23. CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 23
G ideon gripped Lexi’s hand as they traveled back to his world, hurrying through the club and then crossing the street to his house. They didn’t discuss the decision to bring her back to his universe rather than send her straight home to her apartment, they simply went, as if it were a foregone conclusion. He seemed unready to let her go just then, which was just dandy, because she was unready to be released.
Though exhausted, sore, and still jittery from hours of fear and adrenaline, she was also pumped and energized by excitement. Her abilities were amazing! She had control! She’d helped save them! Equally powerful was her awareness that Gideon had come in search of her. Had rescued her. He’d crossed to her world and was the hero standing by her side after all. They’d made quite the team as it turned out, and the feeling of being part of something—something important and strong—warmed and soothed every one of her aches, pains, and doubts.
Evening was upon them now, the sky turning a dusky purple in the twilight. Even with a few celebratory rockets lighting the July Fourth skies—explosive noises her nerves could seriously do without at this point—the peace and simplicity of his universe calmed her mind and heart. Returning here had begun to feel like coming home .
She studied the fa?ade of his house as he unlocked the door. Like its twin in her own world, the one she thought she’d seen him enter during a moment of clairvoyance, it was built of interlaced red and gray bricks in a subdued checkerboard pattern. Rows of windows on all three stories were each framed in glossy black storm shutters. Matching window boxes filled with bursts of colorful flowers sat below each one.
As they entered, Gideon quickly slipped past her into the living room, which was dark in the twilight of the day. He waved his arm and a couple dozen candles and oil lamps instantly lit up, bathing the entire first floor in a golden glow. Then crouching before the fireplace, he made a pushing motion with the palms of his hands and the logs burst into orange flame.
She gasped. “Beautiful.”
He rose and turned to face her from across the room, holding her gaze with a needful intensity she felt from her head to her toes. “Indeed.”
Her cheeks warmed and she knew they’d turned a nice shade of pink.
His gaze softened and he smiled as he crossed the room and drew her into his arms. “Make yourself at home. I’ll go upstairs and draw us a bath.”
Her cheek pressed to his chest, she smiled, reluctant to let him go, though the idea of soaking in clean hot water was a pretty good inducement. “That sounds fantastic.”
He left her to bound up the stairway while she explored the downstairs rooms. She’d been inside his home only briefly before, and this chance to explore his private world was an exciting window into the man himself.
The furniture and decor spanned several eras—colonial, Victorian, even Baroque—and were clearly from various parts of the world, each piece more magnificent than the next. Musical instruments from sitars to mandolins, strings and percussion pieces from across the globe, filled each corner. She giggled as she admired some of the antique furnishings, knowing they may have actually been brand new when he or his parents acquired them.
She finally stopped her exploration to gaze up at a large painting above the hearth. A portrait of a beautiful couple in formal attire. Unaware that Gideon had come back downstairs, she gave a start as he came up behind her, slipping his arms around her waist. Settling into them, she leaned her head back against his chest, still observing the painting.
“My parents,” he said.
“They’re a beautiful couple.” She paused. “They look young here. Are they…?”
“They died when I was but a teen. Both fell in battle during the last rebellion.”
She turned to face him, taking his hands. “I’m so sorry.”
“Their deaths are long past. But I miss them still.”
“Do you have brothers or sisters?”
“No, it’s only me.” Something shifted in his eyes. “I’m the last of the Ashe family line. The last of our name.”
His grief flashed through her mind and across his face. She squeezed his hand, and he quickly recovered, leaning in to whisper in her ear. “Come upstairs with me now.”
Holding his hand, she followed him up the stairs, butterflies of excitement and need tickling her insides. The second floor was divided into two large rooms. To her left, a quick peek showed her the main bedroom, where light from dozens of candles and oil lamps flickered on the walls or were reflected in the numerous mirrors that helped to throw the warm glow around the room. An enormous four-poster bed occupied a prime spot, its beautiful canopy a luscious burgundy color, bringing out the dark reds that were also in the rich carpets and window tapestries. The thought of sliding into those darkly dyed sheets and blankets with him quickened her heart rate.
A tug on her hand pulled her in the other direction first, however, as he led her to the bath, where her mouth fell open as she took it in.
“Oh, Gideon.” The polished wood floors and paneled walls reflected the customary candlelight of this world, but it was the side-by-side identical copper soaking tubs in the middle of the room that were the centerpiece of the space. Vases of colorful flowers accented shelves, alongside dainty colored glass bottles containing, she assumed, various toiletries. Soft cotton robes hung on wall hooks.
