Bared to You: A Crossfire Novel

“Are you enjoying yourself?” I asked him.

“I pinched myself during dinner when I realized I was sitting next to the top coordinator for Fashion Week.

And she flirted with me!” He smiled, but his eyes were haunted. “Whenever I find myself in places like this…

dressed like this…I can’t believe it. You saved my life, Eva. Then you changed it completely.”

“You save my sanity al the time. Trust me, we’re even.”

His hand tightened on mine, his gaze hardening.

“You look miserable. How’d he fuck up?”

“I think I did that. We’l talk about it later.”

“You’re afraid I’l kick his ass here in front of everyone.”

I sighed. “I’d rather you didn’t, for my mom’s sake.” Cary pressed his lips briefly to my forehead. “I warned him earlier. He knows it’s coming.”

“Oh, Cary.” Love for him tightened my throat even as reluctant amusement curved my lips. I should’ve known Cary would give Gideon a big brother threat of some sort. That was just so like him.

Gideon appeared beside us. “I’m cutting in.” It wasn’t a request.

Cary stopped and looked at me. I nodded. He backed away with a bow, his gaze hot and fierce on Gideon’s face.

Gideon pul ed me close and took over the dance the way he took over everything—with dominant confidence. It was an entirely different experience dancing with him than with my two previous partners.

Gideon had both the expertise of his brother and Cary’s familiarity with the way my body moved, but Gideon had a bold, aggressive style that was inherently sexual.

It didn’t help that being so close to a man I’d so recently been intimate with seduced my senses despite my unhappiness. He smel ed scrumptious, with undertones of sex, and the way he led me through the bold sweeping steps made me feel the soreness deep inside me, reminding me that he’d been there not long ago.

“You keep running off,” he muttered, scowling down at me.

“Seemed like Magdalene picked up the slack quick enough.”

His brow arched and he drew me closer. “Jealous?”

“Seriously?” I looked away.

He made a frustrated noise. “Stay away from my brother, Eva.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so.”

My temper ignited, which felt good after al the self-recrimination and doubts I’d been drowning in since we’d screwed like feral bunnies. I decided to see if turnabout was fair play in Gideon Cross’s world. “Stay away from Magdalene, Gideon.”

His jaw tightened. “She’s just a friend.”

“Meaning you haven’t slept with her…? Yet.”

“No, damn it. And I don’t want to. Listen—” The music wound down and he slowed. “I have to go. I brought you here, and I would prefer to be the one who takes you home, but I don’t want to pul you away if you’re enjoying yourself. Would you rather stick around and go home with Stanton and your mother?” Enjoying myself? Was he kidding or clueless? Or worse. Maybe he’d written me off so completely that he wasn’t paying attention to me at al .

I pushed away from him, needing the distance. His scent was messing with my head. “I’l be fine. Forget about me.”

“Eva.” He reached for me and I stepped back quickly.

An arm came around my back and Cary spoke. “I’ve got her, Cross.”

“Don’t get in my way, Taylor,” Gideon warned.

Cary snorted. “I get the impression you’re doing a smokin’ job of that al by yourself.”

I swal owed past the lump in my throat. “You gave a wonderful speech, Gideon. It was the highlight of my evening.”

He sucked in a sharp breath at the implied insult; then shoved a hand through his hair. Abruptly, he cursed and I realized why when he pul ed his vibrating phone out of his pocket and glanced at the screen.

“I have to go.” His gaze caught mine and held it. His fingertips drifted over my cheek. “I’l cal you.” And then he was gone.

“Do you want to stay?” Cary asked quietly.

“No.”

“I’l take you home, then.”

“No, don’t.” I wanted to be alone for a bit. Soak in a hot bath with a bottle of cool wine and pul myself out of my funk. “You should be here. It could be good for your career. We can talk when you get home. Or tomorrow.

I’m going the couch potato route al day.” His gaze darted over my face, searching. “You sure?”

I nodded.

“Al right.” But he looked unconvinced.

“If you could go out and ask a valet to have Stanton’s limo brought around, I’l run to the ladies’

room real quick.”

“Okay.” Cary ran his hand down my arm. “I’l get your shawl from the coatroom and see you out front.” It took longer to get to the restroom than it should have. For one, a surprising number of people stopped me for smal talk, which had to be because I was Gideon Cross’s date. And two, I avoided the nearest ladies’ room, which had a steady flow of women pouring in and out of it, and I found one located farther away. I locked myself in a stal and took a few moments longer to finish my business than absolutely required. There was no one else in the room besides the attendant, so there was no one to rush me.

I was so hurt by Gideon it was hard to breathe and I was so confused by his mood swings. Why had he touched my face like that? Why had he gotten mad when I didn’t stay by his side? And why the hel had he threatened Cary? Gideon gave new meaning to the old adage about “running hot and cold.”

Closing my eyes, I shored up my composure. Jesus.

I didn’t need this.

I’d bared my emotions in the limo and I stil felt horribly vulnerable—a state I’d spent countless therapy hours learning to avoid. I wanted nothing more than to be home and hidden, freed from the pressure of acting like I was completely pul ed together when I was anything but.

You set yourself up for this, I reminded myself.

Suck it up.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped out and was resigned to finding Magdalene leaning against the vanity with her arms crossed. She was clearly there for me, lying in wait at a time when my defenses were already weak. My step faltered; then I recovered and made my way to the sink to wash my hands.

She turned to face the mirror, studying my reflection.

I studied her, too. She was even more gorgeous in person than she’d been in her photos. Tal and slender, with big dark eyes and a cascade of straight brown hair. Her lips were lush and red, her cheekbones high and sculpted. Her dress was modestly sexy, a flowing sheath of creamy satin that contrasted beautiful y with her olive skin. She looked like a fucking supermodel and exuded an exotic sex appeal.

I accepted the hand towel the bathroom attendant handed me, and Magdalene spoke to the woman in Spanish, asking her to give us some privacy. I capped the request with, “Por favor, gracias. ” That earned me an arched brow from Magdalene and a closer examination, which I returned with equal coolness.

“Oh, dear,” she murmured, the moment the attendant stepped out of earshot. She made a tsk ing noise that scraped over my nerves like nails on a

chalkboard. “You’ve fucked him already.”

“And you haven’t.”

That seemed to surprise her. “You’re right, I haven’t.

You know why?”

I pul ed a five-spot out of my clutch and dropped it in the silver tip tray. “Because he doesn’t want to.”

“And I don’t want to either, because he can’t commit. He’s young, gorgeous, rich, and he’s enjoying it.”

“Yes.” I nodded. “He certainly did.”

Her gaze narrowed, her pleasant expression slipping slightly. “He doesn’t respect the women he fucks. The minute he shoved his dick in you, you were done. Just like al the others. But I’m stil here, because I’m the one he wants to keep around for the long haul.” I maintained my cool even though the blow had been a perfect hit right where the most damage could be done. “That’s pathetic.”

I walked out and didn’t stop until I reached Stanton’s limousine. Squeezing Cary’s hand as I got in, I managed to wait until the car pul ed away from the curb to start crying.

“Hey, baby girl,” Cary cal ed out when I shuffled into the living room the next morning. Dressed in nothing but a loose pair of old sweats, he was stretched out on the couch with his feet crossed and propped on the coffee table.

He

looked

beautiful y

disheveled

and

comfortable in his own skin. “How’d you sleep?” I gave him the thumbs-up and headed into the kitchen for coffee. I paused by the breakfast bar, my brows lifting at the massive arrangement of red roses on the counter. The fragrance was divine and I inhaled it with a deep breath. “What’s this?”

“They came for you about an hour ago. A Sunday delivery. Pretty and super pricey.”

I plucked the card off the clear plastic stake and opened it.

I’m still thinking about you.

Gideon

“From Cross?” Cary asked.

“Yes.” My thumb brushed over what I assumed was his handwriting. It was bold and masculine and sexy. A romantic gesture for a guy who didn’t have romance in his repertoire. I dropped the card on the counter as if it’d burned me and fetched a mug of coffee, praying caffeine would give me strength and restore my common sense.

“You don’t seem impressed.” He lowered the volume on the footbal game he was watching.

“He’s bad news for me. He’s like one giant trigger. I just need to stay away from him.” Cary had been through therapy with me and he knew the dril . He didn’t look at me funny when I broke things down into therapeutic jargon, and he didn’t have any trouble shooting it back to me the same way.

“The phone’s been ringing al morning, too. I didn’t want it to disturb you, so I shut the volume off.” Aware of the lingering ache between my legs, I curled up on the couch and fought the compulsion to listen to our voice mail to see if Gideon had cal ed. I wanted to hear his voice, and an explanation that would make sense of what happened last night.

“Sounds good to me. Let’s leave it off al day.”

“What happened?”

I blew steam off the top of my mug and took a tentative sip. “I fucked his brains out in his limo and he turned arctic afterward.”

Cary watched me with those worldly emerald eyes, eyes that had seen more than anyone should be subjected to. “Rocked his world, did you?”

“Yeah, I did.” And I got riled up just thinking about it.

We’d connected. I knew it. I’d wanted him more than anything last night, and today I wanted nothing to do with him ever again. “It was intense. The best sexual experience of my life, and he was right there with me. I know he was. First time he’d ever made it in a car, and he was kind of resistant at first, but then I got him so hot for it he couldn’t say no.”

“Real y? Never?” He ran a hand over his morning stubble. “Most guys scratch car banging off their fuck list in high school. In fact, I can’t think of anyone who didn’t, except for the nerds and fuglies, and he’s neither.”

I shrugged. “I guess car banging makes me a slut.” Cary grew very stil . “Is that what he said?”

“No. He didn’t say shit. I got that from his ‘friend,’

Magdalene. You know that chick in most of the photos you printed off the Internet? She decided to sharpen her claws with a little catty girl chat in the bathroom.”

“The bitch is jealous.”

“Sexual frustration. She can’t fuck him, because apparently girls who fuck him go into the discard pile.”

“Did he say that?” Again, fury laced his quiet question.

“Not in so many words. He said he doesn’t sleep with his female friends. He’s got issues with women wanting more than a good time in the sack, so he keeps the women he bangs and the women he hangs out with in two separate camps.” I took another sip of my coffee. “I warned him that sort of setup wasn’t going to work for me and he said he’d make some adjustments, but I guess he’s one of those guys who’l say whatever’s necessary to get what he wants.”

“Or else you have him running scared.”

I glared. “Don’t make excuses for him. Whose side are you on, anyway?”

“Yours, baby girl.” He reached out and patted my knee. “Always yours.”

I wrapped my hand around his muscular forearm and stroked my fingers gently along the underside in silent gratitude. I couldn’t feel the multitude of fine white scars from cutting that marred his skin, but I never forgot they were there. I was thankful every day that he was alive, healthy, and a vital part of my life. “How’d your night go?”

“I can’t complain.” His eyes took on a mischievous

glint. “I shagged that busty blonde in a maintenance closet. Her tits were real.”

“Wel , then.” I smiled. “You made her night, I’m sure.”

“I try.” He picked up the phone receiver and winked at me. “What kind of delivery do you want? Subs?

Chinese? Indian?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You’re always hungry. If you don’t pick something, I’l cook and you’l have to eat that.” I lifted my hand in surrender. “Okay, okay. You pick.” I got to work twenty minutes early on Monday, figuring I’d skip running into Gideon. When I reached my desk without incident, I felt such relief that I knew I was in serious trouble where he was concerned. My moods were shifting al over the place.

Mark arrived in high spirits, stil floating from his major successes of the week before, and we dug right into work. I’d done some vodka market comparisons on Sunday and he was kind enough to go over those with me and listen to my impressions. Mark was also assigned the account for a new e-reader manufacturer, so we began the initial work on that.

With such a busy morning, time flew swiftly and I didn’t have time to think about my personal life. I was real y grateful for that. Then I answered the phone and heard Gideon on the line. I wasn’t prepared.

“How’s your Monday been so far?” he asked, his voice sending a shiver of awareness through me.

“Hectic.” I glanced at the clock and was startled to see it was twenty minutes to noon.

“Good.” There was a pause. “I tried cal ing you yesterday. I left a couple messages. I wanted to hear your voice.”

My eyes closed on a deep breath. It had taken every bit of my wil power to make it through the day without listening to the voice mail. I’d even enlisted Cary in the cause, tel ing him to restrain me forcibly if it looked like I might succumb to the urge. “I did the hermit thing and worked a little.”

“Did you get the flowers I sent?”

“Yes. They’re lovely. Thank you.”

“They reminded me of your dress.”

What the hel was he doing? I was beginning to think he had multiple personality disorder. “Some women might say that’s romantic.”

“I only care what you say.” His chair creaked as if he’d pushed to his feet. “I thought about stopping by…I wanted to.”

I sighed, surrendering to my confusion. “I’m glad you didn’t.”

There was another long pause. “I deserved that.”

“I didn’t say it to be a bitch. It’s just the truth.”

“I know. Listen…I arranged for lunch up here in my office so we don’t waste any of the hour leaving and getting back.”

After his parting, I’ll call you, I’d wondered if he would want to get together again after he settled down from whatever trip he’d been on. It was a possibility I’d been dreading since Saturday night, aware that I needed to cut him off, but feeling strung out from the desire to be with him. I wanted to experience again that pure, perfect moment of intimacy we’d shared.

But I couldn’t justify that one moment against al the other moments when he made me feel like crap.

“Gideon, we don’t have any reason to have lunch together. We hashed things out Friday night, and we…

took care of business Saturday. Let’s just leave it at that.”

“Eva.” His voice turned gruff. “I know I fucked up. Let me explain.”

“You don’t have to. It’s okay.”

“It’s not. I need to see you.”

“I don’t want—”

“We can do this the easy way, Eva. Or you can make it difficult.” His tone took on a hard edge that made my pulse quicken. “Either way, you’l hear me out.”

I closed my eyes, understanding that I wasn’t lucky enough to get away with a quick good-bye phone chat.

“Fine. I’l come up.”

“Thank you.” He exhaled audibly. “I can’t wait to see you.”

I returned the receiver to its cradle and stared at the photos on my desk, trying to formulate what I needed to say and steeling myself for the impact of seeing Gideon again. The ferocity of my physical response to him was impossible to control. Somehow I’d have to get past it and take care of business. Later, I’d think about having to see him in the building over the days, weeks, and months ahead. For the moment, I just had to focus on making it through lunch.

Yielding to the inevitable, I got back to work comparing the visual impact of some blow-in card samples.

“Eva.”

I jumped and spun around in my chair, startled to find Gideon standing beside my cubicle. The sight of him blew me away, as usual, and my heart stuttered in my chest. A quick glance at the clock proved that a quarter hour had passed in no time at al .

“Gid—Mr. Cross. You didn’t have to come down here.”

His face was calm and impassive, but his eyes were stormy and hot. “Ready?”

I opened my drawer and pul ed out my purse, taking the opportunity to suck in a deep, shaky breath. He smel ed phenomenal and looked even better.

“Mr. Cross.” Mark’s voice. “It’s great to see you. Is there something—?”

“I’m here for Eva. We have a lunch date.” I straightened in time to see Mark’s brows shoot up.

He recovered quickly, his face smoothing into its usual good-natured handsomeness.

“I’l be back at one,” I assured him.

“See you then. Enjoy your lunch.”

Gideon put his hand at the smal of my back and steered me out to the elevators, garnering raised brows from Megumi when we passed reception. I shifted restlessly as he hit the cal button for the elevator, wishing I could’ve made it through the day without seeing the man whose touch I craved like a drug.

He faced me as we waited for the car, running his fingertips down the sleeve of my satin blouse. “Every time I close my eyes, I see you in that red dress. I hear the sounds you make when you’re turned on. I feel you sliding over my cock, squeezing me like a fist, making me come so hard it hurts.”

“Don’t.” I looked away, unable to bear the intimate way he was looking at me.

“I can’t help it.”

The arrival of the elevator was a relief. He caught my hand and pul ed me inside. After he put his key in the panel, he tugged me closer. “I’m going to kiss you, Eva.”

“I don’t—”

He pul ed me into him and sealed his mouth over mine. I resisted as long as I could; then I melted at the feel of his tongue stroking slow and sweet over mine.

I’d wanted his kiss since we’d had sex. I wanted the reassurance that he valued what we’d shared, that it meant something to him as it had to me.

I was left bereft once again when he pul ed away.

“Come on.” He pul ed the key out as the door opened.

Gideon’s redheaded receptionist said nothing this time, although she eyed me strangely. In contrast, Gideon’s secretary, Scott, stood when we approached and greeted me pleasantly by name.

“Good afternoon, Miss Tramel .”

“Hi, Scott.”

Gideon gave him a curt nod. “Hold my cal s.”

“Yes, of course.”

I entered Gideon’s expansive office, my gaze drifting to the sofa where he’d first touched me intimately.

Lunch was arranged on the bar—two plates covered in metal salvers.

“Can I take your purse?” he asked.

I looked at him, saw he’d taken off his jacket and slung it over his arm. He stood there in his tailored slacks and vest, his shirt and tie both a pristine white, his hair dark and thick around his breathtaking face, his eyes a wild and dazzling blue. In a word, he amazed me. I couldn’t believe I’d made love to such a gorgeous man.

But then, it hadn’t meant the same thing to him.

“Eva?”

“You’re beautiful, Gideon.” The words fel out of my mouth without conscious thought.

His brows lifted; then a softness came into his eyes.

“I’m glad you like what you see.”

I handed him my purse and moved away, needing the space. He hung his coat and my purse on the coatrack, then moved to the bar.

I crossed my arms. “Let’s just get this over with. I don’t want to see you anymore.”

Gideon shoved a hand through his hair and exhaled harshly. “You don’t mean that.”

I was suddenly very tired, exhausted from fighting with myself over him. “I real y do. You and me…it was a mistake.”

His jaw tightened. “It wasn’t. The way I handled it afterward was the mistake.”

I stared at him, startled by the fierceness of his denial. “I wasn’t talking about the sex, Gideon. I’m talking about my agreeing to this crazy strangers-with-benefits deal between us. I knew it was al wrong from the beginning. I should’ve listened to my instincts.”

“Do you want to be with me, Eva?”

“No. That’s what—”

“Not like we discussed at the bar. More than that.” My heart started to pound. “What are you talking about?”

“Everything.” He left the bar and came closer. “I want to be with you.”

“You didn’t seem like you did Saturday.” My arms tightened around my middle.

“I was…reeling.”

“So? I was, too.”

His hands went to his hips. Then his arms crossed like mine. “Christ, Eva.”

I watched him squirm and felt a flare of hope. “If that’s al you’ve got, we’re done.”

