Her New Worst Enemy (10 page)

“What are you going to do to me?” she breathed, her heart hammering against her ribs.

“Wait and see,” he said, still standing behind her.

She felt a draught of movement behind her and hung there, suspended, for what felt
like forever, her body throbbing with excitement. Gideon finally came up behind her,
pressing his now bare hips to the top of her buttocks and his erection against the
base of her spine. He leaned his body forward against her as he bent to first push
her hair away to the side, before dipping his head to place a feather-light kiss against
the nape of her neck.

She groaned in appreciation and held her breath as he ran his tongue down the center
of her back, moving it over one vertebra at a time. The sensation was delicious; his
hot, wet tongue against where her skin covered the bone was so sensitive she shivered.

“Cold?” Gideon asked with a smile in his voice, “Don’t worry, we’ll soon warm you
up.”

Ellie was about to answer when she realized he was pulling away from her to reach
lower down her spine. Surely he would stop at the base? Surely?

But he didn’t. He kept his tongue moving, occasionally retracting it into his mouth
to remoisten it, before continuing down, down, down …

As he passed the last knob of her spine she gasped in surprise as his tongue continued
its path, deep in between her buttocks, where it played up and down against the sensitive
flesh there, causing sensation to riot through her body.

She was so turned on and so utterly amazed by the turn of events she could do nothing
other than groan.

Gideon ran his hands up between her thighs to find how wet she was for him.

“You like that then,” he murmured against her skin, his voice muffled and guttural.

First one finger, then two penetrated her and Ellie thought she would come there and
then.

Gideon twisted his body around underneath her so he now sat on the floor under her
spread legs, his fingers still inside her, and bent forward to flick his tongue over
her clitoris with deep, hard strokes.

His fingers pushed in and out of her as he repeated the move with his tongue, each
stroke firmer than the last.

Ellie was wound so tight from the anticipation and the assault of sensations that
it only took a few strokes of his tongue before she came spectacularly, shouting out
in relief as her whole body shook with the intensity of her orgasm.

As her world came back into focus, she became aware of her now-hot hands against the
mirror and she gazed at her reflection. Her eyes were wide and dark with arousal,
her skin flushed and glowing.

Gideon moved out from under her and stood behind her again. He gently pulled back
on her shoulders again to drag her upright, then put one hand on each hip and rested
his head on top of hers as they both gazed into the mirror.

“See?” he said. “I told you so.” He grinned at her and she couldn’t help but smile
back, dropping her eyes to take in the gentle curves and strength of her own body.
Her legs were shaky from her climax but she stood firm, enjoying the sight of the
two of them in the mirror; the warm olive-colored skin of Gideon’s hands and forearms
a strong contrast to the paleness of her own.

She felt sexy and attractive for the first time in a very long time. She remembered
how she used to feel like this, to enjoy her own body, before Paul and his subtle
snide comments and put-downs, before she lost sight of herself.

Gideon’s insistence and obvious attraction to her had given her something back.

She twisted under his hands to face him and wrapped her arms around his strong waist,
dragging him against her.

“Thank you,” she whispered against his chest. His hands tightened on her hips in response
and his still-hard erection twitched against her stomach, reminding her there was
still some unfinished business.

She pressed her mouth to his skin and kissed across his chest, her lips skimming over
the dark smattering of hair and down to his left nipple. She grazed and nipped it
with her teeth and heard him exhale in response.

“Ellie, you don’t have to,” he said, his voice deep and low.

“Like hell,” she said, moving across to draw his other nipple into her mouth and sucking
hard on it, flicking her tongue across the tip with a promise of things to come.

Moving her hands between their bodies, she found his hard shaft and began to move
her fingers against him rhythmically.

• • •

Gideon groaned in response to Ellie’s firm hold on his cock. She was driving him crazy.
The look in her eyes after she’d come had sent his senses into overload and he’d had
trouble holding it together.

