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)
It was Gideon’s steady presence that she’d missed the most, but she hadn’t known how to reach out to him.
Or if she even should.
I’m here now. We are here now.
She held herself steady. “Regardless, I feel like I just found you again.”
“And you don’t want to lose that.” He said it almost as if musing to himself. When she tensed, he leaned back and slung an arm over the back of the booth. “I don’t want to lose it, either, Lucy. I missed you, too. I’m still missing you, if we’re going to be perfectly honest.”
Her jaw dropped. “What are you talking about? I’m right here.”
“Yes, you are.” He pulled her closer, tucking her against his body. “But we haven’t stopped to have a real conversation since you sat me down in your office and told me you wanted me to help you find a husband.”
Lucy opened her mouth to say he was wrong, but stopped and thought hard about it. Was he? “We’ve...talked.” But not like they used to. There had been nights where Jeff had passed out, or was occupied playing whatever his video game of the week was, and she and Gideon had sat and just talked. Shared things about themselves, about their dreams. She’d always chalked it up to being good friends—family, even—but even if they’d restarted their acquaintance, they hadn’t reestablished the intimacy they’d once had.
Sex, yes.
Intimacy, no.
She frowned. “I guess you’re right. God, I’m sorry, Gideon. I’ve been treating you like a prize stud.”
He chuckled. “I haven’t exactly complained. But I do miss us, Lucy. Whatever version of your future you’re aiming for, make room for me.”
That startled a laugh out of her. “You’re just as confident now as you were back then.”
“Two years can change a person, but it can’t change a person.”
That was what she was afraid of. Lucy had fought hard to shed the timid woman she’d become while dating Jeff. She’d even mostly succeeded, if one didn’t look too closely at her lack of dating. But she couldn’t shake the fear that, deep down, she was still that mouse of a person who’d let her boyfriend say such horrible things to her—worse, who’d believed him when he did.
“I should have known.” He spoke softly in the tiny space between them. “I said it before and I’ll say it again—I knew Jeff was an asshole, but I didn’t know the extent of it. I would have stepped in.”
Her heart surged even as she shook her head. “If anyone should have seen the signs and stepped in, it was me. I let myself get taken in by him, and I almost married him because I was too stubborn and too naive to see him for what he was. If we’re going to lay blame, there’s plenty to go around.” She covered his hand with hers. “I don’t want to talk about Jeff anymore. He’s taken up enough of both of our lives, and I don’t want to give him even another second.”
“I won’t argue that.” Gideon nudged her closer yet, until she was almost sitting in his lap. “I have the prettiest woman in all NYC sitting with me in a dark restaurant. I can think of a thousand things I’d rather say and do than talk about a piece of shit that we share a mutual history with.”
She laid her hand on his thigh, enjoying the way the muscle clenched beneath his jeans. “I can think of a few things to add to the list.” They were alone in this mini room within the restaurant. They could do anything they wanted to beneath the table and no one would be the wiser. “Gideon...” She slid her hand higher.
“Yeah?”
“What have you been up to since I saw you last?”
He blinked down at her as if he couldn’t reconcile her ever-sliding hand with her words. Finally he relaxed, muscle by individual muscle. “After you and...” He looked away and back. “Two years ago, I looked at my life and decided I was done dicking around. I went after the biggest accounts I could find and went head-to-head with companies that had reputations stretching back before we were born.” He laughed. “I figured I had nothing to lose, so I might as well aim for the stars.”
“You’ve made quite the name for yourself.” Even if her company didn’t make a habit of contracting headhunters to fill positions, Lucy would’ve had to be living under a rock not to hear news of Gideon. He’d beaten out several more well-known headhunters and developed an excellent reputation in the process. He always got his man—or woman, as it were.
God help the woman he finally sets his sights on. She won’t stand a chance.
The thought was bittersweet in the extreme. Lucy cared about him. She wanted him happy...but contemplating him with another woman made her want to throw things. Stop that.