Bared to You

In the end all things will
be known.
Duh. I didn’t need a fortune to figure
that out.”
Gideon opened his and read, 
“Prosperity will
knock on your door soon.”
I snorted.
Cary shot me a look. “I know, right? You
snatched someone else’s cookie, Cross.”
“He better not be anywhere near someone
else’s cookie,” I said dryly.
Reaching over, Gideon plucked half of mine out
of my fingers. “Don’t worry, angel. Your cookie is
the only one I want.” He popped it in his mouth
with a wink.
“Gag,” Cary muttered. “Get a room.” He
cracked his fortune with a flourish, and then
scowled. “What the fuck?”
I leaned forward. “What’s it say?”
“Confucius say,” Gideon ad-libbed, “man with
hand in pocket feel cocky all day.”
Cary threw half his cookie at Gideon, who
caught it deftly and grinned.
“Give me that.” I snatched the fortune out from
between Cary’s fingers and read it. Then laughed.
“Fuck you, Eva.”
“Well?” Gideon prodded.
“Pick another cookie.”
Gideon smiled. “
Pwned
by a fortune.”
Cary threw the other half of his cookie.
I was reminded of similar evenings spent with
Cary when I was attending SDSU, which made
me try and picture what Gideon had been like in
college. From the articles I’d read, I knew he’d
attended Columbia for his undergraduate studies,
then left to focus on his expanding business
interests.

---

Had he associated with the other students? Did
he go to frat parties, screw around and/or drink
too much? He was such a controlled man, I had a
hard time picturing him that carefree, and yet here
he was being exactly that with me and Cary.
He glanced at me then, still smiling, and my
heart turned over in my chest. He looked his age
for once, young and seriously fine and so very
normal. At that moment, we were just a twenty-
something couple relaxing at home with a
roommate and a remote control. He was just my
boyfriend, hanging out. It was all so sweet and
uncomplicated, and I found the illusion a poignant
one.
The intercom buzzed and Cary leaped to his
feet to answer it. He glanced at me with a smile.
“Maybe it’s Trey.”
I held up a hand with my fingers crossed.
But when Cary answered the door a few
minutes later, it was the leggy blonde from the
other night who came in.
“Hey,” she said, taking in the remnants of dinner
on the table. She eyed Gideon appraisingly as he
politely unfolded and stood in that powerfully
graceful way of his. She shot me a smirk; then
unleashed a dazzling supermodel smile on
Gideon and held out her hand. “Tatiana Cherlin.”
He shook her hand. “Eva’s boyfriend.”
My brows lifted at his introduction. Was he
protecting his identity? Or his personal space?
Either way, I liked his response.
Cary came back into the room with a bottle of
wine and two glasses. “Come on,” he said,
gestured down the hallway to his bedroom.
Tatiana gave a little wave and preceded Cary
out. I mouthed behind her back to Cary, 
What are
you doing?
He winked and whispered, “Picking another

---

He winked and whispered, “Picking another
cookie.”
Gideon and I called it a night shortly after and
headed to my room. As we got ready for bed, I
asked him something I’d wondered about earlier.
“Did you have a fuck pad in college, too?”
His T-shirt cleared his head. “Excuse me?”
“You know, like the hotel room. You’re a randy
guy. I just wondered if you’d had some kind of
setup even then.”
He was shaking his head as I ogled his divinely
perfect torso and lean hips. “I’ve had as much sex
since I met you as I’ve had in the last two years
combined.”
“No way.”
“I work hard and I work out harder, both of which
keep me pleasantly exhausted most of the time.
Occasionally, I might’ve gotten an offer I didn’t
refuse, but otherwise I could take or leave sex until
I met you.”
“Bullshit.” I found that impossible to believe.
He shot me a look before he headed toward the
bathroom with a black leather toiletry bag. “Keep
doubting me, Eva. See what happens.”
“What?” I followed him, enjoying the sight of his
delectable ass. “You’re going to prove that you
can take or leave sex by doing me again?”
“It takes two.” He opened his bag and pulled out
a new toothbrush that he extricated from its
packaging and dropped into my toothbrush
holder. “You’ve initiated sex between us as much
as I have. You need the connection as much as I
do.”
“You’re right. It’s just…”
“Just what?” He pulled open a drawer, frowned
at finding it full, and moved on to pull open
another.
“Other sink,” I said, smiling at his presumption

---

that he would get drawers at my place, too, and
his scowl when he couldn’t find them. “They’re all
yours.”
Gideon moved over to the second sink and
began unpacking his bag into the drawers. “Just
what?” he repeated, taking shampoo and body
wash over to my shower.
Leaning my hip into the sink and crossing my
arms, I watched him stake his claim all over my
bathroom. There was no doubt that’s what he was
doing, just as there was no doubt that anyone
walking into the room would know right away there
was a man in my life.
It struck me then that I had a similar claim on his
private space. His household staff had to know
their boss was in a committed relationship now.
The thought gave me a little thrill.
“I was thinking about you in college earlier,” I
went on, “when we were eating dinner, imagining
what it would be like to see you around on
campus. I would’ve been obsessed with you. I
would have gone out of my way to see you around
just to enjoy the view. I would’ve tried to get in the
same classes as you, so I could daydream during
lectures about getting into your pants.”
“Sex maniac.” He kissed the tip of my nose as
he passed me and went to brush his teeth. “We
both know what would’ve happened once I saw
you.”
I brushed my hair and teeth; then washed my
face. “So…did you have a sex pad for the rare
occasions some lucky bitch got you in bed?”
His gaze caught my soapy reflection in the
mirror. “I’ve always used the hotel.”
“That’s the only place you’ve had sex? Before
me?”
“The only place I’ve had consensual sex,” he
said quietly, “before you.”

---

“Oh.” My heart broke.
I walked over to him, hugging him from behind. I
rubbed my cheek against his back.
We went to bed and wrapped ourselves around
each other. I buried my face in his neck and
breathed him in, snuggling. His body was hard,
yet it was wonderfully comfortable against mine.
He was so warm and strong, so powerfully male. I
only had to think of him to want him.
I slid my leg over his hips and rose above him,
my hands splayed atop the ridges of his
abdomen. It was dark, I couldn’t see him, but I
didn’t need to. As much as I loved that face of his
—the one he resented at times—it was the way
he touched me and murmured to me that really got
to me. As if there was no one else in the world for
him, nothing he wanted more.
“Gideon.” I didn’t need to say anything else.
Sitting up, he wrapped his arms around me and
kissed me deeply. Then he rolled me beneath him
and made love to me with a tender
possessiveness that rocked me to the soul.
I woke with a jolt of surprise. A heavy weight
crushed me and a harsh voice spit ugly, nasty
words into my ear. Panic gripped me, cutting off
my air.