Kate realized she was staring and looked away. Syon pulled her close, fitting her in front of him so he could hold her close.

“Rams likes to dominate just a little bit more bluntly than I do.” He cupped her breast, the bubbles in the water teasing her skin. “I’m a little more hands-on.”

There was a snap from the gazebo and a gasp.

Syon smoothed her onto his chest, stroking her arms as she fought off the urge to make an excuse and run back into the suite.

“Why is it important for me to stay here?”

There were more sounds from the gazebo.

“I want you to know every part of me. The seedy too.”

She rubbed his thighs. “You don’t want to put on a face.”

“Not when we’re naked.”

Ramsey was the counterpart of his soul. It was an odd link, but one that made a strange kind of sense.

“Ramsey keeps you from feeling abandoned by the rest of the human race. I saw that tonight.”

His hands froze on her. She rubbed his thighs as there was a harsh sound and another slap from the gazebo.

“Yeah.” Syon voice was strained. The admission coming from his soul.

Ramsey was working his date into a frenzy, her cries filling the dark. When he pushed her over the edge, she screamed, but all that came out of him was a harsh grunt.

So one-sided.

There was no tenderness, no companionship.

Instead, he sent her toward the elevators and forgot her before the last of her footsteps had faded. It should have bothered Kate. Should have been a reason to label him a prick. But the sound of the girl squealing with glee in the hallway put an end to that.

“Oh my God! Tina, you’ll never guess who I just fucked! Ramsey from Toxsin! He is a god!”

A bitter taste rose in Kate’s mouth. There was no baseline in their world, only extremes.

She turned around and seated herself on Syon’s lap. “I don’t care who you are.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“You told me once that everyone wanted something from you.” She cupped some water and dribbled it on his shoulder. “I need things from you.”

He drew in a stiff breath, emotion brightening his eyes. He clamped her against him, his arms shaking.

“I need too, baby…”

For a moment, they were sealed together by those needs, even undefined as they were. It was just a feeling. A deep, churning knowledge that he soothed something inside her. A thing she’d never named, because it conflicted with everything the rest of the world expected her to be.

What a good girl was.

A decent girl.

She’d always ignored the darker side of her nature. At least until Syon had ripped into her world and set it loose. What did that make her? She wasn’t sure. Only that she felt closer to him than to any other person on the globe.

* * *

“I should have said dinner,” Syon groaned when the alarm went off at noon.

“That or we shouldn’t have watched the sun come up.” Kate kicked at the bedding and stumbled toward the kitchen. “Coffee.”

She wasn’t sure if it was a demand or a plea, only that it was an absolute necessity. She held a mug under the machine for the first half cup before putting the pot in place and taking the mug into the bathroom with her. She headed for the second bathroom in the suite, because Syon was in the shower, and she needed to get herself together.

Just the idea of meeting his parents woke her up.

It was a bolt of fear that also left her giddy.

She fussed over her clothing, looking for something just right.

“Perfect.”

She turned to find Syon in the doorway. His hair was still slightly wet but styled back from his face instead of spiked out. In place of his normal leather was a pair of jeans and a cotton shirt.

Kate turned to show him the front of the dress she was wearing. Several others were lying on the bed where she’d tossed them after vetoing them. This one had a scoop neck that didn’t show off too much, tapered in at the waist, and fell in a loose skirt to just above her knee. She’d slipped into some ankle boots with a low heel.

“Are you sure you want me to come?” She could have bitten off her tongue for voicing her insecurity. But as usual, with Syon, she lacked all sense of control.

“Yeah.” He held out his hand for her. “Double sure when I see that you’re taking it so seriously.” He looked at the discarded dresses. “My dad’s going to mess with you though, and my mom is going to try to decide if you’re knocked up.”

“I’m not going,” Kate groused at him, turning to look at her reflection again, specifically at her waistline.

He came into the room and put his arms around her from behind. She was wrapped in his power again so easily. “Yes, you are,” he whispered against her neck. “I need you to.”

She drew in a deep breath, feeling like something had hit her in the chest. Syon was watching her in the mirror, a soft sense of vulnerability in his eyes.

She melted.

“So what’s for lunch?”

He kissed her neck again before capturing her hand and pulling her toward the door. The elevator ride down was quick and quiet.

But Cid stepped up as they entered the lobby. “Word with you, mate?”

The implication was clear. Cid wanted her to shove off.

“I’ve got a lunch date with my parents, Cid.”

“Yeah, about that.” Cid tried to crowd her.

“Kate’s coming,” Syon said as he stepped to the side to make sure there was room for both of them.

“Got the car waiting for you,” Cid offered smoothly. “But this thing with Kate…it’s rather new, isn’t it?”

“I pay you to manage the tour, not my personal life.”

Syon tried to take off, but Cid cut him off, stepping up close so their words didn’t drift. “It’s all the same thing. I explained that to you before I agreed to take Toxsin on. You take the girl, the tabloids get wind of it, and suddenly, you aren’t the stud any longer.”

Syon’s fingers tightened around hers.

For a moment, she thought she imagined it.

But she didn’t.

“Deal with it, Cid.”

Syon’s voice was low, but that didn’t keep her from hearing how menacing his tone was. A clear warning from the hard, business side of his nature. Cid’s eyes widened, but he covered his shock with a smile and a pat on Syon’s shoulder.

“Have a blast,” the road manager said as he stepped aside.

Syon pulled her along beside him, but she felt Cid watching them. Several of the polo-shirted guys lined the walkway from the hotel doors to where a tinted-window SUV was waiting. Even at noon, there were still a scattering of fans hanging out in the hope of gaining a glimpse of their idols. Paparazzi came out of the foliage, snapping away with their cameras as they worked the telephoto lenses with expert fingers.

The car door shut behind Kate, giving her a barrier to take refuge behind. She let out a sigh before she realized Syon was watching her.

“Does it wig you out?” he asked, retreating behind a stony expression.

“Ah…what part?”

His eyes narrowed. “Cid again.”

“He is pissing on his turf a little aggressively.”

Syon snorted. “Not sure I care for the visual, considering I’m the ‘turf’ in question.”

Kate shrugged. “Better than me saying he’s humping your leg. Because he is.”

His expression turned hungry.

“Stay.” She had a single finger pointed at him, and it felt like she was trying to hold a grizzly bear back with a cheese knife. “I am not meeting your parents with my wits dulled by your kisses.”

He made a low growling sound.

Kate reached for a can of soda sitting in the center console and shook it up, fingering the tab and pointing the opening toward him. He laughed, but the sound was dark and dangerous.

“Until later,” he promised.

* * *

“I’m a bit confused,” Syon’s mother drawled out in a sweet voice that was nothing more than a different sort of aggression. She fixed Kate with her blue eyes and fluttered her eyelashes innocently.