Her New Worst Enemy (20 page)

“Gideon, you fall for women at the drop of a hat, but when the crunch comes, you can’t
commit. What if that happens with us? I couldn’t stand it.”

“Look Ellie, I’m not like Paul. I might have been out with lots of women, but I’m
very picky about who I go to bed with and I don’t cheat.”

“Is this your sales pitch?” she asked and was rewarded with an exasperated sigh.

“Will you please try to take this seriously for a minute? You may not think it, but
this is bloody hard for me, Ellie. I’m putting myself on the line here and the least
you can do is give me a fair hearing.”

“Okay, I’m sorry,” she said, humbled by the passion and pain in his voice, “Please,
carry on.”

He took another step toward her, putting his hands gently on her shoulders and drawing
her closer to him until she thought she might pass out from the intensity of her reaction
to him. “I know what I want now,” he said, looking directly into her eyes. “I want
you and me to be together. Properly. As a couple.” He blew out a breath as if saying
the words had caused him actual physical pain. “It’s actually rather liberating saying
it out loud.” He smiled down at her tentatively. “What do you say? Will you give us
a chance?”

She didn’t think she’d be capable of tying her own shoelaces right then, let alone
make a decision that could potentially alter her entire life. It was so tempting to
throw herself into his arms, but she needed to take a moment to work through the turmoil
in her head first.

“I don’t know, Gideon, I can’t think straight right now. Will you give me a bit of
time to think about it?”

“Okay,” he said, releasing her shoulders and stepping away from her. They felt cold
and bare after losing the gentle warmth of his hands. “You’ve got ’til the end of
the evening, then we’ll talk again.” He looked at her for a long minute and her body
flooded with heat under his scrutiny.

Nodding, she turned to go, desperate for some space to reflect on the crazy mess of
emotions now spinning through her head.

Gideon grabbed her arm as she went to walk away and she turned to look at him. His
eyes were dark and fierce with passion and her heart flipped in response.

“I want you to know that I’ll always love you. It’s as simple as that,” he said, his
voice low but steady, before releasing her arm and walking away.

• • •

The rest of the reception passed in a blur. Ellie kept catching sight of Gideon as
she circulated with the other guests, but he made sure he gave her the space he’d
promised because they didn’t come fully face to face again.

Her mind was a whirl of thoughts and emotions. She could have him if she wanted, he’d
made that quite plain, so what was stopping her from searching him out and telling
him yes?

Something was.

She was scared. Scared it wasn’t real and that he might wake up in the morning and
decide that the romance of the wedding had gone to his head and he didn’t really want
her after all. Scared that she still hadn’t found every little bit of herself that
Paul had slowly stripped from her.

After all the crap she’d been through, was she ready to embark on a relationship with
someone she wasn’t one hundred percent sure would still be around in six months’ time?

She needed to get out of there, away from his overwhelming presence, and think it
through rationally.

Pacing around the kitchen garden helped soothe her frazzled nerves and the tension
in her muscles began to dissipate as she walked. She remembered back to the last time
she was here, marching around, trying not to think about Gideon in the shower. She
smiled at the memory. No matter how hard they’d tried to keep away from each other,
it hadn’t been possible.

Wrapping her arms around her for warmth, she considered her options. Option one: She
could take him up on his offer and be with the man she was in love with, but who she
didn’t entirely trust to stick around. The thought of losing Gideon once she allowed
herself to hope about a future with him made her shiver with fear. Option two: She
could tell him no and probably spend the rest of her life failing to find someone
else who made her feel as excited to be alive as he did.

Cold drops of rain started to fall as she continued to pace, but she ignored it, intent
on making her decision. She thought about Penny and what she’d gone through to get
her happy ever after, and how proud she was of her friend for her strength and positivity
in the face of so much pain and heartache.

A sense of calm acceptance settled over her. It was a question of being brave now.
She’d spent too long living as a shadow of herself and she refused to let fear get
the better of her any more.

It was time to find Gideon. She knew now what her answer was.

• • •

It was after midnight before the last guest left and the bridal party retired to their
rooms. Gideon had paced the party anxiously after he’d left Ellie in his room, counting
down the minutes until he could find her again and ask for her decision. He was so
unused to giving someone else the control, and it made him jittery and tense.

What if she said no? It was entirely possible given her recent relationship history.
She was obviously terrified of making the same mistake again, and he couldn’t blame
her for that.

He went looking for her, methodically checking each room downstairs, but she was nowhere
to be seen.

Had she left?

It was raining heavily outside now and he stared out into the dark, damp night trying
not to imagine how he’d feel if she turned him down.

There was a gentle knock at the front door and he hurried to answer it, desperately
hoping it was her.

It was.

His heart pummeled his chest and his breathing quickened as relief coursed through
him.

Thank God, was all he could think as Ellie stood there, her hair soaked and plastered
to her head, her make-up running down her face.

“You look awful,” he said, feeling the corner of his mouth twitching at her irked
expression.

“Thanks,” she replied before breaking into a wry smile in return.

“What were you doing out in the rain?”

“I needed a bit of air. Your garden doesn’t offer a lot in the way of shelter.”

An uncomfortable silence fell between them as they stared at each other, the unresolved
question hanging between them.

Ellie gave a shudder of cold.

“Hell, Ellie, you’re freezing. You’d better get dry,” he said, ushering her inside.

She stepped inside the hallway and turned to look at him, an expression of confused
anxiety on her face.

“Come on,” he said, before she could say anything. He didn’t want to have this discussion
in his hallway. They both needed to be calm and comfortable before they even thought
of tackling what needed to be said.

He took her hand and wound his fingers through hers, before pulling her gently along
with him.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“In the shower.”

