I looked over at Cary and found him

I looked over at Cary and found him watching me. Was Gideon facing similar disapproval from his friends?
Don’t stop loving me, I texted back.
His answer was simple and very much Gideon. Deal.
“SoCAL, baby, I missed you.” Cary descended the steps from the plane to the tarmac, tilting his head back to look up at the night sky. “God, it’s good to leave that East Coast humidity behind.”
I scrambled down after him, eager to get to the tall, dark figure waiting by a shiny black Suburban. Victor Reyes was the kind of male who commanded attention. Part of that was due to his being a cop. The rest was all him.
“Dad!” I ran full bore toward him and he unfolded from where he’d been leaning against the SUV and opened his arms to me.
He absorbed the crash of my body into his and lifted me off my feet, squeezing me so tightly I couldn’t breathe. “It’s good to see you, baby,” he said gruffly.
Cary sauntered up to us. My dad put me down.
“Cary.” My dad clasped Cary’s hand, then pulled him in for a quick hug and a hearty slap on the back. “Looking good, kid.”
“I try.”
“Got everything?” my dad asked. He eyed Raúl, who’d exited the plane first and now stood silently near a black Benz that had been parked and waiting close by.
Gideon had told me to forget that Raúl was there. That wasn’t easy for me to do.
“Yep,” Cary answered, adjusting the weight of his duffel strap on his shoulder. He carried my bag, which was lighter than his, in his hand. Even with all my makeup and three pairs of shoes, Cary had packed more than me.
I loved that about him.
“You two hungry?” My dad opened the passenger door for me.
It was just past nine in California, but after midnight in New York. Too late for me to eat usually, but we hadn’t grabbed dinner.
Cary answered before climbing into the backseat. “Starved.”
I laughed. “You’re always hungry.”
“So are you, sweet cheeks,” he shot back, sliding into the center seat so he could lean forward and be in the mix. “I’ve just got no guilt about it.”
We pulled away from the jet and I watched it grow smaller as we cruised down the tarmac toward the exit. I glanced at my dad’s profile, looking for any hint of his thoughts about the lifestyle I’d be living as Gideon’s wife. The private jets. The full-time bodyguards. I knew how he felt about Stanton’s wealth, but that was my stepdad. I was hoping a husband would be cut some slack.
Still, I knew the change in routine was glaring. Previously, we would’ve flown into San Diego’s harbor. We would have headed to the Gaslamp and grabbed a table at Dick’s Last Resort, spending an hour or more laughing at the silliness and enjoying a beer with dinner.
There was tension now that hadn’t been there before. Nathan. Gideon. My mom. They were all hovering between us.
It sucked. Massively.
“What about that place in Oceanside with the slushy beer and peanut shells on the floor?” Cary suggested.
“Yeah.” I twisted in my seat to give him a grateful smile. “That’d be fun.”
Laid-back and familiar. Perfect.
I could tell my dad thought so, too, when I looked at him and his mouth quirked. “You got it.”
We left the airport behind. I dug out my phone and turned it on, wanting to sync it to the Suburban’s sound system so we could listen to music that would take us back to less complicated times.
Texts popped up so fast, they filled my screen then scrolled off.
The most recent one was from Brett. Call me when you get into town.
And right on cue, “Golden” started playing on the radio.
I was climbing the steps of my dad’s tiny porch the next day when my phone started vibrating. I pulled it out of my shorts pocket and felt a tingle of happiness at the sight of Gideon’s picture on the screen.
“Good morning,” I answered, settling into one of the two cushioned wrought-iron chairs near the front door. “Did you sleep well?”
“Well enough.” The beloved soft rasp of his voice slid sweetly through me. “Raúl says Victor’s coffee could wake a hibernating bear.”
I glanced at the Benz parked across the narrow street. The tinted windows were so dark I couldn’t see the man inside. It was a bit freaky that Raúl had somehow managed to talk to Gideon about the coffee I’d just barely taken over to him before I even made it back to the house. “Are you trying to intimidate me with how closely you’re watching me?”
“If intimidation were my goal, I wouldn’t be subtle about it.”
I picked up the mug I’d dropped off on the small patio table prior to making my java delivery to Raúl. “You do know that tone of voice makes me want to irritate you back, don’t you?”
