An Excerpt From: Bachelorette
(c) Copyright Sherri L. King, 2003.
All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave, Inc.
Gideon Fevere downed his second shot of bourbon. The bar was full of people, the noise just barely above tolerable. This wasn't his usual hang out, but then he was new to this town and hadn't found a favorite watering hole yet. His thigh ached fiercely, the twisted muscles and tendons?unwelcome trophies of a run in with a shrapnel bomb?reminded him of why he seemed to be frequenting watering holes more and more often of late.
Tired and aching, he felt so much older than his thirty-five years should inspire.
Four years ago he'd been a good field agent. CIA all the way, tried and true since he'd turned twenty-one. But all that had changed so quickly. He'd only just heard the deadly click of a detonator, and Gideon had known his number was finally up. He'd been lucky. Only his leg had been mangled in the blast of the so-called dirty bomb. But two of his best men had lost their lives.
He'd been given a healthy pension, one he could live off of comfortably for a while. Or he could have taken a desk job in the agency. But neither of those lives would have suited him. So he'd started his own security agency, to protect the rich where before he'd protected the innocent.
It was a living. It could even be fun at times. And though Gideon missed the thrill of his old life, he was learning to revel in the sudden freedom of his new one. No more did he obey orders that were not his own. No more did he worry about emotional entanglements that might interfere with his work. Being a bodyguard was easy work after his battle days, affording him lots of free time where before he'd had none.
Unfortunately, he was just as much a loner now as he ever was. But then, he was set in his ways. And old ways died hard.
Sultry female laughter reached his ears and he glanced up from his empty shot glass. The woman presently drawing his attention was an attractive petite blonde. Though beautiful, he wasn't in the market for a woman tonight and she probably wouldn't have held his attention for long had it not been for the large group of men hanging around her.
He counted five in all. And each of them was eagerly panting to have her, vying for her attention with humiliating insistence, competing with one another like animals. More than their own behavior making them appear like a pack of wild dogs after a bitch in heat, was the woman's own demeanor towards her audience.
Ruthless was a word that sprang to mind. Heartless and cold-blooded soon followed. The woman managed to encourage, yet discourage each man in turn. With a look and a touch she managed to flirt with them and lead them on, while from her mouth spilled caustic remarks that should have unmanned them completely.
Ordering a beer, he moved closer to an empty table and listened in on the group's activity.
"I was an MP in the U.S. Army reserves until 2001," one man boasted.
"Oh yeah? Right before war broke out you mean," the woman countered in a goading tone. Her smooth, Australian accent sounded odd to his ears?for reasons he couldn't have said?but it stirred his senses nonetheless.
"Yeah, I guess."
"There's no guessing. War started after September eleventh, in one fashion or another. But that's okay?you're still cute?why don't you show me the size of your dick so I can decide if your cowardice isn't a bad enough mark against you to disinterest me."
The man laughed, albeit uncomfortably.
"Come on. Show me your package. Aren't you the one that said you have twelve inches stuffed down those tight jeans you're wearing?"
Another man eagerly spoke up. "No, that was me!"
The woman eyed him critically, and at the angle Gideon was sitting, he could tell she was doing it more for her own amusement than out of any real interest in the man. "Well I'm almost tipsy enough to look past the disappointment of your face. But only just. Why don't you show me this massive organ of yours then?"
The man actually got up at started unzipping his pants. Gideon was stunned, but then he'd seen drunken guys do crazier stuff to impress a girl. It was just that this girl was so cutting. And the men didn't seem to notice or care.
Gideon studied her more closely. Her bright blonde hair was long, cut in several different layers and given to curl at the ends. It was darker at the roots and bright as platinum at the tips. Her neck was long, swanlike and lovely. Her skin was pale as cream and delicate. Her mouth was deep red, full and pouting, a cupid's bow. She was stylishly dressed in a spaghetti strand top and skintight suede pants. Her breasts were full and high?probably implants?and braless as she was, her nipples noticeably stabbed through the thin material of her top. She exuded feminine heat and raw sex appeal.
Yes she was beautiful. Gideon's cock noticed that and saluted her accordingly. But it was her venomous personality that should have withered any interest he might otherwise have had in her. It should have done the same for the men around her. But, despite the sly digs and cuts that underscored her every word, her charisma was undeniable.
There was just something about her that captured his attention, and actually managed to hold it transfixed.
It had been so long since he'd noticed a woman?really noticed one. His work and lifestyle had, of course, kept him single over the years?beyond the occasional fling. And immediately after he'd left the agency he'd been so focused on building a reputation among the Hollywood beau monde, that he hadn't even thought about dating. Time had passed and still he hadn't started any new relationships. No woman had piqued his interest. But now this woman, venomous and deadly, was giving him a hard on that threatened to burst his zipper.
He must be more deprived than he'd thought.
Now the young buck before her had his cock out in his hand?falling at least a couple of inches short of his claim to twelve?and was brandishing it proudly.
"Good grief boy, put it away," she woman scoffed. "My smallest dildo would put you to shame. You're wasting your time here. Go find a virgin schoolgirl who'll actually be impressed by that little thing."
