“Eva—” There was a soft note of chastisement in his voice.

“I’m leaving,” I said flatly, stepping around him to set my empty glass on the bar top. “I don’t consider that running, because I’m tel ing you in advance and giving you the option of coming with me.”

He exhaled harshly and I could see that he understood my mood. He knew I knew. “I can’t leave.” I turned away.

He caught my arm. “You know I can’t stay if you go.

You’re upset over nothing, Eva.”

“Nothing?” I stared at where his hand gripped me. “I warned you I get upset and jealous. This time, you’ve given me good reason.”

“Warning me is supposed to excuse you when you get ridiculous about it?” His face was relaxed, his voice low and calm. No one looking from a distance would pick up on the tension between us, but it was there in his eyes. Burning lust and icy fury. He was so good at putting those two together.

“Who’s ridiculous? What about Daniel, the personal trainer? Or Martin, a member of my stepfamily?” I leaned closer and whispered, “I’ve never fucked either of them, let alone agreed to a marriage! I sure as hel don’t talk to them every damn day!”

Abruptly, he caught me by the waist and hauled me up tight against him. “You need to be fucked now,” he hissed in my ear, nipping the lobe with his teeth. “I shouldn’t have made us wait.”

“Maybe you were planning ahead,” I shot back.

“Saving it up in case an old flame popped back into your life, one you’d prefer to screw instead.” Gideon tossed back his drink; then he secured me to his side with a steely arm around my waist and led me through the crowd to the door. He pul ed his smartphone out of his pocket and ordered the limo brought around. By the time we reached the street, the long, sleek car was there. Gideon pushed me through the door Angus held open and told him, “Drive around the block until I say otherwise.”

Then he slid in directly behind me, so closely I could feel his breath against my bare back. I scrambled toward the opposite seat, determined to get away from him….

“Stop,” he snapped.

I sank to my knees on the carpeted floor, breathing hard. I could run to the ends of the earth and I stil wouldn’t be able to escape the fact that Corinne Giroux had to be better for Gideon than I was. She was calm and cool, a soothing presence even to me—the person freaking out over the unwelcome fact of her existence. My worst nightmare.

His hand twisted into my loose hair, restraining me.

His spread legs surrounded mine, his grip tightening so that my head was pul ed back gently to touch his shoulder. “I’m going to give you what we both need, Eva. We’re going to fuck as long as it takes to dul the edge enough to get through dinner. And you’re not going to worry about Corinne, because while she’s inside the bal room, I’l be deep inside you.”

“Yes,” I whispered, licking dry lips.

“You forget who submits, Eva,” he said gruffly. “I’ve given up control for you. I’ve bent and adjusted for you.

I’l do anything to keep you and make you happy. But I can’t be tamed or topped. Don’t mistake indulgence for weakness.”

I swal owed hard, my blood on fire for him.

“Gideon…”

“Reach up with both hands and hold on to the grab handle above the window. Don’t let go until I tel you, understand?”

I did as he ordered, pushing my hands through the leather loop. As my grip secured, my body sparked to life, making me aware of how right he was about what I needed. He knew me so wel , this lover of mine.

Shoving his hands into my bodice, Gideon squeezed my ful , aching breasts. When he rol ed and tugged my nipples, my head lol ed against him, the tension leaving my body in a rush.

“God.” He nuzzled his mouth against my temple. “It’s so perfect when you give yourself over to me like that…al at once, as if it’s a huge relief.”

“Fuck me,” I begged, needing the connection.

“Please.”

Releasing my hair, he reached under my dress and pul ed my panties down my thighs. His jacket flew past me to land on the seat; then his hand pushed between my legs from the front. He growled at finding me wet and swol en. “You were made for me, Eva. You can’t go long without me inside you.”

Stil he primed me, running his skil ed fingers through my cleft, spreading the moisture over my clit and the lips of my sex. He pushed two fingers into me, scissoring them, preparing me for the thrust of his long, thick cock.

“Do you want me, Gideon?” I asked hoarsely, needing to ride his thrusting fingers, but hampered by how far I had to reach to grab the strap.

“More than my next breath.” His lips moved over my throat and the top of my shoulder, the warm velvet of his tongue sliding seductively across my skin. “I can’t go long without you either, Eva. You’re an addiction…

my obsession…”

His teeth bit gently into my flesh, conveying his animal need with a rough sound of desire. Al the while he fucked me with his fingers, his other hand massaging my clit, making me come again and again from the simultaneous stimulation.

“Gideon!” I gasped, when my damp fingers began to slip from the leather.

His hands left me and I heard the erotic rasp of his zipper lowering. “Let go and lie on your back with your legs spread.”

I moved to the seat and stretched along it, offering my body to him in quivering anticipation. His gaze met mine, his face briefly lit by a passing swathe of headlights.

“Don’t be afraid.” He came over me, setting his weight onto me with excruciating care.

“I’m too horny to be scared.” I caught him and pul ed my body up to press against the hardness of his. “I want you.”

His cock head nudged against the lips of my sex.

With a flex of his hips, he pushed into me, his breath hissing just as mine did at the searing connection. I went lax against the seat, my fingers barely clinging to his lean waist.

“I love you,” I whispered, watching his face as he began to move. Every inch of my skin burned as if from the sun, and my chest was so tight with longing and emotion that it was hard to breathe. “And I need you, Gideon.”

“You have me,” he whispered, his cock sliding in and out. “I couldn’t be more yours.”

I quivered and tensed, my hips meeting his relentlessly measured drives. I climaxed with a breathless cry, shuddering as the ecstasy rippled through my sex, milking him until he grunted and started powering into me.

“Eva.”

I rocked into his ferocious lunges, urging him on. He clutched at me, riding me hard and fast. My head thrashed and I moaned shamelessly, loving the feel of him, that decadent sensation of being possessed and ruthlessly pleasured.

We were wild for each other, fucking like feral beasts, and I was so turned on by our primal lust I thought I’d die from the orgasm building inside me.

“You’re so good at this, Gideon. So good…” He gripped my buttock and yanked me up to meet his next thrust, hitting the end of me, forcing a gasp of pleasure/pain from my throat. I came again, clenching down hard on him.

“Ah, God. Eva.” With a serrated groan, he erupted violently, flooding me with his heat. Pinning my hips, he

ground against me, emptying himself as deep in me as he could get.

When he finished, he sucked in a harsh breath and gathered my hair in his hands, kissing the side of my damp throat. “I wish you knew what you do to me. I wish I could tel you.”

I held him tightly. “I can’t help it that I’m stupid over you. It’s just too much, Gideon. It’s—”

“—uncontrol able.” He started over again, thrusting rhythmical y. Leisurely. As if we had al the time in the world. Thickening and lengthening with each push and pul .