“The hel we are.”

“We’ve already hit a dead end if you’re going to take a head trip every time we have sex.” He visibly struggled with what to say. “I’m used to having control. I need it. And you blew it al to hel in the limousine. I didn’t handle that wel .”

“Ya think?”

“Eva.” He approached. “I’ve never experienced anything like that. I didn’t think it was possible for me to. Now that I have…I’ve got to have it. I’ve got to have you.”

“It’s just sex, Gideon. Super awesome sex, but that can seriously screw with your head when the two people doing it aren’t good for each other.”

“Bul shit. I’ve admitted I fucked up. I can’t change what happened, but I can sure as shit get pissed that you want to cut me off because of it. You laid out your rules and I adjusted to accommodate them, but you won’t make even a tiny adjustment for me. You have to meet me halfway.” His face was hard with frustration.

“At least give me a damn inch.”

I stared at him, trying to figure out what he was doing and where this was going. “What do you want, Gideon?” I asked softly.

He caught me to him and cupped my cheek in one hand. “I want to keep feeling the way I feel when I’m with you. Just tel me what I have to do. And give me some room to screw up. I’ve never done this before.

There’s a learning curve.”

I placed my palm over his heart and felt its pounding rhythm. He was anxious and passionate, and that had me on edge. How was I supposed to respond? Did I go with my gut or my common sense? “Done what before?”

“Whatever it takes to spend as much time with you as possible. In and out of bed.”

The rush of delight that swept through me was ridiculously powerful. “Do you understand how much work and time a relationship between us is going to take, Gideon? I’m wiped out already. Plus I’m stil working on some personal stuff, and I have my new job…my crazy mother…”

My fingers covered his mouth before he could open it. “But you’re worth it, and I want you bad enough. So I guess I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“Eva. Damn you.” Gideon lifted me, hitching one arm beneath my rear to urge me to wrap my legs around his waist. He kissed me hard on the mouth and nuzzled his nose against mine. “We’l figure it out.”

“You say that as if it’l be easy.” I knew I was high-maintenance and he was obviously going to be the same.

“Easy’s boring.” He carried me over to the bar and set me down on a barstool. He pul ed the dome off my place setting and revealed a massive cheeseburger and fries. The meal was stil warm, thanks to a heated granite slab beneath the plate.

“Yum,” I murmured, becoming aware of how hungry I was. Now that we’d talked, my appetite had returned ful force.

He snapped open my napkin and laid it over my lap with a squeeze to my knee; then he took the seat beside me. “So, how do we do this?”

“Wel , you pick it up with your hands and put it in your mouth.”

He shot me a wry look that made me smile. It felt good to smile. It felt good to be with him. It usual y did…for a little while. I took a bite of my burger, moaning when I got a ful hit of its flavor. It was a traditional cheeseburger, but the taste was divine.

“Good, right?” he asked.

“Very good. In fact, a guy who knows about burgers this good might be worth keeping to myself.” I wiped my mouth and hands. “How resistant are you to exclusivity?”

As he set his burger down, there was an eerie stil ness to him. I couldn’t begin to guess what he was thinking. “I assumed that was implied in our arrangement. But to avoid any doubts, I’l be clear and say there won’t be any other men for you, Eva.” A shiver moved through me at the blunt finality in his tone and the iciness of his gaze. I knew he had a dark side; I’d learned long ago how to spot and avoid men who had dangerous shadows in their eyes. But the familiar alarm bel s didn’t ring around Gideon as they maybe should have. “But women are okay?” I asked to lighten the mood.

His brows rose. “I know your roommate is bisexual.

Are you?”

“Would that bother you?”

“Sharing you would bother me. It’s not an option.

Your body belongs to me, Eva.”

“And yours belongs to me? Exclusively?” His gaze turned hot. “Yes, and I expect you to take frequent and excessive advantage of it.” Wel , then…“But you’ve seen me naked,” I teased, my voice husky. “You know what you’re getting. I don’t. I love what I’ve seen of your body so far, but that hasn’t been a whole lot.”

“We can rectify that now.”

The thought of him stripping for me made me squirm in my seat. He noticed and his mouth curved wickedly.

“You’d better not,” I said regretful y. “I was late getting back on Friday.”

“Tonight, then.”

I swal owed hard. “Absolutely.”

“I’l be sure to clear my schedule by five.” He resumed eating, completely at ease with the fact that we’d both just penciled “mind-blowing sex” into our mental day calendars.

“You don’t have to.” I opened the mini ketchup bottle by my plate. “I need to hit the gym after work.”

“We’l go together.”

“Real y?” I turned the bottle upside down and thumped the bottom with my palm.

He took it from me and used his knife to coax the ketchup onto my plate. “It’s probably best for me to work off some energy before I get you naked. I’m sure you’d like to be able to walk tomorrow.” I stared at him, astonished by the casualness with which he’d made the statement and the rueful amusement on his face that told me he wasn’t entirely kidding. My sex clenched in delicious anticipation. I could easily picture becoming seriously addicted to Gideon Cross.

I ate some fries, thinking of someone else who was addicted to Gideon. “Magdalene could be a problem for me.”

He swal owed a bite of his burger and washed it down with a swig from his bottled water. “She told me she’d talked to you, and that it didn’t go wel .” I gave props to Magdalene’s scheming and the clever attempt to cut me off at the pass. I’d have to be very careful with her, and Gideon was going to have to do something about her—like cut her off, period.

“No, it didn’t go wel ,” I agreed. “But then I don’t appreciate being told that you don’t respect the women you fuck and that the moment you shoved your dick into me you were done with me.”

Gideon stil ed. “She said that?”

“Word for word. She also said you’re keeping on her ice until you’re ready to settle down.”

“Did she now?” His low voice had a chil ing bite to it.

My stomach knotted, knowing things could either go real y right or real y wrong, depending on what Gideon said next. “Don’t you believe me?”

“Of course I believe you.”

“She could be a problem for me,” I repeated, not letting it go.

“She won’t be a problem. I’l talk to her.” I hated the thought of him talking to her, because it made me sick with jealousy. I figured that was an issue I should disclose up front. “Gideon…”

“Yes?” He’d finished his burger and was working on the fries.

“I’m a very jealous person. I can be irrational with it.” I poked at my burger with a fry. “You might want to think about that, and whether or not you want to deal with someone who has self-esteem issues like I do. It was one of my sticking points when you first propositioned me, knowing it was going to drive me nuts having women salivating al over you and not having the right to say anything about it.”

“You have the right now.”

“You’re not taking me seriously.” I shook my head and took another bite of my cheeseburger.

“I’ve never been as serious about anything in my life.” Reaching over, Gideon ran a fingertip over the corner of my mouth, and then licked off the dab of sauce he’d col ected. “You’re not the only one who can get possessive. I’m very proprietary about what’s mine.”

I didn’t doubt that for a minute.

I took another bite and thought of the night ahead. I was eager. Ridiculously so. I was dying to see Gideon naked. Dying to run my hands and lips al over him.

Dying to have another go at driving him crazy. And I was damn near desperate to be under him, to feel him straining over me, pounding into me, coming hard and deep inside me…

“Keep thinking those thoughts,” he said roughly,

“and you’l be late again.”

I looked at him with raised brows “How did you know what I’m thinking?”

“You get this look on your face when you’re turned on. I intend to put that look on your face as often as possible.” Gideon covered his plate again and stood, withdrawing a business card from his pocket and setting it down beside me. I could see that he’d written his home and cel phone numbers on the back. “I feel stupid asking this question considering our present conversation, but I need your cel phone number.”

“Oh.” I forcibly dragged my thoughts out of the bedroom. “I have to get one first. It’s on my to-do list.”

“What happened to the phone you were texting with last week?”

My nose wrinkled. “My mother was using it to track my movements around the city. She’s a tad…

overprotective.”

“I see.” He brushed the backs of his fingers down my cheek. “That’s what you were talking about when you said your mom is stalking you.”

“Yes, unfortunately.”

“Okay, then. We’l take care of the phone after work before we head to the gym. It’s safer for you to have one. And I want to be able to cal you whenever I feel like it.”

I set down the quarter of my burger that I couldn’t eat, and wiped my hands and mouth. “That was delicious. Thank you.”

“It was my pleasure.” He leaned over me and pressed his lips briefly to mine. “Do you need to use the washroom?”

“Yes. I need my toothbrush from my purse, too.” A few minutes later, I found myself standing in a washroom hidden behind a door that blended seamlessly with the mahogany paneling behind the flat screens. We brushed our teeth side by side at the double sink vanity, our gazes meeting in our mirrored reflections. It was such a domestic, normal thing to do and yet we both seemed to delight in it.

“I’l take you back down,” he said, crossing his office to the coatrack.

I fol owed him, but veered off when we reached his desk. I went to it and put my hand on the clear space in front of his chair. “Is this where you are most of the day?”

“Yes.” He shrugged into his jacket and I wanted to bite him, he looked so delectable.

Instead, I hopped up to sit directly in front of his chair. According to my watch I had five minutes. Barely enough time to get back to work, but stil . I couldn’t resist exercising my new rights. I pointed at his chair.

“Sit.”

His brows rose, but he came over without argument and settled graceful y into the seat.

I spread my legs and crooked my finger. “Closer.” He rol ed forward, fil ing the space between my thighs. He wrapped his arms around my hips and looked up at me. “One day soon, Eva, I’m going to fuck you right here.”

“Just a kiss for now,” I murmured, bending forward to take his mouth. With my hands on his shoulders for balance, I licked across his parted lips; then slipped inside and teased him with gentleness.

Groaning, he deepened the kiss, eating at my mouth in a way that made me achy and wet.

“One day soon,” I repeated against his lips, “I’m going to kneel beneath this desk and suck you off.

Maybe while you’re on the phone playing with your mil ions like Monopoly. You, Mr. Cross, wil pass Go and col ect your two hundred dol ars.”

His mouth curved against mine. “I can see how this is going to go. You’re going to make me lose my mind coming everywhere I can in your tight, sexy body.”

“Are you complaining?”

“Angel, I’m salivating.”

I was bemused by the endearment, although I liked its sweetness. “Angel?”

He hummed a soft assent and kissed me.

I couldn’t believe what a difference an hour made. I left Gideon’s office in a completely different frame of mind than when I’d entered it. The feel of his hand at the smal of my back made my body hum with anticipation rather than the misery I’d felt on the way in.

I waved bye to Scott and smiled brightly at the unsmiling receptionist.

“I don’t think she likes me,” I told Gideon, as we waited for the elevator.

“Who?”

“Your receptionist.”

He glanced over that way and the redhead beamed at him.

“Wel ,” I murmured. “She likes you.”

“I guarantee her paychecks.”

My mouth curved. “Yes, I’m sure that’s what it is. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with you being the sexiest man alive.”

“Am I now?” He caged me to the wal and burned me with a searing gaze.

I set my hands against his abdomen, licking my lower lip when I felt the hard ridges of muscle tighten under my touch. “Just an observation.”

“I like you.” With his palms pressed flat to the wal on either side of my head, he lowered his mouth to mine and kissed me softly.

“I like you back. You do realize you’re at work, don’t you?”

“What good is being the boss if you can’t do what you want?”

“Hmm.”

When a car arrived, I ducked under Gideon’s arm and slid into it. He prowled in after me; then circled me like a predator, sliding up behind me to pul me back against him. His hands pushed into my front pockets and splayed against my hipbones, keeping me tucked close. The warmth of his touch so close to where I ached for him was a special brand of torture. In retaliation, I wriggled my butt against him and smiled when he hissed out a breath and hardened.

“Behave,” he admonished gruffly. “I have a meeting in fifteen minutes.”

“Wil you think of me while you’re sitting at your desk?”

“Undoubtedly. You’l definitely think about me while you’re sitting at yours. That’s an order, Miss Tramel .” My head fel back against his chest, loving the bite of command in his voice. “I don’t see how I couldn’t, Mr. Cross, considering how I think of you everywhere else I go.”

He stepped out with me when we reached the twentieth floor. “Thank you for lunch.”

“I think that’s my line.” I backed away. “See you later, Dark and Dangerous.”

His brows rose at my nickname for him. “Five o’clock. Don’t make me wait.”

One of the cars in the left bank of elevators arrived.

Megumi stepped out and Gideon stepped in, his gaze locked with mine until the doors closed.

“Whew,” she said. “You scored. I’m pea green with envy.”

I couldn’t think of anything to say to that. It was al stil too new and I was afraid to jinx it. In the back of my mind, I knew these feelings of happiness couldn’t last.

Everything was going too wel .

I rushed to my desk and got to work.

“Eva.” I looked up to see Mark standing in the threshold of his office. “Could I talk to you a minute?”

“Of course.” I grabbed my tablet, even though his grim face and tone warned me they might not be needed. When Mark shut the door behind me, my apprehension increased. “Is everything al right?”

“Yes.” He waited until I was seated; then took the chair beside me rather than the one behind his desk. “I don’t know how to say this…”

“Just say it. I’l figure it out.”

He looked at me with compassionate eyes and a cringe of embarrassment. “It’s not my place to interfere. I’m just your boss and there’s a line that comes with that, but I’m going to cross it because I like you, Eva, and I want you to work here for a long time.” My stomach tightened. “That’s great. I real y love my job.”

“Good. Good, I’m glad.” He shot me a quick smile.

“Just…be careful with Cross, okay?”

I blinked, startled by the direction of the conversation. “Okay.”

“He’s bril iant, rich, and sexy, so I understand the appeal. As much as I love Steven, I get a little flustered around Cross myself. He’s just got that kind of pul .” Mark

talked

fast

and

shifted

with

obvious

embarrassment. “And I can total y see why he’s interested in you. You’re beautiful, smart, honest, considerate…I could go on, because you’re great.”

“Thanks,” I said quietly, hoping I didn’t look as il as I felt. This sort of warning from a friend, and knowing that others would think of me as just another babe-of-the-week, was exactly the sort of thing that preyed on my insecurities.

“I just don’t want to see you get hurt,” he muttered, looking as miserable as I felt. “Part of that’s selfish, I’l admit. I don’t want to lose a great assistant because she doesn’t want to work in a building owned by an ex.”

“Mark, it means a lot to me that you care and that I’m valuable to you around here. But you don’t have to worry about me. I’m a big girl. Besides, nothing is going to get me to quit this job.”

He blew out his breath, clearly relieved. “Al right.

Let’s put it away and get to work.”

So we did, but I set myself up for future torture by subscribing to a daily Google alert for Gideon’s name.

And when five o’clock rol ed around, my awareness of my many inadequacies was stil spreading through my happiness like a stain.

Gideon was as prompt as he’d threatened to be and he didn’t seem to notice my introspective mood as we rode down in a crowded elevator. More than one woman in the car cast furtive glances in his direction, but that sort of thing I didn’t mind. He was hot. I would’ve been surprised if they hadn’t looked.

He caught my hand when we cleared the turnstiles, linking his fingers with mine. The simple, intimate gesture meant so much to me in that moment that my grip tightened on his. And I’d real y have to watch out for that. The moment I became grateful he was spending time with me would be the beginning of the end. Neither of us would respect me if that happened.

The Bentley SUV sat at the curb and Gideon’s driver stood at the ready by the rear door. Gideon looked at me. “I had some workout clothes packed and brought over, in case you were set on visiting your gym. Equinox, right? Or we can go to mine.”

“Where’s yours?”

“I prefer to go to the CrossTrainer on Thirty-fifth.” My curiosity over how he knew which gym I frequented vanished when I heard the “Cross” in the name of his gym. “You wouldn’t happen to own the gym, would you?”

His grin flashed. “The chain. Usual y, I practice mixed martial arts with a personal trainer, but I use the gym occasional y.”

“The chain,” I repeated. “Of course.”

“Your choice,” he said considerately. “I’l go wherever you want.”

“By al means, let’s go to your gym.”

He opened the back door, and I slid in and over. I set my purse and my gym bag on my lap, and looked out the window as the car pul ed away from the curb.

The sedan driving next to us was so close I wouldn’t have to lean far to touch it. Rush hour in Manhattan was something I was stil getting used to. SoCal had bumper-to-bumper traffic, too, but it moved at a snail’s pace. Here in New York, speed mixed with the crush in a way that often made me close my eyes and pray to survive the trip.

It was a whole new world. A new city, new It was a whole new world. A new city, new apartment, new job, and new man. It was a lot to take on at once. I supposed it was understandable that I felt off-balance.

I glanced at Gideon and found him staring at me with an unreadable expression. Everything inside me twisted into a mess of wild lust and vibrating anxiety. I had no idea what I was doing with him, only that I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to.

We hit the cel ular store first. The associate who helped us seemed highly susceptible to Gideon’s magnetic pul . She practical y fel al over herself the minute he showed the slightest interest in anything, quickly launching into detailed explanations and leaning into his personal space to demonstrate.

I tried separating from them and finding someone who’d actual y help me, but Gideon’s grip on my hand wouldn’t let me move more than touching distance away. Then we argued over who was going to pay, which he seemed to think should be him even though the phone and account were mine.

“You got your way with picking the service provider,” I pointed out, pushing his credit card aside and shoving mine at the girl.

“Because it’s practical. We’l be on the same network, so cal s to me are free.” He swapped the cards deftly.

“I won’t be cal ing you at al , if you don’t put your damn credit card away!”

That did the trick, although I could tel he was unhappy about it. He’d just have to get over it.

Once we got back in the Bentley, his mood seemed restored.

“You can head to the gym now, Angus,” he told his driver, settling back in the seat. Then he pul ed his smartphone out of his pocket. He saved my new number into his contact list; then he took my new phone out of my hand and programmed my list with his home, office, and cel numbers.

He’d barely finished when we arrived at CrossTrainer. Not surprisingly, the three-story fitness center was a health enthusiast’s dream. I was impressed with every sleek, modern, top-of-the-line inch of it. Even the women’s locker room was like something out of a science fiction movie.

But my awe was total y eclipsed by Gideon himself when I finished changing into my workout clothes and found him waiting for me out in the hal way. He’d changed into long shorts and a tank, which gave me my first look at his bare arms and legs.

I came to an abrupt halt and someone coming out behind me bumped into me. I could barely manage an apology; I was too busy visual y devouring Gideon’s smokin’ hot body. His legs were toned and powerful, flawlessly proportional to his trim hips and waist. His arms made my mouth water. His biceps were precisely cut and his forearms were coursing with thick veins that were both brutal looking and sexy as hel .

He’d tied his hair back, which showed off the definition of his neck and traps, and the sculpted angles of his face.

Christ. I knew this man intimately. My brain couldn’t wrap itself around that fact, not while faced with the irrefutable evidence of how uniquely beautiful he was.

