It was six o’clock before I made it back to my apartment in a state of wel -fucked dishevelment. I’d known what I was in for when I found Gideon’s limousine at the curb after work instead of the Bentley.
He’d damn near tackled me as I climbed into the back; then proceeded to demonstrate his phenomenal oral skil s before nailing me into the seat with vigorous enthusiasm.
I was grateful that I kept in shape. Otherwise, Gideon’s insatiable sexual appetite combined with his seemingly endless stamina might’ve exhausted me by now. Not that I was complaining. Just an observation.
Clancy was already waiting for me in the lobby of my apartment building when I came rushing in. If he noted my hideously wrinkled dress, flushed cheeks, and messy hair, he didn’t point it out. I changed swiftly upstairs and we took off for Parker’s studio. I hoped the orientation would start out easy because my legs were stil a bit jel ied from two toe-curling orgasms.
By the time we arrived at the converted warehouse in Brooklyn, I was excited and ready to learn. About a dozen students were engaged in various exercises with Parker overseeing and offering encouragement from the edge of the mats. When he saw me, he came over and directed me to a far corner of the sparring area where we could work one-on-one.
“So…how’s it going?” I asked, to break my own tension.
He smiled, showing off a very interesting and arresting face. “Nervous?”
“A little.”
“We’re going to work on your physical strength and stamina, as wel as your awareness. I’m also going to start training you not to freeze or hesitate in unexpected confrontations.”
Before we began, I thought I had pretty good physical strength and stamina, but I learned both could be better. We started out with a brief introduction to the equipment and layout of the space, and then moved on to an explanation of both fighting and neutral/passive stances. We warmed up with basic bodyweight calisthenics; then progressed to “tagging,” where we tried to tag each other’s shoulders and knees while standing face-to-face and blocking countermoves.
Parker was amazing at tagging, of course, but I started to get the hang of it. The majority of the time, however, was spent covering groundwork and I real y sunk my teeth into that. I knew very wel what it was like
to be down and at a disadvantage.
If Parker noted my underlying vehemence, he didn’t comment on it.
When Gideon showed up at my apartment later that evening, he found me soaking my aching body in my bathtub. Although I could tel he was fresh from a shower after his own workout with his personal trainer, he stripped and slid into the bath behind me, cradling me with his arms and legs. I whimpered as he rocked me.
“That good, huh?” he teased, catching my earlobe in his teeth.
“Who knew rol ing around for an hour with a hot guy could be so exhausting?” Cary had been right about Krav Maga causing bruises; I could see a few shadows blooming beneath my skin already and we hadn’t even gotten to the hard stuff yet.
“I might be jealous,” Gideon murmured, squeezing my breasts, “if I didn’t know Smith was married with children.”
I snorted at yet another tidbit of knowledge he shouldn’t know. “Do you also know his shoe and hat sizes?”
“Not yet.” He laughed at my exasperated growl and I couldn’t hold back a smile at hearing the rare sound.
One day soon we were going to have to talk about his obsession with information gathering, but today wasn’t the day to get into it. We’d been at odds too much lately and Cary’s warning about making sure we had as much fun as not was ever-present in my mind.
Playing with the ring on Gideon’s finger, I told him about the conversation I’d had with my dad on Saturday and how his fel ow cops had been ribbing him over the gossip about me dating the Gideon Cross.
He sighed. “I’m sorry.”
Turning, I faced him. “It’s not your fault you’re news.
You can’t help being insanely attractive.”
“One of these days,” he said dryly, “I’l figure out whether my face is a curse or not.”
“Wel , if my opinion counts for anything, I’m rather fond of it.”
Gideon’s lips twitched and he touched my cheek.
“Your opinion is the only one that means anything. And your dad’s. I want him to like me, Eva, not think I’m exposing his daughter to invasions of her privacy.”
“You’l win him over. He just wants me to be safe and happy.”
He visibly relaxed and pul ed me closer. “Do I make you happy?”
“Yes.” I rested my cheek over his heart. “I love being with you. When we’re not together, I wish we were.”
“You said you didn’t want to fight anymore,” he murmured in my hair. “It’s been bugging me. Are you getting tired of me fucking up al the time?”
“You do not fuck up al the time. And I’ve screwed up, too. Relationships are hard, Gideon. Most of them don’t have kick-ass sex like we do. I put us in the lucky column.”
He cupped water in his hand and poured in down my back, over and over, soothing me with its sinuous warmth. “I don’t real y remember my dad.”
“Oh?” I tried to not tense up and reveal my surprise.
Or my agitated excitement and desperate hunger to learn more about him. He’d never talked about his family before. It kil ed me not to prod with questions, but I didn’t want to push if he wasn’t ready….
His chest lifted and fel on a deep exhale. There was something in the sound of his sigh that brought my head up and ruined my intention to be cautious.
I ran my hand over his hard pectorals. “Want to talk about what you do remember?”
“Just…impressions. He wasn’t around much. He worked a lot. I guess I get my drive from him.”
“Maybe
workaholism—is
that
a
word?—is
something you have in common, but that’s it.”
“How would you know?” he shot back, defiant.
Reaching up, I brushed the hair back from his face.
“I’m sorry, Gideon, but your father was a fraud who took the easy, selfish way out. You don’t have it in you to be that way.”
“Not that way, no.” He paused. “But I don’t think he ever learned how to connect to people, how to care about anything but his own immediate needs.” I studied him. “Do you think that describes you?”
“I don’t know,” he answered quietly.
“Wel , I know, and it doesn’t.” I pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose. “You’re a keeper.”
“I better be.” His arms tightened around me. “I can’t think about you with someone else, Eva. Just the idea of another man seeing you the way I do, seeing you like this…putting his hands on you…It takes me to a dark place.”
“It’s not going to happen, Gideon.” I knew how he felt. I wouldn’t be able to bear it if he was intimate with another woman.
“You’ve changed everything for me. I couldn’t stand losing you.”
I hugged him. “The feeling’s mutual.”
Tilting my head back, Gideon took my mouth in a fierce kiss.
In moments it became clear we were soon going to be sloshing water al over the floor. I pul ed away. “I need to eat if you want to go at it again, fiend.”
“Says the girlfriend rubbing her wet naked body al over me.” He sat back with a sinful smile.