Moving to the tubs, she ran her fingers through the warm water. The scents of fresh sage and lavender floated through the air as her hand disturbed the sprigs of herbs floating on the surface. She filled her lungs with the calming fragrances, feeling her body relax.
Gideon handed her a glass of what he said was honeyed mead, to which he’d added some medicinal tonics. It tasted of a sweet thick alcohol, and as she sipped it, the throbbing in her head eased almost instantly.
“If you’re hungry, I’ve set out some food.” He gestured to a tabletop with plates of fruit and nuts.
They took a moment to nibble and drink, regaining their strength, and as she quietly watched him, she clearly saw the color return to his skin, solidity return to his spine, and a flush of strength return to his muscles. He was home, and healthy again. His body was much more intricately tied to his world than hers was to her own universe. His people interacted with the energies of their universe in a unique way, or at least, in a way her people disregarded or where unaware of. It confirmed that she could never ask him to try and live in her dimension.
Soon, she began pulling off her shoes and socks, anxious to slide into the bath. “Are you magic or something? When did you pull all this together? ”
He chuckled as he followed suit, beginning to unbutton his shirt. “You were so engrossed in perusing my home, you didn’t notice me running back and forth to the kitchen.”
“But the tubs. The hot water?” She’d assumed that bathing in his pre-Industrial world would mean boiling pots of water and filling the tubs slowly. Something she hadn’t looked forward to if she ever spent any length of time in his universe.
“We use a gravity and cistern system for the plumbing,” he said as he pointed to the hand pumps poised at the head of each tub. “And heating the water merely requires energy to excite the molecules, creating friction.” He held up his telekinetic hands, wiggling his fingers with a grin. “Much the same as when I light the candles or hearth logs.”
Truly the best of both worlds, she thought as she shook her head in appreciation. Then she cast a glance longingly at the tubs again.
“Please,” he gestured for her to get in. “I’ll give you a moment of privacy. Help yourself to any toiletries.”
He stepped out, disappearing into the bedroom, and she turned toward the washbasin on the counter. Picking through the colored bottles and covered porcelain bowls, she found a container labeled “tooth powder” and rinsed her mouth with the minty, baking soda-like substance. Then she dropped the rest of her clothing and stepped into the copper tub.
“Oh my God,” she breathed as she slid into the hot, fragrant water, her tightly wound muscles releasing their tension. Picking up the bar of hand-made soap that sat on the lip of the tub, she began soaping her body, raising one leg from the water, her toes resting on the edge as she ran the bar down her thigh. “I think I’m in heaven.”
“Indeed, as am I.” Her gaze flew up to see him leaning against the door frame, arms crossed over his broad bare chest, his snug riding breeches displaying the clear outline of his pleasure. His eyes scanned from the tips of her pink-painted toenails perched on the rim, up her calf, her thigh, across the top of the water to her breasts bobbing just at the surface, and finally back to her face. His lips pulled into a satisfied grin, and her whole core heated in response.
“Are you getting in, or just admiring the scenery?” she managed after a swallow.
As he removed the last of his clothing and stepped into his own tub, she took in the wide lat muscles of his strong back as they tapered into the hips, and the powerful round glutes, dented in deeply at the sides. She attempted not to stare at the beautiful erection bobbing against his flat torso, and failed miserably, feeling the blush on her cheeks.
Nearly groaning when most of him disappeared below the water, she was rewarded again when he briefly slipped his head under to wet it, then resurfaced, running his hands though his hair as he wrung it out, his enormous biceps flexing with the motion. She was hyperaware of every sensation, the drops of water glistening on his skin and reflecting the golden auras of the candles and the red of the copper, as if his body were covered in gemstones.
They soaked like that for long blissful minutes, silently reaching to hold hands in the space between the tubs. Her head back against the rim, eyes closed, she let the horrors of the day flush away, replaced by the warm glow of the present moment. The heightened senses spurred by his universe made the movement of the water feel like a million fingers caressing her skin, and her libido was reaching a peak. She almost found herself slipping a hand between her thighs when the loud swish of water snapped her out of the sensuous fog.
Gideon stepped out of his tub, running a thick towel over his perfectly sculpted, glistening body, and she began to follow suit, but he paused her with a hand motion. “Stay a moment, sweetheart.”
He moved behind her, kneeling down behind her head, and cupping water in his hands, he ran it through her hair, washing her long locks and massaging her scalp as she stared up at him with half-lidded eyes.
