“You could tempt a man to sin looking like that.”

Ava shot up and grabbed her cover-up, shielding her face from the sun. A silhouette stood in the bright sunlight, a dark shadow she couldn’t make out. She grabbed her bag, then scrambled to her feet, hoping to hell someone else was on this stretch of beach besides her and some stranger. What the hell was she thinking coming out here alone?

“Ava.”

Her whole body went rigid. “Rick?” She fished into her bag for her sunglasses, slid them on. He stood there, barefoot in jeans and a sleeveless muscle shirt, holding his boots in his hand. His dark sunglasses made him look reckless, sexy, like the bad boy she figured him to be. Her legs went weak. “What are you doing here?”

“I came here to find you, to talk to you.” He pushed his sunglasses up on his head.

She should be angry with him—furious, in fact—not falling to his feet in a gush of female libido. “Why?”

“Because what I said back in Vegas . . . I didn’t want you to hear that.”

Her anger rushed to the surface. She preferred that to being so damn glad to see him. “Obviously.”

“No, you don’t understand.” He grabbed her hands and pulled her down to sit in the sand with him. “It wasn’t what I meant, what I felt.”

“Why did you say it?”

“Because that’s what I wanted Bo to think.”

She cocked her head to the side. “I don’t understand.”

“In order to get back into the Hellraisers I have to prove my worthiness.”

“And treating a woman like shit is the way to do it?”

He rubbed a spot above his brow with his fingertip. “No, but telling him that I cared about you puts me in a bad position.”

She didn’t know how to respond to that. Was he saying he cared about her? “Why?”

“I’m not sure I can explain this well.”

“Try.”

“I’ve been gone for ten years. I just came back. They want me to be free to work for them, to ride with them. You’re not one of the Hellraisers.”

“Oh. So if you hooked up with me, I’d be a hindrance to you doing that.”

He nodded. “It’s a shitty excuse, I know. I didn’t expect him to ask me about you. So I shot off that you meant nothing to me, that you were just a fuck. They were just words said to placate him. I didn’t expect you to be there to hear them.”

“You didn’t mean them.”

“No. I didn’t.”

“But you still said them.”

“Yes.”

“They hurt me.”

He looked down at the sand, then swept his gaze back to her. “I know. And I’m sorry. It was thoughtless. I was an asshole.”

If she were smart, she wouldn’t believe him. She’d tell him to turn around and head back to Las Vegas. That she wasn’t interested in his explanations or excuses. That they were over. That they never had anything to start with.

But she did believe him. He’d come all the way to Mexico to explain to her, to apologize. What kind of man did that?

“If it would make you feel better you could throw sand at me.”

She laughed. Damn him. “I can’t believe you’re here. You came all the way here just to see me? You could have called me.”

“I could have. But this kind of needed to be handled face-to-face.”

“You could have waited until I got back.”

He shifted, rubbed his hands together to wipe the sand off. “I didn’t want to wait. Besides, I missed you.”

She looked away, stared out at the water. “Don’t say that.”

He tipped her chin, forced her gaze back to his. “Why not?”

Her eyes filled with tears and she hated herself—and him—because of it. She pulled her sunglasses off and looked at him. “I don’t want to care about you, Rick.”

He paused, then lifted a strand of her hair and sifted it through his fingers. “But you do.”

She wouldn’t admit it—refused to give him more ammunition to hurt her. Until he leaned in, and before she could object, fit his mouth over hers. The kiss was slow and easy—he wasn’t demanding, it was more like he was testing the waters.

God, she’d missed his mouth on hers. She sighed and pressed into him, felt weak and ridiculous for giving in so easily. She should have walked away. This man was trouble, was only going to hurt her.

But he’d come all the way to Mexico to apologize. What man did that?

Rick.

So as his lips brushed over hers, seeking, searching, all her resolve melted and she kissed him back, her answer—a resounding yes—to everything.

She was so easy. She was going to hate herself later for this. But right now he was pulling her onto his lap, onto his strong thighs, and wrapping his arms around her, deepening the kiss until she was heated all over. And it felt so good—so right. She couldn’t muster up any reasonable objections to why she shouldn’t be with him.

As long as she guarded her heart.

He dragged his lips across her chin, spreading hot kisses along her throat. She felt the mad beat of her pulse against his lips and tilted her head back, not caring that they were on the beach where anyone could see them. No one knew her here—she was a stranger. Even if someone did see them, it wasn’t like she was ever coming back to this place again. And she didn’t want this moment to end.

She shifted, rocked against him, riding his c**k through the denim of his jeans.

Rick grinned. “Out here?”

“Yes.”

“I have a better idea.”

He put his hands under her buttocks and stood, carrying her over to a secluded cove where the water met the rocks.

“Your jeans are getting wet,” she said as he rested her back against the cool rock and set her on her feet.

“I don’t care.” He planted his lips on hers and she soon forgot all about his jeans, or anything else. All she knew was his hard c**k against her sex, splintering her with pleasure that rocked her senses.

She wanted more of it. She wanted him inside her. Now.

“Rick, please.”

He leaned back, his gaze questioning. “You want to do this upstairs in your room?”

She shook her head. “No. Here. Now.”

His face was as filled with the dark, ravenous need that she felt inside as he dug a condom out of his pocket, then took a quick glance around, making sure they were alone.

He unzipped his pants and pulled out his cock, and she couldn’t resist wrapping her fingers around it. So hot, thick, pulsing with life.

“Christ, Ava. You’re going to make me explode.”

She liked knowing she had that effect on him. She stroked him while he tore open the condom package. He brushed her hand away, then reached between them to pull the fabric of her bikini aside.

