Page 20 of Gideon
I finished drying myself off, still listening intently at the door for any other bits of conversation I might overhear. It sounded like the conversation was over, however.
I wrapped the towel around me, cursing the fact that I had forgotten to grab clothing before my hasty departure to the bathroom. I opened the door slowly, seeing Gideon tugging a shirt over his head.
“There you are,” he turned with a smile. “Have a nice shower?” he asked, walking over to me and pulling me in for a quick peck of a kiss. I smiled in return. Time to put that mask firmly back on.
“I did, thank you,” I murmured.
“Good. Looks like this morning put you in as good a mood as it put me in,” he teased with a wink. I smiled back at him, feigning shyness as I grabbed a dress and undergarments from my suitcase. “You really should unpack, you know. You live here now,” he teased.
“I will do just that,” I agreed readily. It would give me a good chance to snoop through some things up here in the bedroom, hopefully without his prying eyes.
“But first, come down for some breakfast,” he all but begged.
“What’s on your to do list today?” I asked, slipping my clothing on awkwardly while still trying to cover myself with the towel.
“I was hoping to get a little work done on the boat. I didn’t have time to get as much done as I wanted to with all the wedding planning going on. Between my brothers and ours, as I’m sure you can imagine,” he laughed.
“Oh, you should absolutely get to that,” I agreed, perhaps a little too enthusiastically.
“I will, but after breakfast. Come eat with me,” he urged me again, pulling me to him just as soon as the dress had cleared my head and floated down my body. “I’ll even make those gross eggs you like,” he chuckled, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.
“Oh, alright,” I agreed, doing my best to sound amiable and pleasant instead of my normal snarky self. Good Lord, being pleasant with him took every ounce of energy I possessed. But if I could appease him, it would only give me more time to find what I needed. And I needed it soon. The sooner the better.
CHAPTER6
NAOMI
For whatever reason, Gideon had decided this particular meal would be the longest in recorded history. He cooked us a feast of eggs, bacon, and even pancakes. It should have been enough for way more than just two people, but we ate it all. He went back for seconds, and even thirds, before he finally reached his limit. All the while, I sat there playing nice.
“What do you have planned for the day?” he asked between his second and third servings.
“Well, like you said, I need to unpack first. After that, I am sure I can find all manner of womanly things to occupy my time,” I stated, doing my best to not sound trite as I threw his words from yesterday back in his face.
“I really shouldn’t have said that yesterday. I apologize,” he stated with a sincerity that surprised me, placing his hand over my own. That level of intimacy felt unnatural, even after our more carnal interactions. I didn’t know what to do with nice Gideon. Sarcastic, asshole Gideon I could figure out just fine. This side of him had my hackles raised.
“It’s fine,” I murmured, brushing off his comment, at least outwardly, regardless of how I was actually feeling about it.
“That’s not true,” he rebutted, a knowing look on his arrogant face. The asshole could already see through my bullshit answer.
“It’s really fine. It’s getting late in the morning. Shouldn’t you get to your boat? I don’t want you to fall behind in your restoration process,” I urged him as sweetly as I could. I wanted to get to snooping around his things, looking for what I needed to get out of here, as soon as possible.
“I’ve got time. I really do want to talk to you. Why don’t you have some more pancakes?” he insisted, squeezing my hand, and I resisted the urge to pull away. I didn’t want him to be nice to me. I wanted him to be an asshole. An asshole I could hate. An asshole I could leave. If he started being nice to me now, it would only make things harder.
“I’m as full as can be. Why don’t you go ahead and get to work? I know how important that boat is to you,” I said with a smile, turning my hand in his so I could squeeze his back. His face lit up with a bit of hope, one I didn’t want to see.
“Okay, alright. I will go work on the boat, if you promise we can talk later tonight. Deal?” he asked, that boyish charm shining through in his smirk. Why did that smirk make my stomach do flip-flops?
He’s an asshole. He’s a Temple.
I repeated the words in my mind over and over like a mantra. I would not let that charm get to me. No way. No how.
“Okay, I promise,” I lied through my teeth.
“Deal!” he exclaimed, jumping up from the table with his now thrice emptied plate. “I’ll just wash up these dishes and be on my way.”
“Oh, don’t worry about those. Let me get them for you,” I said so sweetly I was bound to give myself diabetes.
“You’re the sweetest,” he said, which was a blatant lie. He had practically called me a shrew from day one. I knew I had been difficult to get along with, but he just made it soeasy.
