Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 156145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
“Sure. You’re the one with the crazy schedule.” Becka finished her drink and set it on the table. She grinned. “And whoever that was that just called you, give ’em hell, sis.”
“I plan on it.” She set the appropriate amount of cash on the table under the ticket and rose. She accepted Gideon’s direction in the bedroom because that was exactly what she’d asked for. She accepted his list of men for the same reason.
She refused to accept him taking control of every aspect of this matchmaking situation.
He vetted and picked the candidates, yes, but ultimately it was up to her and the individual men to see if it was something that could actually work. Gideon’s role in this ended the second she and one of the men came to an agreement. She tried very hard not to focus on the way her stomach dropped at that thought.
It didn’t matter.
What mattered was his trying to steamroll her on this. She had to have some freedom to figure out if she could stomach the thought of spending her life with the man across the table from her, and she couldn’t do that with Gideon standing at her shoulder.
If he did, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d compare every man to him and it would skew her perception.
Against Gideon Novak, who could compare?
Gideon checked his watch for the third time in as many minutes. Where the hell was she? He turned to look down the street again just as Lucy walked around the corner. She didn’t seem particularly concerned to be running late—or happy to see him. He motioned to his watch. “We had an understanding.”
“Wrong. You told me something. I disagreed.” She crossed her arms over her chest, which drew his attention to her dress.
“What are you wearing?” It was a pale blue lacy thing that gave the illusion of showing more than it actually did. It clung to her body, the gaps in the lace showing a nude lining the exact same shade as her skin. At a glance, she might as well have been naked beneath it.
He loved it.
He fucking hated it.
“A dress.” She touched it, a frown drawing a line between her brows. “Don’t take that overprotective tone with me, Gideon. It’s a good dress.”
“It’s inappropriate for a first date. He’s going to sit across that table and spend the whole time thinking about fucking you.”
Lucy gave him a brilliant grin, her plum-colored lips mirroring the darkness of her hair, which she’d left in waves down around her shoulders. “Then it’s doing its job. Now, if you’d please get out of my way, I can take it from here.” She strode past him and through the door to the restaurant.
Jealousy flared, hot and poisonous, down the back of his throat. He didn’t have a right to it any more now than he had before, but it was a thousand times more powerful now that they’d put sex on the table. Gideon followed her inside and hooked a hand around her elbow, towing her sideways into a small hallway that led to the coat check.
It was dimmer there than in the main entrance—more intimate. He pressed his hands to the wall on either side of her shoulders. “You make me fucking crazy.”
“That makes two of us.” She poked him in the chest. “You might be calling the shots in some things, but you have to give me enough space to breathe. The compressed timeline is already going to play havoc on my instincts—I don’t need your constant presence doing the same.”
He’d think about how his presence affected her later. Right now all he could focus on was the first part of the sentence. “If the timeline is too tight, then extend it. The only person who put this deadline in place was you.”
“And it stands.” She lifted her chin. “I’m already late for this date. I don’t want to have this conversation for the seventh time. Just give me some space to breathe.”
He pushed off the wall even though it was the last thing he wanted to do. The truth was that he wanted Lucy, and it was fucking up his head space and messing with his instincts. He knew better than to push her, but he couldn’t help doing it all the same. He wanted her and she wanted him—at least physically.
What if it could be more than just physical?
What if I actually played for keeps?
The thought stopped him in his tracks.
He watched Lucy greet the hostess and follow her deeper into the restaurant, but he couldn’t move. This whole time, he had been letting Lucy take the wheel and guide things—at least to some extent. Gideon had handled her so goddamn carefully because he was well aware of the damage Jeff had caused her and he blamed himself, at least a little, because of it. That guilt was the same reason he hadn’t pushed her to face the fact that there was more than just friendship between them.