Tempting Nora

by Evanston, A. M.

  She shook her head.

  "Nora, I think you look super sexy in that shirt," he said. "It clings to you in all the right ways."

  Just as she was about to open her mouth to complain, she realized what he was doing. He was trying to manipulate her into opening her mouth again by making annoying comments. Well, fine. She had self-control. She didn't have to respond to his wisecracks.

  "Still not opening up, eh?" Gideon raised an eyebrow.

  She shook her head again.

  "What if I tell you that the night I met you at the bar, I thought you were the most beautiful woman in the room," he said. "That green dress you wore made your curves look positively succulent. I was so glad I had the opportunity to approach you."

  Her eyebrow twitched. No way had he thought she was the most beautiful woman in the room. More likely he'd seen her and thought, Easy target. But she wasn't an easy target. Not then, not now. She shook her head a third time.

  "Then why don't I tell you about the dream I had last night?" he said. "It was pretty amazing. My lips were on your jaw and I could taste your skin."

  She could imagine his lips on her jaw while his fingers tangled in her hair. Crap. She was overheating again. Any more teasing and she might just burst into flame.

  "Do you want to hear more?" His eyes blazed with desire.

  With a muffled groan, she shook her head yet again.

  "What if I tell you everything that happened in my fantasy?" He leaned in closer, dropping his voice to a seductive whisper. "Every. Last. Detail."

  Her eyes widened in alarm.

  "If you don't want to hear about my dream, then open up," he said. "I'll only feed you once. After that, you can help yourself."

  She raised an eyebrow at him.

  "I mean it." He held up his finger. "Just once."

  The two of them locked eyes and a battle of wills occurred. She knew that Gideon wouldn't hesitate to tell her all about his erotic fantasy, even if he knew she'd punch him in the gut because of it. Not only would his words make her uncomfortable enough to melt, but she might just have another nightmare about kissing him tonight. No, it wasn't worth the risk. She had to let him win this one.

  She rolled her eyes and opened her mouth.

  "Good girl." Gideon grinned roguishly and placed the spoon in her mouth.

  Glaring at him the entire time, she ate the cake off the spoon. The dessert was scrumptious, but she didn't react to the taste. Instead she gave Gideon the mother of all dirty looks as she contemplated murder.

  "That's quite a glare you have." Grinning, Gideon stuck the spoon in his own mouth again. "I think my skin is about to melt off."

  "I wish your skin would melt off," she said.

  "Watch your temper." He laughed even as he said the words.

  As she continued to scowl at him, Gideon leaned closer again. Her heart thundered as he ran a finger along her bottom lip. He stared deep into her eyes with a grin on his face.

  "My, my, you're a messy eater," he whispered huskily. "You have chocolate on your face again."

  She didn't know if he was messing with her or what, but she wasn't going to take this anymore. His victory with the spoonful of cake had obviously gone to his head.

  "You're going too far," she said. "Move your hand right now."

  "Why?" He ran his finger over her bottom lip, even as she snarled. "I love your mouth. It's so kissable."

  "Move your hand," she snapped.

  "What's the big deal?" He traced her skin, grinning.

  Tingles ran down her spine. This was bad. She had to stop him now.

  "Knock it off," she said. "I'm warning you."

  "But I like it when you blush." His caramel eyes glistened.

  If he wasn't going to listen to her, then she had no other choice but to make him listen. She seized a glob of cake and smeared it across his face. Spluttering, the guy closed his eyes and smacked his lips. At first she stared down at her hand, shocked she'd actually gone that far. One second she'd been fuming, the next she'd reacted. That was when Gideon's eyes snapped open. With his messy face, he looked like some sort of fudge monster. His eyes narrowed.

  Make that an angry fudge monster.

  Maybe she'd gone too far. He'd just been teasing her and yet she'd nailed him in the face with icing. Still she hadn't wanted his hand on her lip. He was too tempting and…and…What was she doing just sitting here? She needed to make a run for it before Gideon chopped off all of her limbs.

