Seduced in September (Spring River Valley Book 9) (6 page)

Lily had been slowly backing up, keeping the cart in front of her, one eye on Quinn until she lost sight of him around the bend in the corridor. She sagged in relief at his timely disappearance, and then someone tapped her on the shoulder.

Turning around, she
nearly collided with Tanner.

* * * *

“So then the guy with the duck says…” Quinn stopped talking mid-sentence. In the middle of telling Tanner a joke on their way out of the ER, he hadn’t noticed his partner disappear.

S
hrugging in confusion, he made a u-turn and noticed there was currently some dustup taking place at the reception desk. He recognized Iron Audrey Desmond, who seemed to be interrogating one of the orderlies about some supply carts.

Quinn felt sorry for the guy. He’d been on the receiving end of one of Audrey’s lectures enough times to know there was no graceful or painless way of escaping before she was finished. Then he caught sight of Tanner disappearing around the corner of the reception desk and rolled his eyes. Whatever had distracted his partner had better be good. Quinn had been rehearsing the punch line of the joke in his head all morning
, and he felt completely robbed by Tanner’s absence before the denouement of his story.

He headed for the reception station
, and when he rounded the cart that was currently blocking half the corridor, he froze.

Tanner stood talking to
Quinn’s dream girl. Her name came back to him with a rush of embarrassment. How could he have forgotten Lily Jarvis?

While he stood gawking, her nervous gaze darted to him
, and when their eyes met, something pinged in his chest.

She looked different from the idealized image he’d been fantasizing about for the past two nights, but it was definitely her. Her golden curls were pulled back in a professional ponytail, and her magnificent body was hidden under shapeless dark pink hospital scrubs, but the electric spark that jolted his fuzzy memory the moment their gazes locked told him with perfect clarity he’d found his mystery woman.

Tanner grinned stupidly at both of them. “As soon as I saw her, I knew,” he said. “Mystery solved.”

A pink blush bloomed in her cheeks at Tanner’s words.

“Could you give us a minute?” Quinn asked, shifting his gaze to stare daggers at his best friend.

“Sure. No problemo. I’ll be outside. You two kids just—”

“Go!” Quinn’s tight smile made his jaw ache. He kept it in place until Tanner disappeared, then he turned to Lily. “I’m sorry,” he said, hand to his chest. “I had a lot to drink, and then I made it worse by trying to trick you into telling me your name. I…for what it’s worth, the second I saw you, I knew. I could never forget you. Will you forgive me?”

She clung to the bars of the supply cart, white-knuckled, looking like she really didn’t want to forgive him. He almost started to worry that she wouldn’t, but finally she sighed. “Yes. I had a lot to drink too, and I had a monster hangover when you called me, so I was cranky. I’m sorry too.”

Relief made him giddy. He hated thinking he’d hurt her feelings, and seeing the faint hint of humor in her gorgeous eyes buoyed his spirits. “I wish I could hang around, but I’ve got to get back to the firehouse. Let me make this up to you. Have dinner with me tonight?”

“Tonight? But the storm—”

“We’ll be working non-stop once it hits, but the worst of it won’t be until tomorrow night. Come on, do you like seafood?”

“I…um..yeah.”

“How about Landry’s, seven o’clock?”

“Ahhh…” She looked around uncertainly, possibly hoping for an excuse to bolt. He had to make this up to her, so he gave her his best wounded puppy eyes.

She laughed and finally nodded. “All right.”

“Great. I’ve got to work until six, so I’ll meet you there.”

“All right.” She said yes, but she shook her head like she couldn’t quite believe she’d agreed to this.

He would have kissed her for making his day
—he wanted to—but the corridor was filling up with people trying to make their way around the supply carts.

“So…I’ve got to move this cart…” she said, easing backward with the huge wheeled framework.

“And I’ve got to catch up with Tanner.” Quinn jerked a thumb in the direction his partner had gone. “See you later.” Unable to keep from grinning as stupidly as Tanner had, he backed up until he reached the bend in the corridor, then he turned and headed for the ambulance bay while the rational voice in his head told him,
Okay, Preston, take it easy. You got a second chance, don’t screw it up! 

Lily checked her phone for what had to be the tenth time since she’d arrived and gotten a table at Landry’s Pier. There was still no call or text from Quinn, more than forty-five minutes after the time they’d agreed to meet at the restaurant.

The aroma of seafood normally would have had her mouth watering, but nerves had played havoc with her appetite. She wondered if she’d even have been able to eat if he had arrived on time.

Her calls to him had so far gone unanswered, and she’d begun to think maybe he’d wised up and realized it made no sense for them to attempt to forge some kind of relationship out of a one night stand. Or something had happened to him. Either scenario made her already upset stomach churn. Should she call someone else? Would anyone at the firehouse know if he was all right? Was this a sign from the universe that her instincts to avoid compounding her crazy Labor Day weekend mistake were spot on?

She still didn’t know what had made her agree to go out with him, except that that the moment he’d found her at the hospital her pulse had begun racing, her palms sweating and her entire body tingling with the memories of the night they’d spent together. Deep down she had to admit she wanted a repeat performance.

The waiter who had been hovering around the table for two she’d requested near the window returned for the third time to see if she wanted to order. She’d already had a glass of wine, figuring a little liquid courage (but not too much) would go a long way toward helping her extricate herself from the situation. If she could relax enough to speak her mind, she had a chance at not ending up deeper into something she’d had no business getting herself into in the first place.

“Are you sure I can’t start you with an appetizer, miss?”

