Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 156145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
It struck Gideon that he’d been playing this wrong. He’d known Jeff had hurt Lucy with his actions, and then she’d told him that she hadn’t been with anyone since, and he’d gone straight to treating her like an innocent virgin. She was innocent in some ways, but by being so careful with her, he’d created room for her to doubt herself—and him.
Fuck that.
He guided her hands to his shoulders and then started unbuttoning his shirt. “You don’t believe the words, and I don’t blame you for that. But if you won’t listen to me when I tell you that you’re a fucking goddess personified, then I’ll show you.”
She kneaded his shoulders slightly, her eyes glued to his hands as he finished with his shirt and started on the front of his slacks. “I believe you.”
“You don’t.” He kicked off his shoes and shoved down his pants. Lucy shook her head as if fighting off a daze and pushed his shirt off his shoulders. He let it fall to the floor and then the only barriers were their respective underwear. He snagged the lace with a single finger. “These have to go.”
“Yours, too.”
He took a step back and hooked his thumbs in his boxer briefs. A single, smooth movement and he stood before her naked. Watching Lucy’s jaw drop was ridiculously gratifying. She took in each part of his body, starting with his head and moving over his neck, his shoulders, his chest, his stomach and, finally, settling on his cock. He grew harder in response to her hungry expression.
Gideon had never had a woman look at him the way Lucy did. As if he was a present she’d found under the Christmas tree—just for her. It threatened to turn this interaction into something it could never be, so he smothered the thought. She wanted him physically. End of story.
“Gideon, you’re beautiful.” She shucked off her panties, never taking her gaze from him. “I mean, I’d seen you in a swimsuit, but this is different.” She closed the distance between them once more, a small line appearing between her brows. “Is it weird, though? I never considered you a brother or anything like that, but you were family.”
Family.
He’d forced himself to forget that feeling of belonging that Lucy seemed to extend wherever she went. When he’d hung out with her and Jeff, he’d never felt like a third wheel—he’d just been part of the unit. Of all the things he’d missed when she’d cut off communication between them, that might be the highest on the list. “I never saw you as a sister.”
“I know.” She laughed softly. “I’d catch you watching me sometimes—not often—and you never made it weird. But... I know.”
He thought he’d hid it better than that. Gideon shoved the past away just like he shoved aside so many inconvenient feelings that seemed to arise the more time he spent with Lucy. “It’s not weird.”
“I guess it’s not.” She carefully slid her hands up his chest and around his neck, taking that last step to bring them chest to chest. He rested his hands on her waist, but she felt too good to limit the contact. Gideon stroked up her back and down again to cup her ass.
There was nothing left to say. They’d reached the point of no return the second Lucy’s dress had hit the floor. Gideon lifted his head. “Bedroom.”
“This way—Oh!”
He swept her into his arms and strode across the living room to the door she’d indicated. Her bedroom was purely Lucy: a pretty wood headboard, more pillows than one woman should require, and a bright yellow floral bedspread that brightened the room even in the low light of the single lamp she must have left on.
He laid her on the bed and settled between her thighs. Gideon had every intention of slowing things down and having a very specific conversation about how this would proceed.
Every. Intention.
But Lucy wrapped her legs around his waist and arched up to meet him, and that honorable plan disappeared as if it’d never existed. Maybe it hadn’t and he’d just been lying to himself all along. It didn’t matter. There was only her soft skin beneath his palms, her body sliding against his and her mouth on his neck.
He kissed her. Gideon might never get enough of her sunny taste, and he wasn’t about to miss a chance to immerse himself in the feel of her. This was happening. They would cross the line he’d never once considered anything other than insurmountable.
He stroked a hand down her waist to squeeze her ass and hitch her up to fit tighter against him. The temptation to sink into her was almost too much, but this wasn’t about him, his wants, his needs.
This was about Lucy.
Gideon hadn’t leashed himself and his desire for her this long to skip over for anything less than the full experience. He didn’t want to miss a single thing. He kissed down and across her collarbone and palmed her breasts. “Perfect. Every single thing about you is fucking perfect.”