He pushed her against the wall and pulled her jacket off, lifted her sweater over her head, then reached for her jeans. She did the same, her fingers fumbling as they hurried to strip clothes off. She kicked off her shoes while Rick jerked her jeans down. It would have been comical, this rush to undress, if Rick wasn’t looking at her with a heated gaze of lust and need in his eyes, a look that made her wet, that made her throb.

In the end, they only ended up half undressed. She still wore her bra, and her socks, and he still had his jeans on, but she managed to unzip him enough to reach for his cock, wrap her fingers around his hot, pulsing heat. He grabbed a condom and sheathed it around his shaft, then dragged her onto the floor, right there on her pristine, perfect rug.

She couldn’t have thought of a better spot to make love. He pulled her legs apart and plunged inside her, and she gasped at the perfection of it, at the way her body welcomed him.

“I’ve missed you inside me. This is where you belong.” She swept her hand across his face.

“I love you, Ava.”

She came almost as soon as he started moving against her, and he lifted his head and smiled at her in such a devastating, purely male way that it moved her to tears.

“Does coming always make you cry?”

“Only when you f**k me. Do it again.”

He shifted, rolled his h*ps over her, sliding against her cl*tas he thrust inside her, and then there were no more words as they had at each other with a primal passion. His fingers dug into her hips, hurt so good. She raked her nails over his arms, his back, needing him with a fierce possessiveness, as if she were marking him as hers forever.

Perhaps she was—in her own way. He reached underneath her, grabbed her butt to tilt her toward him so he could drive in deeper, then slid his finger down farther, teasing her anus. She gasped, raising her gaze to his, uttering a hoarse “yes” to him as he slid the tip of his finger inside her puckered hole and continued to f**k her.

“Like that?” he asked, his voice rough with need.

“Yes. God. Yes.”

“You’re mine, Ava. All of you.”

“Yes. And you’re mine.” She scored her nails down his back and he rewarded her by thrusting harder.

The sensation was incredible. He powered inside her again, his shaft rubbing her clit, his c**k inside her pussy, and his finger teasing her anus, and she went off again, this time with such intense spasms she cried out, holding tight to him. He thrust hard, then fell on top of her, shuddering as he came.

Ava held on to Rick, unable to believe this had really happened. He was here, he’d made love to her—he loved her. She stroked his sweat-soaked back, his hair, touching him in wonder.

He pulled her up and they finally undressed all the way, took a shower together, and got dressed. Ava fixed them something to eat and, as Rick sat there at her kitchen table drinking coffee, she realized her life was in utter disorder.

There were towels on the floor in her bathroom, her backpack had spilled all over the living room. God only knows what had happened to the rug there.

Chaos.

And she had never been more content in her life.

Yet there were so many gaps to fill. She grabbed her coffee cup and pulled up a chair next to him at the table.

“Where do you live?” she asked.

“Nowhere, really. I work out of Dallas and stay at headquarters there most of the time. But I don’t have a permanent place because I’m on the road a lot.”

They were silent for a while as they both drank their coffee.

“Do you need to stay in Las Vegas to do your doctorate?” he asked.

Ava realized then that Rick was wondering about her life, her future, and the two of them, the same way she was.

“Actually, I’ve spent the past few days researching doctorate programs nationwide. There’s a program at one of the schools in Texas that looks very good.”

He lifted his head. “Really?”

She smiled at the light in his eyes. “Yes. Would you mind if I went to school there?”

He leaned forward and kissed her. “I wouldn’t mind that at all. I figured it was time I moved out of General Lee’s—that’s my superior officer—house. Time to get a place of my own.”

“Is that right?”

“Yeah. Might be nice to have someone to share it with. But you know, I don’t know much about furniture and decorating and all that, so I’d need someone who did.”

Ava looked around at all her sparse furnishings. “Well, I have to say I don’t know much about that, either. But I think it’s high time I add some—stuff—into my life. Some color and flair and excitement. I can’t think of anyone I’d like to share that with more than you.”

There was a warmth in his gaze—was that love?—that she’d never seen before. It made her heart melt.

“Could you do that? Could you leave Las Vegas, your family and friends?”

Without hesitation, she nodded. “I think it’s time I made my own life.”

“There are some great programs in Dallas that I think you might like. Programs for social workers. And lots of kids that need help.”

“Oh, so now you think social workers might have some value.”

“I told you, babe, I think you have something to offer. Look what you did for me. I never believed in love until I met you.”

Tears filled her eyes. “I think you underestimate yourself. You’re not the only one who never believed in love, who never felt loved. For the first time in my life, I want to fill a house with warmth and love and I have you to thank for that.”

Rick took her hands and pulled her onto his lap. “I guess we can teach each other.”

A new life. New opportunities. Scary, but oh so exciting. She wrapped her arms around him. “I’m looking forward to that.”

He raised his lips to hers, and at the first brush of his mouth against hers Ava knew it would all work out. All she would ever need was his touch.