Excerpt of Seven-Year Seduction by Heidi Betts

"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 atYancy'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 room-mate'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.