by Sam Crescent
“Don’t scream, it’s me,” he said.
“Gideon, what the hell are you doing?”
“I’m coming in here to sleep. Nothing else.”
“Are you crazy? You’re not sleeping here.”
“I need to hold you.”
“I’m not having sex with you.”
“This isn’t about the sex,” he said. One day he’d want to be balls deep inside her, but that wasn’t now. If she gave a merest hint of interest, he’d be ready within a matter of seconds. He’d not been with another woman since he knew Emma belonged to him. No woman would ever appeal again. The only release he got was from his trusty hand, and he knew his hand wouldn’t reveal his secrets. “After today, I just need to hold you. I need to know you’re alive and you’re here.”
He felt her relax. “You mean that?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
He moved off her. He banded an arm around her waist, pulling her close to him, snuggling up against her.
“I missed you,” he said.
“You’ve never held me.”
“I know, but I’ve thought about it enough times.” Breathing in her scent, for the first time in his life, he felt this calmness settle over him. “I knew it would feel like this.”
“Feel like what?”
“This. So peaceful, so right, so perfect.”
“I hate that I can’t feel this.”
“One day you will, I promise.” He kissed her neck. “You’ll fall in love with me.”
She chuckled. “You really do have an ego.”
“You’ll learn to love that too. You’ll love what I can do for you. What I feel for you. You’ll never want for anything. That I promise you.”
“I just want to be loved, Gideon. I don’t need anything else.”
“Then that’s already done. We should get married.”
She sighed. “Go to sleep. We’ll talk in the morning.”
He wasn’t kidding. The sooner he could get his ring on her finger and his baby in her belly, the better.
Chapter Five
“Leave me the fuck alone!”
Emma jerked awake at the sound of the agony in the person who was begging. She turned toward the door where light filtered into her room. Everything came to her in an instant. Gideon’s confession, what had happened to Sarah, Landon’s girlfriend. All of it.
Pushing the sheet away from her, she padded toward the door. Gideon wasn’t in the room with her.
Biting her lip, she opened the door a little and saw what was going on. Gideon was holding Landon down. In fact, most of the Denton men were there, including Gabriel. They each held onto Landon, and in his hand was a knife. She saw the blood trailing down his wrist, but the cut didn’t look too deep. No blood had gotten to the floor. Across the hall she saw Tamsin standing in her doorway. The younger girl looked so pale.
“I just want to die. Let me die.”
“You’re not going to die,” Maddox said.
“You don’t know what it’s like. You don’t have to deal with knowing your woman’s not there anymore.”
Someone managed to pry the blade from his fingers, and as they did, Landon curled up in a ball and started to sob. She’d never seen anyone break down so fast. From all the times she’d seen Landon, he’d been like a cocky teenager.
Always sure of himself.
Always ready to fight whatever battle came his way.
“It’ll get better, son.”
Something shifted, and with the speed of what seemed like a panther, Landon was on his feet. In one swift move, he had his father up against the wall, his arm across his throat, holding him still.
“Let me die, you piece of shit. You don’t get to decide this. This is my life, and if I want to end it, I fucking will.”
While he continued to strangle his father, he didn’t see Gabriel coming up behind him, and in the next second, the needle went into his skin and whatever they’d pumped him with worked.
Landon slumped, and Gideon was the one to catch him.
Jacob shook his head. “This isn’t going to be easy.”
“We’ve lost him,” Gideon said. “You all just don’t see it.”
“He’ll get through this,” Maddox said. “He has to.”
“Why, already got a plan in place there, Daddy-o?” Gideon asked.
“He doesn’t have to kill himself to make a point. Sarah’s gone, but there are other women out there.”
Emma watched as all the brothers turned to the father, the look of shock on their faces clear for her to see.
“You’re being serious right now?” Jacob asked. “He just lost the only woman that will ever mean anything to him, and you think it’s going to be easy making him marry someone else?”
Emma didn’t have a clue how he’d been able to make that leap, but one glance at Maddox, and she knew Jacob was right.
Maddox shrugged. “There’s nothing for him to lose now and everything for the Dentons to gain. Marriage is the only solution here. He’ll find focus in doing what is right for the Denton name. We all know this legacy is for us, and Landon has lost his woman. It’s only fitting that he’ll help the name in some way, just like his sister.”
Emma looked toward Tamsin, and she saw the rage inside the young girl. Slowly, she backed away and closed the door. She wondered if Maddox even knew his little girl had seen him.
“Put him in his room,” Maddox said. “I’ll get the cuffs.”
“You’re making a big mistake if you think you’re going to get Landon to marry off to one of your colleagues or potential associates. That shit isn’t happening,” Gideon said.
“You’re not the head of the family. You don’t get to decide these things, I do.”
“If none of us had been here tonight, Landon would be dead, and so would you. He overpowered you. Landon is too strong. He’s too unpredictable. How do you expect to tame that kind of beast?” Gabriel asked.
