Tempting Nora (26 page)

"I'm sorry.
" She shook her head, grateful that her mind was back in order. "I think I lost it for a minute there."

Gideon
rubbed her back, soothing her with his warm, loving touch. His hands glided to her cheeks as he cupped her face again and stared deep into her eyes.

"You've had a rough couple of days." Gideon nuzzled her
skin, despite the fact he'd said she smelled of vomit. "Don't apologize. I was surprised you were holding up as well as you were."

"I just hate feeling this weak," she said. "I'm supposed to be strong."

"You are strong," he said.

"No, I'm not. I'm
only doing okay right now because you're helping me." The guy was like her personal support pillar. "And I just had a nervous breakdown because of some nightmare."

"You are strong," Gideon
said again so fiercely it made her eyes widen in shock. "In fact, you're one of the strongest women I've ever met. It's one of the things I love most about you. Relying on others doesn't make you a weak person. It just makes you a trusting one."

"Really?" How was it that he knew what she needed to hear?

"Really." He pressed a kiss dripping with love against her forehead.

As
he searched her face, she did her best to smile at him. She couldn't help but admire the way he remained by her side, proving that he truly loved her. One thing for certain, she was glad that her nightmare hadn't been real. The thought of those maggots devouring the flesh of a man who was so willing to take care of her was disturbing. She touched the side of his face, grateful to feel the uninjured skin. Pain shot through her hand as if somebody had thrust the jagged edge of a knife into one of the blisters on her palm. She cried out in agony and stared at her injury, dumbfounded.

What on earth?
she thought as her hand throbbed.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

She gulped, forcing herself once again to see logic in the situation. It was perfectly normal for an injury to twinge. She had no reason to worry.

"Nothing." She
flexed her fingers. "I just felt some pain."

Gideon climbed out of bed and offered her his hand.

"Come on," he said. "You get washed up and then I'll bandage your burn. Maybe that will make it hurt less."

She nodded and took his hand, grateful that she had somebody to
trust.

****

Nora didn't sleep again, despite the fact she and Gideon had gone back to bed after she'd washed the smell of vomit from her body and then bandaged her hand. She blew out a sigh and glanced at the bedside clock. It was almost time for her to prepare for work. Maybe it was crazy for her to want to go to the tea shop today of all days, but if she was going to be anxious and exhausted, then she might as well be anxious and exhausted at work. She was just sliding across the mattress when a heavy leg draped over her hip, pinning her in place.

"Where do you think you're going?" Gideon asked.

Oops. She hadn't known Gideon was awake. Of course she hadn't intended to leave for work without him—that would be suicide—but she hadn't wanted to have this conversation straightaway either. After all, she knew he wouldn't be happy about her choice to go to the tea shop after having yet another hard night.

"
I was going to get dressed for work," she admitted.

"You're crazy," he said. "
There was a fire in your apartment, you lost all of your things, and you're being hunted by Amon. If anyone deserves an emergency day off, it's you. Call your boss. I'm sure she'll understand."

"It's not that I don't think she'll understand
." Her boss was a kind woman who would immediately give her all the time off she needed. "I just want to keep my mind busy."

"I can keep your mind busy." He
inched across the bed toward her.

"I'm not doing anything risqué with you," she
said.

"Wow. Just a few hours ago you yelled at me for
saying inappropriate things while half-asleep, but you just did the exact same thing." His eyes sparkled rakishly. "Way to go, gutter queen."

"So help
me, Gideon, if you call me that one more time…" One of these days, she was going to throttle him. Now there was an activity that would keep her mind busy.

"Gutter queen, gutter queen, gutter queen," Gideon chanted in her ear.

She punched him in the chest.

"Ouch."
Even as he said the words, a devilish smile crossed his face. "You're going to get it now."

"What are you going to do?"
She didn't like his impish grin.

Instead of answering, Gideon hauled her closer.
The two of them were nose to nose. His long leg tightened around her hip, causing their pelvises to grind together. She should have contemplated escaping, but all she could think during that moment was,
His body is as hard as a rock.
She squeezed her eyes shut, hating herself. Her gutter queen status had been well-earned.

