Her New Worst Enemy (12 page)

“It’s a wonder he’s as sane as he is considering what he’s had to deal with,” Penny
said, giving a small smile.

“Oh, I don’t know, I think he’s probably suppressing some insane control-freak urges
under that glossy veneer,” she retorted, wiggling an eyebrow at Penny and delighting
in her giggling response.

Ellie reached over and hugged her friend close to her. “I so glad you’re here.”

“Me, too,” Penny said, hugging her back fiercely.

It felt so good to be laughing with her friend again. She finally pulled back to run
her hands over her tired face. “You know I haven’t been away since I was cruelly dumped
for an über-fertile bimbo.”

“Oh, Ellie,” Penny said, giving her a sad frown. “You’re so much better off without
Paul. What a piece of work.”

“Yeah, well. At least I don’t have to put up with his snoring and his cheesy feet
anymore — that’s her problem now. Serves her right, the thieving cow.” She flashed
a forced grin.

Penny raised an amused eyebrow. “Ah, the next stage. Anger.”

“Yeah, feels good.”

For a moment, it felt like it could have been ten years ago when they were both single
and meant everything to each other.

“Listen, do you mind if I go and find Will? I could do with a shower before dinner,”
Penny said suddenly.

The mention of his name jolted Ellie out of her cozy reminiscing. “Sure, go ahead,”
she said, waving her friend away, attempting to appear casual and unconcerned. She
watched Penny walk away and yearned to drag her back and hold her tight so she couldn’t
be corrupted by a man she seemed to love and trust implicitly, even though they’d
only just met.

Something still didn’t feel right about it. Will’s possessiveness and Penny’s anxious
defense of him made her as nervous as hell.

• • •

Gideon made Thai green curry for supper. The spicy-sweet aroma filled the kitchen
while Ellie, Penny, and Will sat around chatting. At least Ellie and Penny did; Will
hardly uttered a word unless directly addressed.

Ellie had to make a concerted effort not to keep staring over at Gideon as he moved
around the kitchen with his panther-like grace. She kept having flashbacks to their
sex marathon, and it was all she could do to keep her body relaxed and her mind on
the conversation. She needed to concentrate now, if she was going to find out Will’s
game.

To her surprise, Penny kept giving Will hurt little glances across the table, and
it seemed like every time she took a small sip of her drink, he would glare over at
her as if he believed she was deliberately trying to get drunk and would make a fool
of herself and maybe him, too. Had they had a row? Perhaps things weren’t quite as
rosy as Penny had made out. If she was smart about it, a little bit of gentle prodding
might yield some answers.

“So, Will, what do you do for a living?” she asked, turning her gaze directly on him,
keeping her expression as innocent as possible.

Penny shuffled uncomfortably next to her. “Will’s between jobs at the moment, Ellie,
I told you that.” Her expression pleaded with Ellie to shut up and she almost cracked
under the pressure to placate her friend.

“So what’s your next move, Will? How are you going to keep my best friend in the manner
she deserves?” she plowed on, determined to get some sort of answer out of him.

He looked directly at her this time, his cold gaze steady and searching. “I’m going
to work something out after the wedding.” His voice was level but held a hint of anger.

“Right,” Ellie replied, determined not to be put off by his abruptness. “It’s a good
thing Penny’s so generous with her money. Weddings are pretty expensive, I hear.”

There was a stunned silence around the table as her words sunk in. Ellie turned to
see Penny blinking rapidly before looking away, while Will just frowned down at the
table.

Gideon broke the tense atmosphere by clearing his throat and announcing that dinner
was ready.

They ate in silence to begin with, Penny throwing Ellie the odd, hurt glance but unable
to give her the telling-off she so clearly thought she deserved.

Luckily Gideon stepped in at this point, asking Penny about their plans for the wedding
and the two of them kept up a steady stream of chatter until they’d all finished eating.

Ellie kept giving Will surreptitious glances, trying to gauge his reaction to the
wedding talk, but his face remained blank.

“Right,” Gideon said, tapping both palms onto the table, “You two go and relax in
the sitting room,” he nodded toward Penny and Will. “Ellie and I will clean up in
here.”

