by Sylvia Day
My lips twisted wryly. “How gorgeous you are. It’s sickening how often I think about that. I need to get over it already.”
He cupped the back of my thigh and urged me tighter against him, teasing me with an expert roll of his hips against mine. He was outrageously gifted in bed. And he knew it. “Damned if I’ll let you.”
“Oh?” Heat slid sinuously through my veins, my body too greedy for the feel of his. “You can’t tell me you want another starry-eyed woman hanging on you, Mr. Hates-Exaggerated-Expectations.”
“What I want,” he purred, cupping my jaw and rubbing my bottom lip with the pad of his thumb, “is you being too busy thinking about me to think about anyone else.”
I pulled in a slow and shaky breath. I was completely seduced by the smoldering look in his eyes, the provocative tone of his voice, the heat of his body, and the mouthwatering scent of his skin. He was my drug, and I had no desire to kick the habit.
“Gideon,” I breathed, entranced.
With a soft groan, he sealed his chiseled mouth over mine, stealing away thoughts of what time it was with a lush, deep kiss . . . a kiss that almost succeeded in distracting me from seeing the insecurity he’d just revealed.
I pushed my fingers into his hair to hold him still and kissed him back, my tongue sliding along his, stroking. We’d been a couple for such a short period of time. Less than a month. Worse, neither of us knew how to have a relationship like the one we were attempting to build—a relationship in which we refused to pretend we weren’t both seriously broken.
His arms banded around me and tightened possessively. “I wanted to spend the weekend with you down in the Florida Keys—naked.”
“Umm, sounds nice.” More than nice. As big of a kick as I got out of Gideon in a three-piece suit, I much preferred him stripped to the skin. I avoided pointing out that I wouldn’t be available this weekend . . .
“Now I’ve got to spend the weekend taking care of business,” he muttered, his lips moving against mine.
“Business you put off to be with me?” He’d been leaving work early to spend time with me, and I knew that had to be costing him. My mother was on her third marriage, and all of her spouses were successful, wealthy moguls of one kind or another. I knew the price for ambition was very late hours.
“I pay other people a generous salary so I can be with you.”
Nice dodge, but noting the flash of irritation in his gaze, I distracted him. “Thank you. Let’s get some coffee before we run out of time.”
Gideon stroked his tongue along my bottom lip, then released me. “I’d like to get off the ground by eight tomorrow night. Pack cool and light. Arizona’s got dry heat.”
“What?” I blinked at his retreating back as it disappeared into his office. “Arizona is where your business is?”
“Unfortunately.”
Uh . . . whoa. Instead of risking my shot at coffee, I postponed arguing and continued on to the kitchen. I passed through Gideon’s spacious apartment with its stunning prewar architecture and slender arched windows, my heels alternately clicking over gleaming hardwood and muffled by Aubusson rugs. Decorated in dark woods and neutral fabrics, the luxurious space was brightened by jeweled accents. As much as his place screamed money, it managed to remain warm and welcoming, a comfortable place to relax and feel pampered.
When I reached the kitchen, I wasted no time in shoving a travel mug under the one-cup coffeemaker. Gideon joined me with his jacket draped over one arm and his cell phone in his hand. I put another portable mug under the spout for him before I went to the fridge for some half-and-half.
“It might be fortunate after all.” I faced him and reminded him of my roommate issue. “I need to knock heads with Cary this weekend.”
Gideon dropped his phone in the inner pocket of his jacket, then hung the garment off the back of one of the bar stools at the island. “You’re coming with me, Eva.”
Exhaling in a rush, I added half-and-half to my coffee. “To do what? Lie around naked, waiting for you to finish work and fuck me?”
His gaze held mine as he collected his mug and sipped his steaming coffee with too-calm deliberation. “Are we going to argue?”
“Are you going to be difficult? We talked about this. You know I can’t leave Cary after what happened last night.” The multibody tangle I’d found in my living room gave new meaning to the word clusterfuck.
