Well, then..."But you've seen me na**d," I teased, my voice husky. "You know what you're getting. I don't. I love what I've seen of your body so far, but that hasn't been a whole lot."
"We can rectify that now."
The thought of him stripping for me made me squirm in my seat. He noticed and his mouth curved wickedly.
"You'd better not," I said regretfully. "I was late getting back on Friday."
"Tonight, then."
I swallowed hard. "Absolutely."
"I'll be sure to clear my schedule by five." He resumed eating, completely at ease with the fact that we'd both just penciled "mind-blowing sex" into our mental day calendars.
"You don't have to." I opened the mini ketchup bottle by my plate. "I need to hit the gym after work."
"We'll go together."
"Really?" I turned the bottle upside down and thumped the bottom with my palm.
He took it from me and used his knife to coax the ketchup onto my plate. "It's probably best for me to work off some energy before I get you na**d. I'm sure you'd like to be able to walk tomorrow."
I stared at him, astonished by the casualness with which he'd made the statement and the rueful amusement on his face that told me he wasn't entirely kidding. My sex clenched in delicious anticipation. I could easily picture becoming seriously addicted to Gideon Cross.
I ate some fries, thinking of someone else who was addicted to Gideon. "Magdalene could be a problem for me."
He swallowed a bite of his burger and washed it down with a swig from his bottled water. "She told me she'd talked to you, and that it didn't go well."
I gave props to Magdalene's scheming and the clever attempt to cut me off at the pass. I'd have to be very careful with her, and Gideon was going to have to do something about her - like cut her off, period.
"No, it didn't go well," I agreed. "But then I don't appreciate being told that you don't respect the women you f**k and that the moment you shoved your dick into me you were done with me."
Gideon stilled. "She said that?"
"Word for word. She also said you're keeping on her ice until you're ready to settle down."
"Did she now?" His low voice had a chilling bite to it.
My stomach knotted, knowing things could either go really right or really wrong, depending on what Gideon said next. "Don't you believe me?"
"Of course I believe you."
"She could be a problem for me," I repeated, not letting it go.
"She won't be a problem. I'll talk to her."
I hated the thought of him talking to her, because it made me sick with jealousy. I figured that was an issue I should disclose up front. "Gideon..."
"Yes?" He'd finished his burger and was working on the fries.
"I'm a very jealous person. I can be irrational with it." I poked at my burger with a fry. "You might want to think about that, and whether or not you want to deal with someone who has self-esteem issues like I do. It was one of my sticking points when you first propositioned me, knowing it was going to drive me nuts having women salivating all over you and not having the right to say anything about it."
"You have the right now."
"You're not taking me seriously." I shook my head and took another bite of my cheeseburger.
"I've never been as serious about anything in my life." Reaching over, Gideon ran a fingertip over the corner of my mouth, and then licked off the dab of sauce he'd collected. "You're not the only one who can get possessive. I'm very proprietary about what's mine."
I didn't doubt that for a minute.