Still
she didn't think there was anything wrong with wanting Gideon. It wasn't like she ran around kissing any guy who locked eyes with her. No, the only one who made her squirm was Gideon. As she studied his face, his eyes dropped to her mouth. He was going to kiss her and she was going to let him. After she closed her eyes, she heard Gideon chuckle.

"You want a kiss that bad, huh?" he asked.

Her eyes flew open in horror when she realized he hadn't intended to kiss her after all. 

"Unfortunately, kissing is against the bed rules," he
continued. "Or have you forgotten our carefully constructed set of guidelines already?"

Darn it all, the man was right.

"I didn't forget," she lied.

"Uh-huh." He was smirking. "Then why did you give me that, 'Oh, Gideon, I want
your lips all over me' look?"

"
You're lying." Her eyebrow twitched as she fought the urge to pummel him.

"
There's that magical V again." He pointed to the spot between her eyebrows. "I'm afraid you're the one who's lying."

"I
'm not," she said.

"You are." He nodded
with mock solemnness. "And that deserves extra punishment."

Before she could stammer another reply, Gideon
pushed her over and straddled her.

"What the heck are you doing?"
She already had trouble controlling herself when he wasn't on top of her.

"
According to the bed rules, I can't kiss you." He leaned forward until he was whispering in her ear. "But they don't say anything about tickling you."

"Tickling?" She fought the urge to curl up like a potato bug to protect her
sensitive sides.

"Oh, yes." He
stretched his arms as if he was about to begin a strenuous aerobic activity. "I'm the master of tickling."

"Good luck with that. I'm not ticklish." It was a downright lie and they both knew it.

"Brace yourself," he said, ignoring her comment about not being ticklish.

With
an evil cackle, he tickled her neck, torturing the sensitive skin. She clamped her mouth shut and glared at him, refusing to give as much as a giggle. Ticklers enjoyed uncontrolled laughter. If she didn't laugh, then he'd grow bored and find some other way to annoy her—like giving her ridiculous nicknames.

When tickling her neck failed to give him the reaction he was looking for, his fingers roamed her body, seeking out weak points.
She was dead serious until his fingers journeyed closer to her sides. Beads of nervous sweat covered her forehead.
Uh-oh,
she thought as his fingers journeyed over her ribcage and lingered.

She giggled.

Crap.

"So you
r sides are ticklish." The devilish glint in his eyes became more prominent.

She shook her head
in terror, fearing the end was near.

The man attacked
both of her sides with a vengeance, rubbing her ribs so hard that she flailed. She tried to hold back her laughter, but it built inside her until she was certain she might explode if she kept her mouth shut any longer. A shrill shriek burst from her lips followed closely by a loud snort. She laughed so hard that her stomach ached, her eyes watered, and her face became sweaty from exertion. Still the other man pressed on. She tried to protect her sensitive sides, but the man held her down so she couldn't hope to shield herself from his assault. As tears of mirth ran down her face, she was certain she was going to die because she was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe. Death by tickling. Now that would be an embarrassing obituary.

"Gideon, stop," she
cried, still in the midst of a bought of laughter.

Her
words only fed the man's tickle lust. He continued until her sides grew sore and she writhed beneath him. Finally, after he tortured her for ages, he relented, laughing just as hard as she was. Once he'd managed to calm down enough to stop laughing, he propped himself up on his elbow and gazed deep into her eyes. His sudden stare chased the last giggle from her throat, but she still smiled.

"You're so juvenile," she said. "Who tickles a twenty-eight-year-old woman
?"

"Admit it." He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "You liked it."

Okay, maybe she was in a much better mood now than before. She sure as heck wasn't tired anymore either.

"I guess it
wasn't half bad," she mumbled.

"
I knew you liked it." He picked up her injured hand and ran his fingers along the bandage. "I didn't hurt you, did I? You were flailing around so much you had me worried."

"No,
I'm fine." Her hand still ached, but it didn't feel any worse than it had last night.

