I can’t help staring. I’ve seen Raylan shirtless several times now, but this is the best he’s ever looked—his muscles swollen from riding, his skin bright with sunshine and sweat, his waist looking impossibly tight compared to his broad shoulders and his worn blue jeans.

Raylan isn’t as massive as Dante, but he’s aesthetic in a completely different way. If Dante is a bull, then Raylan is a stallion. He looks fast as well as strong. Lean, and capable.

He’s exotic to me like no man I’ve met before. I’ve known gangsters and businessmen and high rollers of all kinds. But I’ve never known a man with Raylan’s charm and authenticity. I’ve never known a man who’s good at so many things. Dean was the best thoracic surgeon in the city, but he couldn’t fix his kitchen sink to save his life. I think you could put any tool in the world into Raylan’s hands and he’d figure it out.

Maybe I’m losing it, after all the things I’ve been through the past few weeks. But I find myself staring at him in awe. Thinking I’ve never seen a more attractive man.

That’s when he starts unbuttoning his jeans.

“W—what are you doing?” I stammer.

I never fucking stammer. I’m a lawyer. I’m endlessly articulate. But as Raylan unzips his jeans, I couldn’t form a sentence to save my life.

“I’m gonna cool off in the water,” he says, his mouth quirked up in a half-smile. “Care to join me?”

He drops his jeans. Then, keeping his brilliant blue eyes fixed on mine, he hooks his thumbs in his boxer shorts and pulls those down, too.

His cock hangs down between his legs, thick and heavy and uncut. It’s even darker than his tanned body, with trimmed black hair around it, as thick as the hair on his head.

My heart is hammering against my ribs so fast that it feels like one continual beat. My mouth is salivating, and I can’t stop staring at his cock. I’m flushed with heat and I feel an aching, clenching sensation between my thighs.

I have never felt this response to a man’s cock. I don’t know what the fuck is happening to me.

Maybe it’s because I’ve never seen one that big. Or that animalistic. It’s making me respond like I’m in heat.

This is so unlike me. I’m never rabid. I’m never out of control.

I rip my eyes away from his body. I’ve seen Raylan nearly naked several times. But completely naked . . . that’s a whole different thing. There’s something about seeing him stripped down outdoors, in his natural element. It’s vastly more powerful.

I’m in his space now. On his land. In his control.

As if sensing the same thing, Raylan says, in his deep, commanding voice, “Take off your clothes.”

He’s never ordered me around before. Nobody orders me around.

My natural inclination is to toss my head and tell him to fuck off. That’s what I’d usually do.

But then Raylan takes a step toward me, and more gently—in the same tone he used with Penny—he says, “Come on. Strip down. Get in the water. You’ll like it.”

And like he’s fucking hypnotized me, I find my fingers unbuttoning my shirt. Baring my skin to the sunshine and the breeze. I take off my shirt, and the bra underneath.

I can feel Raylan’s eyes roving hungrily over my bare breasts. My breasts are small and extremely pale. The nipples are light pink, barely darker than my flesh.

I unzip my jeans and pull them down, my underwear too.

I have a tuft of trimmed hair as vibrantly red as the hair on my head. Men go insane for it. They obsess over it.

I look at Raylan’s face, to see what he thinks of my body.

His eyes are so bright that they look as if they’re on fire, like the blue flame under a gas burner. His lips are parted hungrily, and I see a glint of those sharp white teeth.

“Come on,” he says huskily.

He steps down into the stream, to a place where the river widens and flattens, creating a small pool. The water is perfectly clear, so you can see the smooth stones beneath.

Raylan gives me his hand to help me down.

His touch is like an electric jolt. The energy runs up my arm, and I can feel my nipples stiffening. Every step I take seems to make my pussy lips rub together. I’ve never been naked outside before. I’ve never been nude in front of a man like this—a man I’m not supposed to be dating or fucking.

The water is cold, but it doesn’t jolt me nearly as much as Raylan’s skin. I can barely feel the water on my flesh compared to how intensely I feel his eyes roaming over me.

I’ve never seen him look so ferocious. His warmth and humor have all burned away, replaced by an intensity I never would have guessed he possessed.

I sink down into the stream, hoping the cold water will help cool my lust.

Raylan does the same. He splashes the clear water on his face and chest, washing himself clean of sweat. He dunks his head under and shakes the sparkling droplets out of his thick, black hair.

I try not to stare at him. But every movement flexes the muscle on his broad frame. When he turns, I can’t help but stare at his wide back and his tight, round ass cheeks. When he rinses his hair, his biceps bulge like softballs, and I can see the narrow bands of muscle running across his ribs and down his torso.

And then there’s that heavy cock, that swings and hits his thigh with an audible thwap. It doesn’t shrink in the cold water. In fact, when Raylan runs his eyes down my body again, I think it’s swelling with arousal.

I can feel the cool water between my thighs. The flowing stream runs between my pussy lips. No matter how I try to shift to stop the stimulation, it only becomes more intense. I can feel the flush on my pale skin. I know Raylan can see it, too. He can see my rock-hard nipples and my flaming red face.

I tell myself we’re just skinny dipping.

I tell myself that nothing is going to happen.

Raylan is a professional. He’s my bodyguard. That’s all, that’s it. He knows I don’t want anything else . . .

But of course, that’s a fucking lie.

I want him. I want him right now. It’s all over my face. I can’t hide it.

“Are you still dating Dean?” Raylan asks me bluntly. His voice is low and intent. His eyes burn into mine.

“I . . . I . . . ”

That fucking stammering again. I should lie and tell him we’re still together.

Raylan is tempting in a way that terrifies me. I’ve never been so aroused by a man. I’ve never felt this desperate.

I’m used to being pursued. I’m used to having the upper hand.

I have no advantage with Raylan. If I let go right now, if I give in to this desire, I’ll be completely out of control. I’ll be in totally uncharted territory. I don’t understand my desire for him, or how I feel about him as a man. Sometimes he drives me insane. And sometimes I admire him, against my will. None of that is normal for me. None of it is comfortable.

He scares me. My only protection is pretending I don’t want this. Pretending I’m committed to another man.

But I can’t lie to Raylan. He’s too honest, too open. And too damn perceptive. He’ll know if I lie. It’s pointless.

“I broke up with him,” I admit.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Raylan growls.

“I wanted you to think I was taken,” I confess.