Chapter Four
Jessica walked into her bathroom, started shedding her clothing, and hopped into the shower. Her eyes slid closed as the water beat down on her head. Her body felt sensitized and more sensual than she’d ever been before.
As much as she tried, she couldn’t get the man out of her head, and her body still hadn’t calmed. She’d never had her nipples so hard, and it was embarrassing to have her cum slide from her body and down her thighs.
She didn’t think the way she felt was normal, which left her confused and slightly anxious.
She stepped out of her shower, wrapped in a towel, and was drying her hair with another when her sister walked in.
Jessica almost rolled her eyes. “Nice of you to knock.”
Bambi leaned against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t want you to get any ideas about Gideon.”
Jessica looked at her sister’s reflection in the mirror. “What are you talking about?”
“I don’t want you to think you have a chance with him. He’s mine.”
“Oh, I didn’t know you had a boyfriend. I thought you liked to sleep around.”
Her sister’s face reddened. “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s my fiancé.”
Jessica wanted to smack the smugness from Bambi’s face. The thought of the two of them together bothered her more than she thought it should, and she couldn’t figure out why.
“Did you hear me?”
Jessica knew she was good at not showing her feelings. She’d had years of practice because of her family.
She tried to sound as disinterested as she could. “Of course. I’m just not sure why you’re telling me this.”
“Because I saw the way the two of you looked at each other, and I don’t like it.”
“I didn’t know we were doing that. I’ll make sure to curb my friendliness around the two of you now that I know you’re so insecure,” Jessica said and had to bite her lip at the livid expression on Bambi’s face.
“Insecure?” she screeched. “I’ve never been and will never be insecure, especially with you. We are so opposite it’s ridiculous, and I’ve often wondered how we could be full sisters.”
“Well, we might have similarities if you would eat sometimes and get some meat on your bones, so you didn’t look like a skeleton.
For God’s sake, stop with the plastic surgery.
Your breasts and lips get bigger every year.
Stop dying your hair white. I’m shocked it hasn’t fallen out with everything you do to it. ”
If her sister’s face got any redder, Jessica thought she just might burst into flames.
Her sister glared at her. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Just stay away from my fiancé.”
“No problem.”
Her sister turned to leave when Jessica said, “Hey, I have a quick question.” Her sister turned back to face her. “Are you sure he knows the two of you are engaged?”
Her sister made a furious, strangled sound and stomped off, making Jessica chuckle. God, her sister was so uptight for someone with such a low IQ. She couldn’t remember ever seeing her sister read a book. Any reading she did was as she flipped through her women’s magazines.
The only reason she graduated from high school was their father donated to the school. Bambi also liked to brown-nose the teachers. Jessica even suspected Bambi of sleeping with some of her male teachers.
Hell, she hated the name Bambi. Her sister’s real name was Margaret, after their maternal grandmother, but her sister always hated it. When she was in junior high, their father let her use the name Bambi, and she loved it so much that it stuck.
If it had been Jessica, she would have smacked anyone who called her that ridiculous name.
Jessica got dressed in jeans with holes in them, an old, faded t-shirt, and fluffy purple socks. She grinned as she walked down the stairs. She knew if either her father or her sister saw her, they would be appalled.
She knew she shouldn’t pick at them or horrify and offend them, but it was too much fun. Jessica stopped suddenly in the dining room doorway when she caught the man’s—Gideon’s—scent. Was that even possible? He’d been gone close to two hours, and it was like he was standing next to her.
That can’t be normal. Maybe it was in her head?
She grinned. Maybe she’d ask Google when she went back up to her room after grabbing some food. She hadn’t eaten yet that day and had been in the garden all morning and early afternoon.
Jessica caught sight of the family’s cook, Lucie, and snuck up behind her before wrapping her arms around the older woman, making her screech and turn.
“Jessica Arnolt, you should be ashamed of yourself for scaring an old woman,” Lucie said, trying to hide her smile.