He’d wanted to do this for her. To try to undo some of the damage that total dick
of an ex had wreaked on her. How could someone as sexy as Ellie be made to feel so
low she was ashamed of her own beautiful body? And it was beautiful — voluptuous and
rounded and delicious. He’d enjoyed turning her on, taking her to the edge and tipping
her over it. Deep satisfaction welled in his gut, which was rapidly being replaced
with a raging need to come to his own climax as she worked her fingers over him.

He hadn’t expected her to reciprocate, had even steeled himself for another bout of
crying, but there was no way in hell he was stopping her now if this was what she
wanted. And she definitely seemed to want it.

Her little sucking kisses rained down on his chest and lower, down to his stomach
as she kept up the slow sliding rhythm on his cock, making his blood zing through
his body, before it accumulated in his groin, making its forceful presence known.

Without breaking the pace, she knelt down and replaced her hand with her mouth, taking
him deep into her throat, before pulling away to flick her tongue across the tip.

His whole body sang with the joy of it.

Her mouth was so hot and wet and tight around him he quickly reached his peak, his
body convulsing in almost painful ecstasy and he ran his fingers into her curls, slowing
her movements as he exploded into her.

It took him a few moments to come out of his blissed-out trance. He stood, panting
above her as she worked her way up his body, dropping soft kisses against his quivering
skin.

“Jesus, Ellie,” was all he managed to say as she appeared level with him. He dropped
his mouth down to hers and tasted himself on her before pulling her against him, his
face burrowing into her sweet-smelling hair.

He didn’t want to let her go. He wanted to stay there with her soft body pressed against
him until he was ready to take her again on the floor, but he knew he shouldn’t. This
whole episode was crazy, unavoidable it seemed, but still utterly mad.

She pulled away from him and he almost tightened his arms to stop her, but didn’t.

He needed to let her go.

He watched her pick up her clothes and put them back on, before tossing his over to
him.

“Thanks,” he said, stooping to pull his trousers on. Looking up he saw she had a sad
smile on her face.

“What is it?” he asked, unable to read the thoughts behind the expression.

“Nothing.” She shrugged one shoulder and increased the grin, but the smile still didn’t
reach her eyes. “That was fun,” she said, rubbing one hand along the top of her arm
in an awkward motion.

“Look … Ellie,” he began, still not entirely sure what to say about what had happened
between them. He knew she needed more from a relationship than he did right now, and
he was entirely the wrong man for her. He mustn’t give her the impression he could
give her what she needed — it wouldn’t be fair.

He’d wanted to wake her from her self-loathing stupor and he’d done that, but that
had to be all this was — a fun diversion to give her the confidence to go out there
and find someone new who would make her happy.

His gut clenched at the thought of her with someone else, but he knew he had to let
her go. Their needs and wants were too different, they would never work.

He opened his mouth to say something, to try to put this into words, but before he
could, she held up a hand to silence him.

“It’s okay, Gideon, I know what this is. And what it isn’t. You and me … ” She shook
her head and smiled, “We should treat this as a fling, never to be repeated.”

Her words should have made him happy. They were exactly what he thought he wanted
to hear, so why did he have this sinking feeling?

He shook himself out of it. He was still coming down from the sheer joy of his orgasm
and it was messing with his head.

“Can we … ” Ellie shifted from foot to foot, unable to meet his eyes, “Um … call it
quits at the end of the weekend though? If that’s in any way possible with Penny and
Will here.”

She looked up at him then, her eyes soft and her expression vulnerable. He didn’t
think he’d be able to say no to anything she asked at that moment, and his body soared
with excitement that this wasn’t the absolute end.

He moved toward her as she stood there, biting her lip, waiting for his response.

“Fine by me,” he said and saw the flash of relief in her face before he bent to kiss
her.

Ellie sat on her bed with her head in her hands going over what had happened since
she’d got up that morning. Her whole world seemed to have been picked up and set spinning
in the opposite direction.

