Her New Worst Enemy (7 page)

Just like he and his sister had messed up their parents’ lives when they came along.
He knew this only too well because his grandmother had made no secret of it after
they’d been killed and she was stuck looking after an eight-year-old and a teenager.

Boarding school had been the get-out for her. Even though he’d eventually done well
at school, he’d never been able to shake the knowledge that he’d been hidden there,
out of his grandparent’s sight. He would never do that to children of his own. If
he ever had them.

Ellie sat quietly next to him, staring out of the window. Her mass of curls hid her
face from him and he wondered what she was thinking. He hoped she’d snap out of it
soon — he was out of depth here with these sorts of emotions and didn’t want to make
a false move. This was exactly why he didn’t get too emotionally involved with people.
He hated the idea of being caught up in that sort of pain.

Perhaps he could find some other way to cheer her up once they got back to the house.
His mind filtered through some options; all of them X-rated and he shifted in his
seat as his erection pressed hard against his jeans. He really needed to stop thinking
about her like this. At least Penny and Will would be turning up some time soon. They
were bound to take her mind off whatever was upsetting her so much and he could back
off and get his shit together.

As they passed through one of the picturesque villages a couple of miles away from
the house, he had to slow down behind a truck that was having trouble getting past
cars parked on the narrow road. The exhaust was belting out dark, acrid fumes so he
kept well back from it to avoid drawing them into the car.

In his peripheral vision, he noticed a shape move from the pavement on his left, before
running out in front of them. It was a boy, probably about fifteen, with headphones
and a hoodie pulled up over his dark hair. He glanced over toward their car and put
his hand up as if to say “thanks for slowing down to let me cross.” He was still looking
at Gideon as he started to run into the other lane of the road.

It all happened so fast.

He was aware of Ellie leaning forward next to him, her hands outstretched as if trying
to reach for the boy. And his heart as it accelerated and banged against his chest.
And the feeling of absolute impotency as all he could do was watch the boy run in
front of the car that was traveling toward him in the other lane.

“No! No!” Ellie shouted as the boy kept moving, totally oblivious to the vehicle,
the driver unable to see him behind the bulk of the truck.

At the very last second, the boy looked round and clocked the car speeding in his
direction. He hesitated for a second, like a rabbit caught in the dazzle of headlights,
before springing forward, running for his life.

The driver of the oncoming car slammed on his brakes as soon as he saw the teen, but
couldn’t control the skid on the narrow road and the nose of the car swung to its
right.

A high-pitched shriek and a black cloud of hot rubber came from the tires as they
bit onto the road.

All Gideon could do was watch as the car slid toward them.

His hands gripped the steering wheel, blood pulsing through his veins as he braced
himself for the incoming impact.

With a horrific bang, the back wheel of the oncoming car hit the pavement to its left,
swinging the nose around and bouncing the back end of the car along the road. A final
ghastly squeal of brakes rent the air as it shuddered to a halt millimeters away from
their bumper.

Ellie and Gideon sat in shock for a moment, still braced for the impact that didn’t
come.

The boy had managed, with a Superhero-like leap, to avoid being hit and stood there,
dazed on the opposite pavement. His hood had blown back and his headphones hung lopsidedly
around his neck.

Gideon pulled himself together first. “Ellie, are you okay?”

She didn’t answer for a minute and he had to lay a hand on her arm to snap her out
of her stunned trance.

“Ellie?”

“Yes,” her voice came out as a croak. “I’m fine. Are you?” Her eyes were wide and
her pupils dilated with shock.

He nodded, aware that his actions were jerky and overly fast. Damn adrenaline. “I’m
going to check on the guy in that car and the kid. Stay here, okay.”

She looked as though she was going to say something else, but settled for nodding
instead.

He opened the door and swung himself out, peering through the windscreen at the man
behind the wheel of the car that had nearly hit them. He looked as shocked as Gideon
felt.

