Tempting Nora (21 page)

As she made coffee and debated calling the vet first thing in the morning, Gideon left her bedroom and started walking around
the living room instead. While she watched him, she stopped wondering about her animals. The way he searched her apartment was odd. He wasn't just looking in places where Amon could easily hide like under her bed or in her closet. No, the guy was searching in drawers as if a person could squash himself into such a little space. It made her wonder whether he was spying on her.

"What exactly are you looking for?" she asked.

He met her eyes.

"
I'm looking for signs that Amon has been in your apartment," he said. "A hair, a piece of clothing. I don't know. Something."

Well, that explained the drawer searching.

"You don't honestly think he's found a way into my apartment, do you?" She wrung her hands, a little worried herself. "My animals are in here even when I'm not. I don't want anything to happen to them."

At first he didn't
speak. He looked like he was trying to decide what to say.

"I think
your place is safe," he finally said. "But would you mind letting me spend the night just to be sure?"

"Gideon…" She gave an exasperated sig
h.

"I'd sleep on the couch
, gutter que—"

"Don't say it," she hissed in warning.

He snorted and headed into the kitchen.

"
I have your best interests at heart," he said, forgoing the awful nickname for once.

"You checked everywhere he could possibly be," she said.
"Why would you need to spend the night?"

"I still feel uneasy
, but if you don't want me to stay, I won't." He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Just promise me that you'll call if something happens. If you get hurt, I don't think I can take it."

"Nothing is going to happen to me." What was it about Amon that made
Gideon so riled up? "How exactly do you know this guy, anyway? Has he done something like this before?"

Before Gideon could speak, Chubby hissed at him and crawled out of the kitchen.

"Geez," she said, forgetting all about her questions. "Are you wearing cologne or something?"

"Cologne?" He studied her face.

"Well, maybe my animals hate the way you smell." She couldn't believe Chubby had taken off like that.

Before she even realized what she was doing, she leaned forward and
sniffed his chest. She'd done it to Robert before, but, well, Gideon wasn't Robert. Already Gideon's eyes darkened with desire. 

"You haven't looked around the
kitchen yet," she said quickly, trying to distract him from his yearning. After all, starting something in the middle of her apartment was a bad idea. Nobody would stop them if she lost control.

"I'm pretty sure it's safe."
His eyes flickered toward her mouth.

"You haven't checked in the
cabinets." She gulped nervously.

"I'll check them later." A hungry grin covered his face.

She knew at that moment he was having naughty thoughts.

"The coffee machine is still on," she said.

Gideon turned off the coffee machine and then leaned so close she could see flecks of gold in his caramel eyes. A gasp of air escaped her lips as an explosion of heat filled her belly.

"Any more excuses?" he
asked.

At the sight of his
face so near to hers, her brain turned to mush.

"
No." She shook her head, all hope of keeping him at arm's length dissolving. 

"Good."

His lips slammed down on hers so hard she almost lost her footing. The man wrapped his arms around her back, holding her steady so she didn't fall. Still he devoured her mouth with the ferocity of a wild animal, kissing her with everything he had. As he took her mouth, rapture enveloped her entire body. All she could think as Gideon captured her mouth was,
I need this man. I don't know why, but I need him.

And she didn't
need him in just a physical sense. No, she needed him emotionally, mentally, and physically. For the first time, she realized that she had not been whole until Gideon showed up. When she was near him like this, her heart was bursting with emotion and her soul sang. All she could feel was endless bliss as he melted against her, embracing her with every inch of his body.

When had he become so important to her?
They hadn't known each other long, but she was tangled up in him. His antics, while sometimes annoying, brought a smile to her face. He challenged her, amused her, and enlightened her. She knew that as long as he remained by her side, she'd never be bored. She would never be lonely either. Oh sure, she would still have sad days—everybody did—but she didn't feel like it was her against the world anymore.

The
se thoughts were the driving force that made her want to touch him all over. Even though she didn't know what she was doing, she ran her trembling fingers down his chest. Despite her inexperience, a groan of ecstasy burst from Gideon's mouth. The sound of his impassioned cry made the wild inferno within her grow. She loved his voice, she realized. When he so much as uttered a single word, it reverberated inside of her eardrums, filling her up.

