Tempting Nora (4 page)

"It wasn't a challenge, you brainless baboon." Her face was hot
because she was yelling so much. "Why can't you get it through your thick skull that I want you to go away?"

"Oh, you
think
you want me to go away." Gideon's warm breath covered her face. "But somewhere deep in your mind, you want me. I can feel it. And I'm going to have you. It's been a long time since I've had a challenge, so I'm going to enjoy this."

"I…I…"
She was so frustrated she was breathless.

"I, what?" He cocked his head. "Nothing you say will det
er me. You may drive me crazy when you tell me no, but I'm going to return the favor. I'll keep coming back until I get a yes."

She felt as if a large beast was stomping around in her stomach. Why was this guy being so darn aggressive? She didn't understand it.

"I don't care if you follow me around every day for the rest of my life, I won't give in to you," she said. "You're wasting your time on me."

"I doubt it. I'll have you before the end." Gideon's caramel eyes became dark and fiery. "Now I should probably leave before the guard dog tries to attack."

She glared at
Gideon again just as the door to the tea shop opened and Robert burst inside.
Oh, that's what he meant by guard dog. How did Gideon know Robert was coming?
Before she could dwell on that further, Robert lunged in front of her, protecting her. Gideon appeared amused by his display.

"What are you doing
here?" Robert asked.

"Attempting to court your friend," Gideon said. "I like her."

Robert's face reddened. It looked like he didn't know whether he was supposed to keep protecting her not.

"Oh, for heaven's sake." Nora stepped out from behind her friend. "Gideon, are you going to leave now or what? I can't spend all day shouting at you.
I'll have an aneurism."

"Hmmm." Gideon winked. "I'll leave for now, but I'll be back."

Oh no.

"You'd better not be,
" she said. "If I see your face one more time, I'll stab you with a pen."

Gideon let out a bark of laughter and waved as he walked out the door. The moment he was gone, she kicked her desk in frustration.
Why had the slimiest man on the planet chosen to pursue her? She'd never give herself to someone who'd slept with enough women he could fill an entire notebook with their names. Never.

****

That afternoon, Nora padded out of her kitchen with coffee mugs in hand. She headed to the living room where Robert sat on the couch. She sunk down beside him and blew out a sigh.

"I wish I knew how to make Gideon leave me alone." She laid
the coffee mugs on the table. "I did everything short of punching him in the face and he still wasn't deterred. I'd like to think he won't be back, but I have no doubt he's going to show up again."

Robert chuckled
but didn't say anything.

"What
's with that laugh?" Any more frustration today and she'd do a full head rotation.

"Nothing
." He shrugged.

Nothing, my butt.

"Robert, do you remember that time in high school when I spilled soda on your jeans?" she asked sweetly.

"Uh-huh." Robert suddenly looked nervous.

"You wouldn't want that to happen with hot coffee, would you?" She picked up her mug and grinned at him—in the most sadistic way possible.

Robert shivered in horror.

"You wouldn't," Robert said.

Okay, she wouldn't. She always threatened bodily harm but never did
anything.

"Fine, I wouldn't," she said because Robert actually looked worried. It made her wonder whether he saw her as a violent person. "But tell me why you
laughed. You're driving me nuts."

"Promise me you won't get angry.
" Robert eyeballed her warily.

She hated it when
people said, "Promise me you won't get angry," because it was always followed by a conversation that would, without a doubt, make her angry.

"I'm me." She placed her coffee back on the table again. "I'm almost always angry."

"Touché." Robert nodded.

"
For crying out loud!" She narrowed her eyes. "Please just tell me."

"Okay, okay." He
sighed. "It's just, well…"

"Well, what?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I think this guy might actually be good for you," Robert said.

It was just like she'd pr
edicted. She was angry already.

"Good for me?" She flew to her feet, almost knocking her coffee to the floor. "
Why? Every time I see him, I get riled up."

"I know that," Robert said quickly. "It's just that you neve
r date anyone. I understand why. I really do. But the truth is you need somebody who pushes your boundaries. Gideon may not be that much of a gentleman, but he's the kind of person I can see you with."