“Because you like the way I rise to the challenge,” he purred, sending little goose bumps across my skin despite the warmth of the summer day.
My mouth curved. “So, what exactly did you guys end up doing last night?”
“The usual. Drink. Give each other a hard time.”
“Did you go out?”
“For a couple of hours.”
My grip tightened on the phone as I pictured a pack of hot guys out on the prowl. “I hope you had fun.”
“It wasn’t bad. Tell me your plans for the day.”
I picked up the same note of tightness in his words that I’d just had. Unfortunately, marriage wasn’t a cure for jealousy. “When Cary wakes up and rolls his ass off the couch, we’ll grab a quick lunch with my dad. Then we’re going down to San Diego to see Dr. Travis.”
“And tonight?”
I took a sip of my coffee, steeling myself for an argument. I knew he was thinking about Brett. “The band’s manager sent me an e-mail about where to claim VIP tickets, but I’ve decided not to see the show. I figure Cary can take a friend, if he wants. What I have to say won’t take very long, so either I’ll see Brett tomorrow before I leave or we can chat on the phone.”
He exhaled softly. “I expect you have an idea of what you’re going to tell him.”
“I’m gonna keep it simple. With ‘Golden’ and my engagement, I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to see each other socially. I hope we’ll be friends and keep in touch, but e-mail and texts are better, unless you’re with me.”
He was silent long enough that I thought maybe the call had dropped. “Gideon?”
“I need to know if you’re afraid to see him.”
Uneasy, I took another drink. The coffee had cooled, but I barely tasted it anyway. “I don’t want to fight about Brett.”
“So your solution is to avoid him.”
“You and I have enough shit to fight about without throwing him into the mix. He’s not worth it.”
Gideon was quiet again. This time, I waited him out.
When his voice came again, it was confident and decisive. “I can live with that, Eva.”
My shoulders relaxed and something inside me eased. And then, paradoxically, my chest tightened. I remembered what he’d said to me once, that he’d live with me loving another man just so long as he had me.
He loved me so much more than he loved himself. It broke my heart that he’d sell himself short like that. It made it impossible to hold myself back.
“You’re everything to me,” I breathed. “I think about you all the time.”
“It’s no different for me.”
“Really?” I lowered my voice further, trying to keep it down. “Because I have it so bad for you. I get—well, hot. Like I’m overcome with this desperate need to be touching you. My brain scatters and I have to take a minute to ride it out, but it’s so hard to deal. So many times I’ve almost dropped whatever I’m doing to get to you.”
“Eva—”
“I have fantasies about barging into one of your meetings and just running right into you. Have I told you that? When the craving is really bad, I can almost feel you pulling at me.”
I rushed on when I heard him growl softly. “I lose my breath every time I see you. If I close my eyes, I can hear your voice. I woke up this morning and I panicked a little because you’re so far away. I would’ve given anything to be able to get to you. I wanted to cry because I couldn’t.”
“Christ. Eva, please—”
“If you’re going to worry about anything, Gideon, it should be me. Because I can’t be rational when it comes to you. I’m crazy about you. Literally. I can’t think about a future without you—it freaks me out.”
“Goddamn it. You’ll never be without me. We’re going to grow old together. Die together. I’m not going to live a single day without you.”
A tear slid from the corner of my eye. I scrubbed it away. “I need you to understand that you’ll never have to settle for pieces of me. You shouldn’t be settling at all. You deserve so much better. You could have anyone—”
“That’s enough!”
I jumped at the lash of his voice.
“You will not ever say anything like that to me again,” he snapped. “Or I swear to God, angel, I will punish you.”
Shocked silence filled the space between us. The words I’d spoken circled restlessly in my mind, taunting me with how pathetic I could be. I never wanted to be dependent on him, but I already was.
“I have to go,” I said hoarsely.
“Don’t hang up. For God’s sake, Eva, we’re married. We’re in love. There’s no shame in that. So what if it’s crazy? It’s us. It’s who we are. You need to come to grips with that.”
The screen door squeaked as my dad stepped onto the porch. I looked at him and said, “My dad’s here, Gideon. I’ll have to talk to you later.”