And he was scowling at me.

Straightening away from the wal where he’d been leaning, he came toward me, and then circled me. His fingertips ran along my bare midriff and back as he made the revolution, sending goose bumps racing over my skin. When he stopped in front of me, I threw my arms around his neck and pul ed his mouth down for a quick, playful y smacking kiss.

“What the hel are you wearing?” he asked, looking marginal y appeased by my enthusiastic greeting.

“Clothes.”

“You look naked in that top.”

“I thought you liked me naked.” I was secretly pleased with my choice, which I’d made that morning before I’d known he’d be with me. The top was a triangle with long straps at the shoulders and ribs that secured with Velcro and could be worn in a variety of ways to al ow the wearer to determine where her breasts needed the most support. It was special y designed for curvy women and was the first top I’d ever had that kept me from bouncing al over the place.

What Gideon objected to was the nude color, which coordinated with the racing stripes on the matching black yoga pants.

“I like you naked in private,” he muttered. “I’l need to be with you whenever you go to the gym.”

“I won’t complain, since I’m very much enjoying the view at the moment.” Plus, I was perversely excited by his possessiveness after the hurt he’d inflicted with his withdrawal Saturday night. Two very different extremes

—the first of many, I was sure.

“Let’s get this over with.” He grabbed my hand and led me away from the locker rooms, snatching two logo’d towels off a stack as we passed them. “I need to fuck you.”

“I need to be fucked.”

“Jesus, Eva.” His grip on my hand tightened to the point that it hurt. “Where to? Free weights? Machines?

Treadmil s?”

“Treadmil s. I want to run a bit.”

He led me in that direction. I watched the way women fol owed him with their gazes, then their feet.

They wanted to be in whatever section of the gym he was, and I couldn’t blame them. I was dying to see him in action, too.

When we reached the seemingly endless rows of treadmil s and bikes, we found that there weren’t two treadmil s free adjacent to each other.

Gideon walked up to a man who had two open on either side of him. “I’d be in your debt if you’d move over one.”

The guy looked at me and grinned. “Yeah, sure.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

Gideon took over the man’s treadmil and motioned me to the one beside it. Before he programmed his workout, I leaned over to him. “Don’t burn off too much energy,” I whispered. “I want you missionary-style the first time. I’ve been having this fantasy of you on top, banging the hel out of me.”

His gaze burned into me. “Eva, you have no idea.” Nearly giddy with anticipation and a lovely surge of feminine power, I got on my treadmil and started at a brisk walk. While I warmed up, I set my iPod shuffle to random and when “Sexy Back” by Justin Timberlake came on I hit my stride and went ful -out. Running was both a mental and physical exercise for me.

Sometimes I wished just running fast could get me away from whatever was troubling me.

After twenty minutes I slowed, then stopped, final y risking a glance at Gideon who was running with the fluidity of a wel -oiled machine. He was watching CNN

on the overhead screens, but he flashed a grin at me as I wiped the sweat off my face. I swigged from my water bottle as I moved to the machines, picking one that give me a clear view of him.

He went a ful thirty on the treadmil ; then he moved to free weights, always keeping me in his line of sight.

As he worked out, quickly and efficiently, I couldn’t help thinking how virile he was. It helped that I knew exactly what was in his shorts, but regardless, he was a man who worked behind a desk, yet kept his body in combat shape.

When I grabbed a fitness bal to do some crunches, one of the trainers came up to me. As one would expect in a top-of-the-line gym, he was handsome and very nicely built.

“Hi,” he greeted me, with a movie star smile that showcased perfect white teeth. He had dark brown hair and eyes of nearly the same color. “First-timer, right? I haven’t seen you in here before.”

“Yes, first time.”

“I’m Daniel.” He extended his hand, and I gave him my name. “Are you finding everything you need, Eva?”

“So far so good, thanks.”

“What flavor smoothie did you go for?”

I frowned. “Excuse me?”

“Your free orientation smoothie.” He crossed his arms and his thick biceps strained the narrow cuffs of his uniform polo shirt. “You didn’t get one from the bar downstairs when you signed up? You’re supposed to.”

“Ah, wel .” I shrugged sheepishly, thinking it was a nice touch al the same. “I didn’t have the usual orientation.”

“Did you get the tour? If not, let me take you around.” He touched my elbow lightly and gestured toward the stairs. “You also get a free hour of personal training.

We could do that tonight or make an appointment for later in the week. And I’d be happy to take you down to the health bar and scratch that off the list, too.”

“Oh, I can’t real y.” My nose wrinkled. “I’m not a member.”

“Ah.” He winked. “You’re here on a temp pass?

That’s fine. You can’t be expected to make up your mind if you don’t get the ful experience. I can assure you, though, that CrossTrainer is the best gym in Manhattan.”

Gideon appeared at Daniel’s shoulder. “The ful experience is included,” he said, coming around and behind me to slide his arms around my waist, “when you’re the owner’s girlfriend.”

The word “girlfriend” reverberated through me, sending a crazy rush of adrenaline through my system.

It was stil sinking in that we had that level of commitment, but that didn’t stop me from thinking the designation had a nice ring to it.

“Mr. Cross.” Daniel straightened and took a step back; then extended his hand. “It’s an honor to meet you.”

“Daniel has me sold on the place,” I said to Gideon, as they shook hands.

“I thought I’d done that.” His hair was wet with sweat and he smel ed divine. I’d never known a sweaty man could smel so damn good.

His hands stroked down my arms and I felt his lips on the crown of my head. “Let’s go. See you later, Daniel.”

I waved good-bye as we walked away. “Thanks, Daniel.”

“Anytime.”

“I bet,” Gideon muttered. “He couldn’t keep his eyes off your tits.”

“They’re very nice tits.”

He made a low growling noise. I hid my amusement.

He smacked my butt hard enough to send me forward a step and leave behind a hot sting even through my pants. “That damned Band-Aid you cal a shirt doesn’t leave much to the imagination. Don’t take long in the shower. You’re just going to get sweaty again.”

“Wait.” I caught his arm before he passed the women’s locker room on the way toward the men’s.

“Would it gross you out if I told you I didn’t want you to shower? If I said I want to find someplace real y close by where I could jump you while you’re stil dripping sweat?”

Gideon’s jaw tightened and his gaze darkened dangerously. “I’m beginning to fear for your safety, Eva.

Grab your stuff. There’s a hotel around the corner.” Neither of us changed and we were outside in five minutes. Gideon walked briskly and I hurried to keep up. When he stopped abruptly, turned, and dipped me back in a lavish heated kiss on the crowded sidewalk, I was too stunned to do more than hold on. It was a soul-wrenching melding of our mouths, ful of passion and sweet spontaneity that made my heart ache. Applause broke out around us.

When he straightened me again, I was breathless and dizzy. “What was that?” I gasped.

“A prelude.” He resumed our dash to the nearest hotel, one I didn’t catch the name of as he pul ed me past the doorman and crossed straight to the elevator.

It was clear to me that the property was one of Gideon’s even before a manager greeted him by name just before the elevator doors closed.

Gideon dropped his duffel on the car floor and busied himself with figuring out how to extricate me from my sports top. I was slapping his hands away when the doors opened and he scooped up his bag.

There was no one waiting on our floor and no one in the hal way. He pul ed a master key out of somewhere and a moment later we were in a room.

I pounced, pushing my hands up beneath his shirt to feel his damp skin and the hardness of the muscles beneath it. “Get naked. Like now.” He laughed as he toed off his sneakers and yanked his tank over his head.

Oh my God…seeing him in the flesh—al of him, as his shorts hit the floor—was synapse frying. There wasn’t an ounce of excess flesh on him anywhere, just hard slabs of honed muscle. He had washboard abs and that super sexy V of muscle on his pelvis that Cary cal ed the Loin of Apol o. Gideon didn’t wax his chest like Cary did, but he groomed with the same care he showed to the rest of his body. He was pure primal male, the embodiment of everything I coveted, fantasized about, and wished for.

“I’ve died and gone to heaven,” I said, staring unabashedly.

“You’re stil dressed.” He attacked my clothes, whipping my loosened top off before I took a ful breath. My pants were wrestled down and I kicked my shoes off in such a hurry that I lost my balance and fel on the bed. I barely caught my breath before he was on me.

We rol ed across the mattress in a tangle.

Everywhere he touched me left trails of fire behind. The clean, hardworking scent of his skin was an aphrodisiac and intoxicant at once, spurring my desire for him until I felt like I was about to lose my mind.

“You’re so beautiful, Eva.” He plumped one breast in his hand before taking my nipple into his mouth.

I cried out at the scorching heat and the lash of his tongue, my core tightening with every soft suck. My hands were greedy as they slid over his sweat-damp skin, stroking and kneading, searching for the spots that made him growl and moan. I scissored my legs with his and tried to rol him, but he was too heavy and too strong.

He lifted his head and smiled down at me. “It’s my turn this time.”

What I felt for him in that moment, seeing that smile and the heat in his eyes, was so intense it was painful.

Too fast, I thought. I was fal ing too fast. “Gideon—” He kissed me deeply, licking into my mouth in that way of his. I thought he could real y make me come with just a kiss, if we stayed at it long enough.

Everything about him turned me on, from the way he looked and felt beneath my hands to the way he watched me and touched me. His greed and the silent demands he made on my body, the forcefulness with which he pleasured me and took his pleasure in return, drove me wild.

I ran my hands through the wet silk of his hair. The crisp hairs on his chest teased my tightened nipples and the feel of his rock-hard body against mine was enough to make me wet and needy.

“I love your body,” he whispered, his lips moving across my cheek to my throat. His hand caressed the length of my torso from breasts to hip. “I can’t get enough of it.”

“You haven’t had very much of it yet,” I teased.

“I don’t think I’l ever have enough.” Nibbling and licking across my shoulder, he slid down and caught my other nipple between his teeth. He tugged and the tiny dart of pain had my back arching on a soft cry. He soothed the sting with a soft suck; then kissed his way downward. “I’ve never wanted anything this badly.”

“Then do me!”

“Not yet,” he murmured, moving lower, rimming my navel with the tip of his tongue. “You’re not ready yet.”

“What? Ah, God…I can’t get any readier.” I tugged on his hair, trying to pul him up.

Gideon caught my wrists and pinned them to the mattress. “You have a tight little cunt, Eva. I’l bruise you if I don’t get you soft and relaxed.”

A violent shiver of arousal moved through me. It turned me on when he talked so bluntly about sex.

Then he slid lower and I tensed. “No, Gideon. I need to shower for that.”

He buried his face in my cleft and I struggled against his hold, flushed with sudden shame. He nipped at my inner thigh with his teeth. “Stop it.”

“Don’t. Please. You don’t have to do that.” His glare stil ed my frantic movements. “Do you think I feel differently about your body than you do mine?” he asked harshly. “I want you, Eva.”

I licked my dry lips, so crazily turned on by his animal need that I couldn’t form a single word. He growled softly and dove for the slick flesh between my legs. His tongue pushed into me, licking and parting the sensitive tissues. My hips churned restlessly, my body silently begging for more. It felt so good I could’ve wept.

“God, Eva. I’ve wanted my mouth on your cunt every day since I met you.”

As the velvet softness of his tongue flickered over my swol en clit, my head pressed hard into the pil ow.

“Yes. Like that. Make me come.”

He did, with the gentlest of suction and a hard lick. I writhed as the orgasm jolted through me, my core tensing violently, my limbs shaking. His tongue thrust into my sex as it convulsed, rippling along the shal ow penetration, trying to pul him deeper. His groans vibrated against my swol en flesh, goading the climax to rol on and on. Tears stung my eyes and coursed down my temples, the physical pleasure destroying the wal that kept my emotions at bay.

And Gideon didn’t stop. He circled the trembling entrance to my body with the tip of his tongue and lapped at my throbbing clit until I quickened again. Two fingers pushed inside me, curving and stroking. I was so sensitive I thrashed against the onslaught. When he drew on my clit with steady, rhythmic suction, I came again, crying out hoarsely. Then he had three fingers in me, twisting and opening me.

“No.” My head tossed from side to side, every inch of my skin tingling and burning. “No more.”

“Once more,” he coaxed hoarsely. “Once more, then I’l fuck you.”

“I can’t…”

“You wil .” He blew a slow stream of air over my wet flesh, the coolness over fevered skin reawakening raw nerve endings. “I love watching you come, Eva. Love hearing the sounds you make, the way your body quivers…”

He massaged a tender spot inside me and an orgasm pulsed through me in a slow, heated rol of delight, no less devastating for being gentler than the two before it.

His weight and heat left me. In a distant corner of my dazed mind, I heard a drawer opening, fol owed swiftly by the sound of foil tearing. The mattress dipped as he returned, his hands rough now as he yanked me down to the center of the bed. He stretched himself on top of me, pinning me, tucking his forearms on the outside of my biceps and pressing them to my sides, capturing me.

My gaze was riveted to his austerely beautiful face.

His features were harsh with lust, his skin stretched tight over his cheekbones and jaw. His eyes were so dark and dilated they were black, and I knew I was staring into the face of a man who’d passed the limits of his control. It was important to me that he’d made it that far for my benefit and that he’d done so to pleasure and prepare me for what I knew would be a hard ride.

My hands fisted in the bedspread, anticipation building. He’d made sure I got mine, over and over again. This would be for him.

“Fuck me,” I ordered, daring him with my eyes.

“Eva.” He snapped out my name as he rammed into me, sinking bal s-deep in one fierce drive.

I gasped. He was big, hard as stone, and so damn deep. The connection was startlingly intense.

Emotional y. Mental y. I’d never felt so completely…

taken. Possessed.

I wouldn’t have thought I could bear to be restrained during sex, not with my past being what it was, but Gideon’s total domination of my body ratcheted my desire to an outrageous level. I’d never been so hot for it in my life, which seemed insane after what I’d experienced with him so far.

I clenched around him, relishing the feel of him inside me, fil ing me.

His hips ground against mine, prodding as if to say, Feel me? I’m in you. I own you.

His entire body hardened, the muscles of his chest and arms straining as he pul ed out to the tip. The rigid tightening of his abs was the only warning I got before he slammed forward. Hard.

I cried out and his chest rumbled with a low, primitive sound. “Christ…You feel so good.” Tightening his hold, he starting fucking me, nailing my hips to the mattress with wildly fierce drives.

Pleasure rippled through me again, pushing through me with every hot shove of his body into mine. Like this, I thought. I want you just like this.

He buried his face in my neck and held me tightly in place, plunging hard and fast, gasping raw, heated sex words that made me crazed with desire. “I’ve never been so hard and thick. I’m so deep in you…I can feel it against my stomach…feel my dick pounding into you.”

I’d thought of this round as his, and yet he was stil with me, stil focused on me, swiveling his hips to stroke pleasure through my melting core. I made a smal , helpless sound of need and his mouth slanted over mine. I was desperate for him, my nails digging into his pumping hips, struggling with the grinding urge to rock into the ferocious thrusts of his big cock.

We were dripping in sweat, our skin hot and slicked together, our chests heaving for air. As an orgasm brewed like a storm inside me, everything tightened and clenched, squeezing. He cursed and shoved one hand beneath my hip, cupping my rear and lifting me into his thrusts so that his cock head stroked over and over the spot that ached for him.

“Come, Eva,” he ordered harshly. “Come now.” I climaxed in a rush that had me sobbing his name, the sensation enhanced and magnified by the way he’d confined my body. He threw his head back, shuddering.

“Ah, Eva!” He clasped me so tightly I couldn’t breathe, his hips pumping as he came long and hard.

I’ve no idea how long we lay like that, leveled, mouths sliding over shoulders and throats to soothe and calm. My entire body tingled and pulsed.

“Wow,” I managed final y.

“You’l kil me,” he muttered with his lips at my jaw.

“We’re going to end up fucking each other to death.”

“Me? I didn’t do anything.” He’d control ed me completely and how freakin’ sexy was that?

“You’re breathing. That’s enough.”

I laughed, hugging him.

Lifting his head, he nuzzled my nose. “We’re going to eat, and then we’l do that again.”

My brows lifted. “You can do that again?”

“Al night.” He rol ed his hips and I could feel that he was stil semi-hard.

“You’re a machine,” I told him. “Or a god.”

“It’s you.” With a soft sweet kiss, he left me. He removed the condom, wrapped it in a tissue from the nightstand, and tossed the whole in the wastebasket by the bed. “We’l shower, then order from the restaurant downstairs. Unless you want to go down?”

“I don’t think I can walk.”

The flash of his grin stopped my heart for a minute.

“Glad I’m not the only one.”

“You look fine.”

“I feel phenomenal.” He sat back on the side of the bed and brushed my hair back from my forehead. His face was soft, his smile warmly affectionate.

I thought I saw something else in his eyes and the possibility closed my throat. It scared me.

“Shower with me,” he said, running his hand down my arm.

“Gimme me a minute to find my brain, then I’l join you.”

“Okay.” He went into the bathroom, giving me a prime view of his sculpted back and perfect ass. I sighed with pure female appreciation of a prime male specimen.

The water came on in the shower. I managed to sit up and slide my legs over the side of the bed, feeling exquisitely shaky. My gaze caught on the slightly open bedside drawer and I saw condoms through the gap.

My stomach twisted. The hotel was too upscale to be the kind that provided condoms along with the requisite Bible.

With a slightly trembling hand, I pul ed the drawer out further and found a sizable quantity of prophylactics, including a bottle of feminine lubrication and spermicidal gel. My heart started pounding al over again. In my mind, I backtracked through our lust-fueled trip to the hotel. Gideon hadn’t asked which rooms were available. Whether he had a master key or not, he’d need to know which rooms were occupied before he took one…unless he’d known beforehand that this particular room would be empty.

Clearly it was his room—a fuck pad outfitted with everything he’d need to have a good time with the women who served that purpose in his life.

As I pushed to my feet and walked over to the closet, I heard the glass shower door open in the bathroom, then close. I caught the two knobs of the louvered walnut closet doors and pushed them apart.

There was a smal selection of men’s clothes hanging on the metal rod, some business shirts and slacks, as wel as khakis and jeans. My temperature dropped and a sick misery spread through my orgasmic high.

The right side dresser drawers held neatly folded Tshirts, boxer briefs, and socks. The top one on the left side held sex toys stil in their packages. I didn’t look at the drawers below that one. I’d seen enough.

I pul ed on my pants and stole one of Gideon’s shirts. As I dressed, my mind went through the steps I’d learned in therapy: Talk it out. Explain what triggered the negative feelings to your partner. Face the trigger and work through it.

