Day, Sylvia - Bared to You - A Crossfire Novel

And I’m sorry for what I said to you the first time we met.”

“You love him, too,” I replied woodenly, my gaze unfocused. “And at that time, I didn’t. Not yet.”

“Doesn’t excuse me, does it?”

I grateful y accepted another glass of champagne when it was offered to me and took a second for Magdalene before the waiter straightened to move on.

We clinked glasses in a pitiful display of scorned female solidarity. I wanted to leave. I wanted to get up and walk out. I wanted Gideon to realize I’d left, to be forced to leave after me. I wanted him to feel some of the pain I felt. Stupid, immature, hurtful imaginings that made me feel smal .

I took comfort from Magdalene sitting silently beside me in commiseration. She knew how it felt to love Gideon and want him too much. That I sensed she was as miserable as I was confirmed what a threat Corinne might be.

Had he been pining for her this whole time? Was she the reason he’d closed himself off from other women?

“There you are.”

I looked up as Gideon found me. Of course Corinne was stil on his arm and I got the ful effect of the two of them as a couple. There were, quite simply, impossibly gorgeous together.

Corinne took a seat beside me and Gideon brushed his fingertips over my cheek. “I have to speak with someone,” he said. “Would you like me to bring you back anything?”

“Stoli and cranberry. Make it a double.” I needed a buzz. Bad.

“Al right.” But he frowned at my request before he walked away.

“I’m so glad to meet you, Eva,” Corinne said.

“Gideon has told me so much about you.”

“It can’t have been too much. You two weren’t gone that long.”

“We talk nearly every day.” She smiled, and there was nothing fake or malicious in her expression.

“We’ve been friends a long time.”

“More than friends,” Magdalene said pointedly.

Corinne frowned at Magdalene and I realized I wasn’t supposed to know. Was it she or Gideon or both of them that had decided it was best not to tel me? Why cover up something if there was nothing to hide?

“Yes, that’s true,” she admitted with obvious reluctance. “Although that was some years ago now.” I twisted in my seat to face her. “You stil love him.”

“You can’t blame me for that. Any woman who spends time with him fal s in love with him. He’s beautiful and untouchable. That’s an irresistible combination.” Her smile softened. “He tel s me you’ve inspired him to start opening up. I’m grateful to you for that.”

I was about to say, I didn’t do it for you . Then an insidious doubt drifted through my mind, making a vulnerable spot inside me fold in on itself.

Was I doing it for her without knowing it?

I twisted the base of my empty champagne flute around and around on the table. “He was going to marry you.”

“And it was the biggest mistake of my life walking away.” Her hand went to her throat, her slender fingers restlessly stroking, as if toying with a necklace she’d normal y find there. “I was young and in some ways he frightened me. He was so possessive. It wasn’t until after I married that I realized possessiveness is much better than indifference. At least for me.” I looked away, fighting the nausea that rose in my throat.

“You’re awful y quiet,” she said.

“What is there to say?” Magdalene tossed out.

We al loved him. We were al available to him. In the end, he would make a choice between us.

“You should know, Eva,” Corinne began, looking at me with those clear aquamarine eyes, “he’s told me how special you are to him. It took me some time to gather the courage to come back here and face you two together. I even canceled a flight I had booked a couple weekends ago. I interrupted him at some charity event he was giving a speech at, poor guy, to tel him I was on my way and to ask for his help getting settled.”

I froze, feeling as brittle as cracked glass. She had to be talking about the advocacy center dinner, the night Gideon and I had sex for the first time. The night we’d christened his limo and he’d immediately withdrawn; then left me abruptly.

“When he cal ed me back,” she continued, “he told me he’d met someone. That he wanted you and me to meet when I got into town. I ended up chickening out.

He’s never asked me to meet a woman in his life before.”

Oh my God. I glanced at Magdalene. Gideon had left me in a rush that night for her . For Corinne.

“Excuse me.” I pushed back from the table and searched for Gideon. I saw him at the bar and went to him.

He was just turning away from the bartender with two glasses in his hands when I intercepted him. I took my drink and gulped it down, my teeth aching as the cubes of ice knocked against them.

“Eva—” There was a soft note of chastisement in his voice.

“I’m leaving,” I said flatly, stepping around him to set my empty glass on the bar top. “I don’t consider that running, because I’m tel ing you in advance and giving you the option of coming with me.”

He exhaled harshly and I could see that he understood my mood. He knew I knew. “I can’t leave.” I turned away.

He caught my arm. “You know I can’t stay if you go.

You’re upset over nothing, Eva.”

“Nothing?” I stared at where his hand gripped me. “I warned you I get upset and jealous. This time, you’ve given me good reason.”

“Warning me is supposed to excuse you when you get ridiculous about it?” His face was relaxed, his voice low and calm. No one looking from a distance would pick up on the tension between us, but it was there in his eyes. Burning lust and icy fury. He was so good at putting those two together.

“Who’s ridiculous? What about Daniel, the personal trainer? Or Martin, a member of my stepfamily?” I leaned closer and whispered, “I’ve never fucked either of them, let alone agreed to a marriage! I sure as hel don’t talk to them every damn day!”

Abruptly, he caught me by the waist and hauled me up tight against him. “You need to be fucked now,” he hissed in my ear, nipping the lobe with his teeth. “I shouldn’t have made us wait.”

“Maybe you were planning ahead,” I shot back.

“Saving it up in case an old flame popped back into your life, one you’d prefer to screw instead.” Gideon tossed back his drink; then he secured me to his side with a steely arm around my waist and led me through the crowd to the door. He pul ed his smartphone out of his pocket and ordered the limo brought around. By the time we reached the street, the long, sleek car was there. Gideon pushed me through the door Angus held open and told him, “Drive around the block until I say otherwise.”

Then he slid in directly behind me, so closely I could feel his breath against my bare back. I scrambled toward the opposite seat, determined to get away from him….

“Stop,” he snapped.

I sank to my knees on the carpeted floor, breathing hard. I could run to the ends of the earth and I stil wouldn’t be able to escape the fact that Corinne Giroux had to be better for Gideon than I was. She was calm and cool, a soothing presence even to me—the person freaking out over the unwelcome fact of her existence. My worst nightmare.

His hand twisted into my loose hair, restraining me.

His spread legs surrounded mine, his grip tightening so that my head was pul ed back gently to touch his shoulder. “I’m going to give you what we both need, Eva. We’re going to fuck as long as it takes to dul the edge enough to get through dinner. And you’re not going to worry about Corinne, because while she’s inside the bal room, I’l be deep inside you.”