The first touch of his hand against her bare flesh made her gasp, lift up on her toes to drive against his palm. He rubbed her sex, used her own moisture to lubricate her clit.

She’d done nothing but think about him, think about how good the sex had been between them. That in itself had been foreplay. And out here in the heat, with the waves crashing against them, she was already so close to orgasm it was embarrassing.

Rick leaned into her, his gaze hard and direct as he watched her.

“Come on,” he said, driving his palm against her cl*tas his finger slipped inside her pussy. “Let me feel you come, Ava.”

The touch of his hand against her, the way he looked at her, coupled with their forbidden location, was all too much, ratcheting up her excitement to a frenzied level. She gripped his wrist, held him right where she needed. She moved against him and her cl**ax rushed at her like an overpowering wave. She kept her focus on Rick, letting him see what his touch had done to her.

His smile was devastating, the darkness in his eyes making her throb inside.

He jerked her bikini bottom down and placed it on the rock ledge above her head, then lifted her legs, wrapping them around him. Ava held onto his shoulders while he guided her onto his cock.

Sweet heaven. She pulsed around him, gripped him in a tight vise that overwhelmed her senses. He rocked against her, thrusting slow and easy at first, then harder, dragging his c**k over her sensitive tissues until all she could do was squeak out breathless pants.

But no words were necessary because they spoke to each other with their bodies, communicating in a way that said everything. She dug her nails into his shoulders and he grunted, driving deep until she cried out because it both hurt and felt so good. Her back scraped the rock as he f**ked her, but she had no complaints. She wanted him deep inside her, f**king her fast, because she was going to come again.

“Oh yeah, just like that,” he said, and she knew he felt her pu**y contracting around him. She tilted her head back and watched with him where their bodies were joined, knew he enjoyed watching his c**k slide in and out of her. She held back, wanting to suspend this moment, holding her breath as if that very act could hold back the rushing tide of her cl**ax.

But then he lifted his gaze to hers.

“Ava,” he said, his fingers digging into the flesh of her hips. “Come on my dick.”

With a hard shudder, she let go, her orgasm catapulting her to a place where logic had no play—only mindless pleasure.

Rick went with her, thrusting hard against her once, twice, before letting out a guttural cry that was lost in the crash of the waves. He pulled her against him and she held tight to him, allowing herself to just feel every pulsing sensation of him rocking inside her, of her own body’s response to being with him.

She’d never experienced anything so perfect.

When he let her down so her feet touched the ground, she realized how shaky she was. He kept his arm around her waist until she found her footing. She laughed, looking at the bottom of his jeans, soaked by the water rising up around them.

“I hope you brought swim trunks.”

“I did.”

“Maybe you should change.”

“Maybe I should.”

He did and they spent time playing in the water together. After, they spread towels out and laid on the beach, soaking up the sun.

This was so much better than reading a book in her room. Or, she had to admit, hanging out with Lacey, who’d turned out to be a dud.

Rick rolled over onto his stomach, his hair flicking water onto her breasts. She laughed and rubbed the water off.

“Keep playing around with those and we’ll be back where we started.”

She laughed. “Is that so bad?”

“No.” He tipped his head toward the hotel. “Where’s Lacey?”

Ava turned on her side to face him. “Passed out in her room again, I imagine.”

“Again?”

She nodded “She’s either going nonstop talking and running me ragged, or out cold.”

“So you haven’t been having a good time?”

She shrugged. “I thought Lacey and I would reconnect like we used to. I see now that’s not going to happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think it took this trip to make me realize she’s not the same person she once was. She doesn’t live the same lifestyle. She’s different. And maybe so am I. We can’t seem to communicate anymore . . . at least from my perspective.”

“You’ve grown apart.”

“I guess.” She picked up a handful of sand and sifted it through her fingers. “I feel kind of stupid for doing this.”

He frowned. “For doing what?”

“For coming to bike week and trying to immerse myself in her life, become what she is. For coming to Mexico with her. I realize now that she has her life and I have mine, and they don’t mesh anymore.”

Rick smoothed his hand over her hair. “You were worried about your friend. That’s admirable.”

She shrugged. “Not that it did much good. I thought I could make her into who she used to be. I can’t do that.”

“At least you found that out.”

“You’re right. I needed to know that.”

“And now you can let her go and move on with your life.”

“Sort of.”

“What do you mean?”

She sat up. “I’m still worried.”

He sat, too. “About Lacey?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me what’s bothering you.”

“You’ll think it’s stupid. Plus, your cousin is involved.”

“I’m not married to Bo, Ava. If something’s bothering you about him, I’d like to know about it.”

She studied him, the sincere look of concern on his face. He had come all the way down here to find her, to apologize to her. That meant he cared. Even if they didn’t have a long-term relationship in the works, she felt he was someone she could trust.

And even if she and Lacey were no longer tight, she wasn’t going to just walk away if she had concerns.

“Why does Bo keep sending Lacey down here?”

“To Mexico?”

“Yes. She told me he gifts her with a trip down here once a month at least. Don’t you find that strange?”

He shrugged. “What’s strange about it?”

“I’m not stupid, Rick. I know what goes on with the Hellraisers.”

“Do you? Then why don’t you tell me?”

“I think they’re running drugs. And I think Bo is using Lacey as a mule to carry drugs from Mexico into the U.S.”

Whoa. Rick had to bite his tongue to keep from spitting out a response to Ava’s accusation.

Because she was dead-on right. But how had she figured it out? He’d have to play things pretty close. The less she was involved the better.