by Naima Simone
“Gideon,” she whispered.
“Well, don’t you two look cozy,” a new, all-too-familiar and despised voice drawled from behind them.
Gideon released Shay, shifting to her side and slipping an arm around her waist. He faced Madison and Julian Reus, careful to compose his features so they betrayed none of the disgust and hatred that burned in his chest for her, or the disdain he harbored for her father.
Underneath those emotions, satisfaction hummed through his veins. Good. He’d been waiting for their arrival. He’d expected Trevor to be with them, but since he wasn’t glued to Madison’s side, the other man must not be in attendance. That was a disappointment, but Gideon’s cheating ex and her equally deceptive father were good enough.
He switched his attention to Madison. It stunned him that he’d once missed the avaricious, calculating gleam in her brown eyes. Given her long dark hair, sensuous features and curvaceous body, he couldn’t deny her beauty, but it was hard, like a lacquer that distracted from the coldness beneath.
Love had truly been blind. No. It’d made him dumb and deaf, too.
“I must admit, when we heard the rumors of you being here with Gideon, Shay, we didn’t believe it at first,” Julian said, his tone as amicable as any good politician’s. But his eyes blazed, yelling the things one would never want heard on an open lapel mic. “Your brother didn’t mention you were attending tonight. Or that you were...” he paused deliberately “...seeing someone new. I’m sure he’ll be interested to discover this turn of events.”
If the senator had expected Shay to quail under his not-so-subtle condemnation, he’d sadly underestimated her. “Trevor is a wonderful brother, but he’s just that—my brother. And I don’t require his approval for who I choose to spend time with. Just as he didn’t ask for mine with Madison.” Shay smiled, and it could’ve cut glass. “Although I would’ve gladly offered it.”
Julian blinked, his mouth hardening at the corners. “Your brother and I have much in common. We both admire honesty—and loyalty.”
“You don’t really want to go there, do you, Julian?” Gideon interjected, arching an eyebrow. He forced his voice to remain even, bored, but injected a thread of steel through it. He’d be damned if he’d let the man intimidate Shay or belittle her with his condescending bullshit. Especially not in front of him. “I’d be willing to discuss both with you. At length.”
“Let’s go, Daddy.” Madison chuckled, the sound strained, her lovely features tight. Like her father’s, her gaze ordered Gideon to do unnatural things with his own anatomy. “There are more people we need to speak with.”
Shay waited until her soon-to-be sister-in-law and her father were out of earshot, then sighed. “God. This evening just became infinitely longer.”
“I beg to disagree.” He settled a hand on the small of her back again, guiding her forward. “The fun has just begun.”
* * *
Shay breathed deeply as she washed her hands in the Creightons’ bathroom. This moment alone, without the narrow-eyed glares from both Madison and the senator, or the microscopic attention of the other guests, was a mercy.
She hated being the subject of all that speculation. They’d reminded her of vultures, waiting to see who’d get their pick of carrion. Gideon seemed unfazed. But all those sidelong, greedy glances and not-so-quiet whispers... They’d crawled over her like ants attacking a picnic. By the time dinner concluded, she’d nearly raced to the bathroom. To be free. If only for a few moments.
“Can’t stay in here forever,” she said to her reflection.
That was the first sign of losing it, right? Talking to oneself. She smiled, shaking her head as she headed toward the restroom door. Her mother used to do the same, mumble to herself as she puttered around the kitchen when Dad wasn’t there to catch her. God, Shay missed her. Missed her hugs, her quiet assurances, her confidence in Shay.
Well, one thing Leida Neal would’ve reprimanded her about was hiding like a coward in the bathroom during a dinner party. Snorting lightly, Shay exited the powder room...and nearly collided with Madison.
Damn.
“Hi, Madison.” She greeted her brother’s fiancée with a smile. “I’m sorry if you had to wait. The bathroom’s all yours.”
