“Cracking his knuckles, Cary dramatically prepared to open his fortune cookie. “Let’s see. Will I be rich? Famous? About tomeet Mr. or Ms. Tall, Dark, and Tasty? Traveling to distant lands? What’d you guys get?”“Mine’s lame,” I said. “In the end all things will be known. Duh. I didn’t need a fortune to figure that out.”Gideon opened his and read, “Prosperity will knock on your door soon.”I snorted.Cary shot me a look. “I know, right? You snatched someone else’s cookie, Cross.”“He better not be anywhere near someone else’s cookie,” I said dryly.Reaching over, Gideon plucked half of mine out of my fingers. “Don’t worry, angel. Your cookie is the only one I want.”He popped it in his mouth with a wink.“Gag,” Cary muttered. “Get a room.” He cracked his fortune with a flourish, and then scowled. “What the fuck?”I leaned forward. “What’s it say?”“Confucius say,” Gideon ad-libbed, “man with hand in pocket feel cocky all day.”Cary threw half his cookie at Gideon, who caught it deftly and grinned.“Give me that.” I snatched the fortune out from between Cary’s fingers and read it. Then laughed.“Fuck you, Eva.”“Well?” Gideon prodded.“Pick another cookie.”Gideon smiled. “Pwned by a fortune.”Cary threw the other half of his cookie.”

“Gideon opened his and read, “Prosperity will knock on your door soon.”I snorted.Cary shot me a look. “I know, right? You snatched someone else’s cookie, Cross.”“He better not be anywhere near someone else’s cookie,” I said dryly.Reaching over, Gideon plucked half of mine out of my fingers. “Don’t worry, angel. Your cookie is the only one I want.”

“The door opened and Gideon walked in. I held his gaze when I said, "If Gideon's dick touched anything but his hand or me, we'd be over."His brows rose. "Well, then."I smiled sweetly and winked. "Hi, ace.""Angel." He looked at Cary. "How are you feeling this morning?"Cary's lips twisted wryly. "Like I got hit by a bus. . . or a bat.""We're working on getting you set up at home. It looks like we can make that happen by Wednesday.""Big tits, please," Cary said. "Or bulging muscles. Either will do."Gideon looked at me. I grinned. "The private nurse.""Ah.""If it's a woman," Cary went on, "can you get her to wear one of those white nurse dresses with the zipper down the front.""I can only imagine the media frenzy over that sexual-harassment lawsuit," Gideon said dryly. "How about a collection of naughty-nurse porn instead?""Dude." Cary smiled wide and looked, for a moment, like his old self. "You're the man."Chapter 12, pg 214”

“What are you doing?" he breathed. "You're going around, stirring up everything.""I've got time on my hands," I shot back, just as breathless, "since I dumped my asshat boyfriend."He growled, fiercely passionate, his hand in my hair pulling so tightly it pained me."You can't make this up with a kiss or a f*ck, Gideon. Not this time."Gideon & Eva”

“I love you, Gideon.”“God.” He looked at me with something that resembled disgust. Whether it was directed at me or himself, I didn’t know. “How can you say that?”“Because it’s the truth.”“You just see this”—he gestured at himself with a wave of his hand. “You’re not seeing the fucked-up, broken mess inside.”I inhaled sharply. “You can say that to me? When you know I’m fucked up and broken, too?”

“Gideon cupped my face in his hands and kissed me, our flavors mingling. “Thank you.”“What are you thanking me for? You did all the work.”“There’s no work involved in fucking you, angel.” His slow smile was pure satiated male. “I’m grateful for the privilege.”I sank back onto my heels. “You’re killing me. You can’t be that gorgeous and sexy and say stuff like that. It’s overload. It fries my brain. Sends me into a meltdown.”His smile widened and he kissed me again. “I know the feeling.”

“You okay with all of this?" I whispered to Daemon.He shrugged. "Not like I can stop her."I knew he could if he wanted, which meant he didn't have a problem with it. "Cookie?" he offered, holding a cookie full of chocolate chips.Upset tummy or not, there was no way I could refuse that. "Sure."His lips tipped up one side and he leaned toward me, his mouth inches from mine. "Come and get it."Come and get...? Daemon placed half the cookie between those full, totally kissable lips.Oh, holy alien babies everywhere...My mouth dropped open. Several of the girls at the table made sounds that had me wondering if they were turning into puddles under the table, but I couldn't bring myself to check out what they really were doing.That cookie—those lips—were right there. Heat swept over my cheeks. I could feel the eyes of everyone on else, and Daemon... dear God, Daemon arched his brows, daring me. Dee gagged. "I think I'm going to hurl."Mortified, I wanted to crawl into a hole. What did he think I was going to do? Take the cookie from his mouth like something straight out of an R rated version of Lady and the Tramp? Heck, I kind of wanted to and I wasn't sure what that said about me.Daemon reached up and took the cookie. There was a gleam to his eyes, as if he just won some battle. "Times up, Kitten."I stared at him.Breaking the cookie into two, he handed me the larger piece. I snatched it away, half tempted to throw it back in his face, but it was... it was chocolate chip. So I ate it and loved it.”