by Siera London
“I suppose you’re right.”
“We’d better get going, Mrs. Nedstetter,” he pushed their purchases closer to the register, since she hadn’t tallied one item. She took the hint.
“It was nice talking with you.” Yeah, it was as nice as having your teeth extracted with a toothpick. He gathered their bags, guided Lina in front of him, and made a beeline for the door.
“You too, Gideon. Oh, I meant to ask you, what happened to the other woman I met, back…” Gideon slammed the door on the tail end of that statement. Disaster averted.
Chapter 16
Her breath hitched in her chest when Gideon stepped onto the porch of the cabin. A tanned god, dressed in black from his broad shoulders down to his feet. Faded black denim clung to his powerful thighs. Scuffed, fine stitched sized fourteen cowboy boots looked well worn, a perfect fit. She knew her eyes were wide with female appreciation as she drank him in. She licked her lips savoring the tasty treat in front of her. She was in love with casual, rugged Gideon. He looked at peace. She had never seen him so comfortable in his own skin. She needed a game plan. The cabin was stocked. The Rice clan had left hours ago. And the sexual energy between them was thick in the air. Their day together, had been perfect. Even that horrid old woman couldn’t put a damper on her spirits.
The Rice cabin was one of those luxury cabins on the front of a destination spa magazine. A total of four master suites, two on each level with a huge great room and a floor to ceiling stone fireplace. A mountain stream that was more invigorating than her sandy beach alcove completed the front room view. Rolling hills and mountains completed the picture, providing a panoramic frame. Thane’s company had designed and built the property. Jacob rented out the cabins for corporate retreats and other business functions. There were two additional rental properties on the ranch but this was the largest of the three. Gideon had warned her that his mountain would rival her beach. He was right. She might have a new favorite. She hadn’t believed him until the cool mist from the Waverly waterfall touched her skin. Being here with Gideon, she let the troubles in Shell Cove fall away. Staring across the stream at the mountains in the distance she felt like she could stay here forever.
“I know you love the beach. Now that I’ve shown you my mountain, what do you think?”
She didn’t answer him, instead she went up onto her tip toes, angled her head, and kissed him.
“Thank you for bringing me home with you.”
His large hand massaging her breast pushed her to deepen the kiss. She pulled at the hem of his shirt, her hands against his abdomen. She tugged him closer, giving her wayward body what it craved-finally. But, not totally. Lina forced her hands to leave Gideon’s skin. Introducing sex into one of her relationships signaled the beginning of the end. And she wanted their relationship to last. Tilting her chin up, she found Gideon studying her. Analyzing.
She liked everything he was doing, but she didn’t want him to know that. Before she could look away, he grasped her chin, lifted her head, until their eyes met.
“You left me. Where did you go?” Gideon asked.
“I’m here.” Trying to tear her gaze away was impossible with his strong hand supporting her chin.
“I have questions that need answering. Your responsibility is to stay in place and answer them. Understood?”
She nodded in understanding.
“Do you foresee a future for us?” Gideon asked.
”Yes.” She gave him the truth. Lina saw a future that included Gideon in it.
“Then why did you pull away?” He was a beautiful man, even with a crease between his brows. He hadn’t shaved this morning. Dark stubble covered his chin and continued down his neck. His jaw the perfect blend of angles and rounded lines.
“I think I’m making a mistake, Gideon.”
He sobered.
Those perfect angles were replaced by a stiff jaw and even stiffer spine.
“You don’t want to take this next step with me.” His hand, which had been supporting her chin fell away. This was her out. She could walk away with her heart intact.
“I want you too much,” she admitted, unwilling to allow him to believe anything different. Lina felt her heart beat double time at the admission. His arm tightened around her waist and she held onto him as sure as he held her.
“We will be happy together.” Tears sprang to Lina’s eyes. Her heart thudded in her chest. Promises. Her stomach churned. She looked away from him.
“Lina?”
“No promises. We can take this next step together, but no promises.”
