Free Shifter's Moon (Paranormal Shifter Romance) by Riva Blackstone Page A

Lia about it.  He adjusted his weight and his elbow touched hers.  “Do you think she’ll ever succeed.  I mean, do you think she’ll ever be able to turn back?” he asked.
                  Lia didn’t answer.  She let out a yawn and tried to change the subject.  “What about you?”
                  “I’m not a wolf, if that’s what you mean,”
                  “No, that’s not what I mean.  What about you?  What are you really doing out here?”
                  “Looking at stars with you, last time I checked,”
                  “I mean out here ,” she said, trying to make an all encompassing gesture, “I feel like there’s more to it than you wanting to find inspiration.”
                  Am I that transparent, he thought, and pursed his lips.  “What makes you think there’s more to me than meets the eye?”
                  “I can smell it , ” she snapped back, and flared her nostrils at him menacingly.
                  “I guess you’re right.  I came out here to get away from things.  One of my editors dropped me, and my last two books flopped.  And on top of that,” he wondered if she should mention Alissa.  She was like a burr on the proverbial sleeve of his thoughts.  Every time he thought he’d managed to dislodge there, she appeared again, scratching him.  “On top of that, I wanted to go somewhere I could just empty my brain.”
                  “Girl troubles?” she asked, and Jake turned a panicked eye toward her, as if she’d overheard his own mental processes or had been spying on his thoughts.
                  “You could say that.  My girlfriend – ex-girlfriend, now, Christ – we split about three months ago.  No warning at all, just… took off.  Geez, it sounds so anticlimactic when I say it out loud.”
                  “I’m sorry, Jake.  Why did she leave?”
                  He shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I never got the chance to ask,” he said and his voice seemed to drift off and blend into the blackness of the lake.  There really is nothing more to say, is there?  She was there, and then she wasn’t . 
                  “You really loved her, didn’t you?”
                  “I thought I did. Now I’m not so sure. I think I loved the idea of her more than who she really was. I’m not sure I really knew who she was or vice versa.”
                  They were quiet again, but Jake felt as if a huge weight had been tipped off his chest.  He took in a deep breath, and started to laugh to himself.  We really are such simple creatures, he mused , and our hearts are just as simple .  By admitting that one fact to himself, outside of himself, that maybe he really hadn’t loved Alissa seemed to make all the difference.  For ages he had been stuck on one page of his life, unable to turn it over, but now he could.  His ears perked up again and he heard another loon call holler across the reservoir’s flat palm, a haunting lonely laugh.     
                  He reached out and his palm settled over hers.  She looked up from her own reverie and gave him a small smile, and without warning stood up on her knees and propped herself over him, her legs straddling either side of him.  He felt his heart slam against his chest, and Lia’s strong steely fingers wrapped around the back of his head.  He looked up and saw a grin spread over her features.  What am I doing, he thought briefly.
                  “I’m going to kiss you now,” Jake announced in a whisper, moving his own hands up the small of her back and drawing her closer.
                  “God, that took you long enough.  I thought it-” she was cut short as Jake leaned into her and his lips touched hers with a furiousness that left them both stunned. 
    He