Outmatched in October (Spring River Valley Book 10) (2 page)

“Do you mind if I ask if you might be interested in working somewhere else?”

“Working? You mean getting paid to sing?”

“I can guarantee you a better salary than this place is paying you.”

“Better than fifty bucks a set and free dinner?” She quirked her lips. “I could make more than that at the Kiddie Castle singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to four-year-olds.”

He laughed, and his eyes sparkled. Must be contacts, she thought, but she liked the sound. He seemed to be determined not to let her rudeness bother him. If he only knew how much it bothered her. She wanted
desperately to shake this sudden black mood, and she wanted to figure out how to stop letting everything Owen did and said get to her.

“It might be a stretch, but I think I can do better than Kiddie Castle.” He held out his hand. “I’m Jacob Larsen. I own a nightclub in the city called Eclipse, and I’m looking for a singer.”

Now it was Claudia’s turn to laugh. Was this guy for real? She shook his hand but didn’t step any closer. Warm hands, firm grip, not sweaty, she noted, but that wasn’t enough to clear him of any suspicion. “Claudia…Galvin. I’m sorry if I seem…skeptical, but why would you look for talent in a place like this, Mr. Larsen?”

“Call me Jacob
—or Jake, if you like. I normally wouldn’t, but a friend of mine heard you sing and told me I should come and see for myself how good you are. I trust his opinion, and he hasn’t been wrong yet.”

“So you’re offering me a job?”

“I’m offering you an audition. I have partners who have some say in who we hire at the club, but I don’t think you’ll have any trouble impressing them. Could we go back inside and talk about it over drinks?”

Her skepticism took a giant leap. An audition in the city? Who was he kidding? But she was getting cold out here without her coat or any means of escaping into her car. At least if she went back inside she’d be in familiar territory
, and she could shake the guy off with a never-ending trip to the ladies’ room if she didn’t like what he had to say. “I have another set in ten minutes, so you can buy me sparkling water. I don’t drink, at least not when I sing.”

“You don’t drink, but you do swear. What other vices do you have, Claudia?”

She sauntered past him toward the door. “I’ve got plenty, but I don’t think you’ll be finding out what they are.”

He held the door for her, and she slipped back into the bar, catching just a hint of the
subtly musky scent of his expensive cologne. “I’m hoping I can make you change your mind.”

* * * *

After peeling another feminine hand off his biceps, Owen managed to slip away from the bar. He hadn’t meant to get sidetracked on his way to meet Claudia for one of her clandestine complaint sessions, but who was he to refuse to spend a few minutes with some fans? After all, the reason he’d pushed Taylor and Claudia into this gig at Colette’s was to give the two of them some of the recognition their talents deserved. Singing and playing music for fun, as a way to unwind, was great, but a voice like Claudia’s and a musical talent like Taylor’s deserved an audience. He was just glad neither of them realized he was the weakest link in their group. He could hold his own on the guitar, and he harmonized well with Claudia, but when it came down to it, he was just a hobbyist, so any attention he got from his fans, while maybe not as richly deserved, was greatly appreciated.

“Hey, Owen, I think we should skip the dance number and just do
—” Taylor’s comment as Owen passed by him at the bar was lost in the murmur of the crowd and the sudden rush of blood to his ears when he caught sight of Claudia making her way back inside from the parking lot with a guy in tow.

He wore an expensive suit with the casual grace of someone who was used to expensive suits. He held the door for her and brazenly took a second to appraise her figure as she walked by him in her sexy black dress. Who the hell was this guy? Had she picked him up out in the parking lot?

Owen made his way around the bar, careful to stay out of Claudia’s line of sight. He watched the two find a table and settle into a dark corner of the room as far from the stage as possible. The man signaled a waitress, then leaned over and placed a small white card on the table in front of Claudia. She took the card and read whatever was written there then slipped the tiny piece of paper into the front of her dress.

“What the hell?” He’d never seen her do that before, tuck something in
to her bra, but by God, it was the sexiest thing he’d ever witnessed. Did she have any idea she’d just made fancy-suit guy’s tongue roll out of his head?

The waitress brought Claudia a drink which looked like mineral water, but who could tell from this distance? She sipped it demurely, letting her shimmery lips linger on the edge of the glass while the man spoke. Owen wished he could read lips, but he really didn’t need to in order to figure out what was happening. He’d waited too long, he’d been too much of a wuss to make his move, and now some slick, obviously wealthy, sophisticated suit had swooped in and was making a move on Claudia.

It made sense. What shocked Owen was that it didn’t happen more often. Claudia Galvin was, hands down, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Couple her mile-long legs and sensual curves with waves of shiny dark brown hair and seductive sapphire eyes and who could resist her? And just in case her looks didn’t do it, she had the voice of an angel. When she sang she touched Owen’s soul; she made him wish she meant every sappy lovesick word of all those syrupy ballads the clientele here at Colette’s demanded they sing.

He’d never had the guts to tell her, but he fell in love with her every single time she opened her mouth on stage. Now he might never get the chance. If the suit had half a brain, he was already proposing. A smart man didn’t let a woman like Claudia slip through his fingers.

And that made Owen the biggest idiot of them all. 

Every muscle in Claudia’s body worked in unison to keep her posture perfectly straight and her balance as steady as a rock. She focused on a dot on the ceiling above her head and concentrated on keeping her breathing in perfect time to the soothing music playing in the classroom. “And hold…” she said while exhaling, listening for the telltale sounds that would alert her if any of her students were shirking this final pose of her evening yoga class.

She broke the pose early so she could walk around the small room at the recreation center where she taught classes five days a week. Her students ranged in age from seventeen to seventy, and most of them tried very hard to mimic the poses she taught them, but there were a few, she was certain, who just came for the view—chief among them her roommate Lily, who had spent much of the summer ogling Quinn Preston, one of the hunky EMTs who worked out in the gym across the hall.