Penny gave him a grateful grin. “Thanks, Gideon, that was delicious.”

“You’re very welcome,” he replied, smiling at her. “Here,” he said passing her the
wine, “take the bottle with you. We’ll be up with the coffee in a few minutes.”

Will reached over and grabbed the wine, almost knocking Penny’s hand away in his haste.

Ellie stayed where she was at the table and watched them go, annoyance surging through
her body at how controlling Will was.

The moment they were out of the door, Gideon put one hand on the back of her chair
and leaned down, looking her directly in the eye.

“Subtle Ellie, very subtle. Why didn’t you just tell him outright you hate his guts?
It would save us having to continue with this ridiculous charade.”

Ellie scowled at him. “He deserved it. He’s barely uttered a word since they arrived
— how rude is that? He obviously thinks he’s better than the rest of us.”

Gideon raised a thoughtful eyebrow. “Maybe. There’s definitely something weird going
on.” He moved away from her, grabbing a couple of plates from the table and dumping
them by the dishwasher. “You stack, I want to watch your ass as you bend down.”

Ellie’s body flooded with heat. “That’s nice, Gideon, very gentlemanly.”

He gave her his foxy grin and came back to the table for more plates. “Remember, I’m
not finished with you yet,” he said, his voice deep and guttural as he stood above
her. “Not even close.”

Her breathing quickened as she imagined exactly what he was going to do to her once
the other two retired to bed.

“Just in case you’re wondering,” he leant down until their faces were level and only
inches apart, “I’m going to fuck you ’til you’re sore,” he said with a wicked glimmer
in his eye.

Holy hell, if she’d thought she was turned on before, it was nothing compared to what
she felt now. Did he behave this way with all his girlfriends? On second thoughts,
she didn’t want to know. It was important for her to believe that this was something
special between them that no one else had experienced — otherwise she’d drive herself
insane with jealousy.

Wait, not jealousy, she checked herself. More like disgust at his crassness.

Looking up at him, she rubbed her tongue along her lip and bit down gently on it before
raising an eyebrow in challenge.

Gideon groaned at her expression and moved forward quickly to kiss her, knocking her
teeth off her lip before gently biting down on it with his own. The bite turned into
a suck and he drew her bottom lip into his mouth before releasing it and turning away.

Ellie sat there for a moment, dazed, before getting up to stack the dishwasher while
Gideon made the coffee. They didn’t speak again but Ellie was acutely aware of every
move he made.

“Okay, gorgeous,” Gideon said finally picking up a tray laden down with a cafetiere,
cups, and cream. “Let’s go.”

Ellie followed him out of the kitchen and into the sitting room where Penny and Will
were talking quietly together. They stopped speaking abruptly as she and Gideon walked
up to them, and Ellie wondered if they’d been arguing.

Maybe he was beginning to crack under the pressure and Penny was getting a good look
at what a loser he really was.

She hoped so.

“So, Will, where are you and Penny going to live after you’re married?” Ellie asked
as she flopped down onto the sofa opposite them while Gideon put the tray on the coffee
table between them.

Will stood up suddenly, making them all jump in surprise. “I’m sorry, Gideon, I have
to go to bed. I’m not feeling good,” he said, rubbing an agitated hand back and forth
over his closely cropped hair.

“Sure mate, no problem. Hope it wasn’t my cooking that did it,” Gideon replied, turning
to flash Ellie a surprised frown.

Will’s face broke out into the first rueful grin of the day. “No, dinner was great,
thanks.” He nodded to them all before turning to leave.

They all watched him walk out in silence.

“I … think I might go up too,” Penny said once he’d gone. Her voice shook slightly
and Ellie put out a hand toward her.

“Are you sure you don’t want a coffee first, Pen?” she asked, not wanting her friend
to leave so soon. This would be the perfect opportunity to work on her some more about
Will’s unsuitability.

“No thanks,” she said in a small voice before giving them a feeble smile and hurrying
after her fiancé.

Ellie’s eyes welled with tears in empathy for her friend.

“Be careful what you wish for,” Gideon said, as he took in her weakened state.