As
a chill ran down her spine, Gideon's mouth left her own. Luckily, the man didn't step away. Instead his lips journeyed across her face, kissing every available inch of skin. The sensations were more intense than ever before because this time it was just her and him. Alone. How could she ever hope to put a stop to this glorious passion? She wanted him. In fact, she wanted him more than she could even say.

For the first time, she realized
her own forbidden desire was the reason she'd pushed Gideon away for so long. She'd known that there would come a time when her self-control would shatter, when she would not be able to handle herself.

That
time was now.

She dug her
fingers into his shirt as unquenchable yearning burst forth from within her.

"I want you so much," she
said.

"It feels like I
've waited forever to hear you say those words." His tongue flitted to the corner of his mouth. "I want you too."

Before she could say anything else, Gideon scooped her up and carried her to
the bedroom. After he placed her on the bed, he laid down on top of her. The feeling of his heavy body pressing against hers only made her desire grow.

She looked up into his eyes and whispered, "Please."

She had no idea what she meant when she said please. Please what, exactly?

Gideon
sighed, trembling from how much he wanted her. His hand was still resting on her hip, but he didn't lean down to kiss her. Instead he just studied her face, his expression forlorn.

"What's wrong?" Well, besides the fact she was doing exactly what she said she'd never do.

"We have to stop." Gideon stood up. "I know you'll regret this in the morning and I can't hurt you like that. When we finally make love, I want it to bring you happiness, not misery."

"Gideon." Her eyes widened in alarm.

He touched her cheek, searching her face.

"It's ironic, isn't it?" he whispered. "The woman I want more than anything is the one
I can't make love to."

At first, s
he wasn't sure what to say. She was too shocked. One second they'd been kissing passionately, the next he was pulling away, doing the decent thing. And he did that because he cared about her. Finally, she found her voice.

"Thank you," she
said.

The man's eyes were pained as he traced her lip with his thumb.

"Don't ever doubt how much I adore you." He stood up, still shaking from the intensity of his desire. "Walking away right now is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do."

"Thank you," she said again
because she wasn't sure what else to say.

"I'll see you in the morning." He nodded at her.

"In the morning?" She was even more confused. "Tomorrow is my day off."

"I'll
stop by your apartment anyway," he said. "Goodbye, Nora."

She moved to walk him to the door. To her surprise, Gideon held up his hand to stop her.

"No, I'll walk myself out." He released a shaky sigh. "If you come too close right now, I'm afraid I'll change my mind and jump right back into bed with you."

As Gideon left the room, she stared after him,
gaping.

Chapter Fourteen

As Nora frowned at the wall while stroking Mr. Fleas, she realized that she would never look at Gideon the same way again. Even when he'd held her in the park, she'd questioned his motives. At that time, she'd thought he was being kind in order to make her want him. She would never doubt his good intentions again. After all, tonight he'd selflessly walked away, even though she'd felt how much he wanted her.

And he did that because he cared.

All he'd said and done tonight showed her that. It wasn't just because he'd stopped himself from sleeping with her. No, he'd also turned down a woman ten times more beautiful than she was and showed more concern for her wellbeing than she could have ever imagined. Gideon was amazing. Truly amazing.

And he cared about her.

Her!

She found herself flailing about, unable to keep still. Finally, she realized
she was hyper because she was happy. For the first time in her life, she believed she and Gideon had a future together. Maybe the man she'd thought was a cad would be the one she'd spend the rest of her life with. Thoughts like that were enough to make any woman energetic.

No, what am I thinking?
She flopped onto her stomach, being careful not to roll into Mr. Fleas.
I'm not a little kid. I shouldn't be thinking about marrying him just because he's giving me attention.
Heck, yesterday she wasn't even sure what she thought of Gideon. She shouldn't be behaving so foolishly.

After she took a deep breath, she managed to fight
away all ridiculous wonderings from her mind. But that didn't mean she couldn't be happy. Oh no, she was going to allow herself this moment, this chance, to smile.

Too bad her bu
rst of happy energy had to come so late at night. She needed sleep, no matter how excited she was.

As she sighed, she climbed out of bed. If she
couldn't sleep, then maybe a hot shower would help make her tired. It had always helped before. She headed into her bathroom and stripped off her clothes. After she entered the shower stall, she sighed as the water ran all over her. Even in the shower, she couldn't stop thinking about Gideon. In fact, now the situation was even worse because she was now naked
and
thinking about him.