"The kind of person you c
an see me with?" Nora sputtered. "You see me with a stuck-up, egotistical, slimy—"

"I'm not say
ing you belong with a creep." Robert shook his head. "It's just that you have a habit of, ugh, intimidating normal guys."

"Who, me?" S
he was as innocent as a kitten…well, a kitten with really sharp claws.

Robert gave her a pointed stare.

With a sigh, she sunk back down onto the couch.

"Okay, fine," she said. "I guess I can understand what you mean."

"I'm only saying this because I love you." Robert patted her hand. "I know you said that if you were looking for a boyfriend, you'd want some nice, ordinary guy. Well, I don't think you could ever be with somebody ordinary. You need a man who can hold his own when he's with you. Somebody who, say, won't flinch when you threaten to dump your mug of boiling coffee on his head."

"I still don't want Gideon." She sniffed.

"That's fine." Robert shrugged. "I just wanted to make my point. You get what I mean, right?"

"What, that I need to find somebody as aggressive as me?" She raised an eyebrow. "Do you think I should put out a person
al ad in the newspaper? I can imagine it now. 'Single woman seeks verbal sparring partner. The man must be able to handle threats of bodily injury. He must also have a good health plan as well as a superb life insurance policy in case of sudden death.' Yeah, I can see that going over well."

"This is what I mean." Robert smirked. "You love to pick at people. Gideon could take everything you say and throw it right back in your face.
The two of you could bicker for hours."

"Enough about Gideon." She clapped her hand
s over her ears. "I'm not listening to you anymore."

"Wow," Robert
said loud enough for her to hear, even with her hands over her ears. "Twenty-eight and still this immature."

She drove her elbow straight into his ribs.

Chapter Three

Nora stood in the middle of an empty street, staring straight ahead. Even though she was surrounded by houses and shops, she didn't see a single person. Shaken, she took a step forward and peered around a corner.
There was still nobody around. She licked her dry lips and tried hard not to panic.

"Hello?" she cried.

At first nobody answered, but then she heard footsteps at the end of the street. She whirled around and saw nothing. Despite the fact nobody was there—or at least, nobody she could see—her skin covered with goosebumps and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She heard the sound of movement close by and sucked in air. She was such an idiot! Why had she called out? Now the person knew she was nearby.

She
took off running. Her breathing became strained as she headed down the street. Too much chocolate, not enough exercise. A garbage can tumbled to the ground behind her, pushed by an unseen force. She let out a gasp of surprise as she glanced over her shoulder and saw shriveled cabbage heads and crumbled tin cans rolling around.
I've got to get away,
she thought, her heart hammering in her chest.

Just as she charged past a small restaurant, she rammed into a dark figure
wearing a black hood. She tumbled to the damp, muddy ground with a thud. As she gasped, her back burning with pain, she stared up into a monstrous face.

She let out a frightened scream she couldn't contain just as the person seized her by her neck. Gasping fo
r air, she choked and writhed. That monstrous face would be the last things she'd ever see.

Nora awoke
with a start, trying to suck in air. Even now, she couldn't breathe. On top of that, something was still watching her. She could feel it. Terrified at the sensation of being observed and asphyxiated, her eyes flew open in horror. Two eyes stared straight into hers.

She gasped for air and then realized…realized…

Chubby was sitting on her chest. Again. His orange eyes were vigilant and, yes, hungry.

"Chubby," she cried, pushing the cat off of her.

She sat up, massaging her throat, and looked down at the fat cat who meowed and pawed at her arm. Groaning in disgust, she shook her head.

"You
've got to stop doing this." She gave the cat a firm stare. "I know you're hungry, but you can't sit on my chest like that. I can't breathe."

The cat meowed again.

"You can't possibly be that hungry," she said. "I gave you treats right before bed."

The cat blinked slowly, his
orange eyes glistening.

"
Okay, okay." She rolled her eyes. "But you know what I think? One of these days I'm going to have to put you on a D-I-E-T."