She waved the waiter off just as her phone buzzed. Ignoring the curious looks of diners at nearby tables, she practically jumped on the phone, answering it before she realized it was a text and not a call.

Cheeks heating with embarrassment, she lowered the phone to read the text. Quinn was still alive, fortunately, and he’d written:
So sorry! Caught on a call, can’t leave.

She studied the words and decided it made more sense to believe him than to assume he was just trying to avoid her. She texted back:
No problem. Another time—

Then she immediately backspaced the last two words. Did she want to try this again? Wasn’t this the perfect sign that they both should have followed their instincts?

After careful consideration she finished the message with:
I hope everything is OK.

There. That showed concern for his work and yet appeared politely noncommittal. She’d dodged a bullet. So why was she so disappointed?

* * * *

Quinn groaned as he lowered himself into bed, every aching muscle protesting a long night of hard work. A three-car accident on the Turnpike had taken more than eight hours to clear, leaving him a physical wreck. He hated that he’d had to stand Lily up, but there hadn’t been any choice.

With cold-stiffened fingers, he lifted his phone and dialed her number, hoping she’d answer despite the late hour. When she did, his pulse jumped. The sudden adrenaline rush spread warmth through his tired body. “Hey, it’s me.”

“Me who? I seem to be having some trouble remembering your name.”

Despite her words, her voice held a hint of a smile. He grinned. “You can just call me Tiger. I believe that was the name you preferred the other night.”

“Ah…
that
you remember.”

“It’s coming back to me. I’m sure you could refresh my memory, if you wanted to.”

Her laugh sounded fragile and a bit forced, but he chose to ignore that. He had, after all, stood her up, good reason or not, and he figured it might be too much to ask for a third chance.

“How did everything go?” she asked.

“How did what go?”

“The call you were on.” Her real question was implied. She obviously wanted to be sure he was telling the truth.

“There’ll be pictures on the front page of the
Herald
tomorrow, I’m sure. It was a pretty bad pileup on the Turnpike, and we had to take apart some wreckage to get people out.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. Will everyone be okay?”

“I think so. I wish it hadn’t happened.”

“Of course…”

“I mean…that too, but I wish I hadn’t had to cancel on you. That doesn’t happen too often. The whole day was slow, then this happened right before the end of my shift.”

“You can’t predict those things. It’s fine. I would never hold it against you.”

“Good, then we can try this date thing again? How about tomorrow night?”

Her silence stretched a few seconds too long for his comfort. When she finally answered, the warmth he’d felt at the start of the call drained from his body. “Did you forget about ‘mega storm?’”

“Ugh—maybe this weekend, then?”

“Um…yeah. We can work it out later. It’s pretty late right now.”

“Is this a brush-off?”

“No, it’s just a postponement. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day, and it’s after midnight, so how about we both get some sleep, and we can talk later and work something out
?”

If he hadn’t been exhausted and in desperate need of a steamy shower, he might have argued, but at this point he wasn’t sure he could make a coherent point anyway. Clearly, Lily was hedging. She didn’t want to plan another date, and he had plenty of ideas as to why, he just had to figure out how to change her mind. He feigned a yawn that halfway through turned into a real yawn. “Okay…that’s actually a good idea. It was a rough night. I’ll talk to you…soon, okay?”

“Definitely. Good night, Quinn, and thanks.”

“Thanks? For what?”

“For doing what you do. I don’t think people tell you guys enough. You sacrifice a lot to help other people. That’s rare.”

He smiled, though it hurt to do so. “You’re welcome. Good night, Lily.” How did she manage to do that? To heat up the cold so effectively? He’d wanted to be annoyed at her dismissal and angry at himself for caring about whether she wanted to see him again or not, and she’d managed to shift the focus from what he thought he’d done wrong today to what he’d done right.

Was it any mystery why he couldn’t stop thinking about her?

“Inbound flights are still on time.” Lily hung up the phone and joined Claudia at their tiny kitchen table. My aunt’s plane should come in as scheduled, but they’ll be cancelling all flights and closing the airport after six tonight.

Claudia refilled their coffee cups and eyed the steady rain. “You should head to the airport early. I bet the place will be mobbed with people trying to get the last flights out before the storm.”

“I’m leaving in an hour. Not looking forward to the drive.” Lily sipped her coffee and sighed.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be fine. The worst of it isn’t supposed to hit until midnight.”

“It’s not that.” Lily glanced at her cell phone, lying innocently on the table. She hadn’t heard from Quinn
since she’d shot down his attempt to reschedule their failed date. She should have been relieved, but instead she felt awful.

“He hasn’t called?”

“He’s busy. But it’s fine. It’s better if he doesn’t call.”

Claudia leaned forward and captured Lily’s gaze. “Why won’t you just admit you like him and you want to see him again?”

“I’m trying to be responsible about this. I don’t want to end up in the middle of a relationship mess.”

“Relationships are messy.”

“So is a trauma room. No one wants to be there either. I’ve seen too many of these things end badly.”

Claudia shook her head. “Your rules need to be revised. Maybe they’ve kept you out of trouble all this time, but there’s going to come a point where avoiding falling for someone is just going to guarantee you end up alone.”

“Getting involved with someone won’t guarantee I won’t end up alone.”

“Yeah, but pushing everyone away will definitely guarantee it.” She pushed Lily’s phone toward her. “If you have feelings for him, call him. See where it goes.”

“I know where it’s going to go. It’s just a matter of how fast it gets there.”