"Because I want all or nothing."
She searched his handsome face for a long moment, swallowing repeatedly. "Well, you can't have it all." Tears filled her eyes. "So I guess you get nothing."
His heart squeezed as she yanked free and strode to the club doors.
* * *
Ten
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Nash strode after her, unmindful of the people watching as he passed through the country-club doors. He found her hailing a cab.
Quickly he pressed his valet ticket into the attendant's hand and stepped close to her. "Dammit, Hayley. Don't cut me out like this." His voice was low and edged with anger. "It's not all black and white, and we both know it."
She scoffed a dry brittle sound. "It's you who doesn't see that, Nash. You keep drawing lines in the sand, daring me to cross them, and I can't do it."
The cab pulled to a stop. When she made to step toward it, he shut the cab door and waved the driver on.
She glared at him. "You're getting a mighty highhanded—"
"I'm crossing the line." He gripped her arms, pushing his body into hers, the look in his eyes leaving no doubt about his feelings. "No past, no future, only now, Hayley. Right now," he growled. "And I'm done talking."
He kissed her, and in an instant he was deep in her mouth, his tongue thrusting and sweeping. She gave a low moan of want and loneliness and a dark hunger that touched his soul and fueled his desire. The valet pulled the sedan to a stop on the street beside them and still he kissed her. The young man paused to gawk, then moved around the vehicle, leaving the driver's door open. Nash never broke their kiss, running his hands up her spine, and his mouth back and forth over hers. Someone whistled and said his name, and he tore his mouth away, breathing deeply and gazing into her eyes.
"Nash? What's gotten into you?"
"You," he said, and handed her into the passenger seat. His look was long and thorough and completely sexual. Her lips were swollen from his kiss, inviting more, and he was going to take it. Just as soon as they had privacy. He closed the door and walked around the front of the car, tipping the attendant and sliding behind the wheel. He started to say something, then reached across to kiss her again, a hot slide of lips and tongue and utter madness. He set her back into her seat and drove away.
Hayley felt numb with sensual heat. The power of his kiss left her breathless and aroused, and at the first stop sign, he turned to her.
"If you won't come to me, I'll come to you." He kissed her again, nearly dragging her out of her seat and across the console to get her closer to him.
"Who said I wouldn't come to you?"
He chuckled low, and his hand grazed her thigh and slipped under the hem of her dress, cupping her buttocks as he kissed her and kissed her. She let him, wanted him to touch her again. Last night fused in her mind, bringing untamed desire and erotic heat she hadn't felt in years, hadn't felt with any man but Nash. Oh, how she missed him, missed his power, the way he could turn her inside out and make her love it. He eased back into his seat and stepped on the gas, yet his hand remained on her thigh, fingertips playing over her skin.
"You're enjoying this?" she asked.
He arched a brow. "Aren't you?"
"You're teasing me."
There was a dare in her tone he didn't mistake. "Well, then, I can fix that." He cast her a heavy-lidded glance as his hand slipped between her legs. She licked her lips and let out a long slow breath. It was erotic, his touching her like this, and when he came to a stoplight, he leaned over to kiss her again, his fingertip drawing over the lacy pattern of her panties.
Nash felt a rush of heat and dampness. He cupped her, squeezing gently, and she gasped.
"Oh, mercy!"
His lips worried hers, and he nudged her thighs wider apart, his fingertip edging the band of her panties.
The light changed. He drew back and stepped on the gas, pushing his hand beneath the delicate fabric as the car lurched. She moaned, breathing rapidly, and he kept his eyes on the road as he parted her, sliding his finger into the wet haven.
"Oh, you're so warm and wet." Nash shifted in his seat, his groin heavy with want, and as he eased to a stop at another light, thrust two fingers deep inside her. A truck pulled up beside them.
She tensed. "They'll see."
"Shh," he hushed, and stroked her until she was shuddering and boneless. "The windows are tinted, and do you really care?"
"No— Oh, my!" she gasped. The light changed and he drove. His breathing increased with hers. She let her hand ride over his knee, then upward to shape the hardness straining against his trousers.
"Stop that or we'll have an accident." She cast him a glance, smiling, her body thrusting into his touch, her eyes glowing with desire. He tasted the skin of her throat, the shell of her ear, trying to keep his eyes on the road when the spectacle beside him was so much more interesting.