Page 1 of Primal

PROLOGUE

RILEY

Huh.

I’d thought kissing Tyler McIntire would elicit something more than…meh.

I pulled back from the kiss and rubbed my lips, looking away toward the river we sat near. What I thought would be a romantic picnic in the wild just turned…

AWK-ward.

And we were a mile into the canyon. No quick escapewas possible.

The kiss?

Um.

Wrong.

So wrong. I had to say something before he tried again.

“Was it just me, or did that feel…”God, how did I say this?

“Weird,” Tyler supplied, giving me a smile. A chagrined one. A… what was the word for a smile that was fake and just as awkward as the kiss we just shared?

I’d always had the hots for Tyler–he’d had those wide shoulders and that deep, commanding voicesincetenth grade. He always seemed…morethan the other guys in our class. By the time we graduated, he was the heartthrob of the entire county. But he was off-limits because throughout high school, he’d dated Lila, one of my best friends.

I’d had to wait my turn.

Now they’re broken up. Amicably–no big heartbreak on either side. She’d gone to college in Utah, and he’d stayed in Cooper Valley to work at Wolf Ranch. I even asked Lila if she’d mind if I dated him, and she’d said no.

So when I bumped into Tyler at the grocery store last week, I flirted and asked if he wanted to hang out. He’d suggested a hike–he’d always been an outdoorsy guy. Today, he took me down into the canyon to a pathalong the riverside. When he pulled out a picnic blanket from his backpack, my heart fluttered. I love romance.

But then… the kiss. So bad.

Relief trickled along the sides of my neck. At least we were on the same page. “Yeah!”

Tyler picked up a stone and sent it skipping into the river like a pro. He really was the perfect guy–big, strong, good at everything he did, and chivalrous–a true cowboy. The old-fashioned kind that Cooper Valley bred.

“Um, maybe it’s because I feel guilty.” I groped for some reason why kissing Tyler–after all this time and imagining–wouldn’t be hot as hell. “I crushed on you for so many years, but you were with Lila. Maybe I programmed my brain to think of you as a brother or something.”

Tyler laughed and turned his gaze on me, his blue eyes crinkling with amusement. “You crushed on me, huh?”

I poked him with my elbow. “Don’t let it go to your head, big guy.Everygirl in school crushed on you!”

His smile grew wider. God, he was really good looking. But all attraction was gone now. “Yeah?”

“Stop fishing for–”

He tilted his head back and… sniffed, which distracted me from finishing my sentence.

Because it looked as if he’d caught a scent of cookies and wanted to follow it.

“Oh, shit.” Tyler jumped to his feet to stand in front of me.

It took a second to process what was in front of us.

A mountain lion, which looked like a big, very scary cat. The domestic cats I met had all been snooty assholes, but this very-not-domestic one looked downright evil. Like he was going to toy with us, then rip us to shreds. Oh yeah, then eat us. Growing up in Montana, I heard about the dangers of a chance encounter with a mountain lion, even a bear, on a trail. That they stalked you when you didn’t know it, they were that stealthy.Holy shit, they were right.I never knew it had been nearby. And now it was right in front of us.

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