Blind Seduction

Blind Seduction

Bonus: This version contains the
Team Red novella,

In Love with Teresa March

Previously released with the 2013
version of the

Shades of Pink Anthology

Blind Seduction: Team Red, Book 1

Copyright © Mar 2013 by Tina Hammond

Published by Tina Hammond at Smashwords

Thank you for downloading this free ebook. Although
this is a free book, it remains the copyrighted property of the
author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for
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author. Thank you for your support.

This book contains adult situations, themes, and
language, including explicit sexual content. This book is not
recommended for readers under 18 years of age.

“
This book is available in print at
most online retailers.”

Disclaimers

Hey folks, this is a work of fiction, the talking dog
should be your first clue. All the events and characters in this
book are figments of my imagination; although at three in the
morning, I must admit when they scream at me to write down the
stuff they are acting out in my head, I sometimes wonder about the
fine line between fiction and real life.

The city of Spokane is described with a lot of
accuracy, as far as landmarks, hotels, local restaurants, and
parks--although I made up the restaurant, Blind Seduction. Some
places mentioned by name in the book are based on places I have
been, but as this is a work of fiction, I made up employee names
and events which happen at these locations. Yes, I lied.

The Spokane Police Department figures into my plot,
but I have no actual knowledge of the structure, policies, and/or
procedures. Spokane does have a COPS Shop at the Shadle Center, but
I have taken more liberties than a playboy with a drunk date in my
descriptions of events, employees, volunteers, or the inside of the
location (I peeked in the window once, but I have no idea what it’s
like inside). My depiction of events at the Police Station and COPS
Shop are a complete fabrication.

I took unintentional liberties with the actual
borders for the city of Spokane. Some of the crime areas
represented in Team Red books (most notably, Book 1), were actually
in unincorporated Spokane that (if this wasn’t, you know, fiction?)
would have been handled by the Sheriff’s department, not city
police (Note: when I moved a crime scene in book 1 from Gonzaga
district to Whitworth’s district, I forgot the city limits were
different, oops! It never occurred to me to switch from the Police
to Sherriff’s department—my bad!). I apologize for the error, but,
for the sake of the story, it is easier to leave Team Red
affiliated with only one law enforcement agency rather than
multiple jurisdictions. I will continue the series as written and
ask for the readers’ indulgence.

The Team Red Series

At reader request, there are two concurrent Team Red
series versions: “Blind” for adult readers preferring a spicier,
adult-themed story, and “Red” series more suitable for New Adult
readers.

While both series contain the same character names
and a lot of shared dialogue, the Red series is stripped of graphic
sex and language, the characters are younger, and story line is
modified to what I believe is the equivalency of a PG movie
(subjective, of course, other opinions may vary.)

The “Blind” version is written first. Afterward,
protagonist ages are reduced to their twenties, and changes made to
tone down adult themes and language, making the “Red” version a new
story, with obvious mirrored elements of the original (such as the
dialog). Some people enjoy following both storylines.

Blind Seduction, Book 1

Color Blind, Book 2

Blind Faith, Book 3

Blind Rage, Book 4

Blind-Sided, Book 5 (Spring 2015)

In Love with Teresa March: A Team Red Novella 1.5

Blush: A Team Red Novella 2.5 (Nov 2014)

Red Rover, Book1

Red Zone, Book 2

Seeing Red, Book 3 (coming soon)

Posse (Nov 2014)

My thanks for the patience and perseverance of my
Beta Readers: Jen Moulton, Jocelyn Sanchez, Kim Culbertson, Nita
Roberts, and Pam Roberts, who helped me with gentle criticism
rather than 2x4’s. Your restraint under the bombardment of emails
is appreciated. A special thanks to Kim and Summer—your feedback
helped make Blind Seduction a better book, thanks for not pulling
your punches.

For this updated edition of Blind Seduction, I’d like
to add a special thanks to Kathryn Svendsen, of the Shelf Full of
Books blog, who gave me some excellent feedback on the blind, and
guide dogs when she read Red Rover (the PG version of the Team Red
series). I updated some of the sections, in both versions, to
include information on how a real guide dog would be trained. Of
course, I took liberties with my story, taking into account Red’s
unique personality and situation. Any inaccuracies regarding guide
dogs, their training, or care, intended or otherwise, are on my
shoulders.

I am fortunate to have found a wonderful editor in
Tara Shaner, of Shaner Media Creations. Her blunt feedback,
encouragement, and bold red pen have made this latest edition of
Blind Seduction a much better book. Thanks, again.

Special thanks to my sister, Laurie, for the best
Christmas present ever!

Teresa, I think of you often; you are missed.

8 Months
Earlier

Warm breath caressed the back of my neck. I sighed at
the damp heat, stirring the tiny hairs at my nape. In my half-awake
state, I had a fleeting thought it was strange to be sleeping
upright, braced against a hard, firm… rolling my face to the side,
I opened an eye to see adoring, extravagantly-lashed eyes, gazing
at me as if I were the most important woman in the world.

“Janey? Rex is staring at me again,” I complained,
half-heartedly.

“If you'd quit dozing against his cage, he wouldn’t
watch you at all,” she replied reasonably. “More importantly,
you’ve been slipping him dog treats—don’t think I haven’t
noticed—so you’ve been elevated to the rank of goddess.”

