Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
“You’re afraid of knowing the truth, Rory. I don’t think you’re ready to find out yet. When you start to get close to knowing anything, you panic and can’t breathe. I don’t want you to associate me with anything bad. I want you to associate me with being safe.”
Gideon wanted those things to be true. He even needed them to be. He was sincere. At the same time, he was full of shit, and he knew it. He had to get to the truth of what she was and why she was there in San Francisco. She was a GhostWalker. Whitney had no doubt experimented on her just as he had so many other orphaned girls. Rory was the last woman he wanted to mislead, but he had no choice. He had to protect the others. He also had to protect her whether she knew he was helping her or not.
“The odd thing is, Gideon, I do feel safe here. I’ve never told anyone the things I’m telling you. I wouldn’t have considered it. You’re the one who makes me feel safe. This is the first time I’ve ever felt brave enough to discuss this with anyone.”
The pads of his fingers slid over her temple lightly. Seeking. “You had a panic attack, Red.” He kept his voice gentle, the tone sliding into intimate. “I didn’t like being the cause of that.” He didn’t. It was necessary and it might happen again. Sadly, he was afraid it was inevitable.
“You have the frown again. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
There was a little demand in her tone that made him want to smile. He didn’t want to push so hard that she’d leave. What would he do then? Try to stop her? That could be a disaster. “I was trying to think of ways to best help you figure this out without putting undue pressure on you. You’re just really confronting the truth. You don’t have to do it all at once.”
Rory’s smile nearly took his breath away. She put her nebulizer back in its case and then in her skirt pocket. “I can’t believe how I lucked out. In my wildest dreams I never thought I’d meet a man as nice as you, Gideon. I had given up.”
He wasn’t a nice man. He wasn’t even wholly a man anymore. He didn’t know what he was. He had started out the evening thinking he was going to reel his woman in slow and easy. Court her. Hook her. Make sure she had every reason to believe in him. Every reason to stay in San Francisco and give the two of them a chance. Every reason to explore the chemistry flaring between them.
He was deceiving her. He might not be lying to her, but he was misleading her. One of the things Gideon was very good at was reading people. Rory was going to feel as if he had made a fool of her once she found out who and what he was. Eventually, she would have to be told. There would be no getting around it. She would find out about his ability to use his voice to compel her to answer him. She would consider that a weapon used against her. That wasn’t even the worst. He would have no choice but to betray her. Really betray her. There was Sebastian living in the compound. There was Rose. Jaimie. He had to tell the others about Rory. Once that happened . . . His sins were rapidly piling up. How could she forgive him? Would he forgive her if the roles were reversed? No, he would not. Silently, he cursed.
This was the woman meant to be his. He knew it with every fiber of his being. It was more than possible Whitney had engineered the pairing as he had so many others, but that didn’t matter to Gideon. In fact, if it was so, he welcomed it. Whitney might be able to enhance the chemistry between them—and he was quite all right with that aspect of their relationship being enhanced. Whitney couldn’t force emotions between them. The man was a cold fish and didn’t understand emotions. Gideon knew his feelings were already involved when it came to Rory. He’d developed them rapidly, and the more he was in her company, the stronger they became.
It was entirely possible Whitney had programmed Rory and sent her out to be an unknowing spy for him. Or worse, if she was programmed to kidnap Sebastian, Gideon couldn’t allow that door to be opened.
Abruptly, he took his hands off her and reached for a cold beer. “I think I’m going to have another piece of chicken and contemplate the merits of bartending.”
“You sound like Lydia. She lives at the apartment building and has a three-year-old daughter. Ellen has a disorder called selective mutism. Lydia is working with the people at UCSF Medical Center. She doesn’t have the best insurance to cover the cost, and she works for a software company, troubleshooting for their customers so she can work from home. She says she thinks she would prefer bartending. She watches YouTube videos all the time and has me show her tricks and how to make various drinks. She’s getting fast at some of them.” She set the picnic basket between them. “It would help her make more money to pay the bills for Ellen’s care. I’ve watched all the videos on how to work with a child who has selective mutism and have been learning how to help get little Miss Ellie to talk.”