Maybe if I’d been less shaken by the depth of my feelings for Gideon, I could have done al that. Maybe if we hadn’t just had mind-blowing sex, I would have felt less raw and vulnerable. I’d never know. What I felt was slightly dirty, a little bit used, and a whole lot hurt. This particular revelation had hit me with excruciating force, and like a child, I wanted to hurt him back.

I scooped up the condoms, lube, and toys, and tossed them on the bed. Then, just as he cal ed out my name in an amused and teasing voice, I picked up my bag and left him.

I kept my head down as I made the walk of shame past the registration desk and exited the hotel through a side door. I was red-faced with embarrassment remembering the manager who’d greeted Gideon as we got on the elevator. I could only imagine what he’d thought of me. He had to know what Gideon reserved that room for. I couldn’t stand the thought of being the next in a line of many and yet that’s exactly what I’d been from the moment we entered the hotel.

How hard would it have been to stop by the front desk and secure a room that was ours alone?

I started walking with no direction or destination in mind. It was dark out now, the city taking on a whole new life and energy from what it had during the business day. Steaming food carts dotted the sidewalks, along with a vendor sel ing framed artwork, another hawking novelty T-shirts, and yet another who had two folding tables covered in movie and television episode scripts.

With every step I took, the adrenaline from my flight burned away. The maliciously gleeful thoughts of Gideon coming out of the bathroom to find an empty room and paraphernalia-strewn bed ran their course. I began to calm down…and seriously think about what had just happened.

Was it a coincidence that Gideon invited me to a gym that just so happened to be conveniently close to his fuck pad?

I remembered the conversation we’d had in his office over lunch and the way he’d struggled to express himself to keep me. He was as confused and torn about what was happening between us as I was, and I knew how easy it was to fal into established patterns.

After al , hadn’t I just fal en into one of my own by bailing? I’d spent enough years in therapy to know better than to wound and run when I was hurting.

Heartsick, I stepped into an Italian bistro and took a table. I ordered a glass of shiraz and a pizza margherita, hoping wine and food would calm the vibrating anxiety inside me so that I could think properly.

When the waiter returned with my wine, I gulped down half the glass without real y tasting it. I missed Gideon already, missed the playful happy mood he’d been in when I left. His scent was al over me—the smel of his skin and hot, grinding sex. My eyes stung and I let a few tears slide down my face, despite being in a very public, very busy restaurant. My food came and I picked at it. It tasted like cardboard, although I doubted that had anything to do with the chef or the venue.

Pul ing over the chair where I’d set my bag, I dug out my new smartphone with the intention of leaving a message with Dr. Travis’s answering service. He’d suggested we have video chat appointments until I found a new therapist in New York and I decided to take him up on that offer. That’s when I noticed the twenty-one missed cal s from Gideon and a text; I

fucked up again. Don’t break up with

me. Talk to me. Pls.

The tears wel ed again. I held the phone to my heart, at a loss for what to do. I couldn’t get the images of Gideon and other women out of my mind. I couldn’t stop picturing him fucking the hel out of another woman on that same bed, using toys on her, driving her crazy, taking his pleasure from her body…

It was irrational and pointless to think of such things, and it made me feel petty and smal and physical y sick.

I startled when the phone vibrated against me, nearly dropping it. Nursing my misery, I debating letting it go to voice mail because I could see on the screen that it was Gideon—plus he was the only one who had the number—but I couldn’t ignore it, because he was clearly frantic. As much as I’d wanted to wound him earlier, I couldn’t stand to do it now.

“Hel o.” My voice didn’t sound like mine, clogged as it was with tears and emotion.

“Eva! Thank God.” Gideon sounded so anxious.

“Where are you?”

Looking around, I didn’t see anything that would tel me the name of the restaurant. “I don’t know. I…I’m sorry, Gideon.”

“No, Eva. Don’t. It’s my fault. I need to find you. Can you describe where you’re at? Did you walk?”

“Yes. I walked.”

“I know which exit you took. Which way did you head?” He was breathing quickly and I could hear the sounds of traffic and car horns in the background.

“To the left.”

“Did you turn any corners after that?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t know.” I looked around for a server I could ask. “I’m in a restaurant. Italian. There’s seating on the sidewalk…and a wrought iron fence.

French doors…Jesus, Gideon, I—”

He appeared, silhouetted in the entrance with the phone held to his ear. I knew him immediately, watched as he froze when he saw me seated against the wal toward the back. Shoving the phone into the pocket of jeans he’d had stored at the hotel, he strode past the hostess who’d starting speaking to him and headed straight for me. I barely managed to get to my

feet before he hauled me against him and embraced me tightly.

“God.” He shook slightly and buried his face in my neck. “Eva.”

I hugged him back. He was fresh from a shower, making me achingly aware of my need for one.

“I can’t be here,” he said hoarsely, pul ing back to cup my face in his hands. “I can’t be in public right now.

Wil you come home with me?”

Something on my face must have betrayed my lingering wariness, because he pressed his lips to my forehead and murmured, “It won’t be like the hotel, I promise. My mother’s the only woman who’s ever been to my place, aside from the housekeeper and staff.”

“This is stupid,” I muttered. “I’m being stupid.”

“No.” He brushed the hair back from my face and bent closer to whisper in my ear. “If you’d taken me to a place you reserved for fucking other men, I would’ve lost it.”

The waiter returned and we pul ed apart. “Should I get you a menu, sir?”

“That won’t be necessary.” Gideon dug his wal et out of his back pocket and handed over his credit card.

“We’re leaving.”

We took a cab to Gideon’s place and he held on to my hand the entire time. I shouldn’t have been so nervous riding a private elevator up to a penthouse apartment on Fifth Avenue. The sight of high ceilings and prewar architecture wasn’t new to me, and real y, it was al to be expected when dating a man who seemed to own damn near everything. And the coveted view of Central Park…wel , of course he’d have one.

But Gideon’s tension was palpable, and it made me realize that this was a big deal to him. When the elevator opened directly into his apartment’s marbled entry foyer, his grip on my hand tightened before he released me. He unlocked the double-door entrance to usher me inside, and I could feel his anxiety as he watched for my reaction.

Gideon’s home was as beautiful as the man himself.

It was so very different from his office, which was sleek, modern, and cool. His private space was warm and sumptuous, fil ed with antiques and art anchored by gorgeous Aubusson rugs laid over gleaming hardwood floors.

“It’s…amazing,” I said softly, feeling privileged to see it. It was a glimpse into the private Gideon I was desperate to know and it was stunning.

“Come in.” He tugged me deeper into the apartment. “I want you to sleep here tonight.”

“I don’t have clothes and stuff…”

“Al you need is the toothbrush in your purse. We can run by your place in the morning for the rest. I promise to get you to work on time.” He pul ed me into him and set his chin on the crown of my head. “I’d real y like you to stay, Eva. I don’t blame you for running, but it scared the hel out of me. I need to hang on to you for a while.”

“I need to be held.” I pushed my hands under the back of his T-shirt to caress the silken hardness of his bare back. “I could also use a shower.” With his nose in my hair, he inhaled deeply. “I like you smel ing like me.”

But he led me through the living room and down a hal to his bedroom.

“Wow,” I breathed when he flicked on the light. A massive sleigh bed dominated the space, the wood dark—which he seemed to prefer—and the linens a soft cream. The rest of the furnishings matched the bed and the accents were brushed gold. It was a warm, masculine space with no art on the wal s to detract from the serene night view of Central Park and the magnificent residential buildings on the other side.

My side of Manhattan.

“The bathroom’s in here.”

As I took in the vanity, which appeared to have been made out of an antique claw-footed walnut cabinet, he pul ed towels out of a companion armoire and set them out for me, moving with that confident sensual grace I admired so much. Seeing him in his home, dressed so casual y, touched me. Knowing I was the only woman to have this experience with him affected me even more. I felt like I was seeing him more naked now than I ever had. “Thank you.”

He glanced at me and seemed to understand that I was talking about more than the towels. His stare burned through me. “It feels good to have you here.”

“I have no idea how I ended up like this, with you.” But I real y, real y liked it.

“Does it matter?” Gideon came to me, tilting my chin up to press a kiss to the tip of my nose. “I’l lay out a Tshirt for you on the bed. Caviar and vodka sound good to you?”

“Wel …that’s quite a step up from pizza.” He smiled. “Petrossian’s Ossetra.”

“I stand corrected.” I smiled back. “Several hundred steps up.”

I showered and dressed in the oversized Cross Industries shirt he laid out for me; then I cal ed Cary to tel him I’d be out al night and give him a brief rundown about the hotel incident.

He whistled. “I’m not even sure what to say about that.”

A speechless Cary Taylor spoke volumes.

I joined Gideon in the living room, and we sat on the floor at the coffee table to eat the prized caviar with mini toast and crème fraiche. We watched a rerun of a New York-set police procedural that just happened to include a scene filmed on the street in front of the Crossfire.

“I think it’d be cool to see a building I owned on TV

like that,” I said.

“It’s not bad, if they don’t close off the street for hours to film.”

I bumped shoulders with him. “Pessimist.” We crawled into Gideon’s bed at ten thirty and watched the last half of a show while curled up together. Sexual tension crackled in the air between us, but he didn’t make any overtures so I didn’t either. I suspected he was stil trying to make amends for the hotel, trying to prove that he wanted to spend time with me not “actively fucking.”

It worked. As much as I desired his outrageously sexy body, it felt good just hanging out together.

He slept in the nude, which was fabulous for me to cuddle up against. I tossed one leg over his, wrapped an arm around his waist, and rested my cheek over his heart. I don’t remember the ending of the show, so I suppose I fel asleep before it was over.

When I woke it was stil dark in the room and I’d rol ed to the far side of my half of the bed. I sat up to see the digital clock face on Gideon’s nightstand and found it was barely three in the morning. I usual y slept straight through the night and thought maybe the strange surroundings were keeping me from sleeping deeply; then Gideon moaned and shifted restlessly and I realized what had disturbed me. The sound he made was pained, his subsequent hiss of breath tormented.

“Don’t touch me,” he whispered harshly. “Get your fucking hands off of me!”

I froze, my heart racing. His words sliced through the dark, fil ed with fury.

“You sick bastard.” He writhed, his legs kicking at the covers. His back arched on a groan that sounded perversely erotic. “Don’t. Ah, Christ…It hurts.” He strained, his body twisting. I couldn’t bear it.

“Gideon.”

Because

Cary

had

nightmares

sometimes, I knew better than to touch a man in the throes of one. Instead, I knelt on my side of the bed and cal ed his name. “Gideon, wake up.” Stil ing abruptly, he fel to his back, tense and expectant. His chest heaved with panting breaths. His cock was hard and lay heavily along his bel y.

I spoke firmly, although my heart was breaking.

“Gideon. You’re dreaming. Come back to me.” He deflated into the mattress. “Eva…?”

“I’m here.” Shifting, I moved out of the way of the moonlight, but saw no luminous glitter that would tel me his eyes were open. “Are you awake?” His breathing began to slow, but he didn’t speak.

His hands were fisted in the bottom sheet. I pul ed the shirt I was wearing over my head and dropped it on the bed. I sidled closer, reaching out with a tentative hand to touch his arm. When he didn’t move, I caressed him, my fingertips sliding gently over the hard muscle of his biceps.

“Gideon?”

He jerked awake. “What? What is it?”

I sat back on my heels with my hands on my thighs. I saw him blink at me, and then shove both hands through his hair. I could feel the nightmare clinging to him, could sense it in the rigidness of his body.

“What’s wrong?” he asked gruffly, pushing up onto one elbow. “You okay?”

“I want you.” I stretched out against him, aligning my bare body to his. Pressing my face into his damp throat, I sucked gently on his salty skin. I knew from my own nightmares that being held and loved could push the specters back into the closet for a little while.

His arms came around me, his hands running up and down the curve of my spine. I felt him let go of the dream with a long, deep sigh.

Pushing him to his back, I climbed over him and sealed my mouth over his. His erection was notched between the lips of my sex and I rocked against him.

The feel of his hands in my hair, holding me to take control of the kiss, quickly made me wet and ready.

Fire licked just beneath my skin. I stroked my clit up and down his thick length, using him to masturbate until he made a rough sound of desire and rol ed to put me beneath him.

“I don’t have any condoms in the house,” he murmured before wrapping his lips around my nipple and sucking gently.

I loved that he wasn’t prepared. This wasn’t his fuck pad; this was his home and I was the only lover he’d brought into it. “I know you mentioned swapping bil s of health when we talked about birth control and that’s the responsible way to go, but—”

“I trust you.” He lifted his head, looking at me in the faint light of the moon. Kneeing my legs open, he pushed the first bare inch inside me. He was scorching hot and silky soft.

“Eva,” he breathed, clutching me tightly to him. “I’ve never…Christ, you feel so good. I’m so glad you’re here.”

I tugged his lips down to mine and kissed him. “Me, too.”

I woke the way I’d fal en asleep, with Gideon on top of me and inside me. His gaze was heavy-lidded with desire as I rose from unconsciousness into heated pleasure. His hair hung around his shoulders and face, looking even sexier for being sleep-tousled. But best of al , there were no shadows in his gorgeous eyes, nothing lingering from the pain that haunted his dreams.

“I hope you don’t mind,” he murmured with a wicked grin, sliding in and out. “You’re warm and soft. I can’t help but want you.”

I stretched my arms over my head and arched my back, pressing my breasts into his chest. Through the slender arch-topped windows, I saw the soft light of dawn fil the sky. “Umm…I could get used to waking up like this.”

“That was my thought at three this morning.” He rol ed his hips and sank deep into me. “I thought I’d return the favor.”

My body revved to life, my pulse quickening. “Yes, please.”

Cary was gone when we got to my apartment, leaving a note behind to tel me he was on a job, but would be back in plenty of time for pizza with Trey. Since I’d been too upset to enjoy my pie the night before, I was ready to try again when I was having a good time.

“I have a business dinner tonight,” Gideon said, leaning over my shoulder to read. “I was hoping you’d come with me and make it bearable.”

“I can’t bail out on Cary,” I said apologetical y, turning to face him. “Chicks before dicks and al that.” His mouth twitched and he caged me to the breakfast bar. He was dressed for work in a suit I’d picked out, a graphite gray Prada with a soft sheen.

His tie was the blue one that matched his eyes, and as I’d lain on his bed and watched him dress, I’d had to fight the urge to take it al off him. “Cary isn’t a chick.

But I get the point. I want to see you tonight. Can I come over after the dinner and stay the night?” Heated anticipation rushed through me. I smoothed my hands over his vest, feeling like I had a special secret because I knew exactly what he looked like without his clothes on. “I’d love it if you did.”

“Good.” He gave a satisfied nod. “I’l make us coffee, while you get dressed.”

“The beans are in the freezer. The grinder’s next to the coffee pot.” I pointed. “And I like lots of milk and a little sweetener.”

When I came out twenty minutes later, Gideon grabbed two travel mugs of coffee off the breakfast bar and we headed down to the lobby. Paul hustled us out the front door and into the backseat of Gideon’s waiting Bentley SUV.

As Gideon’s driver pul ed into traffic, Gideon checked me out and said, “You’re definitely trying to kil me. Are you wearing the garters again?” Pul ing the hem of my skirt up, I showed him where the top of my black silk stockings hooked to my black lace garter belt.

His muttered curse made me smile. I’d chosen a black short-sleeved silk turtleneck sweater paired with a decently short pleated skirt in lipstick red and heeled Mary Janes. Because Cary hadn’t been around to manage something fancy with my hair, I’d pul ed it back in a ponytail. “You like?”

“I’m hard.” His voice was husky, and he adjusted himself in his trousers. “How the hel am I going to get through the day thinking about you dressed like that?”

“There’s always lunch,” I suggested, fantasizing about a nooner on Gideon’s office couch.

“I have a business lunch today. I’d reschedule, if I hadn’t moved it already yesterday.”

“You rescheduled an appointment for me? I’m flattered.”

He reached over and brushed his fingertips over my cheek, a now-habitual gesture of affection that was tender and fiercely intimate. I was coming to depend on receiving those touches.

I leaned my cheek into his palm. “Can you carve fifteen minutes out of your day for me?”

“I’l manage it.”

“Cal me when you know the time.”

Taking a deep breath, I dug into my bag and wrapped my hand around a gift I wasn’t sure he’d want, but I couldn’t get the memory of his nightmare out of my head. I hoped that what I had for him would remind him of me and three A.M. sex, and help him cope. “I have something. I thought…”

It suddenly seemed conceited to give him what I’d brought.

He frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s just…” I exhaled in a rush. “Listen, I have something for you, but I just realized it’s one of those gifts—wel , it’s not real y a gift. I’m already thinking it’s not appropriate and—”

He thrust out his hand. “Give it to me.”

“You can total y decide not to take it—”

“Shut up, Eva.” He crooked his fingers. “Give it to me.”

I pul ed it out of my bag and handed it over.

Gideon stared down at the framed photograph in complete silence. It was a novelty frame depicting die-cut images of things relating to graduation, including a digital clock face that read 3:00 A.M. The picture was of me posing on Coronado Beach in a coral bikini with a big floppy straw hat—I was tanned, happy, and blowing a kiss to Cary, who’d playacted the role of a high-fashion photographer by cal ing out ridiculous encouragements. Beautiful, dahling. Show me sassy.

Show me sexy. Brilliant. Show me catty…rawr…

Embarrassed, I squirmed a little on the seat. “Like I said, you don’t have to keep—”

“I—” He cleared his throat. “Thank you, Eva.”

“Ah, wel …” I was grateful to see the Crossfire outside my window. I jumped out quickly when the driver pul ed over and ran my hands over my skirt, feeling self-conscious. “If you want, I can hang on to it until later.”

Gideon shut the door of the Bentley and shook his head. “It’s mine. You’re not taking it back.” He linked our fingers together and gestured toward the revolving door with the hand holding the frame. I warmed when I realized he intended to take my picture into work with him.

One of the fun things about the ad business was that no day was ever the same as the one before it. I was hopping al morning and was just beginning to contemplate what to do about lunch when my phone rang. “Mark Garrity’s office, Eva Tramel speaking.”

“I’ve got news,” Cary said by way of greeting.

“What?” I could tel by his voice that it was good news, whatever it was.

“I landed a Grey Isles campaign.”

“Oh my God! Cary, that’s awesome! I love their jeans.”

“What are you doing for lunch?”

I grinned. “Celebrating with you. Can you be here at noon?”

“I’m already on my way.”

I hung up and rocked back in my chair, so thril ed for Cary I felt like dancing. Needing something to do to kil the fifteen minutes remaining before my lunch break, I checked my inbox again and found a Google alert digest for Gideon’s name. Over thirty mentions, in just one day.