“You mean
I’m
going in the shower.”

“No.”

He led her up the stairs and into the en-suite bathroom in his room, neither of them
uttering another word.

Once there, he turned to face her, and after giving her a few beats to tell him no,
this wasn’t what she wanted, he reached around and slid down the zipper of her soaked
dress.

She allowed him to push the straps down her arms and peel the sodden material away
from her body until it pooled in a heap at her feet. Her breath came out in soft gasps
but neither of them spoke.

Keeping his concentration solely on the task in hand and not allowing his more carnal
instincts to take over, he hooked his fingers into the band of her panties and drew
them down her legs, tapping gently on her calves to ask her to step out of them.

He moved up her body until they were face to face again, then leaned in toward her,
their faces only inches apart, to reach around and release the clasp of her bra.

Their eyes locked together, hers large and dark as she stared at him. The bra fell
away from her body and he dropped it onto the floor.

Blood raged through his veins and his hands shook as he took in the beautiful, naked
sight of her; but he held onto his control, determined not to break the fragile atmosphere
of the moment.

Without moving away, he quickly undressed, not breaking eye contact until they both
stood naked, their chests rising and falling in rapid sync.

Finally, he stepped away and turned on the shower, adjusting it to a pleasant warmth
before holding out his hand and guiding her into the cubicle.

She allowed him to position her under the stream of water, which played over her shoulders
and down over her full breasts and the gentle curve of her stomach.

He reached for the soap, lathering it into his hands before reaching forward to smooth
it over her skin. She let out a small sigh at his touch, but stood still as his hands
moved over her, allowing him total access to every part.

He didn’t linger, giving every inch of her skin the same amount of attention before
pouring some shampoo into his hand and rubbing it through her hair, pushing the soap
bubbles away from her face so as not to get any in her eyes. She smiled at him as
he worked and he smiled back, taking pleasure in looking after her.

He gently maneuvered her under the stream of water and helped smooth the bubbles out
of her hair, gently tugging his fingers through it to avoid pulling any knots.

Once she was soap free, he swapped places with her and allowed her to soap him down,
savoring the feel of her hands slipping over his skin, the gentle caress of her fingers
setting his nerve endings jangling.

His body was hard for her, but they both ignored it, knowing this moment was about
more than sex.

Finally, once she’d sluiced all the soap off his body, they stepped out of the shower
and he grabbed two towels, wrapping one around her shoulders before tying the other
around his waist.

She followed him into his bedroom where he found one of his t-shirts for her, which
she slipped over her head. It reached to mid-thigh, but she gave him a raised eyebrow
and he offered her a pair of boxers, which she pulled on and wore as shorts.

The sight of her wearing his clothes made him laugh and it broke the silence that
had fallen between them.

“You look good in my underwear,” he said, grinning at her cocky, twisted smile. He
pulled on a fresh pair of jeans and t-shirt and turned to face her again.

“Let’s go downstairs and talk, okay?”

She gave him a small nod and he gestured to the door. “After you.”

Following her downstairs, watching her long, damp curls swing across her back, he
had to shake himself out of his mesmerized trance. He’d been waiting to feel like
this for so long, he could hardly believe it was finally happening.

She walked into the kitchen and leaned against the work-surface, waiting for him to
join her.

Stationing himself opposite her, he propped himself against the kitchen table, leaving
a good three feet of space between them. It was important to have that distance if
he had any chance of getting through everything he wanted to say without grabbing
her, pulling her down onto the floor, and burying himself inside her. His heart picked
up its beat at the thought, and he had to mentally talk himself down, wrestling his
raging libido into submission.

“So, you’ve made a decision then?” he asked, concentrating hard on her fingers as
they wound themselves together and ignoring the thought of the gently undulating curves
of her body beneath the oversized t-shirt she was wearing.

“Are you absolutely sure you want to take me on?” she asked, her eyes now wide with
apprehension, and it occurred to him that she would still need some gentle coaxing
to make her believe what he was feeling was real and not just some passing whim.

“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life. I’m serious, Ellie,” he said
as he clocked the look of skepticism that flashed across her face.

“I want to fill this house with our children, one in every room … except maybe I’ll
keep a room for me to hide in when you’re on the warpath,” he said, giving her a provocative
smile.

Her face fell and she gave him an embarrassed smile. “I’m sorry for saying you wouldn’t
be a good father. Of course you would. They’d be lucky kids to have you for a dad.”

His heart lifted at her words. “Apology accepted,” he said.

“It was a stupid thing for me to say, totally inappropriate. Unacceptable really.”

“Water under the bridge, Ellie. Despite mortally wounding me at the time, it make
me re-evaluate how I thought about … well, everything.”

“That’s your Superhero alter-ego kicking in,” she said, giving him a cheeky grin.

He laughed at her expression, shaking his head. There was something wonderful about
having private jokes with her.

Her smile faded and something in his gut clenched at her sudden change in demeanor.

“Something’s still bugging you, I can tell. Come on, spit it out,” he said, hoping
his instincts weren’t screwed up by the intensity of the situation and he was reading
her right.

“How do I know you’re not going to walk out on me?” she said quietly, her face serious
now.

“You don’t. You’re just going to have to trust me,” he replied.

“Yeah,” she said, nodding slowly, “I guess there’s no magic fix.”

“Ellie, you’re my friend and I love and respect you,” he said vehemently, determined
to give this point everything he had. “I would never treat you the way Paul did. I
know for damn sure I’d have your family to answer to if I did, and to be honest, I’m
not entirely sure I could beat Gareth in a fight … or your mum come to that.”

She snorted gently and dipped her head at his bad joke. “But what if you get bored
with me?”

“You’re many things, Ellie, but boring is not, and never will be, one of them.”