Nighttime at Willow Bay Read Free Page B

earlobe. “I can smell her lies.”
    Ernie chuckled. “Bitch smells great to me!”
    “Sure does! As good as moonshine.”
    “Hell!” breathed Ernie. “Forget waiting for Pa. Let’s fuck her now.”
    “Who’s first?”
    “Let’s do rock, paper, scissors.”
    A growl rose from behind them and Naomi immediately knew the man with the mesmerizing eyes had come for her.  She could feel his hot presence. All masculine and strong and…pissed. Relief flooded her. She didn’t know him, but she wanted nothing more than to fly into his arms.
    She turned sideways so she could see him, watching as the moon illuminated his pale, angry eyes. Blue. His eyes were a beautiful blue. The coldest indigo she’d ever seen. No one in their right mind would test him—he was that pissed. Naomi’s pulse suddenly quickened, and a thick sheen of moisture gathered between her legs. As if he could detect her arousal, his gaze fixed on her face.
    Her captors tightened their hold.
    “So you got a thing for Ryder Jory, huh? Well, don’t worry. We Spades can out fuck the best of them.”             
    N aomi closed her eyes. God, what was this place?
    “She’s mines,” the man, Ryder, growled.
    Naomi opened her eyes. He was so handsome, unquestionably so, standing there in his dark jeans and hoodie like an avenging angel.
    “Who says she’s yours?”
    “I do,” he shot back.
    “She looked to be running away from you , bud. We got dibs.”
    “We had a little domestic dispute, is all, but we’re fine. Let her go.”
    “We got dibs.”
    “She’s mine, dicks.”
    Naomi blinked rapidly. My God, were these strange men really debating who she belonged to? Her damn self, thank you very much. To keep from responding, she bit down on her lower lip and silently counted to ten. Now was not the time to showcase her newfound independent nature. No doubt the men would resent it as much as her ex did. Playing coy and stupid was the only way to go.
    “Please , misters,” she begged. “Let me go. I won’t tell anyone ya’ll did this!”
    “Yeah,” cackled one of them. “You won’t.”
    Naomi swallowed. Okay, this was not good. She wasn’t quite sure of the social claiming rules, but she decided to toss her hat in the ring.
    “He’s right,” she announced. “ I’m his.”
    “Whose?”
    “The man…I mean, Ryder Jory. He’s mines and I’m his and you better let me go before he kicks the shit out of ya’ll!”
    The two men chuckled annoyingly, just as Ryder took a hot step forward.
    “You two really want to do this? You know the consequences of going after a Jory.”
    Tremors ran through her captors bodies. For once, fear left them speechless. Then they spoke at once. “She ain’t no Jory! She’s up for grabs.”             
    “You Jorys think you own the fucking woods. This place belongs to all of the dark wanderers.”
    Ryder’s voice grew deathly low.  “Except you…your kind’s not welcomed.”
    Retribution darkened his eyes. If her captors had any sense between them, they’d let her go! But their arms tightened and their words grew colder.
    “Our kind is welcomed everywhere.”
    At that, they pressed their erections against her back and mumbled sexual promises in her ear. Naomi bit her tongue to keep from gagging. They were perverts!
    Her gaze flickered to Ryder, who was looking at her steadily. She could feel his fury, his possession, his need to protect her. The fact that he had come for her meant something. She didn’t even know the man.
    “It’ll be okay,” he whispered.
    She mentally nodded, liking that he would make the effort to reassure her. She opened her mouth to tell him this, just as gravity tilted, and she went flying through the dark sky. Her gaze drifted over the woods. Her breath hissed. The ground drew closer. Was she going to die? And then Ryder was catching her, cushioning her fall against his chest, cradling her in his massive arms. Naomi closed her eyes and