“You make me happy,” he said, in the deep firm tone he used when making an unswayable decision. “I’d forgotten what that feels like. Don’t devalue what you mean to me.”
God.
“I love you, too.” I ended the call and set the phone down on the table with a shaky hand.
My dad settled into the other chair with his coffee. He wore long shorts and a dark olive T-shirt, but his feet were bare. He’d shaved and his hair was still damp, the ends curling slightly as they dried.
He was my father, but that didn’t stop me from appreciating the fact that he was ridiculously attractive. He kept himself in great shape and had a naturally confident bearing.

Hasil (Bahasa Indonesia) 1:

Aku memandang Cary dan menemukan dia menonton saya. Gideon menghadapi serupa penolakan dari teman-temannya?Jangan berhenti mencintai saya, saya texted kembali.Jawabannya adalah sederhana dan Gideon sangat banyak. Kesepakatan."SoCAL, bayi, aku rindu padamu." Cary turun langkah-langkah dari pesawat ke aspal, memiringkan kepala kembali untuk memandang langit malam. "Tuhan, itu baik untuk meninggalkan kelembaban Pantai Timur itu."Aku buru-buru ke bawah setelah dia, bersemangat untuk mendapatkan tinggi, gelap mencari menunggu oleh Suburban hitam mengkilap. Victor Reyes adalah tipe laki-laki yang memerintahkan perhatian. Bagian dari itu adalah karena ia menjadi seorang polisi. Sisanya adalah semua nya."Ayah!" Aku berlari penuh melahirkan ke arahnya dan dia membuka dari mana ia telah condong terhadap SUV dan membuka tangannya kepada saya.Ia diserap kecelakaan tubuh saya ke dalam dan mengangkat saya lepas dari kakiku, meremas saya begitu erat aku tidak bisa bernapas. "Ada baiknya untuk melihat Anda, bayi," katanya gruffly.Cary sauntered tergantung pada kita. Ayah saya menempatkan saya."Cary." Ayahku menggenggam tangan di Cary, kemudian menariknya pelukan cepat dan lezat tamparan di bagian belakang. "Terlihat baik, anak.""Saya coba.""Punya segalanya?" ayah saya bertanya. Ia bermata Raúl, yang telah keluar pesawat pertama dan sekarang berdiri diam-diam dekat hitam Benz yang telah diparkir dan menunggu di dekatnya.Gideon telah mengatakan kepada saya untuk melupakan bahwa Raúl yang ada di sana. Itu tidak mudah bagi saya untuk melakukan."Ya," Cary menjawab, menyesuaikan berat tali ransel nya di bahunya. Ia membawa tas saya, yang lebih ringan daripada-Nya, di tangannya. Bahkan dengan semua makeup saya dan tiga pasang sepatu, Cary telah dikemas lebih daripada aku.Aku mencintai itu tentang dirinya."Anda dua lapar?" Ayah saya membuka pintu penumpang bagi saya.Itu hanya melewati sembilan di California, tapi setelah tengah malam di New York. Terlalu terlambat bagi saya untuk makan biasanya, tapi kami tidak meraih makan malam.Cary menjawab sebelum naik ke kursi belakang. "Kelaparan."Aku tertawa. "Kau selalu lapar.""Jadi adalah Anda, pipi manis," dia menembak kembali, meluncur ke kursi pusat sehingga ia bisa bersandar ke depan dan dapat dalam campuran. "Aku hanya sudah punya tanpa rasa bersalah tentang hal itu."Kami ditarik dari jet dan aku menontonnya tumbuh lebih kecil seperti kami melaju menyusuri aspal ke arah pintu keluar. Aku melirik ke profil ayah saya, mencari petunjuk pemikirannya tentang gaya hidup saya akan tinggal sebagai istri Gideon. Jet pribadi. Pengawal penuh waktu. Aku tahu apa yang dia rasakan tentang kekayaan Stanton's, tapi itu ayah tiriku. Aku berharap suami akan memotong beberapa kendur.Namun, aku tahu perubahan dalam rutinitas mencolok. Sebelumnya, kita akan pernah terbang ke San Diego harbor. Kita akan menuju Gaslamp dan meraih meja di Dick's Last Resort, menghabiskan satu jam atau lebih tertawa di kekonyolan dan menikmati bir dengan makan malam.Ada ketegangan sekarang bahwa tidak ada di sana sebelumnya. Nathan. Gideon. Ibuku. Mereka