Page 42 of Ruthless

The call went dead, and without hesitation, Gideon pulled an alcohol-soaked cotton pad from the pouch, rubbed it on his arm, and then pressed the injector into his upper arm. He gave a small grunt at the deep sting.

Seconds later, his phone pinged, and he read the message from Ash with a wry grin. Welcome back, asshole.

When his phone pinged again, he figured it was another smart-ass remark. Instead, the message was from Eve. What the hell was that?

His spirits lifting even further, he quickly replied, Took you long enough.

* * *

“Ugh!”

Eve wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting here, reliving that kiss. For something that had lasted less than fifteen seconds, it was taking her an extraordinarily long time to come to grips with it.

How dare he do that and just walk out? Why had he kissed her? What had he meant by it?

It had taken a while before she could come up with a coherent text, but instead of getting answers, he’d answered in typical Gideon style. Infuriating man!

She didn’t know where to go from here. Did the kiss mean anything? Did she want it to mean something? For years, she and Gideon had skirted around the heat between them. Early on in their friendship, she had made some subtle advances, and he’d gently shut her down.

Since she’d had zero confidence in her sexuality at that time, and her self-confidence had been hovering somewhere below zero, she had been grateful he hadn’t made a big deal out of it, and she had pushed it aside. Later, when they’d become full-fledged partners, and she had developed a stronger sense of herself, she had thought about it again but had refused to be the one to make the first move.

Until that night.

Closing her eyes, Eve remembered those moments as if they’d happened yesterday. They had been on assignment in Prague. Even though they’d been partners for over two years by then, both of them had concentrated on maintaining a close friendship and nothing more. She’d known that Gideon dated various women, and she had gone out with a couple of guys herself. Though neither of them talked about their love lives, she somehow had known that Gideon felt nothing for these women. Just as she’d felt little for the men she’d dated. It had been companionship and nothing more.

The job in Prague had changed a lot of things for them. It was one of their first undercover assignments for the CIA. They had joined the agency together and had been surprised but pleased that they’d been hired in as partners. It had helped that Gideon had some contacts, and since he could talk a camel into walking backward across the desert, their entry into American covert ops had been streamlined.

Their target had been an arms dealer who’d lived in Prague but had ties to a bombing in Kiev. Gideon had gotten a job as a short-order cook at a diner where the guy had purportedly eaten frequently. She had gone in as a waitress. Coming back to their apartment every night smelling like onions and grease hadn’t been fun. Their hideout had been a dumpy one-bedroom flat with a minuscule shower and a temperamental water heater. It hadn’t helped that it had been wintertime, and the heater had malfunctioned like a defective motor. When it had sputtered to its end late one night, they’d had no choice but to cuddle together to stay warm. The result had been what had to be the most cliché of hookups. And it had been life-changing for her.

Eve remembered every second of those delicious hours in his arms. The heat, the intensity. His gruff voice filled with emotion and need, his large hands both tender and rough. Every single moment had been filled with passion, culminating in the most wondrous, beautiful, most momentous experience of her life.

Waking the next morning with a smile and a peace she’d never felt before, she had been sure that Gideon was feeling the same. She had been wrong. His eyes had been filled with remorse and so much regret that even now she felt the pain of rejection in her gut.

As letdowns went, it had to have been the kindest and loveliest one in history. He hadn’t known she was a virgin. With her past experience, being a virgin at twenty-four hadn’t felt that unusual to her. She had known that when she did finally trust a man enough to give herself to him that he would have to be extraordinary. And that man had been Gideon. He had seen things differently.

Now that she knew the truth of who he really was, his gentle letdown made so much more sense. His guilt had likely been overwhelming, because that’s just who Gideon was.

She hadn’t been sure they would recover from that. Even as kind as he’d been, his rejection had stung. Eventually, they had returned to their former relationship and perhaps had even grown closer because of it.

That didn’t mean she’d forgotten or didn’t often yearn for more from him. But not since that night had he indicated that he felt anything remotely romantic toward her.

Until that kiss.

What had it meant? Now that she knew the truth, did he want to pursue something? Did he think it would be that easy? Maybe she was even angrier with herself, because even as hurt as she was at his deceit, all she could think about was how much she wished he’d come back and kiss her longer and deeper.

“Ugh!” she growled again. Instead of responding to his infuriating text, she dropped her phone in her pocket. Grabbing her crutches leaning against her chair, she stood. No matter what response she texted back, she wasn’t sure she was ready to deal with his answer.

The chime of her intercom and the announcement that her brothers were on their way up had her moving quicker than was likely healthy. Silly, but she didn’t want them to see the evidence on the table that she’d had a guest for breakfast. No matter how old she was, Nicolas and Alexandre had a tendency to get all big brothery sometimes.

They had met Gideon a couple of times, and she had assured them they were just friends. However, with that kiss foremost on her mind, she didn’t trust herself to not show something she didn’t want revealed. They’d never let it go if they suspected there was more than friendship between them.

Thankful there was nothing to clean up in the kitchen, she quickly loaded his dish and coffee cup into the dishwasher. She had just enough time to give herself a quick glance in the mirror, and though she noted her color was a little high, she hoped they would attribute that to the excitement of seeing them.

The instant she opened the door, she was enveloped in a bear hug, but when she yelped, Nicolas dropped his hands quickly and stepped back. “Je suis désolé!”

“No, no, it’s okay,” she quickly assured him. “I’m just a little sore.”

“If I promise to be gentler, can your other brother get a hug?”

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