Her New Worst Enemy (6 page)

Dammit, it wasn’t working. He was hard as granite again. He had to find a way to break
this spell, to exorcise these urges.

He took hold of his cock and moved his hand rhythmically back and forth, using the
water to lubricate the motion. For these few moments, and only these few moments,
he was going to allow himself to think about what it would feel like to be inside
her. How her hot mouth would feel against his skin, how her firm breasts would press
against his chest, how her wet tightness would surround him as he pushed himself deep
…

• • •

Rosebuds
, Ellie thought as she traipsed round the neat kitchen garden at the back of the house.
Tulips, daisies, lavender
. Filling her mind with the colorful flora that bordered the tall, red-brick walls,
she attempted to banish the thought of Gideon in the shower.
Thyme, mint, sage.

It was so calm and peaceful out here. A total contrast to the way she felt inside.

Why, oh why did it have to be Gideon who made her feel like this? Paul had never excited
her in the same way. He’d grown on her steadily, working his way into her head until
she found she couldn’t stand the thought of being without him. They’d had some good
times — not seat-of-your-pants, living-on-the-edge, verging-on-insanity kind of times,
but good times. Fun and secure and fulfilling. Or so she’d convinced herself at the
time.

To her surprise, she found the pain of thinking about Paul leaving had lessened slightly
since she last allowed herself a wallow. That was new. New and good. Perhaps spending
some time away from Bristol was exactly what she needed. Between the fresh air and
the beautiful, unfamiliar surroundings, she found herself rising above the drag of
sorrow that had been dogging her since Paul had walked away from their relationship
without a backward glance.

That was it. She was going to make sure she made the most of every second she had
left here. Sure, Gideon was arrogant and exasperating in equal measures, but he was
also fun to be around and a good friend to help her out like this. As long as she
could think of him in these terms, she’d be fine.

Filled with a new determination, she turned and went back into the house. After pulling
on her thick sweater for protection, she went to find him.

If they were going to go shopping this morning and get back in time to welcome Penny,
they needed to get a wriggle on.

Music was coming from the direction of the sitting room and as she followed the sound,
she recognized the soft chords of a guitar. She stood outside the door and listened
for a moment. It was a tune she didn’t know, but it was gorgeous. A shiver ran down
her spine at the joy of it.

She walked quietly into the room so she didn’t disturb him.

Gideon was sitting on a deep red chesterfield, his back turned to her, his dark head
dipped as if he was concentrating hard on something on the floor in front of him.
He looked relaxed, at peace with himself, and oh, so damn sexy.

He finished playing and continued to stare at the floor for a while. Ellie waited,
not wanting to break the silence. She was uncomfortable with the idea of being caught
spying on his quiet contemplation, but she couldn’t just walk out. She waited for
a few more seconds before speaking.

• • •

“Spanking your plank?”

Startled, Gideon looked up from his guitar to see Ellie leaning against the sofa.
When had she come in? He’d been so deep in thought he hadn’t noticed her there.

“I beg your pardon?” For one horrible moment, he was afraid she might have seen or
heard him in the shower earlier and his body tensed.

She nodded toward the guitar. “Your plank. You’re spanking it.”

He shook his head and forced out a laugh. “You’re completely out of your tree, you
know that?” The relief that he hadn’t been caught was acute.

To his amusement, she grinned and took a bow.

“What are you up to?” he asked, allowing himself to relax now he was sure she wasn’t
deliberately trying to catch him out.

“Nothing. I was thinking … ”

“Dangerous.”

She raised an eyebrow but ignored his interjection. “We should go to the supermarket
now, before they get here. A bit of fresh air might do me some good. Blow the cobwebs
away. Fancy it?”

More time alone in the cramped confines of the car with her. Yep, he could deal with
that now.

He hoped.

“Okay, let’s go.”

• • •

It was a twenty-minute drive to the nearest supermarket on the edge of Cirencester.

