Her New Worst Enemy (8 page)

“Ellie … no. I’m not letting you go. Don’t you dare run away from me.”

He brought his mouth down hard onto hers, foiling any plans of escape. How could she
even think of stopping now? She couldn’t if she wanted to, she wasn’t physically capable.
She would probably dissolve with lust.

He moved his hands under her sweater to span her waist, sliding slowly up, caressing
each rib until they cupped her breasts, sending throbs of sensation to her painfully
hardened nipples. She arched against him, no longer in control of her own body as
he moved his fingers to roll the peaks between finger and thumb, sending a juddering
current directly to her clitoris.

The shock of the past half hour had sent her adrenaline levels into overdrive, canceling
out any sense of reason she laughably thought she had. As his strong body imposed
itself on her, she knew with a thrill that all her childish fantasies about this moment
had been so far from the truth, she almost laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Gideon raised his mouth from hers to look down into her startled
smile, his eyes blazing with lust.

“Nothing. I … just wasn’t expecting this.”

“I was.”

Before she could utter another word, he backed her against the table, causing the
hard wooden ridge to bite into her legs for a moment before, with apparently no effort,
he gathered her into his arms, and lifted her onto it. Moving between her parted thighs,
he bent forward, pressing himself into her more urgently, making her acutely aware
that only a thin barrier of fabric kept them apart. With a shock of longing, she felt
his erection push against her and longing pooled between her legs, making her slick
with desire. He wanted her, he really wanted her, and she needed him inside her. Now.

She moved against him, welcoming the exquisite friction and the waves of pure pleasure
coursing through her body. She needed to get closer.

Grasping the hem of his t-shirt, she lifted it up and he helped her pull it over his
head, dropping it onto the floor next to them. She put her hands against his warm
body and felt the strength of him under her fingers. He took in a deep breath at her
cool touch and gently pushed her backward, leaning his weight into her shoulders,
before moving down to kiss her again.

As she lay back, she shoved the shopping bags out of the way, their contents streaming
out and bouncing all over the floor. Neither of them paid any attention as fruit,
bread, and oranges rolled over the flagstones, littering the kitchen.

“God, I want you so much.”

She ran her hands over his bare arms and torso, tracing the lines of muscle she’d
been so transfixed by that morning. His skin was soft in contrast to the hard muscle
that twisted beneath it and he flexed beneath her touch as his hands moved up to grasp
her wrists and push them down against the table, controlling her entirely. More moisture
rushed between her legs as he dominated her, leaving her utterly at his mercy.

Gideon pulled away to search the depths of her eyes with his own, checking, asking,
begging.

“Yes.” The word sighed from her lips like a breath.

His hands left her wrists and tore at her sweater in frustration, pulling a huge hole
in the front in his anxiousness to get it off her. He pulled it roughly away from
her body, then did the same with the thin cotton t-shirt she wore underneath.

Her breasts rose in soft peaks before him, her nipples pushing hard against the soft
cotton of her bra. She wanted to feel his mouth on her, teasing her with his tongue,
and as she thought this, he pulled the cups away harshly, laying her bare and brought
his mouth down to the hardened peaks.

All sense of reason span away from her as currents of need zipped through her body.
Gideon yanked the buttons on her jeans open and dragged them down, taking her panties
with them. His eyes returned to hers, alive with lust and intent. Ellie stared at
him, unable to turn away. She was vaguely aware of him fumbling in his back pocket,
before pulling out his wallet. He found a condom and practically threw his wallet
from him before yanking open his own trousers.

He moved down to kiss her breasts, tugging gently on first one nipple with his teeth,
then the other, until her body throbbed with the exquisite need to feel him inside
her. Grasping her hips, he dragged her down the table toward him until he looked directly
into her eyes. She stared back at him, their faces only centimeters apart. He was
checking again, making sure this was what she wanted.

