Coffee…pancakes…music? I bolted upright in a bed that wasn’t mine and searched my surroundings. Dark walls, huge bed, woodsy scent.Gideon.I was at Gideon’s. My body relaxed but my brain spun out of control, with thoughts whipping by so fast I couldn’t grasp onto one. I stretched, my naked body a little sore from the second round in the middle of the night. My entire face warmed at the memory—it was sweet how he’d woken me up by pressing his lips down my bare spine. Yeah—I liked sleepy sex. I’d never had that before and I envisioned more of that in the future. A crash sounded from upstairs, and I found the first shirt of Gideon’s I could from a drawer. I padded up the stairs, skipping two at a time, and entered the kitchen. “Gideon. Everything good?”
“Hey.” He froze, the spatula in his hand stopping when he gave me the softest smile I had ever seen. My breath caught in my throat, the warmth and emotion in his expression not part of the deal. “You look really fucking good in my clothes.”
I blinked. I fidgeted with the end of the shirt, hating how easily I blushed at his words. “I heard a crash.”
He jutted his chin to the pan on the floor. “I got fancy. Dropped it. Have a seat. Coffee is ready. Almost done with pancakes. Do you prefer chocolate chips in yours or no?”
“Clown question. Yes to the chocolate. Always yes. I’m surprised a health freak like you would allow sugar to be in the house.”
“I’m not a robot. I need my fix from time to time. Kind of how I feel about you.”
“Fair enough. Let me know when you need another hit.” I winked at him and plopped down on the high-top stool.
He responded with another panty-dropping smile and slid a chipped mug over to me. It hadworld’s best uncleand an old picture of Quinn on it. “This is cute.”
“It would be cute if I didn’t also have a plate, mouse pad, and sweatshirt with the same picture. Little nugget has her face all over my stuff.”
“You’re a good uncle, Gideon. She’s lucky to have you.”
His face softened. “I’m lucky.”
That expression. The world didn’t get to see him this way—shirtless in a massive kitchen with coffee mugs with his niece’s face on it. It fucked me up. I had only ever been on a rollercoaster once, when I was a kid, but I remembered the feeling. Right as we’d approached the top of the arch, there’d been a pause. A second where time froze, where everything was at peace before crashing back down to earth. I was at peace. It was terrifying. I collected myself when I poured a cup of coffee. I preferred it black but put in three packets of sugar.The extra release has to help my inner turmoil, right?
“Mm. You in my kitchen…in my shirt. I wouldn’t have such a hard time waking up if this greeted me in the morning.” He ran his nose down my neck and squeezed my hip. “How do you smell so good?”
“Naturally gifted.” He trailed his lips up to my jaw, my eyes almost rolling back in my head. He had no idea what his words and touch did to me, there was no way. “Speaking of hard…”
He chuckled and pressed his aroused length into my back. “I can’t help it when you’re around.”
“I need to remove your batteries. Where do you keep them?”
He threw his head back and laughed. It was a heavenly sound. “I can bend over and show you.”
“No, just, no.” I shoved him in the chest, my smile stretching my skin. I hardly recognized the asshole from that first day, months ago. So much had changed. “I’m a little hurt. You told me you would hang those jerseys in your kitchen and I don’t see them. Liar.”
“Watch the pancakes. Flip them if they get too brown.” He took off toward the main foyer. I frowned. I hadn’t expected him to run on the tile, but curiosity got the better of me. I flipped the pancakes and waited another couple of minutes before he came back with two large frames, at least three feet long.
“Well, fuck. You kept your word.”
“Sure did. I got them both framed. After breakfast, help me hang them up?” His tone rose at the end, and the sound went right to my chest. “Scratch that. If you lift your arms up, I’ll get distracted by your skin. Next time, you’ll see them, though.”
“Next time, eh?” I walked toward him and ran my fingers down his chest. His grin was infectious. His mood was infectious, and I knew the peace wouldn’t last long. I wanted to bury myself in it. “Getting cocky again?”
“I was going to bring it up after I fed you, but might as well now. Fiona.” He paused and cupped my face after setting the posters down on the counter. “I have an idea. It benefits us both. You ready?”
I gulped before nodding.
His gaze darted back and forth between my eyes and the charcoal color lightened. “I vote you come here every night after a game. I have three reasons why.”
“I’m listening.” My ears pounded with my pulse and I swore my palms sweated.
“One. Post-game analysis would be a hell of a lot more fun here. We could be naked. Doing stats naked sounds way better. Two. Sometimes, I wake up horny dreaming of you and it would be easy if you were already here. And three. I like seeing you in my kitchen. What do you say? For the rest of the season, you stay here with me.”
His eyes pleaded with me. The hope in his voice about did me in and I could think of a million reasons why I should say no, but none made sense.Peace.I needed to enjoy the peace. “Hmm. I’ll have to get back to you on that. Check with my people.”
“You don’t have people, Barbie.” He tugged on the end of my hair before lowering his mouth to mine. “It’ll be fun. Just say yes. We can sleep on the bean-bag floor every night.”
“Christ. You had me at bean bag. Yes. I’ll stay with you after every game, but just until the season ends.”
