“YOU KEEP STARING at the door like that, you’re going to start scaring guests away.”
Gideon didn’t look away from the door. He couldn’t relax. Truth be told, he hadn’t managed to relax since he’d walked out of Lucy’s apartment last night, his words ringing in his ears. They hadn’t talked today, other than his text with the address and time to be here and her reply that she would show up.
The question of how she would show up was driving him crazy.
He didn’t know which outcome he wanted. It would be best if Lucy listened to him and dressed in something that was less of a goddamn tease.
But a part of him wanted her to challenge him—to push him to follow through on his threat. It crossed the line and he knew it, but he was past caring. If Lucy’s date with Mark had made anything clear, it was that Gideon couldn’t stand the thought of her with another man.
He’d stepped aside for Jeff.
He wasn’t about to step aside now. Not again.
None of those other fuckers would care about her the way he would. Their chemistry about set the apartment on fire, and they had a history of genuine caring between them—all of which Lucy said she wanted with whatever husband she picked.
He was the right choice.
He just had to find a way to make Lucy see that.
“Shit,” Roman muttered. He stepped to the side, blocking Gideon’s view of the door. “Don’t make a scene. I invited Aaron here in good faith and you look like you’re about to rip someone’s head off if they glance at you wrong.”
“I’m not going to make a scene.” As long as Lucy didn’t test him.
He hoped like hell she did test him.
“The expression on your face is about to make a liar out of you.” Roman slid his hands into his pockets, still looking on edge. “You’ve already crossed the line with Lucy, haven’t you?”
He’d crossed so many lines, he’d lost count. But Roman wasn’t bringing this up now just for shits and giggles. Gideon jerked his chin to the side. “Get out of the way.”
“No. Scene.”
Roman stepped out of the way and Gideon went still. Lucy made her way through the tables toward the VIP section, drawing stares in her wake. She had on a little black dress, but to call it that didn’t do it justice. It was so short, it made her already long legs look even longer. It was also strapless, the heart-shaped bodice adding extra curves to her body. Her hair was down in a carefully messy wave that made him think of fucking, and her bloodred mouth only drove the image of hot sex home. She nodded at the guy manning the entrance to the VIP section and then strode straight to Gideon. Closer, he realized there were little beads sewn into the skirt of the dress, giving an extra shift of movement with each step.
Without looking away from Lucy, he handed Roman his beer. “We’ll be right back.”
Roman cursed. “Whatever you’re going to say to her, make it quick. Aaron will be here in thirty.”
Thirty minutes was more than enough time to thoroughly make his point. He stood and prowled the last few steps to her. “Follow me. Now.”
She wet her lips, her eyes already a little hazy. “And if I don’t want to?”
“You do.” He turned and stalked back through the VIP section to the hallway that led to bathrooms and two rooms for meetings or private parties. One held a table and chairs and Gideon had used it on more than one occasion. The other had several couches for a more informal touch.
He chose the boardroom.
He opened the door and walked in, Lucy on his heels. She shut the door behind her and glared. “This is ridiculous.”
“If you really thought that, you wouldn’t be here right now.” He grabbed her hips and pulled her against him. She instantly went soft, even as her blue eyes sparked. Gideon dipped his hands beneath her dress and froze. “What the fuck, Lucy?”
“Hmm?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” He pulled her dress up, though he didn’t need the confirmation. “You come in here with that cock tease of a dress and you aren’t wearing panties.” Jealousy and desire twisted viciously through him. “Were you going to give Aaron a little show?”
“Oh, please. Give me a little credit.” She lifted her chin. “I’m proving a point. You, Gideon Novak, don’t get to make my decisions for me. I appreciate your help, but that’s where it ends.”
She didn’t want him.
He was good enough to fuck but not good enough to listen to.
He kept a white-knuckled grip on his temper because having a knock-down, drag-out fight here and now wasn’t an option for either of them. Not to mention the fact that he didn’t have a right to be pissed. She’d laid out the terms that first day, and if he chose to ignore them, that was on him—not on Lucy.
It didn’t make how shitty this situation was any easier to swallow.
Gideon stepped back. “The table. Bend over it.”
Her eyebrows inched up. “You can’t be serious.”
“As a fucking heart attack. I told you what would happen if you showed up like that, and you were all too eager to pick up that gauntlet. Choices have consequences, Lucy. This is one of them.”
