Seducing Samantha (2 page)

“The gold Infiniti,” she said and gestured with her free hand to the area where she parked.

He walked with her, shortening his long stride to match her shorter one.  She was five feet five.  He was at least six feet.  Six hot, hunky feet of … whatever he did for a living.  She bet it was something sexy.  With those cowboy boots, maybe he was a rancher or a farmer.

When she unlocked her door with the remote, he opened it for her and didn’t let go of her elbow until she was seated.  Chivalry was alive and well in Ashland, and she was aware she was grinning like an idiot at him, but she couldn’t seem to help herself.  Handsome and a gentleman.  What a great combination.

“Sam, can I ask you something?”  His brows drew together in a frown, and she had the distinct feeling he was nervous.

Please ask if I want to see you naked!

“Sure, Grant.”

Naked.  Naked!

“Would you like to have dinner tonight?”

Oh.  Oh!

“I’d love to.”

Relief washed over his face as he pulled out his cell phone from a pocket inside his jacket and dialed her number as she spoke it.  Her phone beeped with a text, and she couldn’t stop her silly grin.  The message:  a simple smiley face.  What a great way to end an otherwise typical week.

She quickly texted her address to him.  He smiled down at the screen when it beeped and slid the phone into the inside pocket of his jacket.  “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” 
Oh my, yes.

“Me, too, Sam.”

He smiled, and his whole face lit up.  She turned the ignition, and when the car started, he nodded his head and shut the door.  She watched him walk across the snowy parking lot.  His jeans were far tighter than she realized at first glance, showcasing a perfectly squeezable ass.  If anyone asked her what she looked for in a man, she always said that what she was drawn to was his eyes, but that was just polite bullshit.  Really, she was an ass girl.

Swinging her car around the nearly empty parking lot, she snickered to herself as she caught a glimpse of Mark as he walked down the steps from the school.  He was thin and unremarkable as men went, and had absolutely no ass.

Suddenly, amazingly, for the first time, she didn’t cringe when when she saw her ex-husband; she didn’t feel a pang of longing or hatred.  She felt nothing towards him, and that was okay.  What she did feel, though, was increasingly warm feelings for her student’s hot uncle.  What good fortune that she was there to meet him.  She couldn’t wait for seven o’clock.

Ashland was a very small town with one diner that served the world’s best meatloaf, a gas station, a bank, and one school for kindergarten through eighth grade.  Older kids went on to a neighboring high school.  Her apartment was on the south side of town, and as she idled at a stoplight, she thought back over Grant’s beautiful eyes and sincere smile.  Questions pinged in her mind as she eased over a light patch of ice in the intersection and turned left onto Maple.

How old was he?  What did he do for a living?  Did he know how gorgeous he was?

Ahead she saw the gas station and decided to get gas on the way home so she didn’t have to leave early on Monday morning.  She turned into the parking lot, and her tires spun.  She suddenly wasn’t moving.  She was halfway in the parking lot and halfway out in the street.  She rocked the car back and forth, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Come on, damn it!”  She tried again to get her tires unstuck, but the car simply would not move.

Dropping her head to the steering wheel she muttered, “Fantastic.”

A knock on the window startled her from her dire thoughts of getting stuck halfway in the parking lot all night and missing her date.

A police officer was bent over and peering into the car with a smile on his face.  His very handsome face.  She pushed the button on the window.

“Yes, officer?”  She blinked, trying to take in all of him as fast as possible.  Dark blond hair, shaved on the sides, sapphire blue eyes, straight nose, slight cleft in his chin. 
Oh mother of all things holy, they grow hot men here!

He grinned, flashing a set of straight, white teeth.  “You do realize you’re stuck halfway out in the street, right, miss?”

She swallowed a groan as blush heated her cheeks.  She’d not blushed quite so much in one day, ever.  “Yes, I’m sorry.  My car is stuck.”

“Uh-huh.”  His grin widened.

He walked around to the front of her car, and she caught a glimpse of broad shoulders under a black wool coat.  He looked tall.  Maybe as tall as … Grant.  She needed to get her head out of the gutter.  Just because a hot cop happened to stop to help like some modern-day knight in shining armor didn’t mean that she could ignore her date tonight.  And she didn’t want to, anyway.  Grant was gorgeous.  But so was hot-cop.  Who was walking back to her right now.

“I called for a tow on my radio, Miss …?”

She extended her hand as he held out his and a little shiver of excitement wove through her, not unlike how she’d felt when she shook hands with Grant.  “Samantha Thomas, but you can call me Sam.”

He looked puzzled for a moment, and then he said, “You’re Ben’s music teacher, Miss Thomas?”

“Ben?  Yes.  Oh, you’re his father?  What a strange coincidence, running into you.”

“My brother Grant picked him up, right?”

Oh wow, what a really, really weird coincidence.

“Yes, he sure did.  Thanks for calling for a tow.”

“My pleasure.  My name’s Aaron.”  He looked at her with another smile, and her insides went melty.

“It’s nice to meet you.”  They were both quiet for a moment, and she sighed, “You probably have to get back to work?”

“I’m not going to leave a stranded citizen.  Besides,” he straightened and rocked back on his heels, looking as much like an untried youth as Grant had earlier, “if I take off now, I’ll lose my chance to ask you out.”

It took her a moment to realize that in the six-month dry spell since her last relationship had fizzled, she hadn’t had anyone ask her out.  Now, inexplicably, she had two men ask her out in the same day.  Goodbye, dry spell.  Hello … problem.

She’d never been in this situation before, but she prized honesty above all else, so she said, “It’s really sweet of you to ask, Aaron, but your brother Grant asked me out to dinner tonight.”