She shifted to the side, prepared to walk around the other woman, but the futile hope of avoiding a confrontation died a quick death when Madison stepped to the side as well, blocking Shay’s escape. Madison smiled in turn, but it didn’t reach her chilly brown eyes.
“No hurry, Shay. I was hoping to catch you alone for a few moments,” she purred. “We have so much to catch up on, seeing as we apparently have more in common than I thought.”
“I’m assuming you’re referring to Gideon,” Shay said, resigning herself to this conversation. It wasn’t one she could’ve circumvented, but she hadn’t anticipated having it outside of the guest restroom.
“You’re a cool one, aren’t you, Shay?” Madison asked, slowly shaking her head. “The other night you never mentioned you knew him. And when I told you about our past, you pretended to be dumb. It seems I underestimated you. I won’t repeat the mistake.”
Anger flickered to life, crackling like dry wood set ablaze. “I didn’t pretend to be dumb, as you put it. Discussing my private life while you were at the table with my brother, your fiancé, didn’t strike me as appropriate. And like I told your father, I don’t need approval for my relationships,” she said, working to keep the bite of rising irritation from her tone. After all, this was her future sister-in-law. Even if more and more she was beginning to question the wisdom of Trevor’s choice. “Now, if I’d known you were attending this dinner party, I would’ve informed you so you weren’t taken by surprise. But I wasn’t aware.”
Several silent moments passed, and a fury-filled tension thickened between them.
“Your brother always brags about how smart you are.” Madison tsked softly. “Shay earned this degree. Shay graduated with honors from this program. So intelligent. And yet, when it comes to men, you’re so naive.” Her expression softened with a sympathy that was as false as her lashes. “What are the odds that my ex would turn around and fall for my new fiancé’s sister? A little too coincidental, don’t you think?” She chuckled, the sound taunting. “It’s almost pathetic in its transparency. He’s using you, Shay. Gideon still wants me, and you’re caught up in his little plan to make me jealous.”
Pain, serrated and ugly, slashed at her, the truth of Madison’s words the razor-sharp knife. Why did it hurt? She’d gone into this charade knowing the reason behind it. Gideon hadn’t tried to deny it. But reason had no place when humiliation and pain pumped out of her with every heartbeat.
Forcing her lips to move and her arm to lift, she waved away Madison’s barb-tipped claims as if they were petty annoyances. “I don’t see how any of this is your business, Madison. What is between Gideon and me is just that. Between us. Now if you’ll excuse me...”
She moved forward again. If Madison chose to get in the way, this time she’d find her ass meeting the floor. Thankfully, Madison didn’t try to block her, and Shay headed toward the dining room with a smothered sigh of relief.
“Ask him who broke it off with whom. He hasn’t let go of me. If I wanted him back, Shay, he would be mine.”
Madison’s parting shot struck true. By sheer force of will, Shay kept walking.
But it was with a limp.
Twelve
“You ambushed me. Again.”
Gideon turned from his silent—okay, brooding—study of the scenery passing by the car window to look at Shay. She’d been quiet since they’d left the Creightons’ mansion ten minutes earlier. No, she’d been distant since returning to the dining room after dinner.
And Madison had followed a couple minutes behind her, wearing a sly grin. Personal experience had taught him his ex could be a malicious bitch
. Had she said something to Shay? Had Madison hurt her? A wave of protectiveness had surged inside him, and he’d just managed to check the impulse to drag Shay onto his lap and demand answers. To ease the tension that had strung her shoulders tight. To assure her that if Madison had sharpened that dagger she called a tongue against Shay, he would fix it.
Instead, he’d remained sitting beside her at the table, continuing the charade until they could politely leave.
Disgust ate at him like a caustic acid. Disgust with himself. He’d led her into the lion’s den and hadn’t shielded her.
Every war has casualties.
