Reflected in You

“I want you to stop being grumpy, for starters.”

  “Grumpy?” His lips twitched with a suppressed smile. “Well, I woke up without you, and now I face two more mornings of the same.”

  I dropped my arms to my sides and went to him, placing my palms flat to his broad chest. “Is that really all it is?”

  “Eva.” He was such a strong, physically powerful man, and yet he could touch me with such reverence.

  I ducked my head, knowing something in my voice had given me away. He was too perceptive.

  Cupping my jaw in his hands, Gideon tipped my head back and searched my face. “Talk to me.”

  “I feel like you’re pulling away.”

  A low growl rumbled through the air between us. “I’ve got a lot on my mind. That doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about you.”

  “I feel it, Gideon. There’s distance between us that wasn’t there before.”

  His hands slid down to my neck, wrapping around it. “There’s no distance. You’ve got me by the throat, Eva.” His grip tightened fractionally. “Can’t you feel that?”

  I sucked in a quick, tight breath. Agitation spurred my heartbeat, a physical response to fear that came entirely from within and not from Gideon, who I knew absolutely would never physically harm me or put me in danger.

  “Sometimes,” he said huskily, watching me with searing intensity, “I can hardly breathe.”

  I might’ve broken free if not for his eyes, which revealed such yearning and turmoil. He was making me feel the same loss of power, the same sense of being dependent on someone else for every breath I took.

  So I did the opposite of running. Tilting my head back, I surrendered, and the tingles of fear left me in a rush. I was learning that Gideon was right about my desire to give up control to him. Doing so soothed something inside me, some need I hadn’t realized I possessed.

  There was a long pause, filled only by his breathing. I sensed him warring with his emotions and wondered what they were, wondered why he was so conflicted.

  He released the tension with a deep exhalation. “What do you need, Eva?”

  “You—a mile high.”

  His hands slid over my shoulders and squeezed, then caressed the length of my arms. His fingers linked with mine and he nuzzled our temples together. “What is it with you, sex, and modes of transportation?”

  “I’ll take you anyway I can get you,” I told him, repeating the sentiment he’d once said to me. “It’ll probably be next weekend before I’m good to go again, thanks to my period.”

  “Fuck.”

  “That’s the idea.”

  Reaching for his coat, he wrapped it around me and ushered me out of the cabin.

  * * *

  “Oh, God.” My hands fisted the sheets beneath me, my back arching as Gideon pinned my hips to the bed and fluttered his tongue across my clit. My skin was coated in a fine sheen of sweat, my vision blurring as my core tightened viciously in preparation for orgasm. My pulse was thrumming, racing in unison with the steady hum of the jet’s engines.

  I’d come twice already, as much from the sight of his dark head between my legs as from his wickedly gifted mouth. My panties were ruined, literally shredded by his grip, and he was still fully dressed.

  “I’m ready.” I pushed my fingers into his hair, feeling the dampness at the roots. His restraint was costing him. He was always so careful with me, taking the time to make sure I was soft and wet before filling me too full with his long, thick cock.

  “I’ll decide when you’re ready.”

  “I want you inside—” The plane shook suddenly, then dropped, leaving me weightless but for the suction of Gideon’s mouth. “Gideon!”

  I trembled through another climax, my body arching with the need to feel him in me. Through the roaring of blood in my ears, I heard a voice making an announcement over the comm system, but I couldn’t register the words.

  “You’re so sensitive now.” Lifting his head, he licked his lips. “You’re coming like crazy.”

  I gasped. “I’d come harder if you were inside me.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “It doesn’t matter if I get a little sore now,” I argued. “I’ll have days to recover.”

  Something sparked in the depths of his gaze. He rose up. “No, Eva.”

  My postorgasmic haze faded at the harshness of his voice. I levered up onto my elbows and watched him begin to strip, his moves quick and economically graceful.

  “My choice,” I reminded.

  In short order he removed his vest, tie, and cuff links. His voice was too even when he asked, “You really want to play that card, angel?”

  “If that’s what it takes.”

