“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”

“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.”

“I had to bite back a laugh. "Cary Taylor. Loving you isn't a character defect."Chapter 12, pg 213”

“I can't bail out on Cary," I said apologetically, turning to face him. "Chicks before dicks and all that.”

“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?”

“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”