“It doesn’t work that way, sweetness. Our making love signifies our promise to each other.” The firm note in Gideon’s voice brought Lina’s gaze back to those gray storm cloud eyes she loved.
“Why complicate what we have with promises?”
“Because I want all of you,” Gideon said, his tone softer. Could she be open to love, again?
“Gideon I want to believe.” Oh gosh, her throat felt tight. A buzzing sound filled her ears. This was so not sexy.
“Could you love me?” he whispered. She was sure she already did. Gag order. She wouldn’t utter that word bomb. She nodded her head, knowing to keep her lips sealed before he ran for the hills.
“Then let go. Trust in us. Let it happen.” She blinked away the sensual fuzz in her brain. What would he think of her if he knew what she wanted to do to him? That she wanted more, too. Storm clouds rolled in those steel gray eyes that she had come to love. This was her last chance. She had racked up so many man-fast violations. She needed a parole officer. Even now, she could feel the length of his erection pressing into her hip. His masculine heat was seductive. She found herself sinking into his muscles. Compelled to press closer to him. If she surrendered to her kryptonite, she wouldn’t have the power to resist him. The bang up job she’d done to this point was the subject of psychiatric journals. She had to be crazy to take a chance, but it felt like an alternate form of sanity to give herself to him.
“How do we begin?” She didn’t want to mess this up. She hadn’t a clue how to build a relationship rooted in trust and love. Gideon stilled in front of her. “Show me.” Her voice steady and sure. She inhaled a deep breath and gave in to the all-consuming sensual storm swirling around them.
Gideon’s lips were on hers demanding entrance. His hands cradled her face. His touch was gentle. More gentle than the onslaught of tongue pressing into her mouth. Stroking her, devouring her. When he broke the kiss, his heat lingered. Marking her as his. She felt a feather light kiss to her head.
“I know you’re accustomed to taking care of yourself, but I will always be here for you.” No more words were needed. Enough had been said. They both were walking into this with their eyes open. “I’m going to take care of you.”
“I told myself that the next man who professed to care about me would have to carve his feelings on a stone tablet in blood.” She gave a soft laugh. “I’m breaking my own rule for you.” She curled her fingers into the soft material of his shirt, stroking his chest through the fabric. “Don’t break my heart.” She pleaded. Fear warred with hope inside of her.
“I won’t. My love for you is constant as the sun rising and setting.” Love. He pushed into her mouth once more and coherent thought fled. Lina felt him pull away before she drank her fill. She sought his eyes questioning why he’d broken their kiss.
“I love you, Lina.” She gasped. He’d said the three words she dared not dream of him saying to her. Not even Troy had said those three words to her. Gideon was different from the men in her past. He’d kept her safe. He expected them to spend time together, beyond the bedroom. He’d brought her home to meet his family. Couples that stayed together did those things. Made connections. Blended their lives together.
“I’m ready.” She hoped. When he opened the door to the warmth of the cabin, she followed when he took her hand. Closing the door on the outside world, she crossed the threshold to her future.
Tonight he would claim Lina as his own. Every touch she graced him with was akin to erotic torture.
More than he could bear, not enough for him to stop. Lina tried to commandeer a room to store her things when they entered the cabin. She wanted him. He could see it in her eyes. Yet she fought the attraction between them. After their night together in Shell Cove and her admission of wanting him, retreat was not on the menu. He loved her. The woman he would spend the rest of his life with. The woman who would give him children.
Neither one of them felt like eating after they walked the property surrounding the cabin. Gideon grabbed a bottle of white wine, and a couple of glasses from the cupboard. He piled grapes, berries, and cheese onto a platter. He rejoined Lina on the sheep skin rug in front of the fireplace. The sound of crackling wood infused the air. She looked vulnerable curled on her side staring into the flames. Her head propped on her hand, she looked up as he placed the platter on the leather chest near her head.
