SYNOPSIS
Gray Ridge, Colorado
is a quiet town, but this Halloween there's a mating moon, and the
shifters' need to breed their fated mates runs strong.
Ruby is the proud
owner of Red's Goodie Basket, and as the new girl in town, she's
looking for business. But when the local sexy sheriff, Dominic Wolfe,
keeps the customers away, she finds it's hard to stay mad when
burning with desire.
Dominic is a shifter,
and his wolf wants Ruby. Since the second he laid eyes on her, he's
been fighting the need to mark her as his. But when the mating moon
is full, he won't be able to control his wolf any longer.
Tricks and treats are
the last things on his mind when the mating heat takes over, and his
obsession is put to the test.
Warning: This story is
a sexy twist on a classic fairy tale, complete with a red cape, a
basket of goodies, and a hungry wolf. It's written to make you smile,
turn you on, and help you celebrate Halloween!
Buy
the book
Bonus - Coach is included with
Riding Red for the first 2 weeks after release.
Excerpt
Chapter
1
*Ruby*
“We can't serve those!” I look
down at the cookies, which are shaped like tiny dicks, and I try to
convince myself I’m seeing things. It’s 5:30 in the morning, and
I haven’t had any coffee yet, so maybe my brain is still putting
things together. I scan the tray again, hoping I’m wrong. Nope.
Definitely little cocks.
“Why not?” Gwen picks up one of
the cock-shaped cookies and bites off the head, making me cringe. I
don’t have a penis, but I can imagine that would hurt. “They
taste delicious. I added a hint of pumpkin spice. Bitches love
pumpkin spice.” She nods her head like it’s a fact that bitches
love pumpkin spice.
She finishes the cookie, moaning appreciatively. It gives a whole new
meaning to ‘swallowing’ here at Red’s Goodie Basket.
“Do bitches like biting the heads
off dicks too?”
Gwen scrunches her nose and looks
down at the batch of cookies on the prep table. “They don’t look
like dicks. They’re broomsticks.” But even as she defends
herself, she tilts her head to study them.
“Pubic hair.” I point to what
was supposed to be the bristles of a broom, then slide my finger
across what I’m guessing should have been the actual broomstick.
“The cock.”
She bites her lip, and I can tell
she’s trying to find a way to prove me wrong.
“Gwen. If it’s a freaking
broomstick, why is it cumming?” The end of the cookie has white
icing shooting out of it and clearly looks like cum.
“That’s the magic coming out!
It’s a witch’s broomstick!” She says it so earnestly that I’m
not sure who she's trying to convince here, me or herself.
“Yeah, something’s coming out
of it all right.”
Suddenly, we both bust out
laughing. I should be frustrated, but laughing feels good. It’s
something I haven’t done in a while, and I let it out, enjoying the
silliness of the situation.
When we finally stop laughing, a
worried look crosses her face. “It’s fine.” I try to reassure
her. I only opened the bakery a little over a week ago, and I’m
sure she thinks I might fire her. What she doesn’t know is, she’s
the only person who applied for the job. For some reason I had a hard
time transitioning to this quiet little town in Gray Ridge, Colorado.
If it wasn’t for the tourists who
pass through, I wouldn’t have any business at all. Lucky for me
there’s a national park nearby that keeps my little shop busy. I’m
just not sure how long it will last once the snow starts hitting the
mountains and the line of tourists slows down. I was told some of the
roads get shut down around here after the first snow. Maybe by then
the people who live here will start to warm to me. Otherwise it’s
going to be a tight few months, and I’ll have to pull more from my
savings. As the holidays are fast approaching, I’m hopeful everyone
will need desserts.
It’s coming close to the end of
October, and I thought some festive Halloween treats would be a good
idea. When I mentioned it to Gwen, she jumped all over it, wanting to
make them herself. She always seems to want to stay here as much as
she can. I had a pile of paperwork to cover last night, so I gave her
a shot at the cookies on her own. I went upstairs to my little
apartment/office over the bakery and left her to it. This morning I’m
seeing the error of my ways.
