Tempting Nora (19 page)

"Are you okay?" Gideon asked
as he hovered behind her.

"Why wouldn't I be?"
She stared determinedly at the piece of fruit she held.

"Well, your eyebrow is twitching and you started yelling about fireworks for no reason whatsoever." He eyeballed the
fruit in her hand. "On top of that, you're practically fondling that grape."

"I am not." She
frowned at him. "And how can you make even touching a grape sound perverted?"

"It's
a God given talent." He shrugged.

"I wouldn't call it a talent."
More like, an annoying quirk.

"Ouch." He
clapped his hand to his chest.

She
groaned but said nothing. Unfortunately, that was when Gideon wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"
I think I know why you're acting strange all of the sudden," Gideon said.

Don't tell me he knows that I…I…like him.

"What do you mean?"
Her palms were slick with sweat.

"I'm afraid the overwhelming pleasure you received from kissing someone of my skill level melted your brain."
Gideon nuzzled her hair.

Her blood boiled
. She liked this guy? Seriously? It didn't even make any sense. He was a braggart if there ever was one.

"You—you—" She was so frustrated she squished the grape. A st
ream of juice squirted out and doused his jaw.

Oops.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" He wiped the juice from his facial hair.

"Nope."
She laughed, not regretting the accidental squirting.

"
You need to be punished." He grabbed her wrist before she could make an escape.

"
Punished?" She tried to flee, but it didn't work. "What are you going to do?"

Gideon tugged her to his chest and whispered sinisterly in her ear, "PDA."

"Public display of affection?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," he said.

It took her a moment to realize what he meant. When realization struck, her stomach churned. Oh no, the guy was going to kiss her again.

"No, not this." She struggled, even as he
clapped his hands to her face and held her head steady.

The way he
squished her cheeks wasn't romantic, but people kept staring anyway. He showered her face with kisses, even as she struggled. Despite the situation, every place his lips touched was aflame. She stared up at him, trying to fight away the tingles of pleasure that ran down her spine. Even in a crowded grocery store, his presence was alluring, making her long to draw closer still.

"Will you think twice about squirting me with a grape again, sweetheart?" He grinned at her.

"No nicknames," she said.

He kissed the tip of her nose, making her
dizzy.

"
The more you gripe, the more I'll kiss you." A sly grin crossed his face.

"You dog." She
flailed, even as her skin warmed because of his touch.

"You must be enjoying
this." He kissed her lips again and took the time to linger. "You're practically asking for it."

"Why, I ought to…"
She stopped herself from spewing a threat just in time.

The
guy had the audacity to smirk.

"Any more comments?" he asked.

"No," she said begrudgingly.

"Will you squirt me with a grape again, darling?" He was goading her and she knew it.

"No."

"
Really?" He raised an eyebrow.

"No."

"How disappointing." He finally released her. "This was fun."

"Maybe for you." Flustered, she straightened her shi
rt.

When she looked up, she saw that all of the
people in the produce section were staring at them. Judging by Gideon's smirk, he'd known it the entire time.

"Look at all the people
watching us," she whispered.

"I said your punishment was a public display of affection." He shrugged.

"How humiliating…" She was either going to have to shop at a different store from now on or wear a bag over her head.

"Why?" Gideon winked. "I'm proud
that I'm the one who's kissing you."

Her irritation deflated like a balloon. Cripes, how could he calm her rage with a single well-timed comment? The guy was sly.
Embarrassed, she ducked her head and walked over to the cheese aisle. Naturally, Gideon followed her. She avoided his gaze and examined the mozzarella, trying hard to pretend she wasn't self-conscious. Unfortunately, Gideon realized why she couldn't look at him. The guy knew her too well.

"You're so cute when you're shy." He smiled at her warmly.

"I'm not shy," she snapped.

"You are
too." He grinned at her. "It's sweet. Heck,
you're
sweet."

"I'm not sweet." She was ornery. Even she knew that.

As she picked up a block of cheese, Gideon tugged at her basket.

"Let me carry this for you," he said.

"I can carry it." She glared at him, still embarrassed about the shower of kisses.

"I know you
can carry it," he said. "I just want to make shopping easier for you."

Before she could say otherwise, he stole the basket from her. He
looked strangely proud for a man carrying a grocery basket in the cheese department.

"
We look like a married couple, don't we?" he said, beaming.

She snapped to attention as a rush of pleasure surged through her.
Good grief, they really did look like a married couple. He carried her basket and kissed her in the produce aisle. Now he was even examining the cheese at her side. Her inner romantic fought with her inner cynic and the cynic was losing. She was happy because people would think they were together.

No, no, no!

She did the only thing she could do in that situation—elbowed Gideon in the ribs.

Chapter Thirteen

Two hours later, Nora still couldn't handle the maelstrom of emotions within her, even as she sat across from Gideon in her favorite restaurant. Trying to ignore the way her heart fluttered when she so much as gazed into the man's eyes was impossible. At that moment, she realized she couldn't stop herself from liking him. Her heart had stolen the reins from her brain and refused to give them back. She was truly at Gideon's mercy.

