Kyr gave up on the fourth day. He had done everything he could to get Pollyanna out of his mind. But nothing had worked. The challenge of running his business empire had lost its appeal, and even nightly trips to the mainland hadn’t been able to stop himself from obsessing over a certain strawberry blonde.

And so here he was, heading to the island’s local clubhouse. It required him to go through streets he had stopped visiting, required him to see faces he had stopped seeing. Everyone here knew Kyr, but unlike before, none of them called out to him in greeting. Instead, they only dipped their heads in respect, all of them careful not to meet his gaze. Kyrillos Gazis had changed four years ago, and knowing what Ana had done to him, none of the locals could fault him for becoming aloof and hard.

At the clubhouse, Kyr was stunned to find Pollyanna acting as the host for a birthday party, gaily organizing games for the children as well as entertaining the adults with funny anecdotes of her time on the island.

Kyr spied Abram among the guests and gestured for the boy to come to him. “Who invited her here?” he asked.

Abram colored guiltily. “I did, Master Kyr. I saw her moping around a few days ago and figured she would want to keep busy so…” He took a deep breath. “This is actually the third party she’s organized for us.” Unable to help it, he added proudly, “She’s got a real knack for it, too.”

“I see.” Kyr looked back at Pollyanna. She looked like she fit right in, when she never did. How could that happen when it wasn’t Pollyanna who had lived all her life in the island?

After thanking Abram, he retreated to the edge of the crowd just as she noticed him. And then there it was again, her blowfish look, and his chest squeezed. The funniest, ugliest look on earth, and yet there was no sight like it that could make him feel…right.

His lips curved, telling her without words to continue with what she was doing and he would wait here. Her eyes shone, and it was all the answer he needed.

The party broke off after an hour, and Pollyanna came rushing to him. Unmindful of the attention they were attracting, he only had eyes for her, and his gaze devoured her shamelessly.

He had missed her a lot, dammit.

How was it that she had come to matter him so much when he had only known her for less than a month?

When she reached him, Pollyanna threw her arms around his neck and burst into tears. She didn’t cry in a cute, pretty way. She cried like a howling baby wolf, the sound making everyone wince.

But his arms only tightened around her, his chest tightening even more.

“I miss you,” Pollyanna wailed.

Kyr hesitated before saying grimly, “I miss you, too.” And as soon as he said the words, he realized that he missed her, in every way. At that moment, she stiffened, and he knew she had also realized the same thing, with the way his cock had hardened and was now throbbing against her.

He managed to control himself only as far as the limousine. As he slammed the door shut, he told the driver through the intercom, “Drive until I tell you to stop.” He hung up, pressed another button to prevent the driver from seeing them, and then he dragged Pollyanna to his lap.

He didn’t give her a chance to speak, and she didn’t seem to mind at all, welcoming his kiss without reservation. Straddling him, she kissed him back with equal desperation, her tongue tangling wildly with his. His control breaking, he tore her blouse open and squeezed her breasts hard before feeding it to his mouth, one at a time. She threw her head back and moaned, and when he started to suck on her nipple, she clutched his head tightly to her, moaning even more loudly.

Clasping her hips, he began to teach her how to grind herself against his erection, and soon they were dry humping each other, his groans mingling with her whimpers. When she shuddered, he knew she was close, and grabbing her hand, he thrust it inside his pants. Her fingers circled his cock instinctively, and he had to close his eyes for a moment at the sheer pleasure of it.

“Start. Stroking.” Her hand began to move, and he rasped, “That’s it.” As she stroked him, it was his turn and he dipped his fingers into her panties. Her back arched, and her fingers stilled. “Keep stroking me,” he commanded harshly, and she wetted her lips and nodded. Capturing her gaze, he watched her as he slowly thrust his finger into her already wet pussy.

She moaned. “Kyr.”

He began thrusting his finger in and out of her.

“Kyr, oh God, Kyr.” Her hand on his erection began moving faster, matching his pace.

“Faster?” he asked.

“Yes, please.” And when his finger moved faster, so did her hand, rubbing him up and down.

“Harder?” His voice was thick with need.

“Y-yes.”

But this time, he did more than that, adding another finger as he deepened his thrusts.

It pushed her off the edge, and her fingers tightened around his cock instinctively as she came. Her eyes rolled back, and she shuddered again, her hips sinking down hard on his fingers. He continued fucking her with his fingers even as she came, and somehow, despite her innocence, Pollyanna managed to keep her own hand moving, too, this time squeezing his cock hard with every stroke. When she was done, she slumped against him and shuddered, just before grinding her pussy down on his cock.

It was all the push he needed, and Kyr found himself coming, too.

On the days that followed, it was as if another one of his self-imposed barriers had crashed down and he was no longer able to control himself with her. He tried, God knew he tried, but he only had to see Pollyanna, smiling at him, stars in her eyes, and all his good intentions disappeared until it was all thoughts of fornication that were left in his mind.

At the stables, a gentle breeze had blown her skirt a few inches up, and that had been it for him. He had dragged her to the nearest vacant stall, laid her on a mountain of hay, and placed his head between her legs.

She had protested in sheer embarrassment and shock, trying to push him away, but then she had felt his tongue lining her folds, and she had fallen back against the hay, legs falling open, no longer able to refuse him.

When they had gone canoeing, he had taken them just far enough for no one to see them, and there he had taught her to pleasure him with her mouth. And yesterday---

Color crept up Kyr’s cheekbones. He had been getting a haircut in the resort’s salon when he had noticed the way another customer was staring admiringly at Pollyanna, who had been seated next to him. Jealous, possessive rage gripping him, he had barely been able to wait until his haircut was done before dragging Polly to the salon’s restroom. Locking the door, he had then ignored her confused questions, seated her on the countertop, and then he had fucked her with his fingers until she was crying his name out.

Loudly.

Enough for everyone in the salon to hear her, including the asshole that had dared poach on Kyr’s territory.

She was the most irresistible woman in his eyes now, but somehow he managed not to completely cross the line and take her innocence. It was his one promise to himself he was determined not to break. If she left the island still a virgin, surely that would help her move on more easily?

But all this changed when he went to fetch Pollyanna in her home and came face to face with a sobbing Dinah in the living room.

She hastily wiped her tears away, saying, “Pollyanna’s not back from the field yet.”

He told himself he shouldn’t care why she was crying, but instead he heard himself ask stiffly, “What’s wrong?”

She stared at him, stricken.

Ah.

He said harshly, “What is it?”

Her hand trembled badly as she took a piece of paper from the coffee table and handed it to him wordlessly.

It was a letter from Ana, telling her parents that she was going to be married, and she would rather that they didn’t come because she had already made up a story about her parents being dead.

That was the moment he knew.

He had always thought he was holding himself back with Pollyanna because he didn’t want her hurt. And that was true, but not completely so. Kyr had held himself back because he hadn’t wanted Pollyanna hurt if Ana came back to him. A part of him had still been waiting for Ana to return, and that part of him had been ready to take her back.

But now he knew that wasn’t ever going to happen.

Because he, too, was as dead as her parents were to Ana.