“It’s for the best, Gideon,” she said defiantly, batting his statement away with her
hand. She wouldn’t let it affect her. She couldn’t if she was going to help her friend.
She knew what it was like to be in the grip of a controlling boyfriend and she wasn’t
going to let it happen to Penny too. “We have to be hard,” she said.

“Hmm.” He sat next to her and gave her a seductive look, reaching his hand out to
walk his fingers slowly up her inner thigh. “Speaking of which, I guess every cloud
has a silver lining. You really turn me on when you’re making mischief.” The corner
of his mouth twitched up and a shiver of awareness made the hairs on the back of her
neck stand to attention.

“Alone again,” he said quietly.

“So we are,” she said, her voice shaking with the sudden onslaught of lust. How quickly
she could switch from upset to exquisitely turned on when Gideon was around. She forced
the thought of Penny out of her mind, and concentrated instead on the slow burn of
arousal that licked between her legs.

“Shut the door,” Gideon said with a wicked gleam in his eye.

She frowned at him. “You do it. You’re closer.”

Gideon raised an eyebrow at her retort. “I made dinner, and the coffee. It’s your
turn to do something useful.”

It was no good; she was totally pathetic in the face of his reasoning.

She got up to close and lock the living room door. When she turned back, Gideon was
lounging on the sofa, his belt undone and his trousers pulled open at the fly.

“Come over here. I’ve got something for you,” he said, trying to suppress a smile.

It was too much for Ellie and she burst out laughing at his comical expression.

“What?” he said, barely able to keep his own face straight.

Ellie strode over to him and stood there, still shaking with laughter as he looked
up at her from his prone position, a dark eyebrow raised.

“Strip,” he said, a lazy smile now playing about his lips.

At one time, someone suggesting that she take off all her clothes in front of him
would have sent her running for the hills, but not anymore. At least not here, with
Gideon. He’d already seen everything she had to offer, good and bad, and the fact
he wanted more made her bold.

She pulled her t-shirt slowly over her head, then her bra away from her body, keeping
eye contact with him the whole time.

He smiled as she revealed her breasts to him and she felt a surge of power at his
delighted response. Next, she dropped her hands to her jeans and pulled them open
before slipping them, with her panties, down over her legs until she stood totally
naked in front of him again.

Gideon reached beside him for the condom he’d stashed on the arm of the couch and
rolled it on to his exposed cock.

“Have a seat,” he said, gesturing to his lap with a grin.

Ellie grinned at him before putting one knee on either side of his thighs so she was
kneeling on the sofa astride him, her hot, wet pussy just inches above his erection.
She lowered herself slowly down until she felt the tip of his shaft pressing against
her opening.

“Jesus, Ellie, you’re so fucking hot,” Gideon moaned as she pushed herself down hard
onto him, taking him fully inside her.

They moved together, Gideon grasping her ass in an attempt to pull her even deeper
onto him.

Ellie raised her hips before plunging down again, delighting in the depth of the penetration
as Gideon’s cock hit her hard inside.

He brought his thumb down to massage her clit as she continued to move, and she bent
to kiss him, their mouths and tongues slipping desperately over each other.

Ellie was aware of her orgasm already building inside her. All she could do was ride
the feeling and hang on to him as it hit her hard, sending a rush of blood through
her ears so she could even hear the intensity of her release.

As her world came back to rights she was aware of Gideon’s accelerated breathing against
her neck and she pulled herself up again, until he was almost out of her before pushing
down again.

Gideon groaned in pleasure so she did it again. Slowly.

“You’re killing me here,” he said before grasping her around the waist and swinging
her around until she was lying back on the sofa with him above her. He thrust into
her fast and deep, increasing the pace with each stroke.

Ellie rode along with him, loving the closeness of their bodies, the heat and power
of his against hers as he pushed her slowly up the sofa.

“Touch yourself,” he gasped into her ear, and she did as he said, flicking her fingers
against her clitoris.

“Tell me when you’re close,” he demanded, cupping her chin with one hand and staring
directly into her eyes.

She stared back into his piercing green irises and felt herself begin to peak. “Now,
Gideon,” she said, “now.”