He mentally repeated the reminder like a mantra. He’d been aware when he’d included Shay as part of his plans that she might be wounded, but the end justified the means. He intentionally conjured an image of his sister lying on that hospital bed, black hair limp, skin pale as she stared listlessly out the window. Oh yes. The end justified the means. Olivia—her suffering, her brokenness, her loss—justified it.
“Am I supposed to know what that cryptic comment means, Shay?” he asked. “Because I can assure you, I don’t.”
She didn’t flinch from his flat, indifferent tone or the dismissal in his question. “You knew Madison and the senator would be there tonight.”
Gideon stared at her, not even debating whether to give her the truth or not. “Of course I did. Janet and Donald are business associates of Julian’s.”
“You didn’t think to warn me?” She shook her head. “What if Trevor had been there?”
“And?” he asked, anger igniting inside him. “I hoped he would be. But it doesn’t matter. Maybe him hearing about his sister dating his enemy from his future father-in-law or his fiancée might work out better than I intended.”
“Do you care that your schemes and plans are hurting people?” she whispered.
The disappointment in her voice, as if he’d somehow let her down, raked over his skin. Burrowed beneath it.
He hated it.
Dipping his head, he leaned closer until only inches separated them. So close her breath ghosted over his lips. “Your brother?” He paused. “No.”
“All this for her,” she breathed, her gold-and-green eyes roaming his face. Summer on the verge of autumn. That’s what they reminded him of. Shaking his head as if he could physically rid himself of the sentimental thought, he leaned away from her, turning back to the window. “Madison was right.”
He stiffened, his suspicions confirmed.
Slowly, he straightened and shifted on the seat, meeting her gaze again.
“What did she say to you?” he growled.
“Nothing I didn’t already know,” she replied, her full bottom lip trembling before she seemed to catch the betraying sign. Her teeth sank into the sensual curve.
“What did she say to you, Shay?” he repeated, grounding out the question between clenched teeth.
“That you were using me to get back at her and Trevor. That she could have you back if she wanted. She...” Shay paused, and something flickered in her eyes. “She told me to ask you who broke up with whom. From that, I’m assuming she left you.”
He didn’t answer. Couldn’t.
What did it matter if Shay knew the dirty details? Of how he’d walked in on her brother in Madison’s bed. How the woman he’d believed he would spend the rest of his life with had told him she’d upgraded with Trevor.
None of it mattered now. Yet he couldn’t shove the words past his throat.
Shay shook her head, chuckling softly. Except the sound contained no humor. “So is that your master plan? Was the file on my brother your way of ensuring I cooperated while you plotted to steal back your ex? That would show Trevor who the better man was, right? Teach him—”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“That’s another thing Madison accused me of being. Dumb. But I’m not. You’re fighting over her like she’s some ball you lost on the playground. And in the end, I’ll look like the idiot she called me. But that doesn’t matter to you, does it? Not as long as you win.”
Her accusation struck too close to the doubts that had pricked at his conscience only moments before. That only stirred his anger.
He didn’t give a damn if she knew the truth.
“Win?” He arched an eyebrow, not bothering to prevent his sneer. “Win what, exactly? A relationship based on lies and greed? A woman who would jump to the next dick as long as he was willing to pay handsomely for the privilege? Tell me, Shay, doesn’t that sound like a terrible grand prize?”
She gaped at him, no doubt stunned by the ferocity of his reply. “What do you mean?” she asked, her gaze roaming his face, as if searching for the truth. As if she actually wanted the truth. “Do you mean she—”
“Cheated on me? Oh yes.” He nodded, and the smile on his mouth felt savage. “We’d been together a year and a half, engaged to be married. Gorgeous, fun, witty, exciting—I didn’t care who her father was or about her family name. All I wanted was her. And all she wanted was what I could give her. At least, until she found someone else who could give her more. Care to guess who that someone was?”
Her lips formed her brother’s name, but no sound came out.