She shook her head wildly, clearing her thoughts from her
mind. Happiness didn't equal perversion, so this had to stop. She wasn't going to think of the way Gideon's grin was so perfect it made every female in the room stare. She wasn't going to think about the way his golden arms were thick with muscle. She wasn't going to think about the way his hard abdominals felt beneath her fingers.

Crap. She was thinking about all of those things.

She groaned and thrust her fingers into her hair.

"Gideon, you've done something to me," she
said. "Now I'm the degenerate and you're the good guy."

That was something she
'd never seen coming.

****

Nora awoke with a start.
What on earth is going on?
She sat up, blinking sleep from her eyes, and heard her cell phone ringing. She checked her clock and saw that it was three o'clock in the morning. Good grief, no wonder she was tired. She hadn't made it back to bed until one-thirty.

She reached for her phone, certain
that the caller was Gideon. She answered the call.

"Gideon, you'd better have a good reason to call me at three o'clock in the morning," she said, even though she'd been bubbly because of him only a few hours before.

"It's not Gideon," said a deep male voice.

It took her a moment to realize who was calling her. Amon. She wouldn't have been more shocked if a boulder had fallen on her chest.

"You," she said. "Why are you calling me?"

And at three o'clock in the morning too.

"I said I was going to give Gideon one more chance and I did," Amon snapped. "He didn't do his job and it's your fault."

"Wait, what?" She trembled from head to
foot.

"I'm going to get rid of you," Amon said.

"What do you mean?" she yelled. "What's going on?"

Instead of answering, Amon hung up. She stared at her
phone, stunned. After she'd threatened Amon with pepper spray and he'd released her, she thought he was a harmless nut. Now she knew that wasn't the case. No, he was a real psycho, the kind that might tear off her fingernails one by one and feed them to his pet snake.

She finally came to her senses
and realized she had to call Gideon. Shaking, she dialed his number and pressed her phone to her ear again. To her shock, he picked up on the first ring.

"
What's wrong?" Gideon asked as a way of greeting.

It was as if he'd been expecting
her call.

"It's Amon," she said. "He says he's going to get rid of me."

"I'm heading to your apartment right now," he said.

"Thank you." She fought to keep the quaver out of her voice
but failed.

"Where are you?"
he asked.

"I'm still in bed," she
said. "I called you immediately after talking to him."

"Get out of bed and leave the apartment right now," he said. "Amon isn't the type to dawdle.
He'll strike right away."

"But Chubby and Mr. Fleas—"

"Go right now," Gideon cried, panicked.

She leapt out of bed. Despite what Gideon
told her, she took the time to seize Chubby and ordered the dog to follow her. When she reached the living room, the atmosphere changed. Mr. Fleas let out a growl that made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end and Chubby buried his claws straight into her shoulder, drawing blood. She still had the phone pressed against her ear, even as she fought to hold onto the squirming cat.

"What's going on?" Gideon cried. "I hear the dog
barking."

"Something's here," she
said.

"For heaven's sake,
leave the apartment," Gideon said. "Don't look around. Just go."

Even as Mr. Fleas
lunged at an invisible presence, she rushed for the door, still clinging onto the cat as blood trickled down her skin. She tried to charge outside, but something was wrong. The door wouldn't budge.
No, this is impossible.
She let the cat slip from her fingers and yanked at the handle with all her might. It still wouldn't budge. She didn't know how, but she was locked inside of her apartment.

"Gideon." She couldn't contain a sob.

"What's happening?" He sounded as desperate as she did.

"My door
won't open," she said.

"What?" Gideon said.

"I can't get out," she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. "It's impossible. I can't be locked
in
my apartment. My door isn't built that way."

"
I'm almost there. Even if I have to break down the door, I'll save you," Gideon said. "Everything is going to be okay."

"Uh-h
uh." She felt like she was going to be sick. 

At that moment she heard Mr. Fleas give a yelp of
agony. The phone slipped from her hand and dropped to the carpet beside Chubby. She could hear Gideon yelling, but she didn't care. All that mattered was the pained squealing of her pet.

"
Mr. Fleas," she cried in horror. If he was dead, she'd never forgive herself.

She rushed into the living room just in time to see Mr. Fleas limping toward her, his eyes wide. The animal was bleeding, but she couldn't see what had caused his injury. There was no
body in the room. At least, nobody she could see. When the dog reached her, she scooped him up and clutched him to her chest. He was shaking and his sides were damp with sweat. Blinding rage joined hands with her terror. She loved her pets. They were her family. Somebody could mess with her, but nobody could mess with Chubby and Mr. Fleas.

