Nighttime at Willow Bay Read Free

take her in the meadows and stamp his scent on her. But the human in him cautioned against it. After all, it wouldn’t be right to fuck the woman like a she-wolf in heat.
    She was human.
    He was Lupine.
    It could never work.
    No sense barking up the wrong tree.
    So, h e just watched her as she reached the edge of the clearing, where she stopped to plan the best route. Ryder smiled. She was a cute little thing. With a heart-shaped face and large, dark eyes framed in long lashes, she looked like an adorable dark baby doll. Long braids flew down her back like rain clouds and her plump lips were painted pink. Her rounded butt could definitely put a hurting on a man and her creamy skin…the darkest chocolate he’d ever seen.
    He suddenly imagined her straddling him, braless, her hands running up and down his chest, her lips tugging on an ear. Ryder shoved his hands in his pockets , his arousal pressing painfully against the fly of his jeans. Damn the lady for her beauty and spunk. He was a sucker for ball busting females.
    As if sensing his arousal, she glanced back at him, her dark eyes capturing his gaze. Positive she was going to threaten to ‘cut out his eyes’ again, he swallowed tightly when she flashed him the finger and took off through the trees. Ryder grinned. Oh, this was going to be good. He knew exactly where she was going. To the West End trail, of course, the only place with telephone reception. 
    But s he wouldn’t get far, because she was heading in the wrong way. For several moments, he considered letting her wander for a while to teach her a lesson about obedience, but quickly ditched the idea when he sensed two predators hot on her trail.
    “Holy fuck.”
    Ryder took off at full speed.

    Chapter Three
     
     
     
    Questions spiraled through Naomi’s mind as she fled. Who was the mysterious man? Why did he want her to leave Willow Bay? Why had her body responded so feverishly to his sexy voice and looks? And why did he look at her so intensely liked he knew her, when he obviously didn’t? Naomi gasped as a sharp twig dug into her ankle. She ignored the pain and continued jogging down the trail.
    Little breathy noises came from her mouth; she could do nothing to stop the erratic breathing. You’re out of shape, girl , said a little voice in her head, one she promptly told to shut the fuck up.
    P erspiration ran down her back—one of her legs cramped up a little. She lightly slapped her thighs, and wished she’d join the gym last year when she’d been offered the discount membership deal. Now her big behind was running through Appalachian territory totally defenseless and out of shape.
    “Wake up! You have to muster up the strength to keep going ,” she hollered at her thighs.
    Energized by the words, she kept moving, ignoring the pounding of her thunder thighs. She thought about the day’s events. That morning, she had had a fight with her ex . There had been name calling and threats, and Naomi had listed all the reasons why she was happy she was no longer with Malcolm, who had flung a plate across the room in a fit of rage. Naomi hugged herself, thinking about the incident.
    When she’d first met Malcolm in a college computer course, she had considered herself the luckiest girl in the world. He was pre-med, charismatic, and as fine as Shemar Moore. Everything she’d hoped to find in a man.  But then—things changed. He grew cold, critical, took it upon himself to remark about her weight or Afrocentric hairstyles which she mostly kept in thick plaits down her back.  Nothing she did seemed to please him. Not even the perm she spent two hours getting. The one that ruined her edges! Jerk. Naomi looked around her, thankful that the moonlight brightened the path.
    Tonight was supposed to be a night of peace , a night of solitude, a chance to regain her power, but it seemed like the joke was on her, because she did not feel powerful. Just scared…and lost.
    “I can’t believe this,” she