Abandoned but Not Alone by Theresa L. Henry

his sudden withdrawal Aviva stared
straight ahead, mortified at what had just taken place . ‘ My goodness ’ she thought
to herself , ‘ I ’ ve just been grinding
on a man I only met today, in the back of a car, and on the way to my best
friend ’ s wedding
reception. Who is this person, where did the real Aviva go?
    “ We ’ re just about to turn into the drive. You should have just about
enough time to repair your makeup before we arrive at our destination. ”
    “ Right, makeup … um, purse … where ’ s my purse, I can ’ t find my purse. ” She
mumbled searching the darkened interior of the car.
    “ It ’ s right here, Angel, ” Jason
murmured, handing her the small clutch.
    Aviva
whispered her thanks as she took the clutch from his extended hand, ensuring
she made no contact with his skin. Jason was instantly worried about her
withdrawal. It had not been his intention to move so quickly with her and
certainly not in the back of a car, but he wasn ’ t sorry. He may never have experienced such a connection with a
woman before, yet he was under no illusions as to what he was feeling and he
wasn ’ t about to let her
slip through his fingers. He knew she felt their chemistry, her reaction to him
as swift and intense as his to her. That intensity was no doubt the reason, as
they sat in the darkened interior of the car, why she was attempting to pull
away from him. He wasn ’ t going to
let it happen. If there was one thing Jason had learned from an early age was
how to fight: fight to claw his way out of the circumstances of his birth,
fight those who wanted to take away what he had, and fight for what he wanted;
he wanted Aviva.
    As the car
came to a stop outside the mansion the door was opened by the chauffeur. Jason
alighted first and extended his hand to assist Aviva. Ignoring his offer of
assistance, she preferred to get out under her own steam. The situation in the
car had got out of hand and she was determined it not happen again. She had
never acted so recklessly in her life, if Jason hadn't had the presence of mind
to be aware of their imminent arrival, she would have continued gyrating on top
of him until she came. Aviva didn ’ t attempt
to fool herself, the man was hot and it would seem he also had the ability to
make her act out of character, that one fact alone was enough to give her
pause. She needed distance from him to gather her thoughts; the mere touch of
his hands causing her to disregard all she had been taught about how a lady
should behave. Maybe with distance she would be able to reconcile the lady with
the woman and how he made her feel.
    The
entrance hall of the mansion shone resplendent with a magnificent chandelier
whose lights glistened off the predominantly black veined marble flooring,
giving the appearance of being inlaid with a million stars. Staff awaited
arriving guests with trays of champagne while others directed them to where the
party was in full swing.
    Not waiting
for Jason, Aviva wanted to put as much distance between them as possible.
Quickly glancing over her shoulder, although she told herself that she wouldn ’ t, she was confronted by the sight of
Jason standing with a woman draped across his body. Well that didn ’ t take long, Aviva thought, disgruntled
at the sight of the two very attractive people plastered together. Rolling her
eyes in dismissal, while muttering something about faithless men, she was
quickly swallowed up by the milling guests.
    Jason had
been watching her rapidly departing back and had caught her look of
displeasure. Pleased that she hadn ’ t liked the
idea of his being with another woman; he tried to extricate himself from the
clinging arms of an old flame with mistaken ideas of rekindling the flames of a
long extinguished affair. If Jason were honest, and he was to a fault, he didn ’ t even remember her name and this whole
clinging neck thing had never been his game. He had no intentions of getting
into a round of touchy-feely