Seven-Year Seduction

With him? Definitely not. Beth opened her mouth to politely refuse, but he already had his hand curled around her upper arm, steering her into his embrace.

Because she didn’t have a choice, she slid her free hand up to rest on his shoulder. The heat of his body pulsed through the fine wool of his tuxedo jacket, setting her palm to tingling.

Beth muttered a colorful oath under her breath, annoyed that Connor could still have any sort of impact on her, even a purely physical one.

And that’s all it was—the physiological response of her female body to the nearness of such an attractive, obviously male body. Their shared history added to her body’s response, but it didn’t mean anything. Nothing at all.

Seven-Year Seduction

Heidi Betts

www.millsandboon.co.uk

HEIDI BETTS

An avid romance reader since junior high school, Heidi knew early on that she wanted to write these wonderful stories of love and adventure. It wasn’t until her freshman year of college, however, when she spent the entire night reading a romance novel instead of studying for finals, that she decided to take the road less traveled and follow her dream. In addition to reading, writing and romance, she is the founder of her local Romance Writers of America chapter and has a tendency to take injured and homeless animals of every species into her central Pennsylvania home.

Heidi loves to hear from readers. You can write to her at P.O. Box 99, Kylertown, PA, 16847 (a SASE is appreciated but not necessary) or e-mail heidi@heidibetts.com. And be sure to visit www.heidibetts.com for news and information about upcoming books.

To my extremely talented web designer, Shelley Kay, who does such a wonderful job of keeping my tiny corner of cyberspace neat, beautiful and up-to-date.

Thank you for always coming up with solutions to my problems and for never losing patience with me, even after a million-and-one silly little questions.

And to Su Kopil of Earthly Charms, for being so helpful with my promotional needs and desires, and who also never seems to lose patience after a million-and-one silly little questions.

And always, for Daddy.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

With extra thanks to the PASIC Loop for helping me with some of the research for this book—especially Lori Handeland, Sharon DeVita and Shelley Galloway.

You made my job so much easier, thank you!

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

One

“Yes! Go, go, go!”

Fans went wild as the running back for the Crystal Springs Panthers raced across the field, making a touchdown and scoring extra points just as the buzzer sounded, winning the game for his team. Everyone on the home team’s side of the bleachers jumped to their feet and began to cheer.

Beth Curtis joined them, yelling and bouncing up and down in celebration of her former high school’s football team winning against their greatest rivals. Grinning from ear to ear, she turned and threw herself into the arms of the person on her immediate right—who just happened to be Connor Riordan.

Connor was five years her senior—the same age as her brother, Nicholas—but from the time she’d turned thirteen, she’d used any excuse to be closer to him, to be the focus of his attention and that coffee-brown gaze that made her weak in the knees.

She pressed her face to his cheek and rubbed against its sandpaper roughness. Even though it was practically freezing, and they were both wrapped up in heavy coats, hats, scarves and mittens, she could smell the musky scent of his evergreen cologne.

God, she loved that smell. Sometimes, when she and her girlfriends took a break from studying the law and all its many intricacies at the University of Cincinnati Law School, they’d take a trip to the mall. Beth almost always found herself standing in the men’s fragrance department, sniffing at the colorful bottles until she found one that smelled the most like Connor.

She suspected he wore Aspen, but couldn’t be positive without seeing the actual bottle he likely kept on his bedroom dresser. But she was working hard at finding out for sure.

Along with acing her next exam, one of her objectives was to seduce Connor and make her way not only into his bedroom but into his bed. She’d had this aspiration since somewhere around her senior year of high school, but now she was an adult and there was no reason why she and Connor couldn’t become lovers. She had been saving herself for him, after all.

He set her back on her feet, still grinning with the thrill of victory as he brushed an errant strand of hair away from her face.

As willing as the crowd had been to sit in the stands for more than two hours to cheer on their favorite team, they were just as eager to leave now that they knew who’d won. People began collecting their seat warmers and empty cocoa cups and filing out of the stands.

“Hey, Curtis,” Connor called over her head to her brother, who had his arm around his longtime girlfriend, Karen Morelli. “We going over to Yancy’s for burgers?”

“Nah. Karen and I thought we’d head home. She wants to go shopping in the morning and we need to get an early start.” Nick rolled his eyes, letting his friend know just how much he was looking forward to that.

“I could go for a burger,” Beth put in quickly, seizing the opportunity to be alone with Connor.

It took him a minute, but finally he agreed. “Okay.” He tossed a look at Nicholas. “I’ll drop her off after we get a bite to eat.”

“Sounds good.” Karen and Nick shuffled single file to the end of their row, leaving Beth and Connor to follow.

When they reached the jam-packed parking lot, Nick and Karen headed for his car while Beth stuck with Connor as he ambled toward his truck. The cold night air chilled her fingers, even inside their gloves, and caused her cheeks to tingle.

