Free Undeniable Rogue (The Rogues Club Book One) by Annette Blair

day.”
    In self-preservation, he covered the enchantress up to her neck.
    Wide-eyed with understanding, she grasped the blanket tight against herself.
    “Did I frighten you badly?” He had to know.
    The innocent siren licked her lips. “Almost.”
    Gideon barked a laugh. “Almost, by God. Did I, at least, pass your test?”
    A shrug, a nod, and a sidelong glance toward the location of his incessant throbbing. “I guess.”
    “God’s teeth, woman. If you have another trial in mind, give it to me now, or watch me perish in a blaze of nervous anxiety.”
    The sound she made was nearly a giggle, or a gurgle, he supposed he should say, and still she stared at his burgeoning erection. “Staring, will only make it worse, Sabrina.”
    “Can I do anything to make it less … inconvenient? It seems to be getting huge.”
    “Why thank you, Sweetheart. And yes. Touching it would help.”
    Damned if she did not reach right out...and pull as swiftly back. “I am sorry. But I...cannot.”
    Gideon released his breath. ‘Twas probably for the best that she did not touch him, for if she did, he would burst into flame and embarrass them both. Simple as that. Just the idea drove him about as close to the edge as a man could get.
    “Come here,” he said and when she complied, innocent that she was, he settled her on her side in front of him, spoon-style. “If you can ignore the inconvenience for a while, we can just settle down to sleep. Comfortable?”
    She nodded. He liked that she was using one of his arms for a pillow. His other, he rested against her belly, where her little one seemed totally unwilling to settle into rest.
    Despite his hard discomfort, contentment stole over Gideon in slow, soothing measure, while the old emptiness, that had long been his companion, seemed somehow to be missing from the softening mist of drifting night-shadows.
    He thought he just might be able to sleep then, until his bride did something wondrous. She turned in his arms, reached over and curled her hand around him.
    Gideon sucked in his breath and moved, involuntarily, within the glove of her grasp. “God’s teeth, Bree, you try me to my limits.”
    “Is that bad?”
    “Bad can be good. Much too good.” He tried to pull away, but she would not allow it. Since coming was a near thing, Gideon stopped struggling, wondering how a woman about to deliver a child could be such an innocent, at one and the same time.
    She began to move her hand along his length and he could barely breathe, so incredible did her touch transform him. “What?” He shuddered. “What are you … planning to do?” he bit out, determined not to embarrass himself with the release he craved.
    “I think...I might be ready now to...do what you started.”
    “The devil you say? All of it?”
    Like a hot poker, she let him go. “All of what?” Suspicion, he read. Dread.
    “I think you do not really wish to do this,” Gideon said fighting disappointment.
    “Why do I not?” Sabrina asked, snuggling against him, relaxing, and taking him into her hand again.
    Sweet, sweet torture.
    “Could we not continue?” she asked.
    “Like this you mean?” He could not keep from nudging her blanket away and taking her nipple into his mouth once more.
    She gasped and she sighed, and her legs shifted and stirred, as if she were seeking something she could not, or dare not, name.
    In answer to the need she failed to recognize, Gideon again tried to touch her, there, at her core, but, again, she would not have it, would not open for him.
    She must have been frightened once, badly. Perhaps more than once. In that case, there was only one way to go about this seduction business—from the beginning.
    After that, he touched her everywhere, almost. Never at her center, but nearly there. When finally she allowed him to cup her—legs still closed tight against him—she sighed and relaxed. And he thought that perhaps she floated at least.
    She sought his chiseled mouth with her