One with You (Crossfire #5)

Arash accepted the glass Gideon slid briskly over to him. “The district attorney may or may not decide to go after her for falsely reporting an incident, but she damaged her credibility by accusing Eva of putting hands on her when security footage proves otherwise. Very fortunate, you having that, by the way.”

Learning that Gideon did indeed own the building Anne Lucas worked in hadn’t surprised me too much. My husband needed control, and having that sort of hold over the businesses of both the Lucases was just like him.

“It shouldn’t have to be said,” Arash went on, “but when confronted by crazy, Do Not Engage.”

Gideon arched his brow at me. It chafed, but he was right. He’d told me so.

The attorney shot warning glances at both of us. “I’ll work on getting her erroneous assault complaint dismissed and see if I can leverage it to our advantage by filing a counterclaim of harassment. I’ll also try for protection orders for both of you and Cary Taylor, but regardless, you all need to stay far, far away from her.”

“Absolutely,” I assured him, taking the opportunity to palm my husband’s fine, taut ass as I passed behind him.

He shot me a wry glance over his shoulder. I blew him a kiss.

It tickled me that he would feel even the slightest bit of jealousy. The most impressive thing about Arash was that he held his own next to Gideon; he certainly couldn’t surpass him. While I’d seen that Arash could be every bit as threatening as my husband, it wasn’t his default setting.

Gideon was always dangerous. No one ever mistook him for anything else. I was intensely attracted to that about him, understood that I would never tame him. And God, was he gorgeous. He knew it, too. Knew how dazzled I was by him.

But the green-eyed monster could still get the better of him.

“You’ll stay for dinner?” I asked Arash. “No idea what I’m making yet, but we ruined your plans and I feel bad about that.”

“It’s still early.” Gideon took a deep swallow of his wine. “He can make other plans.”

“I’d love to stay for dinner,” Arash said, grinning wickedly.

I couldn’t resist copping another feel, so I reached around my husband to get my wine and caressed his thigh while I was at it. I brushed my breasts across his back as I withdrew my hand.

Lightning quick, Gideon’s hand caught my wrist. He squeezed and a shiver of arousal slid through me.

Those blue eyes turned on me. “You want to misbehave?” he asked silkily.

I was instantly desperate for him. Because he looked so cool and savagely civilized, completely contained while he basically asked if I wanted to fuck.

He had no idea how much.

I heard a faint buzz. Still holding me captive by the wrist, Gideon looked across the island at Arash. “Pass my phone over.”

Arash looked at me and shook his head, even as he turned to dig Gideon’s phone out of the suit jacket on the bar stool. “How you put up with him, I will never know.”

“He’s great in bed,” I quipped, “and he’s not surly there, so …”

Gideon yanked me into his side and bit my earlobe. My nipples tightened into hard points. He growled almost inaudibly against my neck, though I doubted he cared if Arash heard.

Breathless, I pulled away and tried to focus on cooking. I hadn’t taken over Gideon’s kitchen before, hadn’t a clue where anything was or what he had stocked, aside from what I’d glimpsed while getting coffee ready for the police. I found an onion, and located a knife and cutting board. Grateful as I was for the distraction, I had to do something else besides getting us both revved up.

“Right,” Gideon said into the phone with a sigh. “I’m coming.”

I looked up. “Do you have to go somewhere?”

“No. Angus is bringing Lucky up.”

I grinned.

“Who’s Lucky?” Arash asked.

“Gideon’s dog.”

The lawyer looked suitably shocked. “You have a dog?”

“I do now,” Gideon said ruefully, leaving the kitchen.

When he returned a moment later with a squirming Lucky happily licking his jaw, I melted. There he stood, in his vest and shirtsleeves, a titan of industry, a global powerhouse, and he was being overwhelmed by the cutest puppy ever.

Picking up his phone, I unlocked it and snapped a picture.

That was going into a frame, ASAP.

While I was at it, I texted Cary. Hey, it’s Eva. Want to come over to the penthouse for dinner?

I waited a beat for him to reply, then set Gideon’s phone down and went back to chopping.

“I should’ve listened to you about Anne,” I told Gideon as we returned to the living room after saying good-bye to Arash. “I’m sorry.”