And like a goddess, she had a kind of terrifying intensity. Her skin was paler than normal from the cold water. Next to that, her red hair and green eyes looked as vivid as a venomous snake. Maybe more Medusa than Aphrodite.

I would have been intimidated, if I weren’t so fucking aroused.

I had to splash myself with the cold water to keep my cock only semi-hard. Because Riona naked was the most gorgeous thing I’d ever laid eyes on.

I got my erection tamped down, then I looked over at her, and I saw those green eyes fixed on my cock, and I knew she was almost as aroused as I was. I knew I had to have her.

I clarified the little matter of the ex-boyfriend—for Riona’s benefit, not because I gave a fuck about the surgeon. I knew from the second I met him that he wasn’t the right man for her. He didn’t have a fraction of the strength it takes to tame a woman like Riona. To grab hold of her and force her to respect you.

Riona’s a fighter. She’s driven to lock horns with any man who tries to assert his power over her. She won’t be taken gently.

I suspected that she was tired of Dean for a while, and only dragging things out because he was a useful shield between her and me. A way to make me keep my distance.

Hearing that she had already broken up with him told me everything I needed to know. I knew that Riona wanted me, whether she’d admitted it to herself or not.

So I grabbed her and kissed her and buried my face in that sweet shell-pink pussy with its tuft of wild red hair. It was intoxicating. She tasted sweet and spicy, like cinnamon. I could feel her responding to me immediately, her body betraying any restraint she tried to maintain.

And the way she sucked my cock . . . good god, it was like she was starving. Like she needed my cum to live. I never would have thought she’d let go like that. I thought it might take months to dig down to that kind of ferocity. But it was waiting, right below the surface. Dying to be released.

Now I want to be close to Riona. I want to grab Penny’s reins and pull her over so I can rest my hand on Riona’s thigh, and tell her that she’s fucking gorgeous, and sexy, and brilliant, and stubborn. That she drives me insane and I can’t get enough of her.

But I know I can’t do that. Riona will spook.

Already she’s silent and pale, deliberately not looking over at me. Mulling over what just happened between us.

I’ve spent every minute of the last two weeks with her. I’ve gotten to know this woman better than she’d like to admit. I know that it terrifies her to lose control. It terrifies her that I’ve seen through her armor, seen the actual person beneath.