She backed toward the table. One step. Two. “The consequences being that you’ll spank my ass red and then fuck me right here.”
She wants it.
It didn’t soothe his temper. If anything, it ratcheted it up a notch. She might want it but she didn’t want him. “The table.”
Lucy turned and, prim as a princess, bent over the table. She seemed to consider and then lowered her chest farther until the top half of her body was flush against the polished wood. The position left her ass in the air and had her skirt riding up so he could see how turned on she was by this.
“Which part is getting you?” He stood between her and the door and pushed her dress the last few inches to bare her completely. “The spanking, the defiance, or the fact that we’re in an unlocked room where anyone could walk in—including your fucking date?”
She tilted her ass up, just a little, an offer that made his mouth water. But it was her words that sealed her fate. “All of the above.”
Fuck me.
He placed a steadying hand on the now-bare small of her back. “Brace yourself.” Gideon wasn’t into pain play, and he didn’t think Lucy craved more than some rough-and-tumble shit, so he delivered a smack to her ass designed to sting without any lasting pain once they were through. Her gasp was almost a moan.
Gideon alternated smacks, giving each of her perfect fucking cheeks three. Enough to redden them as promised, but not more than that. He slipped a hand between her legs and groaned when he found her drenched. “You’re going to fucking kill me.”
He pulled out his wallet and retrieved the condom he’d stashed there this morning. The crinkle of the wrapper sounded unnatural in the silence of the room, but he could barely hear it over the roaring in his ears. He nudged her legs wider and notched his cock at her entrance. “Next time, obey.”
“Not likely.” She used her forearm to muffle a moan when he shoved all the way into her.
Damn him to hell, but he loved that she pushed back. She’d been so timid in some ways their first couple of times together, and this defiance was more like the Lucy he used to know. He gripped her hips and pulled almost all the way out before he slammed back into her again. It was good—so fucking good—but it didn’t satisfy the feral edge of rage he’d been riding for damn near twenty-four hours.
Gideon pulled out of her and flipped her around. She barely caught herself on his shoulders when he hooked the back of her thighs and lifted her onto the edge of the table. Better. But not enough. He yanked down her dress, baring her breasts. “Fucking hell, Lucy.” He spread her legs wide and shoved into her, his gaze glued to the way her small breasts bounced with each thrust.
It wasn’t enough to erase the image of her wearing that dress while chatting up Aaron.
Don’t have a right to be jealous.
Don’t give a damn if I have a right or not.
“Touch yourself. I want to feel you coming around my cock.” He maintained his hold on her hips as she reached between her thighs and stroked her clit. Every thrust ground him against her fingers, the sensation as unbearably erotic as the sight of her touching herself while he fucked her.
Her body tightened around him and she cried out as she came. Gideon tried to hold out, but there was no fighting against the intoxication that was Lucy. He came with a curse. His breath tore from his lungs and he had to keep a death grip on the table to keep from hitting his knees.
It had never been like this for him before. He’d cared about women—even loved them—but the insanity Lucy drew out of him without seeming to try all that hard blew his fucking mind.
He stared into her bright blue eyes and wondered how the hell he was supposed to go back out into that club and pretend like he hadn’t just been inside her.
* * *
As soon as she had control of her legs again, Lucy climbed off the table and fixed her dress. She could feel Gideon watching her, but she ignored him and pulled a pair of panties she’d stashed earlier out of her purse. She slipped them on and double-checked to make sure she wasn’t in danger of indecent exposure. She straightened and froze. “What?”
“You just pulled panties out of your purse.”
Heat flared over her exposed skin, but she forced herself to meet his gaze. “Yes, I did.”
He didn’t move, but he seemed closer. “I don’t know whether to be impressed or pissed the fuck off. You baited me on purpose.”
“Yes, I did,” she repeated. “I was also proving a point. I won’t allow you to control every aspect of these dates, but this thing between us is separate from that. For the duration, I’m yours.” The words felt funny, as if she was declaring more than she intended, but she couldn’t take them back without sounding ridiculous and giving them more weight than they deserved. It’s the truth. We’re exclusive.
But only sexually. There wasn’t—couldn’t—be anything more between them. She had her plan and Gideon hadn’t held down a relationship for longer than two weeks the entire six years she’d known him. Even if Lucy was willing to bend on this—and she couldn’t afford to be—Gideon would lose interest right around the time she needed him the most.
