Page 86 of Perfect Harmony

They ate in silence for a few minutes beforeGideon said, “Did you sleep last night?”

“I did. I, uh, slept in your bed again. Ihope that’s okay.”

“You know it is.” He dipped his biscuitinto his soup and took a bite. “Holy hell, did you make these?”

“Sort of. If you define buying them prepackagedfrom the grocery store and sticking them in the oven for eight minutes as ‘makingthem’.”

He grinned at her. “They’re really good. Howwas your day?”

“Okay. Daniel texted me. He said I could goby tomorrow and see what I could get from my place.”

“What time are you going over?” Gideonsaid.

“Probably the morning.”

“I’ll go with you.”

Relief rushed through her. “Thanks, Gideon.I really appreciate that. Anyway, I also called my insurance place and put a claimin. Barbara said my rental insurance and contents insurance will replace anythingthat’s not salvageable.”

“That’s good news,” Gideon said.

“It is, but I’m hoping that some of mystuff is okay. Then I met Kira for lunch and then…”

“What?”

“We ran into my mom. She said,” a bitter laugherupted from her throat, “that she’d heard about the fire at the complex and wasmeaning to text me.”

He scowled, dropping his spoon into hisempty soup bowl. “You’re fucking kidding me.”

“Nope. I wasn’t even surprised that sheknew and didn’t call,” Grace said. “Kira got mad at her, told her that it wasa shitty thing for a mother to not even call to make sure her daughter wasokay.”

“Good,” Gideon said. “She deserved to becalled out for it.”

“It didn’t even really register with her,to be honest,” Grace said. “She said that she assumed I would call her if Ineeded them. She has a point, you know?”

“No, she doesn’t.” Gideon reached out andtook her hand. “She and your dad should have been calling the minute they foundout about the fire at your complex. They’re shitty parents, Grace. Don’t defendthem.”

“I’m not,” she said. “Anyway, after that,I saw Rayna at the grocery store, and we ended up going for coffee.”

“I didn’t know you and Rayna were friends,”Gideon said.

“We’re not. I mean, we might be startingto be friends now,” Grace said. “I like her. She’s funny and seems sweet. Imight ask if she wants to hang out with Kira and Addie and me sometime. Afterwe finished coffee, I came back home, that was around four I think, but I didn’twant to wake you in case you had just gone to bed.”

She stared at their clasped hands. Gideonreleased her hand and sat back, and she tried not to let the disappointmentshow on her face. “Do you want some more soup?”

“No, I’m good. Thank you.”

She stood and gathered their empty bowls, standingat the sink to rinse them. She didn’t know what to think or say. Gideon was actinglike last night hadn’t happened and her plan to ask him to finish what theystarted was beginning to feel like a bad idea.

For all she knew, he could be horrified bywhat they’d done last night.

Hell, maybe he was trying to think of a politeway to tell her that her idea of staying at Addie’s empty apartment was a fineone and, oh by the way, could she leave right now before things got even moreawkward?

“Gideon, I was thinking that maybe I shouldstay at Addison’s place. I don’t want to -”

She gasped when Gideon’s arms slid around herwaist and he pressed a kiss against her throat. “If you really want to leaveand go to Addie’s apartment, I won’t stop you, Princess.”

His hand slid up and cupped her tit, hisfingers teasing her nipple through her shirt and bra. “But if you leave, it’sgonna make it a lot harder for me to eat your pussy tonight.”

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