Bared to You: Chapters 7 and 8

Too upset and hurt over Gideon treating their first sexual encounter exactly the way he told her he would, Eva seems to leave her body during the charity event and remembers very little of it. At least that's what the first sentence of this chapter says, before we get 5 whole pages detailing an entire recount of the night. Get ready for some angst, bitches.

"I don't remember much of what happened after we arrived."

The second they get into the building, Eva manages to slip away when Gideon gets distracted by other wealthy people. She makes her way over to a table where her mother, Cary, and Stanton are, downing a glass of champagne on the way and quickly grabbing a second. Her mother compliments her on her dress, and Cary gets her yet another glass of champagne. It's not long until Gideon has found her. He's angry she disappeared and she's angry that he's still breathing. After excruciating pleasantries, he leads her away from the table. Dinner passed in what I assume was a blur, Eva just picking at her food and drinking her weight in wine.

Gideon stands to give a speech about child sexual abuse in North America, and closes to a loud applause. As soon as the clapping settles, Eva turns to leave and runs into Gideon's brother, Christopher Vidal. He asks her to dance, and she hesitates.
"I glance over to where Gideon was standing at the foot of the stairs that led to the stage. He was surrounded by people eager to talk to him, many of whom were women.
'You can see he'll be a while,' Christopher said, with a note of amusement.
'Yes.' I was about to look away when I recognized the woman standing next to Gideon - Magdalene Perez." -- I have read every page up to this point and I have no idea who this is or why she matters.

She and Christopher dance for a while, and she ends up having a nice time. When her dance with Christopher ends, Cary steps in to take his place. They discuss how much Cary loves Eva, and how he told Gideon that he'd hurt him if he ever hurt her.

"Gideon appeared beside us. 'I'm cutting in.'

It wasn't a request.

Cary stopped and looked at me. I nodded. He backed away with a bow, his gaze hot and fierce on Gideon's face." -- go away, Gideon. No one wants you here.

While they're dancing, Gideon tells Eva to stay away from his brother, which is a weird demand to make. The only explanation he gives is, 'because I said so,' which is the shittiest explanation ever. She counters, and tells him to stay away from Magdalene, and he's upset by this, declaring they're just friends. We establish he's not slept with her yet and that Gideon apparently doesn't want to anyway. He tells her he needs to go, but it seems like she's having a great time and he doesn't want to drag her away. She's confused, because she's having a terrible time, and this makes her even more angry.

"Enjoying myself? Was he kidding or clueless? Or worse. Maybe he'd written me off so completely that he wasn't paying attention to me at all. 

I pushed myself away from him, needing the distance. His scent was messing with my head. 'I'll be fine. Forget about me.'" -- how does his scent mess with your head? I like a good cologne as much as the next girl, but the only scent that has ever been pleasurable enough to actually distract me is pizza.

Tell me that's not the most sensual thing you've seen all day.

Thankfully, Cary comes to the rescue like the best friend we all need.

"'Eva.' He reached for me and I stepped back quickly.

An arm came around my back and Cary spoke. 'I've got her, Cross.'

'Don't get in my way, Taylor,' Gideon warned.

Cary snorted. 'I get the impression you're doing a smokin' job of that all by yourself.'

I swallowed past the lump in my throat. 'You gave a wonderful speech, Gideon. It was the highlight of my night.'" -- considering the other part of her night included really good limo sex, I'm am SO HERE for this kind of insult. A+, my dear. Make him cry.

Gideon has to leave and tells Eva that he'll call her. Cary offers to take Eva home, but she wants to be alone, so Cary has Stanton's limo brought to the front while she goes to the bathroom. When she walks out of the stall, she comes face to face with Magdalene for a really bizarre conversation.

"'Oh, dear,' she murmured, the moment the attendant stepped out of earshot. She made a tsking noise that scraped over my nerves like nails on a chalkboard. 'You've fucked him already.'

'And you haven't.' 

That seemed to surprise her. 'You're right, I haven't. You know why?'

I pulled a five-spot out of my clutch and dropped it in the silver tip tray. 'Because he doesn't want to.'

'And I don't want to either, because he can't commit. He's young, gorgeous, rich, and he's enjoying it.'

'Yes.' I nodded. 'He certainly did.'

Her gaze narrowed, her pleasant expression slipping slightly. 'He doesn't respect the women he fucks. The minute he shoved his dick in you, you were done. Just like all the others. But I'm still here, because I'm the one he wants to keep around for the long haul.'