I put the carton back in the fridge and absorbed the sensation of being drawn to him inexorably by the force of his will. It’d been that way from the beginning. When he chose to, Gideon could make me feel his demands. And it was very, very difficult to ignore the part of me that begged to give him whatever he wanted. “You’re going to take care of business and I’m going to take care of my best friend, then we’ll go back to taking care of each other.”
“I won’t be back until Sunday night, Eva.”
Oh . . . I felt a sharp twinge in my belly at hearing we’d be apart that long. Most couples didn’t spend every free moment together, but we weren’t like most people. We both had hang-ups, insecurities, and an addiction to each other that required regular contact to keep us functioning properly. I hated being apart from him. I rarely went more than a couple of hours without thinking of him.
“You can’t stand the thought, either,” he said quietly, studying me in that way he had that saw everything. “By Sunday we’ll both be worthless.”
I blew on the surface of my coffee, then took a quick sip. I was unsettled at the thought of going the entire weekend without him. Worse, I hated the thought of him spending that amount of time away from me. He had a world of choices and possibilities out there, women who weren’t so screwed up and difficult to be with.
Still, I managed to say, “We both know that’s not exactly healthy, Gideon.”
“Says who? No one else knows what it’s like to be us.”
Okay, I’d give him that.
“We need to get to work,” I said, knowing this impasse was going to drive both of us crazy all day. We’d sort it out later, but for now we were stuck with it.
Resting his hip against the counter, he crossed his ankles and stubbornly settled in. “What we need is for you to come with me.”
“Gideon.” My foot began to tap against the travertine tile. “I can’t just give up my life for you. If I turn into arm candy, you’ll get bored real quick. Hell, I’d get sick of myself. It shouldn’t kill us to spend a couple days straightening out other parts of our lives, even if we hate doing it.”
His gaze captured mine. “You’re too much trouble to be arm candy.”
“Takes a troublemaker to know one.”
Gideon straightened, shrugging off his brooding sensuality and instantly capturing me with his severe intensity. So mercurial—like me. “You’ve gotten a lot of press lately, Eva. It’s no secret that you’re in New York. I can’t leave you here while I’m gone. Bring Cary with us if you have to. You can butt heads with him while you’re waiting for me to finish work and fuck you.”
“Ha.” Even as I acknowledged his attempt to lighten the strain with humor, I realized what his real objection to being apart from me was—Nathan. My former stepbrother. The living nightmare from my past that Gideon seemed to fear might reappear in my present. It frightened me to concede that he wasn’t totally wrong. The shield of anonymity that had protected me for years had been shattered by our highly public relationship.
God . . . we totally didn’t have the time to get into that mess, but I knew it wasn’t a point Gideon would concede on. He was a man who claimed his possessions utterly, fought off his competitors with ruthless precision, and would never allow any harm to come to me. I was his safe place, which made me rare and invaluable to him.
Gideon glanced at his watch. “Time to go, angel.”
He fetched his jacket, then gestured for me to precede him through his luxurious living room, where I grabbed my purse and the bag holding my walking shoes and other necessities. A few moments later, we’d finished the des
cent to the ground floor in his private elevator and slid into the back of his black Bentley SUV.
“Hi, Angus,” I greeted his driver, who touched the brim of his old-fashioned chauffeur’s hat.
“Good morning, Miss Tramell,” he replied, smiling. He was an older gentleman, with a liberal sprinkling of white in his red hair. I liked him for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that he’d been driving Gideon around since grade school and genuinely cared for him.
A quick glance at the Rolex my mother and stepfather had given me told me I’d make it to work on time . . . if we didn’t get boxed in by traffic. Even as I thought this, Angus slid deftly into the sea of taxis and cars on the street. After the tense quiet of Gideon’s apartment, the noise of Manhattan woke me as effectively as a jolt of caffeine. The blaring of horns and the thud of tires over a manhole cover invigorated me. Rapid-moving streams of pedestrians flanked both sides of the clogged street, while buildings stretched ambitiously toward the sky, keeping us in shadow even as the sun climbed.
God, I seriously loved New York. I took the time every day to absorb it, to try to draw it into me.
