Outmatched in October (Spring River Valley Book 10)

Outmatched in October

By

Clarice Wynter

Published by:
Clarice Wynter

copyright 2013, Clarice Wynter

Cover art by Niina Cord

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, brands, media and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

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All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

With special thanks to: my editor, Jean Cooper, my cover artist, Niina Cord and my head cheerleader, JB Lynn, for all of their hard work, support and encouragement.

Claudia tilted her head back, her eyes heavy-lidded and fixed on those of her partner. Her sultry sigh mixed with the first notes of the love ballad that played from the keyboard next to them, and on a deep breath she launched into the words she’d rehearsed for the last six weeks.

Standing next to her at the microphone on the small corner stage at Colette’s Pub, Owen DeWitt pursed his lips and joined Claudia with a low, wordless hum that lent harmony to their song. His deep voice rose into the poetic words of the ballad, and together they professed their love to one another in front of the bar’s Friday night audience. Behind them, Taylor Croft tickled the keys of his own instrument, creating the melody to which they both swayed. Their hands met on the microphone stand, and they leaned together, mouths only inches apart so their voices could blend into the perfect harmony.

People sang with them, some off key, but that didn’t bother Claudia. She wasn’t concerned with the audience or the music. Tonight only the words mattered because she wasn’t just singing for the few extra bucks the gig paid her and her two band mates. She meant every word.

Tonight she planned to make sure Owen knew it.

He smiled at her while he sang the chorus, unaware that every movement of his lips distracted her. She had to force herself to concentrate on getting the words right, all the while wondering if he could see the intent in her eyes.
I love you, and tonight is the night I’m going to tell you.

As long as she could stay focused through the end of the song, the end of the set, she could accomplish her goal. They’d been singing together for almost a year, and they’d been friends for a decade before that, but it had only been in the last few months, since they’d started singing semi-professionally together
, that she’d realized the reason they bickered and argued and pushed each other’s buttons wasn’t because he was just a smart ass and she was a control freak. It was because somehow she’d fallen in love with him, and she had no idea how to tell him that their friendship just wasn’t going to be enough for her anymore.

That brought her back around to the fear that tonight she could ruin everything if she said the wrong words, if she went about this the wrong way. Everything had to be perfect, including her delivery of the song.

His raised eyebrow told her she’d messed up—damn! She missed a line of the chorus, but he caught it. He followed her lead and smoothed it over. She banished all non-essential thoughts from her mind, smiled broadly to hide her annoyance with herself and hit the final notes, her voice mixing with his like two colors blending to make a third even more beautiful hue.

They were magic together on stage. Everyone said it.

She wanted that magic all the time, everywhere…and if he didn’t want the same thing, her heart would break.

The song ended amid a healthy round of applause. The crowd
at Colette’s adored their band, Love Notes, and Buck, the manager of the pub, had already asked them to stay on now that the summer was over and continue what was to have been a short-term gig until the end of the year. Even though the three of them had other jobs, other careers, they’d all been thrilled by the prospect of a steady performance schedule. It made all their hard work rehearsing worthwhile.

Owen took Claudia’s hand in his and tugged, urging her to take a bow for the audience.

“Thank you,” he said into the microphone. “We’ll be back later for one more set before closing, so stick around, everyone.”

The single spotlight that
shone on them from the room’s exposed rafters shut off, and Claudia let out a long sigh and fanned herself with her hand. She wanted to believe the heat creeping up from the base of her throat was due to the bright light and the crowd, but she knew it was nerves. She’d never been this jittery on stage before, even on the first night the band had performed before an audience after months of practicing in the back room of the music store Owen managed.

“Hey
, guys, I’m starving. I’m going to order a burger. You two want anything?” Taylor asked, rising from his seat behind his keyboard. By day a local veterinarian, he’d been the one to suggest the three friends start the band, just for fun, as a means to unwind. It had been Owen who convinced them they were good enough to actually get work.

“I’m fine,” Owen said. “Claud? You okay? You missed a couple of lines there in the middle.”

“I’m fine. I got distracted. Taylor, I’ll meet you at the bar in a bit.”

Taylor agreed via thumbs up and left the stage. Owen continued fussing with the microphone stands and fiddling with a loose guitar string.

Originally, she’d planned to wait until the end of the night, but with her nerves this frayed, she’d never get that far without chickening out. Now was her chance. If Claudia didn’t say something now, she never would. “Hey, can we talk…maybe outside before the next set?” Her racing heart climbed for her throat, making her normally strong, melodic voice come out weak and raspy.

Owen didn’t seem to notice. He barely glanced at her. “Sure, give me five. I’ve got to change this string.”

“Can that wait?”

“It’ll take me five minutes. I’ll be right there.”

If it weren’t for that sexy half smile of his and those alluring blue-green eyes, Claudia would have argued, but maybe a few extra minutes to prepare wasn’t such a bad thing. “All right, parking lot out front in five.”

