Crossfire 01 Bared to You (22 page)

“Well, 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 usually did…for a little while. I took a bite of my burger, moaning when I got a full 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 stillness 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’ll 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 bells 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.”

Well, 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 regretfully. “I was late getting back on Friday.”

“Tonight, then.”

I swallowed hard. “Absolutely.”

“I’ll 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’ll go together.”

“Really?” 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 swallowed 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 well.”

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 well,” 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 stilled. “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 chilling bite to it.

My stomach knotted, knowing things could either go really right or really 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’ll 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 all 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 collected. “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 all 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’ll 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 cell phone numbers on the back. “I feel stupid asking this question considering our present conversation, but I need your cell 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’ll 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 call 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’ll take you back down,” he said, crossing his office to the coatrack.

I followed 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 still. 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 gracefully into the seat.

I spread my legs and crooked my finger. “Closer.”

He rolled forward, filling 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 millions like Monopoly. You, Mr. Cross, will pass Go and collect your two hundred dollars.”

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 small 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.

“Well,” 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 wall 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.”