Rather than attempting a defense, I slid a hand into
my coat pocket and pulled out a broken dog biscuit, defiantly
poking it through the links of the kennel partition. A warm tongue
licked my fingers as soft, chestnut-brown eyes worshiped me. Rex
delicately took the offered dog biscuit between sharp, white
teeth.

I was visiting my best friend, Janey Declan, during
the much-anticipated arrival of Stormy's third litter. Today,
Halloween morning, we were treated to nine gorgeous German shepherd
puppies over the course of five hours. I felt it entirely
reasonable to have nodded off for a few minutes. The last thing I
remembered was changing the bedding when it appeared Stormy’s labor
was finally over.

The fat, blind babies wriggled blindly towards their
mother's body heat. Stormy looked weary, but vigilantly nosed each
of the new arrivals, as if doing a continual head count. Both Janey
and I were grinning like idiots despite our exhaustion; you'd think
we
were the ones who had labored for so long.

“Damn,” Janey lamented, brushing wisps of blond hair
off her face with French manicured nails, “nine puppies, and only
two females. I'll have to use a different stud next time if I want
more females for the kennel.”

“Oh, but they are so beautiful.” I argued, crooning
at the small male I held across the length my hand. “You'll have
all of them sold by the time they're weaned in ten weeks.”

Janey's grin was infectious. “They are beautiful,
aren't they? Look at the markings on these two.” She singled out a
male and female with black saddles and dark faces. “They look like
their dad. The coat pattern is already well-defined.”

This would be an AKC-registered litter; each puppy
wore a tiny, bright yarn around its neck indicating birth order. As
each one was born, Janey recorded the puppy's gender and coat type,
matching the shade of the yarn she assigned each new arrival, to
the pre-numbered list she kept on a clipboard by the whelping box.
Janey hadn’t anticipated so many puppies, so we got creative when a
ninth body slid wetly into the blood-smeared towels. The last puppy
was given two colors twisted together, yellow and red, and Janey
listed him as Orange. She would buy the appropriate color, and add
it to the box of colorful spools, before she needed to replace the
entwined yarn – usually when it became worn, or the pup grew out of
it.

The ninth puppy, a grayish-colored runt, seemed
lethargic and didn't look strong enough to survive the night. I
knew Janey would put in extra time massaging and warming him to
ensure the best chance of survival. I was rooting for him to live
so that he could get his official orange string.

Eight pups were healthy, active, and already fighting
for position as they lined up at their mother's belly, rooting for
the first drops of milk. There was one sable—the runt, six standard
black and tans with dark saddles and black faces, and two blacks
with gold socks, called bi-colors, exact replicas of their mother.
Who knew how a sable ended up in the batch? Although I'm sure Janey
could give me an exact moment in each parent's illustrious pedigree
where such a miracle could have been anticipated... Janey is
somewhat anal about her breeding program.

I’d already picked out my puppy. I would be taking
home the second arrival, who wore a thin piece of red yarn around
his neck, and had aggressively pushed his little black body through
his litter-mates. Yep, the pushy one! He was rooting at a swollen
nipple with golden brown paws determinedly pressing down on the
heads of the puppies to either side of him. Goal-oriented. He and I
would get along perfectly.

“I'm worried about this little guy,” Janey stroked
the back of Orange, before maneuvering him to a teat so he could
suckle. “He's smaller than usual and a little thin.”

“I'm sure Stormy will have him fattened up in no
time,” I consoled. “I love sable coats, but they’re unusual for
your kennel.”

“Yeah, the sable coloring goes back a couple
generations on the sire's side. If I look back another generation
or two, I'll likely find a sable on the dam's side also.”

“It seems to me roulette and dog breeding share a lot
of similarities,” I grinned. “Right when you think your choices are
red or black, the ball falls in the green slot.”

“Yeah, too bad the puppy names will be Halloween
themed, or I could have named him Double Ott,” Janey said,
referring to the green double zeros on a roulette wheel. “I’ll have
to think about something really cute to suggest to the person who
buys him.”

Janey stretched and yawned, rolling to her feet with
casual grace. She set a baby monitor on a shelf above the whelping
box, fiddling with the adjustment on the camera which allowed her
to observe the puppies from inside the house.

“Hey Teresa, you ready to go inside? I could use some
hot coffee and fuzzy slippers. I think my toes are frozen.” The
kennel was a converted three car garage, so it lacked the warmth of
carpeted floors and insulated walls.

“Yeah, mine too.” I tried to loosen cramped muscles,
stiff from the combination of a cold cement floor and failure to
move in the last thirty minutes. “I want to get inside and upload
the new webpage template I was working on last week. Who knew we
could make a living designing websites from home? This last
template will give us a total of one hundred-forty designs, and I
have a flash drive full of thumbnail photos I took over the summer
we can add to the images library.” I offered her the finger-sized
data storage device. “Here, you take it; we’ll load it from your
desk top computer. It will be faster than my laptop.”

I stretched my aching legs, hauling myself to my feet
with a groan. As I bent to turn off the woefully inadequate space
heater we’d been using, I remembered the heat lamp suspended from
the ten foot ceiling, and guessed she would want it turned on to
keep some of the chill from the birthing area. My pre-coffee brain
was amused at the imagined vision of her hopping up and down to
reach the pull chain for the switch.