Sin for Me Read online

  Anyone crossing that line was going to find himself without an important part of his anatomy.

  “I don’t need an army,” he said coldly. “Now get out of here before I lose my patience and get security to throw you out.”

  The guy spat a few curses, but it turned out he had some brains after all because he stalked off into the crowd, giving Gideon one last baleful look.

  Which Gideon ignored.

  “You asshole.” Zoe’s voice was low and fierce. “Thanks for ruining a perfectly good night.”

  He swung back around to meet her furious gaze, conscious that he was pretty fucking enraged and that there was no good reason for it. Though on second thought, it was probably due to the relief that she was okay. Definitely nothing to do with that bastard and the fact that some stranger had been kissing her.

  Was that her first kiss?

  Jesus Christ, what was with him? With an effort, Gideon closed off that part of his brain and concentrated on her instead. “You’re coming home,” he ordered. “Now.”

  Zoe’s chin firmed, becoming stubborn in the way he’d gotten far too familiar with over the past few weeks. The way she did when she wasn’t going to do what he told her, come hell or high water. “No.” There was now a mutinous look on her face. “I just wanted a night out like any other twenty-five-year-old and I’m going to damn well have it.”

  Ah, fuck. Her getting willful was the last thing he needed, and now wasn’t either the time or the place to explain things to her, especially when he didn’t have the patience to be his usual understanding self.

  “The hell you are,” he snapped. “If you don’t come with me right now, I’ll throw you over my shoulder and carry you out myself.”

  Her chin stuck out even more. “Yeah? Try it, asshole. Go on, I dare you to.”

  Abruptly, Gideon came to the end of his patience.

  She was going to regret that.

  He reached out, grabbed her by the hips, and lifted her up, flinging her over his shoulder exactly as he promised.

  Zoe went rigid and utterly silent. Which was probably shock, but at least it gave him a couple of peaceful seconds to turn and start making his way to the exit.

  The crowds only gave them a cursory glance. For some of them a man with a woman over his shoulder was nothing out of the ordinary, and for others, they either simply didn’t care or they knew him.

  Zoe herself remained quiet for the first couple of steps, then she made an outraged squawking sound and began to wriggle out of his grip, beating her fists on his back.

  It didn’t hurt but didn’t make his temper any better either.

  “Stop it,” he growled. “Or I’ll spank you.”

  For a second there it looked like he might have to make good on that promise. Then the fists on his back fell away and she stopped struggling. “I hate you,” she muttered bitterly.

  “What are you? Sixteen? Grow up, Zoe.”

  She gave a disgusted snort. “What the fuck do you think I’ve been trying to do?”

  He brushed past a couple of the security staff, both Royal Road locals. They gave him a nod as if it was perfectly normal for him to be hauling Zoe out of a nightclub over his shoulder.

  She gave a groan. “I feel sick.”

  He sighed, shoving open the nightclub doors and stepping out onto the pavement. The line outside had doubled, some of the people laughing and shouting encouragement as he strode past. Fucking idiots.

  “You better put me down, otherwise I’m going to puke down your back,” Zoe said grumpily.

  Of course. She was drunk on top of it all. Could this goddamn night get any better?

  Rounding the corner of the nightclub to get away from the crowd, Gideon finally lowered her to her feet. But he didn’t move away. Instead, he slapped his hands to the rough brick on either side of her head and pinned her to the wall with his gaze.

  “So what the fuck do you think you were doing?” he demanded.

  Zoe blinked at him, then lifted her chin the way she had done back in the club, shoving her glasses up her nose with a prominent middle finger. “Like I said, I was having a night out. Why are you being such an asshole about it?”

  “You lied to me. You said you were at Rachel’s.”

  “Yeah, because I knew you weren’t going to let me go anywhere.”

  “There’s a reason for that—or had you forgotten?”

  Her amber gaze was belligerent. “Oh, you mean the whole ‘there’s bad things out there on the streets, Zoe’ threat? The one that prevents me from going out and doing anything? From basically having a goddamn life? You really think I’d have forgotten that?”

  Christ. She had no idea and if he had his way, she never would. But the time for keeping her in the dark was clearly over. They were going to need to have a serious talk once she sobered up.

  “I’ll discuss that later. Right now, the issue is you lying to me about where you were going. I need to know where you are, Zoe. How can I look out for you otherwise?”

  Her lower lip was stuck out in a pout and it was red from where that asshole had kissed her. Though why the fuck he should be noticing that, he had no idea. “I don’t want you to look out for me,” she said flatly. “You told me you were sick of me hanging around you twenty-four seven? Well, that makes two of us.”

  Guilt twisted in his gut. Because beneath the current of anger in her voice, he heard the echoes of hurt. Could see it in her eyes, too, though she was trying her level best to hide it.

  “You know I didn’t mean that.”

  The past few weeks had been tough on all of them, Zoe in particular. She didn’t do well with change—the legacy of too many foster homes in too short a space of time—and hated it when things were unsettled with her surrogate family.

  It didn’t help that he’d been worried too, first about Zee, then about Rachel and Levi. And although things were sweet now, Novak’s sudden reappearance had made him even more on edge.