I maintained my cool even though the blow had been a perfect hit right where the most damage could be done. 'That's pathetic.'

I walked out and didn't stop until I reached Stanton's limousine. Squeezing Cary's hand as I got in, I managed to wait until the car pulled away from the curb to start crying." -- what even is this.

The next morning, Eva wakes up to find Cary lounging on the couch and a large arrangement of roses on the counter. They've been delivered on a Sunday, which is apparently expensive - I don't know, I've never ordered roses - and there's a small plastic card attached:

I'M STILL THINKING ABOUT YOU.

GIDEON

Eva contemplates his handwriting, which is bold and masculine and sexy. Must be the way he writes with the caps lock on permanently. Cary comments that she doesn't seem impressed by the flowers and she says he's no good for her.

"'He's bad news for me. He's like one giant trigger. I just need to stay away from him.' Cary had been through therapy with me, and he knew the drill. He didn't look at me funny when I broke things down into therapeutic jargon, and he didn't have any trouble shooting it back to me the same way." -- there is literally zero therapeutic jargon here? I'm so confused. And also, I'm seriously irritated that it appears this series will centre around a woman recovering from sexual assault constantly putting her well-being at risk for some dude's junk. Value yourself, girl. You're worth more than that.

Cary tells her the phone's been ringing all morning so he turned the volume off. They decide to leave it off all day, and Eva fills Cary in on the previous night's disaster. She begins with the limo sex, which Gideon apparently had never had before. Cary is confused by this. 

"I shrugged. 'I guess car banging makes me a slut.'

Cary grew very still. 'Is that what he said?'

'No. He didn't say shit. I got that from his "friend," Magdalene. You know, that chick in most of the photos you printed off the Internet? She decided to sharpen her claws with a little catty girl chat in the bathroom.'

'The bitch is jealous.'

'Sexual frustration. She can't fuck him, because apparently girls who fuck him go into the discard pile.'" -- Or maybe Magdalene really isn't interested? Don't go getting all superior just because you're Gideon's flavour of the week.

Eva got to work 20 minutes early on Monday so she could avoid running into Gideon, and she's relieved when she makes it to her desk without incident. The morning goes quickly until her phone rings.

"'How's your morning been so far?' he asked, his voice sending a shiver of awareness through me. 

'Hectic.' I glanced at the clock and was startled to see it was twenty minutes to noon.

'Good.' There was a pause. 'I tried calling you yesterday. I left a couple messages. I wanted to hear your voice.'

...........

His chair creaked as if he'd pushed to his feet. 'I thought about stopping by . . . I wanted to.'

I sighed, surrendering to my confusion. 'I'm glad you didn't.'

There was another long pause. 'I deserved that.'

'I didn't say it to be a bitch. It's just the truth.'

'I know. Listen . . . I arranged for lunch up here in my office so we don't waste any of the hour leaving and getting back.'

........

'Gideon, we don't have any reason to have lunch together. We hashed things out Friday night, and we . . . took care of business Saturday. Let's just leave it at that.'

'Eva.' His voice turned gruff. 'I know I fucked up. Let me explain.'

'You don't have to. It's okay.'

'It's not. I need to see you.'

'I don't want —'

'We can do this the easy way, Eva. Or you can make it difficult.' His tone took on a hard edge that made my pulse quicken. 'Either way, you'll hear me out.'" -- I mean, or not? It's pretty clear she wants you to leave her alone. Maybe do that instead of being you for once.

Instead of waiting for her to make her way up to his office, Gideon shows up unannounced in hers. As they're waiting for the elevator, Gideon decides that 'where anyone can overhear' is the perfect place to be inappropriate.

"He faced me as we waited for the car, running his fingertips down the sleeves of my satin blouse. 'Every time I close my eyes, I see you in that red dress. I hear the sounds you make when you're turned on. I feel you sliding over my cock, squeezing me like a fist, making me come so hard it hurts.' (ew.)

'Don't.' I looked away, unable to bear the intimate way he was looking at me. 

'I can't help it.'

The arrival of the elevator was a relief. He caught my hand and pulled me inside. After he put his key in the panel, he tugged me closer. 'I'm going to kiss you, Eva.'

'I don't —'

He pulled me into him and sealed his mouth over mine." -- I just. Ugh.

She ends up kissing him back after he makes no move to end the kiss, and then the elevator reaches its destination. He takes her purse and hangs it on the coat rack. 

"I handed him my purse and moved away, needing the space. He hung his coat and my purse on the coatrack, then moved to the bar.

I crossed my arms. 'Let's just get this over with. I don't want to see you anymore.'"