  “It’ll take more than that for me to hurt you deliberately.” His shirt and slacks followed more slowly, a striptease that was far more seductive than mine had been. “For us, pain and pleasure are mutually exclusive.”

  “I didn’t mean—”

  “I know what you meant.” He straightened from shoving his boxer briefs down, then knelt on the foot of the bed and crawled toward me like a sleek panther on the prowl. “You ache without my cock inside you. You’ll say anything to have me there.”

  “Yes.”

  He hovered over me, his hair falling in a dark curtain around his face, his big body casting a shadow over mine. Tilting his head, he lowered his mouth and lightly traced the seam of my lips with the tip of his tongue. “You crave it. You feel empty without it.”

  “Yes, damn you.” I gripped his lean hips, arching upward to try to feel his body against mine. I never felt closer to him than when we were making love, and I needed that closeness now, needed to feel like we were okay before we spent the weekend without each other.

  He settled between my legs, his erection lying hard and hot between the lips of my sex. “It hurts you a little when I push all the way in, and there’s no help for that—you have a tight little cunt and I cram you full. Sometimes I lose control and get rough, and there’s no help for that, either. But don’t ever ask me to hurt you deliberately. I can’t.”

  “I want you,” I breathed, rubbing my wet cleft shamelessly along the heated length of his cock.

  “Not yet.” He moved, rolling his hips to find me with the broad head of his penis. He pushed gently against me, parting me, spreading me open as he slipped just the tip inside. I writhed against the tight fit, my body resisting. “You’re not ready yet.”

  “Fuck me. God . . . just fuck me!”

  He reached down with one hand and grabbed my hip, stemming my frenzied attempts to push up and take more of him. “You’re swollen.”

  I fought his hold. My nails dug into the tight curves of his ass and I tugged him against me. I didn’t care that it might hurt. If I didn’t get him in me I thought I’d lose my mind. “Give it to me.”

  Gideon slid his hand into my hair, fisting it to hold me where he wanted me. “Look at me.”

  “Gideon!”

  “Look at me.”

  I stilled at the command in his voice. I stared up at him, my frustration melting as I watched a slow, gradual transformation sweep over his handsome face.

  His features tightened first, as if he were pained. A wince knit his brow. His lips parted with a gasp, his chest beginning to heave with labored breaths. A tic began in his jaw, the muscle spasming violently. His skin grew hot, searing me. But what mesmerized me most was his piercing blue eyes and the unmistakable vulnerability that sifted through them like smoke.

  My pulse quickened in response to the change in him. The mattress shifted as he dug his feet in, his body bracing—

  “Eva.” He jerked, then started coming, spurting hotly into me. His pleasured groan vibrated against me, his cock sinking through the sudden flood of semen to bottom out inside me. “Ah . . . Christ.”

  All the while he looked at me, showing me his face when he usually hid in the crook of my neck. I saw what he’d wanted me to see . . . the point he’d wanted to make—

&nb
sp; There was nothing between us.

  Rolling his hips, he rubbed out the rest of his orgasm, emptying himself inside me, lubricating me so there would be no pain or resistance. He released my hip and let me rock upward; let me seek the perfect pressure on my clit to set me off. With his eyes still on mine, he reached behind him to claim my wrists. One at a time, he lifted my arms over my head, restraining me.

  Pinned to the mattress by his grip, his weight, and his unflagging erection, I was completely at his mercy. He began to thrust, stroking through the trembling walls of my sex with the thickly veined length of his big cock. Claiming me. Possessing me.

  “Crossfire,” he whispered, reminding me of my safe word.

  I moaned as my sex rippled in climax, tightening and squeezing, milking him greedily.

  “Feel that?” Gideon’s tongue traced the shell of my ear, his breath gusting in humid pants. “You’ve got me by the throat and the balls. Where’s the distance, angel?”

  For the next three hours, there was none.

  * * *

  The hotel manager threw open the double doors to our suite and Cary gave a long, low whistle.

