Entwined With You

Gideon asked, “How much coffee have you had this morning?”
    “Enough to take you to the mat, so watch out.” I bumped my hip into his arm. “I also think you should consider a press release announcingthe acquisition of La Rose Noir, so that your name and Giroux’s are linked. Remind people that Corinne—who you’ve been seen around with so much lately—has a husband, so Deanna can’t paint you as a total bad guy for cutting Corinne off.
If
she decides to go that route.”
    He caught me unawares and pulled me into his lap. “Angel, you’re killing me. I’ll do whatever you want, but you need to understand that Deanna has nothing. Ian Hager isn’t going to risk a nice settlement to publicize his story. He’ll sign the necessary releases, take the money, and go away.”
    “But what about—”
    “Six-Ninths isn’t going to want their ‘Golden’ girl linked with another guy. Ruins the love story of the song. I’ll be speaking to Kline and we’ll get on the same page.”
    “You’re talking to Brett?”
    “We’re in business together,” he pointed out, with a twist to his lips, “so yes. And Deanna’s using Cary’s attack as a bluff. You and I both know there’s nothing there.”
    I considered all that. “You think she’s yanking my chain? Why?”
    “Because I’m yours, and if she had a press pass to any event we attended together, she knows it.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “I can’t hide how I feel around you, which is what’s made you a target.”
    “You hid it well enough from me.”
    “Your insecurity made you blind.”
    I couldn’t argue with that. “So she freaks me out with the threat of the story. What does she achieve?”
    He leaned back. “Think about it. The lid is about to blow on a scandal involving you and me. What’s the swiftest way to defuse it?”
    “Stay away from me. That’s what you’d be advised to do. Distancing yourself from the source of a scandal is Crisis Management 101.”
    “Or do the opposite and marry you,” he said softly.
    I froze. “Is that—? Are you—?” Swallowing hard, I whispered, “Not now. Not like this.”
    “No, not like this,” Gideon agreed, rubbing his lips back and forth over mine. “When I propose, angel, trust me, you’ll know it.”
    My throat was tight. I could only nod.
    “Breathe,” he ordered gently. “One more time. Now, reassure me that’s not panic.”
    “Not really. No.”
    “Talk to me, Eva.”
    “I just …” I blurted it out in a rush. “I want you to ask me when I can say yes.”
    Tension gripped his body. He leaned back, his eyes wounded beneath his frown. “You couldn’t say yes now?”
    I shook my head.
    His mouth thinned into a determined line. “Lay out what you need from me to make that happen.”
    I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, so that he’d feel the connection between us. “There’s so much I don’t know. And it’s not that I need to know more in order to make up my mind, because nothing could make me stop loving you. Nothing. I just feel like your hesitance to share things with me means that
you’re
not ready.”
    “I think I followed that,” he muttered.
    “I can’t take the risk that you won’t want forever with me. I won’t survive you, either, Gideon.”
    “What do you want to know?”
    “Everything.”
    He made a frustrated noise. “Be specific. Start with something.”
    The first thing that came to mind was what came out of my mouth, because I’d been buried in his business all morning. “Vidal Records. Why are you in control of your stepfather’s company?”
    “Because it was going under.” His jaw hardened. “My mother had already suffered through one financial meltdown; I wasn’t going to let it happen to her again.”
    “What did you do?”
    “I was able to convince her to talk them—Chris and Christopher—into taking the company public, then she sold Ireland’s shares to me. In addition to what I acquired, I had the majority.”
    “Wow.” I squeezed his hand. I’d met both Christopher Vidal Sr.—Chris—and Christopher Vidal Jr. As alike as father and son were in appearance, with their dark copper waves and grayish-green eyes, I suspected they were very different men. Certainly I knew Christopher was a douche. I didn’t think his father was. At least I hoped he wasn’t. “How did that go over?”
    Gideon’s arch look was all the answer I needed. “Chris would ask for my advice, but Christopher always refused to take