Bared to You: A Crossfire Novel (31 page)

Rolling his hips, he screwed into me, exploiting other spots. I made a plaintive sound, on fire for him, desperately infatuated. My fingers cramped with the grip I had on my pillow, my head thrashing against the driving need to orgasm. He could get me there just by rubbing inside me, the only man who’d ever been skilled enough to give me an intense vaginal orgasm.

“Don’t come,” he repeated, his voice hoarse. “Make it last.”

“I c-can’t. It feels too good. God, Gideon…” Tears leaked out of the corners of my eyes. “I…I’m lost in you.”

I cried softly, afraid to say the other L-word too soon and risk upsetting the delicate balance between us.

“Oh, Eva.” He rubbed his cheek against my damp face. “I must’ve wished for you so hard and so often you had no choice but to come true.”

“Please,” I begged softly. “Slow down.”

Gideon lifted his head to look at me, choosing that moment to pinch my nipples with just enough force to inflict a hint of pain. The tender muscles inside me clenched down so hard that his next thrust caused him to groan.

“Please,” I pled again, trembling with the effort to stave off my building climax. “I’m going to come if you don’t slow down.”

His gaze was hot on my face, his hips still lunging in a measured tempo that was slowly stealing my sanity. “Don’t you want to come, Eva?” he purred in that voice that could lure me into hell with a dreamy smile. “Isn’t that what you’ve been working toward all night?”

My neck arched as his lips drifted across my throat. “Only when you say I can,” I gasped. “Only…when you say.”

“Angel.” One hand moved to my face, brushing back the strands of hair that clung to the perspiration on my skin. He kissed me deeply, reverently, licking deep into my mouth.

Yes
…

“Come for me,” he coaxed, quickening his pace. “Come, Eva.”

On command, the orgasm struck me like a blow, shocking my system with an overload of sensation. Wave after wave of pulsing heat rolled through me, contracting my sex and tightening my core. I cried out, first with an inarticulate sound of agonized pleasure, then with his name. Chanting it over and over as he drove his beautiful cock into me, prolonging my climax, before pushing me into another one.

“Touch me,” he rasped, as I fell apart beneath him. “Hold me.”

Freed from his command to hold the pillow, I bound him to my sweat-slick body with arms and legs. He pounded deep and hard, driving strenuously toward his climax.

He came with a growl, his head thrown back as he spurted into me for long minutes. I held him until our bodies cooled and our breathing evened.

When Gideon finally rolled off me, he didn’t go far. He wrapped himself around my back and whispered, “Sleep now.”

I don’t remember if I stayed awake long enough to reply.

 

M
onday mornings could be awesome, when they began with Gideon Cross. We rode to work with my back propped against his side and his arm slung over my shoulder so that his fingers could link with mine.

As he toyed with the ring he’d given me, I kicked out my legs and eyed the classic nude heels he’d bought me along with some outfits to wear on the occasions I slept over. To start out the new week, I’d decided on a black pinstriped sheath dress with a thin blue belt that reminded me of his eyes. He had excellent taste; I had to give him that.

Unless he was sending one of his brunette “acquaintances” out on buying sprees…?

I pushed the unpleasant thought aside.

When I’d checked out the drawers he had set aside for me in his bathroom, I found all of my usual cosmetics and toiletries in all my usual shades. I didn’t bother to ask how he knew, which might’ve led to me freaking out. Instead, I chose to look at it as more proof of his attentiveness. He thought of everything.

The highlight of my morning had been helping Gideon dress in one of his seriously sexy suits. I’d buttoned his shirt; he’d tucked it into his pants. I’d fastened his fly; he had knotted his tie. He’d shrugged into his vest; I’d smoothed the finely tailored material over his equally fine shirt, amazed to find that it could be just as sexy putting clothes
on
him as it was to take them
off
. It was like wrapping my own gift.

The world would see the beauty of the packaging, but only I knew the man inside it and how precious he was. His intimate smiles and his deep husky laugh, the gentleness of his touch and the ferocity of his passion were all reserved for me.

The Bentley bounced lightly over a pothole in the road and Gideon tightened his hold. “What’s the plan after work?”

