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No, he was full-on dreaming now.
“Have you eaten?” Rosie asked. “The three of us ate while you were meeting with the Mavericks, but I can make you a grilled cheese if you’re hungry. Just ask Jorge—I make a fabulous grilled cheese.”
“Yeah,” Jorge said. “It’s super yummy.”
“Grilled cheese sounds great,” he said as he ruffled each of the kids’ heads.
He longed to touch Rosie again too. It was an ache in his bones, his skin, his heart.
While Rosie went to the kitchen, he carried Jorge’s bag into Noah’s room and Rosie’s into his. Her flowery aroma lingered from the morning, but it was more than just her scent that made it different. Somehow his whole place felt changed. Especially when he thought about her sleeping in his bed.
And imagined lying right beside her.
Gideon could only pray they neutralized Findley soon. Because he didn’t know how he’d keep his hands to himself if this went on too long. Rosie would use his shower, she would use his bed, she would be everywhere.
And he would go completely nuts.
By the time he headed back out to the kitchen, she’d finished making the grilled cheese. Just as she and Jorge had promised, it was delicious. He licked his fingers. He wanted to lick her.
“Fifteen minutes of Monopoly,” Rosie offered when the boys asked to play a game, “then it’s bedtime.”
Despite having had a lie-down at Paige’s—and falling asleep, Rosie assured him—Noah and Jorge were tired enough that they didn’t complain when time was up, even though they hadn’t finished the game. There was teeth-brushing, a short reading from their Magic Tree House story, kisses and hugs, and then it was lights out, door closed.
Then it was just Rosie and Gideon.
“We should turn in.” He couldn’t trust himself to be alone with her tonight. Not when unquenched desire was pushing him to the breaking point. Before she could offer to take the couch the way she had last night, he said, “I already put your bag in the bedroom. The bean bags were just fine for me last night.”
But she shook her head. “You should sleep in the bed tonight.” She stepped closer. “I need you to be well rested so you can be at your best as our bodyguard.”
He couldn’t breathe with her so close. Couldn’t think straight. “I’ve slept in foxholes, on the ground, in the rain. It’s no big deal.”
“Maybe not.” She stared into his eyes, mesmerizing him. He was watching her so closely that he could practically see her mind working, which was how he knew when she came to a decision. “But your bed is big enough for two.”
Then she went up on her toes and pulled his head down, put her mouth on his. And as she tasted him, his entire body caught fire.
She was so sweet, so soft, so warm. He lost himself in her scent, in the delicacy of her lips, her mouth, and her body pressed to his. She felt so small in his arms. So fragile. And yet so strong. The strongest woman he’d ever known.
Then she tipped back her head and met his gaze, her eyes a rich, dark, swirling cocoa. “Come to bed with me, Gideon.”
And in that moment, he knew he would follow her anywhere, anytime, for as long as she wanted.
Chapter Twenty
Gideon was good. He was honorable. He was tough. He would protect Jorge with his very life.
There was nothing more Rosie could ever need in a man. And she needed Gideon more than she’d ever needed anyone in her life.
She washed her face, brushed her teeth, and put on a long T-shirt with a kitty on the front, a birthday present from Jorge. All the while, her heart was beating like a hummingbird’s wings.
That kiss.
There had never been another like it.
Rosie hadn’t kissed or been intimate with anyone in seven years. But Gideon’s kiss hadn’t brought her back to life. How could it, when it turned out she’d never really lived? Never really known true passion until Gideon held her in his arms and kissed her?
As Gideon got ready for bed in the bathroom, she turned off the overhead light, leaving only the soft glow of one bedside lamp. She climbed under the covers on the side opposite the clock, where he obviously slept, and was plumping the pillow behind her head when Gideon came out of the bathroom wearing sweats and a T-shirt.