“All men are easily tamed. You just got to find what it is that will hold them in place. I’ll grab the restraints. When that tranq runs out, I want him secured and not doing anything stupid.”
Moving away from the door, she stayed out of the way, not wanting to alert them to her presence.
Maddox had always seemed the more … caring out of the two Denton parents, but now, after listening to him, she wasn’t so sure. How could he talk about his kids as if they were mere commodities?
She didn’t get it. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she stayed there.
Gideon returned within half an hour, and he looked so tired.
“You saw all of that?”
“It was kind of hard to miss.”
“I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Your dad is just going to sell Landon and Tamsin as if they mean nothing.”
Gideon closed the door. “I don’t know.”
“Is this why you’re always careful? Is he really that big of a monster?”
“Dad will do whatever is possible for the Denton name. He’s not always been a bad father, and we’ve never suffered in any way for fun. He does what he has to in order to make his sons the kind of men that need to take over the family business.”
“Still, he sounded so cold. Is he always like that?”
“This is a new idea for him. Up until tonight he only had his daughter to use as a pawn. Now he has a son who could take care of another’s daughter. It could bring about the perfect allegiance.” Gideon shrugged.
“What if Sarah wasn’t his one though? What if she was just someone special that he liked?”
“That’s not possible,” he said.
“Why not? He’s young. Surely he can have hope.”
“I honestly don’t know. I know what I feel for you.” He took the seat beside her. “How I can’t go a day without hearing your voice, so I’d call you just to hear you say hello, only to put the phone down.”
“That was you?”
“Surprise. You mad?”
“I don’t think I’m mad, just shocked. You knew all this time, and I even went on dates and you didn’t say anything.”
“Yeah, those dates, I controlled,” he said. He held his hands up. “I don’t want you to find out any other way, but I was the one who organized your dates. I was the one that made sure I knew what was going on. I paid those men to date you.”
“Are you kidding me right now?”
“Nope.”
“It’s all true.”
“I can’t believe this.”
“What is so hard to believe?” he asked.
“Nothing. I don’t know what to think right now. Did any of them want to go out with me?” she asked.
“Of course they did. I paid them more to do what I wanted them to do. Money pays well.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to talk to you right now.”
She got to her feet and was about to move away when he caught her hand and held her in place.
“Don’t go.” He caught her hand, stopping her from leaving.
He stood up, and she tilted her head back to look him in the eye. “I don’t know what is happening right now.”
“I don’t want you to leave.”
“Gideon, I’m just going to bed.”
“Letting you go on those dates was so hard for me,” he said. “I wanted you to be happy because I knew you weren’t ready for me yet.”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready.”
“And I’m happy to take time. To allow you to get to know me.” He placed her hand over his heart. “I want you to know that there’s nothing else in this world that I’ll ever want more than you.”
He cupped her cheek, and there was no getting away. She was wrapped up in his gaze, completely taken over, in love, and as he lowered his head, she didn’t fight it.
She wanted to run from him.
She wanted to stay and see what this would feel like.
As his lips touched hers, she felt on fire. The first touch deepened as he kissed her, his tongue tracing along her lips before plundering inside. She moaned his name. Unable to stop herself, she wrapped her hands around him, sinking her fingers into his hair, kissing him back with a passion that surprised her.
She released a little moan as his hand gripped her ass, and she forced herself to pull back.
Staring at him in shock, she placed her fingers to her lips. “I need to sleep.”
“Then we’ll sleep.”
Gideon turned off the light, climbing into bed behind her. His hand curved around her hip, drawing her back against him.
She didn’t fight him. She liked being close to him, which of course, scared her. The more time she spent with him, the less likely it would be that she’d want to leave. She no longer knew what she wanted anymore.
****
Gideon stood at the stove the following day and handled breakfast. He’d left Emma sleeping, and wanted her to wake up to a good breakfast. Also, he needed some time to think. With Landon on suicide watch and his father already planning his future, Gideon didn’t know what the next step was.
He wanted to be there for Landon and also to keep his father away from Emma. Maddox always came across to the women as being this sweet, caring man, but he wasn’t. There was a reason he led the Denton family and not just because he was the eldest son, but because he always made the right decisions. He didn’t care who he hurt in the process.
“Making breakfast,” Tamsin said, slumping down into one of the seats at the counter.
“That I am.”
“You might want to take it up to her if you don’t want her to talk to Dad.” She released a yawn.
“Didn’t sleep well?” he asked.
“Kind of hard to sleep when you find out your dad is going to sell you in a marriage you don’t want.”
“He’s not decided, and you’re too young yet.”
“Last time I checked it was still legal for me to have sex at eighteen, when I actually reach that age. I don’t imagine he’s too concerned about my welfare.” Tamsin shrugged. She climbed off the stool and grabbed a coffee mug.
He didn’t comment as she poured herself out a cup of coffee before taking another seat.
