“Right. So if I called you big boy, would you feel a little... diminished?”
“That’s an oxymoron, is it not?”
“So were they.” I shrugged and hiccupped. “If you call me darling again, I’ll salt your dinner so bad your mouth is going to feel like the Sahara for a week.”
Laughter sputtered out of him. Lines winged out from the corners of his eyes and his smile seemed almost rusty—shaky at first and then so bold it lit up the place better than the Vegas skyline.
His grin stole my breath. This man needed to smile more.
“Come, firecracker. I’ll show you the bedroom.”
He said “the” bedroom. Not his or ours. Was he avoiding the logistics of how this union was going to work?
Did it matter?
Not tonight.
I toed off my shoes and padded behind him. The floor was cool under my thin socks. I hoped I wasn’t leaving sweaty footprints behind me.
“Guest bathroom,” he said as we passed a closed door. He hadn’t bothered to turn on lights but all the material in this place was so bright it didn’t matter. White tile. White walls. Sedate black and silver artwork on the walls. It could be a mausoleum, but I couldn’t imagine this penthouse being a home.
He rattled off each room’s purpose as we passed closed doors. “Closet, guest bedroom. Second guest room. Office.”
The door at the end was open and he stepped to the side to let me in first. “There’s a full bathroom to your left.”
Again, he avoided putting a claim on the bedroom. I blinked the fuzz out of my eyes. I was buzzing pretty good. Gingerly, I stepped in.
Nerves tightened my belly until I was afraid I’d start shaking.
I’d gone from seeing Gideon in a parking lot and developing a severe case of infatuation to being married to him and standing in his bedroom. How had it happened?
He’d asked why I wasn’t married. I’d told him I’d like to be. He’d said all the guys I’d dated must’ve been idiots. I’d laughed and said, “Why? Do you want to marry me?” A little more back-and-forth, and we were at the chapel.
Now I was here. This room was not like the cozy little four walls I slept in. My bedroom didn’t fit muchmore than my queen bed and a couple of dressers. “I can fit my house in here.”
Half of the square footage of the penthouse was in the bedroom. Plush carpet greeted my feet. White, naturally.
“It’s spacious,” he agreed.
I giggled, but when my gaze landed on the bed, I choked.
“Do you need to use the bathroom first?” he asked quietly.
“Yes, please.” I wasn’t crawling into Gideon’s bed with meat-and-cheese-platter breath.
In the bathroom, I stared some more. I had land, thanks to Daddy, but my house was in town, not far from the school. I’d purchased it myself. I could’ve afforded a larger place, but I hadn’t needed bigger. The bathroom had creaky pipes, the water pressure was variable, and cracked plaster was the main decoration. Gideon’s shower could swallow my bathroom in one gulp. I quit counting the showerheads at six. How many sinks did a bathroom need? There was another open door, and when I peeked inside, I snickered. “The toilet gets its own room.”
My gaze swung back to the shower. An image of Gideon’s muscled body thrusting into a naked woman he had pressed against the wall flashed into my brain. Only the woman was sleeker than me. Classier.
I shook my head. Not now. I was less than an hour into my marriage, and I was not getting jealous.
I should be scared—what did he expect tonight? What would my family say? My work? The entire town? More importantly, what would Gideon think when I told him what I wanted out of this marriage?
CHAPTER FIVE
Gideon
Autumn exited the bathroom, her hands behind her, smoothing her dress over her leggings. She looked odd in my bedroom. Her reddish-brown leggings ended where her thin socks started and were stark against the pale room. A single flame that warmed up every square inch. The woman didn’t bare more than her hands and neck, but she exuded sex appeal that only dunces would miss.
