Free Her New Worst Enemy by Christy McKellen Page A

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