“Just leave.”
“No.”
My hands drop, and I glare at him. “You want a front row seat to a fucked-up woman who can’t even feel a man’s hard cock against her panties and not panic? Even if that man is kissing her and there are sparks flying like some romantic movie?”
His lips twitch. “Sparks, huh?”
“Not the point.”
“Actually, that is the point. You think I didn’t feel that kiss down to my core? You want me to lie and say it was lackluster, like kissing my grandmother?”
“Ew, not okay.”
His lips twitch. “Also, I’m going to be replaying that kiss in my head with the way you sayhard cockfor the rest of the day.”
“You are impossible.”
He winks. “I’m determined.”
“To what?”
“To have you squirming in my arms again. To show you that you aren’t broken. You are a desirable, hot-blooded woman with needs she might not understand.”
“And you are just the man to teach me.”
“It’s a public service I offer to very few.”
Then he rises, drops a featherlight kiss on my forehead, and stalks from the room, leaving my body aching for more and my heart packing its bags and making a hundred different plans for escape. I squeeze my eyes closed. Maybe I should run now. It’s not Gideon on my tail, but a grumpy bodyguard with trust issues determined to show me I’m not broken. I have never heard anything more seductive. I am in so much trouble.
CHAPTER 25
FOX
A moral compass is tested when someone who isn’t playing by the same rules as you tries to decimate your world.
There’s a driving need in me to uncover her secrets. The notion that she is here to hurt or take advantage of my grandmother is shattered into dust. As stated, Cleo Williams isn’t hiding because she did something wrong, she’s hiding from someone who has done her wrong. That person has had such a profound impact on her psyche that she can’t let go to accept the touch of another.
She needs to listen to her body’s response to touch, to relearn what makes her sink into the pleasure of the here and now, not the pain of the past. Which is why I’m scrolling on my laptop as I wait for Larry to call with an update.
Her first gift should be here before lunchtime as I ordered that yesterday. The rest will arrive tomorrow. My eyebrows rise at the plethora of options available. Since when did they make stuff that needed a video instruction to use? Where does that… oh, I see. Yup, one of those. All the options for Cleo. I switch departments and grin at the extra things I’m about to add.
Her shower switches on. That’s my cue. I move into her bedroom and have no shame as I lift the outfit she’s selected for herself off the bed. I turn it over in my hands as an idea forms in my mind, a sly smile spreading across my face. A woman as beautiful as Cleo needs to feel gorgeous inside and out.
My laptop announces Larry’s call just as I select rush delivery from the menu. I quickly close the page and click on accept, and his face fills the screen. He squints at me.
“Where are you?” he asks.
“Pool house.”
“I see. Keeping yourself out of the public eye?”
“Red Lake is only interested in local gossip, not national. It’s both a blessing and a curse.”
“Well, make sure you stay out of both.”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “Do you have an update for me?”
“Yes and no.”
