Page 34

WINNOW

T he sound of cattle braying, Trigger barking, and the voices of Gideon and his ranch hands, as he calls them, in the nearby distance signals that I’ve got only a few minutes before Gideon walks in the door. In my excitement and nervosity, my heart rate kicks up.

I deliberately choose the most threadbare of Gideon’s clean t-shirts and pull it over my still-damp, freshly-showered body.

Unlike his shirts, which are all piled high on an open shelf, I have no idea where he keeps his clean boxer briefs, and it would be awfully rude of me to just start digging around in his boudoir.

Instead of immediately drying my hair, I let it hang damp over the shirt. And when I hear him walk in the front door, I tease my nipples into hardened points. Thanks to the wet spots on the material from my hair, their dusky color and pebbled state are obvious.

As I make my way down the hallway, Gideon appears around the kitchen corner.

His eyes dip to the splotchy, slightly wet fabric sticking to my breasts, but being the gentleman that he is, he forces his gaze up to mine and clears his throat.

“Hey… Was just comin’ to find you. Would you like to eat with me? ”

My heart squeezes with affection, even as the air adds a chill to the moist shirt against the tips of my breasts and my bareness from the waist down—coupled with the sight of my sweaty, and thickly muscled soulbound. Arousal quickly gathers between my thighs.

“I’d love to… I just…”

Gideon’s brows knit together with concern, and he immediately closes the distance between us, tilting my chin up and sweeping his thumb down my jaw. That small action has my throat working and my clit tingling.

“What’s the matter, sweetheart?”

My teeth dig into my bottom lip in an attempt to tame it, trying to prevent a full-blown grin. “I don’t know where you keep your underwear, and it didn’t feel right to just start digging around…”

Gideon’s thumb stills against my jaw as his gaze remains fixed on me.

Moments from last night replay a delicious montage in my mind.

I have no doubt he’s experiencing the same thing.

Finally, his palm lands on the small of my back as he ushers me back into his room, and then into the small space of his walk-in closet.

“Anything you need, darlin, feel free to dig around. The only things hidden in this house are my guns...”

Gideon pulls open the top drawer of a chest that’s pushed against a wall and pulls out a black pair of boxer briefs. “You ever been shootin’ before?”

A grin tilts my lips.

Guns are popular among humans in Caerwynath. Due to the fact that my magical prowess doesn’t extend beyond healing, after my violent experiences in the Paltorian war camp, I hired a human mercenary to tutor me in weaponry.

Gideon hands me a pair of his boxer-briefs, waiting for my reply.

“Yes, I have, actually.”

Please, offer to take me to a shooting range.

“You any good?”

My grin unfurls, and I have no doubt that even with my unintentionally glamoured canines, I look slightly unhinged.

“I am.”

A mirthful smile leaps across his face, faltering slightly as I bend low to step into his boxer briefs. I make sure that for just a beat, he can catch a glimpse of my pussy as I pull them up over my hips. Akash bless this man’s willpower because his gaze doesn’t waver from mine.

“You wanna go shootin’ sometime?”

I nod, barely able to suppress my giddiness. “I would love to.”

Gideon nods, scratching at his beard, grin still lopsided and as handsome as ever.

“I’ll put it on our to-do list. Gotta get you some proper clothes first, which’ll be a day-long endeavor. I’ve got a few things to take care of before the cold fronts start, but just gimme a few days, and we can make a day trip of it.”

I open my mouth to argue, but… he’s not wrong. As much as I don’t want to be a burden on him, I’m at his mercy in most ways. As if he can sense my resistance, his mouth gives a knowing quirk. “As much as I enjoy the sight of you in my clothes, angel, you’re gonna need some of your own.”

My throat works. It’s been so long since someone bought me something. Bought me gifts. Not since my parents passed. A wave of guilt washes over me.

“I just… you’re already doing so much?—

Gideon frowns. “And not a damn thing I don’t want to.”

Trepidation is a palpable weight on my chest.

“Just some sweatpants or something cheap. Nothing fancy.”

Gideon chuckles, pressing a fleeting kiss to my forehead with heart-squeezing tenderness. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, sweetheart.”

Perhaps it’s the tether, our yet-to-be-fulfilled bond, or me just being my usual sentimental, and often overly emotional self, but for some reason that simple gesture—the expression of his goodness, his generosity, his care for me – is enough to make tears spring to my eyes.

I feel like a silly little fool as he pulls back to stare down into my face.

