Rolling my hips, I relished the exquisite feel of him filling me so perfectly. I had no shame, no regrets as I worked myself into a frenzy on his stiff penis, adjusting the angle so that the thick crown rubbed right where I needed it.

"Gideon," I breathed. "Oh, yes...oh please..."

"You're so beautiful." He gripped the back of my neck in one hand and my waist in the other, arching his h*ps to push a little deeper. "So sexy. I'm going to come for you again. That's what you do to me, Eva. It's never enough."

I whimpered as everything tightened, as the sweet tension built from the deep rhythmic strokes. I was panting and frantic, pumping my hips. Reaching between my legs, I rubbed my cl*t with the pads of my fingers, hastening my cl**ax.

He gasped, his head thrown back into the sofa cushion, his neck corded with strain. "I feel you getting ready to come. Your cunt gets so hot and tight, so greedy."

His words and his voice pushed me over. I cried out when the first hard tremor hit me; then again as the orgasm rippled through my body, my sex spasming around Gideon's steely erection.

Teeth grinding audibly, he held on until the clenches began to fade; then he clutched my h*ps aloft and pumped upward into me. Once, twice. On the third deep thrust, he growled my name and spurted hotly, laying the last of my fears and doubts to rest.

I don't know how long we sprawled on the couch like that, connected and close, my head on his shoulder and his hands caressing the curve of my spine.

Gideon pressed his lips to my temple and murmured, "Stay."

"Yes."

He hugged me. "You're so brave, Eva. So strong and honest. You're a miracle. My miracle."

"A miracle of modern therapy, maybe," I scoffed, my fingers playing in his luxuriant hair. "And even with that, I was really f**ked up for a while and there are still some triggers I don't think I'll ever get past."

"God. The way I came on to you in the beginning...I could've ruined us before we even got started. And the advocacy dinner - " He shuddered and buried his face in my neck. "Eva, don't let me blow this. Don't let me chase you away."

Lifting my head, I searched his face. He was impossibly gorgeous. I had trouble taking it in at times. "You can't second-guess everything you do or say to me because of Nathan and what he did. It'll break us apart. It'll end us."

"Don't say that. Don't even think about it."

I smoothed his knit brow with strokes of my thumb. "I wish I could've never told you. I wish you didn't have to know."

He caught my hand and pressed my fingertips to his lips. "I have to know everything, every part of you, inside and out, every detail."

"A woman has to have some secrets," I teased.

"You won't have any with me." He captured me by my hair and an arm banded around my hips, urging me against him, reminding me - as if I could forget - that he was still inside me. "I'm going to possess you, Eva. It's only fair since you've possessed me."

"And what about your secrets, Gideon?"

His face smoothed into an emotionless mask, an act so easily accomplished I knew it had become second nature to him. "I started from scratch when I met you. Everything I thought I was, everything I thought I needed..." He shook his head. "We're figuring out who I am together. You're the only one who knows me."

But I didn't. Not really. I was figuring him out, learning him bit by bit, but he was still a mystery to me in so many ways.

"Eva...If you just tell me what you want - " His throat worked on a swallow. "I can get better at this, if you give me the chance. Just don't...don't give up on me."

Jesus. He could shred me so easily. A few words, a desperate look, and I was cut wide open.

I touched his face, his hair, his shoulders. He was as broken as I was, in a way I didn't yet know about. "I need something from you, Gideon."

"Anything. Just tell me what it is."

"Every day, I need you to tell me something I don't know about you. Something insightful, no matter how small. I need you to promise me that you will."

Gideon eyed me warily. "Whatever I want?"

I nodded, unsure of myself and what I hoped to get out of him.

He exhaled harshly. "Okay."

I kissed him softly, a silent show of thanks.

Nuzzling his nose against mine, he asked, "Let's go out to dinner. Or do you want to order in?"

"Are you sure we should go out?"

"I want to go on a date with you."

There was no way I could say no to that, not when I knew what a big step it was for him. A big step for both of us, really, since the last time we'd gone on a date it'd ended in disaster. "Sounds romantic. And irresistible."

His joyful smile was my reward, as was the shower we took to clean up. I loved the intimacy of washing his body as much as I loved the feel of his palms gliding over me. When I took his hand and put it between my legs, urging two of his fingers inside me, I saw the familiar and very welcome heat in his eyes as he felt the slick essence he'd left behind.

He kissed me and murmured, "Mine."

Which prompted me to slide both hands over his c**k and whisper the same claim back to him.

In the bedroom, I lifted my new blue dress off the bed and hugged it to me. "You picked this out, Gideon?"

"I did, yes. Do you like it?"

"It's beautiful." I smiled. "My mother said you had excellent taste...except for your preference for brunettes."