Last time, Eva repeatedly told us how sexy her parents are. The chapter also ends with Eva breaking things off with Gideon over the phone and then crying in the shower. Just in case you forgot we were reading a romance novel where angst is a main character.
Chapter 17
I like the beginning of this chapter a lot because Eva’s just describing where she takes her dad to eat in New York. Maybe Day should have realized that one of the actual strengths of this book is Eva’s enjoyment of food and made Gideon a sort of side-plot.
During their adventures, Eva’s dad winds up telling the story about how he and Eva’s mom met. It’s the classic story of pretty rich girl gets flat tire, needs handsome poor boy to fix it. Eva’s dad tells her that he’s still had a happy life even without Eva’s mom, prompting Eva to think, “Both my mom and my dad were living fulfilling lives without the one they loved. I could do it, too.”
I know this won’t last, but for one shining moment, it seemed like Gideon was really out of the picture and maybe Brett would be the next love interest as his angry meat stabbing and aggressive, “romantic” comments set the stage for perfectly.
Sadly, and unsurprisingly, Eva is really depressed without Gideon. I do feel sorry for her, breakups are a miserable miserable occasion. On top of that she’s trying to figure out who could have killed Nathan, and she keeps coming back to Gideon having arranged it.
It actually makes me really happy that Eva finds herself loving Gideon more if this is true because she’s always wished Nathan was dead. I would be so fucking mad if she was pissed off at Gideon for doing it.
In the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but think that Gideon had arranged it. That made it harder for me to get over him, because there was a part of me— the little girl I’d once been—who’d wanted Nathan dead for a long time. Who’d wanted him to hurt like he’d hurt me for years. I’d lost my innocence to him, as well as my virginity. I’d lost my self-esteem and self-respect. And in the end, I’d lost a child in an agonizing miscarriage when I was no more than a child myself.
Well, said. Here here! There are some people who you just don’t want on this planet, and this Nathan guy is one of them. And I’m still super relieved we didn’t have an awful confrontation scene between him and Eva where he said overly creepy and cliche things. As much as I love it, this is not Law and Order: SVU. Although, I have to admit, this would make a great episode of the show.
Eva has a spa day with her mom and Cary where she has this wonderful moment of realization that she feels liberated now that Nathan is gone and that she has a chance to experience life in a new way without Gideon.
I also had a new chance to embrace my New York life in a way I hadn’t before. I was accountable to no one. I could go anywhere with anyone. I could be anyone. Who was the Eva Tramell who lived in Manhattan and had her dream job at an advertising agency? I didn’t know yet. Up until now, I’d been the San Diego transplant who got swept into the orbit of an enigmatic and incredibly powerful man.
Well, hey, I couldn’t agree more!
But then she has to go and ruin it by telling us she will probably always be sad about Gideon, though.
For better or worse , he was my soul mate. The other half of me. In many ways, he was my reflection.
How the hell is he her reflection? In what way? And your reflection isn’t your other half…it’s you just flipped. You can’t just merge every romantic cliche and expect me to be like THEIR LOVE IS SO PURE.
To celebrate the new her, Eva gets a shocking new hair cut! And eats chocolate! If there are more breakup cliches, Eva’s probably done them too or will by the end of the chapter.
That night, Eva’s step-father takes them all to a private club, and Eva realizes that, like her mother, she should just find someone who she’s happy with and not necessarily madly in love with…I guess because both is impossible? This series presents the view of love that it has to be really hard or you’re not doing it right, which is absolutely not true.
While at the club, Gideon’s brother Chris shows up. Remember him? He banged Magdalena and video taped it, and he was bitching about how horrible Gideon is? Also, where has Magdalena been this whole book? She just disappeared into the realm of discarded plot points.
While dancing with Christopher, Eva spots his and Gideon’s mother. This prompts Eva to follow her out of the crowded room and bitch her out about not believing Gideon when he was a kid and told her he was being sexually abused. Though I don’t think it’s Eva’s place to go handing out Worst Mother awards, I was kind of cheering for her.
“I know what he’s like now. He’s broken and hurting and doesn’t think he’s worth loving. And you helped make him that way.”
“Go to hell.”
She stormed off. “I’m already there,” I shouted after her. “And so is your son.”
Oh snap! It’s all kicking off now. I wonder who Eva’s going to bitch out next?
I’m afraid we won’t find out the answer until later, because now it’s time for Gideon and Eva to have a confusing (and sexually charged) interaction. And of course, it all starts in an elevator, because where else can these things ever hope to happen?
When we arrived on the twentieth floor , I took a deep breath and prepared to step out, hating the inevitable separation from the one thing in the world that made me feel truly alive.
The doors opened.
“Wait.”
How great would it be if he was just like, “You dropped your keys.” Instead, this happens:
I moved into the corner, my heart pounding. Gideon waited on the opposite side, radiating expectation and demand. As we climbed to the top floor, my body responded to his near-tangible need. My breasts swelled and became heavy; my sex grew slick and swollen. I was greedy for him . Needful. My breathing quickened.
Does Day not understand how female arousal works? Is she not a human woman? Don’t your breasts swell and become heavy when you’re pregnant, not when you’re turned on? I’m worried my body isn’t working right, or something. It’s also pretty amazing that her “sex grew slick and swollen” just from the sight of Gideon. Man, swollen is such a sexy word. It doesn’t at all make me think of tonsils or pain or stubbed toes or other injuries. Just sexy times!
Gideon stops the elevator once they’re alone, and tells Eva to turn around so he can press his erection against her as is proper ex-etiquette. His reasoning is something along the lines of, “You’re so beautiful I can’t look at you.” Reasonable enough.
He pushes himself on her, and we are reminded of what a manly man he Gideon is:
I felt his hunger pouring off him, enveloping me. His powerful frame was hard and hot, and vibrating with tension. He was aroused, his thick cock a firm pressure I couldn’t stop myself from grinding into.
After their momentary humping, he gives back the ring which she’d returned to him, and tells her he’ll never take his off. Then he tells her to wait and leaves. The chapter ends with Eva being like, “Wait. For what?”
For the next episode of Grey’s Anatomy? The soup Gideon ordered to be delivered to Eva? For Gideon to come back in a few minutes? For the zombies to attack? So many possibilities!
…That elevator scene is so fucking weird. It just makes no sense. They are such wackos.
What does it say about me that I’d like this book better if Gideon did kill Nathan? I always thought the Bonnie and Clyde thing was a really interesting dynamic. Maybe he and Eva can both just start killing off all of the random characters who are only in the novel to cause conflict for a page!
It probably just means you’re hoping there’s going to be a plot after all this.
Is this their first elevator scene or were there others? I almost feel like this is a blatant rip off of EL James/50 Shades (that should NEVER be copied in any way since its so terrible).
Also, the lame line about the “reflection” was probably a last minute(ish) change by Day and her publisher once they had to change the title of the book from “Deeper into You” to “Reflected in You.”
Unfortunately, this is not the first (and probably not the last) elevator scene between the two. I’m having trouble off-hand remembering the specifics, but I remember the feelings of irritation I felt when reading them!