“Yes, Trevor. I came home early from a business trip and stopped by her place. I had the key, so I went in and found them together. In the bed I’d just made love to her in two days earlier. It hadn’t been the first time they’d been together. The next day, when giving me back my ring, Madison informed me that it’d been going on for some time—six months. According to her, I might be rich, but Trevor had prestige, connections and a family name. She’d upgraded.”
Shay’s chin jerked up as if he’d delivered a verbal punch to her jaw. Sorrow flashed in her eyes, and for a second, he resented her for it. He didn’t want her pity; he wanted her to understand the kind of bastard she called brother.
“Your brother did it on purpose, Shay,” he pressed. Just as he’d used Gideon’s sister to get to him. “He went after Madison because she was my fiancée, and faithless bitch that she is, she had no problem sleeping with a man she knew I hated. She not only betrayed me with her body, but with her loyalty, her heart. So I don’t need to prove to Trevor who the better man is. Because, Shay, your brother isn’t a real one.”
“Gideon,” she whispered.
“No.” He slashed a hand down between them, done with the topic. Done with laying out his stupidity before her. “And to address the second part of that statement, you’re not dumb. Far from it. But you are blind.” He narrowed his eyes on her. “Why are you so quick to believe the manipulative claims of a jealous woman?”
She blinked. “What do you mean?” She frowned. “Madison’s not—”
“Jealous,” he interrupted again. “Why is that so hard to accept?” He didn’t wait for her to answer, but continued. “And this doesn’t have anything to do with me. You’re everything she wants to be. Respected. Admired not just for your beauty but for who you are—successful, brilliant, esteemed. She, like me, like Julian, watched as you charmed everyone around you tonight, and as they damn near competed to have a moment of your time. And that has nothing to do with your last name. That’s all you. I’m the toy in this scenario, moonbeam,” he murmured. The thought of being her plaything roughened his voice, tightened his gut. “And she wants me only because you—a woman she could never be—has me.”
If he hadn’t been watching her so closely, he might’ve missed her flinch before she controlled it. “Why are you calling me that?” she rasped.
“The other women there tonight... They were like the sun—bright, obvious. Trying so hard to be noticed. But you, Shay, you don’t have to try to grab someone’s attention. Like the moon, you’re distant, cool and beautiful. Men can’t help but notice you. Be drawn to you, ready to beg for some of your light rather than be lost and alone in the dark.�
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Only the harsh grating of their breaths filled the back of the car. Part of him demanded he rescind those too-revealing words. But the other part—the greedy, desperate part—refused to, instead waiting to see what she would do with them.
“What game are you playing now, Gideon?” she whispered, her eyes wide...vulnerable. “I don’t know how to play this one.”
“Then set the rules,” he said, just as softly. Unable not to touch her any longer, he cupped her deceptively delicate jaw, stroked the pad of his thumb over the elegant jut of her cheekbone. “Set the rules, and I’ll follow them.”
It was a dangerous allowance. In this “relationship” the balance of power couldn’t shift; he couldn’t hand her a weapon to use against him. Not when revenge for his sister’s pain, his family’s torment hung in the balance. But that knowledge didn’t stop him from shifting closer to her, from tipping her head back and brushing a caress over her parted lips. From staring down into those beautiful eyes and letting her see the desire that hurtled through his veins.
“Just one. Make...” She paused, briefly closed her eyes, but then her lashes lifted. “Make me forget.”
“Forget what, moonbeam?”
The answer was already yes. He’d surrender anything to her if she’d permit him to continue touching her.
But that same hunger to brand her vied with the need to conquer what haunted her. He’d never considered himself some knight facing dragons, not for anyone, but for Shay, he’d forgo the armor and charge into the fire.
One hand rose to his wrist, the slender fingers wrapping around and hanging on to him. The other slipped inside his jacket and settled on his chest before sliding up to his neck, her thumb resting on his pulse.
“Forget that you’re trying to destroy my brother, my world,” she whispered. “Forget that you’re going to break me. And I’m going to let you.”