Seduced in September (Spring River Valley Book 9) Read Online Free Page B

your place?”
    Not surprised by the question, Quinn found himself nodding in response. Tanner had a twin, but that didn’t stop him from treating Quinn like his younger brother sometimes. “Checking up on me, Mom?”
    “You didn’t call for a ride.”
    “I told you, I was going home with…someone.”
    “So you hooked up?”
    “Uh… yeah .” He had. He definitely had. The pillow had been the proof; it smelled like lilacs. The receipt and the phone number were evidence he hadn’t just imagined the best sex of his life. “I told you who I was going home with.”
    “The blonde?”
    “Yep. You know.”
    “No. What’s her name?”
    Quinn cringed. He rubbed his eyes to chase away the blurry images and managed to rise and snatch his underwear from where it dangled off the shelf. It didn’t seem right be talking to his partner while he was completely naked. “Uh…I was hoping you could tell me. You didn’t happen to see who I was talking to when you and Evie left last night, did you?”
    “Last person I saw you talk to was the bartender, who, as I recall was not a blonde…or a woman.”
    “Great.” Quinn slithered into his briefs and lowered himself back to the bed.
    “You don’t know her name?”
    “Uh…not really.”
    The low whistle Tanner emitted pierced Quinn’s mushy skull like a hot bullet. “Dude, you’re killing me.”
    Tanner lowered his voice. “Is she still there?”
    “If she was, I’d ask her what her name was.”
    “Right before she slapped you.”
    “Okay, I’d…rummage in her wallet while she was asleep and look at her driver’s license. But she’s not here. She left her number, but no name.”
    “How could you sleep with someone and not ask her name?”
    “I know her name. I just…can’t remember it right now.”
    “So who is she? Maybe I know her.”
    “Blonde, blue eyes, smells like lilacs.”
    “That’s all you know?”
    Quinn suppressed a wicked grin. “She bites.”
    Tanner groaned. “TMI, man.”
    “So, do you think I should just call the number? Maybe I’ll recognize her voice.”
    “And if you don’t? I guarantee if she finds out you don’t remember her name, she’ll never speak to you again.”
    “I know it’ll come back to me. It’ll be fine. She obviously wants me to call her. She left the number on my pillow.”
    “I think if she really wanted you to call, she’d have left her name or maybe her whole self.”
    “Thanks for the vote of confidence. Look, I had a fantastic time last night. That much I definitely remember. She did too.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Tanner, this is me we’re talking about. Of course she had a good time.”
    Tanner laughed, and the sound had the same effect on Quinn’s brain as a cheese grater. He moaned and clutched his skull. “Okay, okay. I’ve got to go take a shower and a bottle of aspirin. Then I’m going to call her. Can you drive me to Colette’s later so I can pick up my car? I guarantee by then I’ll know her name.”
    “ Sure, and I’ll take that bet.”
    “Name your terms.”
    “Tell me her name when I come to pick you up, and you can drive our next…five shifts.”
    “And if I don’t, you can drive the next ten.”
    “Deal.” Tanner hung up, and Quinn sat for a long time staring at the phone, willing himself to recall everything he could about last night. He remembered skin on skin, soft moans of delight, and moments of pure ecstasy, but her name still escaped him. How could he blank on something so important?
    He didn’t care so much about winning his bet with Tanner as he did about finding the woman who’d completely rocked his world. Her voice would do it, he was sure. All he had to do was call her.
     
    * * * *
     
    “Omigod, Ricki, stop barking, please. You’re killing me!” Lily shuffled across the cool tiles of her Aunt Madelyn’s kitchen, the yapping Pomeranian dancing around her heels. He wanted breakfast in the worst way, and if he didn’t stop barking, Lily’s head would