Even with my gaze pointing downwards, I know that the fat tears swelling in my eyes are visible.

I may have lived my life as a royal, but the last time someone took care of me in such a way was before my parents were killed. Gideon’s brows knit together with concern as he pulls me against him.

His voice gentles to a soothing tone. “Oh, baby girl… What’s the matter?”

I’m no match for his tenderness, his precious endearments, the way his hands come up to cradle my face, or his thumbs stroking my cheeks. It causes the first of my tears to spill and my bottom lip to tremble. If I try to speak, it’ll be thwarted by a sob.

Gideon seems to recognize this and doesn’t force me to provide any explanation. Instead, he scoops me up into his arms and sits on the floor of his closet with me in his lap. I bury my face in his neck as he soothes one hand over my hair and back while the other holds me tightly against him.

“I’m sorry, I know I’m being too much.”

Gideon scowls. “Too much? Too much of what? Appreciation? Gratitude? Sweetness? Fucking perfection?”

With a watery laugh, my gaze drops as I begin to swipe away my tears, but Gideon grabs my wrists and brings them to his chest.

“Look at me, angel.”

My eyes lift to his, and I swear the tether between us grows infinitely tighter.

Gideon’s expression is stern. “From my experience, a lot of people in this world aren’t particularly appreciative or gracious because they’re too caught up in their own insecurities, worries, and ego.

It’s rare that an individual is so deeply and emotionally moved by the sight of another person’s goodness.

My lower lip trembles, as my tears continue to spill and Gideon cups my cheeks, swiping them away with his thumbs.

“You being moved to tears by me offering to take you shopping isn’t too much.

It just tells me two things. One: You clearly haven’t been taken care of by a man before.

And two: It’s a reflection of the goodness within yourself.

That you don’t take other people for granted.

And that’s priceless. So fuck yeah, I’m gonna take you shopping.

If anyone deserves to be spoiled, it’s you, angel. ”

Akash almighty, is this what it’s like to be seen?”

I’m rendered fucking speechless. My eyes dance between each one of his as if in disbelief, like surely a man this good can’t exist.

And experiencing all his goodness, his tenderness—I feel like it’s uncorked all the bottled up emotion of the last decade: the war, the trauma induced in that war camp, the responsibility of the duchy and rebuilding an entire province after years of war, all my shortcomings as Duchess Paramount, my exhaustion, and my loneliness.

You feel safe.

My tears spill, and Gideon merely responds by pulling me against his chest. My shoulders shake as I silently weep and sniffle; all the while, he presses kisses to my head and speaks in that calming tone of his. “ Shhhh. I know you’ve been through a lot, but I’m right here, sweetheart.”

A strange energy builds inside me, and it takes me a moment to realize what it is.

I want to give this man parts of me I’ve never given or shown to anyone. I’ve never wanted to give all of myself to someone. And even without our soulbound connection, I know he would still fill me with a burning desire to give this man my all.

Sacred fuck… Three days have passed and already this man has burrowed himself so deeply in my heart and my soul that I feel divinely inspired to suck his dick.

I give a little helpless laugh at the realization as excitement bubbles up inside of me.

Oh my dear, Mr. Gideon Kincaid … I am gonna suck your dick like it’s my sole source of sustenance.

Soon. Not now, obviously, while I look like a rabid mole rat.

“What’s so funny, angel?”

I sit back, heaving a sigh, laying my hands on his chest.

“You are just… something else.”

Gideon chuckles. “In a good way or a bad way?”

A grin overtakes my face as I lean in close to him. “In the best way.”

I punctuate my admission by pressing a kiss to his forehead.

Gideon’s arms wrap around my waist, pulling me firmly against him.

He cranes his head down to bury his face in my neck as his hands cradle my waist, gradually sliding up, up, up until his thumbs are grazing the undersides of my breasts.

His words murmur warmth against my throat.

“Give it time. I’m sure you’ll be sick of me soon enough.”

Gideon’s cock is thick and firm beneath me. The fact that I manage to restrain myself from grinding on it is it feat of such tremendous self-restraint, I deserve a fucking award.

He’ll never forgive you if you fuck him without telling him the truth. Without showing him your true appearance.

Even in the world I come from, daemons are rarely accepted. I can’t fucking imagine how they feel about daemons in this magicless place.

That internal reminder is enough to have me crawling out of his lap to get up. I stand, offering my hand to help him up. “Ok, I’ve had my cry. Let’s go eat?—

“Who said I was done with you, hm?”