Jessica snorted. “I’ll be sure to remember that when I find an old lady.”
Lucie was in her late sixties but had more energy than most people.
Lucie made a psst sound before she giggled. “You are, and will always be, a terror.”
Jessica hugged the sweet woman she’d known her whole life. “But that’s the way you like me.”
“Oh, poo. Now tell me what it is that you want, dear?” Lucie went back to stirring something in a bowl.
“Nothing. I’m just going to grab an apple.”
Lucie narrowed her eyes at her. “You haven’t eaten today, young lady. You need more than an apple.”
“I was planning on eating dinner in a few hours.”
Lucie huffed. “Fine, but you have got to do better. It’s not healthy.”
Jessica pressed a quick kiss on Lucie’s face before running out of the kitchen, laughing all the way up to her room when the older woman continued to chastise her.
She sat down on the chair at her desk in one corner. She faced the door because she didn’t want anyone to be able to sneak up on her. As far as they knew, she spent a lot of time taking naps and playing games on the computer. Instead, she day traded and was very successful.
She tried to keep as much of herself private as possible.
She didn’t want to give her father and sister something to bug her about.
They wouldn’t understand that she enjoyed working and making money.
Neither of them had worked a day in their lives.
They would rather go to spas, go shopping, or go to the golf range.
How much pampering did one person need? As far as golfing went, her father would play every day and all day long if he could.
They’d both been extremely spoiled their whole lives and couldn’t understand or even want to learn about other people.
A few hours later, the house phone rang on her desk.
“Yes,” she said after she picked it up.
“You have a phone call on two, miss.”
“Thank you, Addy.”
Jessica pushed the button. “Hello.”
“Jessica?”
She almost dropped the phone when she recognized his deep, dark voice.
“Hello, Gideon. My sister is out right now,” Jessica said.
He chuckled, and the sound raced down her spine. Her nipples hardened painfully, and she felt her panties become wet and sticky.
“I want to talk to you.”
She cleared her throat. God, if she kept talking to him, just his tone made her body weep and tighten as if to orgasm. “Oh. Why?”
“Because I’m attracted to you, and I want to take you out,” he said.
Her grip on the phone tightened. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re engaged to my sister. Remember?”
She heard him sputter, curse, and then laugh.
“Is that what she told you?”
“Yes.”
“Let me ask you something. When you saw me in the garden, did I seem bat-ass crazy to you?” he asked and then chuckled.
Jessica grinned. “No, but I was only around you for a few minutes.”
He mumbled something.
“What did you say?” she asked.
“Nothing. Let’s get back to our discussion.
Let me tell you a bit about myself. I’m not crazy.
Or at least not crazy enough to want to deal with your sister.
At no time did the two of us discuss a date, much less an engagement.
It took me less than thirty seconds to know your sister is the most self-absorbed, selfish, narcissistic egomaniac I’ve ever met. ”
Wow, other people saw Bambi the same way she did, and it was refreshing. She had to admit that she hadn’t liked the idea of them together. A vision of the two of them in bed had kept popping up in her mind, distracting her from her work.
But she wouldn’t take the step of going out with him until her sister understood the situation. She knew if she didn’t play this right, her sister and father would make her life a living hell.
“I’m sorry. I can’t. I know my sister can be a bit much, but if you get to know her, you might...”
“Don’t even say it,” he growled. “There is not enough money in the world that would get me to go out with your sister.”
She was so tempted to say yes. Her body was screaming for him to take her and fuck her until they both passed out.
Jesus, where did that come from? She’d never had a high libido and couldn’t remember panting after any boy.
She’d had a few boyfriends in high school, but she couldn’t bring herself to stay with them.
As much as she wanted him, she couldn’t just yet. “No, I’m sorry.” She hung up before he could say something. She didn’t see how it would work without repercussions from her family. Or she didn’t want to find out.