Opposites Attract

Rising, she went to him. “I suppose you deserve it after the way you played today. Should I add my congratulations to the host of others?”
    “Get out.” He pushed away from the wall. “I don’t want you.”
    “I’ll order up some coffee,” she said calmly. “We’ll talk.”
    “I said get out!” Catching her wrist, he whirled her around. “Before I lose my temper and hurt you.”
    Though her pulse jumped under his fingers, she stood firm. “I’ll leave after we talk.”
    “Do you know what I want to do to you?” he demanded, shoving her back against the wall. “Do you know that I want to beat you senseless?”
    “Yes.” She didn’t cringe as his fury raged down on her. “Ty, if you’ll listen—”
    “I don’t want to listen to you.” The image of her lying exhausted on the bed raced through his mind. “Get out while I can still stop myself from hurting you.”
    “I can’t.” She lifted a hand to his cheek. “Ty—”
    Her words were cut off as he pressed her back into the wall. For an instant she thought he would strike her, then his mouth came down on hers, bruising, savage. He forced her lips apart, thrusting his tongue deep as she struggled. His teeth ground against hers as though to punish them both. There was the faint taste of liquor, reminding her he had drink as well as anger in his system. When she tried to turn her head, he caught her face in his hand—not gently, in the touch she remembered, but viselike.
    He could smell her—the soft talc, the lightly sexy perfume. And the fear. She made a small, pleading sound before she stopped fighting him. Without being aware of what he did, he lightened the grip to a caress. His lips gentled on hers, tasting, savoring. Mumbling her name, he trailed kisses over her skin until he felt the essence of her flowing back into him. God, how he’d missed her.
    “I can’t do without you,” he whispered. “I can’t.” He sank to the floor, drawing her down with him.
    He was lost in her—the feel, the taste, the fragrance. His mind was too full of Asher to allow him to think. Sensation ruled him, trembling along his skin to follow the path of her fingers. It was as if she sought to soothe and arouse him at once. He was helpless to resist her—or his need for her. As if in a trance, he took his lips over her, missing nothing as his hunger seemed insatiable. Her quickening breaths were like music, setting his rhythm.
    The air grew steamier as his hands homed in on secrets that made her moan. Her body shuddered into life. No longer gentle, but demanding, she tangled her fingers in his hair and guided him to sweet spaces he’d neglected. Then ever greedy, ever giving, she drew him back to her mouth. Her tongue toyed with his lips, then slid inside to drink up all the flavors. His head swimming, he answered the kiss.
    The need for her was unreasonable, but Ty was beyond reason. Without her there’d been an emptiness that even his fury couldn’t fill. Now the void was closing. She was in his blood, in his bone, so essential a part of him he had been able to find no place of separation. Now there was no will to do so.
    Under him, she was moving, inviting, entreating. He whispered a denial against her mouth, but his pounding blood took control. He was inside her without being aware of it. Then all sensations spiraled together in an intensity that made him cry out. And it was her name he spoke, in both ecstasy and in despair.
    Drained, Ty rolled from her to stare at the ceiling. How could he have let that happen? he demanded. How could he have felt such love, found such pleasure in a woman he had vowed to amputate from his life? He wondered now if he’d ever find the strength to stay away from her. Life with her, and life without her, would be two kinds of hell.
    “Ty.” Reaching over, Asher touched his shoulder.
    “Don’t.” Without looking at her he rose. “Get dressed, for God’s sake,” he muttered as he tugged on his own jeans with trembling hands. Who had used whom? he wondered. “Do you have a car?”
    Sitting up, Asher pushed her hair out of her face. Hair, she remembered, that only moments before he had been kissing. “No.”
    “I’ll call you a cab.”
    “That won’t be necessary.” In silence she began to dress. “I realize you’re sorry that this happened.”
    “I’m damned if I’ll apologize,” he snapped.
    “I wasn’t asking you to,” she told him quietly. “I was going to say that I’m not sorry. I