up in her turbulent thoughts she didn’t realize he was standing in the doorway until she caught his reflection in the mirror.
He was staring at her with an odd, intense look, as if he wanted to say something yet wasn’t sure she’d want to hear it. A look so unlike Matt that it gave her pause.
She took a deep breath and turned around. “Look, this is stupid, us arguing. I made some silly choices the past ten years.” Not to mention reckless and downright dangerous ones, too. She’d been crazy, eager to push boundaries, eager to forget. “But they were my choices, and I don’t regret them.” She’d also learned some hard lessons about life and love and for that she’d always be grateful. “You also made a choice and did what you thought was right. Let’s just drop it, shall we?”
She hated it when he said nothing. His scrutiny was so focused, as if he was trying to figure out all the dark marks on her heart. “My parents have some spare tickets for a benefit on Tuesday. Do you want to come with me?”
She frowned. “What?”
“You, me, a Saint Cat’s fund-raiser. Will you be my date?”
Yes! No! No, wait...
Confusion warred inside her, her resolution to keep Matt at a distance battling with other, deeper desires. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?”
Her hands went to her hips. “Oh, only about a dozen reasons. Me and your parents, for one.”
“They don’t bite.”
She snorted. “That’s not what I meant. You’re the one who still has to work with the hospital.”
“It’s the twenty-first century, AJ. We’re allowed to go out in public without a chaperone.”
“Don’t be obtuse. You know what I mean.”
“Oh, I’m sure they’re already talking about us.” He crossed his arms and fixed her with a direct look. “We went to see Saint Cat’s top fertility specialist together. Our names are on forms, computer systems and now tests. You can’t keep secrets in a hospital for long.”
Of course, he was right. It didn’t matter to her, but... “Does it bother you? The fact that people are probably talking about you?”
He shrugged. “They’ve been doing that all my life.”
“I see.”
A beat passed. “So you never did answer. Are you afraid of being seen with me?”
“No.” She turned and shoved her moisturizer into her toiletries bag.
He stepped inside the bathroom and crossed his arms, eyes glinting as he blocked her exit. She glared back and let her unimpressed expression do all the talking.
He wasn’t buying it. “I don’t believe it. AJ Reynolds is afraid of meeting my parents?”
“Now, listen here—”
“That’s just not possible.” He advanced slowly, his mouth slanted into a mocking grin. “Not the same woman who shared my bed last week.”
No, don’t talk about that! “Matt—” She backed up into the vanity, her butt resting on the cool marble as her heart quickened.
“Not the same AJ who kissed me so hard I couldn’t breathe.” His hands went out, trapping her against the vanity as he leaned in. “The same one who squirmed beneath me,” he whispered. “Writhing and panting as I kissed every inch of her skin—”
AJ’s eyes drifted closed, the hot memory washing over her, bathing her in desire. A second later his lips went to her neck and she sighed, welcoming, wanting.
“—then demanded I take her hard and fast on my office desk.”
Her hands went to his nape and she dragged his mouth to hers with a soft groan. Yet he held back, the muscles in his neck straining under her grip, eyes liquid pools of chocolate. “What are you afraid of, Angel?”
“Nothing.” Everything. You. Me. This.
“Then come with me.”
How much had she wanted this all those years ago? To be the one on his arm, introduced and included in his life. And now the desperate need flared in her yet again. She wanted to see what his life had been like without her, what had shaped him, who he’d been. A life she regretted not fighting harder to be involved with in the first place, if she were brutally honest.
She breathed out slowly. “Okay.”
God, that smile. That brilliant, triumphant smile that wounded her so low and deep. He undid her a thousand times over.
Then his mouth swooped down to cover hers.
AJ could never get enough of his kisses, the way he took control, devouring her. The way his breath filled her mouth and her senses, his soft murmurs cranking her desire into a long, slow burn of need.
He swiftly grabbed her bottom, hiking her up onto the vanity, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, urging him closer.
Their week of abstinence was over. He wanted her. And she wanted him right back.
“Matt...” she gasped against his lips. “We...”
“Do you trust me?”
A low groan reverberated in her throat. She loved the way his dark eyes went languid with passion. They bore into her, as if she was his sole focus and he had no place else he’d rather be.
“Do you trust me?” he repeated.
Her heart twisted. “Yes.”
“Then we can do this.”
“It won’t ruin anything?”
“I promise. I’m a doctor, remember?”
She swallowed. Her body felt like it was on fire, so desperate was her need, and it took barely a second to make the decision. She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
Everything happened in a split second—the frenzy of clothes being shoved up, off or aside. Her legs spreading at his touch, her mouth parting beneath his eager tongue. The hiss of excitement when skin met skin, then an excruciating pause as Matt readied himself.
Then one hard, swift plunge and they were engulfed in the scorching, familiar heat, their cries of delight echoing through the bathroom.
Matt pounded into her, his hard thrusts skidding her across the cold marble as his fingers dug into her bottom. She groaned and crossed her ankles so her heels bumped on the delicious curve where his lower back met his butt. He was deep, so very deep and it felt so very right.
“Yes,” she murmured, urging him on. He filled her completely, his thick length sliding intimately in, out, in, out, his tongue an erotic echo in her mouth. They tangled, they battled, they took. And they shared, too—from breath and kisses to the slick, damp heat intimately joining them in a familiar dance.
AJ climaxed and threw her head back with a cry, losing herself to the bursts of light behind her eyelids. She felt Matt spill into her, his deep groan of satisfaction echoing as everything inside contracted and shuddered.
“Matt...” she breathed. “I...”
He cut her off with a kiss, his mouth gently searing hers. A tender, almost loving gesture that squeezed at something deep inside, something she’d thought buried long ago, prickling her eyes and sending every sense into meltdown.
She broke off the kiss to lay her cheek against his shoulder, her heartbeat filling every slow second.
She squeezed her eyes shut. They had history and chemistry. That was it. That was all it could ever be.
She would not fall in love with Matthew Cooper because that would be supremely stupid. And she, AJ Reynolds, was not stupid.
*