Page 1 of Curvy Desire's Second Shot

Chapter One

Naomi

The night had a kind of eerie stillness that made my skin prickle. The road ahead stretched endlessly, a ribbon of black beneath the dim glow of my headlights. I cursed myself for taking the back road home. It was supposed to be a shortcut, but now it felt like a mistake—a big one.

The sputtering noise started just as I passed the sign for Cedar Hill, a town I’d long since left behind. My heart sank as the engine coughed and sputtered, the car lurching forward before coming to a complete stop. Great. Just great.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, staring at the dashboard as if sheer willpower could coax the engine back to life. The silence that followed was deafening, broken only by the occasional chirp of crickets and the rustle of leaves in the breeze.

“No, no, no,” I muttered, flipping the key in the ignition. The engine groaned but refused to catch. I slammed my hand againstthe steering wheel and leaned back, glaring at the darkened sky visible through the windshield.

Taking a deep breath, I reached for my phone. One bar of signal. Of course. It wasn’t enough to call for help, and texting a tow service felt like tossing a message in a bottle into the ocean. Who knew how long it would take for someone to find me out here?

I shoved my phone into my bag and stepped out of the car. The cool night air wrapped around me, carrying with it a faint scent of pine. Darkness pressed in from all sides, the tall trees lining the road seeming to stretch toward the heavens. It was beautiful in a haunting kind of way—a beauty I had no time to appreciate.

I popped the hood, the creak of the metal hinge loud in the silence. I stared at the engine as if I knew what I was looking for. I didn’t. Cars weren’t my thing. I knew how to drive one, and that was about it.

As I bent over to peer into the engine compartment, a shiver ran down my spine. Not from the cold, but from the distinct feeling that I wasn’t alone. I straightened slowly, my gaze darting to the tree line. Shadows danced between the trunks, but nothing moved.

“It’s just the dark,” I told myself. “Nothing to be afraid of.”

But fear doesn’t listen to reason. My heart pounded in my chest, the sound almost as loud as the stillness around me. I backed away from the car, my arms crossed over my chest.

The distant hum of a motorcycle engine reached my ears. Relief flooded me, pushing back the unease. Whoever it was, at least I wouldn’t be alone for long. Still, I kept my hand near my bag, where my pepper spray was tucked away. Just in case.

The sound grew louder, accompanied by the faint glint of a headlight. My breath caught as the rider came into view. The bike was sleek and powerful, the rider dressed in dark jeans anda black leather jacket. When he pulled to a stop beside me, my heart did a little flip.

Hudson King.

“Naomi?” His deep voice cut through the night like a lifeline. He pushed his helmet off, his dark hair tousled and his piercing green eyes locked on me. “What are you doing out here?”

My first instinct was to be defensive—after all, it wasn’t like I planned for my car to break down in the middle of nowhere—but the sight of him knocked the fight right out of me. Hudson was still as ruggedly handsome as ever, his presence commanding even in the dim light.

“My car decided it didn’t want to cooperate,” I said, gesturing to the hood. “It just stopped.”

Hudson frowned, swinging off his bike with the kind of fluid grace that made me momentarily forget how to breathe. “Let me take a look.”

I stepped aside, watching as he leaned over the engine with an air of confidence that I envied. Hudson had always been the steady one, the guy everyone relied on. The years hadn’t changed that.

“Looks like your battery’s dead,” he said after a moment. “Do you have cables?”

I shook my head. “I wasn’t exactly planning on needing them.”

His lips twitched, the closest thing to a smile I’d seen from him in years. “Figured as much. I’ll give you a jump.”

I crossed my arms and watched as he retrieved a set of jumper cables from his bike. My gaze lingered on him longer than it should have. His broad shoulders and strong hands were a stark reminder of how much time had passed since we’d last really talked. He wasn’t the boy I used to know. Hudson was all man now.

“So,” he said, breaking the silence as he connected the cables. “What brings you back to Cedar Hill?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” I shot back.

His eyes flicked to mine, something unreadable passing through them. “You first.”

I sighed, the weight of the answer heavy on my chest. “Just needed a fresh start. Thought this might be the place to find it.”

Hudson nodded, not pressing for details. That was one of the things I’d always liked about him—he didn’t pry, but he always seemed to know when I needed someone to listen.

A spark and a faint hum signaled that the jump had worked. I climbed back into the driver’s seat and turned the key. The engine roared to life, and I couldn’t help but let out a relieved laugh.

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