BlackMoon Beginnings Read Free

Colton.
    Without moving from my current position I
answer, “I’m fine.” I don’t feel fine, but I don’t want any more
attention than was necessary.
    “Well you don’t look fine,” he retorts.
    “Colton, leave the girl alone. She was almost
hit by a car. Here dear, take this. It will help the headache.”
    Lifting my head, I squint because of the
bright lights. I see her outstretched hand with two small pills in
it. Reaching out, I grab them and the bottle of water she offers
and swallow them.
    When my eyes adjust, I finally get a look at
who is talking to me. The woman crouching in front of me looks to
be in her late forties or early fifties. She has tanned skin, as if
she spends a lot of time outdoors, and light blonde hair with small
streaks of gray. Her face is scrunched together with concern,
emphasizing her wrinkles. She is beautiful. Her aged appearance
gives off an aura of wisdom and for that, I immediately trust her.
My eyes don’t stay on her for long though, because I am drawn to
the man standing behind her, looking at me closely.
    He looks like he walked straight out of photo
shoot for GQ. Looking to be above six feet tall, he stands almost a
whole foot above than me. His arms are crossed in front of his
chest emphasizing his muscular physique. He has dark, shaggy brown
hair that shines under the dulled light of the store. My hand
instantly itches to reach out and touch it—to push the long ends
out of his eyes. My eyes slowly travel down from his hair to his
eyes.
    When our eyes connect, my stomach tightens.
There is something mesmerizing about his eyes. The color maybe? He
stares back at me with deep emerald eyes; the color of the leaves
in the fall, right before they begin to change colors. I swallow
audibly and try clear the fog in my mind. He is gorgeous and I
can’t stop staring at him. It takes everything in me not to let out
a girly sigh at the attractiveness of this man. Talk about
awkward…
    “Ryanne?” he asks. “Ryanne Arden?”
    His deep voice breaks my trance. Crap, even
his voice is hot. Why didn’t I notice that before? Blinking
rapidly, I look away. He looks familiar. I rack my brain trying to
recognize him. I must have a look of confusion on my face, because
the corner of his full mouth rises slightly as if I had said
something funny.
    “How do you know my name?” I ask slowly
trying to keep my obvious embarrassment out of my voice.
    “We go to the same school.” His
straightforward answer baffles me. I know that I would have
recognized him had I seen him at school. When I continue watching
him, he starts smiling at me—a full-blown smile that would cause
any grown woman to stop in her tracks and gawk. Averting my eyes, I
stare down at the patterned carpet. I can’t think straight with him
looking at me like that.
    Fidgeting in my chair, the only response I
can come up with is, “Oh.” I’m not very attentive in school, but
I’d hope that I would have recognized this totally gorgeous guy if
I had seen him before. I can’t be that out of it all the time,
right?
    Outside, the storm begins to pick up again.
Loud thunder sounds, shaking the windows of the old shop. Startled,
I jump and look out the window, watching the heavy rain flood the
street. The sudden movement and loud noise causes my headache to
worsen. I hear the woman talking, but I can’t tear my eyes from the
window. The weather has been very capricious lately.
    Feeling someone tap my leg, I jerk my eyes
away from the window and looking at the woman crouching in front of
me. “Sorry, what?”
    Slightly amused, she repeats, “Why didn’t you
move when you saw the car coming?”
    “I tried, but I couldn’t. I felt like I was
frozen.”
    Colton gives me a look that I can’t decipher.
“Then how did you end up…not…getting hit?”
    With a sigh, I turn and look out the window
again. “I don’t know. One second I was looking at the car coming
towards me, thinking that I was about to die, and the next