When I hired her, I knew she didn’t
have any experience, but she seemed eager to learn. Whenever I made
stuff, she watched my every move, absorbing all the information she
could. I had gone to culinary school and was more than happy to teach
her all my tricks. It’s been nice having someone to talk to who
shares my interests, but she still has a long way to go when it comes
to culinary crafts.
“Okay, we don’t have to serve
these. What else did you make?”
Gwen makes her way over to the
cooler, pulling out more cookies. She walks back over to me, putting
down a huge tray of orange pumpkin cookies that read ‘EAT ME’ in
giant black lettering.
“Why ‘eat me’?” I ask,
looking at the perfectly made pumpkins. Perfect other than the
message, of course.
“It’s subliminal messaging to
the customers.” She nods her head like she’s been working in
advertising and knows this is a selling secret. “People will just
have to buy the cookies and eat them because the cookie told them
to.”
“Anything else?” I cross my
fingers behind my back, praying we might have something we’ll be
able to sell today. Now I’m not so sure if I want us to be busy
today. I need to whip up some usable cookies and Halloween treats on
top of the normal stuff I sell. That would keep me in the back all
day with Gwen running the counter by herself.
“I did some cupcakes too.” She
bounces back over to the cooler, her excitement clear. Two seconds
later she comes strolling out carrying a tray of cupcakes all iced in
green, black, white, and orange. The only problem is there seem to be
more cocks sticking out of the top of them.
“What is this?” I point to what
clearly looks like a dick on top of a cupcake. Not that I’ve ever
had experience with a real one, but I do have a Tumblr account.
“Those are fingers. Don’t they
look creepy-cool?” I can tell she’s excited about this. I even
fear she stayed extra late last night making them. Her face has a
giant smile pasted across it, and I can’t seem to bring myself to
pop her bubble.
“They’re great, Gwen.” I grab
one of the trays, going to load it into one of the cases up front. I
plot where I can put them, thinking maybe I can hide them behind a
giant stack of Rice Krispie treats and some cakes or something. I
could put them on the bottom row, but kids would be at eye level with
them then. I guess I’ll have to put them on the top, and I cringe
inwardly.
This is not going to win me any
favors with the locals who already avoid me. They don’t seem too
happy that I’ve taken over the town bakery. It’s the only reason
I have as to why so many turn and walk the other way when they see
me. I haven’t been in this town long enough to make anyone mad.
You’d think I came and stole the bakery or something the way
everyone acts. I saw it for sale online and made an offer, and if
they didn’t like new people, maybe they shouldn’t have put an
online listing for the world to see!
The site even showed you the
paperwork of how successful the previous owner had been and explained
that the only reason it was for sale was because the owner passed
away, and the remaining family couldn’t run it. But business wasn’t
quite so booming now that I was running the place.
When I saw this place I knew it
would be perfect for me; a fresh start somewhere new, and I could
leave the sad memories behind. After my grandma passed, I was all
alone. She raised me after my parents died in a car accident when I
was five years old. After high school I’d gone to college, got a
degree in business, but couldn’t seem to settle into anything. The
only time I ever felt happy was when I went home to my grandma’s
and when I was in her kitchen baking. That’s when I knew I had to
make baking my life if I wanted to be happy.
My grandma pushed me into culinary
school, and sadly it wasn’t long after I graduated that I lost her.
After I closed her estate, I knew I wanted to open my own bakery, and
I searched for the prime place. When I stumbled across this little
town with this perfect little bakery, something about it drew me in.
When I stepped inside the first time, I knew this was the place; I
felt like I fit. It was almost as if the bakery was waiting for me,
like my fate was here.
Pushing through the door from the
kitchen to the front, I set the tray on the counter and start making
coffee while I set up the display cases. Maybe I’m being too hard
on myself; I haven’t been here that long.
Gwen follows behind me, and I see
her go to the trays in the window of the store and start placing
treats on display there too. Shit.
Maybe when we open I can send her
on an errand and throw all of them out while she’s gone. I could
tell her they sold like crazy, but then she just might want to make
more. Double shit.