“Brr. It sure is cold tonight.”

“Yeah.” Connor unlocked the driver’s side, then leaned across the seat to push open the passenger-side door. “Get in and I’ll crank up the heat.”

Beth eagerly climbed in and fastened her seat belt, holding her hands up to the vents as warm air began pouring out. They crawled like ants toward the exit of the school parking lot, vehicles each taking turns as everyone tried to squeeze out at the same time. Connor turned on the radio and tuned it to a Martina McBride song in an attempt to fill the silence in the pickup’s cab and drown out some of the shouts and horn blasts from surrounding cars.

“Yancy’s is going to be crowded,” Beth pointed out, knowing that just about everyone went there after a game, whether it was to cheer another win for the Panthers’ season, or to commiserate over a well-played loss.

Connor slanted her a glance as the car ahead of them eased forward. “I thought you were hungry.”

She shrugged a shoulder, leaning back against the seat now that she was no longer chilled.

“Want to go someplace else?”

Taking a deep breath and swallowing down any remaining nerves bouncing around in her stomach, she said, “How about Makeout Point?”

He responded with a bark of laughter, followed by a dark, wide-eyed stare that clearly told her he thought she’d lost her marbles. “You can’t be serious.”

“Why not? I know why people usually go up there, but it really is a beautiful spot, and there aren’t likely to be any teenagers up there tonight, getting themselves into trouble. They’ll be too busy celebrating at Yancy’s.”

“What would your brother say if he found out I took his baby sister up to Makeout Point?”

Her teeth ground together at the mention of being “the baby sister.” That was something she heard way too often for her peace of mind.

She wanted to tell Connor she didn’t much care what her brother might say—she was an adult now and it was her life. But she knew how Connor felt about Nick and her parents, and that he would never do anything he thought they’d find unacceptable, especially where she was concerned.

“It’s not like we’re going up there for some illicit purpose,” she told him instead. “I just thought it might be nice to visit the Point on a night we’re likely to see more than rocking backseats.”

To her surprise, he chuckled. “I suppose you’re right. Do you want to pick up some burgers to take with us?”

“Sure.”

They followed the cavalcade of taillights through town to Yancy’s, but hit the drive-thru instead of going inside with most of the other post-game customers. Even so, they sat in line for quite a while, joining in with the arm waves and honking horns as friends and neighbors passed by in the black and gold colors of the Panthers team.

Once their order was ready, Connor passed the bags and drinks to her while he paid, then rolled up his window and pulled back onto the road, in the opposite direction of most of the town’s population. The scents of French fries and grilled hamburgers permeated the cab, and Beth couldn’t resist opening one of the bags and sneaking a potato.

Connor tipped his head in her direction, catching her in the act. “No fair,” he grumbled. “I’m hungry, too, you know.”

With a laugh, Beth reached into the bag a second time, then lifted a French fry to Connor’s lips. He opened his mouth and bit down, nipping the tips of her fingers to catch the entire fry.

A jolt of awareness shot through her hand and straight to her center, where desire and sharp arousal pooled. She wondered if he felt even a fraction the same as she did.

If she was lucky, by the end of the night, she would find out.

They bumped along the dirt road that climbed up to the Point and Connor angled his truck to look out over the pine-dappled ridge that gave this spot its name. The drinks and bags of food sat on the bench seat between them as they divvied up the order. They ate quietly for a while, watching the clouds slip across the moon and over the tree line.

When they’d finished, Connor stuffed their garbage back into the white paper bag and shoved it behind the seat, presumably to be retrieved and thrown away later.

Beth folded one leg beneath the other, vinyl squeaking beneath her jean-clad bottom as she shifted slightly more in his direction. His legs were stretched out in front of him, as much as the truck’s console would allow, and he had an arm slung over the steering wheel.

“So how’s school going for you?” he asked after several minutes of awkward silence had ticked by.

“Good,” she replied. “Some of the classes are kind of hard, but I think I’m doing okay.”

“If I know you, you’re doing better than just okay. And wait until you’re finished. You’ll be a big-time lawyer, ready to sue the pants off of anybody who crosses you.”

“I’m not going to sue anyone. I’m going to defend them.”

“Nah,” he put in idly. “You can’t make money that way, unless you defend the rich and famous. And they’re usually guilty as sin.”

“I don’t care about money. I want to help people.”

He grinned at her then, and she got the distinct feeling he was seeing her as a child again, instead of as a full-grown woman or potential love interest.

“I’m not a kid, you know, Connor,” she told him, pulling her shoulders back and thrusting out her breasts. They might not be as impressive as her roommate’s 32Cs, but they weren’t too shabby.

“I know. You grew up real nice, Beth Ann.”

