Entwined With You

it out with them. Give it some time.”
    I caught his left hand hanging over my shoulder and toyed with his ring.
    He pressed his lips to my temple and we finished watching the movie.
    A LTHOUGH Gideon slept in his apartment next door, he came over early enough to zip me into a sheath dress and fix me some coffee. I’d just finished putting on some pearl earrings and was stepping into the hallway when Tatiana appeared heading from the direction of the kitchen with two water bottles in her hands.
    She was buck naked.
    My temper almost boiled over, but I kept my tone calm. The pregnancy certainly didn’t show, but knowing about it was reason enough to skip the shouting match. “Excuse me. You need to have clothes on if you’re going to walk around my apartment.”
    “It’snot just your apartment,” she shot back, tossing her tawny mane over her shoulder as she moved to pass me.
    I thrust my arm across the hallway, blocking her way. “You don’t want to play games with me, Tatiana.”
    “Or what?”
    “You’ll lose.”
    She stared at me for a long minute. “He’ll pick me.”
    “If it came to that, he’d resent you and you’d lose anyway.” I dropped my arm. “Think about that.”
    Cary’s door opened behind me. “What the fuck are you doing, Tat?”
    Turning my head, I saw my best friend filling his doorway wearing only his boxers. “Giving you a good excuse to buy her a nice robe, Cary.”
    His jaw tightened and he waved me off, opening his door wider in a silent order for Tatiana to get her bare ass back in there.
    I resumed my trek to the kitchen, my teeth grinding together. My mood worsened when I found Gideon in the kitchen, leaning back into the counter and leisurely drinking his coffee. He wore a black suit and pale gray tie and looked unbearably handsome.
    “Enjoy the show?” I asked tightly. I hated that he’d seen another woman naked. And not just any woman, but a model with the lean, willowy body type he’d been known to prefer.
    He lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug. “Not especially.”
    “You like ’em tall and skinny.” I reached for the cup of coffee waiting for me on the counter beside him.
    Gideon set his left hand over mine. The rubies on his wedding band sparkled in the bright kitchen lights. “Last I checked, the wife I can’t resist was petite and voluptuous. Spectacularly so.”
    I closed my eyes, trying to push past my jealousy. “Do you know why I chose your ring?”
    “Red is our color,” he said quietly. “Red dresses in limos. Red fuck-meheels at garden parties. A red rose in your hair when you married me.”
    That he understood soothed me. I turned into him, pressing my body to his.
    “Umm,” he purred, hugging me close. “You’re a soft, delicious little handful, angel.”
    I shook my head, my anger melting into exasperation.
    He nuzzled his nose against my cheek. “I love you.”
    “Gideon.” Tilting my head back, I offered my mouth and let him kiss my bad mood away.
    The feel of his lips on mine never stopped making my toes curl. I was slightly dazed when he pulled back and murmured, “I have my appointment with Dr. Petersen tonight. I’ll call you when I’m finished and we’ll see what we want to do about dinner.”
    “Okay.”
    He smiled at my blissfully nonchalant reply. “I can set up an appointment for us to see him Thursday.”
    “Make it for next Thursday, please,” I said, sobering. “I hate to miss any more therapy, but Mom wants me and Cary to go to a charity gala this Thursday. She bought me a dress and everything. I’m afraid if I don’t go, she’ll take it the wrong way.”
    “We’ll go together.”
    “Yeah?” Gideon in a tuxedo was an aphrodisiac to me. Of course, Gideon in anything or nothing turned me on, too. But in a tux … Dear God, he was sizzling.
    “Yes. It’s as good a time as any to be seen out together again. And to announce our engagement.”
    I licked my lips. “Can I take advantage of you in the limo?”
    His eyes laughed at me. “By all means, angel mine.”
    W HEN Igot to work, Megumi wasn’t at her desk so I didn’t get to see how she was faring. It kind of gave me an excuse to call Martin, though, and see if things with him and Lacey had panned out after our wild night at Primal.
    I pulled out my smartphone to program a reminder and saw that my mom had left a voice mail the night before. I listened to it on the way to my desk. She wanted to see if I wanted hair and makeup done before