One with You (Crossfire 5)

“You’re beautiful,” he said, his hands pushing into my hair. “You’re always changing. I never know who I’m going to have from one day to the next.”

I laughed, leaning into him and kissing him back with everything I had. I adored the feel of his mouth, the sensual lines softened from their usual sternness when he surrendered to me, making him even more gorgeous. “Gotta keep you on your toes, ace.”

Gideon pulled me into his lap, his hands sliding all over me. “I want you.”

“I should hope so,” I whispered, tracing his bottom lip with the tip of my tongue. “You’re stuck with me for life.”

“Not long enough.” Tilting his head, he took my mouth again, his hand at my nape holding me still as he licked strong and quick. Like fucking. I felt the brush of his tongue everywhere.

I squirmed, achingly aware of Angus. “Gideon.”

“Let’s go to the penthouse,” he breathed, as tempting as the devil. His cock was hard against my buttocks, teasing me with the promise of sex and sin and pleasure too great to bear.

“You have a meeting,” I panted.

“Fuck the meeting.”

I bit back another laugh and hugged him, pressing my nose in the crook of his neck to breathe him in. He smelled amazing, as he always did. Gideon didn’t wear cologne. There was just the clean, primal smell of his skin and faint traces of the body wash he preferred.

“I love the way you smell,” I told him softly, nuzzling against him. He was so warm, his body so hot and hard, pulsing with life and energy and power. “There’s something about it. It touches something inside me. It’s one of the things that tells me you’re mine.”

He growled. “I’m so fucking hard,” he said, his lips to my ear. He nipped my lobe, punishing me for his lust with a small bite of pain.

“I’m so fucking wet,” I whispered back. “You made me so happy today.”

His chest expanded on an unsteady breath, his hands running up and down my back. “Good.”

I pulled back, watching as he steadied himself. He so rarely lost control. It was thrilling I could do that to him. Even more thrilling to know he’d been riding that edge since I first showed up and he hadn’t shown any outward clue to the others. His restraint was a major turn-on for me.

My fingertips brushed over his striking face. “Thank you. It’s not enough for what you gave me today, but thank you.”

His eyes closed. He leaned his forehead against mine. “You’re welcome.”

“I’m glad you like my hair.”

“I like when you feel confident and sexy.”

I rubbed my nose against his, my love for him filling me until there was no room for anything else. “What if I need purple hair to feel that way?”

His mouth curved. “Then I’ll be fucking a purple-haired wife.” His hand covered my heart—and took the opportunity to squeeze my breast. “As long as the inside remains the same, the rest is just wrapping.”

I thought about telling him he was straying perilously close to being romantic but decided to keep that to myself.

“Did you see the Landons?” I asked instead.

Gideon pulled back. “They talked to you.”

My eyes narrowed. “You knew they’d be there, didn’t you?”

“It wasn’t a surprise.”

“You’re so good at being cagey,” I complained. “All you guys are. I couldn’t figure out if Angela Landon was yanking my chain when she asked to attend the Grey Isles Fashion Week show with me or if she was serious.”

“Maybe a little of both. What did you say?”

“That I’m not going.” I kissed him, then squirmed back onto my own seat. He resisted, but let me go. “Corinne would’ve known how to manage her.” I sighed. “Probably Magdalene, too. Certainly my mom.”

“You did fine. What about Landon?”

My lips pursed. “How tightly do you have Mark locked in?”

He gave me a quizzical look. “What did you do?”

“I mentioned we have a strong connection with Mark, since you and I met while you were working with him. I said we look forward to working with him in the future.”

“You want to see if Landon will offer Mark a job.”

“I’m curious to see how far Landon will go, yes. I’m not worried about Mark. He’s loyal and while he doesn’t know the particulars, he knows LanCorp is part of the reason I quit. Plus, he’s got an in with the head honcho at Cross Industries. He’d just be a drone at LanCorp. He’s not stupid.”

Gideon settled back in his seat. If I didn’t know him so well, I might have thought he was just getting comfortable. “And you want to see if I was straight with you about Landon’s motives.”

“No.” I set my hand on his thigh and felt the tension there. Both of his parents had let him down. I knew there was a part of Gideon that invariably expected everyone else to do the same. “I believe you. I believed you when you told me. Your word is all the proof I’ll ever need.”

He looked at me for a long minute, then squeezed my hand. Hard. “Thank you.”

“But maybe you felt the need to prove it to me?” I asked gently. “You find out Landon’s got a reservation. You want to introduce me to the Crossroads board. Meeting at Tableau One accomplishes two things if I run into Landon while I’m there. Although there was a lot left to faith for that to happen.”

“Not if he’s seated by the bathrooms.”

“Maybe I wouldn’t have gone to the bathroom.”

Gideon shot me a look.

“It wasn’t a foregone conclusion,” I argued.

“You’re a woman,” he countered, as if that answered everything.

My eyes narrowed. “Sometimes I just want to smack you.”

“I can’t help being right.”

“You’re deflecting.”

His lips tightened for a moment. “You left me because of him. I needed you to see him again after that.”

“That’s not entirely accurate, but okay. I see what you were after.” A little frustrated, I pushed my new bangs out of my face. “I still couldn’t get a sense of them, though. He’s a little easier to read than his wife, but they both play sincere very well. And they’re a team.”

“You and I are a team.”

“We’re getting there. I need to learn how to hold up my end better.”

“I have no complaints.”

I smiled. “I didn’t fuck up, which isn’t the same as doing a good job.”

His fingers brushed my cheek. “I wouldn’t care if you fucked it up, although I’m sure your definition of what that would be is very different from mine. I wouldn’t care if you have green hair or purple hair or whatever color you choose, although I’ll say I like it blond. You’re what I want.”

Turning my head, I kissed his palm. “Angela looks like Corinne.”

He huffed out a surprised laugh. “No, she does not.”

“Oh my God, she totally does! I mean, not like twins or anything. But the hair and the body type.”

Gideon shook his head. “No.”

“Do you think Landon went for someone who looks like your ideal woman?”

“I think your imagination is running away with you.” He put his fingers over my lips when I would’ve said more. “And if not, he got it wrong, so the point is moot.”

I wrinkled my nose at him. My clutch vibrated next to my thigh and I reached for it, pulling my phone out.

There was a text from Raúl. She’s at work.

I glanced at Gideon and found him watching me.

“I asked Raúl to track down Anne today,” I told him.

He muttered something under his breath. “You’re damned stubborn,” he bit out.

“As you pointed out, I feel confident and sexy.” I blew him a kiss. “It’s a good day to say hi.”

His eyes lifted to the rearview mirror. Angus met his gaze and something passed between them. Then my husband turned his brilliantly blue gaze back to me. “You’ll do whatever Angus says. If he doesn’t think it’s a good idea when the time comes, you back off. Understood?”