He paused to examine the bruise on her forehead, and with that reminder, the day’s events came slamming back to her. The bruise on her head, the assholes who did it to her, Benjamin’s broken body. Lexi jerked in the water.
“Hey, what’s going on?” he said, caressing the backs of his fingers along her cheek.
But she didn’t want to think about it. She wanted to float, she wanted to drink honey mead, she wanted to…
She reached up to Gideon’s neck and pulled his head close, their kiss meeting upside down as he leaned over her in the tub. It felt like it had been years since their lips had last touched and she drank in the sensation, drank in his taste, the flavor of honey mead still on his lips. She didn’t wait for him to be the aggressor. Opening his mouth with her tongue, she thrust deep, exploring, tasting, the feel of his hair falling onto her face igniting those tingling tracer sensations.
He responded, tugging on her bottom lip, which was at his full mercy in her upside down position. His hands slid down to her lifted breasts where he pinched the nipples to attention, sliding his thumb back and forth as she groaned into his mouth.
His lips and hands abandoned her then, and she let out a whimper of loss before she realized he was scooping her up in both arms, cradling her against him as he carried her out of the bath. Her face against his broad, muscled chest as they moved into the bedroom, she flicked a tongue across his damp skin, and he groaned in pleasure.
Gideon laid her onto the big bed, shadows from the fireplace flickering along the edges of the dark canopy above them. He stood before her, his cock rock hard, every muscle in his body taut and ready. Her eyes took him in as he towered above her, the washboard abs, the huge corded quads, those delicious lines that formed a V as they went from the hips to the pelvis, and the delectable little treasure trail of dark blond hair.
His gaze moved over every inch of her body, and she had the delicious impression he was planning and plotting, deciding how to proceed.
Seeming to have made a decision, he recaptured her eyes and smiled. A slow, smoldering, unfolding of a smile, and her body burned, hot and wet in response. Suddenly, in one fluid movement he reached for butt cheeks, pulling her ass forward to the edge of the bed, leaving her legs to dangle as he climbed over her. He took her hands, placing them above her head as he kissed her mouth thoroughly before moving downward. Working his way down her jawline, neck, and collarbone, his mouth found his way to her breasts, where he tasted each nipple in turn before continuing his travels south.
As he followed a trail of water droplets down her tummy, he stopped to lap the little puddle in her belly button before finding the end of his journey not far below. He reached her close-shorn curls, nuzzling into them, then lifted her knees, placing her feet on the bed and bringing her legs to fall open for him. Lexi moaned as she felt his warm breath caress her sex, and his eyes shot up to hers just as he lowered himself before his feast. Dragging her ass even closer, his tongue swept over her entrance, finally landing on his target point. She cried out as he lapped and teased, his own sounds of pleasure adding to the vibrations building in her core.
She wiggled as he worked, bucking at his ministrations. “Gideon, wait, I’m so close… I need…”
With a final exquisite swipe of his tongue, he rose up over her again, erection in hand. “You need?” he asked with a wicked grin.
She nodded in response, backing up on the bed again as he crawled over her, his eyes full of the most beautiful desire .
He began to lower himself down on top of her, and as he did so the thought crossed her mind that they hadn’t yet had the usual pre-sex discussion, all the safety concerns, which for some reason seemed so out of place in his world, and yet was equally valid.
She opened her lips to speak, but he lowered down next to her, resting the weight of his upper body on one elbow. He touched his fingers to her lips and shook his head. She felt him enter her mind then. There were no secrets there, in the intimacy of their thoughts. They were both safe from any issues, and they knew it.
Holding her gaze intensely, he slid a hand along her inner thigh, pushing her leg out a bit as his fingers found their way up to her sex. She parted her lips, breathing heavily, and he moved in to kiss her jaw line, bite at her earlobe, and move back to her lips as he slipped a second finger in, swirling them inside her, water from his hair dripping coolly onto her face and chest. She moaned into his mouth as he slipped a third finger in, stretching her, preparing her for his size.
She was more than ready.
“Please,” she whispered.
He moved all the way on top of her then, and she brought her legs up, wrapping them around his waist, encouraging him toward her. His cock touched her entrance, the tip just teasing her, and she pushed forward, not waiting for him to take his time any longer.
He slid blessedly into her as he gave a loud, satisfied moan, his length and girth filling her completely, stretching her, making contact with her every inch, her every molecule. Her own moan filled the room.
