Page 17 of Outlaw Ridge: Shaw (Hard Justice: Outlaw Ridge #5)

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By the time Shaw pulled into his garage, the bone-weary fatigue had gone up a couple of more notches. Something he hadn’t thought possible. His mind felt as if it were slogging through thick mud, and the muscles in his body weren’t faring much better.

Neither was the guilt.

Yeah, it was there in spades, and nothing Valerie had said had eased it one bit. In fact, Valerie had agreed wholeheartedly that Molly had been forced to do what she’d done. All to save her child and her ex-husband.

And Shaw had killed her.

“I can hear you thinking,” Ava said, not getting out of the cruiser even after he’d shut the garage door. “And what you’re thinking is wrong.”

What he was thinking didn’t feel wrong. And what he’d done to Molly felt like the worst kind of mistake.

Ava took hold of his shirt sleeve and practically yanked him around to face her. “Molly would have shot us. She likely did murder Nathan. And if you hadn’t stopped her, she would have kept on killing until she finished whatever sick list of tasks she was carrying out.”

“But she had no choice,” Shaw managed to say.

“Neither did you,” Ava insisted.

He heard the words, and they even made it through some of that mental mud. Ava was right. He’d had no choice. That still didn’t make him feel better though.

“We get justice for Molly, Donovan, and Nathan by finding out who the killer is,” Ava went on. “And we do that with old-fashioned police work.”

Shaw looked at her and nearly smiled. Nearly. “You sound…tough.”

Ava groaned, shook her head. “No. But I don’t want to see you beating yourself up about this either.

I was within a second or two of coming out from beneath that platform, and if you hadn’t taken the kill shot, I would have.

Even if I’d known why Molly was trying to murder us, I still would have had to take that shot. ”

That got through the mud as well, and it sickened him to think of Ava having to shoulder this guilt if she had indeed been the one to end Molly’s life.

Now, he had to figure out how to live with something that had, yeah, saved their lives but had meant shooting someone who was essentially another victim of this sonofabitching killer.

“Owen and the other deputies are working hard on this,” she went on. “And once Owen finds Taylor, we might have more answers as to who held him and his daughter. There could also be some forensic evidence in the cabin where they were held.”

That was true, and Owen and the team would be thorough with that, especially since Owen was also using Strike Force’s resources. But it didn’t feel like nearly enough to stop another round of this shitstorm.

“Eat, rest, investigate,” Ava insisted.

Since that was a lot better plan than his wallowing in guilt, Shaw got out of the cruiser. So did Ava, and they went into the house.

“Gus, engage full security,” Shaw instructed his app. No way did he want this killer trying to sneak up on them and launch an attack.

He heard the snick of locks and soft beeps to let him know that Gus had done the job. Good. Shaw went into the kitchen to get started on the first part of Ava’s instructions. Getting them something to eat.

Thanks to a large delivery from the grocery store, both the fridge and pantry were stocked, and he opened both to show Ava the options. Sandwich stuff, frozen meals and pizza, fresh fruit and veggies, and at least a dozen kinds of canned soup. Snacks and chips, too.

They stood there, both staring at the items but not reaching for any of them. After a minute or so, Shaw turned to her. Just as Ava turned to him. There was fatigue in her eyes. No doubt about that. And the last thing they needed to do was think about this heat between them.

But he thought about it.

He was positive that Ava did, too.

Her gaze slid to his mouth, and she seemed to be fighting the urge to move in and kiss him again.

Hell, she seemed to be fighting a lot of urges.

And he didn’t think he was wrong that she was losing those battles.

He sure as heck was, and it didn’t surprise Shaw one little bit when he moved toward her.

He reached for her just as Ava reached for him, and they went into each other’s arms. The distance between them evaporated in a heartbeat, their bodies colliding in a desperate need that neither wanted to suppress any longer.

And he kissed her.

In the back of his mind, Shaw figured this was a big assed mistake, but that didn’t matter. He needed Ava, and she clearly needed him, so this was going to happen.

This being sex.

