By Luck

by S J Abbott

  Gideon was breathless, hot, and ready to lay Shannon out on the conference room table when they were interrupted by Aaron clearing his throat. They broke apart regretfully, and though he kept her in his arms he turned his head to his friend. “What could you possibly want?”

  Aaron looked from Shannon’s face to Gideon’s. “Lily is on line one asking for you.”

  Nine

  The thoughts that went through Gideon’s head were fast and unpleasant. He had to do something, but he was worried as hell about the woman in his arms. Why the fuck had he been so stubborn and fought so hard against Aaron and Seth? If he’d just done what they’d asked, he wouldn’t be worrying about whether or not Shannon was going to speak to him again after he let his arms fall so he could take a call from another woman. Panic stirred the bile in his stomach and made his throat burn.

  “Give me a minute.”

  Gideon turned his full attention back to Shannon as he tightened his hold on her against his body. He choked back the panic and looked at her eyes. “I …”

  She nodded. “No worries. Go take the call,” she told him with a smile on her face.

  Her words brought him no relief. Her words were telling him to go, but her eyes were saying something completely different. There were ghosts in them. Gideon saw faint wisps of too many of the females he’d been with pass through the shadows in her gaze. It made him ache to be a different person, a better person, the type of person that Shannon deserved.

  Gideon loosened his grip and kissed Shannon softly on the forehead before fully dropping his arms and stepping back. He looked at her one more time. It was all there, etched across her face. She knew what he was choosing; one of the things that made her so great was that had he chosen differently, had he picked her over the company, she wouldn’t have let him. He knew that she wanted him to be the best version of himself. He gave her a weary smile and left the room.

  Shannon watched Gideon go, telling herself she was doing the right thing. She knew that she needed to be okay with him walking out that door to be there for his partners. She needed to be more than okay with it, she needed to be proud of it—but she could still feel his arms around her, his lips against her own, and that made it hard. How could she leave the room and move forward when she knew exactly what she was leaving behind?

  Shannon slumped back into the chair that Gideon had pulled her from. She scooted over to the table and went back to work on the papers she’d brought into the meeting with her.

  She had depositions and statements to go through from both Genesis Inc. and Lily and Oak. The partners had tasked her with combing through all the evidence; not for the court case, but so they could check for moles. It had been pretty obvious straight from the beginning that Bella had been helping Lily and Oak and sneaking them information, but as they learned more it made sense that there was still someone on the inside gathering intel.

  Shannon was determined to do her part and find the person that was causing Genesis so much strife. She went over how the puzzle was coming together. Ran through it again and again in her head. She was glad she’d figured out that Lily was feeding them info, but she still couldn’t put her finger on why. Lily and Kayla seemed happier than ever, so it didn’t seem likely that she wanted to sabotage their relationship. None of it made sense. All Shannon could think to do was pinpoint the mole. If she could do that, maybe the mole would lead her to Lily’s motive.

  Shannon sat at that table for two hours before Gideon came back looking for her. Her heart flipped in her chest every time he came in a room. She hated it. She looked back to her papers after acknowledging his entrance with a nod.

  “Shannon, can we talk?”

  Shannon didn’t like the tone in his voice. It was sex laced with determination, and she didn’t have a whole lot of willpower when it came to him. She needed to stay strong. “Right now? I’m kind of busy.”

  Gideon changed his tone so it was even stronger. “Yes, now.” It was his I’m-in-charge voice. The one he used so artfully in bed. It turned her to moldable clay. She couldn’t cave, though. She needed to do this for herself, and for him.

  Shannon looked up at him. “Seriously, Gideon. I know there’s a mole. I’m so close I can feel it. Can’t whatever this is wait?” Shannon watched as a defeated look started to settle over Gideon’s face. She didn’t like it. She liked strong, in control, I-get-whatever-I-want Gideon. This vulnerable Gideon wasn’t part of anyone’s plan.

