Here All Along (17 page)

Gideon’s face fell slack, and he lowered his eyes. “Let’s talk about this later.”

“No, let’s talk about it now.” She snatched her hand away and held it up to point to the ring. “I’ve been waiting all day for you to come home so we could talk about how I got this.”

“Must not have been a memorable wedding night,” Gabe quipped.

Gideon’s face twisted into something akin to rage. He shot up to his feet and shoved Gabe against the wall. “I said shut the fuck up.”

“You’re the one who asked me to come along as your witness.” Gabe pried Gideon’s hands off of his chest and stepped to the side, smoothing the wrinkles out of his shirt. “If you want me to leave with the evidence—”

“No, stay.” Gideon’s shoulders drooped and he wandered off to a chair on the opposite side of the living room. “But please keep the commentary to yourself.”

“What evidence?” she asked, even though she dreaded the answer.

“First off, since you obviously don’t remember everything,” Gabe said with a grin, “
mazel tov
.”

“Gabe,” Gideon warned.

“What?” He threw his hands up and turned to Gideon. “Can’t I congratulate you two for finally tying the knot?”

“Oh, God.” Even though her hangover had eased hours ago, the headache threatened to return with a vengeance. She covered her face behind her hands so neither one of them would see the tears that threatened to spill over.

“See? I told you she would’ve been better off marrying me, but—”

“Just stop it.” Fury over the way Gabe was making fun of the situation overcame any restraints she had left. She rose and crossed the room to the one man who could give her a straight answer. “Are we or are we not married?”

Gideon met her gaze, and a flash of sadness appeared in his eyes. “We are.”

Shit!

Another tremor worked up her spine until her fingers shook from rage. “How dare you take advantage of me like that? I was drunk, and you tricked me into marrying you.”

“Ah, but that’s where you have it all wrong, Sarah.” Gabe came alongside her with his phone in his hand. “You were the one who proposed to him.”

For the second time in mere minutes, the blood left her head until she was on the verge of passing out. “Excuse me?”

“Take a look at the evidence.” He pressed play and handed her the phone with a flourish.

The scene was a table in a dark bar. She was straddling Gideon’s lap, her skirt hiked up far enough to expose the scars from where they’d repaired her broken hip three years ago.
Locked at the lips
would be putting it mildly, yet the image of them kissing revived the heated desire she’d dreamed about this morning.

She dared to glance out of the corner of her eye at Gideon. He was watching her with an intensity that made her forget how to breathe.

Somehow, she managed to turn her attention back to the screen as the kiss ended.

“I have a crazy idea,”
she heard herself saying on the video.

“What?”
Gideon asked as he twirled her hair around his finger, his smile so sexy, she wondered how she’d kept her clothes on at the moment.

“Let’s get married.”

The smile slipped, and he blinked several times.
“What?”

“I said, let’s get married.”
She ran her hands along the collar of his shirt and wiggled her body against his.
“What do you say?”

She knew Gideon so well that she could read the emotions as they flickered across his face. First was surprise. Then hesitation. Then guilt. And finally resolve.
“Are you sure you want to get married?”

She nodded her head.
“I love you, Gideon,”
she said before kissing him again.

The video stopped, but the embarrassment over what she’d just seen lingered. It burned her skin, made her palms slick with sweat, and tied her insides into knots. She backed away, unable to look either of them in the eye.

“So you see, Sarah, it was all your idea.” Gabe slid his phone into his pocket. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll give you two newlyweds a little privacy.”

An awkward silence filled the room after Gabe left, but Gideon was the one who broke it.

“Red…”

“Don’t talk to me.” Her vision blurred from tears, but she refused to let them fall. “Just leave me alone.”

For the past few days, the pool had become her place of calm serenity, but just like yesterday, it did little to ease her spirit. A breeze whipped in from the desert, distorting her reflection in the water. She’d been the one to blame for this, and yet it was easier to lash out at Gideon than direct her anger at herself.

“I’m not leaving until we talk about this,” he said behind her.

She spun around on her heel. “You shouldn’t have done it. You knew I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“Funny, because your kisses said otherwise.” He closed the gap between them with a strange glint in his eyes. “And now that you’re sober, I fully intend to pick up where we left off.”

And if he meant with her kissing him like that, there was no telling where things might go.

Actually, she knew exactly where things would end up—with her naked in his bed.

Sarah back-pedaled until her foot hit nothing but air. She flung her arms out in a desperate attempt to catch her balance, but landed in the pool with a splash. She surfaced just as another wave of water sloshed across her face from Gideon jumping in after her.

“Damn it, Gideon!” She rubbed the water from her eyes. “Don’t make this worse than it already is.”

“I like seeing you all wet. You have no idea how hard it was to lie beside you last night and be on my best behavior.”

She followed his line of sight to where it focused on the outline of her breasts through the thin material of her dress. A shiver coursed through her, and she only wished she could blame it on the chill in the air. She imagined him holding her breasts in his hands, rubbing his thumbs over their centers until her nipples ached with want.

She crossed her arms over her chest to hide the stiff peaks and swam backward. “We should stop before we do something else we’ll regret.”

Gideon shook his head and stalked through the water like a jaguar on the prowl. “I don’t regret marrying you at all. You opened the door, Red, and I would’ve been a fool to let an opportunity like that slip through my fingers.”

“I was drunk.”

“I know.” He stopped mere inches from her. “But I was sober.”

