The Crime of Seduction Read online

  The Crime of Seduction

  Book One of The Scottsville Exposed Series

  Nadine LaForet

  Contents

  Copyright

  Introduction

  The Crime of Seduction

  Dedication

  1. Chapter One

  2. Chapter Two

  3. Chapter Three

  4. Chapter Four

  5. Chapter Five

  6. Chapter Six

  7. Chapter Seven

  8. Chapter Eight

  9. Chapter Nine

  10. Chapter Ten

  11. Chapter Eleven

  12. Chapter Twelve

  13. Chapter Thirteen

  14. Chapter Fourteen

  15. Chapter Fifteen

  16. Chapter Sixteen

  17. Chapter Seventeen

  18. Book Two: The Crime of Deception

  19. A Request from Nadine

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2014 by Nadine LaForet

  All rights reserved.

  This story is a work of fiction. Things portrayed in this eBook are either fictitious or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, persons living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Without limiting the rights under copyright(s) reserved above and below, 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 permission of the copyright owner. Making or distributing copies of this book constitutes copyright infringement and could subject the infringer to criminal and civil liability.

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  All rights to this book belong to Nadine LaForet author. Except for brief quotations used in any review. Any other forms of reproduction or utilization of this work, in part or in whole are forbidden without permission of the author.

  Cover created by Linda Kage

  Created with Vellum

  Introduction

  “Heath was definitely more handsome in person than on his profile—if that was even possible. He was vital and flirty and had an incredible level of magnetism she found inescapable. From the second she felt his hand on her shoulder and heard him say her name, she was physically drawn to him in a way she had never experienced before...”

  Alex Barton is a hardworking young paralegal in the Emerald County Prosecutor’s Office. Despite her grueling work life, Alex, a single woman with a passionate nature, yearns for an intimate connection with somebody. As Alex cruises through the personals of the dating site Compatibility.com one night, she lays eyes on the stunningly attractive Heath Valentine, who reaches out to her online. Their first date is a sizzling one, and Alex is thoroughly seduced—though her older and wiser friend Mari warns her not to get emotionally involved.

  In Nadine LaForet’s suspense-filled debut erotic romance, hot and steamy sex is interwoven with romantic tension and doubt. Is Heath too good to be true? Through a series of twists, a new man comes on the scene for Alex who will accept her for who she is and give her what she desires. But even after seeing the light, can she escape the net that has been woven around her?

  The Crime of Seduction

  Book One of the Scottsville Exposed Series

  I dedicate this book to the Mayor of Scottsville.

  You will always get my vote.

  1

  Chapter One

  Alex Barton ran her hands through her blonde, chin-length bob as she ran across the street from the parking garage to the courthouse. I cannot be late to work again or I’ll get written up for sure. As she approached the large, modern, glass-walled building she rummaged in the leather tote she had slung over her shoulder. Fuck, where is my badge?

  Alex laughed to herself as she thought of what she must look like, racing across the street against the light at 7:55 on a Wednesday morning in June talking to herself. Just as Alex began to panic that she wasn’t going to find her badge in what had recently become a de facto overnight bag, she heard a familiar voice.

  “I’ll badge, you open.” It was Mari, the office receptionist and Alex’s best friend at work. Mari held a tray of coffees in one hand and another coffee, plus her badge, in the other. She reached her hand out to scan her badge at the front door.

  “Wow, someone is sporting the freshly fucked look this morning,” she said, giving Alex a head-to-toe once-over.

  “Date went well last night, I take it?”

  Alex blushed and grinned, “Yeah, you could say that.”

  “Awww, shoot,” Mari said, smiling. “Is this the online guy? Heath?”

  “Of course, Mari. Sheesh, what do you think I am, some kind of a slut, sleeping with all kinds of guys in the same week?”

  Mari laughed with Alex. “Oh no, not you, Miss Monogamous. What was that site called again? OK Stupid? Or was it Plenty of Cootchie?”

  “Ha ha, very funny, Mar,” Alex said, laughing good-naturedly. “It was the other one, Compatibility.com, thank you very much. Actually, I’m happy I stuck with it. Heath totally makes it worth it.”

  “Well, I’m happy if you’re happy. You deserve to be treated right after getting rid of that shithead you lived with.”

  “Thanks, GF. Do I look OK?”

  “Yeah, you’re good. Now get to your desk before you get in trouble.”

  * * *

  Alex was thankful for Mari. It was always good to have a friend at work you could trust, and Mari was exactly that. Alex could trust Mari to let her know if her fly was down, she had spinach in her teeth, or if someone in the office was talking shit about her behind her back. Mari was older than Alex, so she was sort of a mother figure—if Alex’s mom had been funny and hip with the sense of humor of a 14-year-old boy. Mari had a dirty mouth and an even dirtier mind, but she kept them both under wraps at work. She and Alex had both begun working at the county prosecutor’s office on the same day three years ago and had been inseparable ever since. In an office like theirs true friends were hard to come by, and they had become thick as thieves over the years.

