Chapter 4

four

?. . .?

Ava

The bell above the door jingles and I glance up from the shelves I'm restocking to see Ryan striding into my bookshop. Memories of his fingers buried inside me yesterday send a hot flush across my skin.

"Close up, Ava. I'm taking you to dinner," he commands, his deep voice brooking no argument.

My mouth goes dry. I swallow hard and nod, not trusting myself to speak. As I hurry to flip the sign to "Closed" and lock the front door, I'm acutely aware of Ryan's intense gaze following my every move. The air crackles with unspoken tension.

I grab my purse from behind the counter, my fingers fumbling nervously with the strap. When I turn around, Ryan is right there, crowding into my space. The spicy scent of his cologne invades my senses.

"Ready?" he asks, one eyebrow quirked.

"Y-yes," I stammer, pulse racing as memories of our forbidden tryst replay in my mind—his rough hands gripping my hips, his hardness pressing against me...

I shake my head to clear the scandalous thoughts. Ryan takes my elbow and guides me out the back, his touch searing through my cardigan. I pray he can't feel me trembling as we walk to his car. What is happening to me? I'm not this wanton woman who lets a near stranger take such liberties. And yet, I cannot resist his pull, consequences be damned.

The door shuts with a note of finality and Ryan puts the car in gear. I chance a glance at his chiseled profile.

He doesn't speak as he drives us, and I'm so nervous I can't speak either.

So we sit in a charged silence under we get to our destination.

The restaurant Ryan chooses is dimly lit and intimate. Surprisingly, it's one I've never been to, and I've been almost everywhere here.

We're sitting secluded in a back booth, knees brushing beneath the table, and the rest of the world falls away. I fidget with my water glass, hyperaware of his closeness.

"So tell me about yourself, Ava," Ryan prompts, his deep baritone sending shivers down my spine. "What's a beautiful woman like you doing all alone in this small town?"

I lift one shoulder in a shrug, trying to appear casual despite my racing heart. "I've always lived here. The bookshop was my grandmother's—it's my life now. My safe haven." Until he upended everything.

"Hmm." His blue eyes study me intently, seeing too much.

I flush at his heated gaze. "What about you? You never did tell me what you do." I boldly meet his gaze. Two can play at this game.

Ryan's jaw clenches and he looks away. "I'm a cop from the city. I'm on mandatory leave. There was...an incident. A suspect…I broke protocol. The slimeball hit a woman, so I shot him. He didn't die, but I was supposed to just arrest him—not seek vigilante justice." He scoffs, "They thought I should take some time away to clear my head."

My heart clenches and melts at the same time. He was trying to protect a woman, and it might have cost him his job. Impulsively, I reach across the table and lay my hand over his. "I'm so sorry, Ryan. That must be really hard."

His hand turns beneath mine, fingers intertwining. The pad of his thumb strokes across my sensitive skin and I barely suppress a gasp. Electric currents zing through my body at the simple touch.

"Ava." His eyes blaze into mine, dark with emotion and something more feral.

Desire.

Possession .

The intensity steals my breath. This connection between us...it defies reason. I should run far away from this man and the dangerous feelings he evokes. But I'm caught in his orbit, a satellite helpless to resist his gravitational pull.

Abruptly, Ryan signals for the check, tossing bills on the table. "Let's get out of here." His tone brooks no argument.

Pulse pounding, I follow him out into the night.

The short drive back to the bookshop passes in a blur, the cool night air doing nothing to douse the heat simmering under my skin. Ryan's hand rests possessively on my thigh, branding me through the thin fabric of my dress.

We barely make it through the door before he's on me, crowding me back against the nearest bookshelf. Novels topple to the floor unheeded as his solid frame presses into my softer curves, igniting flames of desire that lick through my veins.

"I've wanted to do this all night," he rasps, breath hot against my neck. "You're driving me crazy, Ava."

"Ryan..." His name escapes on a breathy moan as his lips blaze a trail along my jaw. Large hands grip my hips, fingers digging deliciously into my flesh.

I'm drowning in sensation, my mind clouding with lust. I know I should stop this, put some distance between us. But my body betrays me, arching into his touch, silently begging for more.

Cool air kisses my heated skin as he drags down the zipper of my dress. It pools at my feet and I shiver, from the chill and the molten look in Ryan's eyes as he takes me in. Like a wolf sizing up his prey.

"Beautiful," he breathes reverently, callused palms gliding over my sides to cup my heavy breasts. I gasp as he rolls the hardened peaks between his fingers, sparks of pleasured pain shooting straight to my core.

"Please..." I whimper, not even knowing what I'm asking for. I just need him to quench this inferno he's stoked to life inside me.

Fisting a hand in my hair, Ryan tilts my head back and crashes his mouth over mine in a commanding kiss. It's hot, wet, and filthy—a brutish claiming that steals the air from my lungs and the strength from my knees.

His tongue delves deep, stroking over mine in blatant imitation of the carnal act our bodies crave. He tastes of whiskey and sin and broken promises, an addictive flavor I know I'll never get enough of.

Kissing Ryan is a revelation, the rest of the world fading away until there is only this—his hard body aligned with mine, the scrape of his stubble against my tingling lips, the wicked thrust of his tongue that sends bolts of lust sizzling down my spine.

I'm lost to the drugging passion, my fingers fisting in the fabric of his shirt as I pull him impossibly closer, wanting to crawl inside his skin. My thighs part in wanton invitation, the damp lace of my panties an undeniable testament to my arousal.