Both of them were silent for a moment.
As he lay on top of her, his heat seeped into her body, making fire ignite in her core. She noticed that her shirt had come up sometime mid-tickle and that his hand was resting on the bare skin of her hip. It was too easy to imagine him lifting her shirt up the rest of the way as he kissed every inch of her body. His hips even rested between her legs, pressing her against the mattress. Unfortunately, the crushing weight of her desire was even heavier than Gideon's body. At that moment, she realized she was in danger. Maybe Gideon was on his best behavior, but she was worried she was going to beg him to take her at that very moment.

Not a good idea.

"Gideon," she said.

"Uh-huh?" His eyes
were dark with desire. He must have realized the compromising position they were in too.

She immediately came up with a not-so-phony excuse
to leave his side.

"If I'm not going to work today, then I need to call m
y boss so she can cover for me." She slid out from underneath Gideon.

"You can use my phone. It's charging on the kitchen counter." Gideon nodded, his forehead glistening with sweat. "When you're done, it might be a good idea to leave the apartment for a while. You know, just to get some fresh air."

She knew Gideon wasn't thinking about fresh air. No, the man was trying to make sure they didn't rip each other's clothes off. He was a smart man.

"I need to buy some things anyway." She nodded. "I don't have a toothbrush or anything else."

The fire in her apartment had incinerated it all.

"Okay." Gideon nodded.

She jumped out of bed and padded into the kitchen. With a groan, she slumped against the counter, hating the fact that her heart was still leaping wildly.
If I want to keep my promise to myself, Gideon and I might have to elope.
Drowning in self-disgust, she shook her head, determined to stop having inappropriate thoughts.

Yeah, right.
Like she could keep her mind out of the gutter. With Gideon around, she was going to last five minutes.

Chapter Sixteen

Nora gasped as Gideon parked his pickup truck in front of a crowded beach. Clear blue water lapped at the sand. A rambunctious group of teenagers were playing a game of volleyball. A sea of multi-colored blankets covered the golden shore. During the summer months, the beach was paradise. Well, if a person wasn't being stalked by a maniac.

"Oak Street Beach?" Nora asked
, recognizing the area at once. "Why are we here? I needed to buy toiletries."

It wasn't that she didn't like the beach. It was just that she wasn't prepared for
such an outing. Even leaving Gideon's apartment had been harder than she'd expected. She hadn't realized that his place had become some sort of hidey-hole for her until she stepped outside and all she could think about was the fire. One thing for sure, it was a good thing Gideon had talked her out of going to work today. She wasn't certain she could have handled talking to random customers.

"I thought
the beach would be a good distraction for you. You said you and your mom used to come here, right?" Gideon glanced at her. "Plus, there's a pharmacy down the road. I already checked online. We can buy everything you need there."

"I don't know." She glanced
warily over her shoulder, certain that she was going to see Amon creeping around the side of the truck. "Leaving you apartment freaked me out more than I thought it would. I'm not sure I can handle a crowded beach right now."

Gideon gazed at her with sad eyes and took her hand.

"Okay, I have an idea," Gideon said. "Let's stay at the beach for one hour. If I haven't managed to get your mind off of Amon by then, we'll buy what you need and head straight back home. How about that?"

"One hour?" She guessed she could handle that. After all, she wasn't some sort of coward.

"Yeah, just one hour." Gideon pressed his hand to the small of her back and smoldered at her.

One
hot stare was all it took for her mind to go fuzzy. She wondered whether there would come a day when his magical gaze didn't work on her. Probably not, she decided. Gideon could smolder at a corpse and get a reaction.

"I guess
one hour wouldn't be so bad." She sighed. 

"Great." Gideon grinned triumphantly. "Let's go."

The man seized her injured hand, only to make her squeal in pain and surprise. It felt like her limb had been struck by lightning. The man immediately let go, looking so ashamed she was half frightened he would jump into the lake to drown himself.

"I'm so sorry." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I forgot that
your hand was burned."

"It's fine." She shook off the pain. "It's easy to forget."

When Gideon's self-disgust didn't fade, she realized he had a terrible habit of blaming himself way too much. She wondered how much the woman who'd died in the earthquake still haunted his mind.
Poor Gideon.
She shook her head as her heart was overcome with pity.