The thought made her want to leap from her seat and run screaming from the restaurant
. Still she didn't do that. Even as some part of her longed to run for her life, most of her wanted to stay. With Gideon.
I must be going crazy for letting this happen.
She groaned and cupped her face.

"You're more
wired than usual." Gideon sounded amused.

"It hasn't been my d
ay." Every time she'd gone head-to-head with Gideon, she'd lost.

"Really?" He raised an eyebrow. "I think today has been marvelous."

"Yeah, yeah." That was because he was the triumphant one.

Frowning
, she stared at her soda. She needed to distract herself from her feelings and direct the conversation in a safe direction. If Gideon brought up kissing one more time, she was ninety-nine percent sure she'd break under the pressure. She strained her mind to come up with a safe topic and found one. She'd had a run-in with Gideon's not-so-savory friend this morning. It was the perfect topic. In fact, she should have brought up the topic earlier. It would be near impossible for Gideon to lead their talk somewhere inappropriate.

"A friend of yours visited this morning," she said.

Gideon was taking a drink when she said the words but froze mid-sip. As he placed his glass down, he stared at her with concern, all traces of a smile gone from his perfect face.

"A friend?" he asked slowly.

"Yeah." She nodded. "His name's Amon."

The color drained from
Gideon's face.

"
Did he hurt you?" Gideon seized her hand. "Tell me he didn't hurt you."

"
What's wrong?" She was startled by the amount of concern in his eyes. "The guy didn't hurt me at all. Well, except for this."

She showed
him the fingerprint bruises on her skin. To her surprise, Gideon stared at the injury with such sorrow it was as if she was badly wounded.

"Oh, Nora," he said.

"For heaven's sake, it's just a few bruises." She shrugged. "The man grabbed me for a second. I don't think it's that big of a deal."

"What exactly happened?" Gideon
looked her in the eye.

At that moment, she wasn't sure she wouldn't rather be talking about kissing. Gideon was scaring her.

"Amon introduced himself and I told him to stop following me." She wrinkled her nose due to the memory. "When he grabbed my arm, I told him I'd douse him with pepper spray if he didn't let me go. After that, he released me and left."

"You threatened
to douse Amon with pepper spray?" Gideon looked as if she'd offered a starving lion a piece of chewing gum.

"It worked, didn't it?" She grinned. "I don't think he'll be bothering me again."

Gideon didn't say anything, but he was rigid in his chair. The only time she'd seen him this tense was when he'd told her about the woman who'd died in the earthquake.

"Hey, it's okay." She gave him a
comforting smile. "I'm tough. I can handle him."

"Not this guy, Nora." He traced the bruises on her arm. "I know you aren't going to like
it, but I'm going to have to stick to you like glue from now on."

"
Why?" He was like a second shadow already.

"I just do." His jaw clenched. "Let me know if you ever leave your apartment. I'll walk you
wherever you need to go. That includes to work."

"This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever—"

"Nora," he growled, cutting her off. "Don't even start."

"Geez."
The hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

"I
'm like this because I don't want anything to happen to you," he said. "You can't push me away. I'm trying to help."

There
was something strange about Gideon's eyes. His irises were as black as night, even though they'd been caramel colored a second before. Even the way he stared at her was different. This was the first time she could ever remember being intimidated by him. She found herself leaning back, trying to put distance between them even as he held her hand. Gideon was still Gideon, but some primal part of her mind screamed that he was a threat.

Gideon must have seen the fear in her
face because he said, "I'm sorry I'm scaring you."

The darkness
faded from his eyes and the strange energy that hung around him like a cloak dispersed. Finally, he was himself again. She breathed a sigh of relief, wondering why her heart leapt as if she was being chased by a wild animal. This was Gideon, for crying out loud. The worst thing he'd ever done was kiss her in public. She shook herself off, feeling silly that her skin was covered with goosebumps.

"That guy must be really dangerous to make you react like this," she said.

"You have no idea what he could do to you." Gideon shuddered at the thought. "Promise me you'll let me help you. I know that goes against your independent nature, but I care about you and you can't face Amon on your own."

For a moment she didn't say anything. Instead she just watched as Gideon ran his fingers over
her bruises again, his expression pained.

"
Do you care about me that much?" she asked.

The guy met her eyes, still holding her arm as if it was precious.

"That should be obvious," he said.

She let out a sigh.

"Then whatever you think you need to do, do it." She couldn't believe she was giving him permission to hover.

"Thank you," Gideon
said, sounding like he meant the words.

Still the man kept running his fingers over the bruises, his eyes dark and sad.

"I'm really okay," she said.

"
I just hate the fact that you were hurt because of me." He looked so pained it was heartbreaking. "This is my fault."

"How is this your fault?" It wasn't like he was the one who'd grabbed her arm. "I know you'd never hurt me. Even when we're arguing, you're gentle."

"It just is." Gideon shook his head.

Just as she was about to question him, the waiter walked over and cleared his throat.
She realized that the two of them were practically nose to nose, talking in hushed voices. Gideon was even still running his fingers down the inside of her arm. To a casual onlooker, the two of them looked like lovers in the midst of a passionate conversation. Heck, even a pretty redhead was staring at them, her eyes wide.

