Driving Mr. Dead by Molly Harper

right where my head had rested just a minute before. Collin threw his arm over my head as glass tinkled down against his shoulders, the carpet around our heads.
    “It worked!” he exclaimed, grinning down at me. It was like the moon breaking through storm clouds, white and brilliant and welcome. His eyes slid down my skin to assess any damage.
    “Yes, throwing me to the ground was a very effective method of getting me out of bed.”
    “No, the light, I saw it—” He seemed so relieved that a tacky light fixture had nearly crashed into my head. “I saw it.”
    My brow furrowed. “I’m … glad?”
    He grinned down at me, and suddenly, I was acutely aware of the fact that he was sprawled between my unclad thighs. The silky fabric of his suit chafed pleasantly against my skin as his legs tangled with mine. He leaned in close, the faintest stirring of air against my lips.
    He leaned down, brushing his lips across mine tentatively, then pulling my lip into his mouth.
    “What are you doing?” I blurted out.
    He drew back. “What?”
    “You were kissing me,” I said, almost as shocked as I was amused. His mouth dropped open, and he was about to protest. “If you try topretend you weren’t, I will lose all respect for you.”
    “If I was kissing you, you would know,” he said solemnly.
    “You’re right, I hallucinated it,” I shot back.
    Lightning-fast, he struck, claiming my mouth with his. I felt the prick of his fangs as he worried my lip between his teeth. I moaned into his mouth, the cool slide of flesh over cool flesh. My fingers curled around his nape, feathering through the soft dark hair there. I tentatively swept the tip of my tongue against his lip and tasted the tangy sweetness of his mouth. He eagerly parted his lips and let his tongue dance with mine. His hands skimmed the length of my body, resting on my hips, tilted them to match his own.
    His hands slid under my butt, and he ground down. I hummed pleasantly around his tongue and felt a responding purr building in his chest. He was so cool to the touch. I expected him to be cold, hard, but this was such a soothing contrast to the heat of my own body. I flexed under him, just for the pleasure of feeling his skin slide against mine. He groaned and held me still with a quick grip of my hips.
    His mouth broke away from mine. “You really are the most interesting girl, did you realize?”
    I nodded. “I defy you to find anyone more interesting than me.”
    He grinned again and traced my uninjured fingers over his cheeks to his lips. He pressed the tip of one between his teeth and gently bit down, drawing a bit of blood. It seeped into his mouth, and I could feel every bump of his sandpaper tongue against the pad of my digit. With each draw against the wound, a strange pulsing energy edged up from between my thighs. I moaned, throwing my head back and grinding my hips up against him. The pulsing became a rolling riptide, dragging me over the edge—
    Too much, too much, too much! my brain screamed at me.
    What was I doing? What the hell was I thinking? Although we were on a break, so to speak, I was still technically involved with Jason. And if I got mad at him for cheating on me “emotionally” with Lisa, I couldn’t in good conscience get all grindy with Collin.
    Hell, what I was doing was worse. Jason seemed to have genuine feelings for Lisa. All I had for Collin were neuron-frying lust and the tender, green beginnings of mutual respect. Maybe this was some sort of Stockholm syndrome? I was stuck in increasingly bizarre situations with Collin, so I bonded to him emotionally? Maybe it was my brain’s way of preventing a total psychological break.
    Then again, considering that it was Collin who kissed me, maybe he was having the break. What was he thinking? The man who sneered at my “limitations” twenty-four hours ago couldn’t be the same guy who pinned me to the floor and kissed the hell out of me. Why was he doing this? Did he really like