She might have taken his comment as another insult, another reminder that he thought of her as nothing more than his best friend’s baby sister, except for his tone. The words came out in a near whisper, and the look in his eyes stroked her straight down to her soul.

It was as vulnerable as she’d ever seen him. As close to being open to seeing her as a woman he might be able to have a relationship with.

Before he could come to his senses or she lost her nerve, Beth leaned in and pressed her lips to his. For a moment, he held perfectly still, not kissing her in return, but not moving away, either.

When she pulled back, he blinked, the expression on his face a cross between shock and curiosity.

“Beth…”

“Don’t say it,” she murmured softly, staying where she was, pressed close to him on the wide truck seat. The heat from his body seeped past his unzipped winter coat and permeated every inch of her exposed skin.

“I know how you feel about me,” she hurried on. “I know you think of me as Nick’s little sister, nothing more than a tagalong. But I’m all grown up now, and I want us to be together. To at least explore what there might be between us.”

She waited a beat, expecting him to respond. Surprised he hadn’t interrupted her midspeech already.

“Haven’t you ever thought about it, Connor? Haven’t you wondered what it might be like between us?”

Her heart was pounding in her chest like the high school’s half-time marching band, and the tension in the air threatened to send the burger she’d eaten into revolt.

But the fact that Connor hadn’t immediately begun to argue with her, hadn’t physically returned her to the other side of the bench seat and started to drive her home, gave her a modicum of hope. Maybe her infatuation wasn’t entirely one-sided. Maybe there was a chance he was interested in her, too.

“Connor,” she breathed, struggling to draw oxygen into her lungs even as she moved in to once again align her lips with his. “Please.”

A second ticked by, then another while he stared at her, the intensity of his gaze flashing over her hair, her cheeks, her lips, her eyes. And then he was kissing her. Willingly, passionately, without reservation.

His hands snaked under her jacket, molding to her waist and the undersides of her breasts even as she raised herself up on her knees. She hovered above him, trying to get closer, wanting to slide inside and become one with him.

She’d waited so long for this moment, imagined dozens of times being with him this way. It was almost too much to believe, and a part of her thought she might be dreaming.

But then he pinched her nipple through her sweater, through the lace of her bra, and she knew it was blessed reality. Every fantasy she’d ever had about her brother’s best friend was going to come true.

He tasted of cola and Yancy’s special sauce from the burgers they’d eaten earlier, and smelled like the outdoors. He always smelled like the outdoors, and Beth thought it must be a combination of his own personal, masculine scent and his cologne preference.

She curled her fingers into the soft flannel of his plaid work shirt, skimming his coat off over his shoulders while he fought with the zipper on her own. Once he had it undone, he wasted no time getting her out of the fleece-lined jacket, tossing it to the floor of the cab.

His hands immediately returned to her hips, where they rested for a moment before slipping under the hem of her sweater and gliding upward. The touch of his callused fingertips on the smooth expanse of her torso set off forest fires just beneath the surface of her skin.

It was cold outside, and should have been cold inside the truck by now, without the engine running. Instead, she felt hothouse warm, their mingled breaths fogging up the windows.

They were acting like a couple of randy teenagers, and she didn’t even care. Given half a chance, she’d have driven up to Makeout Point with Connor while she’d been in high school, too.

With a moan, his lips parted, leaving her mouth to trail over her chin, down the line of her throat. She arched her neck, granting him better access.

While his tongue flicked and teased, she worked the tail of his soft cotton T-shirt out from the waistband of his jeans. His abdomen tightened as she stroked it, exploring the rock-hard muscles and dancing her fingers over the light dusting of hair that ran from navel to chest and back down. She followed the trail to the edge of his jeans, deftly undoing the metal button at the top.

At the same time, his hands cupped her breasts, pushing the fabric of her bra up to delve beneath. Her beaded nipples pressed into his palms and when he rubbed, tiny shock waves of desire shot straight to her center.

His mouth moved back up, his lips brushing hers as he spoke. “We shouldn’t be doing this. It’s wrong.”

“It’s not wrong,” she told him, catching his ears and kissing him deeply. “It’s right. So very, very right.”

He groaned, seeming to give in, regardless of any other arguments that might be crashing through his mind. He wrapped his arms around her and lowered her to the truck seat, following her down.

Her knee bumped the steering wheel as they tried to find a comfortable position. His foot cracked into the door, his elbow hit the dash, she bumped her head on the opposite door handle. If they hadn’t been so turned on, they might have given up altogether.

As it was, they laughed at their awkward positions, shifting until they each found a modicum of comfort. Then they were kissing again, lips meshing, tongues flicking, breaths mingling.

Connor curled his fingers on either side of her jeans closure and pulled the snap free. The snick snick snick of the zipper as he released it echoed through the cab. He shoved the pants down her legs, leaving them bunched somewhere around her calves rather than fight to get them off over her shoes. Her panties were next, followed by his trousers and underwear.