“And you thought it would be a good idea to marry me?”

He nodded, his face oddly unreadable for once.

“Why? Any idiot could see I’m all wrong for you.”

“Then I must be an idiot.” He pulled her into his arms and silenced her protests by pressing his lips to hers.

All coherent thoughts fled her mind. At the moment, she would’ve easily believed they were perfect for each other, that she belonged in his arms, that what she’d said last night was true. And in the deepest part of her heart, she knew she did love him, even if she wasn’t quite ready to admit it when she was sober.

She cupped his face in her hands and deepened the kiss. A moan rose up into the night, although she wasn’t sure if it was from him or her. He tightened his hold on her until the steady drum of his heart vibrated through her from his chest. A warm glow of contentment flowed from the center of her chest, easing the tense knots in her shoulders. Desire followed, redirecting the tension to the lowest pit of her stomach and quickening her pulse.

Gideon pulled away, his voice hoarse as he asked, “See how good we are together?”

In her mind, she wanted to tell him no. She wanted to scream and push him away and hide in her room until she could keep her emotions in check. But her body overruled her. As much as her mind told her to leave, her body—and maybe even her heart—forced her to stay. “You’re only going to make things worse.”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

He kissed her again, and this time, he made his objective clear. He wanted her, and he wasn’t going to stop until she surrendered. His hands roamed her body, clutching her thighs, squeezing her ass, massaging her back until the strap of her dress slipped from her shoulder. He moved from her lips to her bare skin, nibbling on the flesh until she wished she was completely naked so he could taste all of her like that.

With each caress, her resistance waned. How long had she wanted him to make love to her? How long had she fought her feelings for him? How long would she continue to deny herself the one person she desired?

She gathered his shirt in her hands and tugged it over his head with an impatient whimper. A few seconds later, her dress followed and landed somewhere across the pool. One impulsive, lust-driven move after another created a sensuously torturous striptease between them.

First, his jeans.

Then her bra.

Then his underwear until he was standing naked in the pool beside her.

She wrapped her hand around his thick cock, stroking his length and imaging how good he’d feel inside her.

Gideon moaned and braced his arms on either side of her along the edge of the pool, his eyes squeezed tight. “Oh, God, Sarah.”

The restraint in his voice mirrored that of his body. As much as he wanted her, he was still waiting for her to make the final decision. She could give into him and experience all he had to offer, or she could call it off now before she took their relationship to a place she’d never be able to return from. Lust or logic. Passion or prevention. It all rested on her.

Instead of using a searing kiss to convince her to continue, Gideon brushed his thumb along her lower lip and met her gaze. The love shining from his eyes stole her breath away. This wasn’t a man who would’ve taken advantage of her drunken state to fulfill his sexual desires. This was the man who’d search for who knew how long to recover a cherished memento and quietly return it to her. This was a man who’d always been by her side when she needed him. This was the man who’d been patiently waiting all this time for her to acknowledge the love between them.

“Please, Sarah, let me in.”

Her head whirled from the implications. He wanted more than just sex. He wanted her to let him into her heart. She’d become open and exposed, vulnerable. She’d risk destroying everything she held dear. With just a word, he could crush her and send her back to that dark place she’d been three years ago. And yet, if there was one person she could trust her fragile heart with, it was her best friend.

Her chin trembled as she nodded.

He wrapped her in his arms and pushed her back against the pool wall. The restraint vanished, and raw passion took its place. He kissed her until her hesitations were forgotten, until her fears gave way to need, until her hunger matched his.

And God, how she wanted him. Funny how the object of her desire was the one man she’d never considered because she’d failed to see him as anything other than a friend. She’d always found Gideon attractive. Most people in this business were. But when he ran his warm hands over her bare skin, when he kissed her until she was left breathless, when he pressed his hard body against hers, she wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anyone.

She yanked off her underwear and wrapped her legs around his waist.

It was all the invitation he needed. He lifted her hips and entered her with one, swift thrust.

Her entire body tightened from the sensation. Damn, he felt good. And just when she thought it couldn’t get any better, he began to move inside her.

He started off slow, drawing out each stroke as though he wanted to make the moment last forever. His kisses followed suit, soft and tender and full of warm emotions like love. But as much as she enjoyed them, some rebellious part in her wanted more. She signaled it first with a nip of his lip, then the impatient rocking of her hips, and finally by digging her heels into his ass with a silent plea for him to deepen.

He chuckled and followed her unspoken commands. His movements became faster, stronger, harder until she cried out in pleasure every time he rammed into her. This was what she wanted, what she deserved. A no-holds-barred fucking. The roughness of it awakened the wild child who’d been dormant inside her for so long, she’d almost forgotten who she’d been. She was finally free to let down her guard, to be herself, and to be still wanted for exposing her dark side.

Gideon responded by quickening his pace until she could barely breathe. Her body grew tight and tense, inching closer and closer to the point where she could no longer hold back her release. She dug her nails into his shoulders and cried out his name as she came.

“So. Fucking. Beautiful.” The words came out as stiff grunts and ended with his own cry of release. Gideon reached out to grab the edge of the pool as his legs buckled. They fell deeper into the water until only their heads remained above the surface, but their bodies still remained intimately entwined underneath.

She had no idea how much time had passed before he whispered, “I told you we’d be good together.”

“You were right.”

A hopeful smile revived his features, and he gave her one more tender kiss. “Then let’s give this marriage a chance.”