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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 nipples tight points against
    whatever flimsy bra contained them.
    Damn. And his cock 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 al but thrown herself on Rick in the bedroom, which

    was total y 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 real y 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. “Real y?”
    “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 real y 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 tel 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 real y
    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 real y dated a bunch of guys, either.”

    “I dated enough. Al losers more interested in themselves
    than in me. Believe me, Ava, I know the difference between
    someone who genuinely cares about me and someone who
    doesn’t.”
    “Do you?” She hated saying it out loud, but it was important
    that Lacey knew Ava cared about her, worried about her. “You
    gave up school to chase this guy around.”
    Lacey frowned. “I didn’t chase him. He came after me. We
    met at a party and he started cal ing me and we went out. We
    just clicked, Ava. There was nothing and no one but the two of
    us after that.”
    Didn’t she know it. Lacey had al but fal en off the face of the
    earth after she’d met Bo. “But, Lacey . . . school. It was so
    important to you. To just walk away from getting your master’s
    when you were so