Reflected in You(49)

That he was working instead of spending time with me shouldn't have rankled - I knew how busy he was -  but it did.


I felt abandoned and needy, which told me I was regressing into familiar bad patterns.


The simple fact was, Gideon and I were the best and worst things that had ever happened to each other.


He looked up and pinned me with his gaze.


I watched his focus shift from work to me.


"Am I neglecting you, angel?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.


I flushed, wishing he couldn't read me so well.


"I'm sorry to interrupt."


"You should always come to me when you need something."


Pushing his keyboard drawer in, he patted the empty space on the desk in front of him and wheeled his chair back.


"Come sit."


A thrill rushed through me.


I hurried over, making no effort to hide my eagerness.


I hopped onto the desk in front of him and smiled wide when he rolled his chair forward to fill the space between my legs.


Draping his arms over my thighs, he hugged me around the hips and said, "I should've explained that I'm trying to clear my schedule so we can take off this weekend."


"Really?" I pushed my fingers through his hair.


"I want you all to myself for a while.


And I really, really need to f*ck you for a very long time.


Maybe the whole time."


His eyes closed as I touched him.


"I miss being inside you."


"You're always inside me," I whispered.


His mouth curved in a slow, wicked smile and his eyes opened.


"You're making me hard."


"What's new?" "Everything."


I frowned.


"We'll get to that," he said.


"For now, tell me what you came in here for."


I hesitated, still stuck on his cryptic comment.


"Eva."


His firm tone focused me.


"What do you need?" "A date for Shawna.


Uh .


not really a date.


Shawna's got a man, but he's out of the country.


It'd just be better if we made it an even party of four."


"You don't want to ask Cary?" "I thought of him first, but Shawna's my friend.


I thought you might want someone you know to come.


You know, keep the dynamic even."


"All right.


I'll see who's free."


I realized then that I hadn't really expected him to take me up on my offer.


Some of my thoughts must have shown on my face, because he asked, "Is there more?" "I ."


How did I say what I was thinking without making an ass of myself? I shook my head.


"No.


Nothing."


"Eva."


His voice was stern.


"Tell me."


"It's stupid."


"That wasn't a request."


An electric tingle coursed through me, as it always did when he took on that commanding tone.


"I just thought you socialized for business and screwed random women occasionally."


Saying that last part was hard.


As lame as it was to be jealous of women in his past, I couldn't help it.


"You didn't think I had friends?" he asked, clearly amused.


"You've never introduced me to any," I said sullenly, picking at the hem of my T-shirt.


"Ah ."


His amusement deepened, his eyes sparkling with laughter.


"You're my sexy little secret.


Have to wonder what I was thinking when I made sure we were photographed kissing in public."


"Well."


My gaze moved to the collage on the wall where that very picture could be found, a picture that had been plastered all over gossip blogs for days.


"When you put it like that ."


Gideon laughed, and the sound spread through me in a heated rush of pleasure.


"I've introduced you to a few of my friends when we've been out."


"Oh."


I'd assumed everyone I had met at the events we'd attended were business associates.


"But keeping you all to myself isn't a bad idea."


I shot him a look and revisited the point I'd made when we argued about my going to Vegas instead of Phoenix.


"Why can't you be the one lying around naked waiting to be f*cked?" "Where's the fun in that?" I shoved at his shoulders and he hauled me into his lap, laughing.


I couldn't believe how good his mood was and wondered what had set it off.


When I glanced at his monitor, all I saw was a spreadsheet that made my eyes cross and a half-written e-mail.


But something was different about him.