He walked round to the driver’s door on shaky legs and knocked gently on the window.
The guy buzzed it down and stared up at Gideon with a startled expression.

“You okay, mate?” Gideon asked.

“Yeah,” the guy said, rubbing a hand over his face as if trying to wake himself up
from a bad dream.

“That was a close one.”

The guy just nodded.

Gideon looked around for the boy, but he’d already legged it, probably terrified someone
was going to bawl him out for being such an idiot.

“Maybe you should pull over for a bit. Get a bit of air before you drive again,” Gideon
suggested to the man who was now staring into space.

“I didn’t see him, he ran out in front of me.”

“I know. It wasn’t your fault.”

The guy nodded his head again at length, as if trying to convince himself what Gideon
had said was true.

One of the cars that had stopped behind Gideon’s tooted his horn, impatient to get
going.

“Prick,” Gideon muttered under his breath. He turned back to the guy in the car. “Let’s
get the cars moved, then I can sit with you for a while if you like, until you feel
a bit better.”

“No,” the man’s voice came back at him with conviction. “I’m okay. You go, I only
live round the corner. Thanks though.”

“No problem,” Gideon said, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet and extracting
a business card. “My details, in case you need a witness statement for insurance.”

“Thanks,” the guy said, taking the card with shaking fingers.

Gideon stood up and tapped the top of the car, before walking back to where Ellie
was waiting for him.

He slid into the driver’s seat and turned to face her. The color had returned to her
cheeks and her eyes looked normal again, if a little tired. He had an overwhelming
urge to pull her against him, but he fought it. If he touched her right now, he didn’t
know where it would end.

“Is everyone okay?” she asked, putting a hand on his arm.

His nerves exploded with feeling where she touched him and he gritted his teeth, steeling
himself against it before answering her.

“Yeah. The kid ran off, and the guy in the car said he was all right.”

They both turned to watch as the car that had almost smashed into them was driven
a few yards down the road and re-parked so the traffic they’d held up could get by.

“Let’s get back to the house,” Gideon said, starting the engine and ramming the car
into gear.

His body hummed and euphoria engulfed him as he drove them the two miles back to the
house. He was aware of Ellie fidgeting beside him and he longed to pull over and hold
her to him. To reassure her.

The thought of what could have been was trying to push itself into his head, but he
forced it away, unwilling to dwell on it. There was already enough real loss to deal
with without him adding imaginary scenarios to the mix.

He couldn’t bear to think of Ellie being hurt. Especially in his care. His heart beat
like a tribal drum in his chest and he took some deep breaths to try to calm it down.

As he pulled into the driveway and switched off the engine, the world became silent
around them. His twitchiness was even more acute in the stillness of the car. He needed
to do something to get rid of this crazy energy that surged through his body. Maybe
he should go for another run. No. He didn’t want to leave Ellie alone. He’d get her
back into the house and make sure she was okay before he did that.

“Come on. Let’s get the kettle on.” He got out of the car and walked round to open
her door for her. She looked up at him with an odd expression in her eyes.

“Since when did you become such a gentleman?” Her voice was still slightly husky and
the sound of it sent shivers down his spine.

He shrugged, not entirely sure where the urge to be so protective had come from, and
held his hand out to help her out of the car. She stared at it for a moment, a faint
smile playing around her lips, before putting her own into it and pulling herself
upright.

Her hand was cool and slight in his and her touch caused a wave of need so intense
he felt sure she’d feel it traveling through his fingers into her own.

He had a mad compulsion to push her against the car and kiss the life out of her,
but he knew he shouldn’t. He couldn’t.

Get a grip, Gideon.

Going round to the boot, he hauled out the shopping bags, taking four in each hand
and heading back to the house.

“Let me take some of those,” Ellie said, closing the boot and running to catch him
up.

“Nah, it’s okay, I’ve got them,” he said walking up the front steps, unable to look
at her now in case he lost it completely.

“Give me the key then, I’ll get the door open.”

