Entwined with You: A Crossfire Novel (Crossfire Book 3)

“What was her name?” I asked, praying he knew so I could identify the redhead once and for all.

“Who cares?”

“Jesus.” My hands flexed restlessly around my clutch. “Do you know it or not?”

“I didn’t ask,” he retorted. “Drop it.”

“Watch the tone, Cary,” Gideon admonished quietly. “You’ve got a problem, fine. Don’t take it out on Eva for giving a shit about you.”

Cary’s jaw tightened and he looked out the window

Elizabeth Vidal halted me in my tracks.

“Excuse me,” I said, when I nearly bumped into her.

She grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me over to a dark corner. Then she caught my hand and looked at my gorgeous Asscher diamond. “That’s my ring.”

I tugged free. “It was your ring. It’s mine now. Your son gave it to me around the time he asked me to marry him.”

She looked at me with those blue eyes that were so like her son’s. So like Ireland’s. She was a beautiful woman, glamorous and elegant. As much a head-turner as my mother, really, but she had Gideon’s iciness.

“I won’t let you take him away from me,” she bit out between brilliantly white teeth.

“You’ve got it all wrong.” I crossed my arms. “I want to get you two together, so we can put everything out in the open.”

“You’re filling his head with lies.”

“Oh my God. Seriously? The next time he tells you what happened—and I’ll make sure he does—you’re going to believe him. And you’re going to apologize, and find some fucking way to make it easier for him to bear. Because I want him healed and healthy and whole.”

Elizabeth stared at me, clearly fuming. She obviously wasn’t on board with that plan.

“Are we done?” I asked, disgusted with her deliberate blindness.

“Not even close,” she hissed, leaning into me. “I know about you and that lead singer. I’m on to you.”

Gideon had his hand on my thigh beneath the table, his thumb rubbing lightly in small circles that made me squirm.

He leaned over. “Sit still.”

“Stop it,” I whispered back.

“Keep wiggling and I’ll put my fingers inside you.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

He smirked. “Try me and see.”

Because I wouldn’t put it past him, I sat still, even though it killed me.

“Promise me,” I said, “that you’ll never watch the video.”

When he didn’t answer me, I turned to look at him directly. When I saw the closed-off look on his face, I started freaking out. “Gideon. Did you watch it already?”

His jaw tightened. “A minute or two. Nothing explicit. Just enough to prove validity.”

“Oh my God. Promise me you won’t watch it.” My voice rose and grew sharp as panic spread through me. “Promise me!”

His hands encircled my wrists and squeezed hard enough to make my breath catch. I stared at him, wide-eyed, confused by the sudden aggression.

“Calm down,” he said quietly.

The oddest rush of warmth spread outward from where he touched me. My heart beat faster, but also steadier. I stared at our hands, my attention catching on his ruby ring. Red. Like the cuffs he’d bought for me. I felt similarly captured and bound now. And it soothed me in a way I didn’t understand.

But Gideon obviously did.

That was why I’d been afraid to marry him so quickly, I realized. He was taking me on a journey that had an unknown destination and I had agreed to follow him blindfolded. It wasn’t about where we’d end up as a couple, because that was never in question. We were obsessed, dependent on each other in the unrelenting way of addicts. Where I would end up, who I’d be at the end, was what I didn’t know.

Gideon’s transformation had been almost violent, happening in a moment of sharp clarity when he’d comprehended that he wouldn’t—couldn’t—live without me. My change was more gradual, so painstakingly measured that I’d believed I wouldn’t have to change at all.

“Wow,” I breathed, entranced. “You are so getting laid tonight.”

His mouth quirked. “Does that mean I can skip zipping you up?”

“Does that mean we can skip going to this thing?”

“Not a chance, angel. I’m showing off my wife tonight.”

“No one knows I’m your wife.”

“I know it.” He came up behind me and secured my zipper. “And soon—really soon—the world will know it.”

? I’ve already started planning. I was thinking June, at the Pierre, of course. We’ll—”

“I suggest December, at the latest.”