“I get to start my Krav Maga classes today.” I couldn’t keep the excitement out of my voice.

“Ah, that’s right.” His lips brushed over my temple. “You know I’m going to have to watch you go through drills. Just thinking about it makes me hard.”

“Didn’t we already establish that
everything
makes you hard?” I teased, nudging him with my elbow.

“Everything about
you
. Which is lucky for us, since you’re insatiable. Text me when you’re done and I’ll meet you at your place.”

Digging in my purse, I pulled out my smartphone to see if it still had a charge and saw a message from Cary. I opened it and found a video plus a text;
Does X know his bro is a douche? Stay away from CV, baby girl *smooches*

I started the playback but it took me a minute to figure out what I was seeing. When comprehension set in, I froze.

“What is it?” Gideon asked with his lips in my hair. Then he stiffened behind me, which told me he was looking over my shoulder.

Cary had filmed the video at the Vidal’s garden party. From the eight-foot-high hedges in the background, he was in the maze, and from the leaves framing the screen, he was in hiding. The star of the show was a couple locked in a passionate embrace. The woman was beautifully teary, while the man kissed over her frantic words and soothed her with gentle strokes of his hands.

They were talking about me and Gideon, talking about how I was using my body to get my hands on his millions.

“Don’t worry,” Christopher crooned to a distraught Magdalene. “You know Gideon gets bored fast.”

“He’s different with her. I—I think he loves her.”

He kissed her forehead. “She’s not his type.”

The fingers I had linked with Gideon’s tightened.

As we watched, Magdalene’s demeanor slowly changed. She began to nuzzle into Christopher’s touch, her voice softening, her mouth seeking. To an observer, it was clear he knew her body well—where to pet and where to rub. When she responded to his skilled seduction, he lifted her dress and fucked her. That he was taking advantage of her was obvious. It was there in the contemptuously triumphant look on his face as he screwed her until she was limp.

I didn’t recognize the Christopher on the screen. His face, his posture, his voice…it was like he was a different man.

I was grateful when my smartphone battery died and the screen abruptly winked off. Gideon wrapped his arms around me.

“Yuck,” I whispered, snuggling carefully into him so I didn’t get makeup on his lapel. “Majorly creepy. I feel bad for her.”

He exhaled harshly. “That’s Christopher.”

“Asshole. That smug look on his face—Ugh.” I shuddered.

Pressing his lips to my hair, he murmured, “I thought Maggie would be safe from him. Our mothers have known each other for years. I forget how much he hates me.”

“Why?”

I wondered briefly if the nightmares Gideon had were related to Christopher, then I put the thought aside. No way. Gideon was older by several years and tougher all the way around. He’d kick Christopher’s ass.

“He thinks I got all the attention when we were younger,” Gideon said wearily, “because everyone was worried about how I was handling my father’s suicide. So he wants what’s mine. Everything he can get his hands on.”

I turned into him, pushing my arms underneath his jacket to get closer. There was something in his voice that made me hurt for him. His family home was a place he said haunted his nightmares and he was terribly distant from his family.

He’d never been loved. It was as simple—and as complicated—as that.

“Gideon?”

“Hmm?”

I pulled back to look at him. Reaching up, I traced the bold arch of his brow. “I love you.”

A violent shudder moved through him, one hard enough to shake me, too.

“I don’t mean to freak you out,” I reassured him quickly, averting my face to give him some privacy. “You don’t have to do anything about it. I just didn’t want another minute to go by without you knowing how I feel. You can tuck it away now.”

One of his hands gripped my nape, the other dug almost painfully into my waist. Gideon held me there, immobile, locked against him as if I might blow away. His breathing was ragged, his heartbeat pounding. He didn’t say another word the rest of the ride to work, but he didn’t let me go either.

I planned on telling him again one day in the future, but as far as first times went, I thought we’d both done okay.

At ten o’clock sharp, I had two dozen long-stemmed red roses delivered to Gideon’s office with the note:
In celebration of red dresses and limo rides.

Ten minutes later, I received an interoffice envelope with a note card that read:

Let’s do that again. Soon.

