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He smelled her arousal, got love drunk on it, and inhaled it with fervor.

He grasped her waist, pulling her close, his cock hard enough to cut xentium rocks.

He ground it against her, relieved she was wearing something so soft that every curve of her body molded against his hard planes.

It only wanted to make him tear her jumpsuit off and his kit and sink into her depths where he’d lose himself for eternity.

He was about to come, just by kissing her, when he tore his lips from her and rose to his feet, striding to the edge of the wrap-around stone balcony.

When she moaned behind him, his fingers dug into the rock balustrade. His meta strength almost crumbled apart from the force it took to control himself.

Damn you, Élisa!

He didn’t dare look back at her, or he’d be lost.

Riv’s spine electrified, feeling her eyes on him.

Breathing hard, his chest rising and falling, he turned to grab the icy-cold beer on the table and took a long gulp of it, still unable to meet her bewildered gaze.

The kiss had taken the edge off, but he still yearned for her in a way he had never longed for anyone else. He wanted to feel her every surface, to explore her every facet of body andfokkin’ make her cry out his name.

Finally, when he gathered courage and turned to flick his eyes at her, his breath caught in his throat. The air between them grew thick with sexual tension.

He couldn’t let himself make love to her.

Not as Ribau.

The grizzled Galician would not be her lover when they reunited for the first time after decades of being apart.

It had to be Riv who made love to her after all these years.

Riv, who’d hold her in his arms, caress her, and make her scream. Riv, who’d bend her over a bed, rip off her clothes, and expose that alluring skin.

Riv, who’d take her over and over again in every freakin’ room of this house.

Riv, who’d have her screaming for more.

Riv, who’d wake up with her for the rest of their damn life together every morning to repeat it all over again.

It took his ever-loving pre-potency, using every last atom of his natural body and noids, to bring him back to control.

That’s when he noticed Élisa slumped back against the cushions, staring at the darkened horizon with a wooden expression.

‘We shouldn’t have done that,’ she whispered, turning her face away from him.

He flinched, wracked with remorse. She, too, was feeling deep and flailing. ‘I apologize if I took things too far, my lady. However, some things are beyond our control, Élisa.’

‘We still shouldn’t have.’

‘Why?’ he probed, unable to stop himself. ‘Are you promised to another?’

She shifted to face him, tears shimmering in her eyes. ‘My heart was. The problem was I was too naive to love him right.’

Only Élisa could land him with a gut punch that was potent as well as exhilarating. ‘Lucky man,’ he breathed, his voice hoarse and yearning.

She gave a wry grimace. ‘It’s irrelevant to dwell on the past. I’m responsible for why we’re not together.’

‘Do you want another chance with him?’