I opened the e-mail and freaked out a little at the numerous “mystery woman” headlines. I clicked on the first link and found myself landing on a gossip blog.

There, in living color, was a photo of Gideon kissing me senseless on the sidewalk outside of his gym. The accompanying article was short and to the point:

“Gideon Cross, New York’s most eligible bachelor since John F. Kennedy Jr., was spotted yesterday in a passionate public embrace. A source at Cross Industries identified the lucky mystery woman as socialite Eva Tramell, daughter of multimillionaire Richard Stanton and his wife, Monica. When queried about the nature of the relationship between Cross and Tramell, the source confirmed that Miss Tramell is ‘the significant woman’ in the mogul’s life at present. We imagine hearts are breaking across the country this morning.”

“Oh, crap,” I breathed.

I quickly clicked through other links in the digest to find the same picture with similar captions and articles.

Alarmed, I sat back and thought about what this meant.

If one kiss was headline news, what chance would Gideon and I have to make a relationship work?

My hands weren’t quite steady as I closed the browser tabs. I hadn’t considered the press coverage, but I should have. “Damn it.”

Anonymity was my friend. It protected me from my past. It protected my family from embarrassment, and Gideon, too. I didn’t even have any social networking accounts so people who weren’t actively in my life couldn’t find me.

A thin, invisible wal between me and exposure was gone.

“Hel ,” I breathed, finding myself in a painful situation I could have avoided if I’d dedicated any of my brain cel s to something other than Gideon.

There was also his reaction to this mess to consider…I cringed inwardly just thinking about it. And my mother. It wouldn’t be long before she was cal ing and blowing everything out of—

“Shit.” Remembering that she didn’t have my new cel number, I picked up my desk phone and cal ed my other voice mail to see if she’d already tried to reach me. I winced when I heard that my mailbox was ful .

I hung up and grabbed my purse; then headed off to lunch, knowing Cary would help me put it al in perspective. I was so flustered when I reached the lobby level that I rushed out of the elevator with my only thought being to find my roommate. When I spotted him, I didn’t take note of anyone else until Gideon sidestepped smoothly in front of me and blocked my path.

“Eva.” He frowned down at me. Cupping my elbow, he turned me slightly around. That’s when I saw the two women and a man who’d hidden him from my view.

I managed to find a smile for them. “Hel o.” Gideon introduced me to his lunch dates. Then he excused us and tugged me off to the side. “What’s wrong? You’re upset.”

“It’s al over the place,” I whispered. “A picture of us together.”

He nodded. “I’ve seen it.”

I blinked up at him, confused at his nonchalance.

“You’re okay with it?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? For once, they’re reporting the truth.”

A sneaking suspicion niggled at me. “You planned it. You planted the story.”

“Not entirely true,” he said smoothly. “The photographer happened to be there. I just gave him a picture worth printing, and told PR to make it clear who you are and what you are to me.”

“Why? Why would you do that?”

“You have your way of dealing with jealousy and I have mine. We’re both off the market and now everyone knows it. Why is that a problem for you?”

“I was worried about your reaction, but there’s more…There are things you don’t know and I—” I took a deep, shaky breath. “It can’t be that way between us, Gideon. We can’t be public. I don’t want—Damn it. I’l embarrass you.”

“You couldn’t. It’s not possible.” He brushed a loose lock of hair off my face. “Can we talk about this later? If you need me—”

“No, it’s okay. Go.”

Cary came over. Dressed in baggy black cargo pants and a V-neck white undershirt, he stil managed to look expensive. “Everything al right?”

“Hi, Cary. Everything’s fine.” Gideon squeezed my hand. “Enjoy your lunch and don’t worry.”

He could say that because he didn’t know better.

And I didn’t know whether or not he’d stil want me once he did.

Cary faced me as Gideon walked away. “Worry about what? What’s wrong?”

“Everything.” I sighed. “Let’s get out of here, and I’l tel you over lunch.”

“Wel ,” Cary murmured, looking at the link I’d forwarded from my smartphone to his. “That’s some kiss. The dip was a great touch. He couldn’t look more into if he tried.”

“That’s the thing.” I took another big gulp of water.

“He did try.”

He shoved his phone into his pocket. “Last week you kept shooting him down for only wanting your vagina. This week he’s publicizing that he’s in a committed, passionate relationship with you, and you’re stil unhappy. I’m starting to feel bad for the guy.

He can’t win for trying.”

That stung. “Reporters are going to dig, Cary, and they’re going to find dirt. And since it’s juicy dirt they’re going to splash it al over hel and back, and it’s going to embarrass Gideon.”

“Baby girl.” He set his hand over mine. “Stanton buried al that.”

Stanton. I straightened. I hadn’t thought of my stepfather. He’d see the disaster coming and keep a lid on it because he knew what the revelation would do to my mother. Stil …“I’l have to talk to Gideon about it.

He has a right to be warned.”

Just the thought of that conversation made me miserable.

Cary knew how my brain worked. “If you think he’s going to cut and run, I think you’re wrong. He looks at you like you’re the only person in the room.” I poked at my tuna Caesar salad. “He’s got a few demons of his own. Nightmares. He’s closed himself off, I think, because of whatever’s eating at him.”

“But he’s let you in.”

And he’d already shown hints of how possessive he could be about that connection. I accepted that because it was a flaw I shared, but stil …

“You’re analyzing this to death, Eva,” Cary said.

“You’re thinking the way he feels about you has to be a fluke or a mistake. Someone like him couldn’t real y be into you for your big heart and sharp mind, right?”

“My self-esteem isn’t that bad,” I protested.

He took a sip of his champagne. “Isn’t it? So tel me something you think he likes about you that doesn’t have to do with sex or codependency.”

I thought about it and came up empty, which made me scowl.

“Right,” he went on with a nod. “And if Cross is anywhere near as messed up as we are, he’s thinking the same thing in reverse, wondering what a hot babe like you sees in a guy like him. You’ve got money, so what has he got going for him besides being a stud who keeps screwing up?”

Sitting back in my chair, I absorbed everything he’d said. “Cary, I love you madly.”

He grinned. “Back atcha, sweets. My advice, for what it’s worth? Couples therapy. It’s always been my plan to get into it when I find the one I want to settle down with. And try to have fun with him. You’ve got to have as many good times as bad or it al becomes too painful and too much work.”

I reached over and squeezed his hand. “Thank you.”

“For what?” He shrugged off my gratitude with an elegant wave of his hand. “It’s easy to pick apart someone else’s life. You know I couldn’t get through my rough spots without you.”

“Which you don’t have any of now,” I pointed out, shifting the focus to him. “You’re about to be splashed across a Times Square bil board. You won’t be my secret any longer. Should we upgrade dinner from pizza to something more worthy of the occasion? How about we haul out that case of Cristal Stanton gave us?”

“Now you’re talking.”

“Movies? Anything in particular you want to watch?”

“Whatever you want. I wouldn’t want to screw with your big-dumb-blow-’em-up movie genius.” I grinned, feeling better as I’d known I would after an hour with Cary. “You’l let me know if I’m too dense to figure out when you and Trey want to be alone.”

“Ha! Don’t worry about that. Your tempestuous love life is making me feel dul and boring. I could use a hot,

sweaty bang with my own stud.”

“You just had a maintenance closet romp a couple days ago!”

He sighed. “I’d nearly forgotten. How sad is that?”

“It isn’t when your eyes are laughing.” I’d just gotten back to my desk when I checked my smartphone and found a text from Gideon letting me know he had fifteen minutes to spare at quarter to three. I nursed a secret rush of anticipation for the next hour and a half, having decided to take Cary’s advice and have a little fun. Gideon and I would have to wade through the ugliness of my past soon enough, but for now, I could give us both something to smile about.

I texted him just before I left, letting him know I was on my way. Considering the time constraints, we couldn’t waste a minute. Gideon must have felt the same way, because I found Scott waiting for me at reception when I reached the Cross Industries waiting area. He walked me back after the receptionist buzzed me in.

“How’s your day been?” I asked him.

He smiled. “Great so far. Yours?”

I smiled back. “I’ve had worse.”

Gideon was on the phone when I entered his office.

His tone was clipped and impatient as he told the person on the other end of the line that they should be able to manage the job without him having to oversee it personal y.

He held up one finger to me to tel me he’d be another minute. I responded by blowing a big bubble with the gum I was chewing and popping it loudly.

His brows shot up, and he hit the buttons to close the doors and frost the glass wal .

Grinning, I sauntered over to his desk and hopped onto it, curling my fingers around the lip and swinging my legs. He popped the next bubble I blew with a quick jab of his finger. I pouted prettily.

“Deal with it,” he said with quiet authority to whoever was on the phone. “It’l be next week before I can get out there and waiting wil set us back further. Stop talking. I have something time-sensitive on my desk and you’re keeping me away from it. I guarantee that’s not improving my disposition. Fix what needs fixing and report back to me tomorrow.”

He returned the phone to its cradle with suppressed violence. “Eva—”

I held up one hand to cut him off and wrapped my gum in a Post-it I took from a dispenser on his desk.

“Before you reprimand me, Mr. Cross, I want to say that when we reached an impasse in our merger discussions at the hotel yesterday I shouldn’t have walked out. It didn’t help to resolve the situation. And I know I didn’t react very wel to the PR issue with the photo. But stil …Even though I’ve been a naughty secretary, I think I should be given another chance to excel.”

His gaze narrowed as he studied me, assessing and reevaluating the situation on the fly. “Did I ask for your opinion on the appropriate action to take, Miss Tramel ?”

I shook my head and looked up at him from beneath my lashes. I could see the lingering frustration from his phone cal fal ing away from him, replaced by his growing interest and arousal.

Hopping down from the desk, I sidled closer and smoothed his immaculate tie with both hands. “Can’t we work something out? I do possess a wide variety of useful skil s.”

He caught me by the hips. “Which is one of the many reasons you’re the only woman I’ve ever considered for the position.”

Warmth flowed through me at his words. Boldly cupping his cock in my hand, I fondled him through his slacks. “Maybe I should reapply myself to my duties? I could demonstrate some of the ways I’m uniquely qualified to assist you.”

Gideon hardened with delectable swiftness. “Such initiative, Miss Tramel . But my next meeting is less than ten minutes away. Also, I’m not accustomed to exploring job enrichment opportunities in my office.” I freed the button of his fly and lowered his zipper.

With my lips to his jaw, I whispered, “If you think there’s anywhere I won’t make you come, you’l have to revisit and revise.”

“Eva,” he breathed, his eyes hot and tender. He cupped my throat, his thumbs brushing over my jaw.

“You’re unraveling me. Do you know that? Are you doing it on purpose?”

I reached inside his boxer briefs and wrapped my hands around him, offering up my lips for a kiss. He obliged me, taking my mouth with a fierceness that left me breathless.

“I want you,” he growled.

I sank to my knees on the carpeted floor, pul ing his pants down enough to give me the access I needed.

He exhaled harshly. “Eva, what are you—” My lips flowed over the wide crown. He reached back for the edge of his desk, his hands curling around the lip with white-knuckled force. I held him with both hands and mouthed the plush head, sucking gently.

The softness of his skin and his uniquely appealing scent made me moan. I felt the vibration ripple through his entire body and heard a rough sound rumble in his chest.

Gideon touched my cheek. “Lick it.”

Aroused by the command, I fluttered my tongue across the underside and shivered with delight when he rewarded me with a hot burst of pre-cum. Fisting the root of him with one hand, I hol owed my cheeks and drew rhythmical y, hoping for more.

I wished I had the time to make it last. Drive him crazy…

He made a sound fil ed with the sweetest agony.

“God, Eva…your mouth. Keep sucking. Like that…

hard and deep.”

I was so turned on by his pleasure I squirmed. His hands pushed into my bound hair, pul ing and tugging at the roots. I loved how he started out with tenderness, then grew rougher as the lust he felt for me overwhelmed his control.

The soft bite of pain made me hungrier, greedier.

My head bobbed as I pleasured him, jacking him with one hand while I sucked and stroked the crest with my mouth. Heavy veins coursed the length of his cock, and I slid the flat of my tongue along them, tilting my head to find and caress each one.

He swel ed, growing thicker and longer. My knees were uncomfortable, but I didn’t care; my gaze was riveted to Gideon as his head fel back and he fought for breath.

“Eva, you suck me so good.” He held my head stil and took over. Thrusting his hips. Fucking my mouth.

Stripped to a level of base need where only the race to orgasm mattered.

The thought made me crazed, the image in my mind of how we must look: Gideon in al his urbane sophistication, standing at the desk where he ruled an empire, stroking his big cock in and out of my greedy mouth.

I gripped his straining thighs in both hands, frantical y working my lips and tongue, desperate for his climax. His bal s were heavy and big, an audacious display of his powerful virility. I cupped them, rol ing them gently, feeling them tighten and draw up.

“Ah, Eva. ” His voice was a guttural rasp. His grip tightened in my hair. “You’re making me come.” The first spurt of semen was so thick, I struggled to swal ow. Mindless in his pleasure, Gideon was thrusting against the back of my throat, his cock throbbing with every wrenching pulse into my mouth.

My eyes watered and my lungs burned, but stil I pumped my fists, milking him. His entire body shuddered as I took everything he had. The sounds he made and the muttered, breathless praise were the most gratifying I’d ever heard.

I licked him clean, marveling at how he didn’t ful y soften even after an explosive orgasm. He was stil capable of fucking me senseless and more than wil ing to, I knew. But there was no time and I was happy about that. I wanted to do this for him. For us. For me, real y, because I needed to know I could indulge in a selfless sexual act without feeling taken advantage of.

“I have to go,” I murmured, standing and pressing my lips to his. “I hope the rest of your day is awesome, and your business dinner tonight, too.” I started to move away, but he caught my wrist, his gaze on the clock readout on his desk phone. I noticed my picture then, sitting in a place of prominence where he’d see it al day.

“Eva…Damn it. Wait.”

I frowned at his tone, which sounded anxious.

Frustrated.

He quickly restored his appearance, tucking himself back into his boxer briefs and straightening the tail of his shirt so he could fasten his pants. There was something sweet in watching him pul himself back together, restoring the façade he wore for the world while I knew at least a little of the man beneath it.

Tugging me close, Gideon pressed his lips to my brow. His hands moved through my hair to unclip my tortoise barrette. “I didn’t get you off.”

“No need.” I loved the feel of his hands on my scalp.

“That rocked just the way it was.”

He was overly focused on fixing my hair, his cheeks flushed from his orgasm. “I know you need an even exchange,” he argued gruffly. “I can’t let you leave feeling like I used you.”

A bittersweet tenderness pierced me. He’d listened.

He cared.

I cupped his face in my hands. “You did use me, with my permission, and it was seriously hot. I wanted to give you this, Gideon. Remember? I warned you. I wanted you to have this memory of me.”

His eyes widened with alarm. “Why the fuck do I need memories when I have you? Eva, if this is about the photo—”

“Shut up and enjoy the high.” We didn’t have the time to get into the photo issue now and I didn’t want to. It was going to ruin everything. “If we’d had an hour, I stil wouldn’t let you get me off. I’m not keeping score with you, ace. And honestly, you’re the first guy I can say that to. Now, I have to go. You have to go.” I started away again, but he caught me back.

Scott’s voice came through the speaker. “Excuse me, Mr. Cross. But your three o’clock is here.”

“It’s okay, Gideon,” I assured him. “You’re coming over tonight, right?”

“Nothing could keep me away.”

I shoved up onto my tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

“We’l talk then.”

After work, I took the stairs down to the ground floor to feel less guilty about skipping the gym and seriously regretted it by the time I reached the lobby. Lack of sleep from the night before had left me wiped out. I was contemplating taking the subway rather than walking when I saw Gideon’s Bentley at the curb.

When the driver got out and greeted me by name, I halted abruptly, surprised.

“Mr. Cross asked that I take you home,” he said, looking smart in his black suit and chauffeur hat. He was an older gentleman with graying red hair, pale blue eyes, and the softest of cultured accents.

As much as my legs ached, I was grateful for the offer. “Thank you…? I’m sorry—what was your name?”

“Angus, Miss Tramel .”

How had I not remembered that? The name was so cool, it made me smile. “Thank you, Angus.” He tipped his hat. “My pleasure.”

I slid through the back door he opened for me and as I settled into the seat, I caught a glimpse of the handgun he wore in a shoulder holster beneath his jacket. It appeared that Angus, like Clancy, was both bodyguard and driver.

We pul ed away from the curb and I asked, “How long have you been working for Mr. Cross, Angus?”

“Eight years now.”

“Quite a while.”

“I’ve known him longer than that,” he volunteered, catching my gaze in the rearview mirror. “I drove him to school when he was a boy. He hired me away from Mr.

Vidal when the time came.”

Once again, I tried to picture Gideon as a child. No doubt he’d been beautiful and charismatic even then.

Had he enjoyed “normal” sexual relationships when he was a teenager? I couldn’t imagine that women weren’t throwing themselves at him even then. And as innately sexual as he was, I imagined he’d been a horny teen.

Digging in my purse, I pul ed out my keys and leaned forward to set them on the front passenger seat. “Can you see that Gideon gets those? He’s supposed to come over after whatever it is he’s doing tonight and depending on how late that is, I might not hear him knock.”

“Of course.”

Paul opened the door for me when we arrived at my apartment and he greeted Angus by name, reminding me that Gideon owned the building. I waved to both men, told the front desk Gideon would be coming over later, and then took myself upstairs. Cary’s raised brows when he opened the door to me made me laugh.

“Gideon’s coming over later,” I explained, “but I’m feeling so hammered right now I may not stay up long.

So I gave him my keys to let himself in. Did you order already?”

“I did. And I tossed a few bottles of Cristal in the wine fridge.”

“You’re the best.” I shoved my bag at him.

I showered and cal ed my mom from the phone in my room, wincing at her strident, “I have been trying to reach you for days!”

“Mom, if it’s about Gideon Cross—”

“Wel , of course, it’s partly about him! For goodness’

sake, Eva. You’re being cal ed the significant woman in his life. How could I not want to talk about that?”

“Mom—”

“But there’s also the appointment you asked me to make with Dr. Petersen.” The note of smug amusement in her voice made me smile. “We’re scheduled to meet with him Thursday at six o’clock in the evening. I hope that works for you. He doesn’t do many evening appointments.”

I plopped backward onto my bed with a sigh. I’d been so distracted by work and Gideon that the appointment had slipped my mind. “Thursday at six wil be fine. Thank you.”