He didn’t need a crystal ball to tell him that. That heat had skyrocketed, fueling the need. Fueling this moment. A moment where they weren’t stealing a kiss or two in the police station but rather at his house where they had complete privacy. Where there’d be no one to walk in on them.

His body very much appreciated that privacy, and he couldn’t see this slowing down. And it didn’t.

Their mouths met in that hungry frenzy, driven by years of unresolved tension finally finding an outlet. Shaw’s hands lowered to her back, tracing the curve of her spine, while Ava pressed herself against him, obviously seeking out the pressure of his body against hers.

The kiss deepened, and their breaths mingled, ragged and urgent.

Time and sound reasoning soon became quick enemies, and they stood no chance of stopping this.

Still, Shaw wanted to slow things down just a little.

Or rather try to do that so he could savor this.

He’d thought about being with Ava again for so long, he didn’t want this to turn into a blur.

It’d no doubt be a highly pleasurable one, but he wanted to draw out that pleasure just a little.

He lowered his mouth, easing his mouth and tongue over her neck.

The sound of pleasure she made encouraged him to keep going.

To keep kissing not just her neck but lower still.

He pushed up her top, shoving down the cups of her bra, and he spiked up the pleasure for both of them by taking her nipple into his mouth.

She made another of those incredible sounds, but she didn’t stay still. Ava started touching him. First, her fingers going into his hair and then her hands moving lower. To his back.

Then, beneath his shirt.

The skin on skin contact came with a high price tag though since the heat turned to a blazing wildfire. So much for drawing this out, for savoring the moment. The moment would apparently be savored all right, but it sure as hell wasn’t going to a slow pace.

Everything revved up again. That fire. The need. The touching and the kissing. Their mouths met again, and they slid to the floor. His body registered the cold tile beneath him.

Registered and dismissed.

Whatever was going to happen between them, it was not going to involve moving to a nice, soft bed. The fire was consuming them with the mantra of now, now, now pulsing in his head.

Ava went after his shirt, pulling it off him and tackling his belt. She managed to undo it while continuing to kiss him. While straddling him and pushing her center against his hard-on. That gave Shaw another shot of that whole immense pleasure while amping up the speed even more.

Somehow, he managed to get off her top and bra. Somewhat of a miracle since there was a fierce battle going on. That now, now, now mantra had shifted to get her naked fast .

So, that’s what Shaw did. He shimmied her out of her pants. Her panties. And kissed some parts of her that his mouth hadn’t touched in seven years.

Her sounds of pleasure, those silky moans, took on an ever more urgent edge. So did her attempts to get him naked. She must have had a similar mantra going on in her head, too, because Ava seemed to be a mission to rid him of his clothes.

And she managed it just fine.

“Condom,” she blurted. “Or else this is going to be a blowjob.”

“Condom,” he insisted. He wanted to be inside her. Wanted them to find some release together.

Easier said than done.

The condom was in his wallet which was now at the bottom of a heap of discarded clothes.

Added to that, Ava wasn’t moving. She was still straddling him, her slick center now pressing hard on, well, his hard-on.

Not exactly something he could forget while he rummaged through and finally located the damn condom.

He tore open the packet and put it on. Again, not easily. Not with Ava right there. But Shaw had some fun sliding the back of his hand—and, hey, some fingers, too—across and into that slick heat.

Ava cursed him, and the moment the condom was on, she caught hold of his hands, pinning them to the floor. She had the look of a fierce, determined warrior when she took him inside her. Not a gentle stroke, either. That movement was full-on warrior, too.

And his body was damn glad of it.

The hell they’d gone through wasn’t playing into this. Nope. This was hard, raw sex. The driving thrusts. The urgent pace. The breath-robbing, heart stopping feel of her body moving with his.

It didn’t take long for him to feel her climax start. Not a ripple but full-blown, just as the rest of this had been.

She gasped, the wonderful sound of the pleasure claiming her. Of the pleasure spiking through every inch of her. Of the pleasure that had been a long time coming. But it came now. Shaw could see it on her face. Feel it as the muscles of her center squeezed around his erection.

He couldn’t have held on even if he wanted to. All he could do was give into the heat. To the need.

To Ava.

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