Gideon's Redemption (13 page)

“I do too, Gid. I won’t make this mistake again.”

“That’s my girl. Let’s clean you up and fix dinner.” Helping her stand, he tugged her along to the bathroom. Wetting a cool cloth, he wiped her face, cooling her swollen eyes and tearstained cheeks. “You know I’d rather spank you for fun, don’t you?

She nodded and managed a hint of a smile. “I’d rather you do that too.”

“Bend over the counter for me, baby.”

Her gasp of surprise had him shaking his head. “No more spanks for now. I just want to put some lotion on your sore bottom.”

At ease, she did as bid, groaning as the lotion cooled her skin.

“This is Arnica gel; it will soothe the sting and reduce any bruising.”

“You’ve never bruised me before.”

“And I don’t think I did just now, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.” Once done, he helped her stand and smoothed down her dress. “I love you. You know I do this out of love and concern for you and Eli, don’t you?”

“Yes, Gideon, as strange as it sounds, I do know that.”

“I’d rather paddle your butt than see you harmed by some thug or harassed by some picture hungry photogs looking to make a buck.” He opened the medicine cabinet and took out some Visine. “Use these and we’ll go work on dinner.”

He was bossy as ever, and she gave him a small smile. He’d blistered her butt but then used medicated lotion to sooth the burn, bathed away her tears, and gave her drops for her eyes. It was a paradox.

They walked down the stairs arm in arm, Gid’s hand riding low on her hip. He stopped her at the foot of the stairs for one last, lingering kiss.

“I love you, Gid,” she said when they came up for air.

“I love you too, Shannon.”

Eli walked in at that moment. “Gross!”

They laughed at the look of disgust on his face.

“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it in a few years, little man.”

“Never! Girls are so… so… gross!”

Still laughing, Shannon admitted, “Dinner will be a little bit longer than expected guys. I burned the pasta.”

Eli shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Good thing you like pizza, Dad. She burns stuff—a lot.”

“Hey! I wouldn’t say a lot.”

Her son looked at her, his eyebrow raised in a perfect imitation of his father. Shannon couldn’t help but laugh. Gideon looked at her in question, the same brow arched, and she laughed even harder. Father and son gave each other a masculine look of commiseration over their total lack of understanding of women, which only made Shannon laugh even more.

“How about we swim while dinner is cooking?” She heard Gid ask, obviously giving up on their conversation.

Eli gave a rousing cheer of agreement and raced upstairs to change.

“Is that okay with you, babe?” He pressed a row of soft kisses from her jawline to her ear, where he began nibbling gently on her lobe. She sobered instantly, angling her head to give him free rein to her ultrasensitive spot. Shivering in response, she wondered if he knew what his touch did to her. Eli made his presence known as his footsteps rang out against the hardwood upstairs. They both groaned in frustration as Gid lifted his head and set her away. “We’ll have more of that later.” As he nudged her toward the kitchen, he offered her a deal. “For now, how about you cook and I’ll entertain Eli?” As she nodded and walked away, flustered, he sighed. “We’ll have to line us up some babysitters.”

Shannon stopped in her tracks with a quick solution. “Betsy is out of a job now that I’ve moved.”

“She’s hired.”

“We’d just have to work out the transportation. She doesn’t have a car.”

“No problem. She can use one of ours. Or better yet, when can she move in?”

Shannon’s eyes widened before a little smile tipped her lips upward and lit up her face. “Are you serious?”

“Well, no… I was actually just kidding, but a live-in sitter sounds like a dream come true. Do you think she’d be interested? Lord knows there’s plenty of room. You said she was a widow, right?”

“Yes and she lives on her husband’s puny pension. Oh, Gid, that would be perfect. She could help with Eli while I look for a job.”

“A job? You don’t need to work anymore, Shannon. I’ve got it covered.”

“But—”

Eli came running down in his trunks at that moment and tugged Gideon toward the pool.

“We’ll talk more about it later, hon. Call Betsy and see if she’s interested. I’ll take it from there.” He then lifted a squealing Eli onto his shoulders and they headed for the pool.

