The Emperor: Secrets Bared (10 page)

She looked at him with a sexy wink then started to divest him of his pajama bottoms. He helped her push them down his hips until they pooled at his feet. He was about to step out of them, but she delved in before he had the chance. The first tentative touch of her lips to the bulbous tip had Gideon realizing she was a novice. She wasn’t sure what she was doing, and some primitive part of him loved her inexperience. He put his hands on her head and directed her onto his waiting shaft.

“Just relax, love. Close your eyes and feel me with your tongue, your soft lips, and that sexy mouth of yours.” At first, she seemed to freeze up, but then she let her eyes close, and Gideon felt a soft sigh drift over his cock. With one hand, Lori guided him inside the wet heat of her mouth, then farther until he was practically down her throat.

She licked and teased. The little movements of her tongue and lips drove him mad. He tried once more to slip inside her head, and this time he found her open, probably because she was too wrapped up in what she was doing to bother keeping up the wall.

Her emotions slammed into his mind strong and true, not fleeting as she’d pretended.

She cared for him. He wanted to shout to the heavens, but her thoughts as she marveled over the intensity of having his cock inside her mouth fried his circuits. She liked his 52

taste, his scent; she enjoyed making him crazy in this way. It made him nuts knowing she was taking delight in what she was doing to him.

Silent as a cat, Gideon pulled back out of her head and watched her. Lori was on her knees, her shyness all but a distant memory. She was beginning to find a rhythm, pulling his rigid length all the way out, placing a gentle kiss or a small lick to the tip, then sucking him in again. She was in no hurry to finish, as if she had all day to kneel in front of him and lick at her leisure. Damn he wished she could, but her sister would be there soon, and it was either finish or they’d be rudely interrupted. As she cupped his balls in her other hand and squeezed, every thought fled as his mind turned to Lori and her talented mouth and fingers.

“Christ, Lori,” he growled as he grabbed up fistfuls of her hair.

“Yeah, I know the feeling,” she whispered and then her movements turned rapid, as she became more excited to please him, to taste his come. She wanted him to lose control. She sucked and licked, and suddenly he was there, flying over some unseen edge and groaning her name in feral ecstasy.

Long seconds passed, and Gideon realized Lori was still on her knees, only now she was staring up at him with her heart in her eyes. She was more beautiful than ever. He wanted it to last forever.

The doorbell rang.

Lori’s eyes grew big, and her mouth dropped open. He helped her up, and she frantically went about righting her dress and fixing her hair while he righted himself.

The bell rang again, and she all but jumped. When she started to sprint from the room, Gideon had to grab her from behind to stop her. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“That’s my sister! What if she can tell what we’ve been doing?” Her face turned crimson and as if by magic her shyness was back full-force.

Gideon wanted to laugh. She was so mussed only a blind man would be oblivious to what they’d been doing. “Love, what we just did wasn’t shameful. It was perfect and right, and nothing is going to change that.”

She wrung her fingers together in worry.

He sighed. There was no reasoning with her as long as her sister stood on the other side of his front door. He took her by the hand, linking their fingers. “Come on. Let’s go greet your sister.”

She stopped him. “I hadn’t meant for you to have to deal with all this,” she said. “I’m so sorry. Really, it wasn’t supposed to happen this way.”

He frowned at her words. “What wasn’t supposed to happen?”

Lori wouldn’t quite meet his gaze. “I know you would’ve liked this to be uncomplicated, and meeting my sister is about as complicated as it gets.”

Ah, now he was getting the gist of it. “Have I given you the impression that I think of you as a good fuck?” His eyes narrowed on her. “Is that all I was to you?”

Her lips thinned in anger. “I wouldn’t have put it in such a crude way.” She tried to pry her fingers out of his, but he wouldn’t allow her to pull away from him.

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He leaned down until they were nose to nose and he whispered, “You’re way more to me than a good time.” Then the doorbell rang again and Lori jumped. Gideon sighed.