  She cracked. “Give me a half-hour, and we can go to lunch. Will that work?”

  Gideon smiled, said, “Perfectly,” then left her with her papers.

  Try as she might, Shannon couldn’t get her head back in the game. She’d almost forgotten about Lily calling Gideon until right before he came back to retrieve her for lunch.

  “How does Nikko’s sound?” he asked, walking back in the room.

  “What did Lily want?”

  Gideon stopped in his tracks. “Wha … ?”

  “Lily. You left earlier because she called. What did she want?”

  “Oh, that. It’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.”

  Shannon nodded. “Nikko’s is fine.”

  They left the conference room together, and Shannon stopped by her desk to grab her things while Gideon called the elevator. They waited in silence and stepped through the opening doors awkwardly, shoulder to shoulder. The doors closed and the tiny space enveloped them. The tension was so thick Shannon started to breathe differently. Gideon was so close, his scent overwhelming her. They were almost to the lobby. The number two had just lit up when Gideon jumped at the panel and hit the emergency stop. Anxiety reared its ugly head, and Shannon’s body began to react. Her heart was racing, and her mouth went dry … but then Gideon was there, wrapping his arms around her and pinning her to the back wall with his lips.

  They were all need and heat. Shannon reached between them and undid Gideon’s belt and pants before he lifted her onto his hips and pushed her panties to the side. Shannon had never before been so grateful for wearing a skirt to work. She gasped as his hand cupped her breast through her blouse and rubbed her nipple against the lace of her bra. Gideon wasted no time, and as he slid inside her he caught her moan with his mouth.

  Shannon’s head was overflowing, so she shut it off. She focused on her body, his body, their bodies coming together. Neither of them lasted long. Shannon rode him hard and fast, burying him deep inside. Shannon felt Gideon struggling not to release and then he took her ass in his hands and pulled her away from the wall, he lifted her almost off of him. With hands tight on her cheeks, he brought her back down with one hard thrust that sent them both over the edge.

  Shannon was lightheaded as Gideon took the step necessary for her back to be against the wall once again. He steadied her as her feet came off his hips, down to the floor. Gideon moved his hands from her ass to her hips. He gently pressed his lips against hers and looked into her eyes. “Can we try to do this?”

  “Well, I think we’re actually pretty good at this already.” Shannon smiled.

  Gideon laughed against her lips, the sensation sending thrills to her still-throbbing core. “True is true, Ms. Potter.”

  Shannon reached for the belt that Gideon was currently trying to refasten. She finished the job. “Shall we lunch, Mr. Rees?”

  Gideon was surprised he’d made it to the elevator. Shannon seemed to be all he could think about. He wasn’t really sure what he’d just asked of her in that elevator, but as they stepped outside of Genesis Inc. and she took his arm, it felt right. All of it felt right and natural. He could talk to her. He liked hanging out with her. She was smart. The sex was beyond amazing. He just kept thinking about how he couldn’t do the relationship thing because he didn’t know how, and therefore he would ultimately screw it up. That moment in the elevator, it had come to him. He didn’t have to worry about being in a relationship, or even how to be in one, because he already was.

  When he’d voiced it, however, it
hadn’t come out exactly the way he’d hoped. He wasn’t even sure he’d been clear about what he was asking. He’d make sure she understood, though, as soon as they got to Nikko’s.

  Justin was waiting for them at the curb with the back door held open. “Sir. Ma’am.” He greeted them with a friendly smile as they climbed into the back seat. They settled in as Justin shut the door and rounded the car to the driver’s seat. As soon as they were into the flow of traffic, they began discussing Gideon’s phone call with Lily. There had been nothing too alarming or unusual, but she had asked if they could meet without lawyers within the week. Shannon hadn’t seemed thrilled about the idea.

  “See? This is what I mean. Something is going on.” She looked at him with that look that made his cock kick. “I’m going to find it Gideon. There’s a link, and I’m going to find it.”