  She leapt to her feet, but Gideon seized her arm. His grip was far stronger than she expected. She wailed as he pulled her to the ground and straddled her. A blob of chocolate dropped off of his chin and landed on her cheek. As he pinned her arms above her head, she gazed up at him with huge eyes. This was it. She was going to die today. She found it ironic that chocolate cake, the thing she loved above all else, was the reason behind her early demise.

  "Nora, Nora, Nora." He leaned in closer, globs of chocolate falling from his face like tasty rain. "You're going to regret what you just did."

  "Let me go." She wriggled.

  "Oh no." He shook his head. "I have to torture you first."

  "Torture?" She gulped.

  "Yes, sweetheart, torture." An evil smirk crossed his face.

  "For the last time, stop with the nicknames!" She flailed violently, but Gideon wasn't letting her go.

  He leaned in so close that his cake coated cheek brushed her chin.

  "I think you're in no position to make demands." He breathed in her ear and then whispered, "Time to frost my cupcake."

  "Cupcake?" She froze, eyes wide with confusion.

  As he held her arms down one-handed—that was quite a feat considering how much she was squirming—he grabbed a substantial glob of cake and smeared it all over her face. She yelped as sticky icing and globs of cake covered her skin. He spread the frosting around her neck and all the way down to the collar of her shirt.

  After she smacked her lips together and tasted chocolate, she yelled in rage. It was only as she flopped about like a chocolate covered fish that she realized how ridiculous the situation was. She was being frosted like a cupcake while wailing as loud as she could. Suddenly, this whole situation wasn't irritating anymore.

  It was hilarious.

  She started to laugh so hard that she couldn't breathe. All of the stress, all of the anxiety, she'd felt after seeing the shadow dispersed. Tears of mirth streamed down her face as she tried to catch her breath. She was vaguely aware that Gideon rolled off of her and lay in the grass at her side as his laughter joined hers.

  It took her ages to calm down enough to catch her breath. Once she had, she looked at Gideon and saw that the chocolate icing on his face was melting because of the sun. The man, noting her stare, gazed back at her.

  "You face looks delicious," he said.

  "Even now, you're a pervert." She shook her head.

  "Actually, I was thinking about frosting." He elbowed her. "You're the one who has your mind lodged in the gutter."

  "That's not true and you know it," she said.

  Thank heavens she had chocolate icing on her face. Without it, he would have seen her blush.

  "Uh-huh." Gideon snorted and shook his head. "Just make sure you watch out for the rats in the gutter. Believe me, I've been a longtime resident and the rodents are mean."

  "Hey." She smacked him on the shoulder.

  "Already back to the abuse." He rubbed his arm, feigning serious injury.

  She smirked and stared at the sky. Gideon grabbed her hand. For a moment she contemplated pulling away, but then she decided not to. What was the harm in holding hands? She'd held hands with Robert before. This whole situation was innocent.

  "Do you know what I like most about you?" Gideon asked.

  The words made her snap to attention.

  "What's that?" If he said something perverted, she'd give him an injury the likes of which he'd never seen.

  "You never do what I expect," he said. "Like with the cak
e. I never saw that coming."

  "To be honest, I surprised myself with that one," she said. "Who knew that punishing you was even more imperative than eating cake?"

  "I must be pretty important." He grinned at her cockily.

  "Yeah, about as important as a hive on my butt." She scowled at him.

  "Oh, woman, how you wound me." He clapped his hand to his chest. "I give you a compliment and you pay me back with an insult."

  "Hmph." She wrinkled her nose and looked away from him.

  For the first time, she noticed that a person was standing in the grass watching her. It was an inhumanely good looking man with brown hair and cool blue eyes. When she squinted, trying to figure out why he looked so familiar, she realized it was the creepy guy with the cigarette. She sucked in air. Chicago was such a big city that the chances of this being a coincidence were slim. Suddenly, she was unnerved all over again. She didn't like the way he was looking at her.

  "Are you okay?" Gideon squeezed her hand. "I was just kidding about what I said."

  "I know." She glanced at him. "There's just a creepy guy from my apartment staring at me."