There would be no change of plans. They might fit better sexually than she could have dreamed, but that didn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things. She’d let good chemistry sideline her before—or what she’d thought was good chemistry. She wouldn’t do it again, even if this felt as different from that as night to day.
“Mine for the duration.” It sounded funny coming from him, too. Or maybe those were the butterflies erupting in her stomach.
She couldn’t manage a smile, so she nodded. “Now, can we please go out there and meet this guy? Not to mention I haven’t seen Roman in years and you hustled me past him so fast, I didn’t even get to say hello.” As ridiculous as it was, the thing she’d ended up missing most about being with Jeff was his friends.
Gideon had disappeared the second she’d broken up with Jeff and the rest of that group hadn’t put up more than a token effort to keep in touch. To be fair, she hadn’t tried, either. It was hard to look them in the face and know that they’d all had at least some idea of Jeff’s extracurricular activities well before she had.
It doesn’t matter anymore. I won’t let it matter.
She didn’t wait for Gideon to answer before she marched to the door and back the way they’d come. There was no helping her flushed cheeks, but she’d purposefully styled her hair a little wild in the event that Gideon was good on his threats. She might not be willing to admit it aloud—to him—but she was so very glad he had. The first two times with him had been wonderful beyond measure, but last night and tonight felt like the real Gideon. The man beneath the carefully controlled exterior.
She wanted more.
In fact, the last thing she wanted to do was exactly what she was doing—walking back into the VIP section. Much more enjoyable to slip out the back door with Gideon and go to one of their apartments to relieve the tension that only continued to rise the longer they were sleeping together.
It wasn’t an option.
She ignored the way Roman glanced over her shoulder to where Gideon had no doubt just stepped into the room, speculation in his hazel eyes. Lucy gave him a big smile. “Roman, how have you been?”
“Well. Really well.” He took her hand and stepped a little too close to be comfortable, his handsome face severe. She tensed and his next words did nothing to dispel the feeling. He kept his tone barely above a whisper. “I’m so sorry. If I’d have known he was going to be here, I would have passed on the information.”
It took her pleasure-drugged brain several seconds to catch up. He wasn’t talking about Aaron.
He was talking about Jeff.
She turned horror-movie slow toward the sound of a painfully familiar laugh. Jeff sat next to a pretty redhead and the entirety of his attention appeared to be on her. Lucy hadn’t seen him in nearly two years—not since she’d thrown every single item he’d owned out their second-story apartment window—and she hated that he looked good. There was no extra weight, no puffy face that would indicate alcoholism, no slovenly appearance.
In fact, Jeff looked better than ever.
Lucy, no doubt, looked like she’d just been up to illicit activities in the back room—because she had been.
She looked up at Roman and didn’t know what she was supposed to say or do. Jeff hadn’t seen her yet, but it was just a matter of time before he did. She wasn’t ready. She’d fought long and hard to get past the damage he’d done to her, but occupying the same space as him was enough to bring the truth flashing in front of her eyes.
She was still making her choices because of Jeff.
A hand pressed against the small of her back and Gideon’s crisp scent wrapped around her. He stepped into view, blocking Jeff from her sight—or her from Jeff’s. If Lucy felt off center, Gideon looked ready to shoot fire out of his eyes at Roman.
“Hey, man, like I just told Lucy—I didn’t know he’d be here or I’d have let you know. He just showed up.”
She pressed a hand to her chest. I can’t breathe. An invisible band closed around her, tightening with each exhalation until black dots danced across her vision. Two years later and he still had so much power over her. She hated it. She hated him.
“Holy shit. Look what the cat dragged in.” Jeff’s voice came from directly behind Gideon.
Roman and Gideon looked at her, identical expressions on their faces. Asking how she wanted to handle this. If Lucy so much as blinked, she had a feeling Gideon would sweep her out of there without hesitation—and Roman would block Jeff from following if he tried.
But that was what she was so very tired of—letting Jeff’s bullshit dictate how she handled any given situation.
Lucy lifted her chin, giving a slight nod. Gideon frowned, but he and Roman parted, taking up positions facing Jeff and only leaving a small sliver of a gap between them—standing sentry between her and her ex.