He slid back and forth slowly, with long, loving thrusts as he arched his back, pressing up on his hands, and she gripped his forearms, her head back and chest arched up. He reached back with one arm at a time and hooked each one behind her knees, pulling her legs up higher, her knees almost at the level of her chest now. He was stretching her so tightly, and his girth was so full, that he stroked against her most sensitive spot with each entry.
Her hands moved restlessly, from his arms to her breasts, back to his head to grab fistfuls of his hair. He had her pinned in the most delicious way and she wiggled and squirmed with pleasure as each thrust brought her closer and closer, completely at the mercy of his movements.
She’d never before been brought to climax like this, from just the point of pelvic contact, and the intimacy of it was raw, beautiful.
And his eyes. He watched her relentlessly. The stormy grey-green boring into her, consuming her, owning her.
“Oh God,” she cried out, fingernails digging into his arms.
“Now, baby,” he said. “Come for me.” He thrust harder and faster. Like an engine powered by his beautiful glute muscles, he drove into her.
She came. Like a rocket off a launch pad, shooting into the void. The spasm rocking her over and over and over again, her sheath gripping his cock as he slowed his thrust, easing back down.
Before she could completely catch her breath, Gideon turned them both over, a perfectly executed barrel-roll as he stayed inside her, then maneuvering her up to sit on top of him as he lay on his back.
She got herself settled, aftershocks still shaking her, and then with a wicked smile she squeezed his cock inside her. He let out a gust of air and moaned, reaching both arms to take her full breasts in his hands, weighing them, kneading them, pinching the nipples.
Lexi started to work him. Her hands on his hip bones she slowly raised and lowered herself, up and down as she kept squeezing him. He moved his hands to her hips and guided her to the speed he wanted. He was actually lifting her up and down now with such ease and speed that she realized he was at least partly using telekinesis, though she wasn’t even sure he was aware of it .
She bucked and rotated her hips as he slid her up and down his hard length, finding the right place to grind her little nub, which had become hard and hot again, every time she came down onto him.
A constant stream of moans came from both of them, as Lexi, hands free now that he was moving her on his own, worked her own breasts, tugging at them, pinching them, and his eyes grew hungrier as he watched.
He slid her up and down his shaft, as she clenched and unclenched him, rotated and ground against him. Closer and closer they both climbed.
That’s when she saw it.
The same lights she’d once seen coming up out of the piano were now floating through the air around the two of them, moving outward and upward from the center of their lovemaking, gathering under the canopy and then spilling out toward the ceiling with purple and gold and red and white light. She felt like she was floating in a sea of multicolored stars. She was bobbing and moving, out of place and time, as a second orgasm built within her.
“Baby,” she said, her voice a low, husky whisper, “look what you’re doing, look what you’re making. It’s so beautiful.”
His eyes lingered on her own a moment longer before pulling away to view the beauty he was creating. “What we’re creating, sweetheart.”
Together they were a symphony of light, the visual display of Gideon’s joy swirling around them, a tornado of color. The glow of the fire began to alternately brighten and dim, the water in the tubs next door suddenly splashing and crashing, loud enough to hear as waves splashed onto the floor. The sounds of the roiling water and crackling fire vied with the music of their delirium, until it all came together in their screams of simultaneous ecstasy .
Before they even finished coming, both still shivering and rocking, Lexi fell forward, and they touched their foreheads together, riding the last of the waves while trading breath.
Neither of them needing to speak out loud those three little words they heard in each other’s minds.
It was eight o’clock at night on what they agreed had to have been the longest day of their lives, the longest Fourth of July on record, and they were both exhausted.
Yet, with all that had happened, all the physical energy he’d expended during the long day, not the least of which just now in his bed, Gideon felt strong. Light on his feet. Internally calm. Ready for anything.
All because of one four-letter word blooming in his chest: hope.
For the first time since he’d lost his family, he could envision a future that wasn’t lonely. A home that wasn’t empty. A heart that remembered how to laugh.
Earlier as he’d stood watching her soak in the tub, her eyes closed and the edges of her lips turned up in bliss, he’d felt the threat of tears behind his eyes. His parents had installed the side-by-side tubs over one hundred and fifty years before—a rare luxury they felt their joyous marriage was worth. But since Gideon had inherited the home, the baths had been missing a second occupant, and he’d long ago come to assume they always would.
Now his love had finally arrived. Stronger and more beautiful than he ever dared to hope.
But Lexi had been back in his universe for close to her four-hour limit by now, and he had to send her home to another dimension.
“I’ll be okay,” she said through a yawn. “Just send me back. My poor cat must be starving. ”
“No.” He slid into a clean pair of jeans. “I’m going back with you. I’ll see you home safely and then return.”