Out
of nowhere, the cat let out a wild hiss and tore out of the room as fast as his plump legs could carry him. At first she thought the feline had actually understood what she was saying, but then Mr. Fleas started yelping. Her heart sped up. It was one thing for Mr. Fleas to run around the apartment barking like mad, but nothing made Chubby hiss and run like that. The cat avoided exercise even more than she did, which was saying something.

She
headed into the living room. She expected to see Mr. Fleas barking at the door, but instead the dog was running circles around the table, frothing at the mouth. Chubby had attempted to hide himself behind a flower pot, but his big orange butt was sticking out.

Goosebumps covered her skin. There was
nothing wrong, so she didn't understand why they were acting like this.

"Mr. Fleas, stop it!" she cried.

The dog completely ignored her and continued to yap. She was used to the dog being a nut, but this was getting out of hand.
Maybe something's going on upstairs or…or…I don't know.
She wasn't even sure what to do anymore. Desperate for some kind of answer, she headed over to the door and peered out the peephole just in case the dog was confused and there was somebody at the door.

Nope. Nobody was there.

She knew she shouldn't have been as shaken as she was, but she was shivering from head to toe.
There's nobody here, you dimwit!
she told herself. Yet she couldn't forget how Chubby had sprinted out of her bedroom as if somebody had lit his tail on fire.

Just when she was considering calling Robert again, the dog's yapping slowed. She inched her way toward
the dog and sunk to her knees. Mr. Fleas turned toward her, dark brown eyes wide.

"Hey, b
uddy." She offered her hand to him. "You okay?"

The dog wagged his tail, but he was panting and sweaty. She heard a crash and a thud as Chubby tried to extract himself from behind the flower pot and ended up knocking the whole thing over. The cat, covered in dirt, p
lodded into the kitchen.

She heard a
nother series of loud crashes as Chubby knocked his food dish across the kitchen floor. It looked like the feline had his heart set on breakfast again.

Weird.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
Everything's fine again.

Yet when she placed her hand
against the dog's heaving sides, she couldn't help but feel uneasy. She could only pray that this—whatever this was—wouldn't happen again.

****

That afternoon, Nora stood in the tea shop, ringing up an order. She smiled forcefully at the pleasant young woman she was helping, but her mind was elsewhere. As ridiculous as it was, she was still focused on that morning's episode with her animals. She was so out of it that she almost punched in the wrong numbers on the cash register, which was pretty hard to do considering how easy the machine was to work.

"Darn it, it's raining," the young woman groaned. "I didn't bring an umbrella."

"Huh?" Nora was still thinking about Mr. Fleas doing sprints around her table.

"Rain. Outside." The young woman stared at her as if she was unhinged.

"Oh." Nora shook her head to clear it. "Sorry, I was woolgathering. What about the rain?"

"It's coming down hard." The young woman pointed outside.

Sure enough, it was raining cats and dogs. Already the sidewalk was shimmering with water. Nora groaned. The weatherman had said it was supposed to be sunny all day, so she'd walked to work instead of taking her car. She looked down at her t-shirt and jeans. If the weather didn't let up, she was going to be soaked through by the time she got back to her apartment.

"Darn it." She cringed.
"The storm came out of nowhere."

"
Yeah, I know." The young woman was also wearing a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. "You wouldn't happen to sell umbrellas, would you?"

"I wish we sold umbrellas,
but we don't," she said. "I'm going to be walking home in the storm myself."

The young wo
man sighed but then froze. Confused, Nora followed her gaze. A man was coming through the door wearing a black leather jacket and a snug pair of jeans.

It was Gideon.

"Kill me now," Nora said. "I'd rather have it rain fireballs than this."

"I see you're as dramatic as always." Gideon head
ed toward her, a massive grin on his face.

Naturally
his massive grin only made her want to shoot him in the leg.

"
You two know each other?" the young woman asked as she eyeballed Gideon. Probably, she was hoping for an introduction—which she wasn't going to get.

Nora and Gideon spoke simultaneously.

"No," she said.

"Yes," Gideon said. 