For all his pleased tone, Jeff’s blue eyes were cold. The redhead on his arm didn’t seem particularly happy, either, and Lucy spent a worthless few seconds wondering what he’d told her about this encounter. It didn’t matter. Jeff didn’t matter.
Or at least, he shouldn’t.
She put all of her not inconsiderable willpower into appearing surprised. “Jeff. I had no idea you came here anymore.”
“Not often.” The look he shot the men in front of her was downright lethal.
Apparently his friendship with them hadn’t lasted any longer than hers had. Lucy had known that about Gideon, but it comforted her to think of Jeff feeling just as abandoned as she had, even on that small scale.
He didn’t jump in to say anything else, so she went with the first thing that popped into her mind. “You look well.” Meaningless chitchat.
“I am well. Better than ever, really.” His gaze jumped between her and Roman and Gideon. “You three look cozy.” There was no mistaking the undertone of the statement. Which one are you fucking?
Looking too much into this. Get hold of yourself.
Gideon surprised her by taking a step back and pressing his hand to the small of her back. “We were just leaving.”
At that, Jeff’s mask slipped. His brows dropped, the first indication of what had always turned into a huge fight—one she had no chance of winning. Jeff seemed to take in her dress for the first time, his gaze leisurely raking over her body, pausing at her breasts and her bruised-feeling lips. “You and Gideon, huh? You took a pretty high-and-mighty stance with me when you broke off our engagement, and now you’re fucking my best friend. Classy, Lucy, really classy.”
No matter how much she told herself that his opinion didn’t matter, it still felt like he’d sucker punched her. “It’s not like that.”
“It’s exactly like that.” Gideon spoke over her. He slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her against his side. “You fucked up and lost her. That’s not on anyone but you, so don’t start spouting that bullshit.” He looked down at her, his expression hard. “You ready to go?”
“Please.” She didn’t want to stand there any longer than strictly necessary. The fact she hadn’t sprinted for the exit was a win, as far as Lucy was concerned. Asking anything more of herself was out of the question.
Gideon nodded and glanced at Roman. “Next time.”
“For sure.”
He didn’t give her a chance to say anything further before he steered them out of the VIP section and through to the front door. But what else was there to say? Anything she could come up with on that short walk sounded defensive, as if they’d done something wrong.
Well, I am sleeping with him.
But not dating him. Even if I was—it’s been two years.
Two incredibly long and lonely years.
Lucy couldn’t stop her shoulders from sagging the second they turned the corner away from the club. “That was terrible.”
“I’m sorry, Lucy.” His hand on her hip tensed, as if he wasn’t sure whether he should pull her closer or release her. “I didn’t know he’d show up. If I’d thought for a second it was a possibility, I wouldn’t have taken you there.”
“It’s fine.” It wasn’t, but she should be stronger than this. Being brought to her knees emotionally just from running into her ex was inexcusably weak.
It wasn’t even Jeff that was the problem. It was the fact that with one look, one carefully worded sentence, he could trigger every insecurity she fought so hard to banish. He wasn’t the issue.
She was.
“It’s not fine.” Gideon stepped to the curb and flagged down a cab. “Your place or mine?”
If she let him, he’d talk through this with her. Gideon might be gloriously rough around the edges with a temper that would do a Viking proud, but he never failed to be careful around her.
Except when she pushed him hard enough that he forgot he was supposed to handle her with kid gloves.
There’d be no pushing him tonight. He’d pour her a glass of something alcoholic, sit her down and demand nothing but perfect honesty about how screwed up she was in her head. He’d pull out her issues and do his damnedest to fix them. Or, worse in some ways, he’d be wonderfully understanding and tell her it was okay.
She just...couldn’t.
So incredibly weak.
Lucy didn’t look at him as he pulled open the back door of the cab. “If it’s all the same, I’d like to go home alone.”
Gideon tensed and, out of the corner of her eye, she watched him fight an internal battle. Finally he shook his head. “If that’s what you want.”
It’s not. “It is.” Maybe if she got some distance, she could get her head on straight again. It was so hard to think with Gideon so close, his presence overwhelming her in every way. She couldn’t handle it.
Lucy just needed time.
He stepped back, releasing her from her internal debate over whether she’d like him to force the issue or not. “Text me when you get back to your place.”
“I will.”
He waited until she slipped into the cab to say, “See you Saturday, Lucy.”