Or perhaps a stunning combination of the two?
Distracted by the growing erection steadily taking up more and more real estate in his pants, and the woman causing it, he lost track of the conversation once more until he heard Xander say, “That was a pretty smart move, by the way, Gideon.”
He frowned. “What was?”
“We can’t find the relic, so we—or rather, you specifically—go out and make one. Strategy-wise, that was brilliant.”
Gideon nearly groaned aloud when the soft pulse of Maggie’s power behind the door spiked to white hot throb.
He should have put an end to the conversation about the baby earlier. Should never have let it get that far out of hand. Now he was kicking himself for not calling an abrupt halt the moment he realized she was close enough to overhear.
“Maggie, come in,” he called.
Niklas and Xander exchanged guilty glances as the door slowly pushed open and a pale, rigid Maggie stepped inside the room. This time, when the silence stretched on, all three males cringed uncomfortably.
“Is that true?” she asked, her voice subdued, her posture ramrod stiff. “Did you get me…did you do this on purpose?”
Oh, Lucifer’s balls!
Shit Creek had just developed some rather nasty rapids.
“No,” Gideon said, hastily setting his drink aside and pushing to his feet. He, as well as Xander and Niklas, froze when she lifted a trembling hand, palm out, to stop him. Normally that wouldn’t have been enough to keep him from going to her. But the pulsing orb of blue-white energy emerging from her palm gave him some serious second thoughts. At length, she drew a visibly shuddering breath, and the orb dissolved as she lowered her hand.
“No, Maggie, I didn’t,” he tried again, keeping his voice calm. Conscious of his engrossed audience, he cleared his throat and worked to focus solely on her. “Touching you, kissing you—” He broke off, shaking his head. “I’ve dreamed of doing that, of being able to touch someone for so long, I guess I lost my head.”
“So you weren’t trying to get me pregnant on purpose?”
“No! I swear,” he vowed, putting as much earnest conviction in his voice as he could.
“You just lost your head?”
“Right.”
“Because you were overwhelmed by being able to actually touch someone else? Anyone else.”
“Yes.” He sighed, relieved she was finally getting it. He, and he alone, was responsible for the mess they were in. It was his fault he hadn’t exercised better restraint. His fault he’d let himself get swept away in the taste and scent and feel of her.
“And it had absolutely nothing to do with me?”
“Yes! That’s exactly right.” Wait. Um, why did that feel like it had been a trick question? He ran the conversation back in his head and cringed. Oh, yeah. Big mistake. Huge. But he didn’t quite realize just how huge until he saw the look on her face. “No! Damn it, Maggie, I didn’t mean it like that. That’s not—”
The cold stare she leveled him with froze the words in his throat. She turned without uttering another sound and left the room, closing the door quietly behind her. Too quietly. Gideon’s gaze shot to the Niklas and Xander. Now they chose to be silent? As one, they began shaking their heads at him in mute disappointment.
Gideon dropped like dead weight onto his chair. He stared at the door, unable to comprehend how his situation could have gotten any worse than it had already been. Apparently, it had been quite easy. Step one, open mouth. Step two, insert foot.
A defeated groan seeped from Gideon as he slowly leaned forward and dropped his forehead on the hardwood desk with a jarring thud.
His sinking boat had just capsized.
And Shit Creek was awfully damned deep.
Chapter Eighteen
After listening to Gideon basically tell her she’d been nothing more than a convenient outlet for his pent-up libido, Maggie had locked herself in her room. It was bad enough he’d admitted to the fact without showing the least little bit of remorse. But to tell her so in front of his friends?
She’d never been so humiliated. And she’d been humiliated plenty in her life.
The gall of the man.
And to add insult to injury, he’d left her here without another word. Without so much as a goodbye. He’d hopped on a big black motorcycle and ridden away without a backward glance. She should know. She’d stood at the window like some angst ridden heroine in a tragedy, watching him disappear round the bend at the end of the drive. He’d left her with virtual strangers. The very same strangers he’d humiliated her in front of.