“Don’t give me that. You shouldn’t have brought up Corinne the way you did.”
“Maybe not. But be honest, you brought up Kline this morning because you’re worried about seeing him.”
“I’m not worried!”
“Angel.” I gave her a patient look. “You’re worried. I don’t think you’d sleep with him, but I do think you’re anxious about crossing a line you shouldn’t. You needed a strong reaction from me, so you were blunt and you got it. You needed to see what it would do to me. How just the thought of you with him makes me insane.”
“Gideon.” She gripped my biceps. “Nothing is going to happen.”
“I’m not making excuses.” I brushed my fingertips across her cheek. “I hurt you and I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry, too. I wanted to avoid causing any problems and they happened anyway.”
I knew she regretted our fight. I could see it in her eyes. “We’re learning as we go. We’ll fuck up now and again. You just have to trust me, angel.”
“I have, Gideon. It’s why we’ve gotten so far. But the fact that you’d hurt me at all—on purpose …” She shook her head and I could see how what I’d said was eating at her. “You were always supposed to be the one I could count on to never hurt me deliberately.”
Hearing her doubt her trust in me was a hard blow. I took the hit, then explained myself the way I’d only ever done with her. I would explain anything, talk for hours, write the promise in blood … if that was what it took to make her believe in me.
“There’s a difference between deliberation and malicious intent, wouldn’t you agree?” I cupped her face in my hands. “I promise I’ll never cause you pain just to hurt you. Don’t you see that I’m just as vulnerable? You have the same power to hurt me.”
Her face softened, became even more stunning. “I wouldn’t.”
“But I did. You’ll have to forgive me.”
She stepped back. “I hate when you use that tone of voice.”
Inclined toward self-preservation, I didn’t allow the smile I felt to show. “But it makes you wet.”
Tossing a glare at me over her shoulder, Eva moved to the window and stood in the same spot I’d occupied that morning. Her ponytail showed off her beauty—and left her no way to conceal her emotions. Hot color rose in her cheeks.
Did she know how often I thought about tying her up when she was riled like this? Not to cage her or leash her, but to hold that vibrant energy of hers, that lust for life I’d never learned to have. She gave that to me, surrendered it fully.
“Don’t try to control me with sex, Gideon,” she said with her back to me.
“I don’t want to control you at all.”
“You manipulate me. You do things … say things … just to get a particular response out of me.”
My arms crossed as I remembered her kissing Kline. “As do you, which we just discussed.”
She faced me. “I’m allowed to, I’m a woman.”
“Ah.” I smiled then. “I knew that.”
“You’re such an enigma to me.” She sighed and I could see her letting the lingering resentment go. “But you’ve got me pegged. You know all my buttons and just how to push them.”
“If you think I don’t spend a good percentage of every day trying to figure you out, you’re not paying attention. Think about that while I handle this meeting, and then we’ll say good-bye properly.”
As I sat in my chair, her gaze followed me. I adjusted the fit of my headset and paused when I realized she was staring. She liked looking at me. And hers was the only avid hunger that had ever made me feel good about myself. I’d never had the knee-jerk defensive reaction to her sexual interest that others provoked. She made me feel loved and wanted in a way that wasn’t the least threatening.
“Watching you get into business mode makes me hot,” she explained, her voice just husky enough to prevent me from fully focusing on work. “Sexy as hell.”
My lips twisted wryly. “Angel, behave for fifteen minutes.”
“What would be the fun in that? Besides, you like me bad.”
Damn straight.
“Fifteen minutes,” I reiterated. Considering I’d planned for the meeting to take close to an hour, that was a major concession.
“Do what you have to do.” Eva stopped by my chair and bent over like a pinup girl to breathe in my ear. “I’ll find something to occupy myself with while you’re on the phone playing with your millions.”