Free Owned By The Alphas: Part One by Faleena Hopkins Page A

magnificent. His chest was edges cut from skin-colored marble, his stomach engraved in knots of muscle, his shoulders broad and intimidating. He had a nice smattering of chest hair that matched the curly line of scruff that traveled down from his taut belly button to his oh-my-God-look-at-the-size-of-that! Ali’s eyes flashed up to meet his, her astonishment clear.
    “What are you doing way out here?” he asked in a low, gravelly voice that made her chest rumble. He seemed to be angry with her, or with something she couldn’t understand.
    She blinked. “Me? What are you doing out here…without any clothes?” Ali expected him to smile at her tone; most people did. She had a dry humor that was lost on few, something she was quite proud of, and something she hid behind when she was uncomfortable. Like now. But he did not smile. Instead he searched the surrounding area, his luminescent eyes glinting in the graying sky. “You should not be here. You’re miles away from…”
    “I know,” she cut him off, struggling for a way to sound normal under the circumstances. “I’ve been walking for hours and… I’m sorry. I’m a little distracted. Can we get back to the subject of you being naked?”
    This time a gratifying smile tugged at his lips, and Ali relaxed at the familiar reaction, just a little. None of this felt real, and while that was what she’d wanted when she’d left San Francisco, to escape reality, finding a naked man in the far reaches of Yosemite wasn’t on the list. It was hitting her in all the wrong places in all the wrong ways, or the right ones. Depended on how you looked at it. She should run…and, wasn’t that what she was best at? That’s what all of her ex-boyfriends would say.
    She expected an answer, but instead he stepped closer into her personal space. Her heart sped up to a dangerous pace as he reached out and lifted a lock of her hair, the deep mahogany tresses darker in the dimming light. She’d tied it up in a ponytail, but now it was askew, and he seemed fascinated by it. He brought it to his nose and smelled it as she gaped at him, wondering why she felt excited by him doing that. With him inspecting her, she quickly did a mental inventory of what he might find. She remembered that she’d worn no makeup, no bra, no deodorant. That last item had been an oversight, the first two on purpose as a fuck-you to civilization. But now, she wished she had all three. Or at least the first and the last.
    His penetrating gaze scratched down her face, her neck and finally landed on her breasts, Ali’s breath hitched even though her flesh was covered. Had it not been, her nipples would have told him exactly what she thought of that carnal look he was giving. “My face is up here,” she joked, half-heartedly. He paid her no mind, staring at the ample hills of her breasts like he could see through her blue windbreaker. She crossed her arms even though that was the last thing she wanted to do. “Um…okay. It was nice meeting you. I…have to go.”
    “You don’t have anywhere to go. You are lost,” he said with authority.
    “Right. So, I’d better get un-lost,” Ali muttered, watching his fingers rise in the air between them.
    He touched her neck. “I can help you.”
    While Ali thought of all the ways he could, she shook her head. “That’s okay. I can find my way back. And…oh wow. It is really hard to think with you licking your lips like that.” She peeked downward to see if he was, yep, erect and gorgeous. “I have to go.”
    “You do not want to go,” he smirked.
    “That’s not the point,” Ali blushed. Getting ahold of her sanity, she tugged at her backpack straps and twisted her shoulders to find comfort under their weight. “I should go. And so that’s what I’m going to do. Goodbye.” Flipping around, she started in the direction she came from, kicking herself for taking this long to leave.
    After only three steps, she felt her body lifted off the ground as one