  He nodded his head. “I know you will. And you’ll do so before we meet her on Monday.”

  “We?”

  “Yes, we. She asked for both of us.”

  Shannon turned her focus to the back of the seat in front of her and started muttering. Gideon took her hand. “It’s going to be fine. We’ll figure it all out.” Shannon’s answering smile warmed him.

  Gideon felt the car slowing and turning like one would into a parking spot, and it jolted him away from looking at Shannon. There was no way they’d arrived at Nikko’s yet. He looked up to see that they were pulling into a parking garage. He recognized it. They hadn’t gone far from Genesis Inc., but they’d been in the car much longer than needed to be where they were.

  “Justin? Is something wrong? Why are you altering our route?”

  Justin ignored him, continuing through the parking garage. Shannon squeezed Gideon’s hand and he squeezed back. The garage was small; Gid figured they just needed to go to the top to be able to turn around and come back out. So instead of continuing to question Justin, Gideon just sat back and waited.

  They arrived at the top of the garage. It was full of vehicles of all types. Gideon looked around as they wove through the rows of cars, confused.

  Until he saw her … then his heart dropped.

  Ten

  Lily Mason was standing in what looked like the only open parking spot in the entire garage. “Justin. You’d better start talking.”

  Gideon was furious. He couldn’t help but think that every instinct he’d ever had had been wrong. He’d enjoyed Justin’s company. He considered him a friend.

  He turned to Shannon, who began to dig her nails into the hand he was holding hers. “I think we found your mole.”

  Justin still didn’t speak but Gideon saw him lift himself enough to look into the rearview mirror and smile. “Why, Justin?”

  Justin retained his silence as Lily moved to let him park the car. Gideon was really wishing they’d stayed in that elevator longer, or called and had lunch delivered. He squeezed Shannon’s hand in reassurance as Lily opened the passenger door and got in the car. “Hello friends.”

  Gideon gritted his teeth. “No one here is your friend.”

  Lily turned toward the driver seat and leaning over and placing a chaste kiss on Justin’s cheek. “Thanks bro,” she told him before spinning further around to face the back seat. “See that’s not completely true. Justin and I are friends. You and I were friends. I think we’ll all be friends once this conversation is over.”

  “Not gonna happen. What do you want?”

  Lily smiled. “Well, honestly I got tired of waiting for your girlfriend here to figure things out, so I decided to give things a push.”

  Gideon nodded. “Okay. And …”

  “Well, I know that Shannon here has been trying to find the leak of information out of Genesis since Bella is currently locked up. Which is why we’re all here.”

  Gideon was confused. Bella had been in jail since she’d attacked Julie and Aaron. She had nothing to do with any of this anymore. They had her statement. What was done was done. “Bella is old news. Why get Justin involved?”

  Lily shook her head, and Shannon squeezed his hand so hard that he almost swore aloud. He’d be willing to bet she’d drawn blood with her nails. He knew she was trying to tell him something, but his head didn’t want to let him figure it out. His anger was blocking all rational thought.

  “You like being wrong, don’t you.” She smiled an evil looking smile at him. “Bella is still very much relevant. You see, Justin here is Bella’s brother.”

  Gideon’s stomach flipped. How the hell had the background check missed that? He was firing the security company as soon as they were back at the office. Gideon glared at Lily, then at Justin as he turned around. “Sorry, boss man. Blood is blood. I’m sure you understand.”

  Gideon shook his head, then glared at Lily. “I still don’t understand why you’re involved though.”

  Lily reached a hand out and traced it down Gideon’s jaw while looking at Shannon. “He really is something to look at, isn’t he?” She turned back to Gideon without letting Shannon respond. “Here’s the deal. You’re going to have that viper Amanda Freeman call Jason and tell him that she has all this new evidence that Lily and Oak did in fact breach contract and copyright laws, and that you want to settle out of court. We’ll all get together. Genesis Inc. will acquire Lily and Oak as damages paid for the copyright infringement, and then Aaron and Julie will drop the assault charges on Bella.”

