Perfectly Able (18 page)

“Nothing!” I yelled
, unable to keep the aggravation from being reflected in my voice. “Go on, Ridge. I’ll be fine.” I could feel the hot tears burning the corners of my eyes. Frustration filled every cell of my body. Squeezing my eyes shut, I painfully inhaled air into my lungs.

I didn’t have to look to know the blister on my residual limb was the source of my agony. I wanted to close my eyes and make the pain go away, not just the physical pain but the emotional pain, too. I didn’t want Ridge to see me like this, to know that I couldn’t finish the training session
.

Ridge stooped on his haunches. “Let me help you, Ava,” he said softly, his breathing only slightly labored.

I gulped in a breath of air. “Damn it! I don’t need your help, Ridge. I’m perfectly able to make it on my own.” I rose back to my feet, but as soon as I applied pressure to my prosthesis, I sank back to the ground.

Hot tears seeped beneath my lids as I closed them tightly. I was exhausted, in
extreme pain, and terribly embarrassed.

“The parking lot is still a good
distance away. Let me help you.”

“No. I don’t want y
our help.”

Before I knew what he was doing, he scooped me into his arms. “We all need help sometimes, Ava,” he said, his vo
ice as soothing as the lake water gently lapping against the bank. “Will you let me help you?”

I nodded my head as I threw my arms around his neck and squeezed. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed being in his arms until I was once again wrapped in the security that his embrace offered. His warm hands wrapped around my leg
s and torso, and he carried me toward the car effortlessly as if he hadn’t just run several miles. I buried my face in his neck as the tears spilled down my cheeks. I didn’t want him to see.

“I gotcha, my sweet, sweet Ava,” he whispered, placing a light kiss on my temple.

Not even knowing why, I cried even harder. There was something comforting about being this close to Ridge Sutherland and hearing his soft, soothing voice, about feeling safe in his strong yet gentle grasp. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel quite so lonely.

I didn’t know when it had happened, but somewhere between showing up at the cabin door and this moment of being carried in his arms, Ridge had earned my trust. He was a good man, and not only did I want him, I needed him.

He carried me to my car and carefully lowered my legs to the pavement. I released his neck and wiped away any remaining tears. “Thank you,” I whispered.

His hand cupped my nape, and his lips grazed mine. “I’m following you to your apartment.”

“That’s not necessary. I’ll be fine.”

“I wasn’t asking.”

I nodded. “Okay.” I fished my car keys out of my pocket and gritted me teeth against the pain as I slid in behind the steering wheel. Once Ridge was inside his Camaro, I backed out and watched him in my rearview mirror as he followed me.

When I pulled into the parking spot in front of my apartment
, he pulled in beside me and hurried to my door. He offered me his hand.

I dangled my keys in front of him. “
Would you mind going in and getting my crutches?”

“
What? And miss out on the chance to have you in my arms again? There’s no way in hell.”

“Ridge,” I said in an authoritative voice, shaking my keys until they clanked together to help get my point across.

“Come on, Ava. We don’t need crutches.”

“
We
don’t, but
I
do.”

He dropped down on his haunches, placing his warm palms on my knees. “I’d like to think that if the tables were turned, you’d carry me in. You would, wouldn’t you?” The muscles of his forearms flexed as he gently squeezed my knees.
He watched me, and his eyes seemed to turn from amber to a darker hazel.

“
I might be willing to throw you over my shoulder like a sack of dog food...or a corpse.”

He shot me a crooked grin. “There’s something very unhealthy about your fascination with dead men.”

Before I could respond, he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.

Giggling, I could feel the blood rushing
to my head as I pounded his back with my fists. “Put me down.”

He smacked me on the butt. “Behave. You don’t want to find out what happens to bad girls.”

Laughing as he began to walk down the sidewalk, I managed to lock my car with my key fob. I grabbed at his shirt, bunching it in my fists. “Ridge, put me down.”

I was rewarded with a
nother slap across my butt, and I shrieked in response, my voice carrying across the parking lot. By the time we reached my apartment door, I was out of breath due to a combination of being tossed over his shoulder and laughing harder than I had in weeks.

He carefully set me down in front of my door, his hands firmly grasping each side of my waist to steady me.

Taking my keys from my hand, he unlocked the door, opened it, and handed my keys back to me.

“You want to come in?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound as eager as I felt.

“Sure.” He scooped me back up and pushed the door shut behind us with his foot. When he carefully deposited me on the couch, I held firmly to his neck, refusing to let go. “I don’t believe you ever told me what happens to bad girls,” I whispered in his ear, my demeanor suddenly serious.

He turned his head, his lips finding mine. He pushed
me back onto the couch, his body poised above me as he held himself up with his arms. One knee rested between my legs, pressing against the apex of my thighs, while the other rested on the outer edge of the cushions.

I closed my eyes as he devoured me,
his tongue tempting, tasting, and my body shivered with anticipation. It had been so long since a man had been this close to me, and longing coursed through my most intimate parts like an electrical current.

He
cupped my breast through my thin shirt, and my nipple hardened in response. His hand moved lower, sliding over my abdomen as his fingertips dipped into the waistband of my shorts. He captured my moan in his mouth as his hand slid lower still, his fingertips skimming along my skin until they were under the edge of my panties. I lifted my hips off the couch, hoping to encourage him to do something about my overwhelming need for his touch. In an achingly slow process, his hand rhythmically moved closer and closer to the source of my need. When his fingers finally parted my flesh and teased my nub, I closed my eyes, my breathing uneven. His lips left my mouth and skimmed my jawline, dropping to my neck as he scooted farther down the couch, allowing him easier access to my sensitive flesh.

