But damn, she was fun to play with. And right now she wasn’t saying no. Oh, hell no, she wasn’t. Every sound she made, every movement of her body was screaming yes. Oh, hell yes. And she was touching him, grabbing onto him like a lifeline in the dark.
In the back of his mind, this all spelled epic disaster. Unfortunately his libido had taken over and all logic was gone. He had a sweet-smelling and willing woman in his arms and he intended to take full advantage of that.
He slid his tongue along her throat, felt the wild beat of her pulse in her neck, and he wanted to do anything and everything to drive that pulse up higher. He’d bet Ava could get really out of control, wondered if any man had done that to her before. Because what he’d seen of her so far led him to believe that she was oh so reserved, which made him want to tear away that reserve and find out just how wild she could be.
And maybe he was assuming, but he’d guess that she was just waiting for some guy to strip down the walls around her and release the animal.
He kissed along her neck, then her jaw, heard her inhale, then exhale as he neared her lips.
He cupped her jaw between his fingers and pressed his lips to her mouth. Her lips were soft, trembling, and as he pressed more firmly, she opened for him.
God, she was sweet. She tasted like innocence, something he hadn’t tasted much of in his lifetime. She wasn’t at all the type of woman he usually went for—he liked the wild, knew-exactly-what-they-wanted type. Ava was like forbidden fruit—which only made him want her more. He supposed he’d never quite gotten over wanting what he shouldn’t have, but damned if he was going to care about that right now. He gathered her close and slid his tongue inside to find hers, testing the waters.
She wrapped her tongue around his and whimpered. She was hot, and he was getting hotter, especially when she wriggled her body against his, making his c**k jerk against his jeans, reminding him of just how long it had been since he’d taken the time to be with a woman. Work had occupied him for too damn long.
Now it was time to play. And he intended to play all night long with Ava. He swept one hand inside her open jacket, smoothed it along the curve of her hip and over, letting his fingers press in on the upper part of her ass. She moaned into his mouth and moved closer to him, jacking his pulse up yet another notch. He tilted his head so he could deepen the kiss, used his other hand to slide along her back so he could crush her br**sts against his chest. Oh, yeah.
He slid her jacket off, letting it drop to the floor. He grasped her wrists, held onto her, pulled her closer, and felt her full br**sts bang against his chest. Damn she had nice br**sts. He couldn’t wait to touch them, to bare them so he could lick and kiss them. Ava had one incredible body and he wanted to see it all. Maybe he’d turn the lights back on. It was way too dark in here.
None of this was going to happen fast enough—too many clothes between them. It was time to start shedding some leather.
Until someone opened and slammed a door in one of the rooms.
Ava tensed, her whole body going rigid as if she expected someone to bust through the door. Not that they would since he’d locked it. But her response told him a lot of things, the main one that she wasn’t relaxed, wasn’t ready for this. That was enough. Rick knew right then this wasn’t going to happen. He let her slide off his lap and he stood, bending down to retrieve her jacket.
“What are you doing?”
“Let’s go see if we can find Bo and Lacey.” He found the light, switched it on, and immediately wished he hadn’t. Her lips were puffy from his kisses, her hair messed up and out of its ponytail. She looked as wild as he’d imagined she’d been, her eyes a little glassy, her ni**les tight points against whatever flimsy bra contained them.
Damn. And his c**k was in no mood to be contained.
He cleared his throat and held out her jacket. “Ready to go?”
She lifted her chin, looked hurt. “Yeah, sure.” She stood, took the jacket, and put it on, wrapping it around herself like armor.
He hadn’t meant to hurt her, but he knew better than to push a woman into something she wasn’t ready for, even if she thought she was.
And God knows he shouldn’t have been doing this in the first place. It was probably a good thing something had happened to slap him back into reality.
This was work time, not playtime, and he needed to remember that.
They went back downstairs and found Bo and Lacey in the kitchen. Ava went to Lacey right away, huddled with her to talk. It was like she didn’t want anything to do with him.
He’d keep his distance for now. More watching, less touching. Safer that way and would make him less likely to get too deeply involved in this assignment. Or at least the woman of this assignment.
Ava was mortified, hoped that her mortification didn’t show on her face.
She’d all but thrown herself on Rick in the bedroom, which was totally unlike her. She just didn’t do things like that. She didn’t have sex—or almost have sex—with strange guys. But she would have, if Rick hadn’t been the one to put an abrupt halt on things.
So while she’d been busy throwing herself at Rick, he’d obviously been busy wondering how he could politely change his mind and get himself out of the bedroom and away from her. God, how embarrassing.
Lacey, on the other hand, had pink cheeks, mussed up hair, and looked like she might have had really great sex. And judging from the stupid smile on her face, there was no might about it.
“You’re grinning like an idiot.”
Lacey’s smile widened. Then she giggled. “Really?”
“Yes.”
“Sorry. I can’t help myself. I’m in love.”
Ava sat at the kitchen island with Lacey and shook her head. “You’re really gone over this guy, huh?”
Lacey sighed. “Yeah. I am. He’s wonderful, Ava.”
Ava swiveled around on the barstool and caught sight of Bo and Rick drinking beers and engaged in conversation with a couple other guys in the living room. She turned back to Lacey. “Okay, so tell me what’s so wonderful about him.” So wonderful that you quit school and completely changed your life.
“Everything. He’s romantic, gorgeous, sexy . . . he really pays attention to me, Ava. It’s like I’m the only woman around when I’m with him. I’ve never met anyone like him before.”
“You hadn’t really dated a bunch of guys, either.”