As much as Beth wanted this, had been wanting it for so long, the cool air on her lower extremities sent a thread of hesitation through her.

This was Connor. Her brother’s best friend. The man she’d been dreaming of being with ever since she’d hit puberty.

She wasn’t sorry she’d gotten herself into this situation…if anything, she was relieved she’d finally managed to snag Connor’s undivided and romantic attention. But she did know that sleeping with him would change things. Forever.

The way they looked at each other, the way they acted around each other. The way he acted around her family.

Of course, she hoped things would change for the better. That she and Connor would become an item after tonight, date for a while, get engaged, then marry and start a family.

A picture of them ten years down the road shimmered in her mind’s eye and she smiled, even as Connor’s fingers skimmed her inner thigh, making rational thought nearly impossible.

Whatever happened, they could handle it, and everything would be fine. He was already as close to Nicholas as a brother, as close to her parents as another son. Her entire family would be more than accepting of their relationship, and she knew that once Connor recovered from the shock of having slept with his best friend’s little sister—if indeed he suffered any shock at all—he would realize they belonged together.

She’d finish law school, of course, then move back home to be close to him, and one day they’d be man and wife. One day they’d be living happily ever after.

Beth smiled for a brief moment, then whimpered when he grazed the curls between her legs with the back of his hand. He nudged her knees open as far as they would go with her jeans still wrapped around her ankles, then settled himself the best he could in the cradle of her thighs.

His palms stroked up and down her bare torso, her sweater pushed up around her breasts. She felt the tip of his hardened length probing intimately while his mouth continued to devour her own.

He was gentle but demanding, considerate but firm. One hand skated along her waist and hip, then cupped around her bare derriere and lifted her.

He slid inside more easily than she’d expected, given her state of virginity. But he was still big, and filled her until she had to tip her hips to find a more comfortable position.

Her legs were pressed against the steering wheel and back of the truck seat, and she could hear the rubber soles of Connor’s work boots as they came in contact with the driver’s-side door. His chest rose and fell with the heavy force of his breaths, in synch with her own.

When he thrust even deeper, she gasped, a slight burning assaulting her tender, innocent passage. He stopped moving and lifted his head, giving her time to adjust to his invasion.

“You okay?” he asked, looking down at her with eyes the color of melted chocolate, tiny beads of perspiration dotting his brow.

Her teeth sawed delicately on her bottom lip, more out of habit than any real pain. “I’m fine.”

He didn’t look as if he believed her, so she reached up to brush a loose lock of hair out of his eyes, a comforting smile lifting her lips.

“I’m fine, really.” And then she wrapped her arms around his back and pulled him down. “But I don’t think we’re finished yet.”

Seconds passed while strain continued to etch his face. Then suddenly, the lines tipping down his mouth lifted as he grinned back at her. “No, ma’am. We’re just getting started.”

His kiss was soft and tender as he took her lips and began moving his hips in a slow, steady rhythm. Friction built, like a length of silk being dragged over sandstone. The faster he moved, the tighter the coil of sweet tension grew, winding low in her belly until she wanted to scream.

And then she did, as the dam seemed to break and a keen, clawing pleasure unlike any she’d ever experienced before washed over her. She continued to shudder with tiny aftershocks while Connor rocked into her once, twice, three times more before going rigid with his own overwhelming completion.

They lay there for long minutes, struggling to regain their equilibrium. Connor’s rough jaw tickled her cheek, his uneven breathing whispering in her ear.

Her arms and legs were still wound around him like strands of ivy, and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly at how right it felt to be with him this way. Even in the cramped confines of his truck cab, half dressed, half undressed, the evening was perfect. And there would be plenty of times in the future when they could strip off each other’s clothes, take it slow, explore every inch of flesh before climbing under satin sheets and making long, languorous love all night long.

This was just the beginning.

Connor lifted his head, meeting her gaze briefly before pushing himself up and helping her to get untangled from his lithe form. He pulled her sweater down and waited until he was sure she could get her panties and jeans up by herself before righting his own clothing.

Neither of them said anything until they were each back on their own sides of the truck seat.

“Are you all right?” he asked in a low tone. He was looking straight out through the windshield, his fingers wrapped tight around the steering wheel.

“Yes. Are you?”

He didn’t answer, just continued to face forward.

With a sigh, he leaned forward and twisted the key in the ignition. The engine turned over, and heat and music began to fill the cab.

“I’d better get you home,” he told her. “Before your family starts to worry.”

She nodded, knowing they would if she was gone too much longer. Then again, Nick knew she was with Connor, and they trusted him implicitly.

But she didn’t blame him for feeling a bit uncomfortable; it might take time for him to get used to the idea of them being an item.

Which was fine. She’d let him take her home tonight, and they could sit down in the morning to discuss the future.