CHAPTER 8

Gideon runs his hand through his hair and tells Eva she doesn't mean that, and she exhaustedly replies that she does. They're not good for each other, and what happened between them was a mistake. Gideon refuses to believe that, and asks Eva if she wants to be with him. She doesn't know what he's talking about and he explains that he's used to having control and when she took control for like half a second in the limo, it got him all screwy and he didn't react very well to it. Cue shock. Cue awe. 

"'It's just sex, Gideon. Super awesome sex, but that can seriously screw with your head when the two people doing it aren't good for each other.' (this doesn't make sense - if it's just sex, why is it screwing with your head?)

'Bullshit. I've admitted I fucked up. I can't change what happened, but I can sure as shit get pissed that you want to cut me off because of it. You laid out your rules and I adjusted to accommodate them, but you won't make even a tiny adjustment for me. You have to meet me halfway.' His face was hard with frustration. 'At least give me an inch. ...... I want to keep feeling the way I feel when I'm with you. Just tell me what I have to do. And give me some room to screw up. I've never done this before. There's a learning curve.'"

There's a little more back and forth and they finally decide to enter into a RELATIONSHIP. Eva asks about exclusivity and Gideon firmly tells her she's not to be with anyone else. He doesn't bring up his own monogamy until Eva says 'yeah but you don't get to fuck anyone else either' or something along those lines. They make plans to meet after work and go to the gym and then to have "mind-blowing sex" afterwards.

"'I'll be sure to clear my schedule by five.' He resumed eating, completely at ease with the fact that we'd both just penciled mind-blowing sex into our mental day calendars." -- I mean, I know you've already had sex with him, so your expectations are high, but maybe don't call it 'mind-blowing' before it happens. What if it's lukewarm? Or you end up headbutting each other in the heat of the moment? Or you try to get too adventurous and fall off the bed? What if a foreign object gets lost somewhere? THESE ARE THINGS THAT CAN HAPPEN, PEOPLE. 

He suggests he accompany her to the gym and they work out together. 

"'Really?' I turned the bottle [of ketchup] upside down and thumped the bottom with my palm.

He took it from me and used his knife to coax the ketchup onto my plate. 'It's probably best for me to work off some energy before I get you naked. I'm sure you'd like to be able to walk tomorrow.'

I stared at him, astonished by the casualness with which he'd made the statement and the rueful amusement on his face that told me he wasn't entirely kidding. My sex clenched in delicious anticipation. I could easily picture becoming seriously addicted to Gideon Cross."

Eva then kills whatever moment was unfolding by mentioning Magdalene and telling Gideon that she'll be a problem. She retells the bizarre conversation in the bathroom, and Gideon promises to talk to her. After two more pages of banal dialogue, lunch is over and it's time for Eva to leave.

"He shrugged into his jacket and I wanted to bite him, he looked so delectable.

Instead, I hopped up to sit directly in front of his chair. According to my watch I had five minutes. Barely enough time to get back to work, but still. I couldn't resist exercising my new rights. I pointed at his chair. 'Sit.'

His brows rose, but he came over without argument and settled gracefully into the seat.

I spread my legs and crooked my finger. 'Closer.'

..........

'One day soon,' I repeated against his lips, 'I'm going to kneel beneath this desk and suck you off. Maybe while you're on the phone playing with your millions like Monopoly. You, Mr. Cross, will pass Go and collect your two hundred dollars.'

His mouth curved against mine. 'I can see how this is going to go. You're going to make me lose my mind coming everywhere I can in your tight, sexy body.'"

Finally, she returns back to her office and Mark, her boss, needs to speak with her about Gideon. He's concerned that because Gideon is so attractive, Eva will be drawn into him very quickly. And, since Gideon also tends to go through women the way normal people go through toilet paper, Mark doesn't want her to get hurt and then decide she can't work there anymore. She assures him that she's a big girl and can take care of herself and isn't going to let a little thing like Gideon Cross force her out of a job she loves.

Five o'clock rolls around, and Gideon is waiting for Eva. They decide to go to Gideon's gym - the one he owns - and get in the car. On the way, Eva is introspective.

"It was a whole new world. A new city, new apartment, new job, and new man. It was a lot to take on at once. I supposed it was understandable that I felt off-balance.

I glanced at Gideon and found him staring at me with an unreadable expression. Everything inside me twisted into a mess of wild lust and vibrating anxiety. I had no idea what I was doing with him, onlyl that I couldn't stop myself even if I wanted to."