Chapter 88
“Ilove coming home to you,” Gideon says, entering his condo. I’m standing by the door waiting for him.
“The place is growing on me.” I smile, and he scoops me up, wrapping my legs around his waist, giving me a big kiss.
“Four days,” he breathes between kisses. “It’s too long.”
“Your interview is in ten minutes.”
“Fuck. I forgot all about that. Can we push it?” he asks, squeezing my ass.
“No. This is an important interview. Remember, say absolutely nothing about transitioning to chairman. That isn’t public knowledge yet. There’s a chance he could have heard something but brush it off as good industry gossip.”
“Dani, I hate when you’re all business.”
“No, you don’t.”
“You’re right,” he says, walking us over to the couch. Tossing me onto it, he growls, “We have eight minutes. Plenty of time.”
“Gideon!” I squeal.
“I love when you say my name.” He pulls my yoga pants off and buries his face between my legs.
Minutes later, I’m giving the reporter, Auden, my best professional voice over speakerphone.
“Thanks for setting this up, Dani,” Auden says. “I’ve always wanted to talk with the elusive Gideon Stone.”
“He’s British?” G mouths to me, surprised, and I nod.
“For this story, it’s as fluffy as we do, but I do need something interesting. Something that people haven’t heard before.”
“Like what? What are you thinking?” I ask.
G grabs his phone and starts texting someone. I swat at his arm, wanting him to focus.
“For example, is Gideon Stone secretly a dog lover or something humanizing like that. Unless you have any scoops for me.” Auden could get the exclusive when we’re ready to share the news. He’s my favorite commercial real estate reporter to work with.
A text flashes on my phone from Gideon.
Gideon Stone
I could tell him I’m fucking my publicist.
“Gideon was born in Israel and spent his childhood there,” I say. I flip G off, smiling. “He’s never talked about that in interviews before.”
“Oh. Interesting. Yeah, that’s good color for the story.”
The conversation over the next thirty minutes flows naturally. G is doing great, and I love hearing him talk about the company he built.
“Thanks, Auden!” I say to the reporter before hanging up. “You did really well. I’ll give you an A minus!” I smile at Gideon. “It’s almost like you paid attention during my media training sessions.”
“I should have become your client sooner,” he says, kissing me and pulling me on his lap, so I’m straddling him.
“You’re acting like you were gone for months.”
“It felt like it.”
“Do you have more work trips planned?” I ask, not liking when he’s gone either.
“October. Unless Greg can take that one.”
“You really couldn’t have picked a different CEO? It had to be Greg?”
“Greg is well-respected. The board unanimously approved him.” G squeezes me, then says, “For your birthday?—”
“I don’t want anything,” I cut him off, reminding him.
“I know. No gifts. Kelsey and I are working on something for your birthday.”
“That’s a lot of brain power.” I laugh. “Should I be nervous?”
“I know you will like it,” he says with a proud smile. “So, are we going to spend the rest of Labor Day weekend at Declan’s?”
Declan invited us to his Labor Day party at his Geneva Lake home a couple of weeks ago.
“Cool people hanging around his house for a relaxing long weekend. It sounds fun.”
“Did you see the house rules part of the invite?” G asks with a smirk.
“No caffeine. What a dick,” I joke.
G and I cuddle on the couch, and I’m so happy he is back from this work trip. He isn’t like Adam. Gideon kept in touch with me the entire time.
“What are you wearing tomorrow?” he asks after a few silent minutes of us cuddling. “Maybe you could wear that emerald dress? You looked incredible in that.”
“I got rid of it. Plus, it wouldn’t fit, and that’s like black tie, not business.”
“How wouldn’t it fit?”
“You haven’t noticed I’ve gained fifteen pounds?” I ask, annoyed.
“Where?” he asks, trailing his hands all over my body. “Oh, here.” He smirks, squeezing my ass.
“I know you have to eat like a million calories. You don’t use steroids, do you?” I ask, but we’ve never talked about it and he also has probably gained pounds of muscle since we started dating.
“Never. I don’t want liver failure.”
“The portions you’re feeding me …” I hesitate. “This is the biggest I’ve ever been. I can’t keep eating like this.”
“Yes, you can,” he says, snaking his hands all over me.
“Says the guy with no body fat.”
“I fucking love your body. I’m not complaining about there being more of you.” He pushes me back onto the couch, then kisses my stomach. He kisses my hips, then my thighs. “Yeah, not complaining,” he says, and I see how turned on he is.
I smile, loving hearing that and then think about the pregnancy test I took in June. My emotions were off the charts, and I’d gained a few pounds. I was so convinced it was going to be positive.
Waiting for the result, I wasn’t as scared as I should have been or how scared I thought I would have been. With him, it wouldn’t be a bad thing.
But Gideon and I will never have kids. I haven’t even decided if that’s what I want yet. We’ve only known each other for five months. Our relationship is normal, moving at a normal timeline. I love everything about the last two months and don’t want to rush our relationship.