  Mari’s two daughters were her life. After her husband died, leaving her a single mom, she had a really hard time of it. He’d left her a beautiful house and beautiful girls and lots of beautiful material things, but he had also left her scrambling for a way to bring in an income while maintaining the lifestyle her girls had become used to. Alex knew that behind Mari’s fun and outgoing exterior was an extremely proud and private woman. Alex considered herself fortunate to have a woman like Mari on her side.

  The Emerald County Prosecutor’s Office was housed in the Emerald County Courthouse and Government Center in the Northern California city of Scottsville. Scottsville was home to a large university and had grown over the years into a high-priced community for the over-educated and under-employed. The building had been extensively retrofitted and remodeled two years before Alex had begun working there as a paralegal. The office was light, airy, modern, and very well protected after an armed gunman had stormed into the lobby several years ago, threatening to kill all the judges he could find. Since then they had increased security, with metal detectors, locked doors, and armed law enforcement officers patrolling each wing of the building. Each local law enforcement agency in the county rotated the security detail with
the Sheriff’s Office, Scottsville Police, and the Emerald City Police Department each taking a month at a time.

  Alex followed Mari through the door and the nodded to the Emerald County Sheriff’s officer monitoring the metal detector that morning. As they entered the prosecutor’s office Mari left to hand out the coffees she had brought to the office, and Alex walked quickly to her desk. She was hoping her boss was not yet settled in for the day when she heard a stern “good morning, Alex.” Damn. No such luck. “Good morning, Beverly,” she said, smiling at her supervisor.

  Beverly was a usually friendly woman who rarely left her station in the first small office space. She was the Head Bitch in Charge, for sure. Beverly ran a tight ship, was fiercely loyal to her “secretaries,” and took no B.S. from the brass. She had been at the Prosecutor’s Office her entire working life and planned to retire from there in a few more years. She was a momma hen but also a fox and no one ever managed to outwit or outplay her—including the prosecutor herself. Beverly looked like she didn’t catch much, but she knew everything that went on in the office—and many of the other government offices that surrounded it—without ever leaving her desk. Alex knew better than to push Beverly’s buttons, and tardiness was one of them.

  To be fair, Beverly had cut Alex a lot of slack during her ugly breakup with Josh, her live-in boyfriend, whom she had finally kicked out of her apartment six months earlier. Josh was a pretty boy, but Alex had found that attractive when they met at her first “real” post-college job at a small technology start-up. She had worked in communications, putting her liberal studies and journalism coursework to good use, when she crossed paths with the new, young corporate law attorney, Josh.

  He swore he never masturbated, telling her, “I don’t need to.” She was never quite sure what that meant, exactly, and eventually she didn’t care. He didn’t like bodily fluids either. When Alex performed oral sex on him and swallowed he made her brush her teeth before he would kiss her. He always had a towel by the bed when they had sex—the towel by the bed was how she knew she was going to get lucky that night. He blamed their dismal sex life on her—she had gained weight or lost weight or wasn’t waxed properly. He said she put too much pressure on him by demanding sex when he was in the middle of something else, like working at home or watching TV. If she sent him a sexy text during the day it was “too distracting” and eventually he pointedly asked her not to do that anymore.

  The fact that Heath, her new friend, was much more open about sex appealed to Alex. When they had their second date and met for drinks, she had ordered a fancy margarita. He asked if he could taste it and when she slid the glass over to him he said, “No, you take a sip and kiss me with it.” She loved how he wanted to taste all of her, it made her feel like he accepted - and desired - all of her. That was a huge turn-on.

  Alex sat down and turned on her computer. While the system booted up she took the opportunity to grab her makeup bag and tried to surreptitiously fix herself up in the travel mirror. Mari was right, Alex thought, I DO look freshly fucked.

  Alex tried to pat down the rat’s nest in the back of her head. She smiled, thinking about how she got it, as she wiped the smudged eyeliner from her eyes and blotted her face with powder. She didn’t need to add any blush since her face was still flushed from her late night and early morning with her new friend. Could I call him my lover with a straight face? Shit, sure I can. With a name like Heath Valentine, how can he be anything else?

  * * *

  By 10:00 a.m. Alex had to admit she was going to be worthless at work all day. She couldn’t concentrate at all and found herself staring at the computer screen, dry-eyed, with no idea what she was in the middle of. She shook her head and blushed at the memory of the night before with Heath.

