Opposites Attract by Nora Roberts Read Free Book Online Page A

was refuse, as she had three years before.
    Without taking his eyes from hers Ty crossed the room, skirted crowded tables. He had Asher by the arm, drawing her to her feet before the rest of the group had greeted him.
    â€œWe’ll dance.” It was a command formed in the most casual tones. As on court, Asher’s decision had to be made in a tenth of a second. To refuse would have incited speculative gossip. To agree meant she had her own demons to deal with.
    â€œI’d love to,” she said coolly, and went with him.
    The band played a slow ballad at ear-splitting volume. The vocalist was flat, and tried to make up for it by being loud. Someone knocked a glass off a table with a splintering crash. There was a pungent scent of spilled wine. A bricklayer argued with a Mexican tennis champion on the proper way to handle a topspin lob. Someone was smoking a pipe filled with richly sweet cherry tobacco. The floorboards were slightly warped.
    Ty gathered her into his arms as though she had never been away. “The last time we were here,” he murmured in her ear, “we sat at that corner table and drank a bottle of Valpolicella.”
    â€œI remember.”
    â€œYou wore the same perfume you’re wearing now.” His lips grazed her temple as he drew her closer. Asher felt the bones in her legs liquefy, the muscles in her thighs loosen. “Like sun-warmed petals.” Her heartbeat was a light, uncertain flutter against his. “Do you remember what we did afterward?”
    â€œWe walked.”
    The two hoarsely spoken words seemed to shiver along his skin. It was impossible to keep his mouth from seeking small tastes of her. “Until sunrise.” His breath feathered intimately at her ear. “The city was all rose and gold, and I wanted you so badly, I nearly exploded. You wouldn’t let me love you then.”
    â€œI don’t want to go back.” Asher tried to push away, but his arms kept her pressed tight against him. It seemed every line of his body knew every curve of hers.
    â€œWhy? Because you might remember how good we were together?”
    â€œTy, stop it.” She jerked her head back—a mistake as his lips cruised lazily over hers.
    â€œWe’ll be together again, Asher.” He spoke quietly. The words seemed to sear into the tender flesh of her lips. “Even if it’s only once . . . for old times’ sake.”
    â€œIt’s over, Ty.” The claim was a whisper, the whisper unsteady.
    â€œIs it?” His eyes darkened as he pressed her against him almost painfully. “Remember, Asher, I know you, inside out. Did your husband ever find out who you really are? Did he know how to make you laugh? How,” he added in a low murmur, “to make you moan?”
    She stiffened. The music whirled around them, fast now with an insistent bass beat. Ty held her firmly against him, barely swaying at all. “I won’t discuss my marriage with you.”
    â€œI damn well don’t want to know about your
marriage.
” He said the word as if it were an obscenity as his fingers dug into the small of her back. Fury was taking over though he’d sworn he wouldn’t let it. He could still get to her. Yes, yes, that was a fact, he knew, but no more than she could still get to him. “Why did you come back?” he demanded. “Why the hell did you come back?”
    â€œTo play tennis.” Her fingers tightened on his shoulder. “To win.” Anger was growing in her as well. It appeared he was the only man who could make her forget herself enough to relinquish control. “I have every right to be here, every right to do what I was trained to do. I don’t owe you explanations.”
    â€œYou owe me a hell of a lot more.” It gave him a certain grim satisfaction to see the fury in her eyes. He wanted to push. Wanted to see her anger. “You’re going to pay for the three years you