“If we don’t answer the door, I’m afraid your sister will only beat it down,” Gideon muttered.

Lori nodded, and together they left the studio.

54

By the time they’d reached the front door, Lori’s sister had resorted to banging her fist against the door. Gideon pulled Lori into his side, wrapped his arm around her waist, then swung the door wide. He stopped cold. His heart nearly stopped at the sight that greeted him. The woman on the other side was Lori. Only it wasn’t Lori because she was next to him.

“What have you done to my sister?” The look alike growled.

Gideon looked at Lori and rumbled, “A twin? Damn, you could have warned me. I nearly had a heart attack.” Then he heard a moan, like an animal in pain, and Gideon peered around the side of the door and saw Gregory curled up in a ball cupping his crotch on the floor of his porch.

Gideon quirked an eyebrow at Lori’s twin. “What’d you do to my friend?”

She looked down at the moaning mass of blond hair. “He said something about how hot I looked in see-thru purple. Since I’d never met him before, I figured he was talking about Lori. The comment seemed entirely inappropriate, so I kicked him.”

Gideon was about to thank her, but he never got the chance because she kept right on going. “Since you’re the hottie Lori hooked up with, I figured you wouldn’t mind so much if I kicked one of your friends in the balls, seeing as how he was blatantly hitting on your babe and all. Know what I mean?” She popped her gum and waited.

Hottie? Gideon was dumbfounded at how completely different two sisters could be.

Identical in looks, but that’s where the similarities ended. Lori was conservative and demure, but her twin was an unrestrained bundle of electricity in leather pants.

“Tabby, allow me to introduce you to Gideon Adrian.” Lori glanced to the right of the door and added, “And the man you turned into mush would be his best friend, Gregory Kent.”

Tabby had the good sense to look contrite; even if it wasn’t the emotion she was feeling at the moment. “Sorry about the kick, Gregory, but you really should learn to control your mouth.”

Gregory slowly rose to his feet, careful to keep his eyes both on the evil twin and on Gideon. Smart of him, Gideon thought, considering he was ready to kick his ass for flirting with Lori. Or, the woman he thought was Lori. Christ, he was getting a headache.

“Yeah, you sound sorry,” Gregory mumbled then winced as he attempted to stand up straight. “I would say it was nice to meet you, but…” Gregory let the thought trail off.

Gideon knew it’d be a damn cold day before Gregory ever got within ten feet of the little hellcat.

“Tabby, it’s nice to meet you,” Gideon said. As he kept his arm firmly wrapped around Lori, he gestured for Tabby to enter. “And I apologize for my friend. If I know Gregory, he was only flirting with you because he knew it would piss me off.”

55

Tabby and Lori both appeared flabbergasted. Tabby asked, “He purposely tries to piss you off, does he?”

“He razzes me. It’s all harmless fun.”

Tabby seemed unconvinced, but Lori only smiled. She’d already had a taste of Gregory’s flirtatious nature.

“So, what took you two so long to get to the door?” Tabby’s gaze twinkled with mischief.

“We were busy and don’t ask rude questions,” Lori admonished.

Gideon wasn’t about to let the opportunity pass to plead his case. “To be honest, I was just about to tell your stubborn sister here that I love her and want to spend the rest of my life with her.”

Gideon looked at Lori. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth hung open. For the first time in a very long time he felt real fear. This woman had his heart in her hands. What she did with it was up to her. All he could do was wait and hope. It was damned humbling for a man who thought he’d had life all figured out.

“You two only just met!” Tabby howled.

“Does it matter?” he whispered as he kept his gaze on Lori.

“I suppose not,” Tabby admitted. “So, do you love him, sis?”

More than ever, Gideon knew Lori wanted to crawl into a hole, but she mustered up her nerve and looked at her sister. “I swear, Tabby, mom should have taken away your Lady Georgina novels, locked you in your room, and thrown away the key.”

“I’m not the one swearing undying love after a weekend of frivolity.”

