LUCY HAD NEVER enjoyed oral. Not really. It was yet another area where Jeff’s competitiveness soured any inkling of pleasure she might get from the act. He had a series of moves he’d go through, the goal being to get her wet enough for sex. Truth be told, she’d always suspected he didn’t like the act any more than she did, but the one time she’d brought it up, it had been one of the worst fights they’d ever had.
The first rasp of whiskers against Lucy’s inner thigh drove thoughts of her ex right out of her head. Gideon didn’t immediately go for her clit. Instead he dragged his cheek against her other thigh, using the motion to spread her legs farther.
She lifted her head just as he dipped down and drew his tongue over her in one long lick. Then he did it again—as if she was his favorite flavor of ice cream. Considering their frenzied making out, she’d expected this to be just as quick...
Should have known better than to make assumptions about Gideon.
Especially after last time.
He spread her folds and thrust his tongue into her, his low growl making the act unbearably erotic. Lucy’s thoughts slammed to a halt and her mind went gloriously blank. “Holy shit.”
He didn’t appear to hear her. Gideon fucked her pussy with his tongue as if he couldn’t get enough of her taste. He gripped her thighs with his big hands, holding her open to his ministrations even when her muscles shook with the effort to react, to move, to do something.
She thrashed her head from one side to the other, the sensations too much and not enough—and she didn’t know how to put it into words. Honesty. Words crowded in her throat, too raw and vulnerable to give voice, but then she felt his teeth and they burst forth in a rush. “My clit. Gideon, suck on my clit. Use your teeth.” Like he had with her nipples. Like he was doing right now with her labia.
Her entire body coiled at the thought, and the feeling intensified when he did exactly as she asked. There was no macho posturing or telling her that he was more than capable of pleasing her without an instruction manual. Gideon just...listened.
He sucked her clit into his mouth and set his teeth against the sensitive bundle of nerve endings. She arched almost completely off the bed, and he used the move to slide his hands under her ass and lift her so he could feast more effectively.
Because that was exactly what he was doing—feasting.
There was nothing gentle or teasing about his touch now. He went after her clit in a way that was just shy of pain, sending little zings of pure bliss through her. Her body coiled tighter yet, so close to the edge, she didn’t know how much longer she could hold out.
Gideon lifted his head just enough to speak, his lips brushing her heated flesh with every word. “Do you want to come like this?”
Asking that question was the single sexiest thing anyone had ever done to her. Choice. Control. Who knew it could be such a turn-on?
She almost said yes. Lucy was so close to orgasm, she shook with need and had to focus entirely too hard to create verbal words beyond yesyesyesyesyes. Did she want him to keep doing what he’d been doing? Hell, yes.
But she wanted him inside her more.
She licked her lips. “I want...” How did she want him?
Every way.
Right now, though? “I want to ride you.”
A muscle in his jaw ticked and his grip on her thighs twitched. “You have condoms.”
“Yes.” She pointed a shaking finger at her nightstand.
The ones she’d bought after her breakup had expired ages ago, victim of her self-esteem issues, so she’d picked up a new box this morning. She’d also unwrapped the box so they could save time. It had felt presumptuous in the extreme when she’d been sitting alone on her bed, Garfunkel staring at her in feline judgment. Now she wished she’d already had one of them on Gideon.
He slowly released her, as if it pained him to move away. She sat up and scooted back so she could watch him pull open the top drawer. It wasn’t until his dark eyes flashed that she remembered what else was in the drawer. “Ah...”
He held up her pink vibrator. “We’ll talk about this later.” He dropped it back in the drawer and pulled out a condom. “Scratch that. We’re not going to talk. I’m going to stroke myself while I watch you use it.”
Her eyes went wide at the image his words painted. Him, sitting against the headboard with his cock in his hand. Her on her back with her legs spread, using her toy. Her core clenched. “I want that. Later.”
“Later,” he agreed. He ripped the wrapper open and proceeded to roll the condom down his length.
She stood and pushed him to sit on the edge of the bed. “Like this.” Lucy climbed into his lap and reached between them to notch his cock at her entrance. With her desire driving her, it was easy to speak things that would have stoppered her words with embarrassment in any other situation. “Kiss me while I ride you.”
“You have no idea how fucking sexy it is that you know exactly what you want.” He scooted back enough that she could brace her knees on the mattress. Then he hooked one arm around her waist while he dug his other hand into her hair. He tugged a little. “Yes?”
