ROMANCE: SHIFTER: Shifter to the Max Collection (Dragon, Bear, Wolf and Panther Shifter Romances) (Paranormal Fantasy Romance Collection) Read Free Page A

voice cracked, and her eyes grew distant. Ryder strained to hear her next words. “Since the fire, I’ve had no home.”
    A bit of the anger Ryder was carrying slipped away with that sentence. They sat for a moment in a different kind of silence, this one more poignant than oppressive.
    “The fire was a tragedy. A terrible, terrible tragedy, Amber. You didn’t have a house, but we could’ve made a home.”
    On that note, Ryder performed a tight three-point turn and parked behind Amber’s car. He shifted around to look at her squarely.
    “Even then, I wanted my home to be where you were. You knew this. And you left without a word to me. It’s a damn good thing I get on well with Jade. She let me know you were alive. You didn’t even do that.”
    He climbed down out of the truck and retrieved the gas can from its bed.  Amber sat for a minute. A tear trickled down her cheek.  She shoved open her truck door and scooped up her bag. Tumbling down from the cab as gracefully as possible, she decided to just get this moment over with. She shoved her arm deep into her bag to fish for her keys. A Kleenex made her search worthwhile, so she grasped it in one hand, and continued rummaging. 
    “I really appreciate your help. Goodness, I didn’t even ask how much the gas was so I could pay you for it back there. I am so scatterbrained. When I get back to Jade’s, I’ll get settled in and make you dinner or maybe lunch to say thank you. Or maybe brownies. Brownies would be a good thank you – better than cookies, I’ve always thought.” Knowing she was babbling, and hating herself for it, Amber just kept on stumbling toward her car and fumbling for her keys.  She stopped when she ran into a wall. In confusion, she blinked through her watery eyes and looked up and up.
    Straight into Ryder’s gold-flecked eyes. He was angry. She could feel it thrumming through him where their chests connected. Keeping their eyes locked, he wrapped one arm around her waist and drew her in a bit tighter. He leaned over and gently set the now-empty gas can on the ground. As he straightened back up, he ran his hand from her calf up her jeans-clad leg to her hip.
    Amber’s breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t move. His eyes mesmerized her. She thought she could almost see… something there. A wildness running through his soul. Had she seen that before? When they were young?
    “I don’t want you to make me dinner…or lunch… or brownies.” He growled his words low in his throat. “I don’t want to be paid back or told thank you.”
    Amber wasn’t sure it was possible, but he pulled her closer. She felt her bag slip from her slack fingers and vaguely heard it land with a rustle on the leaf-strewn ground.
    “All I want, all I’ve ever wanted since I was fifteen and smelled the sun on your hair, is you.” With that, he pressed his lips to hers.
    Her keys joined her bag, and the tissue was whisked off by the wind. Amber’s arms flew up to either side of Ryder’s head, and her fingers threaded through his thick black hair. Her heart beat wildly, and her eyes drifted closed. Suddenly all her other senses seemed heightened. She could feel his heart beating up against her breasts. His body heat was soaking through their clothes and seeping into her skin. Her breasts tingled, and her nipples tightened into hard, achy tips.
    Ryder parted his lips and let his tongue trace the curve of her lips. As her soft gasp parted those lips, Ryder swiftly used the advantage and stroked her mouth with his tongue. His hands began moving. One tracing her hip and rounded buttock, always pressing her curves closer to him, closer to his heat. His other hand pulled from her waist and up and over her waistband, and under her t-shirt to the gentle arch at the bottom of her ribcage.
    Amber let out a small groan when his thumb grazed the underside of her ample breast. She breathed in deeply and smelled…Ryder. That strange musk of man and outdoors that had