Lying down beside her, he fused the front of their bodies together, hip to hip. Gideon threaded his fingers through her hair. With his lips mere inches from hers. He trailed a thumb across Lina’s kiss swollen lips. He loved her. Told her as much. They would be one tonight, but there was still a wall between them.
“Who am I to you?” He asked.
“You are my lover.” There was no hesitation in her answer. Not a hint of tremor laced her words.
“Will I ever be more than your lover?” She moved to turn away. He captured her chin between his thumb and forefinger.
“Yes, it is possible.” The gleam of hope flashed in her eyes and a peace settled over him.
“I have one last request for tonight.”
“What is it?” She asked, a hint of a smile on her face.
“Say that you want to stay with me. That we will be together.” This wasn’t manipulation. He would do anything in his power to keep her happy.
“I’m with you now.” Lina replied.
“I want you now and for always.” He leaned in nuzzling the area between her neck and shoulder. A low moan escaped her lips.
“Gideon.”
“For always, Lina” He licked her earlobe, and she shivered.
“I’ll stay,” came her whisper. To him it sounded like she shouted from the steeple down to the cathedral.
“Good. We are going to seal our deal, starting tonight.”
“What do you have in mind, Doctor?”
“A whole lot of nurse-doctor role play.” He touched his lips to hers.
“I’m going to taste every inch of you.”
“Sounds like a challenge.” Her warm breath skirted across his chest and every muscle in his body tightened.
He rose to his full height, taking her with him.
“Take your clothes off.” Her eyes stretched wide in surprise.
“A bossy doctor in and out of the bedroom, shocking. I thought Marines took orders.”
“Only from senior officers, sweetness. And I’m the commanding officer when we’re making love,” he teased.
“Let’s see if we can change that.” And she opened her gingham print shirt. He only caught a glimpse of her red silk bra, before she released the clasp and the bountiful swells of her breasts filled his vision. He sucked in a breath. Sweet heavenly dove, the blood to his brain shot to his groin.
“Asymmetrical warfare?” He questioned with a raised brow. “Bring it on.”
He unbuttoned his fly, and his erection sprang free. Her eyes filled with heat and the pulse in her neck drummed with the intensity of a KISS concert. He was rolling commando and his erection sprang free when he released the button on his jeans.
“What else you got under all those clothes, my naughty nurse?” Every cell in his body was standing at attention. His hands shook with the need to plunge into her. Mark her with his scent. Claim her as his own.
“I can’t believe I’m getting X-rated in your family’s cabin.”
“You believe I want you?” She nodded. “Words Lina, you’re not the shy type.” He knew where he stood with Lina except in this one area. When he told her he loved her. She’d pulled her avoid the subject maneuver. This time it was too important to their future. He would have his answers.
“Men wanting my body was never an issue. Will you keep me?” She stood bare before him. Her breasts were pools of milk chocolate with dark chocolate centers. He reached out, swirling his fingers over her breasts. She strained forward, pushing her soft flesh against his hands. The nipples beaded with the lightest stroke of his knuckles.
Palming her breast in his hand, he kneaded the responsive flesh until her throaty moans filled the room. He experienced a touch of masculine pride, when she sank to her knees before him. He pushed her back onto the soft rug, stretching his long body over hers. With deft movements, he undid the button of her jeans. He heard her hiss of breath as he released the zipper and worked her legs free of her pants and panties.
He didn’t believe it was possible, but the pulse in his pants increased, and he got harder. He might die of an erection overload before he ever got inside of her.
“I’m not most men. I sure don’t want to hear about other men when my junk is on display and you’re a visual feast laid bare for me.”
“I know who you are, Gideon. There’s no danger of me comparing you to another man.” She sat forward, gathered the hem of his shirt, and pushed it up, gliding her hands along his torso. Unabashed appreciation shone in her eyes as she slowly divested him of his shirt.
“You believe I love you?” Her hands stilled on his skin. Her nails dug into his chiseled abdomen. She gave a head tilt or maybe it was a nod. For all he knew, she was scratching her ear with her shoulder. No way would he leave his love for her open to interpretation.