"Here." Determined to make things right, she held out her uninjured hand.

After a moment's hesitation, Gideon grabbed her hand. As they meandered along the beach, she noticed that women kept gawking at Gideon. Her self-esteem took a lethal hit. Most of these women were in bikinis and had flawless figures. Each of them appeared impossibly tanned too as if they spent every day in the sun. Nora hadn't had the confidence to wear a bikini in years and her pale skin turned the color of a turnip whenever she tried to sunbathe.

She frowned at
Gideon, wondering whether he noticed all the beautiful women who were looking his way. Nope, he wasn't paying attention to them. In fact, he was still studying her face, likely worried about the incident with her hand. Despite his over-the-top concern, she found herself in a much better mood than before.

Read 'em and weep, ladies. This man is mine.

The fact that she was so territorial made her gasp. Was she really the same woman who'd once thought eating a cow's spleen would be a better option than kissing Gideon? A few days had gone by and her opinion of the man had changed forever. Despite that, she couldn't help but whistle in glee. Gideon made her feel like she was the most important woman in the world. Never in her entire life had she experienced such a phenomenon.

"
The beach trip is working already," Gideon said. "You're already happier."

"Am I?" She laughed nervously, having no intention of telling Gideon
about the ogling women and what she thought of them.

"Yeah." Gideon nodded. "This is exactly what you needed."

"Maybe." She was still worried Amon might be right behind her. "What are your plans anyway? You took me here but never said what you wanted to do."

"For now, l
et's just walk awhile." Gideon led her closer to the water's edge. "I kind of like walking with you."

She glanced at him, surprised by how serious his expression was.

"I like walking with you too," she said.

"Why, Nora,
I'm shocked," he said. "You usually return my compliments with insults."

"I don't insult you that much,
" she said.

The guy
shook his head in disbelief.

"Okay, I insult you quite a bit," she admitted. "But you deserve it."

"Now that's more like what I was expecting from you." Gideon chuckled.

I forgot he likes to rile me up on purpose.
She shot him a dark look and fell silent.

As they walked, a
gentle wave devoured the shore. She came to a stop. Another tiny wave rolled in, caressing the golden sand with gentle fingers. Children were splashing in the shallows, laughing. At that moment she remembered playing in the waves with her mom. The woman would always yell, "Help me, Nora! Help me!" After that, Nora would plunge into the lake without fail to save her parent from drowning.

As she sighed, not sure if the memory made her happy or sad, Gideon squeezed her hand.

"You alright?" He studied her face.

"Yeah." She was determined not to be upset by memories.

"Then why did you stop?" He followed her gaze to the children.

"I just wanted to get my feet
wet, that's all," she lied. "I love water. It's a shame my bathing suit was probably burned. I would like to go for a swim."

As she
took off her sandals so she could walk in the water, Gideon examined her, a wolfish grin on his face.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow, not liking his expression.

"I'd like to see you in a swimsuit," Gideon said. "You know, I could buy you a bikini. Gift shops always have them."

"I don't think so." She could only imagine the kind of
bikini Gideon would pick for her. It would be more likely to floss her butt crack than cover it.

"Why not?" Gideon looked disappointed.

"Because my figure doesn't suit a bikini, that's why." She shivered in horror at the thought of wearing one.

"What's wrong with your figure?" Gideon ran his finger along her side,
undoubtedly knowing that he was tickling her with a single brush of his fingers. "I love your curves. You feel warm and soft in my arms. I personally wouldn't change a thing about you."

She could tell from his expression that he was picturing her
curvy figure—without clothes. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Keep
this up and you're going to have to jump into the lake to cool off." If there wasn't a cold shower available, then a freezing lake was the next best thing.

"
It doesn't matter how much I need to calm down, I'm staying up here." He shook his head. "I'm not a swimming kind of guy."

"Then w
hat kind of guy are you?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I'm a
sun tanning next to my beautiful woman kind of guy." He gave her a suggestive smile.

Somehow she could picture him sitting on a blanket with massive
sunglasses.

