"You're going to the hospital," she informed him as she considered the odds of being able to steal the phone away from him.

"No, I'm not so let it go," he warned with a hard glint in his eyes. It was the same look he’d used to get when he was a child and someone mentioned a hospital to him.

"Please tell me that you're not still afraid of hospitals," she said with a heavy sigh.

"I'm not afraid of anything," he said evenly. "I'm just not going to waste my time going for something that a little ice and a few aspirins can handle."

"Okay, sure whatever," she said, having had more than enough for one day. If he was going to be stubborn then that was fine with her. She had better things to do with her time than to waste it by arguing. "I'm going home. See you in the morning," she said, moving to walk out of the kitchen when he stepped in front of her and blocked her path.

"We need to talk, Marty," he said, once again looking nervous.

She shook her head as she moved to step around him. "Whatever it is will have to wait until tomorrow."

"It can't," he said, moving to block her, again.

"It can," she said, managing to step past him and once she did she kept going.

"Marty, wait!" he said, following after her. "We really need to talk."

"No, we don't. What we need to do is stop playing these games. You don't want to work with me and that's fine, because we won't be working together for much longer anyway," she said, reaching for the door, but once again Tristan managed to cut her off.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he demanded as he maneuvered her away from the door.

"As soon as I get my degree, I'm going to be looking for a job far away from here. So as you can see there's no need to give me a pointless lecture or try to drive me off. Consider the message well received, Tristan. I'll be out of your hair in a matter of months," she said, forcing herself to sound firm when grief slammed into her at the thought of never seeing him again.

"You're leaving?" he asked in a hollow voice.            

"Yes," she snapped as she moved past him and once again reached for the door, more than ready to end this conversation and go home and enjoy a hot bubble bath with a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream while she did her best to forget that this day ever happened.

"Marty, you can't leave."

She snorted at that. "Watch me."

He placed his hand on the door just as she managed to open it and slammed it shut. "We really have to talk."

"No, we don't," she said, trying to open the door, but he was clearly a heck of a lot stronger than her. "Let me go, Tristan."

"Never."

"Why the hell not?" she snapped, whirling around to face him. She was sick of his games, sick of the way he made her feel and most of all she was sick of being in love with him. She wished she had never-

"Because I'm in love with you." The words rushed out of his mouth, clearly taking them both by surprise.

He looked stunned by the admission, which probably matched her own expression, but she was also pissed. Something snapped, something she'd held back all these years and once she opened her mouth she couldn't hold it back any longer.

"You love me?" she demanded, moving closer to him.

"Yes?" he said, making it sound like a question and further pissing her off.

"Did you love me all those years ago when you shoved me aside and pretended that I didn't exist?" she demanded, getting in his face.

"Yes," he said, swallowing nervously as he shot an anxious look around the large foyer as if someone or something would come and save him from this conversation.

"So all these years while you treated me like I was nothing and no one, it was just an act?" she asked, her voice getting louder with each word.

"Yes," he said, looking back down at her for a brief second before he started looking around again and taking her irritation to a whole new level.

"Silly me, because when you acted like I didn't exist and then started to treat me like crap when we were forced to work together, I just assumed that you hated me. But of course I should have known that all the crap you put me through was just your way of declaring your undying love for me," she snapped, her tone thick with sarcasm.

Tristan winced as he admitted, "Something like that."

"Something like that?" she repeated with disgust. He really had to be kidding her. She narrowed her eyes on him as she glared up at him. "I'm through with these games, Tristan, and I'm through with-"

You, she thought as Tristan took her mouth in a kiss that robbed her of the ability to speak until all she was left with was the overwhelming need to hold onto him and never let him go.

Chapter 19

He hadn’t meant to kiss her. They needed to talk about so many things, but the moment she’d started her rant, he knew that she would never listen to anything he had to say.

The kiss wasn’t gentle. He took her mouth possessively, showing her that she belonged to him. She was his. Always had been and always would be. To his utter delight she met him stroke for stroke. She kissed him like a woman starved. Her hands fisted in his hair, holding him prisoner in their embrace.

Marty gasped into his mouth when she felt his hands cup her bottom, lifting her off her feet. Her legs instantly wrapped around his waist. He used his hold on her bottom to grind her against the painful erection that was trying to break through his pants to get to her. They moaned as she tightened her hold around his waist.

Without breaking their kiss, he moved towards the stairs. They were halfway up the stairs when he broke away from her mouth to press kisses along her jaw and down her neck. She dropped her head back, giving him more access as her eyes closed in ecstasy.

She hadn’t realized they’d moved until she was gently laid down onto a soft bed. Tristan continued to kiss his way down her body as his hands pushed her jacket off. He only stopped kissing her long enough to pull her shirt and bra off and then he was back on her within seconds.

They shouldn’t be doing this. There were so many problems between them. They needed to talk them over and see if there was any way to work things out between them, but she couldn’t force herself to stop. Nothing had ever felt as good as Tristan Black’s mouth on her. She wanted more. She needed more. She’d never felt so desperate to have a man before. When his mouth closed over her nipple, that need exploded.

While Tristan suckled her breast, his hand squeezed and played with the other one. She began running her fingers through his hair, urging him on. It didn’t take much for him to get the hint. He devoured her breast, licking and suckling it as she moaned and panted.

Tristan moved away from her nipple and began to hungrily lick the rest of the breast. He moved to the next breast and practically devoured it, making the ache between her legs throb.

A soft curse grabbed her attention just as her mind registered the loss of Tristan’s mouth. She looked up to find Tristan absently rubbing a hand over his injured shoulder as he skimmed his fingers over her breast. Realizing that he was still in pain was like a bucket of ice being poured over her, effectively pulling her out of her sexual haze and giving way to common sense.