“Yes,” she repeated and felt his erection press gently against her opening. He kept
his eyes locked with hers as he slowly entered her, inch by delicious inch. She drew
in a deep breath as she felt herself open up to him, taking in the length and hardness,
her body stretching and softening to accommodate him.

When he was fully inside her, he held himself still for a moment, as if to savor the
feeling. It was like sweet torture to Ellie — she loved the feeling of him inside
her, but she wanted more. She needed to let go of all the tension she’d been holding
in and take it out on his body. She wriggled against him and he let out a soft chuckle.

“No patience,” he said before his mouth came down to savage hers in a fury of passion.
He moved inside her, slowly at first, but with a building momentum, hitting her deep
and hard inside.

The table rocked under them and Ellie dug her fingers into his shoulders and hung
on, riding the motion, lost in the sensations that were building inside her. She tipped
her pelvis up for maximum friction against the movement and he helped by sliding a
hand under the small of her back and pulling her closer as he continued to move deep
inside. It was as if he was taking out all his frustration on her body too, and the
force of his thrusts moved the table across the floor.

He smelled so damn good. A surge of feeling began to grow from deep within and her
gasps became harsher and faster as the feeling increased in intensity and finally
peaked, sending a blinding rush of sensation spiraling out to every nerve ending.
A guttural cry came from deep in her throat as she lost all control and gave in to
the pure joy of the moment.

Gideon continued to move inside her, increasing the speed of his thrusts until he
came too, letting out a low moan and collapsing on top of her, their bodies chest
to chest. His erratic heartbeat thumped against her and she brought her arms up and
cradled him to her, not wanting him to move away.

Some strange new feeling began to grow in her now, as they lay there joined together.
All the confusion and loneliness of the last six months came rushing back to pummel
her as she lay trapped beneath him. Her throat constricted with pain and before she
could stop it, her shallow gasps tipped over into gut-wrenching sobs.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she fought to control the crazy mess of feelings
that came out of nowhere to turn the moment from a blissful release into something
very much darker.

• • •

Gideon became aware of his heart thumping against his chest as all his senses slowly
came back. Ellie’s body was hot against him, and the feeling of her soft skin pressed
against his and the tightness of her embrace was incredible.

That is until he noticed how irregular her breathing was.

He raised his head to look at her and to his horror, she turned her face away from
him and started sobbing uncontrollably.

He drew himself out of her gently and felt her release her arms from around him.

“Hey, Ellie. What’s wrong?” He brushed her hair away from her face, so he could see
her eyes. His stomach plummeted when she refused to look at him.

“Not the reaction I was hoping for. You could give a guy a complex, you know.” He
was aware of the catch in his voice and cleared his throat, shoving away the niggle
of hurt her reaction caused in him.

He put one hand on each cheek and gently tipped her face toward him, brushing the
tears away from her eyes with his thumbs. She brought her own hands up and covered
her eyes, shielding herself from him.

Totally bewildered, Gideon moved away from her, disposed of the condom, and searched
around him for their discarded clothes. After pulling on his trousers, he scooped
up her torn sweater and jeans.

She’d sat up by this point and was sitting hunched over with her hands over her face,
still sobbing hard. He handed her the sweater and, keeping her head down, she shoved
her arms into the sleeves, drawing the two torn halves around herself.

Placing her jeans on the table next to her, he sat on the other side, grasping her
around her shoulders and pulling her against his body until her sobs became less fierce.
She held herself stiffly against him, allowing him to cuddle her, but not sinking
into his body.

The rejection stung and he found himself almost angry with her. He was baffled by
this reaction. Sure, they were both shaken up by the incident earlier, and what had
happened between them had been pretty intense, but she was acting as though her whole
world had fallen in.

They sat in silence for a minute, her gentle hiccoughs the only sound in the room.

He wanted to touch her again, to kiss her and make her forget whatever it was that
had caused such an extreme reaction, but he stopped himself. He was way out of his
depth here. He wasn’t sure how best to handle this outpouring of emotion and it made
him uneasy.