“Now, then. Tel me about Cross…”

When I emerged from my bedroom dressed in jersey pants and a San Diego State University sweatshirt, I found Trey seated with Cary in the living room. Both men stood when I came in and Trey gifted me with an open, friendly smile.

“I’m sorry I look so ragged,” I said sheepishly, running my fingers through my damp ponytail. “Taking the stairs at work almost kil ed me today.”

“Elevator take the day off?” he asked.

“Nope. My brain did. What the hel was I thinking?” Spending the night with Gideon was enough of a workout.

The doorbel rang and Cary went to get it while I headed into the kitchen for the Cristal. I joined him at the breakfast bar as he signed the credit card receipt and the look in his eyes when he glanced at Trey had me hiding a smile.

There were a lot of those looks going back and forth between the two men as the evening progressed. And I had to agree with Cary that Trey was a hottie.

Dressed in distressed jeans, matching vest, and a long-sleeved shirt, the aspiring veterinarian looked casual but wel put together. He was very different personality-wise from the type of guy Cary usual y dated. Trey seemed more grounded; not quite somber, but definitely not flighty. I thought he’d be a good influence on Cary, if they stayed together long enough.

The three of us made it through two bottles of Cristal and two pizzas between us, plus al of Demolition Man before I cal ed it a night. I urged Trey to stay for Driven to round out the Stal one mini-marathon; then I went to my room and changed into a sexy black baby dol I’d been given as part of a bridesmaid gift bag—sans the matching panties.

Leaving a candle burning for Gideon, I crashed.

I woke to darkness and the scent of Gideon’s skin, the lights and sounds of the city shut out by soundproofed windows and blackout drapes.

Gideon slid over me, a moving shadow, his bare skin cool to the touch. His mouth slanted over mine, kissing me slow and deeply, tasting of mint and his own unique flavor. My hands slid down his sleekly muscular back, my legs parting so he could settle comfortably between them. The weight of him against me made my heart sigh and my blood warm with desire.

“Wel , hel o to you, too,” I said breathlessly when he let me up for air.

“You’l come with me next time,” he murmured in that sexy and decadent voice, nibbling at my throat.

“Wil I?” I teased.

He reached down and cupped my butt in his hand, squeezing and lifting me into a deft rol of his hips.

“Yes. I missed you, Eva.”

I ran my fingers through his hair, wishing I could see him. “You haven’t known me long enough to miss me.”

“Shows how much you know,” Gideon scoffed, sliding downward and nuzzling between my breasts.

I gasped as his mouth covered my nipple and sucked through the satin, deep pul s that echoed in the clenching of my core. He moved to my other breast, his hand pushing up the hem of my baby dol . I arched into him, lost to the magic of his mouth as it moved over my body, his tongue dipping into my navel, then sliding lower.

“And you missed me, too,” he purred with masculine satisfaction, the tip of his middle finger rimming my cleft. “You’re swol en and wet for me.” He pul ed my legs over his shoulders and licked between my folds, soft and provocative laps of hot velvet against my sensitive flesh. My hands fisted in the sheet, my chest heaving as he circled my clit with the tip of his tongue, then nudged the hypersensitive knot of nerves. I keened, my hips moving restlessly into the devious torment, my muscles tightening with the clawing need to come.

The light, teasing flutters were driving me insane, giving me just enough to make me writhe but not enough to get me off. “Gideon, please.”

“Not yet.”

He tortured me, coaxing my body to the brink of orgasm, and then letting me slide back down. Over and over. Until sweat misted my skin and my heart felt like it would burst. His tongue was tireless and diabolical, cleverly focusing on my clit until a single stroke would set me off, then moving lower to thrust into me. The soft, shal ow plunges were maddening, the flickering against the nerve-laden tissues making me desperate enough to beg shamelessly.

“Please, Gideon…let me come…I need to come, please.”

“Shh, angel…I’l take care of you.”

He finished me with a tenderness that made the orgasm rol through me like a crashing wave, building and swel ing and spreading through me in a warm rush of pleasure.

He threaded his fingers with mine when he came over me again, restraining my arms. The head of his cock aligned with the slick entrance of my body and he pushed inexorably into me. I moaned, shifting to accommodate the heavy surge of his penis.

Gideon’s breath gusted hard and humid against my throat, his big frame trembling as he slid careful y inside me. “You’re so soft and warm. Mine, Eva. You’re mine.”

I wrapped my legs around his hips, welcoming him deeper, feeling his buttocks flex and release against my calves as he demonstrated to my body that it would indeed take his thick length al the way to the root.

With our hands linked, he took my mouth and began to move, gliding in and out with languid skil , the tempo precise and relentless yet smooth and easy. I felt every rock-hard inch of him, felt the unmistakable reiteration that every inch of me was his to possess. He drove the message home repeatedly until I was gasping against his mouth, thrashing restlessly beneath him, my hands bloodless from the strength of my grip on his.

He spoke heated praise and encouragement, tel ing me how beautiful I was…how perfect I felt to him…how he’d never stop…couldn’t stop. I came with a sharp cry of relief, vibrating with the ecstasy of it, and he was right there with me. His pace quickened for several slamming thrusts; then he climaxed with a hiss of my name, spil ing into me.

I sank lax into the mattress, sweaty and boneless and replete.

“I’m not done,” he whispered darkly, adjusting his knees to increase the force of his thrusts. The pace remained expertly measured, each plunge staking a claim— your body exists to serve me.

Biting my lip, I fought back the sounds of helpless pleasure that might’ve broken the tranquility of the night…and betrayed the frightening depths of emotion I was beginning to feel for Gideon Cross.

Gideon found me in the shower the next morning. He strode into the master bath gloriously nude, moving with that sleek confident grace I’d admired from the beginning. His hair framed his face and shoulders in a sexy disheveled mane, a look that screamed a woman had clenched the rough black silk in greedy hands.

Watching the flexing of his muscles as he moved, I didn’t even pretend not to stare at the magnificent package between his legs.

Despite the heat of the water, my nipples beaded tight and goose bumps raced across my skin.

His knowing smile as he joined me told me he knew exactly what kind of effect he had on me. I retaliated by running soapy hands al over his godlike body; then sitting on the bench and sucking him off with such enthusiasm he had to support himself with both palms pressed flat against the tile.

His raw, raspy instructions echoed in my mind the entire time I dressed for work, which I did quickly—

before he had a chance to finish his shower and fuck the hel out of me as he’d threatened to just before spurting fiercely down my throat.

He’d had no nightmares during the night. Sex as a sedative seemed to be working, and I was extremely grateful for that.

“I hope you don’t think you’ve gotten away,” he said when he prowled after me into the kitchen.

Immaculately dressed in a black pinstriped suit, he accepted the cup of coffee I handed him and gave me a look that promised al sorts of wicked things. I saw him in his supremely civilized attire and thought of the insatiable male who’d slipped into my bed during the night. My blood quickened. I was sore, my muscles thrumming with remembered pleasure, and I was stil thinking about more.

“Keep looking at me like that,” he warned, leaning casual y into the counter and sipping his coffee. “See what happens.”

“I’m going to lose my job over you.”

“I’d give you another one.”

I snorted. “As what? Your sex slave?”

“What a provocative suggestion. Let’s discuss.”

“Fiend,” I muttered, rinsing out my mug in the sink and putting it in the dishwasher. “Ready? For work?” He finished his coffee and I held out my hand for his mug, but he bypassed me and rinsed it out himself.

Another mortal task that made him seem accessible, less of a fantasy I’d never have a chance of holding on to.

He faced me. “I want to take you out to dinner tonight, and then take you home to my bed.”

“I don’t want you to burn out on me, Gideon.” He was a man used to being alone, a man who hadn’t had a meaningful physical relationship in a long time, if ever.

How long before his flight instincts kicked in? Besides, we real y needed to stay out of the public eye as a couple…

“Don’t make excuses.” His features hardened. “You don’t get to decide I can’t do this.”

I kicked myself for offending him. He was trying and I needed to make sure he got credit for that, not discouragement. “That’s not what I meant. I just don’t want to crowd you. Plus we stil need to—”

“Eva.” He sighed, the hard tension leaving him with that frustrated exhalation. “You have to trust me. I’m trusting you. I’ve had to or we wouldn’t be here now.” Okay. I nodded, swal owing hard. “Dinner and your place it is, then. I honestly can’t wait.” Gideon’s words about trust lingered in my mind al morning, which was a good thing when the Google alert digest hit my inbox.

There was more than one photo this time around.

Each article and blog post had several shots of me and Cary hugging good-bye outside the restaurant where we’d had lunch the day before. The captions speculated on the nature of our relationship and some noted that we lived together. Others suggested I was reeling in “bil ionaire playboy Cross” while keeping my up-and-coming model boyfriend on the side.

The reason for the publicity became apparent when I saw the picture of Gideon mingled with the ones of me and Cary. It had been taken last night, while I was watching movies with Cary and Trey—and while Gideon was supposedly at a business dinner. In the photo, Gideon and Magdalene Perez smiled intimately at each other, her hand on his forearm as they stood outside a restaurant. The captions ranged between kudos for Gideon’s “bevy of beautiful socialites” to speculation that he was hiding a broken heart over my infidelity by dating other women.

You have to trust me.

I closed my inbox, my breathing too quick and my heartbeat too fast. Jealous confusion twisted my gut. I knew he couldn’t possibly have been physical y intimate with another woman and I knew he cared for me. But I hated Magdalene with a passion—certainly she’d given me good reason to during our bathroom chat—and I couldn’t stand seeing her with Gideon.

Couldn’t stand seeing him smiling so fondly at her, especial y after the way she’d treated me.

But I put it away. I shoved it into a box in my mind and I focused on my job. Mark was meeting with Gideon tomorrow to go over the RFP for the Kingsman campaign and I was organizing the information flowing between Mark and the contributing departments.

“Hey, Eva.” Mark poked his head out of his office.

“Steve and I are meeting at Bryant Park Gril for lunch.

He asked if you’d come. He’d like to see you again.”

“I’d love to.” My whole afternoon brightened at the thought of enjoying lunch at one of my favorite restaurants with two real y charming guys. They’d distract me from thinking about the conversation I was hours away from having with Gideon about my past.

My privacy was clearly gone. I would have to grow a set of bal s and talk to Gideon before we went out to dinner. Before he was seen in public with me any further. He needed to know the risk he was taking by being associated with me.

When I received an interoffice envelope a short while later, I assumed it was a smal mock-up of one of the Kingsman ads, but found a note card from Gideon instead.

Noon. My office.

“Real y?” I muttered, irritated by the lack of salutation and closing. Not to mention the lack of a request. And who could forget the fact that Gideon hadn’t even mentioned running into Magdalene at dinner?

Had he invited her as his date in my stead? That’s what she was there for, after al . To be one of the women he socialized with outside of his hotel room.

I flipped Gideon’s card over and wrote the same number of words with no signature:

Sorry. Have plans.

A bratty reply, but he deserved it. When a quarter to noon rol ed around, Mark and I headed down to the ground floor. When I was stopped by security and the guard cal ed up to Gideon to tel him I was in the lobby, my irritation kicked into a temper.

“Let’s go,” I said to Mark, striding toward the revolving door and ignoring the pleas of the security guard to wait a moment. I felt bad putting him in the middle.

I saw Angus and the Bentley at the curb at the same moment I heard Gideon snap out my name like a whipcrack behind me. I faced him as he joined us on the sidewalk with his face impassive and his gaze icy.

“I’m going to lunch with my boss,” I told him, my chin lifting.

“Where are you headed, Garrity?” Gideon asked without taking his eyes off me.

“Bryant Park Gril .”

“I’l see that she gets there.” With that, he took my arm and steered me firmly toward the Bentley and the rear door that Angus held open for me. Gideon crowded in behind me, forcing me to scramble across the seat. The door shut and we were off.

I yanked the skirt of my sheath dress back into place. “What are you doing? Besides embarrassing me in front of my boss!”

He draped one arm over the back of the seat and leaned toward me. “Is Cary in love with you?”

“What? No!”

“Have you fucked him?”

“Have you lost your mind?” Mortified, I shot a glance at Angus and found him acting like he was deaf.

“Screw you, bil ionaire playboy with your bevy of beautiful socialites.”

“So you did see the photos.”

I was so mad I was panting. The nerve. I turned my head away, dismissing him and his idiotic accusations. “Cary’s like a brother to me. You know that.”

“Ah, but what are you to him? The photos were amazingly clear, Eva. I know love when I see it.” Angus slowed for a herd of pedestrians crossing the street. I shoved the door open and looked at Gideon over my shoulder, letting him take a good look at my face. “Obviously, you don’t.”

I slammed the door shut and set off briskly, righteous in my anger. I’d fought back my own questions and jealousy with herculean effort, and what did I get for it? An irrational y pissed-off Gideon.

“Eva. Stop right there.”

I flipped him the bird over my shoulder and raced up the short steps into Bryant Park, a lushly green and tranquil oasis in the midst of the city. Just crossing up and over from the sidewalk was like being transported to a completely different realm. Dwarfed by the towering skyscrapers surrounding it, Bryant Park was a garden land behind a beautiful old library. A place where time slowed, children laughed over the innocent joy of a carousel ride, and books were treasured companions.

Unfortunately for me, the gorgeous ogre from one world chased me into the other. Gideon caught me by the waist.

“Don’t run,” he hissed in my ear.

“You’re acting like a nut job.”

“Maybe because you drive me fucking crazy.” His arms tightened into steel bands. “You’re mine. Tel me Cary knows that.”

“Right. Like Magdalene knows you’re mine.” I wished he had something near my mouth that I could bite. “You’re causing a scene.”

“We could’ve done this in my office, if you weren’t so damned stubborn.”

“I had plans, asshat. And you’re fucking them up for me.” My voice broke, tears wel ing as I felt the number of eyes on us. I was going to get fired for being an embarrassing

spectacle.

“You’re

fucking

up

everything.”

Gideon instantly released me, turning me to face him. His grip on my shoulders ensured I stil couldn’t get away.

“Christ.” He crushed me against him, his lips in my hair. “Don’t cry. I’m sorry.”

I beat my fist against his chest, which was as effectual as hitting a rock wal . “What’s wrong with you?

You can go out with a catty bitch who cal s me a whore and thinks she’s going to marry you, but I can’t have lunch with a dear friend who’s been pul ing for you from the beginning?”

“Eva.” He cupped the back of my head with one hand and pressed his cheek to my temple. “Maggie just happened to be at the same restaurant where I had dinner with my business associates.”

“I don’t care. You want to talk about a look on someone’s face. The look on yours…How could you look at her like that after what she said to me?”

“Angel…” His lips moved ardently over my face.

“That look was for you. Maggie caught me outside and I told her I was heading home to you. I can’t help how I look when I’m thinking about us being alone together.”

“And you expect me to believe she smiled about that?”

“She told me to tel you hel o, but I figured that wouldn’t go over wel , and there was no way I was ruining our night over her.”

My arms slid around his waist beneath his jacket.

“We need to talk. Tonight, Gideon. There are things I have to tel you. If a reporter looks in the right place and gets lucky…We have to keep our relationship private or end it. Either would be better for you.” Gideon cupped my face and pressed his forehead to mine. “Neither is an option. Whatever it is, we’l figure it out.”

I pushed up onto my toes and pressed my mouth to his. Our tongues stroked and dipped, the kiss wildly passionate. I was vaguely aware of the multitude of people mil ing around us, the buzz of numerous conversations, and the steady rumble of the ceaseless midtown traffic, but none of it mattered while I was sheltered by Gideon. Cherished by him. He was both tormentor and pleasurer, a man whose mood swings and volatile passions rivaled my own.

“There,” he whispered, running his fingertips down my cheek. “Let that go viral.”

“You’re not listening to me, you crazy stubborn man.

I have to go.”

“We’l ride home together after work.” He backed away, holding my hand until distance pul ed our fingers apart.

When I turned toward the ivy-draped restaurant, I saw Mark and Steven waiting for me by the entrance.

They made such a pair with Mark in his suit and tie, and Steven in his worn jeans and boots.

Steven stood with his hands in his pockets and big grin on his attractive face. “I feel like I should applaud.

That was better than watching a chick flick.” My face heated and I shifted on my feet.

Mark opened the door and waved me inside. “I think you can ignore my previous words of wisdom about Cross’s womanizing.”

“Thanks for not firing me,” I replied wryly as we waited for the hostess to check our reservation and table. “Or at least feeding me first.”

Steven patted my shoulder. “Mark can’t afford to

lose you.”

Pul ing out a chair for me, Mark smiled. “How else wil I give Steven regular updates on your love life?

He’s a soap opera addict, you know. He loves romantic dramas.”

I snorted. “You’re kidding.”

Steven ran a hand over his chin and smiled. “I’l never admit it one way or the other. A man’s got to have his secrets.”

My mouth curved, but I was painful y aware of my own hidden truths. And how quickly time was passing before I’d have to reveal them.

Five o’clock found me steeling myself to divulge my secrets. I was tense and somber when Gideon and I slid into the Bentley, and my disquiet only worsened when I felt him studying the side of my averted face.

When he took my hand and lifted it to his lips, I felt like crying. I was stil trying to adjust after our argument in the park, and that was the least of what we had to deal with.

We didn’t speak until we arrived at his apartment.

When we entered his home, he led me straight through his beautiful, expansive living room and down the hal to his bedroom. There, laid out on the bed, was a fabulous cocktail dress the color of Gideon’s eyes and a floor-length black silk robe.

“I had a little time to shop before dinner yesterday,” he explained.

My apprehension lifted slightly, softened by pleasure at his thoughtfulness. “Thank you.”

He set my bag on a chair by the dresser. “I’d like you to get comfortable. You can wear the robe or something of mine. I’l open a bottle of wine and we’l just settle in. When you’re ready, we’l talk.”

“I’d like to take a quick shower.” I wished we could separate what happened in the park from what I had to tel him so that each issue was dealt with on its own merits, but I didn’t have a choice. Every day was another opportunity for someone else to tel Gideon what he needed to hear from me.

“Whatever you want, angel. Make yourself at home.” As I kicked off my heels and moved into the bathroom, I felt the weight of his concern, but my revelations would have to hold until I could compose myself better. In an effort to gain that control, I took my time in the shower. Unfortunately, it made me remember the one we’d taken together just that morning. Had that been both our first and last as a couple?

When I was ready, I found Gideon standing by the couch in the living room. He’d changed into black silk pajama bottoms that hung low around his hips. Nothing else. A smal blaze flickered in the fireplace and a bottle of wine sat in an ice-fil ed bucket on the coffee table. A grouping of ivory candles had been clustered as a centerpiece, their golden glow the only il umination besides the fire.

