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Or was it this hter?" He filled the doorway behind o make some coffee"

In thebruise on his side

It was low on his back, where I hadn’t had a chance to see it before

I spun around

"Gideon! You’re hurt

Let me see"

"I’m fine"

He was partway down the stairs before I could stop hi"

Guilt swae to cry

My hand shook as I ran a wide-toothed coh my damp hair

The bathroo once again how thoughtful and attentive Gideon hich only e his life hell

After all he’d already suffered,he needed to deal with

I took the stairs down to the first floor and found myself unable to join Gideon in the kitchen

I needed a ether and put on a happy face

I didn’t want to ruin the weekend for hih the French doors that led to the deck

The roar of the surf and the biting salt spray hit ently in the ocean breeze, cooling ripped the railing and closedto find the peace I needed to keep Gideon fro

My proble he couldn’t change

Only I could er person, and I needed to, if I wanted to make him happy and offer him the security he so desperately wanted from me

The door opened behindto face hiripped in one hand - one filled with black coffee and the other lightened with half-and- half

I kneould be made perfectly to my tastes and delicious, because Gideon knew exactly what I liked

Not because I’d told hi aboutthe hed

Of course I couldn’t hide h lared down at et it"

I reached out and ran ertips over the place where I’d seen the bruise

"It needed to happen," he said curtly

"No

Shut up and listen to s about Corinne, and, frankly, I thought you just weren’t dealing with it well

But I had no clue

I was a self-centered idiot"

"I’uts

I can’t think about her without feeling violent"

"I get it now

I didn’t before"

Hisdrastic to shakemy attention"

"Don’t try to tease this away, Gideon

You could’ve been seriously hurt because of ht me by the waist when I would’ve turned away

"I was seriously hurt because of you

Seeing you in another guy’s arrew hot and dark

"It shredded

I kicked his ass in self-defense"

"Oh, God," I breathed, devastated by his brutal honesty

"Gideon"

"I’ about Corinne

If a kiss could ht aroundrip the back ofme

"If you ever cheated onmy head, I pressed

Less than nothing"

His hand gripped my hair and tilted my head back

"You don’t understand what your kisses ive one away and call it stupid - " Gideon dipped his head and sealed his , his tongue stroking acrossout to touch his

He tilted his head and licked intodesire