She moaned. “Yes.” She loved when Gideon didn’t treat her like she was breakable. He didn’t so much as hesitate when she urged him to bite her harder, to grab her tighter. Things she hadn’t even known she craved until he gave them to her.
Lucy slid down until he was completely sheathed inside her. She had to pause to adjust to the almost uncomfortable fullness. The sensation passed quickly, dissipating to sheer pleasure as her body accommodated his size. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him as she started to move. Their position had him rubbing against her clit with every stroke and, despite trying to hold out, her orgasm loomed all too soon.
Her strokes went choppy. “Gideon.”
He shifted his hands to her hips, helping her maintain the rhythm that would get her where she needed to go. “You feel so fucking good.”
“You...too.” She opened her eyes, not sure when she’d closed them, and the expression on his face stilled her breath in her lungs. Possession. Desire. Need. It was too much.
Lucy cried out his name as she came. He kept her moving, kept the orgasm going, until her muscles gave out and she slumped against him.
He carefully pulled out of her and shifted them back onto the bed. Gideon spooned her, lightly stroking her arm, her hip, her stomach. She stared at the art print on the wall next to her bed for several long moments while she relearned how to breathe. Gradually she became aware of a very specific part of him pressed against her ass. “You didn’t come.”
“Not yet.”
Not yet.
Who knew those two little words would be the sexiest thing she’d ever heard?
* * *
Gideon kept up his light touching until Lucy arched back against him. Judging her to be recovered enough, he hooked one knee and lifted her leg up and over his legs, leaving her open to him. He slid a hand carefully between her thighs, testing her tenderness. “Tell me what you want.”
“You.”
He kissed the back of her neck. “You have me.” For now. “Tell me what other fantasies you’ve been harboring.” The image of her using that toy on herself would be enough to keep him up at night for the foreseeable future. He was a goddamn idiot for feeding his imagination more images, but he craved them the same way he craved her.
“You want my sexual bucket list?” Her amused tone turned into a gasp as he idly stroked her clit. “You can’t expect me to think when you’re doing that.”
“Consider it inspiration.” He liked the idea of being the one who helped her cross items off that type of list. Fuck, he liked the thought that he was in her bed right now and would be for as long as she felt he had something to teach her.
Lucy reached back to sift her fingers through his hair. “I haven’t really thought about it.”
“Liar.” He took the move for an invitation and slid his other arm beneath her so he could palm her breasts. “There’s at least a few things you have lurking in the back of your mind about this—something you’ve always wanted to try.” Something he could be the only one to ever give to her.
At least for now.
She hesitated and he could practically hear her thinking it over and considering laying herself bare in this way. Gideon could have pointed out that they were already bared to each other, but this was different.
He stilled his hands, waiting for her answer.
“Don’t stop.” She covered the hand between her legs with one of her own, guiding him back to her clit and then lower, to push a finger inside her. Lucy moaned. “High-end dressing room. I’ve always wanted to have sex in a high-end dressing room—lingerie, maybe, if that’s not super cliché.” She tensed. “Crap. I’m doing it again. God, it’s so hard to turn off.”
“I think we could make that happen.” He kissed along her neck to growl in her ear. “I want to see you in green—that bright jewel tone.”
She tilted her head forward, giving him better access. “I think we could make that happen.” She echoed his words back to him.
“Charitable of you.” He paused his stroking long enough to guide his cock into her. She clamped tight around him and he barely bit back a curse.
As many times as he’d slipped and imagined what it would be like to have Lucy in his bed, his fantasies hadn’t come close to the bliss of reality. She was fucking perfection. Every move, every word, every gasp—Gideon stored them all away in his memory. He only had a limited time to accumulate enough to last him a lifetime.
A worry for another day.
Tonight he was inside Lucy.
Tomorrow could wait until tomorrow.
* * *
Gideon sat in Lucy’s living room and ate reheated leftovers. She had a bright throw wrapped around her shoulders and her cat in her lap as she tried to arrange her food in an order that she could actually eat. He reached over and plucked the cat out of her lap.
Or he tried.
In reality, Garfunkel had no intention of going anywhere against his will. He let loose a yowl that raised the small hairs on the back of Gideon’s neck. Before he could react, the cat hissed and swiped claws across his forearm. He cursed but managed not to chuck the horrid little beast. Instead he dropped the animal the short distance to the floor.