“It’s in my pocket,” he said, nodding down to the front right-hand side of his jeans
before it occurred to him exactly what he’d suggested. Before he could rectify the
situation, he felt her hand slip down into his pocket and fumble around.

He gritted his teeth as his body hardened in response to her touch. He turned to meet
her gaze. Ellie’s pupils had dilated again, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t from
shock this time. She was standing so close to him he could smell the honey fragrance
of her hair. Her lips parted and she drew shallow breaths into her chest, which rose
and fell much faster than normal, in sync with his own accelerated breathing.

He wanted to kiss her. So badly.

He was just about to give in to the feeling when her fingers closed around the key
in his pocket and she drew it out, moving away from him and turning to open the door.

• • •

Ellie stepped into the cool stillness of the hallway and walked quickly away from
Gideon and the electrifying atmosphere that had zapped between them on the doorstep.

The twitchy shock of the near-accident had been replaced with a whole other sort of
shock.

He’d been turned on. By her.

Granted, she’d had her hands in his trousers, dangerously close to his groin, but
she’d seen the expression in his eyes, too. They’d seemed to soften as they looked
into hers and she could have sworn he moved toward her just before she’d grasped hold
of the key. It was as if he was leaning forward to kiss her.

She’d panicked, not knowing how to deal with what she was feeling, and turned away
from him, almost sick with nerves.

In her muddled state she hadn’t considered what would happen if she put her hand in
his pocket. She’d done it to Paul numerous times and so it felt like a normal thing
to do. Of course it wasn’t. Not with someone she wasn’t usually intimate with. She’d
stepped over the line, which she’d been precariously balancing on for a very long
time. Her heart thumped against her chest at the realization.

She was aware of him following her into the kitchen, the carrier bags rustling in
the otherwise silent room.

Could he really have wanted to kiss her? Or was it just a standard reaction he had
to being unexpectedly groped?

She found she couldn’t meet his eyes and busied herself unpacking the bags he’d put
on the table to give herself something else to focus on.

Turning back from stashing the pasta in the cupboard she almost bumped into Gideon,
who’d put himself between her and the table. She had no choice but to look at him
now.

“Ellie, stop a minute, will you? We don’t need to do that, just sit for a minute and
breathe.”

“I don’t need to breathe,” she said, before realizing how ridiculous that sounded.

Gideon’s mouth quirked into a smile and she grinned uncertainly back at him.

Her breath caught in her throat as he gently pushed a lock of hair away from her face.
Heat flared between her legs as the scent of him twisted into her senses and the warmth
of his body penetrated hers.

“Do you want a drink?” he said, his dark gaze sweeping her face.

“No.”

He paused. “What do you want?”

The words hung in the air like a low hum, mesmerizing and taunting them. Ellie wasn’t
sure who moved forward first, but the feeling of Gideon’s mouth, hard on hers, was
so right, so absolutely where it should be, that she found herself giving in to it
entirely. It was as if the kiss was a long, cool drink of water quenching her raging
thirst.

Blood thundered in her veins as his lips covered hers and the kiss became deeper and
more desperate. Ellie instinctively opened her mouth to allow his tongue to slip against
hers, teasing and intoxicating her.

Twisting his hands into her curls, he held her captive against his mouth, intensifying
her need.

She was so aware of his hard body pressing urgently against her, thigh to hip, as
he leaned in to cover every part of her body with his, possessing and controlling
her. Their breath came quickly, and Ellie felt a swell of desire as Gideon groaned
in pleasure against her mouth.

The sound of his deep tones also shocked her into awareness. This was
Gideon
she was kissing so fiercely.

This reminder forced a glimmer of sense into her befuddled brain and she realized
with a jolt that she shouldn’t be doing this. This wasn’t part of the plan for the
weekend. But worse than that, she was afraid of how out of control she felt. As she
pulled away, his arms tightened around her, drawing her closer against his body.