My pulse quickened as I obeyed him, sliding to my back and allowing my thighs to fall open. There was an instinctive urge to cover myself—the feeling of vulnerability under that piercing gaze was so intense—but I resisted it. I’d be dishonest if I didn’t admit that it was wildly exciting to be totally nak*d while he was irresistibly clothed in one of his sexy-as-hell suits. It created an instantaneous power advantage for him that was a serious turn-on.
He stroked a finger through the lips of my sex, gliding teasingly over my clit. “This beautiful cunt is mine.”
My belly quivered at the rasp in his voice.
Cupping me in his palm, he met my gaze. “I’m a very possessive man, Eva, as I’m sure you’ve noticed by now.”
I shivered as the tip of his finger circled the clenching opening. “Yes.”
“Role-play, restraints, modes of transportation, and varied locations … I look forward to exploring all of that with you.” Eyes glittering, he slid a finger oh-so-slowly inside me. He made a low purring noise and caught his lower lip between his teeth, a purely erotic look that told me he felt his sem*n inside me.
Being penetrated and so gently pleasured left me unable to speak for a moment.
“You like that,” he said softly.
“Umm.”
His finger went deeper. “I’ll be damned if plastic, glass, metal, or leather will make you come. B.O.B. and his friends will have to find other amusements.”
Heat swept over my skin like fever. He understood.
Bending over me, Gideon placed one hand on the mattress and lowered his mouth to mine. His thumb pressed against my cl*t and rubbed expertly, massaging me inside and out. The pleasure of his touch spread, tightening my stomach and hardening my n**ples. I clutched my bare br**sts in my hands, squeezing as they swelled. His touch and desire were magic. How had I ever lived without him?
“I ache for you,” he said hoarsely. “Crave you constantly. Snap your fingers and I’m hard.” He traced my lower lip with his tongue, inhaling my panting breaths. “When I come, I come for you. Because of you and your mouth, hands, and insatiable little cunt. And it’ll be that way for you in reverse. My tongue, my fingers, my cum inside you. Just you and me, Eva. Intimate and raw.”
I had no doubt I was the focal point of his world when he was touching me, the only thing he saw or thought of. But we couldn’t have that physical connection all the time. Somehow, I had to learn to believe in what I couldn’t see between us.
Shameless, my body writhed as I rode his plunging finger. He added another and I dug in my heels, arching up to meet his thrusts. “Please.”
“When your eyes turn soft and dreamy, I’ll be the one who put that look on you, not a toy.” He nibbled my jaw, then moved to my chest, nudging my hands aside with his lips. He claimed my nipple in a gentle bite, his mouth surrounding the tender peak and sucking softly. The ache he created was needle-sharp, my hunger spurred by the sense that there was a lingering gulf between us, something that hadn’t yet been recognized and resolved.
“More,” I gasped, needing his pleasure as much as my own.
“Always,” he murmured, his mouth curving in a wicked smile against my skin.
I groaned in frustration. “I want your c*ck inside me.”
“As you should.” His tongue curled around my other nipple, flickering teasingly over it until it ached for suction. “Your craving should be for me, angel, not an orgasm. For my body, my hands. Eventually, you won’t be able to come without my skin touching yours.”
I nodded frantically, my mouth too dry to speak. Need was coiled like a spring in my core, tightening with every circle of Gideon’s thumb on my cl*t and every thrust of his fingers. I thought of B.O.B., my trusty Battery-Operated Boyfriend, and knew that if Gideon were to stop touching me now, nothing would get me off. My passion was for him, my desire inflamed by his desire for me.
My thighs quivered. “I’m g-going to come.”
His mouth covered mine, his beautiful lips soft and coaxing. It was the love in his kiss that pushed me over. I cried out and shuddered through a quick, hard orgasm. My moan was long and broken, my body quivering violently. I pushed my hands under his jacket to grip his back, holding him close, my mouth claiming his until the wracking pleasure eased.
Licking the taste of me from his fingers, he murmured, “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
I consciously tried to slow my racing heart. “I’m not thinking. I just want to look at you.”