  “Hell yeah,” he said, hustling me into the room with a hand on my elbow. “Look at the size of this place. You could do cartwheels in here.”

  He was right, but I’d have to wait until the morning to prove it. My legs were still shaky from my induction into the Mile-High Club.

  Directly in front of us was a dazzling view of the Vegas Strip at night. The windows were floor to ceiling, wrapping around a corner that was filled with a piano.

  “Why are there always pianos in high-roller suites?” Cary asked, flipping up the cover and tapping out a quick tune on the keys.

  I shrugged and looked toward the manager, but she’d already moved off, her stilettos moving silently over the thick white carpet. The suite was decorated in what I’d call fifties Hollywood chic. The double-sided fireplace was faced with rough gray stone and decorated with a piece of art that resembled a hubcap with spacey spokes protruding from the center. The sofas were seafoam green with wooden legs as slender as the manager’s heels. Everything had a retro vibe that was at once glamorous and inviting.

  It was way too much. I’d expected a nice room, but not the presidential suite. I was about to refuse it when Cary gifted me with a big grin and two thumbs up. Having no willpower to refuse his joy, I gave in and hoped we weren’t putting Gideon out of a more profitable reservation.

  “Still want a cheeseburger?” I asked him, reaching for the room service menu on the console table behind the sofa.

  “And a beer. Make that two.”

  Cary followed the manager into a bedroom on the left side of the living area, and I picked up the vintage rotary phone to place our order.

  Thirty minutes later, I was fresh from a quick shower and dressed in my pajamas, eating chicken Alfredo cross-legged on the area rug. Cary was plowing through his burger and looking at me with happy eyes from his position on the opposite side of the coffee table.

  “You never eat a massive pile of carbs this late,” he noted between bites.

  “My period’s coming.”

  “I’m sure the workout you got on the way here helped, too.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “How would you know? You were passed out.”

  “Deductive reasoning, baby girl. When I went to sleep, you looked irritated. When I woke up, you looked like you’d just smoked a fat joint.”

  “How did Gideon look?”

  “He looked the same—tight-assed and hot as hell.”

  I stabbed my fork into my noodles. “That’s not fair.”

  “Who cares?” He gestured around us. “Look how he puts you up.”

  “I don’t need a sugar daddy, Cary.”

  He munched on a French fry. “Have you thought any more about what you do need? You’ve got his time, his rockin’ bod, and access to everything he owns. That’s not bad.”

  “No,” I agreed, twirling my fork. I knew from my mom’s many marriages to powerful men that getting their time was the most important thing of all, because for them, it was truly the most valuable thing in their lives. “It’s not bad. It’s just not enough.”

  * * *

  “This is the life,” Cary pronounced, while lying like a god on a lounger by the pool. He wore pale green trunks and dark shades and caused an unusually large volume of women to walk on our side of the pool. “The only thing missing is a mojito. Gotta have alcohol to celebrate.”

  My mouth curved. I was sunbathing on the lounger beside him, enjoying the dry heat and occasional splashes of water. Celebrating was habitual for Cary, something I’d always considered quite charming. “What are we celebrating?”

  “Summer.”

  “Okay, then.” I sat up and slid my legs off the lounger, tying my sarong around my hips before I stood. My hair was still damp from an earlier dip in the pool and pinned atop my head with a lobster clip. The scorching sun felt good on my skin, a sensual kiss that was nearly enough to make me less self-conscious about the water I was retaining—thanks to my period starting.

  I headed over to the pool bar, my gaze raking the other loungers and cabanas through the purple tint of my sunglasses. The area was packed with guests, many of whom were attractive enough to warrant second and third looks. One couple in particular caught my eye, because they reminded me of myself and Gideon. The blonde lay on her stomach, her torso propped up on her arms and her legs kicking playfully. Her very yummy dark-haired man stretched out on the chair beside her, his head propped on one hand while the fingers of the other hand stroked up and down her spine.

  She caught me staring and her smile instantly faded. I couldn’t see her eyes behind her Jackie O shades, but I knew she was glaring at me. With a smile, I looked away, knowing just how she felt about finding another woman checking out her man.