semua melayang antara kami.Itu menyebalkan. Secara besar-besaran."Apa tentang tempat itu di Oceanside dengan bir basah dan kulit kacang di lantai?" Cary menyarankan."ya." Aku berputar di kursi saya untuk memberinya senyum berterima kasih. "Itu akan menjadi menyenangkan."Santai dan akrab. Sempurna.Aku bisa memberitahu ayah saya berpikir begitu, juga, ketika saya melihat dia dan mulutnya quirked. "Anda mendapatkannya."Kami meninggalkan bandara. Aku menggali telepon dan menyalakannya, ingin untuk sync itu ke sistem suara Suburban sehingga kita bisa mendengarkan musik yang akan membawa kita kembali ke kurang rumit kali.Teks-teks yang muncul begitu cepat, mereka mengisi layar saya kemudian menggulir.Yang paling baru adalah dari Brett. Hubungi saya ketika Anda mendapatkan ke kota.Dan tepat pada isyarat, "Emas" mulai diputar di radio.Aku sedang mendaki langkah ayah saya kecil serambi keesokan harinya ketika telepon saya mulai bergetar. Aku menariknya keluar dari saku celana pendek dan merasa menggelitik kebahagiaan melihat Gideon gambar pada layar."Selamat pagi," jawabku menetap ke dalam salah satu dua kursi besi tempa bantalan di dekat pintu depan. "Apakah Anda tidur nyenyak?""Cukup baik." Ditaburi parutan lembut kekasih suaranya meluncur manis melalui saya. "Raúl mengatakan Victor's kopi bisa bangun beruang hibernating."Aku melirik ke Benz diparkir di seberang jalan sempit. Jendela berwarna yang begitu gelap aku tidak bisa melihat orang di dalamnya. Itu agak aneh bahwa Raúl entah bagaimana berhasil untuk berbicara kepada Gideon tentang kopi saya nyaris tidak mengambil alih kepadanya sebelum aku bahkan membuatnya kembali ke rumah. "Apakah Anda mencoba untuk mengintimidasi saya dengan seberapa dekat Anda menonton saya?""Jika intimidasi tujuan saya, saya tidak akan halus tentang hal itu."Aku mengambil cangkir yang saya telah menjatuhkan off di atas meja Teras kecil sebelum membuat saya Jawa pengiriman ke Raúl. "Anda tahu bahwa nada suara membuat saya ingin mengganggu Anda kembali, kan?""Karena Anda menyukai cara saya naik menjadi tantangan," Dia mendengkur, mengirim sedikit merinding di kulit saya meskipun kehangatan hari musim panas.Mulutku melengkung. "Jadi, apa persis melakukan kalian akhirnya melakukan semalam?""Yang biasa. Minum. Saling memberi waktu sulit.""Apakah Anda pergi?""Selama beberapa jam."Pegangan saya diperketat di telepon seperti saya membayangkan Pak orang panas keluar mencari mangsa. "Saya berharap kau telah menyenangkan.""Itu tidak buruk. Ceritakan rencana Anda untuk hari."Aku mengambil catatan sesak di kata-kata yang hanya aku yang sama. Sayangnya, perkawinan tidak obat untuk kecemburuan. "Ketika Cary bangun dan gulungan pantatnya dari sofa, kami akan ambil makan siang cepat dengan ayah saya. Kemudian kita akan ke San Diego untuk melihat Dr. Travis.""Dan malam ini?"Aku mengambil secangkir kopi, steeling diri untuk sebuah argumen. Aku tahu dia memikirkan Brett. "Manajer mengirim saya e-mail tentang di mana untuk klaim tiket VIP, tapi aku sudah memutuskan tidak untuk melihat pertunjukan. Aku sosok Cary dapat mengambil seorang teman, jika dia ingin. Apa yang harus saya katakan tidak akan mengambil sangat panjang, baik aku akan melihat Brett besok sebelum saya meninggalkan atau kita bisa mengobrol di telepon.Ia dihembuskan lembut. "Saya berharap Anda memiliki gagasan tentang apa yang akan untuk mengatakan kepadanya.""Aku akan untuk tetap sederhana. Dengan 'Golden' dan keterlibatan saya, saya tidak berpikir tepat bagi kita untuk melihat satu sama lain secara sosial. Saya harap kami akan menjadi teman dan tetap berhubungan, tetapi e-mail dan teks yang lebih baik, kecuali Anda dengan saya."Dia adalah diam cukup lama sehingga saya pikir mungkin panggilan telah menjatuhkan. "Gideon?""Saya