“Too bad it’s Mercy he’s looking to control tonight,” Anthea muttered.
She was right. I was touched that the guys had come to pitch in however they could, especially when I doubted Ezra would have approved of me getting extra help. But so far what I’d heard hadn’t told me much other than that I needed to prepare for the worst. Still, it meant a hell of a lot that the three of them were here.
“Thank you guys,” I said. “Really. I couldn’t be more prepared now.”
I gave Rowan’s shoulder a quick squeeze, yanking my hand back before the flutter that started in my chest could expand, and stepped closer to Kaige to kiss him on the cheek. He hummed in a way that suggested he’d have bent me over and explored my mouth with his tongue if Anthea hadn’t nudged him away just then.
“We’d better get going. It’s almost time for the car to arrive.” She shot me one last fierce look. “You’ll get through this. He has no idea what he’s dealing with. That’s always our greatest strength.”
As women, she meant, and after the events of the past few weeks, I knew how right she was.
I dipped my head gratefully. She, Kaige, and Rowan filed out. Gideon got up, dismissing the app on his tablet, and then paused by the door. He turned to face me.
“If you want to just skip town and forget all this shit,” he said, deadly serious, “I can arrange a car for you and the stuff to make sure no one ever tracks you down. You’d be out of here in less than ten minutes.”
I blinked at him, not at all surprised that he could do that but startled that he’d offered it to me. Not for the first time, I had to wonder just how much was going on behind that detached, ever-logical front that I’d never guessed.
“No,” I said without even needing to think about it. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m seeing this through.”
An even more unexpected smile flitted across his face, amplifying his unearthly appeal. “I thought you’d say that. That’s why I like you.”
Did he? My body moved of its own accord. I leaned in to press a quick kiss to his lips like the one I’d given Kaige’s cheek.
Only it didn’t turn out that way. The second my lips brushed his, Gideon grabbed me by the waist and kissed me back hard. I found myself gripping the front of his shirt, throwing myself into the sensation, the heat of his mouth and the cool pressure of his lip ring sending all kinds of sparks over my skin.
I flicked my tongue against the ring like I’d watched him do so many times, and he made an urgent sound in the back of his throat. It was so different from the calm and collected Gideon I was used to that my insides melted into jelly.
He kissed me for a second longer and then wrenched away from me as if the separation took a massive effort. His breath held a faint rasp.
Whoa, that had really been something.
Gideon stared at me, so many emotions darting through his expression that I couldn’t identify any of them and then fading away until he looked as impenetrable as marble. But when his gaze dropped to my lips, heat flared through them without the slightest contact.
“I could have smudged your lipstick,” he said, as if that practical concern was all that mattered, but the unevenness of his breath told me he hadn’t really been so unaffected. Hell, he’d been the one who’d grabbed me.
A smile twitched at the corners of my mouth. “I’ll check it in the car. I can take care of a few things on my own.”
“I know.” He reached for the door knob, his gaze still locked with mine. “For the record, I don’t think this asshole Jasper has the slightest chance of getting in your way.”
Then he stepped out, leaving me alone. But only for a matter of seconds before Axel’s voice called from the foyer loud enough to reach me.
“Katz, get your ass down here! Your ride’s just arrived. Time to go.”