  I found an empty space at the bar and gestured at the bartender to let him know I was ready to order when he was. Misters attached to the ceiling cooled my skin and lured me to slide onto a suddenly vacated bar stool while I waited.

  “What are you drinking?”

  Turning my head, I looked at the man who’d talked to me. “Nothing yet, but I’m considering a mojito.”

  “Let me buy you one.” He smiled, revealing perfectly white but slightly crooked teeth. He extended his hand to me, a movement that brought my attention to his nicely defined arms. “Daniel.”

  I placed my hand in his. “Eva. Nice to meet you.”

  He crossed his arms on the bar and leaned over it. “What brings you to Vegas? Business or pleasure?”

  “R and R. You?” Daniel had an interesting tattoo written in a foreign language on his right biceps, and I admired it. He wasn’t traditionally good-looking, but he had confidence and poise, two things I found more attractive in a man than just his physical features.

  “Work.”

  I shot a look at his swimming trunks. “I’ve got the wrong job.”

  “I sell—”

  “Excuse me.”

  We both turned to face the woman who had intruded on our conversation. She was a compact brunette dressed in a dark polo shirt embroidered with both her name—Sheila—and Cross Towers and Casino. The earpiece in her ear and the utility belt around her waist gave her away as security.

  “Miss Tramell.” She greeted me with a nod.

  My brows rose. “Yes?”

  “There’s a server who can take your order by your cabana.”

  “Cool, thanks. But I don’t mind waiting here.”

  When I didn’t move, Sheila turned her attention to Daniel. “If you’ll move to the other end of the bar, sir, the bartender will see that your next drinks are on the house.”

  He gave a cursory nod, then smiled winningly at me. “I’m good here, too, thanks.”

  “I’m afraid I’ll have to insist.”

  “What?” His smile turned into a scowl. “Why?”

  I blinked at Sheila as realization sa
nk in. Gideon had me under watch. And he thought he could control what I did from a distance.

  Sheila returned my look, her face impassive. “I’ll escort you back to your cabana, Miss Tramell.”

  For a minute, I considered making her day hell, maybe grabbing Daniel and kissing him senseless just to send a message to my overbearing boyfriend, but I managed to restrain my temper. She was only doing what she was paid to do. It was her boss who needed the kick in the ass.

  “Sorry, Daniel,” I said, flushing with embarrassment. I felt like a scolded kid and that really irked me. “It was nice meeting you.”

  He shrugged. “If you change your mind . . .”

  I felt Sheila’s gaze on my back as I preceded her to my lounger. Abruptly, I faced her. “So, is getting hit on the only time you’re instructed to step in? Or do you have a list of situations?”

  She hesitated a moment, then sighed. I could only imagine what she must think of me, the pretty blond piece of ass who couldn’t be trusted to be out mingling in public. “There’s a list.”

  “Of course there is.” Gideon wouldn’t leave anything to chance. I wondered when he’d worked on the list, if he’d compiled it just since I mentioned Vegas or if he’d had it on hand. Maybe it was a list he had formed while he was with other women. Maybe he’d written it for Corinne.

  The more I thought about it, the angrier I got.

  “Un-fucking-believable,” I complained to Cary when she’d stepped a discreet distance away, as if that action alone would be enough to make me forget she was hovering. “I’ve got a babysitter.”

  “What?”

  I told him what happened and watched his jaw tighten.

  “That’s crazy, Eva,” he snapped.

  “No shit. And I’m not putting up with it. He’s got to learn that relationships don’t work that way. And after all the crap he gave me about trust.” I collapsed on my lounger. “How much does he trust me, if he’s got to have someone shadowing me to chase strangers away?”

  “I’m not down with this, Eva.” He sat up and swung his legs over the side of his chair. “This isn’t okay.”

  “You think I don’t know that? And what’s with her being a woman? Nothing against my gender and tough jobs. I’m just wondering if he expects her to follow me into ladies’ rooms or just doesn’t trust a guy to watch me.”