His blue eyes widened slightly, but his smile didn’t wane.  “It’s just a first date, though, right?”

“Yes.”  She frowned, not knowing where he was going with that.

“Well, if you’re not against another first date tomorrow night, then I’m okay with you going out with Grant first.”

She raised a brow.  “I’m not sure.”

The tow truck pulled into the parking lot from the other entrance and stopped in front of her.  Aaron left to speak to the operator.  Within minutes, her car was free of the snow and up into the gas station parking lot.  She stopped in front of a gas pump and Aaron appeared, asking for her credit card to swipe at the pump.  She handed it to him through the open window, amazed as he filled up her tank for her.  When the tank was full, he handed her the card and receipt, along with a business card with his information on it.

He leaned forward to look at her through the window.  “I’d like a chance to get to know you, Sam.  You’re beautiful, and Ben speaks highly of you.  If you’re interested in another first date tomorrow, give me a call.  I’ll be home all day.  If not, then I understand.”

He said goodbye and got into his squad car parked on the street.  When she started her car again, he waved to her to pull out ahead of him, and she was touched by his concern that she get out of the ice-filled parking lot safely.

He followed her for several blocks before turning a different direction.  She headed home, her mind a jumble.

As she let herself into her one-bedroom apartment, she started to laugh.  Aaron had said she was beautiful.  Grant had been more of a gentleman to her in ten minutes than any other man she’d ever dated.  And she already knew that Aaron was a good father because Ben spoke so highly of him.

Well, she didn’t really know what to do about her two potential dates, but she did know one thing:  she wanted to get to know the two sexy brothers better.  Her stomach fluttered as she thought about their sexy smiles, muscular builds, and big hands.

Was there any harm in going out on first dates with both men?  Well, as long as they were okay with it, maybe she could be, too.  And in the process, she might figure out which one she’d like to see more.  The thought of one of them leaving her suddenly made her feel very cold, and she hopped into her hot shower to warm up, not sure what to make of the very strange feelings she was developing so quickly for the two alluring Fallon men.

Chapter 2

Grant took the stairs three at a time to the second floor of the boarding house he shared with his extended family, almost mowing down his tawny-headed son, Brian, in the process.  Catching him before he hit the wood stairs and got hurt, Grant swung Brian up over his shoulder and carried him upstairs.

“Daddy!”  Brian laughed, a giggling, infectious laugh that filled Grant’s heart with love.

“Almost got away from me,” he said as he opened the door to his bedroom on the second floor and tossed Brian onto the large bed.  Brian bounced once with another laugh and said, “You’re home early.  I thought you were going to help Uncle Rhett?”

Grant worked on his older brother Rhett’s farm in Ashland.  While there wasn’t field work to do in the winter, there was always something that needed to be repaired or looked at.  Right now, he was helping Rhett build a new utility barn.

He tossed his jacket on the chair in the corner.  “I’ve got a date tonight, B.”

His oldest son Kevin, who was now ten, came running from the bedroom across the hall that he shared with Brian.  “Did you say you have a date?  With a real woman?”

He laughed.  Ruffling Kevin’s dark hair, he chucked him under the chin.  “You bet, pal.  She’s a teacher at your school.  Miss Thomas?”

Brian’s eyes went wide.  “Oh, she’s pretty, Daddy.  Do you think you’ll marry her?”

He’d known that when he told them he had a date, they would jump to conclusions, but he couldn’t help but enjoy that little glimmer of hope that was shining in his own mind about Sam.  He felt something when he saw her, as if his mountain lion were awakening for the first time.  He’d been out on a couple of dates since they had left the pride and their hometown of King, Pennsylvania, but he’d never been so affected by a woman as he had with Sam.  He was completely captivated and nearly struck dumb at the sight of her.  Fortunately, his mouth had worked even though his brain had completely stalled out, and he’d managed to get her number and ask her on a date.

He sat down on the bed and put his arm around Brian.  “Now listen, guys, it doesn’t happen like that.  This is just our first date.  I want you to promise me that you’ll act respectfully towards her at school, no matter what happens.”

“Promise, Daddy,” they both answered.  Kevin, the more serious of the two, looked thoughtful and said, “You look happy, Dad.  You should wear the black sweater that Aunt Lisa got you for Christmas.”

He pulled his son in for a quick hug and kissed the top of his head.  “Thanks, Son.  You two head out, I’m going to get ready.”

He watched his sons leave, shutting the door behind them, and went to the closet to find the sweater they were talking about.  He pulled it free, pairing it with dress slacks, and laid the clothes on the bed while he went to shower.

He’d grown up in a mountain lion pride in the small mountain town of King, and he’d spent his entire life there.  Their kind was different among shifter groups in that the males and females didn’t form lasting bonds.  The females were cold and emotionless to the point of cruelty.  They were willing to mate to have children with the males, but they were unwilling to have any sort of relationship or familiarity with the males they bred children with.  And they refused to acknowledge the children they bore.

No one knew why the females were that way.  The males had always picked up the slack for the nurturing the children were missing from their lives.  When a male was ready to become a father, he approached the female of his choice.  When she carried the cub to full term, she signed her parental rights away and never paid attention to the child again.  When he was twenty-three, he began to wish he could have a family of his own, but the females refused to allow the males to pursue relationships with humans or other were-groups.  The females would attack the other women and drive them away.  He knew he was facing becoming a single-parent, but the support of the males in his pride would help to fill in the gaps.

What he hadn’t counted on, when Kevin was born that next year, was that he would yearn even more for a female to love, to share the love that he felt was overflowing from his own heart.  Even though he knew it was fruitless, he asked Paula, the mother of both Kevin and Brian, if she would become his permanent mate, and she had laughed in his face.  Now, she was … who knew where?