I can help you figure out what’s newsworthy.” “That doesn’t mean you don’t know something, Eva. “Because whatever Cross’s motivation was for hooking up with you, you got to him. “Why do you think I know anything worth sharing?” “Listen”-Deanna pulled a business card out of a pocket of her skirt-“pretty soon you’re going to figure out that Gideon Cross was using you to get Corinne Giroux jealous enough to come back to him. I was never going to wade in that pool again. Unlike Gideon, he wasn’t the love of my life. Like Gideon, he radiated sex appeal like a heat wave. “Whatever.” I sighed inwardly at her mention of my ex, Brett Kline, who was front man for a band on the rise and one of the sexiest men I’d ever met. “Not all of us have rock stars waiting in the wings.” Now that I knew what Gideon was capable of, how far he would go to protect me, I could still answer honestly and without reservation, “No, I’m not afraid. Terrence Lucas-someone else who was at odds with Gideon-had said something similar to me. I took a slow, deep breath and remembered when Dr. His money doesn’t give him the right to do whatever the hell he wants.” “Are you sure you want to go down this road?” I asked quietly, intuitively certain she’d fucked my man at some point in the past. She was so exactly Gideon’s type-tall, slender, dark-haired, and golden-skinned. This is your chance to get a bit of your own back.”Ī rock settled in the bottom of my stomach. I won’t use anything that identifies you. But it was also news that he’d dumped me and gotten back together with his ex-fiancée.ĭeanna crossed her arms, a move that accentuated her cleavage, something I took note of only because I was eyeing her again with more care. “Especially not him.”Īs one of the twenty-five richest men in the world, with a New York real estate portfolio so extensive it boggled the mind, Gideon was always news. “No offense, but I can’t think of anything I want to talk to a reporter about.” I’ve got a story I’m working on, and I could use your help.” I’d just like to chat with you a few minutes. “Deanna Johnson,” she said, thrusting out a well-manicured hand. Despite how battered I felt and probably looked, I squared my shoulders and faced her directly. There was an avid gleam in her dark eyes that got my back up. Her dark hair fell in thick waves around her shoulders, and her smile graced full lips that were a glossy pink. Turning my head, I discovered a svelte brunette in a stylish skirt-and-blouse ensemble rising to her feet in the lobby seating area. Smiling as if everything were okay in my world, I rushed into the lobby and headed straight for the elevator, with a brief wave at the front desk staff. When I’d finished paying, I accepted his help out of the back of the cab and felt his gaze slide discreetly over my tearstained face. “Good evening, Miss Tramell.” The doorman accompanied the greeting with a tap of his fingers to the brim of his hat and waited patiently while I swiped my debit card. The night doorman opened the car door before I could tell the driver to turn around and take me back, and the sticky August air rushed in to chase the air-conditioning away. The cab turned the corner and pulled up in front of my apartment building. The desolation in his eyes as the doors to his private elevator separated us had ripped me open inside. I sat back, my arms around my waist, rocking. He waved us through the intersection just before the light changed. Even our therapist could be ethically and legally bound to break our confidence.Ī burly, neon-vested traffic cop appeared and urged the bus into its lane with an authoritative white-gloved hand and a holler that meant business. I wanted desperately to talk about it, to get help working it out in my head, but I’d never be able to tell anyone. I hated the thought of having to hold back what Gideon had done for me. I was suddenly struck with the knowledge that I would have to keep a dreadful secret from my best friend.Ĭary was my touchstone, my voice of reason, my favorite shoulder to lean on-and a brother to me in every way that mattered. His dark brown hair was sexily mussed and his emerald eyes were bright with mischief. He lounged on his side, bare-chested and barefooted, his jeans unbuttoned to show both the waistband of his underwear and the sleek lines of his ripped abs.
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