Finishing our morning set up, I
walk over to the window display and move things around a little. Once
everything is set, I flip the sign over from ‘Closed’ to ‘Open’
and unlock the door. I head back behind the counter and watch as
people pass by the bakery, making their way to their own shops to
open. A few people I don’t recognize come in for a coffee, eyeing
the Halloween cookies. I went ahead and put the ‘broomsticks’ out
too. Might as well if I’m doing the other ones. If they don’t
sell, I can always take them to the nursing home down the road like I
always do with my extras. Maybe they wouldn’t notice they looked
like little cocks.
“I think I’ll run down to the
hardware store later and get some Halloween decorations. Add some
festivity to the place. I know some of the kids will be trick or
treating up and down the street Saturday for Halloween. Maybe some of
them will drag their parents in or something if it looks festive.”
I try to sound excited, but Gwen just snorts, making her blonde hair
bounce. You’d think I’d be making a killing with her working the
front counter considering how hot she is. She eats more of the
merchandise than I do, but I’m not sure where her lean body puts
it. Mine all goes to my hips and ass.
“Gwen, you were born and raised
here, right?” I ask, already knowing the answer. I’ve heard her
talk about her brother. She lives with him, and she constantly
complains that he doesn’t let her do anything. I actually think her
applying for this job was an act of rebellion. After seeing all the
Halloween dirty treats she made, I’m starting to think she’s
sexually repressed. Not that I can point fingers. I’m a
twenty-four-year old virgin, and Gwen’s only three years younger
than me. But I wasn’t the one making cock treats.
“Yep, born and raised,” she
says, turning and leaning her hip against the counter next to the
register.
“Was most everyone around here
born and raised here?” The town seems so tightly knit, like there’s
this club I can’t seem to break into. It’s like I haven’t
performed some secret rite of passage yet or something. Every day I
keep hoping something will give; that it’s just a fluke people
aren’t coming in yet. Maybe they don’t know the bakery is back
open, but I’m starting to think in a town like this everyone knows
everything about everyone.
She shrugs her shoulders, and I can
see her choosing her words carefully. “Most are from here, but Alp—
I mean, my brother, likes to welcome in strays from time to time.”
“They don’t seem too welcoming
to me,” I mutter, not wanting to insult her brother. Why would it
be his job to do the welcoming? I hadn’t even met the man, and if
he’s some kind of welcoming committee for the town, then he sucks
at it. I’ve been here for three weeks, and I have no idea who he
is.
“Well, it will just take some
time.” She leans in a little closer to me, and I hear her sniff.
“Did you just smell me?”
Grabbing my shirt, I sniff myself thinking maybe I stink or
something, but all I smell is sugar. No matter how many showers I
take I think it’s ingrained from cooking sweets all the time.
“No,” she says, stepping back
from me like I asked her a crazy question when she's the one sniffing
me.
“You like working here, Gwen?”
“I love it! You’re not going to
fire me because I smelled you, are you? I can decorate the shop if
you like. Halloween is in a few days, and I'll get it done today. Or
it is the treats? You hate them? I can do them over again. Just show
me how you like them. Please, you can’t fire me. No one else will
hire me. My brother won’t let them and…and—”
“Gwen. Calm down,” I say,
cutting her off from her rapid-fire rambling. “I’m not going to
fire you. I…it’s just…like a second ago when I made the
suggestion about the decorations, you snorted like, “no one is
coming in here,” and, well, if no one comes in here, neither of us
will be working here.”
“Oh!” She sighs like it’s no
big deal, and I just stare at her, not understanding her at all.
“They’ll come after.”
“After?” I wave my hand trying
to encourage her to finish her sentence.
She hesitates and then looks around
the room. “After Sheriff Wolfe stops scaring people away.” She
says the words like I pried them from her using torture.
At hearing his name, my eyes shoot
to the front window to see if he’s loitering outside my shop again.
I thought cops drove around in their cop cars, eating donuts, but the
one here walks up and down Main Street all day, eating my cookies and
drinking my coffee. He stops in front of my bakery more than anywhere
else and glares in here like I’ve done something to offend him.
It was his family who owned the
bakery before I did, but I was told that he wanted to sell it. The
lawyers explained that he didn’t have the time to run it, which I
could understand if he was the sheriff. And no way could I see him
running a bakery. He’d eat himself out of house and home.
