Acting Like Family

The Montgomery Family Chronicles - Book One

by J.J. Massa

Riker Montgomery, a famous actor and werewolf, finds yet another uninvited woman asleep in his hotel bed. He is prepared to send this one on her way, but soon realizes that she is his mate.

Bethany Black, a writer, has never met a man like Riker before. When she learns who he is, she is embarrassed and ashamed and runs away, unaware Riker is searching for her.

Troubles and dangerous foes are out to destroy the Montgomery pack and try to keep the two apart. Will they be reunited before it is too late for them all?

Excerpt

Chapter One 

September 17
Four Seasons Hotel
Chicago, Illinois

  As soon as the werewolf walked through the door, her scent hit him. Not another one! They never stopped trying, did they? There was a woman in his hotel suite—ahuman woman. There was something familiar about her scent but not quite so familiar that he recognized it. She smelled good though.

Riker Montgomery trudged through the suite to his bedroom. He was exhausted. Filming on this new action-adventure movie was never-ending. Even with his lupine strength and stamina, he was worn out. He only hoped that the little fame-groupie, who had found her way into his room, hadn’t found her way into his bed. Ever since his movies had become popular, women kept turning up in his bed, his shower, all over the place.

Entering his bedroom, Riker did find a body-shaped lump in the center of his mattress. Prepared to evict yet another nubile young female, he sat down on the edge of the bed. Eyes narrowed and jaw squared, he leaned over her. When he did, a few things occurred to him.

First, he became aware that the young lady had pulled his thick bathrobe over her quaking little form. Since he had such a high metabolism, Riker didn’t use blankets. As a lupine, his body emitted enough heat that he became uncomfortable if he slept under blankets. He’d instructed the hotel staff to take away the extraneous bedding. They thought it was just another movie star quirk.

The second thing Riker noticed about the young lady, after he pulled back the robe, was that she was wearing a knee-length, button-up sleep shirt. It was emblazoned with the caption, How About A Slow Comfortable Screw? and had a picture of a mixed drink on the lower right panel. Thick, colorful, knee-length socks completed her ensemble.

He chuckled at the absurdity of it. He wondered who this woman could be. He’d figure out that part in the morning. She was evidently not bent upon seduction, as most women didn’t wear socks when they planned a seduction. Apparently, it was an unwritten rule.

Damn, she smells good. He decided not to wake her. Her body was quaking from the cold since he’d removed the heavy terry cloth robe. Riker wrapped himself around his uninvited guest and went to sleep.

He woke when she began to shift restlessly, almost as if she couldn’t get comfortable. At one point, she threw an arm over her face, whimpering piteously. He’d thought to roll over and go back to sleep, letting her dream take its course, but he couldn’t stand the idea of this strange and beautiful woman trapped in an unpleasant place, even if it was a dream

“Wake up, baby!” Riker shook her. He’d thought the woman with the wonderful scent had been part of a dream. Except here she was, in his bed, in his arms, and having a nightmare.

“Baby, c’mon! Wake up!” He gave her a harder shake.

She woke, but her fear smelled stronger awake than it had been when she’d been dreaming.

“What? Who? Who the heck are you? What’re you doing in my bed? Where’s your clothes?” The last question came on a high note when she realized he was naked from the waist up. He was sure she could tell that only a thin, short barrier of cotton kept her from being underneath a naked man.

His lips twitched as he surveyed the scene objectively. Here she was, half out of her Slow Comfortable Screw nightshirt and pinned under a mostly-nude stranger. He started to smile and reached to cup her face. That’s when the photoflash went off. It seemed that the press had arrived.

Riker roared and launched himself toward the flash. The interloper wisely fled the balcony.

He jerked the curtains closed and stalked back to the bed, flopping down in disgust. His little guest was looking at him nervously, obviously trying to decide what to do. Had she come here knowing who he was? He didn’t think so.

She stared at him and he sized her up. It didn’t take long since she wasn’t that big. She was about five feet, five inches tall. Her hair was a wavy dark blond with light streaks through it. She had large eyes that were a dark, forest green. Her body was easily a thirty six-twenty four-thirty six. He was a pretty good judge of that sort of thing. She had full lips and high cheekbones. She was one damned fine-looking woman.

She looked Riker over just as thoroughly. Taking a mental inventory, he knew what she was seeing: yellow eyes—gold, he told himself and medium brown hair dusted with salt and pepper that was too long and a little shaggy. He was six feet, two inches tall and had heavy muscles on his chest, arms and thighs—werewolves tended to be muscular, but he worked out, too. He also knew he was pretty hairy yet not abnormally so. Near the time of the full moon, he might seem a little more hairy. Only when he transformed was he truly furry.

He wondered what was going through her mind, and it didn’t take him long to find out.

After a few minutes, she reached out her hand and said, “I’m...” And then her eyes had become watery and she closed them. “I’m sleepy,” she mumbled. She pulled her hand back and moved it under her cheek. “Cold,” she murmured, punctuated with a full-body shiver.

He chuckled and wrapped himself around her again. She smelled so good. She smelled like pumpkin pie with whipped cream. No, she smelled like coconut cream pie with whipped cream. She smelled like every good thing he could think of. Her scent made him hard and hungry. He licked her neck and cheek, dozing off with the beautiful stranger wrapped tightly in his arms.

Riker woke before she did, and gave her a tentative lick. He didn’t want to wake her but he needed the reassurance that she was still there. Damn, she smelled good. She tasted like she smelled. She tasted like she looked. Yummy.

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