Free Predator's Serenade by Rosanna Leo Page A

of nature, huh? Fact is, your bear isn’t decided by family history or coloring. I guess it’s more spiritual than that. You become the bear you need to be.” He allowed his gaze to rest on her eyes, drinking her in. “What were you like as a child?”
    She smiled. “Boring compared to you.”
    “I don’t believe that for a second.”
    “I guess I went through my rebellious stage when I was sixteen.” She looked down, but her smile was wide and noticeable, even as she tried to hide it. “My mom caught me necking with Ralph Ambrose in the alley behind our house. I think his hand might have been up my shirt when she caught us.”
    Soren grinned but had to admit the image made him even hotter. “Lucky Ralph.”
    “Not really,” Gioia replied. “My mother reacted in true Italian fashion. Wielding a pan, she dragged me away by my ear and told Ralph if she ever saw him near our house again, she’d roast his nuts. Each time I bumped into him at school afterward, he ran in the opposite direction.”
    He laughed, enjoying the bubble of amusement inside him. “I see where you get your protective instincts.”
    “I hope I’m not that bad,” she said softly, and the sweet, scratchy tone in her voice made his cock throb even harder.
    “You’re not. And Gunnar’s a good kid, thanks to you.” He smiled, mentally comparing the young Clementine’s behavior to some of his own old antics. “He’s not a little hell-raiser like I was.”
    She stared at him for a long moment and then looked ahead. Her body inched away from him. “Something tells me you still are.” She slid out of his grasp, making his pulse stop and start. It continued to jerk at a pace that would put a cardiac nurse on edge. “Look, Soren. You’ve been really kind, but I need to get back.”
    “Why?”
    “Because.”
    “Because why?”
    She stopped moving and glared at him. He could see she wasn’t sure of her own answer. From her furrowed brow and tense shoulders, he could tell the desire to stay with him was winning over the need to flee. “Because…I don’t go wandering in the woods with men I barely know. Because we have nothing in common. You run with the jet set. I walk with the bargain basement set. You go to gallery openings and play to concert halls. I knit, and yes, I still get a kick out of The Price Is Right . You’re wearing Polo. I couldn’t even tell you how to play polo. You live in New York and hang with glamorous people. I live in Calgary. The highlight of our year is a stampede. We’re not really cut from the same cloth.”
    “Are you judging me because I have money? Because I may live in New York, but I come from small-town Ontario.”
    “No, I’m judging you because you sleep with a new fashion victim every week!”
    Ouch . “Not every week,” he grumbled.
    “I appreciate what you’re doing for my son. I really do, but it doesn’t mean you have to entertain me.”
    He thought they were having a nice time. Weren’t they having a nice time? It was hard to keep the harsh tone out of his voice as he replied, “I didn’t bring you into the woods to entertain you.”
    Her eyes flashed. “Then why are we here?”
    Why were they there? Because as much as he didn’t understand it, she moved him. Even though, as she’d so succinctly pointed out, they had nothing in common, he still wanted to taste her. The idea of having Gioia all to himself for a while appealed to him on a base level, a primal level, and he needed to follow through. “Because…I’m…”
    “You’re what?” she demanded.
    “I’m…ah, fuck. I’m hungry for you, that’s what!” And before she could close her gaping mouth, Soren gave into his craving and backed Gioia up against the boardwalk railing. Just a small taste. One little taste, and he’d know for sure.
    She let out a soft cry upon being pressed into the wooden rail. Immediately, he backed off so as not to hurt her. For a moment, he almost walked away, but in that second, Soren