My hips moved rhythmically with h
is strokes as his fingers teased me, creating a burning need for more of him.

He pressed his hips against my leg, his rigid hard-on unforgiving against the soft flesh of my thigh.
“My sweet Ava,” he whispered. “You feel so damn good.”

My breath came out in pants as he stroked me.

“Hot and wet,” he said as he continued to tease.

I couldn’t think. All I knew was that I didn’t want him to stop.

His fingers were like magic as they massaged me into the sweetest form of torment.
I clung to him, fistfuls of fabric clutched in my hands. The anticipation continued to build as the tip of his finger slipped inside me, easing in and out as he went deeper and deeper until he finally plunged his finger inside me, filling me to the hilt. I cried out as ecstasy exploded within me, making me tremor with pleasure.

His mouth found mine again, swallowing my screams.

When I finally lay limply beneath him, he whispered, “And that my dear, sweet Ava, is what happens to bad girls.”

“Remind me to be bad more often,” I
whimpered.

Chapter 13

Ridge

Propping my arms against the shower wall, I s
tood motionless, my chin almost touching my chest, as the steaming water sluiced over my aching muscles. I’d left abruptly after pleasuring Ava, and now that two days had passed, I still couldn’t get her response out of my mind. My morning run had done nothing to get her out of my head. If anything, it had only given me more time to think about her.

I should have stopped myself before things had gotten too far, but everything about her was so freaking sweet, her personality, her scent. Damn, I got hard just thinking about her.
I’d wanted her so badly, more than I’d ever remembered wanting a woman. Had it been anyone else, I would’ve finished what I’d started. But it had been Ava, and she’d been through so much already. And I knew I didn’t want a relationship, not the kind that she wanted. One day, I would, but I’d made myself a promise not to let women get between me and my goals. Women were dangerous. They made men forget their purposes.

Turning my face up into the water, I finished showering. I had to meet Ava to close on my house in an hour. I hadn’t talked to her since I’d escaped her apartment
except for a very brief final walk-through of the home I intended to purchase. I had claimed that I had to hurry and get back to work, but in reality, I didn’t want to be alone with her. Before I’d left, she’d reminded me about the time and place of the closing, and I’d quickly acknowledged the information. All business. And while I knew that’s the way it needed to be, I also knew it would be hazardous being close to Ava again. She made me want to push my goals to the back burner, to breathe in her essence, to forget all the things that I’d drilled into my brain over the past eleven years. I’d spent two solid days thinking of nothing but her, and I knew she was poison to my well-laid plans. The fact that I was getting closer and closer to saying to hell with those plans was what scared me the most. None of the other women that I’d dated had ever pushed me into that territory. But with Ava, I was teetering on the brink and every time I saw her, she pushed me a little closer to the cliff. Remembering her face as she had responded to my touch made me want to jump.

When I walked into the cramped conference room at the title company, Ava sat alone with her back to me, golden curls casc
ading over her shoulders. I wanted nothing more than to twist those long strands of silk between my fingers and pull her head back, so that her lips were mine for the claiming.

Instead, I opted to walk up behind her and kiss her on the cheek, partly because I hadn’t spoken to her in two days and I didn’t want her to think I was being an ass and partly because I couldn’t help myself.

“Hello, sweet Ava,” I whispered in her ear as I pulled out the seat beside her and sat down.

“Hi, Ridge.” She didn’t look me in the eyes, opting instead to shuffle the papers in her hands.
I noted how sexy she looked in her dark suit, which contrasted sharply with her golden hair and the soft pink collar of her shirt. Perhaps she was aggravated with me, although I didn’t pick up any traces of that in her voice.

“Is your leg better?” I asked, hoping that it was
and realizing that if I hadn’t been so caught up in my memories of her having an orgasm at the touch of my hand, I would’ve, and should’ve, asked her that question sooner.

“
A little. Other than swimming, I probably won’t do too much more training between now and the triathlon. I have an appointment with my prosthetist to check whether my legs need any adjustments.”

“Good. You’ll be ready to kick some serious ass during the triathlon.”

She smiled and I realized how much I liked the professional look on her. She looked smart and sexy, and if I didn’t change my thought process, I was going to have a difficult time hiding my appreciation.

Another woman walked into the c
onference room, carrying a stack of papers, followed by the gentleman who owned the house I was about to purchase and his real estate agent.

After a good thirty minutes or more of signing papers, I was officially a homeowner
, and sliding my very own home’s keys in my pocket felt damn good.

Ava walked me to my car and held her hand out to me. “Well, congratulations,” she said, her hair blowing in the cool October wind. “One more thing you can mark off your list.”

A grin broke across my face, and I rubbed my fingertips across my forehead. “You have no idea how long it took me to get to this point.”

“I do this for a living. I do, actually, realize how difficult it is to build up credit and save for a down payment.
I’m not at that point yet, which is one of the reasons that I’m not a homeowner. Marking that off your list is quite an accomplishment, and you should be proud. Some people live their entire lives not knowing what it feels like to own their own place.”

I longed to reach out and catch the strand of hair blowing across her face and tuck it behind her ear, but I knew that if I did, I wouldn’t be able to stop there. I’d want to be with her, whether it was inviting her to a café for a cup of coffee or inviting her back to my place. Either way, I kept my fingertips shoved in my pockets, far away from h
er soft skin and her silky hair, far away from the one person that was difficult for me to resist.