Ryan takes ruthless advantage, notching a powerful thigh between mine, the thick muscle pressing right where I'm throbbing and aching for his touch. Unbidden, my hips rock against him, seeking a firmer pressure, silently begging him to sate the clawing need building in my core.

He tears his mouth from mine with a harsh groan, the sound reverberating through the air between us. "Fuck, Ava. You're killing me."

His voice is little more than a growl, eyes blazing down at me with an intensity that steals my breath. I've never seen a man like this—on the verge of losing ironclad control because of me .

There's a predatory edge to his gaze that should terrify me but only makes me burn hotter, an answering wildness rising up from someplace hidden deep inside.

I want him to unleash it. Devour me. Brand his mark on my skin for all the world to see. Consequences no longer matter—only assuaging this fever pitch need that threatens to consume me.

Blindly, I reach between us, hands shaking slightly as I attack the fastenings of his jeans. Just as I get the button free, tugging on the zipper, a sudden noise from outside shatters the lust-soaked haze enveloping us.

We jerk apart, panting harshly, staring at each other with passion-glazed eyes as the reality of what almost happened crashes down like a bucket of ice water. Common sense filters back in, dousing the flames.

Ryan scrubs a hand over his face, muttering something under his breath. "I should go check that out, make sure everything's safe."

The words are like a knife to my heart but I nod anyway, knowing it's for the best. If he stayed, we'd wind up naked and sweaty, with him buried to the hilt inside me. And then everything would change in ways I don't think either of us is ready for.

Disappointment and frustration carve hollow aches in my chest as he zips up and steps back, putting necessary space between us before the tenuous hold on our control snaps again.

"I'll be right back, Ava," he rumbles as he turns away, the set of his broad shoulders tense. Three long strides carry him out the door, the bell tinkling forlornly in his wake.

Leaving me to slump against the bookshelf in a boneless heap, my blood still thrumming with unsated arousal, staring blankly at his retreating back.

When he comes back, I feign a headache and apologetically bid him goodnight.

The look on his face tells me he's not buying it for a minute, but he doesn't press me.

I'm both disappointed and relieved.

Sleep is a long time coming that night, my body restless and wound tight. I toss and turn until the wee hours, replaying every moment of that searing kiss. The feel of Ryan's hands on my skin, the taste of his lips, the delicious heat and hardness pressing me into the bookshelf...

It haunts my fevered dreams, tormenting me with pleasure just out of reach. I wake gasping his name, my heart aching and my thighs clenched together to ease the incessant throbbing at their apex.

Damn him. Damn my traitorous body. Damn this inexplicable connection drawing us together against all rhyme and reason.

I drag myself through my morning routine in a daze, exhaustion and frustration warring for dominance as I open up the shop and go through the motions. But even as I try to focus on alphabetizing new arrivals, my mind drifts constantly back to him.

Ryan Callahan has turned my quiet, ordinary life upside down and inside out in the space of days. And I have a sinking suspicion he's only just getting started.

God help me, but I'm not sure I have the strength to resist. Or if I even want to anymore.

The day limps by in agonizing slowness. I startle at every creak and groan of the old building, half-expecting him to appear around every corner. But as the hours tick by, it becomes painfully clear that our heated encounter was nothing more than a momentary distraction for him.

Biting back my disappointment, I remind myself that it's for the best. I've always been better off alone anyway, living vicariously through the pages of my beloved novels. Safe from heartache and betrayal.

Ryan

I'm a damned fool, leaving her there like that. Wound up and wanting, same as me. What the hell was I thinking?

I wasn't. That's the problem. One taste of sweet Ava and my brain short-circuits, overridden by sheer animal lust. I've never lost control so fast, not even as a horny teenager.

I should have pushed her. She wouldn't have resisted me. I'd have her in my arms right now.

I've never been so turned inside out over a woman. There's something about Ava.

I know she's it for me. This woman is all I'm going to want for the rest of my life. The possessiveness I feel every time I think of her is more intense than any instinct I've ever had.

Pacing my rented cabin, I scrub a hand over my face and groan. I should be reviewing case files, trying to find a way to fight back against the case that got me benched. Instead all I can think about is lush curves, trembling sighs, slick heat clenching around my fingers as she shattered...

Fuck. At this rate, I'll be waking up to sticky sheets like some pimply adolescent. A cold shower and a few miles on the treadmill do nothing to drive Ava from my thoughts. Her scent clings to my skin, honeyed musk and old books.

She's an addiction already and I've barely touched her. Innocent and untouched, yet responding so eagerly, greedily taking what I gave her. Begging for more with those big green eyes when I withdrew.

Christ, I'm in trouble. I want to corrupt her, claim her, make her mine in every depraved way imaginable. Tie her to my bed and pleasure that succulent body until she screams.

Sleep is impossible, my cock throbbing painfully at vivid X-rated visions dancing behind my eyelids. Of Ava on her knees, looking up at me as she takes me into her mouth. Spread eagle, flushed and panting as I feast on her pretty pink pussy. Riding me hard and fast, tits bouncing, head thrown back in ecstasy...

I fist myself with rough, furious strokes, grunting as I spill over my hand, her name a reverent curse on my lips. But climax brings no relief, no lessening of the clawing need.

I'm going to have her. Consequences be damned. Ava Dawson is mine .