just as aware of Gideon. He’d rolled up his shirt sleeves, showing all those heart-stopping muscles. His jacket wasn’t in the bathroom, so he must have left at some point. I breathed out. Wait, did he just ask me if I wanted to play?With him?Heat swept up my cheeks. He seemed to realize where my mind went. “Not that sort of play, babygirl. But I don’t want you spending too long in there until you’ve eaten something. I can’t risk you getting dizzy.” He frowned. “I should have at least gotten you some crackers and cheese.”

My heart did a funny, jumpy twisty thing like one of the pre-k kids, Michael, who loved jumping even when he wasn’t supposed to. Gideon picked up a bottle from the counter and prowled toward me like a big jungle cat. “Lean forward so I can wash your hair.”

I was so shocked I obeyed immediately, getting a murmuredgood girlthat sent more heat sweeping through me. Not as much as the kiss, though. Gideon wet my hair with a handy shower attachment that fitted on the bath, then worked the shampoo in. His fingers were utterly incredible, and I was helpless to bite back a moan at the bone-melting touch.

I heard myself and my eyes flew open again in mortification. They seemed to keep closing of their own accord. But all Gideon did was chuckle, then brush a kiss on my lips. “I love your noises, baby girl. Don’t try to hide them from me.”

Had I died? Was this heaven?

He rinsed the shampoo, taking great care not to get any in my eyes, and by the time he’d massaged the conditioner in I could barely keep my eyes open. He rinsed it and wrapped my hair in a towel, eyeing me carefully, then pressed one of the buttons on the side of the bath and the water started draining.

Rousing, I tried to stand in too much of a hurry and would have slipped if he hadn’t clutched me. “No, I’ll get you wet,” I protested as he reached an arm around me, when I really wanted to protest that the rapidly drainingwater made me visible and I was very naked. Not that that made sense. You were either naked or you weren’t, and by the time my brain had supplied that thought, he’d lifted me into his arms and cradled my very wet body, and very naked one because yes, I decided, the modifier was entirely appropriate.

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