Page 37 of Love At the Gates of Hell (The Seven Sinners Trilogy #1)
He pulled back just slightly, a smirk curving at his lips.
“The places I want to touch you, princess,” he said, his thumb teasing at her nipple through the lace of her bra. “Your body deserves me at my best.”
She ran her tongue across her bottom lip as she reached behind them, her hand twisting at the doorknob.
He walked her backwards, leaving her with another rough kiss on her mouth before he turned toward the shower.
Her eyes tracked his movements, the way his back muscles ripped as he leaned forward to turn on the water.
There was a small “E” tattooed in red on his right shoulder very close to what looked like a scar, a small round mark that looked oddly like a bullet entry point.
When he turned back to look at her, water droplets collecting on his skin, his lips quirked devilishly.
“Benny,” he said with a tilt of his head. “Take off your clothes.”
She let out a breath.
Benny kicked off her sneakers and socks as she undid the fly of her jeans, watching Gideon as he watched her.
The way he licked his lips as she pushed the denim down her thighs until she was clad in only her underwear.
They didn’t match. Cleo hadn’t been as cognizant to pick anything that did.
But that didn’t seem to matter. Not when he was looking at her the way he was.
In a way that made her feel more seen than she had ever felt before.
“Everything,” he said, voice growing rough.
She almost held her breath as she undid the clasp of her bra, letting it fall to the floor beside her.
She saw the look behind his eyes, the way they darkened as she hooked her fingers in the waistband of her underwear and shimmied the fabric down her hips.
And when she was fully undressed, fully bare before Gideon, she stepped toward him with her singed fingers and skin stained with blood, and she kissed him.
There was a freedom in this new choice they made.
The way she could just kiss him now, as much as she had wanted to before, with all the hope and the want that had been building up inside of her.
He groaned as she nipped at his bottom lip, his hands grazing her back as she stepped away from him and into the shower.
The water was hot but felt good, her muscles crying out for the heat. She let the water wash over her hair, running her hands over her head as she turned to find Gideon still standing there, still half dressed, his hand rubbing at his chest.
“Are you going to keep me company or—”
He barked out a low laugh as he undid the belt of his pants, the bathroom soon littered with his clothing as well as hers.
She was shameless in her perusal of his body, her eyes tracking every inch of him as he stepped under the shower head, the water dripping down each plane of muscle.
His broad chest and strong shoulders, that delicious V at his hips.
She spied another tattoo, this one taking up one side of his right thigh.
Pharaoh’s horses. It was beautiful. She felt her throat tighten at the sight of his cock hanging between his legs, hard and thick, and her eyes lingered on it for maybe a second too long because—
“What are you doing?” he asked, his hands scrubbing the muck off his face.
“Just wondering if you know how to use that thing,” she replied as she reached for the shampoo.
Gideon rolled his eyes.
“You’re gonna find out soon enough.”
Benny accidentally squirted an aggressive amount of shampoo into her palm at the tone of his voice
“Oh no, come here.”
A real shit-eating grin spread across his face as he stepped forward, their bodies barely an inch apart.
She only cursed their height difference for a moment before she carefully lifted herself up on her toes to lather his hair with the shampoo.
His grin felt infectious as she ran her hands through his hair, fingers massaging at his scalp.
She watched as his eyes closed, his hands gripping at her waist, holding her steady against him.
She liked how well their bodies fit together.
Satisfied with the lathered-up spikes she’d given him, she used the remaining shampoo for her own hair, but Gideon didn’t let her go, instead tugging her closer, watching her with a fondness she wanted to bottle.
They had been this close before. Training on the roof or the night he carried her to the car, drunk from too many martinis.
But this, this kind of closeness, it was different. It was tender and intimate.
It was also driving her absolutely mad with want.
She could feel every ridge and plane of his body pressed up against her, his cock hard against her belly, and yet he was content to hold her like this while she washed her hair.
“Time to rinse,” she said.
He reached up with one hand to cover her eyes before shuffling them slightly backwards, the shower head raining down on both of them.
She couldn’t help her laughter as they both rinsed out their shampoo, his hand still covering her face.
She reached up, fingers curling around his as she peeked out from behind his palm.
“I think you’ve protected my eyes, thank you.”
“Just making sure I’m doing my job.”
She felt her skin flush as she reached for the body wash.
They had come a hell of a long way since that night.
But even then, even in her drunken daze, the truth of her feelings had started to take form, however embarrassed she was of them.
She had found that there was more to Gideon than he let on.
More than the cocky, clever thief or the man who needed to be in control.
And she had been unraveling those parts of him ever since, collecting all of those secret sides of him for herself.
Was it the same for Gideon? Was that was this was?
“Yes, you’re a very good bodyguard, Crawford.”
He growled as he cupped her chin in his hand.
“That’s not what this is, Benny,” he said. “This is not a part of the job for me. The way I feel about you—”
She could feel her chest start to tighten, the steady stream of the water working in tandem with the rhythm of her heartbeat, as she looked up to meet Gideon’s gaze.
He drifted closer, her body pressing up against the tile, her palms flat against the wall as he held her face in his hands.
She tilted her chin back, her lips parting—
“I didn’t expect to want you so much,” he continued, his voice barely a whisper as he held her gaze. “I can’t seem to go one fucking minute without wanting to touch you.”
“Gideon—”
“Benny, listen to me.” His words were like gravel, his thumb grazing against her bottom lip.
“I don’t want you to misunderstand me. When I kiss you, when I touch you, when I worry about you, it’s not because of this job.
I don’t want it to be. I like you, princess.
I like your smart mouth, and your inability to listen to a damn thing I say.
I like you so fucking much that it’s driving me out of my goddamn mind.
But if you’re unsure, if you want me to stop—”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “God, no, that’s the opposite of what I want.”
Something flickered behind his eyes. Something she had seen before.
A genuine warmth and affection that made her stomach flip and her body feel like it was on fire.
She reached for the handle and turned off the water.
“I like you, Gideon Crawford. I like every part of you,” she said. “And I very much need you to touch me now.”
His lips curved into a smile that made his eyes crinkle, and she reached up, her fingers tracing at the lines.
She liked him very much. She liked his smiles and how they transformed his face.
She liked how protective he was and how much he went to bat for the people around him.
How gentle he was with her when she needed him to be.
Like he knew just what she needed, when she needed it.
She reached up and kissed him—his mouth, his jaw, his nose, every inch of his face until he was laughing again, his arms scooping her up and carrying her carefully out of the shower.
He dried her off with a towel before he led her to her bed in all of its teenage pastel glory.
She couldn’t believe she had him in her bedroom like this.
Why hadn’t she been cooler as a kid? But he didn’t seem to mind.
Not when he was laying her on her back, his body drawing over hers, his mouth already making its way down her throat.
And then she knew, no matter what happened next, that things would never be the same between them.