My mother gasped, her eyes widening. “Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no way to pull off a wedding in that amount of time. It’s impossible.”

I shrugged. “Tell Gideon you’re thinking of June next year. See what he says.”

“Well, I have to wait until he actually proposes first!”

“Right.” I kissed her cheek. “I’m going to get dressed.”

Seeing Gideon’s name on the screen, I answered. “Hi, ace.”

“What color are you wearing?” he asked, without a hello.

“Silver.”

“Really?” His voice took on a warm purr that made my toes flex. “I can’t wait to see you in it. And out of it.”

“You won’t be waiting,” I admonished. “You’d better have your fine ass over here in about ten minutes.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

My eyes narrowed. “Hurry up or we won’t have any limo time.”

“Umm … I’ll be there in five.”

He hung up and I held my phone for a minute, smiling.

“Who was that?” my mom asked, coming up beside me.

“Gideon.”

Her eyes lit up. “He’s escorting you tonight?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, Eva.” She hugged me. “I’m so glad.”

I looked at him in the mirror. “We’re not going!”

“Yes, we are.”

“Gideon, if that footage of me and Brett gets out, you don’t want your name linked to mine.”

His body went stiff, and then he turned me around to face him. “Say that again.”

“You heard me. The Cross name has been through enough, don’t you think?”

“Angel, I’m as close as I’ve ever been to taking you across my knee. Luckily for you, I don’t play rough when I’m mad.”

His gruff teasing didn’t distract me from the fact that he was determined to protect the girl I’d been, the girl I was ashamed of. He was willing to stand between me and scandal, shielding me as best he could and taking the hit alongside me, if it came to that.

I didn’t think it was possible to love him more than I did, but he kept proving me wrong.

He cupped my face in his hands. “Whatever we face, we face together. And you’ll do it with my name.”

“Gideon—”

“I can’t tell you how proud I am for you to have it.” He brushed his mouth across my brow. “How much it means to me that you’ve taken it and made it yours.”

“Oh, Gideon.” I pushed onto my tiptoes and surged into him. “I love you so much.”

“You can’t stop it from getting out,” I whispered.

“We have a temporary seal on the court proceedings.”

“That video hits one of those file-sharing sites and it’ll spread like the plague.”

He shook his head, the ends of his inky hair brushing over his shoulders. “I’ve got an IT team dedicated to nothing but looking twenty-four-seven for that file on the Internet, but Yimara won’t make any money giving the footage away. It’s only worth something as an exclusive. He’s not going to fuck that up before he exhausts all other options—including selling it to me.”

“Deanna will tell. It’s her job to expose secrets, not keep them.”

“I offered her a forty-eight-hour exclusive on our wedding photos, if she keeps a lid on this.”

“And she was okay with that?” I asked skeptically. “That woman’s hot for you. She can’t have been happy about you being off the market. Permanently.”

“There is a point at which it becomes clear there’s no hope,” he said dryly. “I think I managed to make that point. Trust me, she was happy enough with the money to be made on the wedding exclusive.”

I moved to the toilet, dropped the lid down, and sat. The reality of what he’d told me sank in. “I’m sick over this, Gideon.”

He set his coffee down next to mine and came to crouch in front of me. “Look at me.”

I did as he ordered, but it was hard.

“I will never let anyone hurt you,” he said. “Do you understand? I will take care of this.”

“I’m sorry,” I breathed. “I’m so sorry you have to deal with this. And with everything else you have going on—”

Gideon caught my hands. “Someone violated your privacy, Eva. Don’t apologize for that. As for dealing with this … that’s my right. My honor. You’ll always come first.”

“I’m telling you, she’s full of shit,” I argued.

“You know a guy named Sam Yimara?”

Everything stopped. Anxiety pooled in the pit of my stomach. “Yes, he was the band’s wannabe videographer.”

“Right.” He took a sip of his coffee, his eyes hard as they looked at me over the rim of his mug. “He apparently set up remote cameras at some of the band’s shows to gather backstage material. He claims to have re-created the ‘Golden’ video with actual explicit footage.”

“Oh my God.” I covered my mouth, feeling sick.