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“What’s wrong, Percy?” More importantly, what details did Percy know?

“There is rather more of you on the pages of Roadkill’s newest issue than I’ve ever seen,” her partner delivered in a dry tone.

Roadkill?” she asked, trying to place the name. A memory stirred. “I am going to kill Cid!”

Syon lifted his head and sat up, giving her a hard look. She spun around and stood up as Ramsey appeared in the doorway.

“I’m going to pull his balls off,” she said into the phone but directing it toward Syon.

Percy attempted a mediation. “Now, Kate, do I have to remind you of how many cameras are on you when you travel with Toxsin?”

“I was in a closed room. With a locked door.”

“Oh.” Percy made a low sound on the other end of the line. “In that case, his nuts have it coming.”

Syon suddenly plucked the cell phone from her hand. “Percy, Kate will get back to you.”

He hung up as Kate turned on him. “You don’t end my calls.”

“When you’re contemplating castrating my road manager, I do.”

Syon tossed her dress at her, and she realized she’d been standing there in nothing. She was too mad to care. “That film crew has plastered nude pictures of me in their monthly issue.”

Understanding flashed through Syon’s eyes.

“Wait, how’d they get a shot of your tits?” Ramsey asked.

Syon’s lips twitched, a smug look entering his eyes. Kate’s temper sizzled.

“We were in a closed room. The door was locked,” she hissed. “The terms of the contract concerning the use of my image sure as hell don’t extend through locked doors!”

Syon nodded. “I know. I’ll talk to Cid about it.”

“I don’t need you to fight my battles for me.” Kate propped her hands on her hips. “I can tell Cid he’s an asshole all by myself.”

Ramsey snorted. “I believe her.”

“I told you, Kate, privacy—”

“Yeah, is a casualty, but I was doing a fitting on you.”

“What?” Ramsey looked up from a cell phone he’d pulled out of his pocket. He pointed at the screen. “This look was missing from my fitting.”

Ramsey turned the phone toward her, giving her a view of her bare torso, a saucy smile, and her own hands on her breasts.

“That’s because she’s my girlfriend,” Syon said.

Kate snorted.

Syon swung his attention back to her, and his gaze had gone hard. “Take a hike, Rams.”

“Later.” Ramsey was gone, leaving her with Syon.

She was halfway into the dress, but Syon plucked it from her hands and pulled it off.

“My girlfriend,” he repeated.

She stepped back, the warning in his tone chafing her. “I’m a little preoccupied with the issue on the table.”

“I’ll deal with Cid.”

She moved around the bed and grabbed another dress that had landed on the floor sometime the night before. “I dealt with him before, and I’ll—”

“Over what?” Syon asked pointedly.

Kate managed to get the dress on, but she didn’t feel very secure.

Ha! Try hanging over an abyss…

Yeah, that was about the way she felt, but she wasn’t going to admit it. Syon was distracting her as it was, slowly stalking her across the suite.

“Over what, Kate?”

He wasn’t going to drop it, but the topic was at least a diversion from the idea of having to define their relationship status.

“I made something for Taz,” she informed him.

“The Loki suit?”

She nodded. “Cid got in my face about it. Accused me of not being focused and understanding the terms of my contract, and helping Taz ignore his responsibilities.”

Syon nodded. “And you did…what?”

She sent him a satisfied grin. “I quoted my contract and sent him a time sheet. I made the Loki suit on my own time. I like Taz.”

“But you didn’t tell me that Cid got in your face.”

“That would have been unprofessional,” she answered.

His lips rose into a menacing smile. “Because I’m your boyfriend.”

She drew in a stiff breath, but a second later he had her crowded against the wall. He wasn’t actually touching her but had his forearms braced on either side of her shoulders.

She shuddered anyway.

The scent of him filled her senses. He still smelled sexy. It was more potent than anything she’d ever experienced. The last month of excess should have worn the edge down, but the need swirling in her belly was still razor sharp.

He tilted his head, and his breath hit her ear. He captured her wrists and pulled her arms above her head, holding them there as he licked her earlobe.

“Boyfriend…”

His voice was raspy but full of demand. She shivered, excitement pulsing through her just about as fast as her uncertainty was growing. She was folding, losing all sense of boundaries, just letting him wipe them away.

“I’m not sure I can…”

He pulled his head back, locking stares with her. “Does it look like this is any easier for me?”

She searched his eyes, feeling exposed but needing to know if he felt the same.

“You scare me. The way you just sweep aside everything else.” She wasn’t sure why the words slipped out.

“I know the feeling.”

He bit out the words and pressed his mouth down on top of hers to take shelter in passion. She kissed him back, relieved to have something familiar to focus on.

But it was hollow.

The kiss died. Syon pulled away and pressed his forehead to hers. That hollowness wouldn’t dissipate. It felt like it was sitting inside her chest, carving out a hole—settling in for the long haul.

“Boyfriend,” she said.

He stiffened, the grip on her wrist tightening. She leaned forward and kissed his jaw. “Boyfriend,” she repeated softly. “My boyfriend.”

“Why was that hard?” he asked.

He suddenly turned his back on her, leaving her leaning against the wall.

“Because everyone wants you.” She felt like every fear she’d had about getting kicked to the curb was about to hit her. “How could I hold your attention for long?”

Her self-confidence was nothing but a puddle on the floor. It stung, and she stayed against the wall because she honestly wasn’t sure if her knees would hold.

He turned around, letting her see the torment in his eyes. It knocked the breath out of her.

“They want the Marquis,” he bit out. “That thing Cid gives them. It isn’t me.”

“Part of it is.”

He shook his head, but she pushed away from the wall, suddenly feeling her confidence swell.

“Yes, it is. You have an allure that you aren’t afraid to let people see. Cid is riding on your coattails because it’s so powerful. I felt it the second I saw you. It was like a punch to the gut.” She suddenly stopped, face-to-face with her own insecurities. “I’m not that brave. I can’t let people see that part of me. You do. That’s why they scream. You make it okay. It’s that permission that they crave.”

“It’s a hunger,” he said.

He took a step toward her, making her mouth go dry. “Yeah, it is,” she said.

“A selfish one,” he continued. “I need to be on that stage. The animal inside me needs to be out, to be seen.”

She nodded. He reached for her, pulling her against him.

“And I need you to be here.”

He pushed his hand through her hair, gripping it and holding her head still as he hovered over her lips. “Tell me you’ll be here, for me.”

She pushed her hand beneath his shirt, their skin connecting with that powerful jolt that thrilled her.

“I will.”

His lips twitched just a tiny amount before they thinned with hunger. Sensation went speeding through her, shaking her down to her core. He caught the fabric of her dress and pulled it up and over her head. She made a soft sound of encouragement, her skin heating up.

She reached out, finding the buttons on his fly and forcing her fingers to work them loose. His cock sprang through, hard and ready the moment she finished. She stroked it, purring at the satin-smooth skin.

“I can’t wait,” Syon confessed.