Fortunately Lily’s ogling had paid off. She and Quinn were dating now, despite a rocky start to their relationship. Claudia had yet to figure out why the direct approach had worked so well for perpetually shy Lily and hadn’t worked for her. Maybe it was because she hadn’t yet been able to be direct with Owen.

“Breathe out slowly as you lower your arms,” she told the class, matching her cadence to the drumbeats of the exotic music. “Bring your head down to your chest, and relax your shoulders…”

Scanning the sea of bowed heads, she smiled. She loved her job. She loved working with people and helping them discover that movement and exercise didn’t have to be grueling and exhausting. It made her day when her students told her how much better they felt after a class and how yoga helped them find balance and peace in their lives.

So why was she considering giving up her classes to sing for a living?

“Deep breath in…and let it out slowly…we’re almost done.” She circled the room again, checking postures and extension. She could have corrected a few people, but the class was essentially over, so now wasn’t the time to nitpick. Better to leave everyone feeling energized and happy with their progress. “Very good. You’ve all been practicing, haven’t you? Okay, roll down to the floor and take a five-minute cooldown. Let’s reflect on pace today and how we can slow
down and still accomplish what we need to accomplish without the stress that comes from rushing around. Next week we’re going to work on slowing down without falling behind. Now breathe in…”

A gentle knock on the frame of the open door drew her attention
, and she backed out of the room quietly, making sure no one else had been disturbed by the intrusion.

Her Zen calm fled when she saw it was Owen who had knocked. He never came to the rec center during her classes, claiming he was like a shark and if he slowed down enough to count his breaths he’d keel over dead. She always told him he just didn’t like having her tell him what to do.

“Hey,” he said, managing to look in her direction without making eye contact.

“Hey.” They hadn’t spoken much since Friday. They’d never had that conversation, since her unscheduled meeting with Jacob Larsen had eaten up the entire break between sets, and Owen had seemed strangely distant the rest of the night. After class tonight, she was supposed to meet him and Taylor for rehearsal at the music store. Love Notes, the name of the store, had been the inspiration for the name of the band, and for years the place had been the hub of their friendship, the place they met, talked
, and hung out.

“Rehearsal’s cancelled tonight,” Owen said, jamming his hands in the back pockets of his jeans.

“Why?”

“Taylor called; he can’t make it. He has surgery on a
dachshund.”

“Oh. You could have texted me.”

“I wasn’t sure you’d check your phone before you left here.”

Claudia shrugged. She always checked her phone, but whatever. At least he’d saved her the trip across town. Now her evening was free…and so was Owen’s. Her pulse jumped. Maybe now was a good time to… “Hang on, let me dismiss my class.” She leaned into the classroom. “Excellent job, everyone. We’re done for the night.
Namaste
, and I’ll see you all next week.”

“Sorry I interrupted,” Owen said.

“It’s okay; class is over. What are you doing now?”

He shrugged. “I got a call from Grant about the party for James. He wants to know if we can do the music. I told him I’d check with you and Taylor, but I didn’t think you’d mind.”

“Of course not. That would be great. Did he pick a date yet? Do you know when James will be back in the States?” Owen’s old friend James Galloway had been deployed in the Middle East for the past few years, and he was finally coming home. Their friend Grant Addison, now the manager of a fancy catering hall, had decided to plan a huge welcome home party.

“No official date yet. Maybe as early as the end of November, but you know the army. Grant’s going to get back to us as soon as he can, but he wants to have everything lined up ahead of time.”

“I’m sure Taylor won’t mind. We should get a play list together.”

“Yeah, we can do that…maybe tonight? You want to get something to eat
, and we can talk about it?”

Claudia absently waved to her passing students, hoping Owen didn’t notice her muscles tense at his suggestion. “Ah…yeah. Sure. Let me get changed. I’ll be back in five.”

“I’ll be here,” he said as if trying to reassure her. She wanted to make a comment about how he should try not to flirt while he was waiting, but she figured that would start an argument, so she let it go. She ducked into her classroom to shut off the music and collect her yoga mat, then she headed for the locker room, still trying to figure out why he hadn’t just called her. Maybe he was sorry about the other night. After all, he hadn’t even asked what it was she’d wanted to talk to him about. And now she had something entirely different to discuss.

Her hands shook a little as she changed out of her workout clothes. No time for a shower…oh…damn. What if they ended up…forget it. That wasn’t going to happen. This wasn’t the night. She’d have dinner with him, talk about songs for James’s party
, and that would be it. No use dredging up problems, especially if she wasn’t even sure they’d make any difference to him.

* * * *

“How about sandwiches at Hamm’s?” Owen asked when Claudia reappeared in the rec center lobby. He was relieved that she’d changed out of her tight lavender leotard and shiny tights. Not that she didn’t look amazing in the pretty peasant top and cargo shorts she’d changed into, but he never would have been able to concentrate with her decked out for her yoga class. He would die before confessing that was the real reason he turned down all her invitations to join the class. Watching her bend over in spandex would be his undoing, so he stayed away. Tonight had been an exception only because he wanted to make sure the suit wasn’t still hanging around. The guy had stayed the other night at Colette’s and watched their second set, never taking his beady little predatory eyes off Claudia. It had killed Owen not to ask her about it, but she hadn’t said a word, and she hadn’t left with the guy, so Owen had thought maybe tonight he could give it one more shot. He felt a little guilty about using James’s welcome home party as an excuse, but Claudia was suspicious by nature, so she’d know something was up if he just showed up at her job to tell her practice was cancelled instead of just texting her.