“Excuse me,” I said from the threshold of the room.

“I’m looking for Gideon Cross, the man who doesn’t have romance in his repertoire.”

He grinned sheepishly, a boyish smile so at odds with the mature sexuality of his bared body. “I don’t think about it that way. I just try to guess what might please you, and then I give it a shot and hope for the best.”

“You please me.” I crossed to him, the black robe swaying around my legs. I loved that he’d put on something that matched what he had given me.

“I want to,” he said soberly. “I’m working on it.” Stopping in front of him, I drank in the beauty of his face and the sexy way the ends of his hair caressed the top of his shoulders. I ran my palms down his biceps, squeezing the hard muscle gently before stepping into him and pressing my face into his chest.

“Hey,” he murmured, wrapping his arms around me.

“Is this about me being an ass at lunch? Or whatever it is you need to say to me? Talk to me, Eva, so I can tel you it’l be okay.”

I nuzzled my nose between his pecs, feeling the tickle of crisp chest hair against my cheek and breathing in the reassuring, familiar scent of his skin.

“You should sit down. I have to tel you things about me.

Ugly things.”

Gideon reluctantly let me go when I pul ed away from him. I curled up on his couch with my legs tucked underneath me and he poured us both glasses of golden wine before taking a seat. Leaning toward me, he draped one arm over the back of the sofa and held his glass with the other hand, giving me every bit of his attention.

“Okay. Here goes.” I took a deep breath before starting, feeling dizzy from the elevated rate of my pulse. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so nervous or sick to my stomach.

“My mother and father never married. I real y don’t know too much about how they met, because neither of them talks about it. I know my mom came from money.

Not as much as she married into, but more than most people have. She was a debutante. Had the whole white dress and presentation thing. Getting pregnant with me was a mistake that got her disowned, but she kept me.”

I looked down into my glass. “I real y admire her for that. There was a lot of pressure for her to make the baby—make me—go away, but she went through with the pregnancy anyway. Obviously.”

His fingers sifted through my shower-damp hair.

“Lucky me.”

I caught his fingers and kissed his knuckles, then held his hand in my lap. “Even with a kid in tow, she was able to land herself a mil ionaire. He was a widower with a son just two years older than me, so I think they both thought they’d found the perfect arrangement. He traveled a lot and was rarely home, and my mom spent his money and took over raising his son.”

“I understand the need for money, Eva,” he murmured. “I have to have it, too. I need the power of it.

The security.”

Our eyes met. Something passed between us with that smal admission. It made it easier for me to say what came next.

“I was ten the first time my stepbrother raped me—” The stem of his glass snapped in his hand. He moved so swiftly he was a blur, catching the bowl of his goblet against his thigh before it spil ed its contents.

I scrambled to my feet when he rose to his. “Did you cut yourself? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he bit out. He went into the kitchen and threw the broken glass away, shattering it further. I set my own glass down careful y, my hands shaking. I heard cupboards opening and closing. A few minutes later Gideon returned with a tumbler of something darker in his hand.

“Sit down, Eva.”

I stared at him. His frame was rigid, his eyes icy cold. He scrubbed a hand over his face and said more gently, “Sit down…please.”

My weakened knees gave out and I sat on the edge of the sofa, pul ing the robe tighter around me.

Gideon remained standing, taking a large swal ow of whatever was in his hand. “You said the first time.

How many times were there?”

I took conscious breaths, trying to calm myself. “I don’t know. I lost count.”

“Did you tel anyone? Did you tel your mother?”

“No. My God, if she’d known, she would’ve gotten me out of there. But Nathan made sure I was too afraid to tel her.” I tried to swal ow past a tight, dry throat and winced at the painful sandpapery burn. When my voice came again, it was barely a whisper. “There was a time when it got so bad I almost told her anyway, but he knew. Nathan could tel I was close. So he broke my cat’s neck and left her on my bed.”

“Jesus Christ.” His chest was heaving. “He wasn’t just fucked up, he was insane. And he was touching you… Eva.”

“The servants had to know,” I went on numbly, staring at my twisted hands. I just wanted to get it over with, to get it al out so I could put it back into the box in my mind where I forgot about it in my day-to-day life.

“The fact that they didn’t say anything either told me they were scared, too. They were grownups and they didn’t say a word. I was a child. What could I do if they wouldn’t do anything?”

“How did you get out?” he asked hoarsely. “When did it end?”

“When I was fourteen. I thought I was having my period, but there was too much blood. My mother panicked and took me to the emergency room. I’d had a miscarriage. In the course of the exam they found evidence of…other trauma. Vaginal and anal scarring

—”

Gideon set his glass down on the end table with a harsh thud.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, feeling like I might be sick.

“I’d spare you the details, but you need to know what someone might dig up. The hospital reported the abuse to child services. It’s al a matter of public record, which has been sealed, but there are people who know the story. When my mom married Stanton, he went back and tightened those seals, paid out in return for nondisclosure agreements…stuff like that.

But you have a right to know that this could come out and embarrass you.”

“Embarrass me?” he snapped, vibrating with rage.

“Embarrassment isn’t on the list of what I’d feel.”

“Gideon—”

“I would destroy the career of any reporter who wrote about this, and then I’d dismantle the publication that ran the piece.” He was so cold with fury, he was icy. “I’m going to find the monster who hurt you, Eva, wherever he is, and I’m going to make him wish he was dead.”

A shiver moved through me, because I believed him. It was in his face. His voice. In the energy he exuded and his sharply honed focus. He wasn’t just dark and dangerous in his looks. Gideon was a man who got what he wanted, whatever it took.

I pushed to my feet. “He’s not worth the effort. Not worth your time.”

“You are. You’re worth it. Damn it. Goddamn it to hel .”

I moved closer to the fireplace, needing the warmth.

“There’s also a money trail. Cops and reporters always fol ow the money. Someone may wonder why my mother left her first marriage with two mil ion dol ars, but her daughter from a previous relationship left with five.”

Without looking, I felt his sudden stil ness. “Of course,” I went on, “that blood money’s probably grown to considerably more than that now. I won’t touch it, but Stanton manages the brokerage account I dumped it in and everyone knows he has the Midas touch. If you ever had any concern that I wanted your money—”

“Stop talking.”

I turned to face him. I saw his face, his eyes. Saw the pity and horror. But it was what I didn’t see that hurt the most.

It was my greatest nightmare realized. I’d feared that my past might negatively impact his attraction to me.

I’d told Cary that Gideon might stay with me for al the wrong reasons. That he might stay by my side, but that I’d stil —for al intents and purposes—lose him anyway.

And it seemed I had.

I tightened the belt on my robe. “I’m going to get dressed and go.”

“What?” Gideon glared. “Go where?”

“Home,” I said, weary to the bone. “I think you need to digest al this.”

His arms crossed. “We can do that together.”

“I don’t think we can.” My chin lifted, grief overwhelming

my

shame

and

heartrending

disappointment. “Not while you’re looking at me like you feel sorry for me.”

“I’m not made of fucking stone, Eva. I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t care.”

The emotions I’d run through since lunch coalesced into a searing pain in my chest and a cleansing burst of anger. “I don’t want your goddamn pity.” He shoved both hands through his hair. “What the hel do you want, then?”

“You! I want you.”

“You have me. How many times do I have to tel you that?”

“Your words don’t mean shit when you can’t back them up. From the moment we met, you’ve been hot for me. You haven’t been able to look at me without making it damn clear you want to fuck my brains out.

And that’s gone, Gideon.” My eyes burned. “That look…it’s gone.”

“You can’t be serious.” He stared at me as if I’d grown two heads.

“I don’t think you know how your desire makes me feel.” My arms wrapped around me, covering my breasts. I suddenly felt naked in the worst way. “It makes me feel beautiful. It makes me feel strong and alive. I—I can’t bear to be with you if you don’t feel that way about me anymore.”

“Eva, I…” His voice faded into silence. He was hard-faced and distant, his fists clenched at his sides.

I loosened the sash of my robe and shrugged the whole garment off me. “Look at me, Gideon. Look at my body. It’s the same one you couldn’t get enough of last night. The same one you were so desperate to get into that you took me to that damn hotel room. If you don’t want this anymore…if you don’t get hard looking at it—”

“Is this hard enough for you?” He broke the drawstring of his pants pushing them down to expose the heavy, thickly-veined length of his erection.

We both lunged at the same time, col iding. Our mouths slid over each other as he lifted me to wrap my legs around his hips. He stumbled to the couch and fel , catching our combined weight with one outstretched hand.

I sprawled beneath him, breathless and sobbing, while he slid to his knees on the floor and tongued my cleft. He was rough and impatient, lacking the finesse I’d become used to, and I loved that he was. Loved it more when he levered over me and shoved his cock into me. I wasn’t yet ful y wet and the burn made me gasp, then his thumb was on my clit, rubbing in circles that had my hips churning.

“Yes,” I moaned, raking my nails down his back. He wasn’t icy anymore. He was on fire. “Fuck me, Gideon.

Fuck me hard.”

“Eva.” His mouth covered mine. He fisted my hair, holding me stil as he lunged again and again, pounding hard and deep. He kicked off the armrest with one foot, powering into me, driving toward his orgasm with single-minded ferocity. “Mine…mine…

mine…”

The rhythmic slap of his heavy bal s against the curve of my buttocks and the harshness of his possessive litany drove me insane with lust. I felt myself quickening with every twinge of pain, felt my sex tightening with my growing arousal.

With a long, guttural groan he started coming, his flexing body quaking as he emptied himself inside me.

I held him as he climaxed, stroking his back, pressing kisses along his shoulder.

“Hold on,” he said roughly, pushing his hands beneath me and flattening my breasts against him.

Gideon pul ed me up, and then sat down with me straddling his hips. I was slick from his orgasm, making it easy for him to push back inside me.

His hands brushed the hair away from my face; then wiped my tears of relief. “I’m always hard for you, always hot for you. I’m always half-crazy with wanting you. If anything could change that, I would’ve done it before we got this far. Understand?”

My hands wrapped around his wrists. “Yes.”

“Now, show me that you stil want me after that.” His face was flushed and damp, his eyes dark and turbulent. “I need to know that losing control doesn’t mean I’ve lost you.”

I pul ed his palms from my face and urged them down to my breasts. When he cupped them, I splayed my hands on his shoulders and rocked my hips. He was semi-hard, yet quickly thickened as I began to undulate. His fingers on my nipples, rol ing and tugging, sent waves of pleasure through me, the gentle stimulation arrowing to my core. When he urged me closer and took a hardened tip in his mouth I cried out, my body igniting with need for more.

Clenching my thighs, I lifted. I closed my eyes to focus on the way he felt as he slid out; then bit my lip at the way he stretched me sliding back in.

“That’s it,” he murmured, licking across my chest to my other nipple, fluttering his tongue over the tight, aching tip. “Come for me. I need you to come riding my cock.”

Rol ing my hips, I relished the exquisite feel of him fil ing me so perfectly. I had no shame, no regrets as I worked myself into a frenzy on his stiff penis, adjusting the angle so that the thick crown rubbed right where I needed it.

“Gideon,” I breathed. “Oh, yes…oh please…”

“You’re so beautiful.” He gripped the back of my neck in one hand and my waist in the other, arching his hips to push a little deeper. “So sexy. I’m going to come for you again. That’s what you do to me, Eva. It’s never enough.”

I whimpered as everything tightened, as the sweet tension built from the deep rhythmic strokes. I was panting and frantic, pumping my hips. Reaching between my legs, I rubbed my clit with the pads of my fingers, hastening my climax.

He gasped, his head thrown back into the sofa cushion, his neck corded with strain. “I feel you getting ready to come. Your cunt gets so hot and tight, so greedy.”

His words and his voice pushed me over. I cried out when the first hard tremor hit me; then again as the orgasm rippled through my body, my sex spasming around Gideon’s steely erection.

Teeth grinding audibly, he held on until the clenches began to fade; then he clutched my hips aloft and pumped upward into me. Once, twice. On the third deep thrust, he growled my name and spurted hotly, laying the last of my fears and doubts to rest.

I don’t know how long we sprawled on the couch like that, connected and close, my head on his shoulder and his hands caressing the curve of my spine.

Gideon pressed his lips to my temple and murmured, “Stay.”

“Yes.”

He hugged me. “You’re so brave, Eva. So strong and honest. You’re a miracle. My miracle.”

“A miracle of modern therapy, maybe,” I scoffed, my fingers playing in his luxuriant hair. “And even with that, I was real y fucked up for a while and there are stil some triggers I don’t think I’l ever get past.”

“God. The way I came on to you in the beginning…I could’ve ruined us before we even got started. And the advocacy dinner—” He shuddered and buried his face in my neck. “Eva, don’t let me blow this. Don’t let me chase you away.”

Lifting my head, I searched his face. He was impossibly gorgeous. I had trouble taking it in at times.

“You can’t second-guess everything you do or say to me because of Nathan and what he did. It’l break us apart. It’l end us.”

“Don’t say that. Don’t even think about it.” I smoothed his knit brow with strokes of my thumb. “I wish I could’ve never told you. I wish you didn’t have to know.”

He caught my hand and pressed my fingertips to his lips. “I have to know everything, every part of you, inside and out, every detail.”

“A woman has to have some secrets,” I teased.

“You won’t have any with me.” He captured me by my hair and an arm banded around my hips, urging me against him, reminding me—as if I could forget—that he was stil inside me. “I’m going to possess you, Eva.

It’s only fair since you’ve possessed me.”

“And what about your secrets, Gideon?”

His face smoothed into an emotionless mask, an act so easily accomplished I knew it had become second nature to him. “I started from scratch when I met you. Everything I thought I was, everything I thought I needed…” He shook his head. “We’re figuring out who I am together. You’re the only one who knows me.” But I didn’t. Not real y. I was figuring him out, learning him bit by bit, but he was stil a mystery to me in so many ways.

“Eva…If you just tel me what you want—” His throat worked on a swal ow. “I can get better at this, if you give me the chance. Just don’t…don’t give up on me.” Jesus. He could shred me so easily. A few words, a desperate look, and I was cut wide open.

I touched his face, his hair, his shoulders. He was as broken as I was, in a way I didn’t yet know about. “I need something from you, Gideon.”

“Anything. Just tel me what it is.”

“Every day, I need you to tel me something I don’t know about you. Something insightful, no matter how smal . I need you to promise me that you wil .” Gideon eyed me warily. “Whatever I want?” I nodded, unsure of myself and what I hoped to get out of him.

He exhaled harshly. “Okay.”

I kissed him softly, a silent show of thanks.

Nuzzling his nose against mine, he asked, “Let’s go out to dinner. Or do you want to order in?”

“Are you sure we should go out?”

“I want to go on a date with you.”

There was no way I could say no to that, not when I knew what a big step it was for him. A big step for both of us, real y, since the last time we’d gone on a date it’d ended in disaster. “Sounds romantic. And irresistible.”

His joyful smile was my reward, as was the shower we took to clean up. I loved the intimacy of washing his body as much as I loved the feel of his palms gliding over me. When I took his hand and put it between my legs, urging two of his fingers inside me, I saw the familiar and very welcome heat in his eyes as he felt the slick essence he’d left behind.

He kissed me and murmured, “Mine.”

Which prompted me to slide both hands over his cock and whisper the same claim back to him.

In the bedroom, I lifted my new blue dress off the bed and hugged it to me. “You picked this out, Gideon?”

“I did, yes. Do you like it?”

“It’s beautiful.” I smiled. “My mother said you had excel ent taste…except for your preference for brunettes.”

He glanced at me just before his very fine, very firm naked ass disappeared into his massive walk-in closet. “What brunettes?”

“Ooh, nicely done.”

“Look in the top drawer on the right,” he cal ed out.

Was he trying to distract me from thinking about al the brunettes he’d been photographed with—including Magdalene?

I left the dress on the bed and opened the drawer.

Inside were a dozen Carine Gilson lingerie sets, al in my size, in a wide range of colors. There were also garters and silk stockings stil in their packages.

I looked up at Gideon as he reappeared with his clothes in hand. “I have a drawer?”

“You have three in the dresser and two in the bathroom.”

“Gideon.” I smiled. “Working up to a drawer usual y takes a few months.”

“How would you know?” He laid his clothes on the bed. “You’ve lived with a man other than Cary?” I shot him a look. “Having a drawer isn’t living with someone.”

“That’s not an answer.” He walked over and brushed me gently aside to grab a pair of boxer briefs.

Sensing his withdrawal and darkening mood, I replied before he moved away. “I haven’t lived with any other men, no.”

Leaning over, Gideon pressed a brusque kiss to my forehead before returning to the bed. He paused at the footboard with his back to me. “I want this relationship to mean more to you than any others you’ve had.”

“It does. By far.” I tightened the knot of the towel between my breasts. “I’m struggling with that a little. It’s become important so quickly. Maybe too quickly. I keep thinking it’s too good to be true.” Turning, he faced me. “Maybe it is. If so, we deserve it.”

I went to him and let him pul me into his arms. It was where I wanted to be more than anywhere else.

He pressed a kiss to the crown of my head. “I can’t stand the thought that you’re waiting for this to end.

That’s what you’re doing, isn’t it? That’s what you sound like.”

“I’m sorry.”

“We just have to make you feel secure.” He ran his fingers through my hair. “How do we do that?” I hesitated a moment, then went for it. “Would you go to couples therapy with me?”

The stroking of his fingers paused. He stood silently for a moment, breathing deeply.

“Just think about it,” I suggested. “Maybe look into it, see what it’s about.”

“Am I doing this wrong? You and me? Am I fucking it up that much?”

I pul ed back to look at him. “No, Gideon. You’re perfect. Perfect for me, anyway. I’m crazy about you. I think you’re—”

He kissed me. “I’l do it. I’l go.”

I loved him in that moment. Wildly. And the moment after that. And al through the ride to what turned out to be a dazzling, intimate dinner at Masa. We were one of only three parties in the restaurant and Gideon was greeted by name on sight. The food we were served was otherworldly good and the wine too expensive to think about or I wouldn’t have been able to swal ow it.

Gideon was darkly charismatic; his charm was relaxed and seductive.

I felt beautiful in the dress he’d chosen and my mood was light. He knew the worst of what there was to know about me, but he was stil with me.

His fingertips caressed my shoulder…drew circles on my nape…slid down my back. He kissed my temple and nuzzled beneath my ear, his tongue lightly touching the sensitive skin. Beneath the table, his hand squeezed my thigh and cupped the back of my knee.

My entire body vibrated with awareness of him. I wanted him so badly I ached.

“How did you meet Cary?” he asked, eyeing me over the lip of his wineglass.

