“Embarrassed?” He kept his eyes, every bit as hot as hers, level as he slid the door closed behind his back. “Why is that? I simply told a neighbor, without tripping over my—what was it—clumsy tongue, that we’re dating. So what’s the problem?”

“The problem is…” She retreated several steps as he advanced on her. That was another shocker—not just that he was backing her into a corner, but that she was letting him. She’d never backed down from a confrontation, and certainly never backed down from a man. “Just what do you think you’re doing?”

“Being myself.” Damned if it didn’t feel good. “Been a while since I cut loose like this, but it’s coming back to me. We may as well find out now if you have a problem with that.”

“If you think you can—” She broke off as he grabbed her arms, pulled her up to her toes. “You’d just better calm down.”

“You’d just better catch up.” He crushed his mouth to hers and felt her instinctive jerk of protest. Ignored it.

“You got a problem with it?” he demanded lifting his head and meeting her eyes.

“Brody—” That was all she managed to say before he took her mouth over again.

“Yes or no.”

“I don’t—” His teeth scraped along her neck. “Oh God.” She couldn’t think. This had to be wrong. There had to be a dozen, two dozen, rational reasons why this was wrong.

She’d worry about them later.

“You want me to take my hands off you?” They moved over her, rough and possessive. “Yes or no. Pick now.”

“No. Damn it.” She fisted her hands in his hair and dragged his mouth back to hers.

She didn’t know who pulled whom to the floor. It didn’t seem to matter. She couldn’t tell whose hands were more impatient as they tugged at clothing. She didn’t care.

All she knew was she wanted this rough, angry man every bit as much as she’d wanted the gentle, patient one. Her body was quaking for him, her heart bounding.

So much heat. She was amazed her system didn’t simply implode from it. The sharp stabs of pain and pleasure fused together into one unbearable sensation.

Tangled together, they rolled over the floor. She set her teeth at his shoulder, craving that wild flavor of flesh.

He’d forgotten what it was to let himself want like this, to take like this. Without restriction or boundaries. To rush and plunder. His fingers tore at the triangle of lace that blocked her from him. And he drove her up, hard and high.

The bite of her nails on his back was a dark thrill, the blind shock in her eyes a violent triumph. Desperate for possession, he yanked up her hips and plunged.

She rose up, that agile body quivering, her fingers digging into the rug for stability as he pounded into her. An elemental mating that fed on hot blood. Even as she cried out, he dragged her up until her legs wrapped around his waist, her hands found slippery purchase on his sweat-slicked shoulders.