“Oh, my God!” Lucy shoved her food containers to the side and grabbed his wrist. “What were you thinking?”
He gritted his teeth as she dabbed at the blood welling in the scratches with a napkin. “I was thinking you’d have an easier time eating if he wasn’t taking up so much space on your lap.”
“You weren’t wrong.” She dabbed a little harder. “But if you haven’t noticed, Garfunkel is territorial. And he doesn’t like men much.”
“You think?” He took the napkin from her and pressed it hard against his arm. “It’s fine. I should have known better.” His lifestyle wasn’t one that allowed for a pet, but if it had, Gideon would definitely be a dog person. Cats seemed to be little assholes as a general rule, and he had a feeling if he tried to adopt one, he’d pick the biggest asshole of them all through sheer karma.
Though Garfunkel has a solid running for that title.
“I’m really sorry.”
“Lucy, it’s fine.” He grabbed his food and joined her on the couch. “How are you feeling?”
“Unwound.” She leaned her head against the back of the couch and gave him a sleepy smile. “I’d forgotten how relaxing good sex could be.”
Good doesn’t begin to cover it.
He bit the comment back. It was sheer pride that made him want to say it and he didn’t have a right. Not in the current situation. He was here for a specific purpose and he couldn’t afford to forget that even for a moment. Lucy wasn’t for him in any permanent way. This was a window into the world of what could have been in another life, if things had fallen out in a different sequence of events.
But they hadn’t. So here he and Lucy were.
“What made you pick those particular men?”
It took him a few seconds too long to make the subject change with her. He didn’t want to talk about other men while he still had the memory of her body against his and the smell of her on his skin. It felt wrong on a whole hell of a lot of different levels. An intrusion.
Except it wasn’t.
Lucy had asked him for a specific set of things, and sex had been an afterthought. Just because it wasn’t an afterthought for Gideon didn’t mean he could snap at her for keeping her head in the game. So he did his best to do the same.
“They’re all ambitious men who have reputations for being honest and are old enough that they’re likely thinking about settling down with one person. I’ve personally placed both Mark and Liam in jobs, so I did all the research and then some. They have solid histories. Neither has any record of being a cheater or abusive in any way. They’re good guys—as good as anyone is.” And he’d checked. Even with only twenty-four hours at his disposal, he’d done extensive research and even gone so far as to call a few of their exes, though Gideon wasn’t about to admit that to Lucy. None of the women had said anything to raise red flags.
She speared a green bean with her fork. “And Aaron?”
“He’s the best of the best. I actually tried to poach him for a client last year and he wouldn’t give me the time of day.” When she raised her eyebrows, he shifted, something like embarrassment sifting through him. “There’s more to it than that, of course. He’s got an excellent reputation, and Roman is actually friends with him.”
“Your pitch is overwhelming.” She laughed softly. “But then, this is what I asked for, isn’t it?”
He didn’t like seeing that look on her face, as if she was resigning herself to a life half lived. “Lucy, if you want to change directions on this thing, we can do that. Even if you go on dates with these guys, nothing is set in stone.”
“I know you mean well, but I would very much appreciate it if you’d stop trying to talk me out of this.”
He tried to rein in his temper, but he’d held himself too tightly under control the last two days. Too careful. It wasn’t Gideon’s natural default, and it had started to wear on him. He glared. “I’m not trying to talk you out of shit. I’m giving you options. You want this to have a chance in hell of working, you need to stop being so goddamn defensive. I’m helping you with this bat-shit-crazy plan, so I need you to throw me a bone once in a while.”
She set down her fork. “I think you should leave.”
Fuck. He started to apologize but stopped. Lucy might be fragile in some ways, but she wasn’t broken. He had to remember that and stop treating her with kid gloves. And yet letting her make what might be the biggest mistake of her life because he felt guilty over her last relationship was a shitty thing to do.
He wasn’t sure what his other options were, but he’d have to figure it out. Fast.
In the meantime he needed to get the hell out of there before he said something they’d both regret. Gideon stood and buttoned the last few buttons on his shirt. “I’ll email you the details tomorrow.”
“Okay.” She still wouldn’t look at him.
He hesitated, but there was nothing left to say. Sex had changed things. Having concrete proof of how deep the connection ran between them was enough to set him back on his heels. She felt it, too. There was no way she didn’t.
Now he just needed her to actually admit it.