I settled into the leather seat back and reached for Gideon’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “Would you feel better if Cary and I left town for the weekend? Maybe a quick trip to Vegas?”
Gideon’s gaze narrowed. “Am I a threat to Cary? Is that why you won’t consider Arizona?”
“What? No. I don’t think so.” Shifting in the seat, I faced him. “Sometimes it takes an all-nighter before I can get him to open up.”
“You don’t think so?” he repeated my answer, ignoring everything but the first words out of my mouth.
“He might feel like he can’t reach out to me when he needs to talk because I’m always with you,” I clarified, steadying my mug with two hands as we drove over a pothole. “Listen, you’re going to have to get over any jealousy about Cary. When I say he’s like a brother to me, Gideon, I’m not kidding. You don’t have to like him, but you have to understand that he’s a permanent part of my life.”
“Do you tell him the same thing about me?”
“I don’t have to. He knows. I’m trying to reach a compromise here—”
“I never compromise.”
My brows rose. “In business, I’m sure you don’t. But this is a relationship, Gideon. It requires give and—”
Gideon’s growl cut me off. “My plane, my hotel, and if you leave the premises you take a security team with you.”
His sudden, reluctant capitulation surprised me silent for a long minute. Long enough for his brow to arch over those piercing blue eyes in a look that said take it or leave it.
“Don’t you think that’s a little extreme?” I prodded. “I’ll have Cary with me.”
“You’ll forgive me if I don’t trust him with your safety after last night.” As he drank his coffee, his posture made it very clear that the conversation was done in his mind. He’d given me his acceptable options.
I might’ve gotten bitchy about that kind of high-handedness if I didn’t understand that taking care of me was his motivation. My past had vicious skeletons, and dating Gideon had put me in a media spotlight that could bring Nathan Barker right to my door.
Plus, controlling everything around him was just part of who Gideon was. It came with the package and I had to make accommodations for that.
“Okay,” I agreed. “Which hotel is yours?”
“I have a few. You can take your pick.” He turned his head to look out the window. “Scott will e-mail you the list. When you’ve decided, let him know and he’ll make the arrangements. We’ll fly out together and return together.”
Leaning my shoulder into the seat, I took a drink of my coffee and noted the way his hand was fisted on his thigh. In the tinted window’s reflection, Gideon’s face was impassive, but I could feel his moodiness.
“Thank you,” I murmured.
“Don’t. I’m not happy about this, Eva.” A muscle in his jaw twitched. “Your roommate fucks up and I have to spend the weekend without you.”
Hating that he was unhappy, I took his coffee from him and set our travel mugs in the backseat cup holders. Then I climbed into his lap, straddling him. I draped my arms around his shoulders. “I appreciate you bending on this, Gideon. It means a lot to me.”
He caught me in his fierce blue gaze. “I knew you were going to drive me insane the moment I saw you.”
I smiled, recalling how we’d met. “Sprawled on my ass on the lobby floor of the Crossfire Building?”
“Before. Outside.”
Frowning, I asked, “Outside where?”
“On the sidewalk.” Gideon gripped my hips, squeezing in that possessive, commanding way of his that made me ache for him. “I was leaving for a meeting. A minute later and I would’ve missed you. I’d just gotten into the car when you came around the corner.”
I remembered the Bentley idling at the curb that day. I’d been too awed by the building to take note of the sleek vehicle when I arrived, but I had noticed it when I left.
“You hit me the instant I saw you,” he said gruffly. “I couldn’t look away. I wanted you immediately. Excessively. Almost violently.”
How could I not have known that there’d been more to our first meeting than I’d realized? I thought we’d stumbled across each other by accident. But he’d been leaving for the day . . . which meant he had deliberately backtracked inside. For me.
“You stopped right next to the Bentley,” he went on, “and your head tilted back. You were looking up at the building and I pictured you on your knees, looking up at me that same way.”
The low growl in Gideon’s voice had me squirming in his lap. “What way?” I whispered, mesmerized by the fire in his eyes.