“I feel like I suck right now,” she said. “How is Landon?”
“Still out of it.”
When he walked into the room, Landon had been tied to the bed this time, and there was no way for him to get anything that he could kill himself with.
“Poor Landon,” she said.
“Agreed.” He poured himself a cup of coffee. “Dad won’t give you to someone who he thinks will hurt you.”
“No. He’ll probably give me to someone who’ll do everything he can to keep me barefoot and pregnant. It sucks. I’ve spent most of my years being seen and not heard, and now he’s going to get rid of me. It fucking sucks.”
“Language,” he said.
She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not like my bad manners are going to stop what is happening.” She stared down into her cup.
“If I could stop this for you, I would. You know that.”
“If being the operative word,” she said. “I know you can’t stop anything. That’s our dad for us. When he wants something done, he’ll go out of his way to get it.” She shrugged. “Not a lot I can do to stop it. Is there?”
“You’re still young, so work to change his mind. It could work.”
“And pigs might fly. Can I have more bacon please? I want to comfort eat.”
He rolled his eyes, but he was sure to give her plenty of bacon.
Once everything was cooked, he made himself and Emma a plate, and headed upstairs. Emma hadn’t appeared, and he wanted to surprise her with breakfast in bed. On the way upstairs, he passed Gabriel.
Staring at his half-brother, he raised a brow.
Gabriel looked … exhausted.
“Did the night get to you?”
“You dad is planning on setting Landon up with someone he thinks will help.”
“Look, we can’t discuss this in his home. We got to meet elsewhere, and I’m sure our other brothers want to listen to whatever you’ve got to say. For now, I’ve got breakfast.”
He took a couple of steps up toward his woman and Gabriel saying his name stopped him.
Turning on the stairs, he stared at Gabriel and waited.
“If this is going to be a thing with you and Emma, then treat her right. Don’t take her for granted.”
“I never will,” he said. “You can guarantee that.”
He didn’t wait to hear anything more from Gabriel, he entered Emma’s bedroom just as she was coming out of her en-suite bathroom.
“I came with an offering.”
“Breakfast.”
“Consider it a peace offering.” He put the breakfast on the bed as Emma came to join him.
“For what?”
“For last night. I don’t want you to think I was being heartless,” he said.
“Of course I don’t. I know you can’t control your dad. I’d never hold it against you either, even if I wanted to.” She covered his hand with her own. “You don’t have to make up for what he’s going to do. I only hope I’m not going to be around to see that fallout.”
“You’re still wanting to leave?” he asked.
“Yes. No. I don’t know.”
“I want to ask you something.”
“Okay.”
“I want you to give me a chance.”
“Gideon.”
“Hear me out. I know you don’t feel this way with me. Did you enjoy the time we spent on our date?”
“Yes.”
“Then I can promise you that I can make it exactly like that all day long. For you, for us. Give me a chance.”
“I don’t know what it is you want from me, Gideon.”
“Just the chance to date you. To not hide how I feel about you.” He wasn’t above begging. This was new territory for him though.
He wasn’t used to being the
one begging for anything. All of his life, everything had been handed to him on a plate. Money, sex, anything his heart desired could be here with the simple snap of his fingers or a phone call. Only now, he wanted this one woman. Ever since he’d met Emma again with the revelation of who Gabriel was to them, he’d been fighting to not just take her.
It was almost caveman of him the way he felt about her.
“None of those men you’ve dated before will ever be able to give you what I can. You know it, and I know it.”
“And what if one day I want sex?” she said. Her cheeks were bright red.
“You want sex? I’m offering to date you and you’re skipping the whole wine and dine part and heading straight to sex.”
“I’ve never had sex before. I’m a virgin, and one day I know I’m going to want that. I don’t know if I’ll ever love you, and I’m not saying that to be a bitch to you.”
“I know why you’re saying it. The women, they don’t feel what we do. I know that.” It’s why they always had to work to keep their woman from falling out of love with them. He thought about the volatile relationship his parents had; that was the same.
“I’ll have sex with you, and I won’t hold you to staying with me. You can use your body for your own pleasure.”
“I don’t know what the hell I’m saying anymore. Nothing makes any sense to me. Ignore me.” She picked up a piece of bacon and took a bite.
“I’d never ignore you.”
“I want to date you,” she said.
He waited.
“I can’t guarantee you that I’ll fall in love with you. I care about you, Gideon, but I don’t feel love.”
He smiled. “Are you attracted to me?”
“A little.”
This made him smile wider. “Then love is just around the corner.”
“Be serious.”
“I am being serious. When you’re ready, I’ll rock your world in the bedroom and you’ll have no choice but to fall in love with me.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m being serious.”
“So am I. Do me a favor though, don’t bring up leaving to my dad.”
“Why not?” she asked.
“He’s not the nicest of men.”
“No shit. I heard the way he was last night. Kind of surprised by it to be honest.”