“Group therapy.” I set my hand over his to stil its upward slide on my leg, smiling at the mischievous glimmer in his eyes. “My dad’s a cop and he’d heard of this therapist who supposedly had mad skil s with wild kids, which I was. Cary was seeing Dr. Travis, too.”

“Mad skil s, huh?” Gideon smiled.

“Dr. Travis isn’t like any other therapist I’ve ever met.

His office is an old gymnasium he converted. He had an open door policy with ‘his kids’ and hanging out there was more real to me than lying on a couch. Plus he had a no-bul shit rule. It was straight up honesty both ways or he’d get pissed. I’ve always liked that about him, that he cared enough to get emotional.”

“Did you choose SDSU because your dad’s in Southern California?”

My mouth twisted wryly as he revealed another bit of knowledge about me that I hadn’t given him. “How much have you dug up on me?”

“Whatever I could find.”

“Do I want to know how extensive that is?” He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed the back.

“Probably not.”

I shook my head, exasperated. “Yes, that’s why I attended SDSU. I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with my dad while I was growing up. Plus my mother was smothering me to death.”

“And you never told your dad about what happened to you?”

“No.” I rol ed the stem of my wineglass between my fingers. “He knows I was an angry troublemaker with self-esteem issues, but he doesn’t know about Nathan.”

“Why not?”

“Because he can’t change what happened. Nathan was lawful y punished. His father paid a large sum for damages. Justice was served.”

Gideon spoke cool y. “I disagree.”

“What more can you expect?”

He drank deeply before replying. “It’s not fit to describe over dinner.”

“Oh.” Because that sounded ominous, especial y when paired with the ice of his gaze, I returned my attention to the food in front of me. There was no menu at Masa, only omakase, so every bite was a surprise delight, and the dearth of patrons made it seem almost as if we had the whole place to ourselves.

After a moment, he said, “I love watching you eat.” I shot him a look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You eat with gusto. And your little moans of pleasure make me hard.”

I bumped my shoulder into his. “By your own admission, you’re always hard.”

“Your fault,” he said, grinning, which made me grin, too.

Gideon ate with more deliberation than I did and didn’t bat an eye at the astronomical check.

Before we stepped outside, he slid his jacket over my shoulders and said, “Let’s go to your gym tomorrow.”

I glanced at him. “Yours is nicer.”

“Of course it is. But I’l go wherever you like.”

“Someplace without helpful trainers named Daniel?” I asked sweetly.

He looked at me with an arched brow and a wry

curving of his lips. “Watch yourself, angel. Before I think of a suitable consequence for mocking my possessiveness where you’re concerned.” I noted he didn’t threaten me with a spanking again.

Did he understand that administered pain with sex was a major trigger for me? It took me back to a mental place I never wanted to return to.

On the ride back to Gideon’s place, I curled into him in the back of the Bentley, my legs slung over one of his thighs and my head on his shoulder. I thought about the ways Nathan’s abuse stil affected my life—my sex life in particular.

How many of those ghosts could Gideon and I exorcise together? After that brief glimpse of toys I’d seen in the hotel room drawer, it was clear he was more experienced and sexual y adventurous than I was. And the pleasure I’d derived from the ferocity of his lovemaking on the couch earlier proved to me that he could do things to me no one else could.

“I trust you,” I whispered.

His arms tightened around me. With his lips in my hair, he murmured, “We’re going to be good for each other, Eva.”

When I fel asleep in his arms later that night, it was with those words in my head.

“Don’t…No. No, don’t…. Please.”

Gideon’s cries had me jackknifing up in the bed, my heart thudding violently. I fought for breath, glancing wild-eyed at the man thrashing next to me.

He snarled like a feral beast, his hands fisted and his legs kicking restlessly. I moved back, afraid he’d strike out at me unknowingly in his dreams.

“Get off of me,” he panted.

“Gideon! Wake up.”

“Get…off…” His hips arched upward with a hiss of pain. He hovered there, teeth gritted, his back bowed as if the bed was on fire beneath him. Then he col apsed, the mattress jolting as he bounced off of it.

“Gideon.” I reached for the bedside lamp, my throat burning. I couldn’t reach it, had to throw the tangled blankets off to get closer. Gideon was writhing in agony, thrashing so violently he shook the bed.

The room lit up in a sudden flare of il umination. I turned toward him…

And found him masturbating with shocking viciousness.

His right hand gripped his cock with white knuckled force, pumping brutal y fast. His left hand clenched the fitted sheet. Torment and pain twisted his beautiful face.

Fearing for his safety, I shoved his shoulder with both hands. “Gideon, goddamn it. Wake up! ” My scream broke through the nightmare. His eyes flew open and he jerked upright, his eyes darting frantical y.

“What?” he gasped, his chest heaving. His face was flushed, his lips and cheeks red with arousal. “What is it?”

“Jesus.” I shoved my hands through my hair and slid out of bed, snatching up the black robe I’d hung over the footboard.

What was in his mind? What could make someone have such violently sexual dreams?

My voice shook. “You were having a nightmare. You scared the hel out of me.”

“Eva.” He looked down at his erection and his color darkened with shame.

I stared at him from my safe place by the window, tying the sash of my robe with a yank. “What were you dreaming about?”

He shook his head, his gaze lowered with humiliation, a vulnerable posture I didn’t know or recognize in him. It was as if someone else had taken over Gideon’s body. “I don’t know.”

“Bul shit. Something’s in you, something’s eating at you. What is it?”

He ral ied visibly as his brain struggled free of sleep.

“It was just a dream, Eva. People have them.” I stared at him, hurt blooming that he would take that tone with me, as if I was being irrational. “Screw you.” His shoulders squared, and he tugged the sheet over his lap. “Why are you mad?”

“Because you’re lying.”

His chest expanded on a deep breath; then he released it in a rush. “I’m sorry I woke you.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache gathering strength. My eyes stung with the need to cry for him, to cry for whatever torment he’d once lived through. And to cry for us, because if he didn’t let me in, our relationship had nowhere to go.

“One more time, Gideon: what were you dreaming about?”

“I don’t remember.” He ran a hand through his hair and slid his legs off the edge of the bed. “I have some business on my mind and it’s probably keeping me up.

I’m going to work in my home office for a while. Come back to bed, and try to get some sleep.”

“There were a few right answers to that question, Gideon. ‘Let’s talk about it tomorrow’ would’ve been one. ‘Let’s talk about it over the weekend’ would’ve been another. And even ‘I’m not ready to talk about it’

would be okay. But you have some nerve acting like you don’t know what I’m talking about while speaking to me like I’m unreasonable.”

“Angel—”

“Don’t.” My arms wrapped around my waist. “Do you think it was easy tel ing you about my past? Do you think it was painless cutting myself open and letting the ugliness spil out? It would’ve been simpler to cut you off and date someone less prominent. I took the risk because I want to be with you. Maybe someday you’l feel the same way about me.”

I left the room.

“Eva! Eva, damn it, come back here. What’s wrong with you?”

I walked faster. I knew how he felt: the sickness in the gut that spread like cancer, the helpless anger, and the need to curl up in private and find the strength to shove the memories back into the deep dark hole they stil lived in.

It wasn’t an excuse for lying or deflecting the blame onto me.

I snatched my purse off the chair where I’d dropped it on the way in from dinner and I rushed out the front door into the foyer to the elevator. The car doors were closing with me inside when I saw him step into the living room through the open front door. His nakedness ensured he couldn’t come after me, while the look in his eyes ensured I wouldn’t stay. He’d donned his mask again, that striking implacable face that kept the world a safe distance away.

Shaking, I leaned heavily against the brass handrail for support. I was torn between my concern for him, which urged me to stay, and my hard-won knowledge, which assured me that his coping strategy wasn’t one I could live with. The road to recovery for me was paved with hard truths, not denials and lies.

Swiping at my wet cheeks when I passed the third floor, I took deep breaths and col ected myself before the doors opened on the lobby level.

The doorman whistled down a passing cab for me and was such a consummate professional that he acted like I was dressed for work rather than sporting bare feet and a black dressing gown. I thanked him sincerely.

And I was so grateful to the cabbie for getting me home quickly that I tipped him wel and didn’t care about the furtive looks I got from my own doorman and the front desk staffer. I didn’t even care about the look I got from the stunning, statuesque blonde who stepped out of the elevator I was waiting for, until I smel ed Cary’s cologne on her and realized the T-shirt she was wearing was one of his.

She took in my half-dressed state with an amused glance. “Nice robe.”

“Nice shirt.”

The blonde took off with a smirk.

When I reached my floor, I found Cary lounging in the open doorway in a robe of his own.

He straightened and opened his arms to me.

“Come here, baby girl.”

I walked straight into him and hugged him tight, smel ing a woman’s perfume and hard sex al over him.

“Who’s the chick that just left?”

“Another model. Don’t worry about her.” He drew me into the apartment, and shut and locked the door.

“Cross cal ed. He said you were heading back and he has your keys. He wanted to be sure I was here and awake to let you in. For what it’s worth, he sounded torn up and anxious. You wanna talk about it?” Setting my purse down on the breakfast bar, I went into the kitchen. “He had another nightmare. A real y bad one. When I asked him about it he denied, he lied, then he acted like I was nuts.”

“Ah, the classics.”

The phone started ringing. I flicked the switch on the base that turned the ringer off and Cary did the same to the handset he’d left on the counter. Then I pul ed out my smartphone, closed the alert that said I’d missed numerous cal s from Gideon, and sent him a text message; Home safe. Hope you sleep well

the rest of the night.

I powered the phone off and tossed it back in my purse; then I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

“The kicker is that I told him al my junk earlier tonight.” Cary’s brows shot up. “So you did it. How’d he take it?”

“Better than I had any right to expect. Nathan ought to hope they never run into each other.” I finished the bottle. “And Gideon agreed to the couples counseling you suggested. I thought we’d turned a corner. Maybe we did, but we hit a brick wal anyway.”

“You seem okay, though.” He leaned into the breakfast bar. “No tears. Real y calm. Should I be worried?”

I rubbed my bel y to ease the fear that had rooted there. “No, I’l be al right. I just…I want it to work out between us. I want to be with him, but lying about serious issues is a deal breaker for me.” God. I couldn’t let myself even consider that we might not get past this. I was already feeling antsy. The need to be with Gideon was a frantic beat in my blood.

“You’re a tough cookie, baby girl. I’m proud of you.” He came to me, linked our arms, and turned off the kitchen lights. “Let’s crash and start a new day when we wake up.”

“I thought things were going wel with you and Trey.” His grin was glorious. “Honey, I think I’m in love.”

“With who?” I leaned my cheek against his shoulder.

“Trey or the blonde?”

“Trey, sil y. The blonde just provided a workout.” I had a lot to say about that, but it wasn’t the time to get into Cary’s history of sabotaging his own happiness. And maybe focusing on how good things were with Trey was the best way to handle this instance of it. “So you’ve final y fal en for a good guy.

We should celebrate.”

“Hey, that’s my line.”

The next morning dawned with an odd surreality. I made it to work, and then through most of my prelunch day in a kind of chil y fog. I couldn’t get warm enough, despite wearing a cardigan over my blouse and a scarf that didn’t match either one. It took me a few minutes longer to process requests than it should have, and I couldn’t shake a feeling of dread.

Gideon made no contact with me whatsoever.

Nothing on my smartphone or e-mail after my text last night. Nothing in my e-mail inbox. No interoffice note.

The silence was excruciating. Especial y when the day’s Google alert hit my inbox and I saw the photos and phone videos of me and Gideon in Bryant Park.

Seeing how we looked together—the passion and need, the painful longing on our faces, and the gratefulness of reconciliation—was bittersweet.

Pain twisted in my chest. Gideon.

If we couldn’t work this out, would I ever stop thinking about him and wishing we had?

I struggled to pul myself together. Mark was meeting with Gideon today. Maybe that’s why Gideon hadn’t felt pressed to contact me. Or maybe he was just real y busy. I knew he had to be, considering his business calendar. And as far as I knew, we stil had plans to go to the gym after work. I exhaled in a rush and told myself that things would straighten out somehow. They just had to.

It was quarter to noon when my desk phone rang.

Seeing from the readout that the cal was coming from reception, I sighed with disappointment and answered.

“Hey, Eva,” Megumi said cheerily. “You have a Magdalene Perez here to see you.”

“Do I?” I stared at my monitor, confused and irritated. Had the Bryant Park photos lured Magdalene out from under whatever trol bridge she cal ed home?

Regardless of the reason, I had no interest in talking to her. “Keep her up there for me, wil you? I have to take care of something first.”

“Sure. I’l tel her to have a seat.”

I hung up, then pul ed out my smartphone and scrol ed through the contact list until I found the number to Gideon’s office. I dialed and was relieved when Scott answered.

“Hey, Scott. It’s Eva Tramel .”

“Hi, Eva. Would you like to speak to Mr. Cross?

He’s in a meeting at the moment, but I can buzz him.”

“No. No, don’t bother him.”

“It’s a standing order. He won’t mind.” It soothed me immensely to hear that. “I hate to throw this in your lap, but I have a request for you.”

“Anything you need. That’s also a standing order.” The amusement in his voice relaxed me further.

“Magdalene Perez is down here on the twentieth floor. Frankly, the only thing she and I have in common is Gideon, and that’s not a good thing. If she has something to say, it’s your boss she should be talking to. Could you please have someone escort her up?”

“Absolutely. I’l take care of it now.”

“Thanks, Scott. I appreciate you.”

“It’s my pleasure, Eva.”

I hung up the phone and sagged back in my seat, feeling better already and proud of myself for not letting jealousy get the better of me. While I stil real y hated the idea of her having any of Gideon’s time, I hadn’t lied when I’d said I trusted him. I believed he had strong, deep feelings for me. I just didn’t know if they were enough to override his survival instinct.

Megumi cal ed me again.

“Oh my God,” she said, laughing. “You should’ve seen her face when whoever that was came to get her.”

“Good.” I grinned. “I figured she was up to no good.

Is she gone, then?”

“Yep.”

“Thanks.” I crossed the narrow strip of hal way to Mark’s door and poked my head in to see if he wanted me to pick him up some lunch.

He frowned, thinking about it. “No, thanks. I’l be too nervous to eat until after the presentation with Cross.

By then whatever you pick up wil be hours old.”

“How about a protein smoothie, then? It’l give you some easy fuel until you can eat.”

“That’d be great.” His smile lit up his dark eyes.

“Something that goes good with vodka, just to get me in the mood.”

“Anything you don’t like? Any al ergies?”

“Nada.”

“Okay. See you in an hour.” I knew just the place to go. The deli I had in mind was a couple blocks up and offered smoothies, salads, and a variety of made-to-order paninis with quick service.

I headed downstairs and tried not to think about Gideon’s radio silence. I’d kind of expected to hear something after the Magdalene incident. Getting no reaction had me worrying al over again. I pushed out to the street through the revolving door and scarcely paid any attention to the man who climbed out of the back of a town car at the curb until he cal ed my name.

Turning, I found myself facing Christopher Vidal.

“Oh…Hi,” I greeted him. “How are you?”

“Better, now that I’ve seen you. You look fantastic.”

“Thanks. I can say the same to you.”

As different as he was from Gideon, he was gorgeous in his own way with his mahogany waves, grayish-green eyes, and charming smile. He was dressed in loose-fitting jeans and a cream V-neck sweater, a very sexy look for him.

“Are you here to see your brother?” I asked.

“Yes, and you.”

“Me?”

“Heading to lunch? I’l join you and explain.” I was briefly reminded of Gideon’s warning to stay away from Christopher, but by now I figured he trusted me. Especial y with his brother.

“I’m going to a deli up the street,” I said. “If you’re game.”

“Absolutely.”

We started walking.

“What did you want to see me about?” I asked, too curious to wait.

He reached into one of two large cargo pockets of his jeans and pul ed out a formal invitation in a vel um envelope. “I came to invite you to a garden party we’re having at my parents’ estate on Sunday. A mix of business and pleasure. Many of the artists signed to Vidal Records wil be there. I was thinking it’d be great networking for your roommate—he’s got the right look for music video.”

I brightened. “That would be wonderful!” Christopher grinned and passed the invite over.

“And you’l both have fun. No one throws a party like my mother.”

I glanced briefly at the envelope in my hand. Why hadn’t Gideon said anything about the event?

“If you’re wondering why Gideon didn’t tel you about it,” he said, seemingly reading my mind, “it’s because he won’t come. He never does. Even though he’s the majority shareholder in the company, I think he finds the music industry and musicians too unpredictable for his tastes. By now, you know how he is.” Dark and intense. Powerful y magnetic and hotly sexual. Yes, I knew how he was. And he preferred to know what he was getting into at al costs.

I gestured at the deli when we reached it, and we stepped inside and got in line.

“This place smel s awesome,” Christopher said, his gaze on his phone as he typed out a quick text.

“The aroma delivers on its promise, trust me.” He smiled a delightful boyish smile that I was sure knocked most women on their asses. “My parents are real y looking forward to meeting you, Eva.”

“Oh?”

“Seeing the photos of you and Gideon over the last week has been a real surprise. A good surprise,” he qualified quickly when I winced. “It’s the first time we’ve seen him real y into someone he’s dating.” I sighed, thinking he wasn’t so into me right now.

Had I made a terrible mistake by leaving him alone last night?

When we reached the counter, I ordered a gril ed vegetable and cheese panini with two pomegranate smoothies, asking them to hold the one with a protein shot for thirty minutes so I could eat in. Christopher ordered the same, and we managed to find a table in the crowded deli.

We talked about work, laughing over both a recent baby food commercial faux-blooper that had gone viral and some backstage anecdotes about acts Christopher had worked with. The time passed swiftly, and when we parted ways at the entrance of the Crossfire, I said good-bye with genuine affection.

I headed up to the twentieth floor, and found Mark stil at his desk. He offered me a quick smile despite his air of concentration.

“If you don’t real y need me,” I said, “I think it’d be good for me to sit this presentation out.” Although he tried to hide it, I saw the lightning quick flash of relief. It didn’t offend me. Stress was stress, and my volatile relationship with Gideon was something Mark didn’t need to think about while he was working on an important account.

“You’re golden, Eva. You know that?”

I smiled and set the drink carrier down in front of him. “Drink your smoothie. It’s real y good, and the protein wil keep you from feeling too hungry for a little bit longer. I’l be at my desk if you need me.” Before I put my purse in the drawer, I texted Cary to ask if he had plans on Sunday or if he’d like to go to a Vidal Records party. Then I got back to work. I’d started organizing Mark’s files on the server, tagging them and placing them in directories to make it easier for us to assemble portfolios on the fly.