The thought had her sweating as she leaned back.

"What can I get th
e two of you?" the waiter asked.

"Nora?" Gideon nodded at her, signaling she should go first.

"A hamburger with fries."

And heaven help me, I need an entire cheesecake for dessert.

****

Nora stood in the restaurant bathroom an hour later,
staring at her reflection in the mirror. She couldn't believe how tired and worn down she looked. It was a wonder that she had to keep fending off Gideon's advances. The man should have been repulsed by the sight of her. As she sighed and studied herself, she was assaulted by a tornado of thoughts. Before she'd gone to the bathroom, Gideon had acted normal again, but she could tell that he was stressed. On top of that, she still couldn't believe her own feelings for him. It was enough to make her want to bury her head in the sand.

Of course I don't want to like Gideon
.
I know he isn't going to stick around.

Her own
thought stung. Good grief, she'd turned into such a whiner. She hated that. There was nothing—absolutely nothing—wrong with her. So what if she wasn't perfect? She was unique, darn it! Unique! Being unique was way better than looking like every other woman on the planet.

Her confidence bolster
ed, she headed out of the bathroom and walked over to her table. Unfortunately, her seat was occupied by someone new. The beautiful redheaded woman who'd been watching Gideon earlier was now sitting in her chair. When the immaculate beauty smiled, the light reflected off of her white teeth. At that moment, all Nora's hard-won self-confidence flew out the window. And the mayhem didn't stop there. No, she was pretty sure any semblance of self-esteem she had left was then hit by a truck, doused with gasoline, and lit on fire. She couldn't even blame herself for feeling downtrodden this time. After all, a woman who looked like a goddess was sitting in her chair, hitting on the man who was supposedly her date.

This was why she
hadn't wanted to get involved with Gideon. The man probably collected women like stamps. To someone like him, she was a game. If she wasn't, then he would have shooed the beautiful redhead away. As her eyes burned with unshed tears, she whirled around, not caring in the slightest that Gideon had warned her an hour earlier that he didn't want her to go anywhere without him. If the man truly cared about her, then he wouldn't be flirting with the redhead.

She was heading for the door when
Gideon called, "Nora."

Instead of slowing down, she picked up her pace
. After she rushed outside, she heard hurried footsteps behind her. Before she could break into a run, Gideon seized her arm and stopped her.

"Let me go, you cad.
" She fought to break his grip.

Right now
she wanted to escape more than anything else in the world.

"What are you doing?" Gideon
pinned her to his chest. "Hold still."

"I will not, you jerk.
" She squirmed in his grip. "I can't believe you. I actually thought you were a good man, but you were flirting with some other woman when I was in the bathroom. I was such an idiot to think that there was even a shroud of decency in your body."

"I wasn't flirting with her.
" Gideon tightened his grip, his eyes narrowing in frustration. "I've been trying to convince that woman to leave your chair for the past two minutes. If you'd come a little closer, then you would have heard me telling her that I wasn't interested."

"Yeah, right." She sniffed, but she wasn't fighting as hard.

"That's exactly what happened," he said. "If you don't believe me, I'll go back to that wretched woman and shake the truth out of her."

When she
finally looked at his face, she knew he was telling the truth. The pain in his eyes was too real. No man could be that good of an actor.

"Really?"
She stopped struggling.

"Of course." He nodded. "If you'd only come
closer, you would have known that I was trying to get rid of her."

At that moment, she realized she'd overreacted. When she'd walked
over to the table, she'd been looking at the woman, not at Gideon. For all she knew, he could have been angry and she hadn't even realized it. She gnawed at her bottom lip, tasting blood. One second she'd been watching them, the next she'd been so upset she couldn't breathe. Heck, she'd been about to cry. She was not the type of woman who dissolved into tears at the drop of the hat, but Gideon had reduced her to someone who sniveled over nothing.

As she groaned in self-disgust, Gideon
finally released her arms and touched her cheek.

"Why the heck di
d you run like that?" he asked. "You should have come over. I would have explained it all."

"I was upset." She shrugged. "That woman was draping herself all over you."

"Yeah, but you should have known I wouldn't lay a hand on her," Gideon said.

"How would I know that?" She raised an eyebrow. "The truth is I d
on't even have a right to be angry. The two of us aren't together. The only reason you follow me around is because I'm the odd duck who won't sleep with you and you find that intriguing."

"
You think that the only reason I'm still hanging around is because I want to sleep with you?" He acted as if she'd slapped him.

"You haven't
told me otherwise," she said in her defense.

The words
made him stiffen.

"Fine. You're right, b
ut let's clear everything up now." Gideon placed his hands on her shoulders. "Nora, I'm with you because I like you, not because I want to sleep with you. I still desire you—there's no denying that—but I'm going to stay by your side no matter what happens. I haven't touched another woman since I started pursuing you. I don't intend to either. Happy?"

To her surprise, she was happy. So happy she could have laughed out loud. Darn it all. She shouldn't have felt warm and bubbly, but she did. She had to
wrestle the smile off of her face.