Page 26 of Forbidden Games

It had never been like this for him before. He’d cared about women—even loved them—but the insanity Lucy drew out of him without seeming to try all that hard blew his fucking mind.

He stared into her bright blue eyes and wondered how the hell he was supposed to go back out into that club and pretend like he hadn’t just been inside her.

As soon as she had control of her legs again, Lucy climbed off the table and fixed her dress. She could feel Gideon watching her, but she ignored him and pulled a pair of panties she’d stashed earlier out of her purse. She slipped them on and double-checked to make sure she wasn’t in danger of indecent exposure. She straightened and froze. “What?”

“You just pulled panties out of your purse.”

Heat flared over her exposed skin, but she forced herself to meet his gaze. “Yes, I did.”

He didn’t move, but he seemed closer. “I don’t know whether to be impressed or pissed the fuck off. You baited me on purpose.”

“Yes, I did,” she repeated. “I was also proving a point. I won’t allow you to control every aspect of these dates, but this thing between us is separate from that. For the duration, I’m yours.” The words felt funny, as if she was declaring more than she intended, but she couldn’t take them back without sounding ridiculous and giving them more weight than they deserved.It’s the truth. We’re exclusive.

But only sexually. There wasn’t—couldn’t—be anything more between them. She had her plan and Gideon hadn’t held down a relationship for longer than two weeks the entire six years she’d known him. Even if Lucy was willing to bend on this—and she couldn’t afford to be—Gideon would lose interest right around the time she needed him the most.

There would be no change of plans. They might fit better sexually than she could have dreamed, but that didn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things. She’d let good chemistry sideline her before—or what she’dthoughtwas good chemistry. She wouldn’t do it again, even if this felt as different from that as night to day.

“Mine for the duration.” It sounded funny coming from him, too. Or maybe those were the butterflies erupting in her stomach.

She couldn’t manage a smile, so she nodded. “Now, can we please go out there and meet this guy? Not to mention I haven’t seen Roman in years and you hustled me past him so fast, I didn’t even get to say hello.” As ridiculous as it was, the thing she’d ended up missing most about being with Jeff was his friends.

Gideon had disappeared the second she’d broken up with Jeff and the rest of that group hadn’t put up more than a token effort to keep in touch. To be fair, she hadn’t tried, either. It was hard to look them in the face and know that they’d all had at least some idea of Jeff’s extracurricular activities well before she had.

It doesn’t matter anymore. I won’tletit matter.

She didn’t wait for Gideon to answer before she marched to the door and back the way they’d come. There was no helping her flushed cheeks, but she’d purposefully styled her hair a little wild in the event that Gideon was good on his threats. She might not be willing to admit it aloud—to him—but she was so very glad he had. The first two times with him had been wonderful beyond measure, but last night and tonight felt like therealGideon. The man beneath the carefully controlled exterior.

She wanted more.

In fact, the last thing she wanted to do was exactly what she was doing—walking back into the VIP section. Much more enjoyable to slip out the back door with Gideon and go to one of their apartments to relieve the tension that only continued to rise the longer they were sleeping together.

It wasn’t an option.

She ignored the way Roman glanced over her shoulder to where Gideon had no doubt just stepped into the room, speculation in his hazel eyes. Lucy gave him a big smile. “Roman, how have you been?”

“Well. Really well.” He took her hand and stepped a little too close to be comfortable, his handsome face severe. She tensed and his next words did nothing to dispel the feeling. He kept his tone barely above a whisper. “I’m so sorry. If I’d have known he was going to be here, I would have passed on the information.”

It took her pleasure-drugged brain several seconds to catch up. He wasn’t talking about Aaron.

He was talking about Jeff.

She turned horror-movie slow toward the sound of a painfully familiar laugh. Jeff sat next to a pretty redhead and the entirety of his attention appeared to be on her. Lucy hadn’t seen him in nearly two years—not since she’d thrown every single item he’d owned out their second-story apartment window—and she hated that he looked good. There was no extra weight, no puffy face that would indicate alcoholism, no slovenly appearance.

In fact, Jeff looked better than ever.

Lucy, no doubt, looked like she’d just been up to illicit activities in the back room—because she had been.

She looked up at Roman and didn’t know what she was supposed to say or do. Jeff hadn’t seen her yet, but it was just a matter of time before he did. She wasn’t ready. She’d fought long and hard to get past the damage he’d done to her, but occupying the same space as him was enough to bring the truth flashing in front of her eyes.

She was still making her choices because of Jeff.

A hand pressed against the small of her back and Gideon’s crisp scent wrapped around her. He stepped into view, blocking Jeff from her sight—or her from Jeff’s. If Lucy felt off center, Gideon looked ready to shoot fire out of his eyes at Roman.

“Hey, man, like I just told Lucy—I didn’t know he’d be here or I’d have letyouknow. He just showed up.”

She pressed a hand to her chest.I can’t breathe.An invisible band closed around her, tightening with each exhalation until black dots danced across her vision. Two years later and he still had so much power over her. She hated it. She hatedhim.

“Holy shit. Look what the cat dragged in.” Jeff’s voice came from directly behind Gideon.

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