“Angel.” He sighed. He came close enough to catch my hand and lift it to his lips. Up close I could see how his gaze darted away, as if he had a hard time looking at me. A sick feeling settled in my gut. “Crossfire.”
The one word came out so low, I almost thought I’d imagined it. Then he pulled me into his arms and kissed me sweetly.
“Ace.” Pushing onto my tiptoes, I cupped the back of his neck and kissed him back with everything I had.
He pulled away too quickly. “Let’s change for dinner before it gets here. I could stand being in less clothes.”
I stepped back reluctantly, acknowledging that he had to be hot in his suit, but still sensing that something wasn’t right. That feeling worsened when Gideon left the room to change and I realized we wouldn’t be sharing the same bedroom.
I kicked off my shoes in the walk-in closet that was filled with way too many clothes for a weekend trip. Most were white. Gideon liked me in white. I suspected it was because he thought of me as his angel.
Did he still think of me that way now? Or was I the devil? A selfish bitch who made him face demons he’d rather forget?
I changed into a simple cotton slip dress in black, which matched my funereal mood. I felt like something had died between us.
Gideon and I had stumbled many times before, but I’d never felt this level of withdrawal from him. This discomfort and unease.
I’d felt it with other guys, when they were getting ready to tell me they didn’t want to see me anymore.
Dinner arrived and was neatly laid out on the terrace table overlooking the secluded beach. I saw a white tent cabana on the sand and remembered Gideon’s dream of us rolling around on a chaise for two by the water, making love.
My heart hurt.
I gulped two glasses of crisp, fruity white wine and went through the motions of eating, even though I’d lost my appetite. Gideon sat across from me in loose white linen drawstring pants and nothing else, which just made everything worse. He was so handsome, so goddamned sexy it was impossible not to stare at him. But he was miles away from me. A silent, forceful presence that made me want with every fiber of my soul.
The emotional gulf between us was growing. I couldn’t reach across it.
I pushed my plate away once I’d cleared it and realized Gideon had hardly eaten at all. He’d just forked his food around and helped me drain the bottle of wine.
Taking a deep breath, I told him, “I’m sorry. I should’ve … I didn’t …” I swallowed hard. “I’m sorry, baby,” I whispered.
Shoving back from the table with a loud screech of the chair legs across the tile, I hurried away from the patio.
“Eva! Wait.”
My feet hit the warm sand and I ran toward the ocean, pulling my dress off and colliding with water that felt as hot as a bath. It was shallow for several feet, then dropped off suddenly, plunging me in below my head. I bent my knees and sank, grateful to be submerged and hidden as I cried.
The weightlessness soothed my heavy heart. My hair billowed around me and I felt the soft brush of fish as they darted past the invader in their silent, peaceful world.
Being yanked back into reality had me sputtering and flailing.
“Angel.” Gideon growled and took my mouth, kissing me hard and furious as he stalked out of the water and up the beach. He took me to the cabana and dropped me onto the chaise, covering me with his body before I fully caught my breath.
I was still dizzy when he groaned and said, “Marry me.”
But that wasn’t why I said, “Yes.”
GIDEON had gone into the water after me with his pants on. The soaked linen clung to my bare legs as he sprawled over me and kissed me as if he were dying of a thirst only I could quench. His hands were in my hair, holding me still. His mouth was frantic, his lips swollen like mine, his tongue greedy and possessive.
I lay beneath him unmoving. Shocked. My startled brain quickly caught up.
He’d been agonizing over popping the question, not because he was leaving me.
“Tomorrow,” he bit out, rubbing his cheek against mine. The first tingle of stubble roughened his jaw, the sensation jolting me into a deeper awareness of where we were and what he wanted.
“I—” My mind stuttered to a halt again.
“The word is yes, Eva.” He pushed up and stared down at me fiercely. “Real simple—yes.”