  Heath Valentine was a charmer. He definitely had the role of rogue down pat. He presented himself well and clearly enjoyed the finer things in life. She had been intrigued by his storybook tall, dark, and handsome looks after her failed relationship with blond, pretty-boy Josh. Initially, she had been nervous about meeting him for coffee, and she had told herself that if coffee didn’t go well then they would go their separate ways—no harm, no foul, no hurt feelings. But it wasn’t long after Alex had laid eyes on Heath in person that she knew it was going to be a late night. At least, she hoped it would be.

  * * *

  2

  Chapter Two

  Alex had been ready to give up on online dating when she came across Heath’s profile the week before. His sparse and simple profile page intrigued her. Heath V. His tagline read: V the change you want to see. Alex thought it was a clever play on his name and a personal belief she shared, so she took it as a good sign.

  Where other men would go on and on about their fast, expensive cars and motorcycles or post pictures of themselves posing on the coast, Heath’s profile was different. His picture was a close-up of nothing but his face—his very handsome face. He had big hazel eyes that stared longingly into the camera. His lashes were impossibly long and thick and drew attention to what could only be described as bedroom eyes. Alex was mesmerized and found herself inches away from her computer screen. She could see flecks of gold and green and thought she had never seen such beautiful brown eyes.

  Alex’s eyes were brown too, and she had always thought anyone who told her she had pretty eyes was just full of shit and using a tired pick-up line on her. But she could see herself saying that to Heath and meaning it—if she ever got the chance. His hair was close cut, but his face sported a slightly scruffy short beard—one of those that looked like it had just been growing out for a day or two. Both were clean and tightly trimmed at the edges. She appreciated a well-groomed man and instantly liked the look of him.

  He had two other pictures up—one of him at what looked like an art gallery opening, his arms draped casually around a well-dressed man and woman who were holding glasses of champagne. The other was one of him alone, with a passport in his hand and a well-crafted leather messenger bag slung over his shoulder. Well, hello, world traveler! Just looking at the pictures he had posted made her shiver—she couldn’t explain why, but it was an instant, primal attraction. But Alex thought he was too beautiful and cultured and she couldn’t imagine actually meeting him in the flesh—the attraction seemed too powerful. So even though just looking at his photos made her wet, Alex clicked off Heath V’s profile and on to the next.

  Alex poured another glass of wine and expanded her search criteria for men. What if I look at men as short as 5’5” and just wear flats all the time? She flipped through profile after profile—men with bellies bigger than those of her pregnant friends’. Men with hats on in every picture—which Alex had quickly learned meant he was balding and best or hiding a horrific toupee at worst. Would I really care that much if he smokes in social situations? Alex saw photos where men had used Photoshop to black out other women from the picture—to varying success. Does his political party affiliation matter all that much? There were men showing off their kills on an African Safari—one proudly held the bloodied mane of a gorgeous lion in his left hand, a large rifle in his right. His other photos showed him in a shark cage off the coast of Australia.

  Alex took another gulp from her wine glass and reached for the bottle she had opened when she got home. It was empty. Shit. How long have I been stuck in this rabbit hole? She glanced at the clock on her laptop—12:43 a.m. Fuck this shit! This is such a waste of time. Nothing but 50-year-old men looking for 25-year-olds or 20-year-old guys looking for cougars to buy them booze and support them. Mommies with benefits. They are all disgusting. Why am I even on this site? I’m going to delete my profile and become a spinster cat-lady and be happy with it.

  Alex navigated to her account page and just as she was looking for the “permanently delete account” button she heard a chime and a text box popped up.

  hi. ur up l8.

  It was Heath. Heath V. Heath V. with the brown bedroom eyes. Alex was shocked. Stunned. Instantly nervous, she sa
t up on the couch and took a deep breath. Now what?

  hi - so are you ;-)

  Alex cringed. Wow, that was witty. I’m sure to impress him with that response.

  always.

  The cursor blinked. Alex reached for her glass of wine and put it to her lips, but only a drop came out. Damn, I’m on empty!

  what r u doing?

  wine’s gone. time for bed.

  Oh, that’s better—a little more wine, a little more wit.

  oh 2 bad.

  was just getting to kno u

  Hmmm, cute. Do I play along or not? Alex knew she needed to get to bed, that her supervisor would not be pleased if she came to work tired and hung-over—again. But damn, he was hot and he was online now, chatting with her. Alex clicked back to his profile page and looked at his pictures again. She imagined he was there, on the other side of the computer screen, looking at her, thinking about her, he was there with her, exchanging energy—she could practically feel it, feel him looking at her...

  how about we continue this in person?

  oh my god oh my god oh my god.

  ok. coffee?

  sure, that’s a good start.

  how about perk on main st @ 6?