  They’d argued—he couldn’t even remember what about—but he’d ended it with him telling her to quit following him around twenty-four seven. Afterward, he’d apologized, but she’d only shrugged as if she didn’t care.

  She was a terrible liar, though. He’d hurt her and it looked like she was carrying that hurt around with her still.

  She lifted a shoulder. “Whatever. You were right. Now get out of the damn way and I’ll go back to not following you around, okay?”

  “I’m not going anywhere.” Too bad about what he’d told her. He was not letting her out of his sight. Not tonight. “And you’re coming back home with me.”

  Another flare of anger lit her eyes. She took a step forward, getting right up in his face, and he could smell tequila and blackberries and the subtle lavender scent from her favorite soap. “No way. I want a night out. I want to have just one fucking night as a normal woman, where you’re not looming over my goddamn shoulder or telling me what to do. Where you’re not here!”

  Life as a normal woman? What the hell was she talking about? She made it sound like she was a prisoner and he was her jailer, which wasn’t the case at all. She could go out whenever she liked and he wasn’t always there.

  Sure, he didn’t like her to go beyond Royal too often, especially not now, but it wasn’t like he’d stuck her in a tower and thrown away the key.

  “You are a normal woman.” He stared at her, scanning her fine, delicate features. Trying to figure out where all this was coming from. “And you can go out whenever you like, I’m not stopping you.”

  “Oh, sure. Like you’re not stopping me now.”

  “It’s different now.”

  “How?”

  Because you found her in a nightclub kissing someone?

  The thought was in his head before he could stop it.

  Ridiculous. It wasn’t the kiss or the asshole kissing her that was making him stop her. Sure, he was concerned about it but only because she was drunk and by herself, and who knew what kind of moves that prick would ha
ve pulled?

  “Because you lied about where you were. And then when I got there you were drunk and letting some asshole feel you up.”

  Her smooth, coffee-colored skin flushed a deep red, the look on her face outraged. “I was not letting him feel me up! It was just a kiss!”

  “And what if he’d wanted more?”

  “Maybe if he’d wanted more I’d have let him,” she shot back, fury sparking in her eyes. “At least that’s what normal women do at nightclubs. Normal women who aren’t still virgins at twenty-five.”

  Jesus, was this what it was all about? Zoe wanting to get laid? The thought made him feel unsettled, though he couldn’t think for the life of him why. He’d talked to her about plenty of embarrassing stuff over the years. Sex was the least of it.

  “Christ, is that all you wanted to do? If that’s the case then going to a club by yourself, getting drunk, and picking up a guy is not the way to do it.”

  She scowled. “Then how else is it going to happen? When no one in Royal will touch me because of you?”

  Oh, he was not having this discussion here with her. Not when she was drunk and he was at the end of his patience. “We can talk about your love life later. Right now, it’s time to go home.”

  “But I don’t want to go home and I don’t want to talk about it later.” Fury made her eyes glow behind her glasses, the beautiful gold color molten. “I want to go have a good time, go get drunk, and then go get laid. So far, I’ve managed the first two, now I just need the third.” She gave him a challenging stare. “So get out of my way unless you’re planning on doing the honors.”

  Chapter 2

  Oh shit. Why the hell had she said that?

  Zoe clamped her stupid, drunken mouth shut, but it was too late. The words were out there, echoing off the walls beside them and going around and around in her own head.

  Was it just her, or could he hear the slightly desperate tone in them, too?

  She could feel her cheeks flaming and she wanted to look away so she wouldn’t have to see the instinctive disgust or rejection on his face. But she’d been stupid enough to say it out loud, which meant she needed to see his reaction. Even if it wasn’t one she wanted.

  He was a man who didn’t let any emotion he didn’t want show in his face, so it was a testament to how badly she’d taken him by surprise that she read shock in his eyes, loud and clear.

  Then it was gone, his black gaze as direct and as level as it usually was. “I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that,” he said in his deep, rough voice.

  Embarrassment mixed with the frustration and the anger churning in her gut, along with the tequila that was already there. And the fact that Gideon was standing with his arms on either side of her head, his body right in front of hers, his posture almost mirroring that of the guy who’d been in the process of picking her up, didn’t help.

  Her mouth was tingling from the effects of her first kiss and she was absolutely furious with Gideon for pussy blocking her. If that was even what you called it when your older foster brother, protector, guardian, or whoever Gideon was stopped you from getting laid.

  It had been a nice kiss, too, and she’d just been getting into it when Super Dick here had jerked whatever his name was—he’d told her, but she couldn’t remember—away.

  And not only that. Gideon had picked her up and tossed her humiliatingly over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Then he’d started throwing around spanking threats and her stupid, traitorous body had wanted to struggle harder so he could make good on them.

  God, could she be any dumber?

  Now here he was, standing in front of her, and she was caged against the wall by six foot four of solid, male muscle. He was a virtual wall all by himself, what with his height and the width of his powerful shoulders and broad chest. A mechanic with the body of a gladiator. A body she wanted to touch with every breath in her.