The man was a jerk-face. A sexy,
giant jerk-face who was my biggest customer, but still a jerk-face,
and he could barely form a sentence on the best of days. At first I
thought maybe he could only grunt and growl. But then I saw he didn’t
have a problem speaking to other people. I’d heard him talk to Gwen
a few times and everyone else, but with me it was like I was too much
of a bother or something. If he couldn’t stand me, why was he
always hanging around all the time? Why did he sell me the shop? It’s
not like I twisted his big, hairy, muscled arm or something. In fact,
it was the opposite. I remember that day like it was yesterday.
When I came to see the place, I was
so excited. I knew before I’d even got here I was making an offer.
The pictures online showed me it was everything I wanted. The place
was even decorated in my favorite color, red. All I'd have to do was
get a new sign.
I was so excited to finally see it
in person, but the first time I walked inside all I saw was him. I
thought he was sitting at a mini table in the bakery, but it didn’t
take me long to realize the table wasn’t mini. No, he just made it
look that way because he was so big.
I stood mesmerized by him, my whole
body coming alive. It was a feeling I’d never felt before, like
warmth washing over me. His big silver eyes grew bigger at the sight
of me. But then he stood from the table and stormed out of the
bakery. Just before he hit the door, he threw over his shoulder,
“It’s hers.” He made it clear he was done with me and the
bakery. Or so I thought.
For some reason it knocked the air
out of my lungs when he dismissed me so easily. I shouldn’t have
been so taken aback by him. I wasn’t one to get noticed by men. I’m
short, chubby, and have curly red hair that I can barely control.
It’s why my parents named me Ruby. So having him all but ignore me
shouldn’t have hurt so much, but it did.
Then I found out he’s the
sheriff. I felt like he came in here to poke me, and now I find out
he’s keeping people away from the shop too. What’s this? Some
scheme he does or something? Sells the bakery, drives the bakery
person out of business and buys it back for dirt cheap, then does it
all over again to someone new? I can’t even report him because he’s
the freaking sheriff.
Maybe that’s it. That day he saw
me, he knew I was an easy mark. Well, the next time I see him I’m
going to give him my two cents. Really give him something to growl
about.
Review by Gia:
Riding Red is a short quick read. I was looking a for steamy shifter book to read and this one was just that. Gray Ridge is a quiet shifter town. Ruby is not a shifter and has no idea what is getting into when she buy a bakery in the small town. She hired Gwen to work for her. Gwen is a shifter and is super funny. Things at the bakery are going well. She has no local customers coming in. Dominic is a shifter who is keeping all the business away from the bakery. Dominic's wolf wants Ruby but he's trying to wait for the mating moon. Dominic is bossy and to Ruby he looks like a jerk but he's really a good guy.
When the mating moon comes, watch out because that's when the story gets steamy.
4 Amazeballs Stars!!!
Riding Red is a short quick read. I was looking a for steamy shifter book to read and this one was just that. Gray Ridge is a quiet shifter town. Ruby is not a shifter and has no idea what is getting into when she buy a bakery in the small town. She hired Gwen to work for her. Gwen is a shifter and is super funny. Things at the bakery are going well. She has no local customers coming in. Dominic is a shifter who is keeping all the business away from the bakery. Dominic's wolf wants Ruby but he's trying to wait for the mating moon. Dominic is bossy and to Ruby he looks like a jerk but he's really a good guy.
When the mating moon comes, watch out because that's when the story gets steamy.
4 Amazeballs Stars!!!
About
the author
I'm Alexa Riley! Mom, wife, and
business woman by day and smut writer by night. I specialize in the
Dirty Date Night reading. I wrote my first book, Owning Her
Innocence, because well, I just couldn't find any daddy books to my
liking. So I sat down and just started writing, bringing the
fantasies I find myself often dancing to in the dark of night to
life, one page at a time.
Alexa Riley is my alter ego. I
can't let the other soccer moms know what I'm up to or the guys at
work for that matter. Little do they know that they've got nothing on
my dirty talk.
I'm here to give you a quick fix of
filthy dirty smut. Got a few hours to kill? Then I'm what you're
looking for.
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