  The smile slid off of his face at once. Suddenly, he was a perfect example of primal protectiveness. He looked around, somehow managing to appear intimidating even while wearing a chocolate icing facemask.

  "Where is he?" he asked.

  "He's right…right..." Frowning, she looked where the man had been and saw no one.

  The man had disappeared in an instant, yet there were no cars or buildings for him to hide behind. Nobody could disappear so fast, not even if they sprinted.

  "Well, that's weird." She frowned. "It must have been my imagination."

  "Yeah." Gideon's jaw was tense.

  Both of them were silent for a moment.

  Finally, Gideon said, "I think I want to eat the cake now. After all, that's what I bought it for."

  His words drove all thoughts about the man she'd seen from her mind.

  "You still want to eat the cake?" she asked.

  She stared at what remained of the dessert. It was a giant mountain of chocolate icing, whipped cream, and fudge frosting. Sure, it still smelled good, but she didn't know if she wanted to eat it.

  "I think it's still edible." He seized a glob of cake. "It's more like a cobbler now, but whatever."

  "Aren't you going to at least use a spoon?" she asked.

  "I would, but a certain someone smashed it while rolling around." He held up the remains of the plastic utensil. It had been broken in half. "You can use your spoon if you want, but I think I'm going to use my hands."

  He picked up another mangled glob of cake and popped it into his mouth. Eating the remains looked messy but invigorating.

  "Come on, Nora." Gideon winked. "You know you want to join me."

  Suddenly, as she saw the boyish twinkle in Gideon's eyes, she realized that she did. With a grin, she stuck her finger in the chocolaty mess and then sucked the warm icing from her finger.

  Even mangled, it was the best cake she'd ever tasted.

  ****

  Being sticky was not as entertaining after a few hours had passed. That was why, when Gideon pulled his truck into her apartment parking lot, she breathed a sigh of relief. The first thing she was going to do when she got inside was take a hot shower. Probably it would take her ages to wash the chocolate from her face and hair. Still, despite the fact that she was covered in icing from head to toe, she didn't regret what had happened that day.

  She gave a content sigh.

  "You sound happy," Gideon said as he parked.

  "I am happy." Nora shrugged.

  "I'm glad." Gideon grinned. "You seemed so upset this morning."

  "Not anymore." Somehow Gideon had made her problems go away.

  As Gideon flashed her a smile, Nora gingerly opened the car door. Fudge icing smudged the metal door handle. After she jumped out, Gideon left the truck too.

  "You don't have to walk me to my door," she said.

  "Sure, I do," he said.

  "But I—"

  "Nora, I'm going to walk you up." He touched her arm. "No amount of arguing on your part will change that."

  She could tell from the look in his eyes that he was serious.

  "What, do you think that somebody will murder me in the stairwell?" She shook her head.

  To her shock, Gideon's expression was sober. Normally, the man was all teasing.

  "You'd be surprised what can happen in this world," he said.

  She stared at him, unsure of what to say. His mood change had been so swift.

  "Are you alright?" She raised an eyebrow.

  "Yeah." Gideon nodded and forced a smile.

  "If you're sure…" Despite what he said, she had the feeling he was hiding something.

  "I'm sure." Gideon nodded.

  After shooting him a confused look, she went inside with Gideon in tow. As she headed down the hall, her skin prickled. Maybe she was still nervous about what had happened with the shadow after all. That was not good news. She'd been hoping to get some sleep tonight. If she was convinced some weird shadow was about to lunge out of a corner, that wasn't going to happen.

  Get a grip, she told herself as she stopped in front of her door. I'm an adult woman. I'm not scared of spooks.

  Yeah, right.

  The truth was she still checked under her bed for monsters just like when she was a kid. The only difference now was that the fearsome entity she imagined happened to be a masked murderer instead of the boogeyman. She shivered in apprehension, glad that Gideon had decided to escort her back to her apartment after all.

  "Want me to come in?" Gideon asked.

  She assumed this was a sexual invitation. The answer was still, as it would always be, heck no. She narrowed her eyes at Gideon, hating herself for having warm thoughts toward him just a second before.