She glared at the guy as he chuckled. The young woman looked wary, which was just as well. Nora didn't want her getting any ideas. After all, Gideon wasn't a standup guy. A woman could do a hundred—no, a
thousand
—times better than him. Heck, she'd probably find better dating prospects in a high security prison. 

"What are you doing here?" She crossed her arms. "I thought I told you to leave me alone."

"And I thought I told you that I have no intention of doing any such thing." He leaned over the desk, his grin widening. "You're going to have to deal with me. Of course, you could just give up now and stop torturing yourself. It's always great to spend rainy days in bed. What do you say?"

"
Heck no," she snapped.

"You sure?" He gave a sardonic grin. "My place isn't too far from here."

Her nostrils flared. She wanted to kill him. Already she could imagine her fingers curling around his neck.

"Um, bye." The young woman shot them a nervous look and headed for the door.

Nora groaned and hung her head. Thanks to Gideon, the customer would probably never come back to the store again. She could stand to lose his business—heck, she wanted to lose it—but not anybody else's. Even though she didn't own this tea shop, she took her job seriously.

"Do you have to talk like that?" she asked as the customer walked out the door.

"Talk like what?" Gideon ran a hand through his dark hair.

"You know exactly what I mean." She
scowled at him.

"I'm not
great at mind reading." His eyes flickered toward her lips. "I'm great at many other things, just not that."

"You're disgusting." She
growled, her eyebrows furrowed. "And because of what you said, that woman probably won't come back to the store."

"
What did I say that was so bad?" he asked.

"You were talking about, well, you know."
Her cheeks grew hot.

"What?" Gideon grinned.

"You know what I mean." She was shaking because she was so angry.

"Do I?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, you do." If he only knew how close he was to being punched…

"
People were less sticks in the mud in the seventeenth century," he said. "You can't even talk about coming back to my place without turning red."

"What?" s
he sputtered.

"You heard me." He leaned in closer and looked her straight in the eye. "You're a stick in the mud. A prude."

His words stung, even though she was trying hard not to let him get to her.

"I am not." She gave an indignant sniff.

"Then let me ask you a question." He grinned. "How many times have you been kissed?"

"How many
times have I been kissed?" she repeated dumbly.

"That's what I asked." Gideon nodded, his eyes glistening.

For a moment she was silent, her mind reeling. Kevin had forced a kiss on her in a parking lot after a date. After him, she'd been with a man named Tyler. Then there had been Robert. Yes, she'd kissed Robert. He'd asked her how she felt about him and she said she didn't know. The next thing she knew, he laid one on her. It had been a swift, unnatural affair for them both. He was too much like her older brother for her to consider him boyfriend material.

"Don't tell me you've never been kissed."
Of course Gideon had to fill up the silence with another jab.

"I've been kissed." She slammed her hand down on the
desk in frustration.

"How many
times?" Gideon asked.

"Why do you care so much?" she
asked. "I don't have to tell you anything."

He chuckled. "I don't think you've ever—"

"Three times, okay!" Her nostrils flared in her frustration. "I've been kissed three times."

"Three times in total?" He scrutinized her
.

Blood rushed to her face. Okay, so she hadn't
been kissed that many times. So what? It wasn't like a person's worth was decided by the number of kisses they'd had.

"
Yes." She gave an indignant sniff.

"Wow." Gideon
stared at her in disbelief. "Three times in your entire life. I can't even imagine that."

"Shut up.
" Her fists clenched at her sides.

"I'm
really surprised." Gideon eyeballed her.

"Why?" Her brows furrowed in frustration
. "Unlike you, I don't make a game out of trying to seduce as many people as possible."

"Ouch." Gideon clapped his hand to his chest as if she'd stabbed him. "I was going to pay you a compliment, but after that comment, I don't
think I will."

"I don't
like compliments anyway." She snorted.

"If that's the way you want it…" Gideon gave a nonchalant shrug and leaned against the
desk.

To her surprise, the man fell silent. She wasn't sure why, but that bothered her, even though it shouldn't have.
She found herself casting glances at him, waiting for him to open his mouth to say something to annoy her. When he didn't, she was left with nothing to do but study him.

When he's silent, I can
actually see why women like him,
she thought with a frown.