Seduced in September (Spring River Valley Book 9)

Seduced in September

By

Clarice Wynter

Published by:
Clarice Wynter

copyright 2013, Clarice Wynter

Cover art by Niina Cord

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, brands, media and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

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* * * *

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

With special thanks to: JB Lynn, Jean Cooper and Niina Cord – for all their help along this journey.  

In time with the drumbeat of the exotic background music, Lily Jarvis let her breath leave her body in rhythmic puffs. She arched her back, reveling in the release of tension in her hips and upper thighs. Despite having been told to close her eyes, she concentrated her gaze on the room across the hall from Claudia Galvin’s evening yoga class and let out a satisfied sigh. While the other students in the class pictured sylvan lakes and breezy meadows in their minds during the final poses of tonight’s lesson, Lily had a more rugged landscape in mind. Her gaze swept the glistening biceps and triangular pectorals of the man working out in the recreation center’s weight room.

Quinn Preston lay on a bench press, the corded muscles of his forearms straining to bring a massive set of bar bells to rest on the stand above his head. Tanner Croft, his best friend, stood behind the bench, ready to help if the burden of lifting the metal plates became too much.

Lily found herself holding her breath while Quinn hoisted the weights the last few inches and rested the bar on the hooks of the weight stand with a definitive metallic clang. He let out a breath, and Lily did too, her heart racing just when her pulse should have been settling back to normal. She bit her lower lip as Quinn rolled to a sitting position and blotted sweat from his naked torso with a hand towel Tanner had thrown to him.

“Good Lord, what a workout,” Lily whispered just before a drop of sweat slid down her back, making her shiver. She abandoned the yoga pose and reached for her own towel, half listening to Claudia thanking her students for attending the class and dismissing them for the night. She spent another minute watching Quinn and admiring the supple lines of his abs as he bent to rearrange some free weights on the floor beside the bench. A tap on her shoulder brought her out of her daydream, and, blushing, she turned her attention to her friend. “Great class tonight,” she said with what she hoped was an innocent grin.

Claudia crossed her arms over her chest and glanced across the hall at the now empty weight room. “If you’re going to spend half the class drooling over Quinn, I’m going to make you move your mat to the other side of the room.”

“How did you—”

“Don’t ask me how I know. I can see across the hall
, too.” Claudia reached out a hand to help Lily up off the floor. “I get the feeling the only reason you switched from the morning class is because the view is better at night.”

Lily retrieved her yoga mat and began rolling it up. “No, it really is because I changed shifts at work, but the view is a definite plus.”

“Rather than ogle Quinn from afar, why don’t you just ask him out? You’re clearly hooked on the guy.”

Lily slung the carrying strap of her mat over her shoulder and shook her head. “That’s never going to happen.” The adrenaline rush of her visual workout ended abruptly, leaving a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Why not? I know, I know, you don’t date anyone who’s remotely involved with the hospital. But, come on—you can’t take your eyes off of him.”

“He’s not my type.” Lily avoided meeting Claudia’s pointed gaze.

“You can’t expect me to buy that after I just watched you melt into a puddle of goo. When he took his shirt off earlier, I thought you’d faint.”

“I can appreciate a nice physique, can’t I? And you saw him take his shirt off?”

Claudia smirked. “Why do you think I like this classroom so much?”

Lily reached the door, desperate now for a cool shower and a quick escape from Claudia’s probing questions. “Quinn and I…aren’t a good match. He’s reckless and wild, and I’m just…not. He’d get tired of me in a week.”

“But it would be one hell of a week, wouldn’t it?”

“Nope. I’m not in the market for a broken heart.”

“What makes you so sure he’d break your heart?”

“I know his type well enough. He’s…” She stifled a sigh of longing. “He’s heaven to look at, but underneath that gorgeous exterior, I’ll bet he’s nothing but trouble.”

Claudia shrugged and turned off the lights in her classroom before following Lily into the recreation center hallway. “If you ask me, you look like you could use a little trouble in your life.”

Quinn hadn’t felt this good in a long time. Starting from the middle of his chest, a warmth had spread through him after he’d downed the first expensive shot of imported liqueur. His blood seemed to pump in rhythm to the riotous beat of the dance tune that rattled the rafters of Colette’s Pub, and his internal temperature had risen a good ten degrees. To his surprise, rather than dull his senses, the spice-flavored drink seemed to clarify everything. He noticed all the faces in the densely packed crowd around him were smiling, and all the bodies were in motion.

He raised his empty glass and nudged his partner who stood next to him by the bar. “
This
is what I’m talking about.”

Cupping a hand to his ear, Quinn’s (currently off duty) fellow EMT Tanner Croft leaned close and yelled over the music the DJ had cranked to earsplitting decibels. “What exactly are you talking about?”

Quinn plunked his empty glass onto the bar and signaled the bartender-in-training for another. He wasn’t on call tonight, and he didn’t have to work again until the holiday weekend was over, so he was determined to let loose and enjoy himself. “This! Look around,” he yelled back. “Everyone’s having a good time. The music is chill, the women are hot. I get to sleep in tomorrow, and maybe the summer is over, but life is good.” Swiping his refilled shot glass from the bar, he clinked it against the beer bottle Tanner held and threw back another icy hot swallow of the clear liquid that tasted like cinnamon and sparkled with flecks of gold.