Shannon looked after him, feeling a bit at odds. Not work? That had never occurred to her. Except for when she was in school, she’d always worked. If she had Betsy to watch Eli and Gideon’s multitude of services to keep up the house, the yard, and the gardens, what would she do with her time? Service the man of the house? While that sounded lovely, it made her feel a little like a kept woman.

Heading into the kitchen, she put another pot of water on for pasta. As she waited, she watched her two guys swim, her mind racing the whole while. If Eli were younger, it would seem like a dream, except he was gone all day with school and was pretty self-sufficient. Other than making sure he got his homework done and into a bath, there was very little caretaking required for a child his age. Soon he’d be off with his friends more, then driving, dating, and off to college. What did she do then?

A short while later, as they sat down to pasta—round two—she brought up the subject. “I called Betsy. She was ecstatic about the idea, Gid.”

“Great. I’ll give her a call to work out the details and get her moved in.”

“Betsy’s coming to live with us? That’s sweet!” Eli grinned as he shoveled spaghetti into his mouth. Talking around a wad of pasta and sauce, he said unintelligibly, “Eesh uhe behtes.”

“I can’t speak Italian, bud. Try again after you swallow.”

“Sorry, I said, she’s the best.”

“Ah…” Gid laughed, returning his attention to his own plate.

Shannon picked at her dinner for a moment before saying, “I was thinking about going back to school.”

Surprised by the sudden change in topic, Gideon looked up and asked, “For your teaching degree?”

“I don’t know about that anymore, maybe something else. I can’t just sit around all day while Eli’s in school and you’re at work.”

“Okay, what would you like to do? If not college, there is the NMCA Foundation. Roxie works with that and so does Sticks’ wife.”

“Sticks got married? Last time I saw him he—” She stopped abruptly as the image of a groupie going down on the drummer in the middle of the wrap party popped into her head. This was certainly not family dinner conversation.

Gid chuckled at her expression. “I can only imagine, but he has settled down a lot. They’ve got four kids. Johnny will be the only bachelor left after we tie the knot.”

“What’s NMCA?”

“North, McCord, Carson and Archer, we started a foundation to help struggling musicians into recovery after what happened to Johnny.” Their eyes met and he tipped his head toward Eli, signaling to her he’d tell her later.

“He overdosed on drugs. I heard about it at school.”

Both adults were once again shocked that their nine-year-old knew so much and turned to stare at him.

“What? I may be a kid, but I know stuff.”

Shannon giggled; he said the funniest things.

Gid just shook his head in amazement. “You’re right, Eli. Johnny got into trouble with drugs and had to go to rehab. Do you know what that is?”

“Yeah, it’s like a hospital that gets you off drugs.”

“Right. Well, he’s better now and he is one of the reasons we aren’t touring anymore—too much temptation. I was thinking of inviting all the guys and their families over this weekend for a pool party and barbeque. How does that sound, babe?”

“Perfect, I’d love to see them again, especially Justin and Roxie.”

“Are any of the kids boys?” Eli’s voice dripped with concern, and Shannon knew he was picturing a miserable day surrounded by girls or babies.

“Jacob, Justin and Roxie’s oldest, is eight. Sticks has all boys, but don’t ask me all their ages because I can’t keep up. The oldest is seven, though. I remember because he had to leave our tour when he arrived almost two months early. It freaked Sticks out big time. We were out of the country in Stockholm.”

“Are you and Mom gonna have babies?”

Shannon laughed at the startled look on Gid’s face. Eli was keeping him on his toes. She waded in to help by asking Eli, “How would you feel about that?”

“I don’t want to change any diapers! That’s gross.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary, honey.”

“Then I guess it’s okay. Can we just have boys, like Sticks? I don’t know if I’d like a sister. All those dolls would freak me out. And I’m not playing any girly games. Joey at school has to play Pretty Princess with his sister, and he says it sucks.”

“Don’t say sucks, Eli.” She looked over to see that Gid had recovered and was watching his son with an ear to ear grin. He winked her way and she teased him a bit. “How about you, Gid? I think you’d look awfully cute in a tiara and princess jewels, all dressed up for tea.”

“I’ll have you know that I look stunning in diamonds.” He pantomimed fluffing his hair and checking his nails, which cracked Shannon and Eli up. “But seriously, I’d take a little girl as cute as her mama any day.”

“Hey! You’re not switching teams are you?”

