"That's not true. Talk about suspicious paranoia. You're giving a pretty good demonstration of it right now." He was going to lose her. He had nothing he could use to hold on to her now. Desperation tore through him.
"Damn it, Chastain, if you wanted to talk to me, why didn't you pick up the phone?"
"I'd already done that." He felt his jaw clench. "It was your turn."
Zinnia threw up her hands. "I can't believe we're arguing like this. We sound like a couple quarreling after a bad date."
"I'd glad you finally noticed." He reached for her. "That's exactly what this feels like. A bad date."
"Hold it right there." She braced both hands against his shoulders. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm going to kiss you."
"Why?"
"Damned if I know."
"Good." She glowered ferociously. "I like you much better when you don't pretend to have all the answers."
"Believe me, if I had all the answers, I wouldn't be sitting here arguing with you like this. I'd be back in my office doing something more constructive."
"Such as?"
"Such as making money." He hauled her halfway across the console and into his arms.
Chapter 10
The storm of passion stunned her. The deluge came thundering out of nowhere, sweeping her up in a magnificent wave. She found herself whirling down into the depths of an uncharted sea.
Zinnia could almost feel the energy crackling in the front seat of the Synchron. She wondered vaguely why there were no actual sparks.
Nick's mouth was infinitely compelling, infinitely demanding, infinitely satisfying. She tasted his need, savored his hunger, gloried in his desire for her. He even smelled good, she decided. Enticingly masculine. She could tell that he used soap but did not bother with cologne. She liked that. She liked that very much. She had never been a fan of perfumed men.
"Oh, my God." She gave a small, choked cry of excitement and wrapped her arms very tightly around his neck. "I didn't realize ... I didn't know-"
"Maybe you didn't." Nick shifted, pressing her back against the seat. "But I've been wanting to do this since the minute you walked into my office."
"Must have been the red dress."
"I've always liked red." His eyes gleamed in the shadows as he bent his head to kiss her throat.
She felt a sultry heat pool in her lower body. Her fingers sank deep into his shoulders. The feel of sleek muscle and bone beneath his shirt sent another shimmer of anticipation through her.
She had always known deep inside that something had been lacking in the handful of previous relationships she had experienced. But she had never been able to identify the elusive, missing element. Tonight, she decided in a rush of exultant satisfaction, she was finally getting a real clue.
Flickers of awareness coursed along her nerve endings. That had never happened before during a kiss. It took her a few seconds to realize that the heat of Nick's body had set fire to all of her senses, even those that functioned on the metaphysical plane.
Obviously the paranormal side of her nature was as shaken and unsettled by the embrace as the physical side.
Nick crushed her up against the seat back, using his weight to hold her there. A strange, wholly inexplicable desire to create a prism unfurled within her. Startled, she resisted the psychic probing.
She was almost certain that Nick was a talent. At such close quarters, he might pick up her energy waves. It would be embarrassing. Sex, after all, was supposed to be confined to the physical plane. She had never heard of it affecting the psychic senses.
This was not normal. Definitely not normal.
But, then, she had been told by experts that her type of psychic energy was not entirely normal.
Nick moved his mouth to hers. She felt the edge of his teeth and immediately decided that an analysis of events on the metaphysical plane would have to wait. There was no time to contemplate the peculiar sensations that rippled through her. She was too thrilled, too curious, too dazzled to ponder such esoteric considerations.
"This is going to be good." Nick's voice was hoarse. His hand drifted down to cover her breast. "Very good."
"Nick."
Out of the corner of her eye, Zinnia noticed that steam was condensing on the inside of the Synchron's windows. A part of her brain was still thinking clearly enough to be amazed by her own reaction to the explosion of sexual tension. She was chagrined to realize that she hadn't even recognized the volatile nature of the atmosphere that had been swirling in the front seat of the car until Nick reached for her.
Apparently he had figured it out right away.
But she had an excellent excuse for her delay in grasping the reality of the situation, she told herself. She had never experienced anything like it before in her life.
She nestled deeper into Nick's embrace, intensely aware of the hard, unyielding shape of his erection against her leg.
He was big. Very big. Maybe abnormally so. But certainly interesting.
Gingerly, she put her hand on his thigh, learning the broad outline of him through the taut fabric of his black trousers. His answering groan was encouraging.
She threaded the fingers of her other hand through the hair that covered the nape of his neck. She could have sworn that his groan became a low growl.
He slid one hand down her spine and curved his fingers around her hip. Another shiver that was both physical and metaphysical shot through her. This was not supposed to happen.
"Impossible," she muttered against his throat.
"No," Nick said. "Highly improbable, but not impossible. I haven't done this in the front seat of a car since I was eighteen, but I think I can remember how."
"That's not what I meant." She flinched as another burst of psychic awareness echoed the tug of physical desire. "There's something strange going on here."
"It's just the console. Let's move to the back. It will be more comfortable there."
He was talking about sex, she thought. Here she was, wondering if the psychic side of her nature had gone on the fritz and had begun producing metaphysical sexual hallucinations while Nick was calmly suggesting they get more comfortable.
A disorienting panic flared deep within her. It was strong enough to dampen a large measure of her earlier enthusiasm.
She opened her eyes and planted her hands against his strong chest.
"Wait." She was breathless. "That's enough. We've got to stop. Right now."
Nick stilled. Slowly he raised his head to look down at her. "Why?"
The appalling simplicity of the question left her speechless for a few seconds. She had no idea of how to explain the peculiar sensations she had been experiencing. "Uh, well-"
"You've had your antipregnancy vaccination like everyone else, I assume?"
"Yes," she sputtered, suddenly embarrassed by the pragmatic question. "Yes, of course."
His mouth curved slightly. "So have I. We're perfectly safe." He started to lower his head.
"That's not the point," she managed. "I'm trying to tell you that this has gone far enough. I said you could kiss me. That's all. For heaven's sake, we barely know each other. And one-night stands are not my style."
He raised his head and studied her for a long moment. There was a shattering intensity in his gaze that stopped the breath in her lungs. Zinnia could have sworn that a new kind of energy now hummed in the close confines of the car. This was not the sparkling, exciting zing of sexual attraction, physical or metaphysical. It was something much more dangerous.
"What, exactly," Nick said with great precision, "is your style?"
It occurred to Zinnia that she was in a somewhat precarious position. She was alone in an isolated park with one of the most notorious men in the city. Aunt Willy's words came back to her. The man is little more than a gangster.