  She stared up at him, trying to mask her reaction to his physical closeness. It should have gotten easier over the years, but it hadn’t. She still blushed like a fool whenever he was around and her heartbeat still raced whenever he got close.

  His eyes were deep set in his rough, bluntly handsome face, and so very dark. Like the water of a quiet black lake she wanted to dive into to check how deep it went.

  Over your head, idiot.

  Zoe swallowed. He was so very familiar to her, the way he towered over her, somehow making her feel safe. The warmth of his body. The engine oil and leather scent of him, the one that always reminded her of home.

  She knew him so well and yet there were parts of him she didn’t. Parts he never showed her that she was terminally curious about and wanted to explore.

  The parts of himself that made him a stranger.

  “Why not?” A stupid comeback, but she said it anyway. He was so calm and so goddamn patient with her all the time. As if she was a child to him.

  You are a child to him.

  Great. Like she needed the reminder.

  “You know why not.”

  “No, I don’t.” She was pushing him, which was probably a dumb thing to do, but she couldn’t help herself. “Tell me.”

  Back in the club, she’d certainly gotten a reaction out of him that hadn’t been either calm or patient. In fact, he’d been downright furious with her. Sure, she’d lied to him, but was that the only reason? Or did it have something to do with what’s-his-name?

  Wishful thinking, girl.

  Gideon’s expression became set, in the way it did when he’d made a decision and didn’t want to be pushed about it. “Like I said, I’m not having this discussion here.” He stepped away from her. “Time to go, Zoe.”

  She folded her arms and cocked her hip, angry and stubborn as hell. “And if I don’t? Are you going to pick me up and toss me over your shoulder again? Spank me like a kid?”

  His straight, dark brows descended. “Don’t tempt me.”

  “Maybe I should,” she said recklessly, on a roll now and unable to stop. “Maybe you could use a little more tempting.”

  Something flickered in his eyes, something that was gone too fast for her to identify. “If you don’t come now, I’ll cut off your Internet connection for the next week.”

  “I could get around it!” She really should stop poking at him, she really should. But what the hell—what could he do to her that he hadn’t already done? Lock her away for the rest of her life? No matter what he said, she was kind of locked away already.

  The look on his face became even harder. “No rides on the Harley for the next month.”

  Oh, low blow. Really, really low.

  She loved it when he took her out on the back of his Harley and he knew it, the bastard. They never went anywhere in particular, just drove. But it was the only time she felt free, holding on to him as they raced along the freeway, the wind in her face and grabbing at her hair.

  On the Harley she could pretend to be someone else. A woman who wasn’t his much younger former foster sister. A woman whom he loved and who loved him. Not that she had to pretend about her own feelings—it was his she had to fill in.

  “Asshole,” she said bitterly.

  He didn’t even look satisfied, merely giving a curt nod, then turning on his heel and starting in the direction of the apartment they shared. Part of her wanted to tell him to stick his stupid Harley where the sun don’t shine and that she didn’t want to ride on it with it him in any case. But that would have been too petulant, even for her, so she forced herself to follow him, trailing along behind, full of frustrated anger.

  The apartment above Gideon’s garage was about a ten-minute walk away, and she was proud of herself that she managed to maintain her aggrieved silence the whole way, not saying a word as Gideon unlocked the front door of the building and held it open for her. She brushed past him, ignoring him completely as she went up the stairs to the apartment itself.

  It would have been much better if she could have let herself in and then stormed off to her bedroo
m, slamming the door behind her, but unfortunately she’d left her keys behind and had to wait for him to unlock that door as well.

  He took his time, like he was deliberately provoking her, and when she made to go inside, he suddenly put his arm across the doorway, causing her to come up short instead.

  She glared at him. “I thought you wanted me to go home?”

  “I do. But if you’re gonna be sulky, think again.”

  “And if you’re expecting me to thank you for dragging me home like a sixteen-year-old, you can think again too,” she said tartly.

  “Stop acting like a sixteen-year-old and I won’t have to.”

  “I’m not acting like a sixteen-year-old.” She stared at him, furious with him for not only treating her like a kid, but for not understanding when he should have understood. “I’m acting like any twenty-five-year-old woman trying to have a good time out at a club.”

  He glared back. “You shouldn’t have lied to me.”

  “Oh yeah? And what would you have done if you were me?”

  That flickering look moved in his eyes again, the expression she didn’t know how to interpret. “But I’m not you, Zoe.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “I don’t care what you meant. My job is to protect you whether you like it or not, and that’s what I’m gonna do, understand? If you wanna discuss it when you’re not drunk and behaving like a sulky teenager, then by all means we can discuss it. But not here and not now.”

  She wanted to argue with him, have it out right here, right now, no matter what he said. Force him to listen because every time she’d tried to bring it up with him he’d either avoided the subject, brushed her off, or told her he was too busy. She was getting tired of it.

  For thirteen years she’d been happy with the status quo, with wanting everything to stay the same. Not anymore. Everyone around her was settling into a new phase of their lives—when would it be her turn? When would she be able to get some of the things she wanted? Hell, she didn’t need all of them, just a couple.