Awakened in August (Spring River Valley Book 8) (12 page)
Read Awakened in August (Spring River Valley Book 8) Online
Authors: Clarice Wynter
Riley leaned forward and kissed her, first on the forehead, then the tip of her nose, then her lips. He lingered there, reminding her that despite his injury, they’d been carefully managing some strenuous activities these past few weeks. “We’re going into this wide awake. We can make it work.”
“How can we—?” Riley’s cell phone rang then, cutting off Lydia’s question.
He picked up the phone and showed her the caller ID. It was someone from EBD. She sighed, and he hit the ignore button and set the phone down. “By making sure we have plenty of distractions.”
He kissed her again and Lydia closed her eyes. She was done putting the world on hold, but it certainly could wait for another hour…or a day. “How do you know that will work?” she asked, finally, coming up for air.
He met her gaze, his eyes smoldering with a promise of so much more to come. “Because everything already has changed.”
THE END
And in
September 2013
SEDUCED IN SEPTEMBER
Chapter One
In time with the drum beat 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 gave up 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.”
Considering herself the third of two voices, Clarice Wynter is the contemporary romance alter ego of a multi-published paranormal and science fiction romance author. She lives in the Tri-State area with her husband and her children and a trio of cats.
To learn more about Clarice and her books visit her website and blog:
Look for the rest of the Spring River Valley Series-to be released throughout 2013
Jilted in January
Fixed up in February
Mixed up in March
An Affair in April
Matched up in May
Jaded in June
Jealous in July
Awakened in August
Seduced in September
Outmatched in October
Naughty in November
Desired in December