She looked at Alex's face, deceptively handsome. He smelled too darned good, dressed like a Nordstrom's window mannequin, and that Saunders money was sewn into every piece of his hand-tailored clothing. Clearly she was losing it even considering the alliance. Nothing was that good. She may not have had much, but her self-respect she would never sell, and entering in a contract with Alex was tantamount to sticking a for sale sign on her forehead.

He was as hardheaded as she; that much had not changed about him. A keg of dynamite wouldn't move him from the door. She wondered if something much subtler but just as powerful would.

She reached behind him again for the knob, but this time she pressed her entire body into his. His eyes went wide for a millisecond and the corner of his jaw twitched. Her heart fluttered delightfully, but she worked to control resolve and pressed there into him just long enough to feel him shift slightly. Melting – she hoped. Enough for her to open the door and leave him, slamming it shut in his face.

His firm chin lifted, and those black eyes of his skittered over her face but he still did not move. "You feel better than I remember," his voice was low, the sexy tone of a trombone.

Her knees were embarrassingly close to shaking, so she locked them. He felt like a rock all the way down: hard, strong and just as intense as she remembered. For a moment she wondered what drove that intensity through him. It made her feel like she could be both crushed and consumed, and yet still savor the experience.

For years, he'd used that slick, mean tongue to torment her. He was doing it again, and she was strong enough to take it. But she had ways of tormenting. Letting go of the knob, she reached a hand up, her fingers slowly trailing the lapel of his leather jacket, fingering their way toward his face.

The hollow at the base of his throat thrummed with his quickened pulse, and as her eyes wandered the tight skin of his neck, down where his white shirt was spread open, she had the flash of desire to reach her hand beneath the opening and search for the beat of his heart.

His chest lifted in breath then held. That pleased her. Finally, she was burrowing into a weakness. Her lazy study of him wound its way to his mouth, and she purposefully licked her lips. His throat constricted, and against the full length of her, his body shifted to marble. So tight, she felt her own body tingle wondering if he might burst right there on the spot.

When their eyes finally leveled, it was deliciously satisfying to watch the black struggle going on in him. Alex Saunders may have hated her once, but he wanted her now.

No stranger to the hunger of desire in men, Lauren had never used her power as a woman like this before. But with Alex, she'd use any weapon necessary, even if it placed her in danger. She'd fought and won before, and she would do it again.

Finally, his chest moved and she heard him breathe. He let out a sigh, moved aside and opened the door for her.

"Consider my offer carefully," he told her, letting her pass.

She only looked at him as she went through the door. Her stride was confident and sure, with just enough swing in her hips to ensure that his mouth still watered, his nerves still ticked. Purposefully, she kept pace in front of him. Her car wasn't far, and he'd parked his sleek, black BMW right next to it. How convenient, she thought, hoping her back view was making his blood roar.

Growing up in front of mirrors she'd learned how she looked from every angle, so when she slipped her key into the lock, she bent over just enough that her backside rounded temptingly. She stole a glance at Alex's taut face.

The shudder of satisfaction she enjoyed was childish, yes, and she shouldn't be playing with fire, but it felt so good to get him back. And the discomfort she would cause him now would go with him long after she popped into her car and disappeared.

Utterly pleased wielding her feminine power, Lauren went to open the door of her car but his hand shot over her shoulder, slamming the door to keep it in place. Before she could catch her breath he had her pinned against the car with that body she'd helped turn to rock. Fire trembled through her, lighting every cell, spreading fast, furiously through her system. Her breasts squashed into the window. The hard plane of his pelvis shoved her hips flush with the car. His knees pressed hers into the door. Reflexively she turned her head toward him, ready to bite his head off, but the heat of his breath against her bare neck stole her words.

"I know exactly what you're doing, Lauren." Like a snake he moved his head around to the other side of her head, and she jerked to avoid him. His lips feathered against her ear. "I've always known."

Her heart raced, felt like it would break the glass of her car door when he pressed more deeply into her. "You're hurting me," she whispered angrily.

He didn't ease up. "No I'm not. You like it. You like the way it feels, I can tell."

Fury mixed with despicable desire. Sweat broke her flesh. Wriggling, she tossed her head back in frustration riding too close on the wave of slick pleasure that was truth.

"Let me go." As strong as she was, she could not beat the pure, raw physical male of him that nature had created to conquer and dominate.

Suddenly she could breathe. He'd stepped back. Air swarmed around her, lifting her skirt, cooling hot skin. She whirled around, ready to slug him.

He lifted both hands in surrender. "I don't care if we play, babe. But if you're going to use your womanly gifts, be ready, because I'll fight back like any hot-blooded man."

He backed to his car. There was no smile of conquest, no teasing spark in the depths of his eyes. The hard lines of his face were as serious as she had ever seen them, serious and determined and infallible.

She didn't breathe until he got in his car. Only after he'd driven out of the parking lot did she pound the top of her car with an angry fist, and blow out air. He'd done it. That feeling from so many years ago was stirring now, coming to life like a slick, devilish cobra, its tongue tickling and teasing, uncoiling inside – just for him.