They hadn’t spoken much on the journey there and Gideon was grateful for the silence
for once. The weekend was turning out to be even more of a trial than he’d anticipated
and he was actually looking forward to Penny and her fiancé turning up, so there would
be something to focus on other than Ellie.

He swung into a space and they got out, grabbing a cart that had been abandoned nearby.

“I’ll push,” Ellie said, taking it from his grip and walking ahead. She’d put that
ugly sweater back on, but it wasn’t doing much to calm his libido. Not now he knew
what a gorgeous body she was hiding underneath it.

He shook his head as she gave the cart an extra hard push, putting one foot on either
side of the frame as she rode it into the store. He jogged after her and caught her
up just as she narrowly missed crashing into an elderly couple who had stopped to
pick up a basket by the door.

“Jesus, Ellie, you’re nothing but a big kid,” he said, running a hand through his
hair.

She grinned at him. “Let’s get some fruit.”

Pushing the cart over to the fruit section, she picked up a couple of cantaloupe melons
and put one to her nose to smell it before holding them out him.

“Nice melons,” he couldn’t resist saying.

“Thanks,” she dipped her head in appreciation at the bad joke and smiled at him. “We’re
going to need some parma ham, too. I love melons and ham together.”

“That sounds like a weird combination.”

“You’ve never had melon and ham? I have it every time I go to an Italian restaurant.
It’s the bomb.”

“Okay, I’ll give it a go then.”

“Good choice. You could learn a lot from me, you know.” She grinned and sashayed away
from him before he had chance to answer.

He laughed to himself. This was the Ellie he remembered from their holidays away.
She had a smart response for everything. It had driven her brother crazy. It was having
an altogether different effect on him though. She may be loopy, but she was a lot
of fun to be around.

He thought back to the last couple of women he’d dated. They’d been fun to be with
too, but not in the same way. They were sophisticated grown-ups whom he’d taken to
restaurants and the theater. Conversation with them had been engaging and he’d wanted
to take them to bed afterwards, but he hadn’t felt compelled to see them much afterwards.
They’d been background noise to the buzz of his life.

He could never describe Ellie as background noise.

He watched as she made faces at a little girl sitting in another cart to stop her
crying. The girl stared at Ellie in fascination and even gave her a smile at a particularly
screwy face.

He felt a tug in his chest as he saw how happy that smile made Ellie. She’d be a great
mum: he could imagine her surrounded by curly haired children, all as loopy as she
was. His throat felt peculiar so he tried clearing it with a cough. Ellie glanced
back and saw him waiting.

“Sorry, got a bit distracted. Let’s grab some more stuff.”

“No rush,” he said, as she busied off toward the chilled section.

• • •

Ellie walked quickly away from Gideon and the cute child before he noticed the tear
that had forced its way out of her eye.

After reveling in the joy of making the little girl laugh, the feeling had been quickly
replaced with the painful longing and bitter jealousy that had been gripping her since
Paul left.

She wanted to have children. She would have had them years ago if it had been solely
her decision, but she’d agreed to wait until he was ready. Look where that had got
her.

Even though she enjoyed her job as a primary school teacher, she craved raising children
of her own. It was something she’d been desperate for since her early twenties, and
Paul had let her think they might even start trying not long before he walked out
on her. A wave of humiliation hit her as she remembered how she’d hinted to her parents
that they might be grandparents soon. They’d been so ridiculously pleased at the prospect
that she hadn’t been able to tell them about splitting up with Paul for ages.

All her hope and excitement about the future had been wrenched away from her. She
was nearly thirty, single, and starting to run out of time to find someone to start
a family with.

When she was younger she’d thought she would be married with at least two kids by
now, but time had moved so quickly and now here she was, still alone.

Gideon came up behind her as she stood staring at the pasta shelf, trying to pull
herself together.

“Got a pasta preference?” he asked.

She shook her head, partly to answer him, partly to clear it.

He reached around her, brushing his hand against her arm as he went to grab some tagliatelle.
Her skin tingled where he’d touched her. An ache had begun low in her body and she
felt even more like crying at the power of the need. Everything was so messed up.