She jumped slightly as he slid off the table and went to fetch her a drink. Perhaps
she’d be okay once she’d had a few minutes to ruminate.

Stepping over the groceries littering the floor, he poured some orange juice into
a glass and returned to the table with it, holding it out to her.

“Here, drink this. You need some sugar.”

Ellie nodded in gratitude and gave him a weak smile. Her eyes were red and puffy,
and she looked younger and more vulnerable than he’d ever seen her.

“Sorry. I don’t know why I’m crying,” she said.

“It’s the shock. At least I hope it is. Otherwise I seriously need to rethink my technique.”

Finally she smiled through her tears, before lowering her gaze again, shaking her
head, apparently confused by her own behavior.

“Look, why don’t you go shower and get yourself straight. I’ll clear up in here,”
he said.

They looked around the room at the food strewn all over the floor.

“Okay. Thanks,” she said, pulling the torn sweater tighter around her. It was so large
it came half-way down her thighs. Now he knew she wasn’t wearing anything underneath,
he kind of liked it on her.

She glanced up at him as she passed and gave him a half-hearted smile, before ducking
her head down again and walking off. He watched her all the way out of the kitchen.
Her hair was a mess of curls, even bigger in volume than unusual after their adventure
on the kitchen table.

He sank down onto a chair and put his head in his hands. What the hell was he doing?

This was precisely why he’d held himself back from her for the last few days. There
was a whole world of trouble coming his way, he was sure of it.

The problem was, there was no way he could leave things here, no way, and once Penny
and Will arrived, it would be almost impossible to get her on her own again.

Based on her reaction just now, there was no chance he could walk away from this weekend
with them both agreeing to put this crazy episode down to exceptional circumstances.
And did he even want that? Truthfully he didn’t know what he wanted. He needed to
figure out what he was going to do about this. And fast.

What just happened? Ellie asked herself as she stood under the shower, allowing the
water to flatten her hair against her head. It ran in rivulets over her face, soothing
her hot, swollen eyes. How could she have cried like that in front of him? Her cheeks
burned fiercely at the memory and she screwed up her eyes in frustration.

He’d been surprisingly kind about it. She never would have expected him to be so gentle
with her afterwards. Hell, if someone had burst into tears after having sex with her,
she’d probably have totally freaked out.

Her body was alive with feeling now. She’d felt numb since Paul had walked out and
grown used to it, but this encounter with Gideon had opened her right up again. She
ached pleasantly from their fierce lovemaking and her heart still beat twice as fast
as normal, but she felt exposed and uneasy with it.

What was she going to do about this? She couldn’t get involved with someone like Gideon.
He wasn’t interested in a serious relationship — he’d proved that over and over again
with the string of women he dated. And he was too damn attractive. She would never
be able to compete with the beauties he usually had hanging off his arm. She couldn’t
put herself through that. She didn’t trust him. She didn’t trust herself to be able
to handle him.

She needed more than a fling. She needed someone who wanted to settle down and have
kids. Like soon. She didn’t want to leave it much longer to start a family; she would
be thirty soon and time was starting to run away from her.

No way did she want to bring up kids on her own. She wanted to be with someone who
would be around long term, who wouldn’t walk away from her when things got tough,
or when someone better came along.

No, Gideon was out as far as a serious relationship went. She wouldn’t be surprised
if he kept his distance from her after her crying fit anyway. The thought made her
insides clench. Despite the chaos of feelings it had brought, she’d absolutely loved
having sex with him. Loved it. Her body hummed from the pounding it had taken and
her cheeks grew hot as she replayed the scene in her head. His forcefulness had been
a revelation. She’d loved him taking control like that. Paul had never made her feel
as wanted, as sexy, as Gideon just had.

She got out of the shower and threw some fresh clothes on. Her sweater would have
to be binned; there was no way she could mend it after the savaging it had taken.
A rush of lust bombarded her at the memory of Gideon tearing it away from her body.