As he left the office, I turned to Gideon. “Can I hug you?”
“You never have to ask.”
My heart felt squeezed by the warm indulgence in his eyes. “The glass is clear.”
“Let them see,” he murmured, wrapping his arms around me. He exhaled long and slow when I clung to him. “Talk to me, angel.”
“I don’t want to talk.” Didn’t want to think about the mess I’d made of my life, which was now impacting the man I loved. “I want to hear your voice. Say anything, I don’t care.”
“Kline won’t hurt you. I promise you that.”
My eyes squeezed shut. “Not about him. Tell me about work.”
“Eva . . .”
I felt the tension in his body, the strain of concern and worry, so I explained. “I just want to close my eyes for a minute and feel you. Smell you. Hear you. I need to just soak you in for a minute, and then I’ll be okay.”
His hands rubbed up and down my back, his chin resting on the top of my head. “We’re going away. Soon. For at least a week, although I’d prefer two. I was thinking we might go back to Crosswinds. Spend the time na**d and lazy—”
“You’re never lazy. Especially when you’re naked.”
“Especially when you’re naked,” he corrected, nuzzling me. “But I’ve never had you that way for an entire week. You could wear me out.”
“I doubt that’s possible, fiend. But I’m willing to try my best.”
“It won’t be our honeymoon, per se. I want a month for that.”
“A month!” I pulled back and looked at him, my mood lifting. “The entire economy of New York could collapse if you’re out of the game that long.”
He cupped the side of my face, his thumb brushing over my brow. “I think my highly capable team can manage a few weeks without me.”
I caught his wrist and let a little of my anxiety out. “I couldn’t manage it. I need you too much.”
“Eva.” He lowered his head and pressed his lips to mine, his tongue teasing them open.
Gripping his nape in my hand, I held him still while I deepened the kiss. Fell into it. He pulled me closer, lifting me onto my tiptoes. His head tilted, tightening the seal until every breath was shared, every moan and whimper.
I gasped when we broke for air. “When will you be home?”
“When you want me there.”
“That would be when your day is done. You’ve lost enough time over me today.” I smoothed his perfectly placed tie. “You weren’t just spying on me this afternoon. You knew my lunch with Brett was going to go south.”
“It was a possibility.”
“The spying? Or the heading south?”
He shot me a look. “You’re not going to give me a hard time about being there for you. You would’ve done the same had the situation been reversed.”
“How did you know what he wanted?” Was the video’s existence eating at him, too? What I’d done and who I’d been before?
“I know he’s getting pressure from Christopher, who’s also putting pressure on the rest of the band.”
“Why? To get to you?”
“In part. You’re not just some random hot blonde. You’re Eva Tramell and you’re news.”
“Maybe I should dye my hair. Get rid of the ‘Golden.’ How about red?” I couldn’t go brunette, not with Gideon’s history of dark-haired women. It would kill me to look in the mirror every day.