Shaking with anger
and fear, she searched the room, certain Amon was behind this.

"You're a coward, Amon
," she said. "A coward."

She heard something scrape
against the tile, but she couldn't see what had caused the sound.
Where the heck is he? Why can't I see him?
She clutched the dog tighter and stole a glance at Chubby who was still cowering in the hallway.

"Why aren't you coming out?" she
said. "Show yourself."

Though
uttering the words frightened her, she had to know where the enemy was. After all, she didn't want Amon to attack from behind. Then again, she wasn't sure what she would do if she was assaulted. She had a dog in her arms and couldn't hurt somebody even if she wanted to.

Still
she took a cautious step forward and heard yet another ominous scraping sound. Something orange glowed in her living room. The smell of fire permeated her nostrils, making her eyes widen in horror. She stared down at the cream colored carpet and watched as it went up in flames as if it had been soaked with gasoline. Even from a distance, the heat was overwhelming. Mr. Fleas gave a frightened yap and buried his face in her arm. Behind her, she heard Chubby yowl in terror.

At
that moment, she realized she'd never truly known fear until she saw the fire rising in her own living room. She didn't know how the flames were spreading so fast, but that didn't matter. She had to escape, had to get her animals out of her apartment before they died. She rushed toward the door as smoke choked her with angry hands. Though her lungs burned, she screamed and pounded on the door.

"Somebody h
elp me," she cried. "I'm in trouble."

She pounded
on the door so hard her fists bled. Meanwhile, the fire devoured her living room, leaving nothing unscathed. She was so hot that her body was drenched in sweat and she found it hard to breathe. Already tears of terror were streaming down her cheeks. In the distance, she could hear somebody's voice. It was the neighbor. Thanks to the thin walls, the person must have heard her screaming.

"This
had better be good," she heard somebody say in the hall.

It took her a moment to realize
it was Henry from next-door.

"I'm being burned alive," she said. "Open the door."

Henry uttered a profanity and tried to twist the door knob.

"What the
heck?" the man said. "It's stuck."

"I know it's stuck." She sobbed. "I can't get out
of he—."

The dining room table went up in flames,
stopping her mid-word. The fire was so close now that the heat scalded her skin. As she stared into the bright orange flames, she realized she was going to burn to death in her own apartment. A frightened sob burst from her lips before she could stop it. She wanted to fall to the ground and puke.

That was when Chubby meowed in fear and gazed up at her.

Good grief, what was she doing? She couldn't give up and let her animals burn to death. Even if her entire body was burning, she had to find a way to escape from this apartment.

"I'm going to try to break down the door," she
said.

"And I'm calling 9-1-1," Henry said.

"What's going on in there?" A woman's voice joined Henry's. Nora realized the person talking was Margaret, the woman who lived down the hall.

"There's a fire in there," Henry said, clearly panicked.

Nora ignored their talking and flung herself at the door, trying to force it open. Her shoulder screamed in agony, but she ignored the pain. Still nothing worked. She was too weak to break down the door. When she sucked in air again, her breath caught in her throat. She started coughing and discovered that she couldn't stop. Before she knew it, she was on her knees. She tried to breathe, but she couldn't. Sucking in smoke was like trying to inhale acid.

"She's dying in there,"
Margaret said. "We have to get her out."

The door rattled on its hinges
and Henry cursed.

"It's no good,"
Henry said. "The door is too strong. I need to find an axe."

"There's no time,"
Margaret said.

No, don't give up…Don't…give…up…

She found it hard to see. Now she understood what it was like to be baked alive. The heat was not only roasting her skin, it was climbing inside of her and making her blood boil. As she groaned, Mr. Fleas licked her hand. His tongue was dry and cracked, but that didn't matter. Even now when they were all dying, her pets still loved her enough to remain at her side. She wished she could have done more for them.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you," she whispered hoarsely.

She was so dizzy she could no longer sit upright. As she curled up in the fetal position, she tangled her fingers in Chubby's fur. Fear attacked her heart, leaving her quivering. She had so much left to do with her life. Even though she'd never realized it, she had big dreams. She longed for a husband and kids. If she died now, she would never have any of that.