“You don’t always. Sometimes you close your eyes.”
“That’s because you’re a talker in bed and your voice is so sexy.” I swallowed hard with remembered pain. “I love to hear you, Gideon. I need to know that I’m making you feel as good as you make me feel.”
“Suck me off now,” he whispered. “Make me come for you.”
I slid from the bed in a breathless rush, my hands reaching eagerly for his fly. He was hard and thick, his erection straining. Lifting his shirttail and pushing down his boxer briefs, I freed him. He fell heavily into my hands, the thick length already glistening at the tip. I licked the evidence of his excitement away, loving his control, the way he reined in his own hungers to satisfy mine.
My eyes were on him as my open mouth slid over the plush head. I watched his lips part on a sharply indrawn breath and his eyelids grow heavy, as if the pleasure were intoxicating.
“Eva.” His hooded gaze was hot on my face. “Ah … Yes. Like that. Christ, I love your mouth.”
His praise spurred me on. I took him as deep as I could. I loved doing this to him, loved the uniquely masculine taste and smell of him. I ran my lips down the length of him, suckling gently. Worshipfully. And I didn’t feel wrong for adoring his virility—I deserved it.
“You love this,” he said gruffly, pushing his fingers into my hair to cup my head. “As much as I do.”
“More. I want to do this for hours. Make you come over and over again.”
A growl rumbled in his chest. “I would. I can’t get enough.”
The tip of my tongue traced a pulsing vein up to the head, and then I took him in my mouth again, my neck arching back as I lowered to sit on my heels, my hands on my knees, offering myself to him.
Gideon looked down with eyes that glittered with lust and tenderness.
“Don’t stop.” He widened his stance. He slid his c*ck to the back of my throat, then pulled back out, coating my tongue with a trail of creamy pre-ejaculate. I swallowed, savoring the rich flavor of him.
He groaned, his hands cupping my jaw. “Don’t stop, angel. Suck me dry.”
My cheeks hollowed as we found a rhythm, our rhythm, the syncing of our hearts and breaths and drive to pleasure. We had no problem overthinking our way into trouble, but our bodies never got it wrong. When we had our hands on each other, we both knew we were in the one place we needed to be, with the one person we needed to be with.
“So f**king good.” His teeth ground audibly. “Ah, God, you’re making me come.”
His c*ck swelled in my mouth. His hand fisted in my hair, pulling, his body shuddering as he came hard.
Gideon cursed as I swallowed. He emptied himself in thick, hot bursts, flooding my mouth as if he hadn’t come all night. By the time he finished, I was gasping and trembling. He pulled me to my feet and stumbled to the bed, settling heavily with me tucked into his side. His lungs labored, his hands rough as he pulled me closer.
“This wasn’t what I had in mind when I brought you coffee.” He pressed a quick, rough kiss to my forehead. “Not that I have any complaints.”
I curled into him, beyond grateful to have him in my arms again. “Let’s play hooky and make up for lost time.”
His laugh was husky from his orgasm. He held me for a while, his fingers sifting through my hair and gliding gently down my arm.
“It ripped me apart,” he said quietly. “Seeing how hurt and angry you were. Knowing I was causing you pain and that you were pulling away from me … It was hell for us both, but I couldn’t take the risk that you might become a suspect.”
I stiffened. I hadn’t thought of that possibility. It could be argued that I was Gideon’s motive to kill. And it could be assumed that I was aware of the crime as well. My complete and utter ignorance hadn’t been my only protection; he’d made sure I had an alibi, too. Always protecting me—whatever the cost.
He pulled back. “I put a burner phone in your purse. It’s preprogrammed with a number that will put you in touch with Angus. If you need me for anything, you can reach me that way.”
My hands clenched into fists—I had to reach my boyfriend through his chauffeur. “I hate this.”
“So do I. Clearing my way back to you is my number one priority.”
“Isn’t it dangerous for Angus to be put in the middle?”
“He’s former MI6. Clandestine phone calls are child’s play for him.” He paused, then said, “Full disclosure, Eva: I can track you through the phone and I will.”