“Open your mouth and tell me you believe I love you.” Silence.
“Lina, say it or this stops.”
“I’m butt naked by the fire. This is our first time having sex, and you’re threatening to hold out on the Cricket?” He made quick work of removing his pants and boots.
“Now were both butt naked by the fire.” When her eyes zeroed in on his bobbing erection, he about lost his load. The look in her eyes said she knew the truth.
“I can tell you, this is a bad plan.” She placed an open mouthed kiss to his abdomen. He shuddered when she gently sucked his skin between her teeth, licking in rhythm with his breaths. A deep groan filled the room. He felt her lips stretch into a smile. His plan would indeed, fail.
“I can promise you I would be incapable of holding out with you naked in my bed every night. With you in my life, I’ll never be limp enough to be paired up, rolled into a neat ball, and tucked away in a sock drawer. I have no idea what the term cricket pertains to on your body, but I know I’ll love it. Because I love you.”
“Stop saying that you love me.” She pushed, but he would not budge.
“I can’t and I won’t. I love you and if you can’t accept my love for you we will never get to where I want to take you.”
“I think you have the skills to take me all the way, Gideon.”
“No joking, sweetness. I know what you’re doing and it’s not going to work.” It was the hardest thing he had to do, literally. He lifted his weight off Lina and rolled onto the carpet beside her. Before he could chastise himself for being the stupidest man on the planet he reached over and pulled Lina into his lap. Taking her chin between his fingers, he lifted her head until their gazes met, “Why don’t you trust me?”
“I do, Gideon.” He searched her face. Something held her back and it was beyond the boundaries of her man-fast. “I need you.” Lina looked miserable at the admission. She didn’t want to need him, Gideon realized. Tonight would be a demonstration in trust for both of them. He reached under the sofa cushion and withdrew a condom.
“How did you know that was under there?” She asked.
“I stocked the cabin with more than food and water,” he grinned at her. “Lie down and open wide for me.”
She scrambled off his lap. The speed of her compliance told him she was as eager as he.
He stroked his tongue over her right nipple before cupping her full breast. Taking the taut bud into his mouth. He felt Lina’s arm around his neck, pulling him forward, pushing her breast deeper into his mouth. He suckled the hard peak until Lina writhed beneath him.
She moaned, when he lavished equal attention on its twin. He licked his way down to her bare mound leaving a trail of wetness on her skin. When Gideon cupped her sex, easing two fingers inside to test her readiness, she released a low hiss of pleasure.
“Yeah, sweetness. You are ready for me.” He couldn’t hold out much longer either.
He tangled his hands in her hair. He pulled her forward, surging into her mouth. The thrusts of his tongue in sync with the fingers stroking her moist channel.
When her legs fell open wider of their own accord, he pumped into her heated core, until she trembled with desire. Her sultry cries for more entered his psyche fueling his own need.
“Gideon, please. I need you.” Her voice was throaty and filled with sexual tension.
“I need you more.” He withdrew his fingers and she moaned against his mouth.
He reached down positioning his condom sheathed erection at her entrance. He buried himself inside her in one fluid motion, sinking deep into her drenched sex.
Gideon threw back his head, lips parted in ecstasy. The slow roll of Lina’s hips, pulled him deep in to an erotic abyss of friction, heat, and bone deep pleasure. The divergence of soft and hard as he surged into her was the sensual ride of his life. And he was determined to savor every hill and valley until they toppled over the precipice together. Soft sucking noises mixed with the crackling of fired wood. Lina’s hoarse cries of pleasure stoked his passion and he began pumping into her in long, deep strokes. He wanted to leave a permanent reminder on her body.
He looked down, Lina’s eyes were glazed with sexual pleasure. He moved lower, leveraging his weight, pressing her in the rug, his sweat mingling with hers. Their combined scent drove him to push harder, deeper, and faster.
