Bared to You

Christopher.
I felt awkward being unable to turn
around.
“Of course,” Gideon said smoothly, coolly in
control. “What do you want?”
To my horror, he resumed the push and
withdrawal of his finger. Not with the deep strokes
of before, but slow shallow thrusts that didn’t
disturb my skirts. Already aroused to a fever pitch
and hovering on the verge of orgasm, my nails
dug into his neck. The tension in my body from
having Christopher in the room only ramped up
the erotic sensations.
“Eva?” Christopher asked.
I swallowed hard. “Yes?”
“Are you okay?”

---

Gideon adjusted his stance, which moved his
cock inside me and bumped his pelvis against my
pulsing clit.
“Y-yes. We’re just…talking. About. Dinner.” My
eyes closed as Gideon’s fingertip grazed the thin
wall separating his penis from his touch. If he
nudged my clit again, I’d come. I was too wound
up to stop it.
Gideon’s chest vibrated against my cheek as
he spoke. “We’d be done sooner if you’d go, so
tell me what you need.”
“Mom’s looking for you.”
“Why?” Gideon shifted again, rocking into my
clit at the same moment he gave a quick, deep
thrust of his finger into my rear.
I climaxed. Afraid of the wail of pleasure that
wanted out of me, I sank my teeth into Gideon’s
hard pectoral. He grunted softly and started
coming, his cock jerking as it pumped thick spurts
of scorching semen into me.
The rest of the conversation was lost beneath
the roar of my blood. Christopher said something,
Gideon replied, and then the door shut again. I
was lifted to sit on the armrest and Gideon started
thrusting between my spread thighs, using my
body to rub out the rest of his orgasm, growling in
my mouth as we finished off the rawest, most
exhibitionistic sexual encounter of my life.
Afterward, Gideon led me by the hand to a
bathroom, where he lightly soaped a washcloth
and cleansed between my legs before he paid the
same attention to his cock. The way he took care
of me was sweetly intimate, demonstrating yet
again that as primal as his desire for me was, I
was precious to him.

---

“I don’t want us to fight anymore,” I said quietly
from my perch on the counter.
He tossed the washcloth down a concealed
laundry chute and refastened his fly. Then he
came to me, brushing his cool fingertips down my
cheek. “We don’t fight, angel. We just have to
learn not to scare the hell out of each other.”
“You make it sound so easy,” I grumbled. To call
either of us virgins would be ridiculous, yet
emotionally that’s just what we were. Fumbling in
the dark and too eager, completely out of our
depths and self-conscious, trying to impress and
missing all the subtle nuances.
“Easy or hard, doesn’t matter. We’ll get through
this because we have to.” He pushed his fingers
through my hair, restoring order to the disheveled
strands. “We’ll discuss when we get home. I think
I’ve discovered the crux of our problem.”
His conviction and determination soothed the
restlessness I’d been feeling the last few days.
Closing my eyes, I relaxed and enjoyed the tactile
delight of having my hair played with. “Your mother
seemed startled that I’m a blonde.”
“Did she?”
“My mother was, too. Not about me being a
blonde,” I qualified. “That you’d be interested in
one.”
“Was she?”
“Gideon!”
“Hmm?” He kissed the end of my nose and ran
his hands down my arms.
“I’m not the type you usually go for, am I?”
His brow arched. “I have one type: Eva Lauren
Tramell. That’s it.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay. Whatever.”
“What does it matter? You’re the woman I’m
with.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m just curious. People don’t

---

usually stray from their preferred type.”
Stepping between my legs, he put his arms
around my hips. “Lucky for me that I fit your type.”
“Gideon, you don’t fit any type,” I drawled.
“You’re in a class by yourself.”
His eyes sparkled. “Like what you see, do
you?”
“You know I do, which is why we really should
get out of here before we start screwing like
minks again.”
Pressing his cheek to mine, he murmured,
“Only you could blow my mind in a place that’s
always made my skin crawl. Thank you for being
exactly what I want and need.”
“Oh, Gideon.” I wrapped my arms and legs
around him, holding him as close to me as
possible. “You came here for me, didn’t you? To
take me away from this place you hate.”
“I’d walk into hell for you, Eva, and this is pretty
damn close.” He exhaled harshly. “I was about to
go to your apartment and drag you away with me
when I learned you’d come here. You have to stay
away from Christopher.”
“Why do you keep saying that? He seems very
nice.”
Gideon pulled back, sifting my hair through his
fingers. His eyes stayed fiercely locked to mine.
“He takes sibling rivalry to the extreme, and he’s
unstable enough to make him dangerous. He’s
reaching out to you because he knows he can hurt
me through you. You have to trust me on this.”
Why was Gideon so suspicious of his half-
brother’s motives? He had to have a good
reason. It was yet another thing he didn’t fully
share with me. “I do trust you. Of course I do. I’ll
keep my distance.”
“Thank you.” Catching me by the waist, he lifted
me off the counter and set me on my feet. “Let’s

---

grab Cary and get the hell out of here.”
We made our way back outside with my hand in
his. I was uncomfortably aware that we’d been
gone a very long time. The sun was going down.
And I was panty-less. My ruined boy shorts were
presently stuffed into the front pocket of Gideon’s
jeans.
He glanced at me as we entered the marquee.
“I should’ve told you before. You look gorgeous,
Eva. That dress is amazing on you and so are
those fuck-me red heels.”
“Well, clearly they work.” I bumped my shoulder
into him. “Thank you.”
“For the compliment? Or the fucking?”
“Hush,” I admonished, flushing.
His dark velvet laugh turned every female head
in hearing distance and some of the men’s, too.
Placing our linked hands at the small of my back,
he pulled me close and smacked a kiss on my
mouth.
“Gideon!” His mother glided toward us with
sparkling eyes and a wide smile on her lovely
face. “I’m so happy you’re here.”
She looked like she might hug him, but his
posture altered subtly, charging the air around him
with an invisible field of power that encompassed
me as well.
Elizabeth drew to an abrupt halt.
“Mother,” he greeted her with all the warmth of
an arctic storm. “You can thank Eva for my being
here. I’ve come to take her away.”
“But she’s having a good time, aren’t you, Eva?
You should stay for her sake.” Elizabeth looked at
me with a plea in her eyes.
My fingers flexed around Gideon’s hand. He
came first, that was never in question, but I
couldn’t help but wish I knew the story behind his
coldness toward a mother who seemed to love

---

him. Her adoring gaze slid over the face that had
shades of her own, drinking in every feature
hungrily. How long had it been since the last time
she’d seen him in person?
Then I wondered if maybe she’d loved him