  Gideon laughed. He couldn’t help himself. “You’ve lost your mind. There’s no way Aaron and Julie will drop the charges.” He shook his head. “No fucking way. You’re completely delusional.”

  He took a deep breath, trying to calm down and find reason. “Okay, let’s say for a second that I understand why you want us to absorb Lily and Oak … why protect Bella?”

  Lily shook her head at Gideon again. He was getting really irritated with her insistence on making him feel like a jackass when she was the one asking for complete ridiculousness. “Justin here is Bella’s half-brother. See, they have the same dad. Bella and me though, we’re half-sisters because we have the same mother. It’s like Justin said … blood.”

  Shannon had been completely silent the entire time, just sitting there digging her nails into his hand. He wished she didn’t have to be around for this nonsense.

  “Lily, I really don’t give a fuck. You don’t get it. There’s no point in any of this. You have nothing. You have no case. You handed us all the proof we needed. You can’t win this, and you’ve got absolutely no leverage to make me take this deal back to Aaron and Seth. Not gonna happen.”

  But it was Shannon that responded not Lily.

  “Yes she does.”

  “What?” He turned to her.

  “I have to give you credit, you can pick them, Rees. She’s as smart as she is sexy.” Lily licked her lips at Shannon. Shannon rolled her eyes.

  Gideon turned back to Shannon. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean she has something. She has to. This would have been more than stupid if she hadn’t.”

  “Ding, ding, ding!”

  Lily’s voice was setting Gideon on edge. He was so pissed off he felt like he was going to explode with the heat of it. “Spill it already, bitch. I’m over this little impromptu meeting.”

  “Our little get-togethers weren’t exactly unplanned, big boy. You don’t notice much with your big head, when your little head is otherwise occupied.” She glanced and motioned with her eyes toward his lap. “Kayla was there with me. She went through your things. We have every document we could ever need to ruin Genesis Inc. And trust me when I tell you we’ll do it in a second.”

  Gideon felt sick. He couldn’t immediately respond. He knew what she had, and Aaron and Seth would kill him when they found out. He shouldn’t have taken that stuff out of the office, but he knew it was what he needed to bring Eric on board. It had worked. The state-of-the-art new line they were producing would go hand in hand with the new movie that Eric and his team were making. Together, those products would fly off shelves. The
re was nothing to show where the ideas originated from, though. Lily and Oak could take those plans and run with them, steal every morsel, and sink Genesis Inc.

  “Fuck!” Gideon yelled.

  Lily looked directly at Shannon. “I think he finally figured it out, don’t you?”

  * * *

  “It’s going to be fine,” Gideon told Shannon as he pulled the car into the vacant spot in front of their office building. He’d call one of the guys from the design department to come and return it to the garage.

  “It isn’t going to be fine, because there is no guarantee that Bella will get out of jail even if Aaron and Julie do drop the charges.”

  Gideon turned Shannon’s face toward his with a guiding finger under her chin. “It. Will. Be. Fine. Please, trust me.”

  Shannon closed her eyes, but eventually and reluctantly nodded.

  Gideon had texted Aaron, Seth, Julie, and Amanda so they would be waiting for him in the conference room when he returned. Just as he asked, they were all there when he and Shannon got to the door.

  “Gideon what is going on?” Seth was almost in a panic.

  “Dude, relax. It isn’t the end of the world.”

  “You said it was urgent. You don’t use the word urgent.”

  Gideon rolled his eyes. “Yeah. I did say that, didn’t I.” He paused as he let Shannon pass him into the room to find a seat. “The short version is that Justin is the mole. Him, Bella and Lily—yes, that Lily—are all bizarrely related, and are now trying to blackmail us into absorbing Lily and Oak as well as getting Bella out of jail.”

  “The woman tried to kill me and my fiancée, and they want us to help them? They really are blood …the whole damn family is crazy.”