 

At eleven o’clock, I had a black-and-white calla lily arrangement delivered to his office with the note:
In honor of black & white garden party dresses and being dragged into libraries…

Ten minutes later, I received his reply:

I’ll be dragging you to the floor in a minute…

 

At noon, I went shopping. Ring shopping. I hit six different shops before I found a piece that struck me as being absolutely perfect. Made of platinum engraved and studded with black diamonds, it was an industrial-looking ring that made me think of power and bondage. It was a dominant ring, very bold and masculine. I had to open a new charge account with the store to cover the hefty cost, but I considered the months of payments ahead of me worth it.

I called Gideon’s office and talked with Scott, who helped me arrange a fifteen-minute window in Gideon’s packed day for me to stop by.

“Thank you so much for your help, Scott.”

“You’re very welcome. I’ve enjoyed watching him receive your flowers today. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile like that.”

A warm rush of love flowed through me. I wanted to make Gideon happy. As he’d said, I lived for it.

I went back to work with a smile of my own. At two o’clock, I had a tiger lily arrangement delivered to Gideon’s office followed by a private note sent via interoffice envelope:

In gratitude for all the jungle sex.

 

His reply:

Skip the Krav Maga. I’ll give you a workout.

 

When three forty rolled around—five minutes before my appointment with Gideon—I got nervous. I stood up from my chair on shaky legs and paced in the elevator on the way up to his floor. Now that the time had come to give him my gift, I worried that maybe he didn’t like rings…after all, he didn’t wear any.

Was it too presumptuous and possessive of me to want him to wear one just because I did?

The redheaded receptionist didn’t give me any trouble getting in and when Scott spotted me emerging from the hallway, he stood from his desk and greeted me with a wide grin. When I stepped into Gideon’s office, Scott closed the door behind me.

I was immediately struck by the lovely fragrance of the flowers and the way they warmed the starkly modern office.

Gideon looked up from his monitor, his brows lifting when he saw me. He pushed fluidly to his feet. “Eva. Is something wrong?”

I watched him shift gears from professional to personal, his gaze softening as he looked at me.

“No. It’s just…” I took a deep breath and went to him. “I have something for you.”

“More? Did I forget a special occasion?”

I set the ring box down in the center of his desk. Then I turned away, feeling queasy. I seriously doubted the wisdom of my impetuous gift. It seemed like a stupid idea now.

What could I say to absolve him of guilt for not wanting it? As if it wasn’t bad enough I’d dropped the “L” bomb on him today; then I had to follow it up with a damned ring. He was probably feeling the ball and chain already, dragging after him as he ran. And the noose tightening—

I heard the ring box snap open and Gideon’s sharply drawn breath.
“Eva.”

His voice was dark and dangerous. I turned carefully, wincing at the austerity of his features and the starkness of his gaze. His hands were white-knuckled on the box.

“Too much?” I asked hoarsely.

“Yes.” He set the box down and rounded the desk. “Too damn much. I can’t sit still, I can’t concentrate. I can’t get you out of my head. I’m fucking restless, and I never am when I’m at work. I’m too busy. But you have me under siege.”

I knew damn well how demanding his work had to be, yet I hadn’t taken that into consideration when the mood to surprise him—again and again—hit me. “I’m sorry, Gideon. I wasn’t thinking.”

He approached with the sexy stride that hinted at how great he was in the sack. “Don’t be sorry. Today has been the best day of my life.”

“Really?” I watched him slide the ring onto his right ring finger. “I wanted to please you. Does it fit? I had to guess…”

“It’s perfect. You’re perfect.” Gideon caught up my hands and kissed my ring; then watched as I repeated the gesture with his. “What you make me feel, Eva…it hurts.”

My pulse leaped. “Is that bad?”

“It’s wonderful.” He cupped my face, his ring cool against my cheek. He kissed me passionately, his lips demanding against mine, his tongue thrusting with wicked skill into my mouth.

I wanted more, but restrained myself, thinking that I’d already gone overboard enough for one day. Plus, he’d been too distracted by my unexpected appearance to frost the glass wall to give us privacy.