Entwined With You

resembled him, but couldn’t pull it off. “Does he work security, too?”
    “Not yet.” His mouth did that little lip twitch, almost-smile thing. “He’s with the FBI for now.”
    “Is your sister in law enforcement?”
    “She’s in the Marines.”
    “Whoa.Awesome.”
    “Yes, she is.”
    I studied him and his military crew cut. “You were in the service, too, weren’t you?”
    “I was.” He didn’t volunteer any more than that.
    When I opened my mouth to pry further, we turned a corner and I realized we’d reached the former warehouse where Parker had his studio.
    I grabbed my gym bag and got out before Clancy could open the door for me. “See you in an hour!”
    “Knock ’em out, Eva,” he said, watching me until I got inside.
    The door had barely closed behind me when I saw a familiar brunette I would’ve rather not seen again. Ever. She stood to the side, just off the training mats, with her arms crossed. She was dressed in black workout pants with a bright blue stripe down the sides that matched her fitted long-sleeve shirt. Her brown curly hair was scraped back into an unforgiving ponytail.
    She turned. Cool blue eyes raked me from head to toe.
    Facing the inevitable, I took a deep breath and approached her. “Detective Graves.”
    “Eva.” She gave me a curt nod. “Great tan.”
    “Thanks.”
    “Cross take you away for the weekend?”
    Not exactly a casual question. My back went up. “I had some time off.”
    Her thin mouth quirked on one side. “Still cautious. Good. What does your dad think of Cross?”
    “I believe my dad trusts my judgment.”
    Graves nodded. “I’d keep thinking about Nathan Barker’s bracelet if I were you. But then, loose ends make me twitchy.”
    A shiver of unease ran down my back. The whole thing made me twitchy, but who could I talk to about it? No one but Gideon, and Iknew him too well to doubt that he was doing everything in his considerable power to solve that mystery.
    “I need a sparring partner,” the detective said suddenly. “You’re up.”
    “Uh, what?” I blinked at her. “Is that … ? Can we … ?”
    “The case has gone cold, Eva.” She stalked onto the mat and began to stretch. “Hurry up. I don’t have all night.”
    G RAVES kicked my ass. For such a rail-thin, wiry woman, she packed some strength. She was focused, precise, and ruthless. I actually learned a lot from her over the hour and a half we sparred, most especially never to let down my guard. She was lightning quick and swift to exploit any advantage.
    When I stumbled into my apartment a little after eight, I headed straight to the bathtub. I soaked in vanilla-scented water, surrounded by candles, and hoped Gideon would show up before I pruned.
    He ended up coming in just as I was wrapping a towel around me, his damp hair and jeans telling me he’d showered after a visit with his trainer.
    “Hi, ace.”
    “Hi, wife.” He came up to me, tugged open my towel, and lowered his head to my breast.
    My breath left me when he sucked a nipple into his mouth, drawing rhythmically until it hardened.
    Straightening, he admired his handiwork. “God, you’re sexy.”
    I lifted onto my tiptoes and kissed his chin. “How’d things go tonight?”
    He looked at me with a wry curve to his lips. “Dr. Petersen congratulated us, then went on about how important couples therapy would be.”
    “He thinks we got married too soon.”
    Gideonlaughed. “He didn’t even want us having sex, Eva.”
    Wrinkling my nose, I resecured my towel and grabbed a comb for my wet hair.
    “Let me,” he said, taking the comb and leading me to the wide lip of the tub. He urged me to sit.
    As he combed my hair, I told him about seeing Detective Graves at my Krav Maga class.
    “My lawyers tell me the case has been shelved,” Gideon said.
    “How do you feel about that?”
    “You’re safe. That’s all that matters.”
    There was no inflection in his voice, which told me it mattered to him more than he’d tell me. I knew that somewhere, deep down inside him, Nathan’s murder was haunting him. Because
I
was haunted by what Gideon had done for me and we were two halves of the same soul.
    That was why Gideon had wanted us to get married so badly. I was his safe place. I was the one person who knew every dark, tormented secret he had, and I loved him desperately anyway. And he needed love more than anyone I’d ever met.
    There was a vibration against my shoulder and I teased, “Is that a new