BorntobeWild Read Online Free Page A

she’d first seen the stones they’d
suggested endless possibilities to her but now they looked like pieces of colored
glass.
    Impossible to concentrate on anything except the
conversation going on behind her.
    “Doesn’t she sing?”
    “Sometimes but like the rest of us she sings hits andMurder
City Ravens’ songs.” Oh, shit.
    A pause before he said, “Interesting,” and she heard the
smile in his voice.
    “We’re coming to see you tonight. She never told me she knew
you.”
    No answer this time.
    Cyn couldn’t stand it anymore. She took the red stones to
the counter to wrap for the customer and left her browsing the other colors. “It
was a long time ago.” She got between them and tried to sound noncommittal. “I
met a lot of famous people at the institute. Most went into orchestras or the
opera chorus.”
    “You could’ve been one,” he said, no humor in his voice. “And
you wouldn’t have joined the chorus.”
    She shrugged for answer and turned to her customer, who’d
chosen some black obsidian and a few blue topazes to go with her red quartz.
Then she set to selling the findings. The shopper was new to the hobby. She’d
probably shove the stuff to the back of a drawer when she got home, or try it
and discover she liked it. Any which way it made a nice sale and kerchinged the
afternoon nicely.
    Then the woman peered at him closer and frowned. “You look
just like—can’t remember his name—the wild one with that group—”
    Cyn wouldn’t have pegged her for a Murder City Ravens fan.
But these days, with the band appearing on chat shows and outside their comfort
zone of arenas and concert halls, it was hard to keep track.
    Riku smiled and behaved himself, saying yes, it was him and
was she going to the Garden tonight? After some conversation and an autograph
on the woman’s paper bag Cyn perked up. When the customer had left she leaned
against the wall behind her, effectively trapping him in. “You don’t have to go
yet, do you?”
    She didn’t have to explain herself for Riku to get what she
meant. A rueful laugh shook his big frame. “No, I guess not. You want me to
earn my coffee, don’t you?”
    And the rest , she thought, but she didn’t articulate
it. He’d knocked her world sideways by appearing in front of her. She’d gotten herself
into order, made something of her life and there he was again. Well she was a
deal older now and she had no intention of letting him disturb her any more
than he had already. The sex was spectacular, sure, but—
    But nothing. The sex was phenomenal, out of this world, as
if all he had to do was stick his dick in her pussy and she came. Not that they’d
ever been in danger of doing that, except for their first time. As if the same
artist had crafted them as a pair, made for each other. Their connection always
went that way and she was sick of it. Perhaps, if she saw him again, she’d fuck
his brains out and finally persuade herself he was nothing special, time to
move on.
    As if that had worked before.
    “Take off your hat.”
    Riku rolled his eyes but obeyed her. She couldn’t resist a “Good
boy,” and got a pat on the butt for reward. Maddy didn’t see it, thank God,
otherwise she’d never let Cyn forget it. Just as well she hadn’t caught on to
what happened in the back room ten minutes ago.
    The golden eagle gleamed in the deep-purple depths, a
perfect, if gaudy, foil to its blazing magnificence. Some people arrived to
take photos and others lined up.
    In half an hour twenty people had called in and all bought
something, mainly because Riku offered to sign their purchases, or the bags or
tissue paper. He smilingly refused to scribble his moniker on random pieces of
paper, or T-shirts, or anything unconnected with her store. Business was brisk,
too much for conversation. Maddy cruised the store, chatting to customers about
their choices. They sold more of the made-up jewelry than the loose stones and
findings, unusual for this place,