She’d had sex with Gideon.

The grin that had plagued her since he’d agreed to carry on the fling until the end
of the weekend broke out again.

This was perfect. She could have her fill of him, then walk away at the end with no
regrets and no messy ending.

Despite turning her on more than she’d ever thought possible, Gideon was not the type
of man she believed she’d settle down with. He was exactly what she needed right now
to give her confidence a boost, to make her feel like an attractive woman again, but
that’s all it would be. She knew him too well to expect anything more than that.

They’d agreed to have an hour away from each other to cool things down a bit before
Penny and Will arrived.

Ellie didn’t want Penny to know about this fling with Gideon, so they’d agreed to
keep it quiet. She didn’t want to have to explain herself or justify her actions.
She wanted it to be something special and secret between them, something she could
remember fondly on cold, lonely nights, when she felt like thinking about it. Not
something that could be brought up at any time and catch her by surprise. Not that
she’d told Gideon any of that.

This time away from him was good. She needed a clear head when she met Will. She wanted
her judgment to be sound and unbiased by how she felt right now. Which was pretty
bloody mixed up.

An hour. To herself. With Gideon two doors down. What the hell was she going to do
with herself?

She picked up her smartphone and scrolled through her blog reader trying to find something
to capture her attention. Nothing did.

She’d only been on her own for twenty minutes but it felt like hours.

Going to the window, she looked out at the stunning view of the Cotswold countryside.
Lush green and yellow fields stretched away from her for miles. This house was really
something. It was a shame it held such sad memories for Gideon.

What would it be like to live in a place like this? It was like something from another
world. Whoever Gideon ended up marrying would be in for a treat — if he ever found
a woman perfect enough to commit to that was. She wondered idly what she would be
like. Some svelte, striking socialite no doubt. Someone worthy of this lifestyle.
The thought made her stomach plummet so she pushed it away.

Glancing at the clock on her phone she was frustrated to see only three minutes had
passed since she’d last looked at it. Maybe she should go for another shower, just
to pass some time.

A loud rap at the door sent her heart into her mouth, and before she could say anything,
Gideon came striding in. The look on his face was fierce, and with a jolt of fear
she wondered what she’d done wrong.

“It’s only been half an hour,” she said, her voice shaking with sudden nerves.

“Shut up,” he growled, walking toward her. He grabbed her arm and hauled her toward
the bed, giving her a shove so she toppled backward onto it.

He grinned mischievously at her surprise before climbing onto the bed, trapping her
body under his.

“What did I do?” she asked, as he looked down at her, his pupils large against the
vivid green of his irises.

“Nothing yet,” he replied with a bewitching smile, “but I’m anticipating some very
naughty behavior.”

Before she could get her head around that statement, he kissed her, forcing her lips
open and sliding his tongue against hers. Ellie’s body exploded with lust, her carefully
made plans smashed around her.

She moved her hands up into his thick, dark hair and pulled him even tighter against
her. He groaned with pleasure and dropped his hips down against her to show her exactly
how much he wanted her again.

This was ridiculous. It had been less than an hour since her last orgasm and she was
already panting for more. He smelled so good she wanted to eat him up.

“Gideon,” she managed to say when he came up for air and began kissing along her jaw
line, sending exquisite tremors of feeling through her ear and down her throat. “Don’t
you think we should … ”

“I said shut up,” he murmured, pulling the buttons of her jeans open to give his hand
room to slip inside her panties and find the wet heat waiting for him.

“Oh my God,” Ellie breathed as his fingers opened her up and slipped inside, pressing
into the sensitive wall of her vagina and gently stroking her g-spot. His thumb moved
in rhythmical circles against her clit and she arched her pelvis toward him desperate
to increase the friction.

The slight soreness from their earlier lovemaking only increased the intensity of
the feeling and she longed to have him inside her again.