The man blushed but laughed her insult away, as if what she'd said hadn't been all that demeaning. "It's all in how you use it you know," he defended with a wink.
"Whoever said that, had a pencil dick for certain."
God, the more this woman offended, the more Gideon wanted her. Not in tenderness or passion, but in lust?pure and simple. He had the overwhelming urge to dominate her, to gag her poisonous mouth and master her completely.
She was a challenge to the male ego. That had to be it, Gideon decided. Her very attitude goaded and dared those men around her to test their manhood in the most absurd ways. She was a femme fatale who inspired sexual aggression in the bold, while emasculating the unworthy.
Gideon was as bold as they came.
He would have her. Focusing his eyes on his prey he rose from his seat and stalked over to her table. Sparing not the slightest glance for her companions he spoke to them in his most commanding, and dangerous tone.
"Beat it, guys. This one's mine."
The men disappeared from the woman's table in record time.
* * * * *
"Well that was stupid of you. Yours indeed. As if I'd swoon over such a declaration?you must be deluded," the woman sneered disdainfully.
"Just stating the facts as I see them," he responded easily, enjoying her fire. "What's your name?"
She snorted in disbelief. "You've got balls. But I'm bored so I'll go ahead and give you a thrill. The name's Kitty. As in Kitty Kat. Meow."
"Do you ever purr or just hiss, I wonder?"
"I'll scratch your eyes out if you don't watch it, mister big balls."
"The name is Gideon Fevere. But in the bedroom you can call me Master."
Kitty's eyes widened and darted over his face and Gideon wondered briefly if his words excited or merely alarmed her. It was a bit bold, even for him, to be so crass. But she was clearly the type of woman who needed that in a lover. He sensed it as instinctively as he sensed there was more beneath her wicked personality than she would have ever comfortably admitted.
"I'm not interested Mr. Fevere," her voice was suddenly clipped and dismissive. Far too proper after her earlier behavior, and her unusual accent fell flat. "I believe its time for me to call it a night," she glanced at her watch for effect and Gideon felt his lips twitch in a smile at her abrupt switch in behavior. "I hate to have to say it wasn't nice meeting you, but then I'm sure you're used to hearing that from women."
"I'll drive you home."
"I'll take a cab."
"You're skittish without an audience. Or is it my presence in particular that has you jumping up to leave?" How he enjoyed sparring with this woman! He was a little surprised by her retreat, but determined all the more to have her despite it.
"I can't believe how arrogant you are. As if you could make me leave if I didn't want to. Trust me, I only do what I want to do." Kitty grabbed her purse and rose to leave but not before Gideon heard the hitch in her breathing, and saw the nervous dart of her tongue over the crimson pout of her lower lip.
Whether she consciously knew it or not, she wanted him to domineer her. On an elemental level, he recognized this and responded to it. Her nipples were stabbing points beneath their flimsy covering. Her breasts shuddered with every erratic breath she took. The pupils of her eyes were dilated so that they almost swallowed the deep brown of her irises. Her cheeks and neck were ever so lightly tinged with a blush and her mouth was engorging with blood in anticipation of his kiss.
There was no escaping years of elite training in observation. Gideon could clearly see her growing excitement. There were countless signs to tell him what he wished to know about her state of arousal. She wanted him almost as badly as he wanted her.
When she would have walked past him he grabbed her wrist, hard. "You're a liar. You want to go with me. I can see it in your eyes. So why the sudden retreat? Or are you just scared?" He taunted.
Kitty rounded on him, eyes wide. She clearly wasn't used to men pressing so insistently after a flat out rejection. "I'm not scared," she scoffed.
"Then come back to my hotel room. I'll give you the thrill you've been seeking here tonight."
"Egotistical," she murmured. But Gideon knew she was interested in his proposal. Her pulse had fluttered beneath his fingertips in response to his boast.
"I've every reason to be," he promised, unable to keep the husky note of desire out of his voice. And if her erratic pulse-beat was any indication?and he knew it was?she was not unaffected by that tell-tale lapse.
Oh yes, he definitely wanted her. More than she could even guess. His cock burned with it, eager to be buried in the hot, wet core of her. She was wet now, he could smell her arousal like a perfumed scent, but he would need her far more aroused before he could easily enter her.
Unlike the young buck who'd boasted of his cock size, Gideon had every right to claim such proportions. No woman in his past had ever complained, and he swore this woman wouldn't even have the breath to fabricate a complaint once he was done with her.
"Is that so?" Her lazy drawling words brought him back into their game of wits. He schooled himself. If he wasn't careful, he could lose himself in her, and that would surely spell his doom with this sort of woman.
"Let me prove it, so there'll be no doubt in your mind."
The woman seemed to war with herself. It was a fierce battle if her sudden tension was any indication, but her desires won out with whatever reasoning her higher brain provided. Gideon felt a surge of satisfaction when she replied in her sultry voice.
"Alright. Lets go to your hotel. We'll see if you're man enough for me."
"Darling, I'm man enough for two of you."
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