Mind Over Matter

it.”
    Temper darkened her eyes and chilled her voice. “I don’t have to get used to anything.”
    “The hell you don’t. Put a number on this.”
    Frustrated desire, unrelieved passion, simmering anger. She felt them all as his mouth crushed down on hers. Her first reaction was pure self-preservation. She struggled against him, knowing if she didn’t free herself quickly, she’d be lost. But he seemed to know, somehow, that her struggle was against herself, not him.
    He held her closer. His mouth demanded more, until, despite fears, despite doubts, despite everything, she gave.
    With a muffled moan, her arms went around him. Her fingers slid up his back to lose themselves in his hair. Passion, still unrelieved, mounted until it threatened to consume. She could feel everything, the hard line of his body against hers, the soft give of the seat at her back. There was the heat of his lips as they pressed and rubbed on hers and the cool air blown in silently through the vents.
    And she could taste—the lingering punch of champagne as their tongues tangled together. She could taste a darker flavor, a deeper flavor that was his flesh. Still wilder, less recognizable, was the taste of her own passion.
    His mouth left hers only to search out other delights. Over the bare, vulnerable skin of her neck and shoulders he found them. His hands weren’t gentle as they moved over her. Hismouth wasn’t tender. Her heart began to thud in a fast, chaotic rhythm at the thought of being taken with such hunger, such fury.
    Driven by her own demons she let her hands move, explore and linger. When his breath was as uneven as hers their lips met again. The contact did nothing to soothe and everything to arouse. Desperate for more, she brought her teeth down to nip, to torment. With an oath, he swung her around until they were sprawled on the long, wide seat.
    Her lips parted as she looked up at him. She could see the intermittent flash of streetlights as they passed overhead. Shadow and light. Shadow and light. Hypnotic. Erotic. A.J. reached up to touch his face.
    She was all cream and silk as she lay beneath him. Her hair was tousled around a face flushed with arousal. The touch of her fingers on his cheek was light as a whisper and caused the need to thunder through him.
    “This is crazy,” she murmured.
    “I know.”
    “It’s not supposed to happen.” But it was. She knew it. She had known it from the first meeting. “It can’t happen,” she corrected.
    “Why?”
    “Don’t ask me.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. She couldn’t resist letting her fingers play along his face even as she prepared herself to deny both of them. “I can’t explain. If I could you wouldn’t understand.”
    “If there’s someone else I don’t give a damn.”
    “No, there’s no one.” She closed her eyes a moment, then opened them again to stare at him. “There’s no one else.”
    Why was he hesitating? She was here, aroused, inches away from total surrender. He had only to ignore the confused plea in her eyes and take. But even with his blood hot, the needpressing, he couldn’t ignore it. “It might not be now, it might not be here, but it will be, Aurora.”
    It would be. Had to be. The part of her that knew it fought a frantic tug-of-war with the part that had to deny it. “Let me go, David.”
    Trapped by his own feelings, churning with his own needs, he pulled her up. “What kind of game are you playing?”
    She was cold. Freezing. She felt each separate chill run over her skin. “It’s called survival.”
    “Damn it, Aurora.” She was so beautiful. Why did she suddenly have to be so beautiful? Why did she suddenly have to look so fragile? “What does being with me, making love with me, have to do with your survival?”
    “Nothing.” She nearly laughed as she felt the limo cruise to a halt. “Nothing at all if it were just that simple.”
    “Why complicate it? We want each other. We’re both adults. People become lovers every day without doing themselves any damage.”
    “Some people.” She let out a shuddering breath. “I’m not some people. If it were so simple, I’d make love with you right here, in the back seat of this car. I won’t tell you I don’t want to.” She turned to look at him and the vulnerability in her eyes was haunted by regrets. “But it’s not simple. Making love with you would be easy. Falling in love with you wouldn’t.”
    Before he could move, she’d pushed open the door