“But the last thing you need right now is more of my world.”
Indeed, he could barely think straight as it was at this point. He’d be of little use in the event of trouble, but sending her back alone after what had happened set his teeth grinding.
“Then do me a favor, love, and ask once more for visions. At least images of the next twenty-four hours.”
Lexi closed her eyes and asked, inviting him into her mind to observe, and all she saw was her cat rubbing against her leg as she placed food in his bowl, followed by an image of a steaming cup of coffee on her table, morning sunlight coming through her kitchen window. She opened her eyes and yawned again. “You see? I’ll be fine.”
Noting the ease with which she’d just used her skills, he studied her intently. “I didn’t have time to properly acknowledge you earlier.”
“What do you mean?”
“What you did today. Using your gift. You took control of your sight and saved us. You saved my people.”
Color rushed to her face, and she chewed her lip. “I don’t know. I mean, it worked a few times, but who knows if—”
“It will always work now. It’s a skill, nothing more mysterious than that. You didn’t know how to use it before, that’s all.”
“Maybe you’re right.”
“I am right.” He pulled her onto his lap.
“You know, you could be anything you want in our world now, if you came here to stay. Oracles are highly valued by healers, scientists, farmers. You could do whatever you want. Contribute to our world in whatever way will give you pleasure and satisfaction. ”
As soon as he spoke those words, a flash of heat arced across his skin. A sensation like an electric shock. And he was, indeed, shocked at his own words.
When had he gone from discouraging their relationship, from chastising himself for his interest in her, to officially inviting her into his life in such a permanent, almost official, way? Sure, they’d been growing closer, and he’d been about to discuss the transition process with her earlier in the day. But even then, he’d still been partly of a mind that telling her about the dangers of the process would be helpful in dissuading her. Or at least that’s what he told himself.
At what point had he thrown his caution to the wind entirely and admitted to himself his true desire?
He knew the answer. He’d crossed that line, he’d accepted their destiny, the moment she faded from his arms in the meadow. When he’d thought he’d lost her, perhaps forever, and felt the threat of a pain like no other.
He’d fallen further still when his beautiful brave woman shoved aside her fear and did the better part of rescuing them all earlier that day.
And he’d fallen the final distance when she’d come in his arms, over and over, crying out in ecstasy, just minutes ago.
“A life like that, in this world, sounds wonderful,” she said, snapping him out of his thoughts.
But her brows drew together, and she hopped off his lap as she continued. “Do we even know, though, whether we really changed anything today? I mean, did we actually save your people?” she asked over her shoulder as she headed to the bathroom, returning moments later with her clothing. “Clearly Benjamin is… out of the picture… but what does that actually mean?”
He watched as she slipped on her clothes, wishing like mad he could keep her with him for the evening. “You’re not seeing the horrible images you saw before. That means we changed something. ”
“But what?”
“We don’t know exactly, do we? Perhaps the future is now uncertain. But at least it’s not what it was going to be. We changed fate. Alana was right. You’re a powerful oracle. And you used your gift in a different way today than in the past. You took control and didn’t run from it. Maybe that makes all the difference when it comes to altering the future.”
He reached to rub the back of his neck, doubt at his own words seeping into his spine. “It’s true, our work isn’t done. We’ll need to be vigilant and figure out the scope of this Prometheus Group.” He stood as she finished slipping on her boots. “But for now, you need to go home and get some sleep.”
She moved to the circle of his arms, leaning into his chest with a sigh. Then her head popped up, her eyes going wide. “Wait a minute. Hold up there. I completely glossed over the part a few minutes ago where you said I could be anything I want in your world… if I stayed here .” A smile spread on her lips—lips still plumped from his recent abuse of them. “Let’s revisit that tantalizing part of the conversation.”
Gideon’s heart jumped in his chest once again at the prospect of discussing the transition. Did he let her get some sleep before dropping another bomb on her?
He pulled her back in and nuzzled his cheek in her hair. “You know I’d love nothing more. We have much to discuss in that regard. But you’re exhausted right now, as am I. I’ll come to you tomorrow morning, and we’ll talk.”
She agreed with a contented purr against his chest. “Tomorrow morning.”
“Now let’s get you home,” he said as they separated, giving her a love pat on the rump. “I’ll make sure Matthew sees you back to your place. Do you think Margot might stay with you tonight? ”
He extinguished the candles and fire with a wave as they headed out, and she gave him a reassuring nod. “I’m sure of it.”