“I even tried to call you on your cell phone to see if you were all right, but all I got was voice mail,” his grandfather added, watching him closely.
Gideon’s neck heated. “I—uh—forgot to charge it overnight.” He shook his head, stepping away from the group. That was so unlike him—he was always prepared, always thinking ahead.
“—was just getting ready to come over and check on you,” Gideon Senior was saying.
Gideon jerked to look at him, suddenly immensely grateful that Fiona had hustled them both out the door so she could get to her car and drive back to Wicks Hollow before he coaxed her back to bed again.
Having his grandfather show up and finding Fiona there would only open a huge can of worms.
No, a basket of rattlesnakes would be more like it.
And was that a damn twinkle in the old man’s eyes?
“Why didn’t you just call me on the land line?” he asked, his voice short and annoyed. He managed a few more steps before his grandfather replied.
“I tried, but no one answered.”
The flush rose up Gideon’s neck and over the back of his skull. He must have called while they were in the shower. The heat intensified as he remembered the short exchange afterward with Fiona, and he had to fight to keep from grinning like a schoolboy.
She’d stepped out of the shower, her hair a mass of sexy, wet zigzags plastered to her head and neck. A smile quirked her face when she caught his reflection in the mirror. “Somehow I pictured you as a Norelco man.”
Gideon allowed a grin to curve his lips, taking care not to crinkle the skin he was shaving. “No, I’ve always been a blade man.” He smoothed his fingers and thumb over his chin. “Much closer shave.”
Fiona wrapped her towel closer around her, and stepped over to touch his chin. “Mmm. Yes, I see what you mean.” Her hand slid from his chin down to the damp mat of hair on his chest, sending a renewed wave of lust through him.
He pulled her closer and her other hand came up to wrap around his neck. The thick towel slipped away, crumpling to the floor, and suddenly, they were skin to skin.
Something his grandfather was saying forced Gideon’s attention back to the matter at hand.
“—skeleton in the closet.”
“What? How did you know about that?”
The older man crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “Not too difficult when it was on the six o’clock, ten o’clock, eleven o’clock, and early morning news. Not to mention all over Yahoo! and CNN.com. Weren’t you watching?”
That did it. Gideon tossed a last annoyed, faintly embarrassed glare at his grandfather and stalked off to his office. He thought for sure he heard a snort of laughter just before he slammed his door.
He sat at his desk, turning to the credenza behind him to the laptop that had gone to sleep sometime yesterday. The computer sizzled and hummed as it woke up, and Gideon moved back to the stack of files on his desk that had to be attended to.
He opened the first beige file folder and began to peruse the contract, looking for anything that might be a problem for his client.
What a night.
The thought popped into his head, right in the middle of a clause about indemnification, and he smiled. Actually, it was more of a goofy grin than a smile.
The words on the page in front of him faded away as he sat there, smirking like a fool, remembering…
It was only the chime on his computer indicating he had email that pulled him back into the present.
Gideon shook his head and closed the file folder. He could look at that later. He spun in his chair to face the laptop and began to work his away through the programs to open his email.
He got through the first three messages, memories and sensations from sharing his bed with Fiona hovering in another layer of his consciousness. Then he remembered what she’d said about his drawings.
The warmth curling in his middle expanded, seeping up into his throat and heating his face—like he was a high school kid who’d just made the honor rollandwas receiving kudos from the sexiest teacher at school.
She liked them.
She loved them.
