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The woman’s gaze snaps to mine, along with the couple of other women in Daphne’s Boutique. And though the female’s brows pinch and her cheeks flame, I think I’m more shocked at myself than she is.

With a muttered, “No, sorry,” she hurries out of the store, the too-sweet stench of artificial fruit and flowers stinging my nostrils as she passes. The hot-faced shame of having drawn the entire boutique’s attention to our minor confrontation heats my face. Drawing in a slow, calming breath, I will my heart rate to settle before turning back around to face Gideon with as much dignity as I can muster.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so abrasive to anyone in my entire life.

Without even facing him, I can feel Gideon’s stare drilling a hole in the back of my head, and I’m fully expecting him to admonish me.

Yet, when I finally turn to see his expression, the look on his face is one of adoration and desire. His gaze is nothing short of scorching. So much so that it makes me blush beneath the heat of it.

“What was that about?”

Akash, strike me down now, please, I beg of you. Have mercy on my mortified soul.

I gape at him, much like a fish out of water, trying to muster words. Gideon takes my wrist in his hand, caressing his thumb over my racing pulse. It both soothes and arouses me.

“She was wantonly staring at you.”

Gideon’s brows leap as a corner of his wretchedly perfect lips curls.

“And that bothers you?”

I fidget, gaze falling to the now remarkably fascinating hem of my borrowed shirt. “Well… I mean, just because you’re offensively handsome doesn’t mean it’s okay for someone to gawk at you like some brothel stud.”

Gideon’s mouth splits in a dazzling grin as his head tips back with laughter. “Now that’s a statement that raises a few questions—like the termbrothel stud—but most importantly, sweetheart… I’d like to know why exactly that would bother you.”

My throat closes, and I’m pretty sure my cheeks are fucking fushcia at this point. Gideon gives my wrist a gentle squeeze as he tugs me closer to him. “Tell me, baby girl.”

This man is literally torturing me, and the teasing grin on his smug face tells me he’s enjoying it.

That alone has my annoyance flaring enough to push some of my embarrassment away. Heaving a sigh, I straighten, snatching my wrist back. “If you must know, Gideon Kincaid, it’s becauseuntil now, I thought you were the most perfect man I’d ever met, and I’m loath to imagine anyone other than me laying eyes on you. Clearly, I was mistaken since you’re a sadist and seem to enjoy watching me squirm beneath this insufferable line of questioning.”

Clearing my throat, I turn on my heel to disappear down an aisle positioned between two tall racks of dresses and begin sifting through them while I resume my prayers for a swift death fromAkash.

Gideon rounds the corner and swiftly removes the distance between us as his hands close around the sides of my waist, and he bends, lowering his mouth to my ear. I hold my breath as a heart-pounding moment passes between us, and I wait for him to say something—anything. Instead, the flat of his tongue licks up the column of my neck before his lips close over my pulse point, and he sucks firmly on the sensitive flesh.

I am fucking panting.

Gideon’s hands move in opposite directions: one to cup my breast as the other slides beneath the waistband of my sweatpants to firmly cup my pussy over his boxers.

“Is that really how you feel, angel?”

Somehow, I manage a fragment of dignity and turn my nose up.

“… Maybe.”

I feel Gideon’s mouth spread wide in a grin against my throat just before he sinks his teeth into my neck—just on the pleasurable side of pain—as the possessive hand in my pants slips inside the boxers I’m wearing.

Blessedly, we’re hidden by the racks of clothing, but if someone were to pass, we’d be compromised. Not that I could give a singular, sideways fuck with the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen, mysoulbound, grasping me at my most erogenous places as the thick length of his cock presses against my ass and lower back.

Akash, I take it back. I want to live to see another day, so long as this man is beside me.

GIDEON

After Winnow’s admission, it’s taking everything within me not to haul her over my shoulder and carry her out of this store to claim her in the back of my truck. The only thing stopping me is that she deserves better than that for our first time together.

Well, that and the guilt I feel for withholding the whole truth from Winnow about killing my step-dad, Seraphine, and the restraining order against her.

That old chestnut.