“What?” I slid out of bed and stood. My thoughts bounced back and forth between MI6—British secret service!—to geotracking my cell, unsure of what to latch on to first. “No way.”
He stood, too. “If I can’t be with you or talk to you, I at least need to know where you are.”
“Don’t be this way, Gideon.”
His face was composed. “I didn’t have to tell you.”
“Seriously?” I stalked to the closet to grab a robe. “And you said warning someone about ridiculous behavior isn’t an excuse for it.”
“Cut me some slack.”
Glaring at him, I shoved my hands into the sleeves of a red silk dressing gown and yanked the belt into a knot. “No. I think you’re a control freak who likes having me followed.”
He crossed his arms. “I like keeping you alive.”
I froze. After a moment, my brain rewound to look at the events of the last few weeks again—with the addition of Nathan in the picture. Abruptly, everything made sense: the way Gideon had freaked out when I’d tried to walk to work one morning, why Angus had shadowed me around the city every day, Gideon’s fury when he commandeered the elevator I was riding …
All those times I’d almost hated him for being an a**hole, he’d been thinking about keeping me safe from Nathan.
My knees weakened, and I sank inelegantly to the floor.
“Eva.”
“Give me a minute.” I’d figured out a lot of it already during the time we’d been apart. I’d realized Gideon would never allow Nathan to simply stroll into his office with photos of me being abused and violated, then just stroll back out again. Brett Kline had only kissed me and Gideon had beaten him up. Nathan had raped me repeatedly for years and documented it with pictures and video. Gideon’s reaction to meeting Nathan the first time had to have been violent.
Nathan must have visited the Crossfire Building the day I’d found Gideon freshly showered with a crimson stain on the cuff of his shirt. What I’d originally suspected was lipstick was Nathan’s blood. The sofa and sofa pillows in Gideon’s office had been skewed from a fight, not from a lunch quickie with Corinne.
Scowling fiercely, he crouched in front of me. “Damn it. Do you think I want to micromanage you? There have been extenuating circumstances. Give me credit for trying to balance your independence with keeping you safe.”
Wow. Hindsight didn’t just make things crystal clear; it smacked me upside the head and knocked some sense into me. “I get it.”
“I don’t think you do. This”—he gestured impatiently at himself—“is just a f**king shell. You’re what drives me, Eva. Can you understand that? You’re my heart and soul. If something ever happened to you, it would kill me, too. Keeping you safe is goddamned self-preservation! Tolerate it for me, if you won’t do it for yourself.”
I surged into him, knocking him off-balance and onto his back. I kissed him hard, my heart pounding and blood roaring in my ears.
“I hate to freak you out,” I muttered between desperate kisses, “but you’ve got it real bad for me.”
Groaning, he squeezed me tightly. “So we’re okay?”
I wrinkled my nose. “Maybe not about the burner phone. The cell stalking is nuts. Seriously. Not cool at all.”
“It’s temporary.”
“I know, but—”
He put a hand over my mouth. “I put directions on how to track my phone in your purse.”
That news left me speechless.
Gideon smirked. “Not such a bad idea on the flip side.”
“Shut up.” I slid off him and smacked his shoulder. “We are totally dysfunctional.”
“I prefer ‘selectively deviant.’ But we’ll keep that to ourselves.”
The warmth I’d felt bled away, replaced by a flare of panic at the reminder that we were hiding our relationship. How long would it be before I saw him again? Days? I couldn’t repeat the last few weeks of my life. Even thinking about going without him for any length of time made me feel sick.
I had to swallow past a painful lump to ask, “When can we be together again?”
“Tonight. Eva.” His beautiful eyes were haunted. “I can’t bear that look on your face.”
“Just be with me,” I whispered, my eyes stinging all over again. “I need you.”
Gideon’s fingertips glided softly down my cheek. “You were with me. The whole time. There wasn’t a second that passed when you weren’t on my mind. You own me, Eva. Wherever I am, whatever I’m doing, I belong to you.”
I leaned into his touch, letting it soak into me and chase the chill away. “No more Corinne. I can’t stand it.”