He nodded, intent now on the guitar’s problems rather than hers. Why was she desperately in love with him again? Oh, right, because every time he looked at her, she melted inside. Every time he sang to her
, something in the middle of her chest ignited and burned so hot she could hardly breathe. Even when they argued, which was constantly, all she wanted to do was jump into his arms and kiss him. She either needed to tell him how she felt, or she needed to enter rehab to get over him. Tonight would be the deciding factor, and tomorrow, either way, everything between them would be different.

Anticipation carried her across the crowded restaurant section of Colette’s and out the front door.
In the parking lot she paced in the cool October air for five minutes, checking her watch every sixty seconds just to be sure. As a precaution, she waited another five, but Owen still hadn’t shown up.

Of course, he’d probably forgotten. She’d told him often enough that he was easily distracted. Someone probably had come up and asked him a question about his vintage guitar, or made a request for a song for the next set. She tapped her foot impatiently.
This is schoolgirl stuff
, she told herself.
It’s like waiting by a guy’s locker to ask him to the Sadie Hawkins dance or some such nonsense.
She and Owen were adults. She could have just waited until the last set was over and told him they needed to go back to his place and sleep together. What guy would say no to that? Of course, Taylor would be hanging around then, and she didn’t want an audience for this particular performance. She wanted what she was about to say to be just between her and Owen for now.

After fifteen minutes she gave up and went back inside. They only had a thirty-minute break between sets, so this couldn’t wait much longer. The place seemed even more packed than it had
been when she’d walked out. The crowd was two deep at the bar, and all the tables were full. The stage area was the only empty spot in the place, testifying to the fact that at least Owen had fixed the broken string and made it off the stage.

Claudia scanned the faces at the bar and found Taylor finishing his dinner and talking to his twin brother Tanner. The two Croft men were identical, and from this distance Claudia might not have been able to tell them apart except for the pretty brunette who stood next to Tanner. Evie
Prentice, a reporter for the
Spring River Valley Herald,
had been dating the other Croft twin for about six months. Unfortunately, Taylor remained a confirmed bachelor for reasons incomprehensible to Claudia and most of the female population of the Valley.

So where was Owen? Men’s room, possibly. Talking music or vintage cars with one of his friends, more likely.

He turned up after a second more intense scan of the bar area. Another wave of heat assaulted Claudia, this one anything but sultry. He was holding court with two women, smiling and laughing while the two redheads flirted shamelessly. One of them was twirling her fingers in his hair, toying with a dark curl. The other gazed at him as though he’d just rescued her puppy from a well.

Jealousy wasn’t Claudia’s style. She never got jealous. It wasn’t in her to be possessive.

She was just annoyed that he hadn’t even been able to make it across the room before forgetting he was supposed to be meeting her outside.

She fixed her gaze on him, hoping to burn a hole through his skull with her disdain. Amazingly, he noticed. Sometimes it was like they had a psychic connection. And other times it was like they were from two different planets.

He waved. She jerked a thumb at the door. He nodded and extricated himself from the tangle of his adoring fans. She whirled around and headed back outside, thinking,
Maybe this was a bad idea.

Anger kept Claudia warm despite the autumn chill. She stalked toward her car, deciding to cocoon herself in familiar warmth and silence until the break was over. Odds were Owen would get sidetracked again before he made it out the door, so why bother waiting? She’d made it halfway to her car before she remembered her purse, containing her keys, was still in the back room. If she wanted to hide out in her car, she’d have to march back in and ask Owen to unlock the back room for her.

Her curse echoed across the blacktop, much louder than she’d anticipated. She followed it with a frustrated sigh.
Might as well go back in and forget it. Tonight isn’t the night. Maybe the night is never going to come.

“I like a woman who knows how swear.” The male voice that startled her was deep, almost melodic
, and certainly not Owen’s.

Shivering now that the cold air had penetrated her cloak of annoyance, she whirled around, arms crossed, and confronted her companion. “I also know how to scream, so I suggest you step aside and let me go back in.”

A genuine smile creased his handsome features, but he stepped back, hands up in a gesture of surrender. “No harm intended, honestly. I saw you storm out, and I…well, I was hoping you wouldn’t leave before I had a chance to talk to you.”

“I’m really not interested.” The brush off came out unbidden, as though she’d rehearsed it. She’d been
“saving” herself for Owen for so long, she couldn’t even appreciate the attention of a good-looking guy. And he was, in fact, not bad at all. He wore what appeared to be an expensive tailored suit, maybe a little too rich for a place like Colette’s. His dark brown hair reached the collar of his shirt, neatly combed and not long enough to suggest it needed a trim. His jaw bore just a hint of stubble, and even in the barely adequate security lighting of the parking lot, the green of his eyes was striking.

“I can’t say I’m not disappointed by that, but I actually wanted to talk to you about your singing. Your voice is…exceptional.”

“Thanks,” she said, unable to keep the sardonic lilt out of her tone. Plenty of people complimented her on her singing, and she appreciated their praise, but there was something about this guy following her into the parking lot that had her hackles up.