Gid choked on his wine. After his effeminate little show, he had to rethink the conversation before he figured out what Eli meant. His amused gaze met Shannon’s as she giggled uncontrollably. She knew Eli had no idea that his words had dual meanings. Intentional or not, the kid kept them in stitches. It was hard to stay in a bad mood around Eli.

Putting the conversation back on a G-rated level, he reassured Eli. “I also wouldn’t mind another son as smart and good looking as you.”

He thought about it for a minute, lips puckered and brows knitted together. Then he shrugged, “I guess a brother would be okay. I’m done. Can we go swim some more?”

“Sorry, bud, but I have a bit of work to do in my studio. Do you want to come see?

“Awesome.” He got up and started tearing away, but Shannon reminded him of his manners.

“Eli, ask to be excused and clear your plate please.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said grumbling under his breath but doing what he was told.

While he carried his plate into the kitchen, Gid said, “He is a riot, Shannon. It’s all I can do to keep from laughing at every word.”

“I know. Although he wants to follow in your footsteps as a musician, if that doesn’t work out, I think he may have a career in comedy.”

“For sure!”

Following dinner, Gid helped with cleanup, which pleased Shannon to no end. They worked in companionable silence, washing dishes and putting everything away, occasionally brushing against each other, and Shannon felt very domestic. When they were finished, Gid announced that work could wait and instead challenged them both to a ping pong tournament. Eli was duly impressed by his Dad’s “wicked” serve and “sick” backhand. Shannon came in last, having taken a shellacking from both of them. Afterward, Eli was allowed his 30 minutes of school night video games and settled down to some kind of cartoonish racing game. Shannon walked to the rack of pool cues on the wall and selected two.

“Hmm… If I remember correctly, you were quite the shark, babe.”

“I might stink with a ping pong paddle, but I’m decent with a cue.” She handed him a cue stick and gave him a quick kiss on the jaw. “Want to make it interesting?”

“A bet?” He grinned down at her, pulling her hips against his. “What did you have in mind?”

Peeking over his shoulder at Eli, she saw he was absorbed in his game and felt safe to whisper her naughty bet. Sliding her hand up his chest, she caressed the muscles under his t-shirt before angling her face up to his. “If I win, I get to be in charge tonight. I have a few things I’d like to explore.” Her face flamed at her own daring, but she had dreamed of having Gideon naked and open to her hands and mouth, and she wanted to make some of those naughty imaginings come true.

“And if I win, what do I get?”

“You get to have your way with me, of course.”

“I get that anyway, love,” he laughed. Dipping his head to kiss her neck, he whispered softly against her ear. “I know. If I win, I get to have my way with you, except with a twist. I want you tied, anyway I want you, helpless and naked in my big, four poster bed.”

She sucked in her breath as a shockwave shot down her spine, peaking her nipples and ending with a jolt directly on her clit. She sighed, leaning against him as a residual tremor vibrated through her body.

“Ah yes, my baby likes that idea. I guess if I win, we both win. You can let me win if you want. My feelings won’t be hurt.” He captured her parted lips, his tongue dipping inside to taste her deeply. When he lifted his head, he agreed. “So, it’s a bet. Rack ‘em up.”

They played nine ball and Shannon was out to win. While she was intent on pool, Gideon was bent on playing another game altogether. She knew that his satisfaction would come whether he won or lost. Having her bound and at his mercy or having her devoting all of her attention on him while naked in their bed—well, neither would be a hardship on him. Either way was a decisive victory for him.

As she moved around the table, lining up shots, Gideon became the shark as he made it his first order of business to distract her. Shannon wasn’t sure if he was doing it for fun or because he really wanted to win a bondage session with her. Either way, he couldn’t keep his hands off her. Each time she bent to take a shot, his hand found her ass, cupping and caressing the still tender globes with his large hands. She caught on quickly to that tactic, making sure she was out of reach, making impressive bank shots when necessary. The big cheat wouldn’t be thwarted, however, taking every opportunity to rub against her as he moved around the table, pressing his rising erection against her when he could, grazing against her front at other times. At one point, he popped another button on her blouse and dipped a finger in her bra to rub an already aching nipple—the whole while keeping an eye on Eli to make sure he wasn’t witness to his parents’ erotic play.