“With excitement. A little awe . . . a little intimidation.” Cupping my rear, he urged me tighter against him. “There was no way to stop myself from following you inside. And there you were, right where I’d wanted you, damn near kneeling in front of me. In that minute, I had a half dozen fantasies about what I was going to do to you when I got you naked.”
I swallowed, remembering my similar reaction to him. “Looking at you for the first time made me think about sex. Screaming, sheet-clawing sex.”
“I saw that.” His hands slid up either side of my spine. “And I knew you saw me, too. Saw what I am . . . what I have inside me. You saw right through me.”
And that was what had knocked me on my ass—literally. I’d looked into his eyes and realized how tightly reined he was, what a shadowed soul he had. I had seen power and hunger and control and demand. Somewhere inside me, I’d known he would take me over. It was a relief to know he’d felt the same upheaval over me.
Gideon’s hands hugged my shoulder blades and pulled me closer, until our foreheads touched. “No one’s ever seen before, Eva. You’re the only one.”
My throat tightened painfully. In so many ways, Gideon was a hard man, yet he could be so sweet to me. Almost childishly so, which I loved because it was pure and uncontrolled. If no one else bothered to look beyond his striking face and impressive bank account, they didn’t deserve to know him. “I had no idea. You were so . . . cool. I didn’t seem to affect you at all.”
“Cool?” he scoffed. “I was on fire for you. I’ve been fucked up ever since.”
“Gee. Thanks.”
“You made me need you,” he rasped. “Now I can’t stand the thought of two days without you.”
Holding his jaw in my hands, I kissed him tenderly, my lips coaxing and apologetic. “I love you, too,” I whispered against his beautiful mouth. “I can’t stand being away from you, either.”
His returning kiss was greedy, devouring, and yet the way he held me close to him was gentle and reverent. As if I were precious. When he pulled back, we were both breathing hard.
“I’m not even your type,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood before we went into work. Gideon’s preference for brunettes was well known and w
ell documented.
I felt the Bentley pull over and to a halt. Angus got out of the car to give us privacy, leaving the engine and air-conditioning running. I looked out the window and saw the Crossfire beside us.
“About the type thing—” Gideon’s head fell back to rest against the seat. He took a deep breath. “Corinne was surprised by you. You weren’t what she’d expected.”
My jaw tightened at the mention of Gideon’s former fiancée. Even knowing that their relationship had been about friendship and loneliness for him, not love, didn’t stop the claws of envy from digging into me. Jealousy was one of my virulent flaws. “Because I’m blond?”
“Because . . . you don’t look like her.”
My breath caught. I hadn’t considered that Corinne had set the standard for him. Even Magdalene Perez—one of Gideon’s friends who wished she were more—had said she’d kept her dark hair long to emulate Corinne. But I hadn’t grasped the complexity of that observation. My God . . . if it was true, Corinne had tremendous power over Gideon, way more than I could bear. My heart rate quickened and my stomach churned. I hated her irrationally. Hated that she’d had even a piece of him. Hated every woman who’d known his touch . . . his lust . . . his amazing body.
I started sliding off him.
“Eva.” He stayed me by tightening his grip on my thighs. “I don’t know if she’s right.”
I looked down at where he held me, and the sight of my promise ring on the finger of his right hand—my brand of ownership—calmed me. So did the look of confusion on his face when I met his gaze. “You don’t?”
“If that’s what it was, it wasn’t conscious. I wasn’t looking for her in other women. I didn’t know I was looking for anything until I saw you.”
My hands slid down his lapels as relief filled me. Maybe he hadn’t been consciously looking for her, but even if he had, I couldn’t be more different from Corinne in appearance and temperament. I was unique to him; a woman apart from his others in every way. I wished that could be enough to kill my jealousy.
“Maybe it wasn’t a preference so much as a pattern.” I smoothed his frown line with a fingertip. “You should ask Dr. Petersen when we see him tonight. I wish I had more answers after all my years of therapy, but I don’t. There’s a lot that’s inexplicable between us, isn’t there? I still have no idea what you see in me that’s hooked you.”
