Free Secret Seduction by Lori Wilde

feel. Alive again and fully masculine for the first time in four years.
    His job was to protect her, and losing control of his thoughts and his libido was no way to accomplish that goal. She’d set things on a professional keel insisting they call each other by their last names.
    She wasn’t looking back and neither should he. Yes, she had spectacular breasts and one of the sweetest asses he’d ever held in the palm of his hand, but they weren’t worth jeopardizing his career over.
    Or her life.
    From here on out, he told himself, everything that happened between them was strictly business.

    HE’D SEEN HER NAKED.
    Vanessa couldn’t get past the fact. Not only naked, but he’d seen her in a few compromising positions. If word got out that she’d diddled the new head of security…
    The word is not going to get out, she assured herself. No one at Confidential Rejuvenations had to know Tanner was her late-night lover.
    Not even Elle and Julie.
    He was sitting across the desk from her, a black spiral notepad in one hand, a ballpoint pen in the other. He wasn’t doing anything the least bit sexy, and yet she found everything about him incredibly compelling, from the muted scent of his woodsy cologne to his long, broad fingers, to the measured expression in his intelligent blue eyes.
    The gaze he sent her was not provocative and yet she felt mightily provoked.
    His mouth was pressed into a straight noncommittal line. He wasn’t giving anything away, and yet her nipples tightened as she remembered what his hot lips felt like.
    Nervously she picked up the necklace dangling from the desk lamp and ran it through her fingers like a rosary. The necklace was the only thing she had left of her old life, of the girl she used to be. She kept it around because it calmed her somehow. Made her feel that if she could survive her past, she could survive anything. She remembered stringing it with her mother. One of the last happy times they’d shared together before her mother had married her stepfather. Somehow along the way, the bracelet had come to symbolize Vanessa’s hopes and dreams. A desire to find happiness again by becoming a doctor.
    She’d gotten her wish, made her dreams come true, but she always felt as if she’d never quite escaped her past.
    Tanner clicked his pen. “Your legal name is Vanessa Delores Rodriquez, is that correct?”
    The question startled her. It was her name now. Once upon a time she’d been someone else, possessed a different name. She waited too long to answer, she could see it by the accusatory expression clouding his eyes. She had to tread carefully, the man was sharp.
    “How can my legal name possibly assist you in providing this hospital with a safe working environment?” she asked coolly.
    “Just want to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s.” Tanner smiled at last, as if trying to get her to relax. The sight of his upturned mouth unraveled her more completely than his question.
    She nodded, put down the beaded necklace and picked up a paper clip from her desk, unbending the little trombone shape until it broke into two pieces.
    “Vanessa,” he said and then hesitated.
    She swept the paper clip pieces into the trash can with the flat side of her hand. “Yes?”
    “If I’d known your last name, if I’d had your phone number, I would have called you.”
    She held up her hand. “Please. I want to forget Friday night ever happened. I suggest you do the same.”
    His smile disappeared and his pupils constricted. “I can’t forget.”
    “You have to.”
    “I don’t want to.”
    She felt a warm, melty sensation near her heart, which had been frozen for years. Vanessa swallowed. Stop this, she berated herself.
    And yet, she couldn’t seem to stop spinning fantasies about the man. Silly, because she felt sure if he knew who she really was, he wouldn’t want anything to do with her.
    She had to change the subject and fast, before she did something totally stupid like tell him she