Her hair was wild. Bedroom wild. Sexy wild. And then on top of everything else she had those eyes. Large, framed with long thick black lashes, her eyes were unbelievable, and he wanted them staring straight into his when he was buried deep in her body. He wanted to see how those eyes changed when he gave her an orgasm.

He swore to himself. She wasn’t very old, not in years, but in her eyes, she was a million years old. That wasn’t a green light, he knew that. She was terrified, absolutely terrified, and he detested that. No woman should ever have to live in fear. She was always in flight mode. He knew she was preparing herself to fight, but right now, all he’d seen was her hiding herself away, her silence, baggy clothes and downcast eyes. That was Catarina in full flight.

He wanted to help her, to find a way to let her live in daylight. Along with her looks and that smile of hers, she made him laugh. He couldn’t remember laughing in a hell of a long time. And then she had that attitude. Looks, humor and attitude—hell—he was a goner. That made the situation a lot more dangerous. The last thing he needed was any chemistry between them. Hell. He was fucked. There were moments when the chemistry was off the charts. He couldn’t lie to himself about that. He had to be careful with her. Sex wasn’t going to help her situation, at least not now.

“My God, Kitten, you’re gorgeous. You’re fucking beautiful.” He couldn’t help himself. He had to tell her, because she didn’t know. He knew when women thought they were beautiful, and this one had no idea.

Catarina’s heart stuttered. Another compliment from Ridley, and it sounded genuine. She should have been just a little upset over the way he sounded, as if he was astonished, but no one had ever said anything like that to her before. Not ever. She blinked at him and all the attitude melted away. She didn’t know what to say so she turned her back on him and walked toward her bedroom.

“Wait.” His voice was low. Sexy.

She felt heat spreading. Looking over her shoulder at him, she raised an eyebrow, afraid to trust her voice.

“I brought coffee. I wasn’t certain if you were up already, but I couldn’t carry it and the boxes. Two cups sitting right outside your door.” He didn’t wait to see if she’d get them, he just stalked through her living space and left her to it.

Catarina took a deep breath. She had no idea how Ridley managed to get past her guard. No one ever did that, but he didn’t even seem to notice she had barriers up at all. He didn’t see her shields and she certainly wasn’t invisible to him.