"Is that so?" She
studied him, making sure he was serious.

"
Yep." He nodded. "You couldn't pay me to go into that lake."

"
This could be entertaining." She was unable to withhold an evil cackle. This was an opportunity to get back at Gideon for his tickling stunt.

"Why
's that?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Because
I'm going to push you in." She took a step toward him, a devilish grin on her face.

"No, you're not." Gideon took a step back.

"Oh, I am." She laughed, taking another step toward him. "Believe it."

One second the two of them were staring at each other, the next Gideon was
rushing away from her. Boy, the guy could run fast.
Is revenge really worth making myself sprint?
she wondered. She stared after him for a moment before deciding revenge was always worth it. She leapt into action, dashing after Gideon as fast as her legs could carry her. Unfortunately, she could hardly breathe as she chased him. Maybe she needed to sign up for a gym or something. Running shouldn't have been this hard.

Still she was able to push the pain from her mind as Gideon slowed down in front of her. She rushed at him, determined to at least get his pants wet. The man met her eyes
and gave her an I-dare-you-to-push-me smirk. Well, she dared to push him and a whole lot more. As she came at him like a charging bull, she prepared for impact.

Unfortunately, she didn't
realize tackling Gideon was the equivalent of running headfirst into a brick wall. She made contact with his chest, trying to make him stagger, and bounced backward like a bouncy ball striking cement. Time slowed down as she stared into Gideon's face and saw his eyes widen in horror. A moment later she landed in the lake with a splash, dousing her clothes with freezing lake water.

For a moment she sat with water soaking through her jeans, too shocked to move. Gideon was at h
er side within seconds, knee-deep in the lake. He stared down at her in concern.

"Are you okay?" Gideon asked. "If I'd known you were going to ram me like that, I would have tried to catch you and—and—"

Her shoulders shook with laughter, making Gideon pause. This situation was ridiculous. She was sitting with her pants soaked through with lake water as Gideon acted like he'd accidentally allowed her to fall into a sea of hot lava.

"Are you crying?" Gid
eon looked horrified, misunderstanding the reason her shoulders were shaking.

She looked into his face, still laughing hysterically.
Twice in one day Gideon had made her laugh until her stomach hurt—and this time, he hadn't even meant to do it.

"You're laughing?" Gideon's shoulders slumped with relief.

"Of course I'm laughing." She glanced down at herself. "It's all I can do after what just happened. Due to my ridiculous stunt, I've managed to make the only pair of clothes that weren't burned in the fire soaking wet."

"It s
erves you right." Gideon cracked a grin now too. "And I thought you were only joking about trying to push me into the lake."

"A woman never jokes about pushing the man she loves into a lake," she said
with a grin.

Snorting, Gideon offered her his hand and she took it. After he pulled her to her feet, he surprised her by pin
ning her against him, even though she was soaking wet. His hand journeyed to her lower back as his caramel eyes glistened.

"I'm getting you all wet.
" She noted how damp her pants were.

"That's okay." He nuzzled her hair.

"Really?" Her skin tingled where his mouth brushed.

She knew that they were being stared at
by sunbathers, but she didn't care.

"Uh-huh." The man laid a kiss
against her ear, making her skin cover with goosebumps. "Say it again."

"Say what again?" Her brain was
mush, making it hard to remember her own name, let alone what she'd said moments ago.

"Say t
hat I'm the man you love." His voice was husky. "I liked hearing it."

"But I told you
I love you yesterday." Her cheeks grew hot.

"Just one more time," he said.

He sounded so earnest that it was impossible to tell him no.

"Okay, fine." She was embarrassed, but she liked how much he wanted to hear her say
that she cared for him. "You're the man I love."

He cupped her cheeks,
gazing deep into her eyes. The rush of emotions that raced through her made her dizzy enough to fall right back into the water again. As if Gideon sensed her sudden inability to stand, he steadied her with his arms. That was one thing she loved about Gideon. He always seemed to know what she needed, even when she didn't know herself.

"You know, we aren't in bed anymore," he said huskily.

"Uh-huh."
Where is he going with this?