Time stopped for a second as the drink worked its magic, and when he could breathe again, Quinn let out a low whistle. “Wow.”

“If you have any more of those, you’ll be crying for your mommy before the night’s over,” Tanner warned. “Maybe you should slow down.”

The responsible side of Quinn’s brain, the side he planned to send on vacation this evening so the rest of him could enjoy Colette’s End of Summer Labor Day Block Party, still possessed just enough strength to agree with Tanner’s assessment. He leveled a serious gaze at his partner, dug into the front pocket of his jeans and handed over his car keys to his far more sober best friend. “No wheels for me tonight. How’s that for slow?”

Nodding his approval, Tanner pocketed the keys. “Good start, just pace yourself, okay?”

“I’m good. I’m switching to beer now.” He’d need something cold to chase away the burn from the liqueur. In the mean time, he wanted to enjoy the crowd, feel the music and let go of all the stress he’d been carrying around since April when a broken wrist had landed him in the hospital and in some hot water with his boss. Gary Sands, the commander of the Spring River Valley Ambulance Corps, had put Quinn on administrative probation six months ago, citing a string of on-the-job injuries as evidence of his apparently reckless behavior. With dogged attention to safety protocols, Quinn had managed to convince Gary to let him return to full duty a few weeks early, and that was cause to celebrate—within reason, of course.

He was about to order his first beer of the night when a pretty girl bumped into him. His smile widened then dimmed slightly when he realized the petite brunette who’d just wiggled between him and Tanner was Evie Prentice, Tanner’s girlfriend of five months. She turned big blue eyes on Tanner and went up on tiptoes to kiss him and whisper something in his ear.

Tanner slid his arms around Evie and set his beer bottle—his only drink for the evening—on the bar. “Hey, Quinn, I think we’re going to head out.”

“So soon? It’s only ten o’clock.”

The bartender automatically exchanged Tanner’s empty bottle for a full one, and Quinn grabbed it. “Pacing myself,” he said under his breath before taking a sip.

“Some of us have to work tomorrow,” Evie said. “I’ve got deadlines, so I can’t be up all night.” A reporter for the
Spring River Valley Herald
, Evie now covered the town’s political scene after languishing in the paper’s Lifestyle section for years. She was energetic and relentless when pursuing a story, and judging by the besotted way Tanner looked at her, the same held true for every other aspect of her life as well. They made a great couple, even if they were duds after dark.

“No problem. You old ladies go home. I’m going to close the place down.” Quinn’s first sip of beer went down smooth, cooling the heat in his belly caused by the red-hot liqueur.

Twining his fingers with Evie’s, Tanner leaned in again to yell over the increasingly loud music. “Call me for a ride if you need it.”

Quinn laughed. He appreciated the offer, but one look at Evie and Tanner together told him any late night phone call from him would be a huge imposition. “Don’t worry about me.”

“So you’ll ask Buck to call you a cab?” Tanner asked. Colette’s night manager had a policy for customers who’d overindulged. He had several local cab companies on speed dial for Fridays, Saturdays, and holidays like this.

“Yeah, sure,” Quinn agreed, though his mind was already elsewhere. A cascade of blond curls had caught his eye, and he was following the movements of the woman beneath them as she made her way around the bar. The warm feeling in the middle of his chest had returned. “Never mind a cab. I’m going home with
her
.”

“Who?” Tanner craned his neck to follow Quinn’s gaze.

“The blonde.”

“Which one of the ten of them over there?”

Quinn sighed. “The hottest one. Now go, before you and Evie turn into pumpkins. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“If you’re sure.” Tanner slid an arm around Evie’s shoulders. She waved to Quinn, and they plunged into the surging crowd and made their way slowly toward the door.

Quinn watched them go for a second, then swung his gaze back to the woman who’d captured his attention. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

“I think we need another round of tequila shots,” Lily announced after surveying the collection of empty glasses on the tiny pub table.

A cheer went up among the women assembled there. Her co-workers from Lakeside Hospital’s administration department, normally reserved and well-mannered, raised their voices in a group imitation of an air raid siren and pounded on the tabletop in agreement.

“I guess that means the round’s on me.” She’d had two drinks already and had decided, as much as she’d promised herself this was a night for letting go and enjoying herself, she would only have one more before switching to club soda. “I’ll be right back.”

She pivoted away from the table, intent on launching herself toward the bar through the undulating sea of dancing bodies when one of her friends called her name.

“Ooooh, Lil-eeee, you have an admirer!” It was Sandra from billing. She sat opposite Lily, facing the bar, her gaze currently fixed on a point somewhere behind Lily’s left shoulder.

“Do I? Where?”

“Oh, he’s headed over here. Don’t
look
! Stay cool. Pretend you don’t see him.”

“I
don’t
see him.” Lily craned her neck hoping to catch a glimpse of the person in question, but there were dozens of men in the general vicinity of the bar, and currently none of them appeared to be headed her way. “Tell him to wait for me. I’ll buy him a drink.” She dismissed Sandra’s tequila-induced hallucination and turned again to set her sights on the bartender.