  "I will never, ever sleep with you," she said. "How many times do I have to say it?"

  "Your mind was in the gutter again." Gideon's grin widened. "I didn't ask if I could sleep with you. I asked if you wanted me to come in."

  "Oh." Her cheeks caught on fire.

  "I think I'm rubbing off on you." He leaned in so close she could smell the chocolate frosting on his face. "Twice today you thought I meant something naughty when I didn't."

  "You're not rubbing off on me." Heaven help her if he was. "I just expect the worse from you and that's why I thought you were suggesting, well, you know…"

  "If that's the case, then why are you blushing?" He stared pointedly at her enflamed cheeks.

  "I always blush when I'm talking about an inappropriate topic." She wrinkled her nose.

  "You're the one who brought up that so-called inappropriate topic." The man was obviously fighting back a laugh.

  "But I didn't…I mean, yeah, I did…but I…" She suddenly couldn't figure out what to say.

  "I think I'd better stop teasing you before you explode." Gideon's eyes danced with mirth. "I've never seen a person's face turn so red before."

  Oh great. She let out an exasperated sigh and touched her enflamed cheek. No doubt her skin was the color of a cherry tomato.

  "I hardly ever blushed before you came along." She prodded his chest and was shocked by how hard it was. "It's your fault."

  "I'll take responsibility for my actions," he said with mock solemnness.

  Neither of them spoke. For the first time, she realized how close she and Gideon were. She could even see a glob of fudge icing dangling from a dark strand of hair. She wasn't sure what came over her, but she reached out and tugged the chocolate from the strand. When she met Gideon's eyes again, he smoldered at her, his caramel eyes hot with desire. Boy, Gideon was still gorgeous, even while frosted.

  She licked her lips and tasted chocolate, which was strangely erogenous with Gideon staring at her so roguishly. Her eyes flickered toward his icing coated mouth. Heaven help her, she bet his lips would taste delicious. No, wait a second. What am I thinking? She
let out a groan and fought the urge to start whacking herself over the head for losing control of her thoughts again.

  As she inwardly beat herself up, Gideon loomed closer. He's going to kiss me, she thought, her palms slick with sweat. When Gideon placed his hand on the wall behind her head, she quivered. She could feel his warm breath on her cheek, making her skin tingle. She was sure a kiss from him would be earth-shattering. Unfortunately, that was what made her panic the most. What if he kissed her and she begged him for more? After all, she was already having trouble fighting down her urges and the man hadn't even touched her yet. If she did screw up, Gideon wouldn't stick around. The man had said himself that his only ambition was to bed her. She'd be stupid to give in to him.

  Even though she longed for his mouth on hers, she turned her head to the right so he would kiss her cheek instead. Somehow even the brush of his mouth against her skin made a chill run down her spine. Gideon pulled back, staring down at her. She was hit with a whirlwind of emotions so strong they had the potential to send her to her knees.

  Despite the fact she had no reason to feel guilty, she longed to tell him that she'd wanted his kiss. The problem was she didn't want to want his kiss.

  "Gideon, I…I…" Good going, you ninny! she berated herself. Don't start a sentence before you know how you're going to end it.

  To her surprise, Gideon just smiled.

  "If you're not ready for me to kiss you yet, that's okay," he said.

  "It is?" She blinked in surprise.

  "Uh-huh." He touched her cheek. "You have nothing to worry about. I understand."

  Instead of trying to push her boundaries, Gideon stepped away. She could tell he still longed to embrace her—his eyes said as much—yet he respected her enough to hold back.

  That was the first time she felt a rush of attraction toward Gideon so powerful that she was lightheaded. Beyond all the sexual innuendo, Gideon was a nice man with standards and morals. Yeah, he was still a rogue who'd spent years jumping from bed to bed, but despite all that, he was a good guy.

  "Thank you," she said, fighting not to fall over after the shocking wave of attraction surged through her.

  Gideon nodded as her stomach did a strange flip. She stared at the floor, trying to get her bearings straight, and saw a handful of black feathers on the carpet.