Lori shook her head, missing the look of surprise on Gideon’s face and the sudden awareness on Gregory’s at the mention of Lady Georgina. No one knew Lady Georgina wasn’t really a lady, but a man and Gideon’s best friend Gregory.

When Lori turned to him, Gideon forgot all about the mention of erotica. He nearly lost his nerve when he saw the way she bit awkwardly at her bottom lip and the uncertainty in her eyes. It made him want to hold her, to tell her it would all work out.

But he held back and gave her time to say what she needed to say. He only hoped he was man enough to take it.

“Gideon, I need to be honest with you.”

His entire body stiffened with those words. If she didn’t get on with it, he’d be on his knees begging, and that was the last thing either of them wanted.

“I had every intention of leaving here this morning and never seeing you again. I wanted to keep this casual and light. This is the first time I’ve ever done anything…adventurous. I’m the one people call if they need a ride after partying all night.” She paused then added, “I thought what I had with Rick was my big, once in a lifetime, love. When he dumped me, I didn’t think I could ever go through that again. I didn’t want to fall in love. I didn’t want a relationship for that matter. But then you came along and all my plans flew right out the window.”

“I’m not Rick-the-dick, love. He was a damned fool.” Gideon heard snickering in the 56

background, but he wasn’t deterred. “I would never, could never, treat you in such a way,” Gideon vowed. He took Lori’s hand and brought it to his mouth. He kissed her palm, relishing her and wishing he could erase Rick from her memory for all time.

He felt a shudder run through Lori as his lips smoothed over her delicate knuckles.

“No, I know you wouldn’t treat me the way he did,” she whispered, her desire building by slow degrees. “What I’m trying to say is that what I felt for Rick, well, it wasn’t love.”

She gazed up at him with an intimate tenderness meant for him alone. “It was a cold substitute. I know the difference now because what I feel for you, this hot, all consuming intensity, is so much more than anything I’d known. You’re my biggest adventure ever, Gideon, and I’m not giving you up. Not for anything.”

Gideon couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but he desperately needed to be certain she was truly over Rick. Rick had really hurt her, and he didn’t want her on the rebound. “Then let me in, Lori. Stop blocking me. Give me that, right now, at this moment.”

Lori burst out laughing. “You’ll do anything to get through my wall, won’t you?” He only stood arrogantly staring at her, neither confirming nor denying. “I will let you in, but let this be a lesson to you, Gideon Adrian,” she censured. “From now on don’t force your way in, or the wall goes back up.”

Now he understood. He had, in his usual cocky way, tried to wriggle his way into her head. To read her mind and see if she loved him, before he put his own heart on the line.

She must’ve had some idea he would try to sneak in, so the teacher had erected the wall as a lesson in privacy. No one had so effectively kept her thoughts hidden the way she had. In his opinion, it was a sign they were meant to be together. Gideon grinned full out now, thinking of how damned interesting his life with her would be.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her hard. She reciprocated and opened up to him in every way. Soon they’d forgotten they had an audience.

“I have no idea what you two are talking about with all this wall business, but does this mean I’m no longer needed?”

Gideon let his lips drift away from Lori’s and looked at Tabby and Gregory. “Go away you two. I’ve got a woman to sculpt.”

Within seconds they were alone and naked. When he swung her into his arms and carried her to the studio, Lori said, “You weren’t serious about the sculpture, were you?”

He shook his head. “Later for that. For now, I want you on that purple stool again.”

She grinned and kissed his chest. “I love the way you think.” As a thought occurred, her brows scrunched up. “What do you plan to do with the sculpture once it’s finished?”

“Keep it.”

That surprised her. “But why?”

“There’s no way I could ever let someone else have what’s mine.”

Her insides quivered. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything, love, just feel.”

And she did.

57

Eighteen months later…

“I realize you think I’m terrific, but you are somewhat biased, Gideon. Your agent isn’t going to be swayed by love everlasting. She’ll see all my flaws and idiosyncrasies right off the bat.”