perlu tahu apakah kau takut untuk melihat-nya."Gelisah, aku mengambil minuman lainnya. Kopi telah didinginkan, tapi aku hampir merasakan pula. "Saya tidak ingin untuk bertengkar tentang Brett.""Jadi solusi Anda adalah menghindarinya.""Anda dan saya memiliki cukup sial untuk bertengkar tentang tanpa melemparkannya ke dalam campuran. Ia adalah tidak sia-sia."Gideon adalah tenang lagi. Kali ini, aku menunggu dia.Ketika suara-Nya kembali, itu adalah percaya diri dan tegas. "Aku bisa hidup dengan itu, Eva."Bahu saya santai dan sesuatu di dalam diriku mereda. Dan kemudian, paradoks, dadaku diperketat. Aku ingat apa ia telah berkata kepadaku sekali, bahwa ia akan tinggal dengan saya mencintai orang lain hanya karena ia telah saya.He loved me so much more than he loved himself. It broke my heart that he’d sell himself short like that. It made it impossible to hold myself back.
“You’re everything to me,” I breathed. “I think about you all the time.”
“It’s no different for me.”
“Really?” I lowered my voice further, trying to keep it down. “Because I have it so bad for you. I get—well, hot. Like I’m overcome with this desperate need to be touching you. My brain scatters and I have to take a minute to ride it out, but it’s so hard to deal. So many times I’ve almost dropped whatever I’m doing to get to you.”
“Eva—”
“I have fantasies about barging into one of your meetings and just running right into you. Have I told you that? When the craving is really bad, I can almost feel you pulling at me.”
I rushed on when I heard him growl softly. “I lose my breath every time I see you. If I close my eyes, I can hear your voice. I woke up this morning and I panicked a little because you’re so far away. I would’ve given anything to be able to get to you. I wanted to cry because I couldn’t.”
“Christ. Eva, please—”
“If you’re going to worry about anything, Gideon, it should be me. Because I can’t be rational when it comes to you. I’m crazy about you. Literally. I can’t think about a future without you—it freaks me out.”
“Goddamn it. You’ll never be without me. We’re going to grow old together. Die together. I’m not going to live a single day without you.”
A tear slid from the corner of my eye. I scrubbed it away. “I need you to understand that you’ll never have to settle for pieces of me. You shouldn’t be settling at all. You deserve so much better. You could have anyone—”
“That’s enough!”
I jumped at the lash of his voice.
“You will not ever say anything like that to me again,” he snapped. “Or I swear to God, angel, I will punish you.”
Shocked silence filled the space between us. The words I’d spoken circled restlessly in my mind, taunting me with how pathetic I could be. I never wanted to be dependent on him, but I already was.
“I have to go,” I said hoarsely.
“Don’t hang up. For God’s sake, Eva, we’re married. We’re in love. There’s no shame in that. So what if it’s crazy? It’s us. It’s who we are. You need to come to grips with that.”
The screen door squeaked as my dad stepped onto the porch. I looked at him and said, “My dad’s here, Gideon. I’ll have to talk to you later.”
“You make me happy,” he said, in the deep firm tone he used when making an unswayable decision. “I’d forgotten what that feels like. Don’t devalue what you mean to me.”
God.
“I love you, too.” I ended the call and set the phone down on the table with a shaky hand.
My dad settled into the other chair with his coffee. He wore long shorts and a dark olive T-shirt, but his feet were bare. He’d shaved and his hair was still damp, the ends curling slightly as they dried.
He was my father, but that didn’t stop me from appreciating the fact that he was ridiculously attractive. He kept himself in great shape and had a naturally confident bearing.