Nighttime at Willow Bay (2 page)

“You
are
curvy.”

At the sound of approval in his voice, her nipples tightened.

“And black.”

“Let me guess, you got an ‘
A
’ in biology,” she snapped.

He seemed to be amused by her sarcasm, for he stared at her for a long moment with a grin before pointing to her tent.

“Aren’t you going to get your stuff?”

Naomi stepped backward. “What are you
, the forest patrol? You can’t kick people off of public land.”

The man laughed and gestured toward the woods. “
The park is closed.”

“People camp overnight all the time.”

“Yes, at the entrance area. Out here, it’s illegal.”

“So I’m a little further back than most. What do you care?”

“Lady, I’m doing you a favor. You shouldn’t be here. Now, are you going to fetch your belongings or continue to raise hell? It’s your choice.”

Her voice grew soft. “I don’t have to listen to you.”

His eyes ghosted over hers. “I know, but things might go easier for you if you do.”

She trembled. What did he mean?
“If you try anything,” she whispered, “I’ll cut your eyes out.”

He edged closer to her, his blond hair falling across his temple. For a long moment, he
studied her.

“Stop that,” she spat.

“Stop what?”

“
Staring.”

With a sexy southern drawl,
he said, “Didn’t mean to ruffle your feathers, darling.”

“
If you keep looking at me like that, I’ll cut your eyes out!”

His lips curled into a
smile…well, more like an arrogant grin. Goodness sake, he was gorgeous.

“You’re a violent little thing
, aren’t ya?”

“I mean it
, mister. Back off!”

“I’m sure you do mean it, but I don’t have time for your
puny threats.”

“You’ll make time.”

Fire lit his eyes. “Go get your shit.”

Her chin tilted stubbornly. Nobody talked to her like that.
Not even her mama.

“Fine,” he
hissed. “I’ll do the honors.”

Horrified, Naomi watched as he returned to the tent. With one deft motion, he sent the contraption flying across the
meadow, then bent over to search through her belongings. Enraged, she stumped her foot.

“That cost me thirty bucks!”

“I’ll reimburse you.”

“Really?” she asked, crossing her arms over her breast.

“I’m a man of my word, darling.”

When he raised his eyes to her, she shivered. Intense lust burned in his pale gaze.  Not sure how to respond, she fixed her attention on her sneakers, just as he picked up her bag.

Naomi sighed. She had spent too much time with men to be surprised when one of them behaved arrogantly. Men always thought they knew everything, though most had the IQ of a beansprout. It had been frustrating as hell getting out of her abusive relationship with her ex, who’d claimed she was a frigid bitch, and who’d fucked half of his co-workers, including dirty Shirley, but now that she had, she wouldn’t be falling under some strange man’s trance just because he had a hero complex. She didn’t need anyone manhandling her.

“I’m going to report you.”

She waited for him to reply, but he only shrugged and lifted her overnight bag.

“Are you going to take this?”

“No!”

“
Damn, darling, what you got in this thing? Bricks?”

Bristling
at the comment, she glanced at her designer bag. The man obviously didn’t know a thing about women.

“I don’t have any money in it, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

A frustrated sound escaped him. “Lady, do you want the bag or not?”

Her eyes scanned the woods.

“Don’t,” he growled.

Naomi turned and fled.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Oh, this was going to be good, thought Ryder, watch
ing the lady run to the edge of the clearing. The wolf in him longed to chase her. To push her down and 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 mumbled, taking a corner around the trail. “All I wanted was one night of peace.” God, how could people stand camping? She’d been so excited buying her camping equipment at the local hardware store and it had all been a big waste of time and money.

When the path separated into three side trails, she racked her brain to remember which direction she’d come from. After ten seconds, her brain finally yielded the necessary answer and she turned left.

Halfway up the
path, she stopped.

Silence filled the woods.

Cold, dark silence. 

Slowly, she turned to gaze at the forest.  One of the blue light posts that trailed the main path flickered off.  Naomi trembled. 
All of the earlier nightly noises, the ones people would expect from a forest—cicadas, owls, and tree frogs—had abruptly stopped. She could almost see the little animals hurrying back into their dens, seeking shelter from a new presence. An evil presence.  And then…rough male laughter cracked the silence. Cruel, awful laughter that had her sucking in shallow breaths.

She stared
at the darkness, bewildered, fingers clutching the flashlight at her side. Was it the Norse God?

“Hello?”

No answer. Just silence.

She took a step back, thinking that it had to be the Norse
God. Maybe he was playing with her. Maybe he got off on stalking women. Sicko.

Once again, rough male laughter filled the silence, and she stumbled backward, almost losing her footing. No.
Whatever was out there, it was not the man. This was someone, or
something
, different. Something intent on hurting her—badly.

“Who’s there?”

A twig snapped behind her, and she spun around, expecting to discover her stalkers, but only seeing another row of tall, dark, sinister trees. Her head craned toward the sky. Willow Bay stretched through three counties.
A person could disappear out here…

Naomi trembled, aiming the flashlight at nearby bushes. Good God, let her survive the night.

Suddenly, without a sound, two shadowy figures burst from the darkness and grabbed her arms.

The tall one had red eyes.

Naomi screamed. Her flashlight dropped.

“Well, looky, looky. We caught us a human bitch, Ernie,” said the
tall red-eyed man, his hands reaching out to paw her behind. “A country fed bitch.”

“
Yummy,” replied the other figure, Ernie, a pudgy man with a sloppy mustache, whose eyes seemed to drift sideways. “And a black one too, Telly!”  His voice grew soft. “Must be our lucky night.”

Telly grunted at that. “You best believe it.”

“Let go of me,” she snapped, trying with all of her might to free herself from their hold. But it was pointless. The men were too strong.  Naomi closed her eyes, attempting to pray, just as her left arm was pulled back in an awkward angle. She doubled over in pain. Water gathered in her eyes. “Please…stop.”

“
What was that, missy?”

“Please…my arm…it
…hurts.”

“
You goin’ stop fussing, missy?”

“Yes!”

“You ain’t lying, is you?”

“No, please.”

He immediately loosened his hold, giving Naomi time to stand straight and gather her composure. The heat of humiliation warmed her face. She glanced at the man and quickly looked away at the sight of his red eyes. He seemed to be getting off on her pain. Was he a demon? 

“Please let me go,” she said softly.

He laughed. “Not a chance, sweetie. We goin’ put some babies in you.”

Naomi flinched. Babies?
Yuck! Like she’d become these psychos babies’ momma.
Even so, she played along.

“Tell you what, we’ll have more fun if you let me go. See, I like to be in charge. I like to be the one on top.  It’s more enjoyable that way. What do you say? You give me a little freedom and we can get the party started. You’ll like it. I swear.”

She gave the man her best smile only to be roughly pushed against a tree. Once again, her arm throbbed with pain.

Telly laughed. “She’s just fooling us
, Ernie.” His slimy tongue swiped her 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.”