He tugged gently on one of her curls and she took a deep breath, dredged up a smile
and turned to face him.

He frowned at her. “Are you okay?”

“Sure,” she answered, giving him a dismissive wave. “My head’s a bit heavy, that’s
all.”

He continued to frown at her for a moment.

The tears welled behind her eyes again, so she leaned forward and kissed him gently
on the cheek so he wouldn’t see. The heat of his body burned into her. “It’s fun being
here with you,” she said quietly into his ear, unwilling to move away from the security
of the embrace.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” His fingers circled her arm and he pulled away to look
her in the face again.

“I’m peachy,” she said, pulling away from his grip. “Onward to the cheese aisle.”

When the cart was full, Ellie found a free cashier and began to chuck the food willy-nilly
onto the conveyor belt, keeping her eyes down so Gideon wouldn’t see the battle to
keep her expression relaxed. Even a simple shopping trip had her in pieces. She took
out her frustration on the oranges, bouncing them onto the moving surface.

“Steady on, Ellie, it’s not the Supermarket Sweep game.”

The cashier looked up and did a double-take at Gideon. She was young, probably only
seventeen, and obviously attracted to him, if her flushed cheeks were anything to
go by. Ellie glanced round to see Gideon giving the girl a killer smile and gritted
her teeth. He was incorrigible. Her stomach clenched painfully and a wave of nausea
hit her.

“She seems intent on making shopping into an Olympic event,” he said to the cashier,
who giggled in response.

“Are you going to stand there flirting all day, or give me a hand here?” Ellie snapped
at him, unable to keep her cool.

Gideon’s face clouded over, but he didn’t reply, grabbing the baguettes instead and
tossing them onto the conveyor belt.

The atmosphere stayed tense between them as they packed up their purchases and wheeled
the cart out of the supermarket.

So much for her resolution to have fun and treat Gideon as a friend. Ellie could have
kicked herself. They were having a good time until she messed it up by getting all
emotional.

She sighed and looked up at him. He stared determinedly ahead as they crossed the
car park toward his car. She knew her reaction had been over the top. He was just
being himself; there hadn’t been any good reason to snap at him like that.

“I’m sorry for being such a bitch,” she said to the side of his head.

“What was that about?” He turned to look at her now, the expression in his eyes hard
and cold.

“I don’t know, Gideon. I’m a messed up fool.” She gave a lopsided smile to try to
lighten the lead-like atmosphere.

Gideon turned away without responding and unlocked the car, pulling the boot open
and lifting all the bags into it, before turning back to her. Her insides clenched
as he stared calmly down at her.

“Do you want to go and buy yourself some new clothes?” he said.

“I’m sorry?” This was the last thing she’d expected him to say. She’d steeled herself
for a proper telling-off, but it appeared he was letting her off the hook.

“We could go into the town and get you some more stuff if you’re not happy with my
sister’s clothes.” He nodded toward the saggy sweater she’d put on again to hide them.

“Nah, that’s okay. I’m only here for another couple of days, I’ll be fine with these.”
She gave him a friendly smile. “Thanks though.” She couldn’t, in all conscience, drag
him clothes shopping now, not after behaving so badly.

“Okay,” he said, slamming down the boot lid and going round to the driver’s door.
“Stick the cart back in the cart-park and we’ll get going.

Ellie did so, cursing herself. She had so little self-discipline it was ridiculous.

• • •

As they drove back to the house, Gideon mulled over what had happened at the supermarket.
The change in Ellie had been sudden and shocking.

It was after she’d made that child in the cart laugh, he realized. She’d gone all
quiet and stiff. He could have sworn at one point she’d had tears in her eyes, but
he’d dismissed the idea at the time. She’d been so full of energy and fun when they’d
first got there. Yeah, it must have been the kid.

He’d come across this reaction to kids before with a couple of his girlfriends. It
always made him vaguely uncomfortable.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to have children, he certainly didn’t for a long while
yet anyway. He liked his life the way it was: uncomplicated. Kids were hard work and
they messed up your life.