One Winter's Night Read Free Page B

garments had weighed her down and stiffened her muscles. She was flipping her hair back off her shoulders when she turned around to find Riley staring at her with an odd expression on his face.
    She swallowed, feeling a bit uncomfortable at the way his penetrating dark eyes nearly swallowed her whole. She nervously licked her lips. “Is something wrong?”
    Suddenly, a guarded look appeared in his gaze before he glanced out the window. When he switched his gaze back to her the look was gone. “No, nothing’s wrong,” he said in a brisk tone. “Excuse me for a minute while I let Paula know we’ll eat first.”
    Alpha watched him leave while wondering what that had been all about.
    * * *
    Unnerved to the core, Riley closed the door behind him and leaned against it, releasing a deep breath. Every muscle in his body was thrumming with a need like he hadn’t felt in a long time. He was glad the room he’d been given extended off a corridor for privacy...because at that moment he needed it.
    Where in the hell had that curvy figure come from? He’d heard of a woman having an hourglass shape, but in all actuality, he’d never truly seen one. Until today.
    He couldn’t believe what Alpha Blake had been hiding underneath all those clothes. He’d almost dropped his chin to the floor when she started taking off that coat and those sweaters and then stood there in a pink, formfitting sweater dress belted at the waist, with over-the-knee boots. She looked so damn feminine that he’d been jolted with a degree of lust he’d never felt before.
    Not only was she a looker, the woman had a body with luscious curves that could make a grown man weep. Lust, as sharp and keen as it could get, was taking over his senses, and the thoughts running through his mind were totally inappropriate, undeniably unacceptable and definitely X-rated.
    Her waist was so small that if he blinked he might miss it. And her chest was a perfect size with nice perky breasts. The way the top portion of her dress pressed against those breasts had almost made his eyes pop out of their sockets. And then there was the way her hips flared from her small waist. They were smooth and shapely.
    When she had walked over to the coatrack, he had taken it all in. He heard the heel of her boots clicking on the wooden floor and watched with deep male interest how her hips swayed with each step. He was convinced he’d never witnessed anything so sensual. And the shape of her backside filled his mind with all sorts of ideas.
    Then she’d turned around and caught him staring. The look in her eyes had been unsettled, and he was sure the look in his had been cautious. That’s usually the way it was with him when he’d been caught off guard and had to rebound. He was a man who, under no circumstances, mixed business with pleasure. But he’d wanted that rule to go rolling out the window the moment she’d taken off the coat and those sweaters. Okay, he would admit that it was a physical thing for him, but he couldn’t help it. Westmoreland males enjoyed the physical.
    “Need help with anything, Riley?”
    Paula’s question immediately snatched his thoughts back to the present. His gaze roamed up and down the short black hostess outfit she was wearing. Paula Wilmot had a nice body, but even hers couldn’t hold a light to Alpha Blake’s.
    He and Paula had dated a couple of years ago. When it was time for him to move on, she somehow thought some injustice was being done. He had explained up front—as he did with all women he became involved with—that he didn’t do long-term flings. Sex with no commitment. One month, six weeks at the most, was all the time he would put into an affair. Not enough time to get sentimental and clingy. That’s the way he operated. He called it Riley’s rule. Women knew up front what to expect—or not to expect—from him, and he liked it that way.
    And the one thing he wouldn’t tolerate was someone who agreed to his terms and then decided