Riona tilts her head, still frowning but also considering what I’m saying. She likes to argue, but she will listen, too.

“That horse had never been ridden in its life. So yeah, I had to calm it down, ease it into accepting me. You’re right about that. But once I got on its back, we both wanted to run. She started galloping, and I urged her on to go faster and faster. She’d been galloping around out in the fields, but she’d never been chased, she’d never raced before. She’d never really run. I didn’t break that horse. I set it free. I showed her what she could do. And she fucking loved it.”

I take a step closer to Riona, closing the space between us. She stays exactly where she is, only tilting her chin up a little to look me in the face. Her eyes are wide and unblinking.

I trail my thumb gently down the delicate curve of her jaw, toward her full lower lip.

“I don’t want to trap you,” I say to Riona. “I want to unleash you. I want to set you free. I want to show you what you really are . . . ”

I run my thumb across her mouth.

Riona’s lips part.

I move my thumb and replace it with my tongue. I slide my tongue across her bottom lip and her top, and then the space in between. When she opens her mouth a little more, I thrust my tongue inside, tasting her. I grab her thick red hair, wrapping it around my hand like a rope, and I pull her face into mine, penetrating her mouth with my tongue. This is no chaste kiss—this is me taking her mouth. Violating it. Filling her up.

I want her to be dizzy and overwhelmed. I want to remind her how good it feels when she lets me have my way with her.

Sure enough, she melts into me, her whole body sinking against mine. She moans around my tongue. I can feel her lips swelling from the rough kiss, increasing in sensitivity. I can feel her jaw relaxing, letting me in deeper and deeper.

I pull her hair to tilt her head back all the more, exposing her creamy white throat. Then I lick from her sternum all the way up her neck to her right ear, making her shiver with pleasure. Her nipples stand out in hard points against the cotton dress.

I growl into her ear, “I want you to give yourself to me. I want you to do exactly what I say. And if you don’t love every fucking minute of it . . . I’ll leave you alone for good. I’ll never bother you again. Do you agree?”

Riona hesitates, and I pull her hair a little harder.

“Yes or no?” I hiss.

“Y—yes,” she stammers.

“Good.” I let go of her hair. Instead, I grab the front of her dress and I tear it open, the buttons popping off and flying in all directions. Her bare breasts spill out, bouncing once, the nipples harder than glass.