Secret Seduction. Lori Wilde

of his big finger.

      Vanessa went for it.

      He pulled his hand back, holding the bra out of her reach.

      She lunged and lost her balance on the stilettos and ended up tumbling headlong onto the bed.

      Vanessa glanced up.

      Tanner was looking down.

      What she saw in his eyes stunned her. It was a mixture of longing, regret and sadness so deep she could feel it straight to her soul.

      But in an instant, the look disappeared, replaced by stark sexual hunger and she almost believed she’d imagined it.

      Almost.

      The physician part of her brain told her that this man had been using her to salve some secret pain of his own, just as she’d been using him to forget about Carlo Vega. No need reading something more into this than there was.

      But the urge to grab him and go at it again was so overwhelming she knew she had to get out of here. Stat.

      Anxious to escape, Vanessa scrambled to her feet. But she wasn’t quick enough.

      Tanner reached out a hand, encircling her wrist with his strong fingers. “I’d like to see you again.”

      She shook her head. “I’m afraid that’s impossible.”

      “Impossible?” His touch burned her skin, sent heat flaring up her arm.

      Vanessa sucked in her breath. She might be a lot of things but she was no coward. She’d been cornered. She’d tell him the truth.

      “Look, Tanner…” she began and tried to tug away from him, but he wasn’t letting go. The man was like a snapping turtle and she found herself wishing for thunder.

      “I’m listening.”

      “Last night was great. A lot of fun. We met each other’s needs, and I thank you for being there. It’s just that—”

      “I’m not good enough to be seen with you in the light of day.”

      “No, no.” She shook her head. “That’s not how it is.”

      “How is it?”

      He had a way of looking at her that made her feel both guilty and empowered. It was an odd sensation.

      She cleared her throat. “Look, I don’t normally do things like this. Picking up strangers in a bar.”

      “And you think I do?” He wasn’t letting go.

      “You don’t?”

      He shook his head. “First time.”

      His gaze never left her face. He looked so earnest, she believed him. “Okay, here’s the deal. I don’t have room in my life for a relationship.”

      “You could make room.”

      “Not much.”

      “We could take off one afternoon and go kayaking. Or you could call me on those nights when you’re watching movies all alone. I could bring the popcorn.”

      It was so tempting. Too damned tempting. Panic fluttered, turning in her chest. “I don’t like popcorn.”

      “Sure you do. Everyone likes popcorn. We can even rent Dark Victory.”

      “Look, I’d just rather not, okay?”

      Abruptly, he let go of her wrist. Vanessa, who’d been pulling against his grip, stumbled backward at the sudden release. She breathed a sigh of relief, even though her skin still tingled from his touch. “Thank you for letting go.”

      “Have a nice life,” he said.

      “You’re mad.”

      “No,” he said. “I’m disappointed.”

      “Disappointed?”

      “I thought—” He paused. “Never mind what I thought.”

      He’d thought they had a special connection? It would have been laughable except for the small knot in her stomach that whispered, I thought we had a special connection, too.

      Vanessa had to get out of here before she crawled right back up into bed beside him.

      “Take care of yourself, Tanner,” she said, grabbed up her purse and ran out the door.

       And you claim not to be a coward.

      “SO WHERE WERE YOU last night?”

      It was an innocent enough question. Vanessa was supposed to have called Elle last night to make plans for Julie’s birthday, but she’d forgotten. To Vanessa’s ears, Elle’s question sounded like an accusation. She shrugged, not wanting to lie, but not wanting to admit where she’d been. “I got caught up in something.”

      “A man’s arms perhaps?” Julie Demarco asked with a teasing gleam in her lively blue eyes.

      “You’re such a die-hard romantic,” Vanessa said, effectively dodging her comment.

      All three friends worked at Confidential Rejuvenations. The cloistered hospital had been built fifteen years earlier on the banks of the Colorado River. It was owned by a group of private physicians with high social standing and powerful connections in Hollywood, the Austin music industry and Texas politics. It was the place where anyone who was anyone came to receive the very best in specialized medicine and cutting-edge health care.

      While their jobs held a degree of glamorous cachet, they were also stressful. To deal with the demands of their professions and the secrets the job forced them to keep, Vanessa, Julie and Elle had formed an after-hours club where they could get together and vent. Sharing their hopes, dreams and fantasies with one another. Today, they were meeting for lunch at a cozy tearoom that also served as an antique store in a genteel area of Austin. Vanessa appreciated her two best friends, but sometimes—like now—she wished that they weren’t so perceptive.

      “How are things in the E.R.?” Vanessa asked, hoping to throw Elle off the scent. “Has it calmed down any after what happened with Mark?”

      A few months earlier, Elle’s ex-husband Mark Lawson, who had also been one of the co-owners of Confidential Rejuvenations, had been murdered by the gangster he’d been doing business with, selling designer party drugs on the black market. Elle and Dante, an undercover FBI agent who’d been investigating Mark, had barely escaped with their lives.

      Elle scowled at the memory. “Things were improving. We’d stopped seeing kids come into the E.R. with overdoses, and we thought all the petty vandalism was over, but last night someone sliced all the tires on the cars in the employee parking lot.”

      “Oh, gosh,” Julie said. “The hospital saboteur strikes again?”

      Elle blew out her breath. “Apparently.”

      Besides the issues with Mark, over the past few months several odd incidents had occurred at the hospital. From anonymous leaks to the press about celebrity patients to an arson fire in the laundry room to items stolen from the kitchen and central supply. Taken one by one, the occurrences were nothing more than criminal mischief, but put together they seemed suspicious, especially with all the security cameras in the hospital. It seemed odd that the perpetrator hadn’t been caught on the monitor.

      “Dante told me the hospital board hired a new head of security,” Elle said. “Let’s hope this puts an end to this mess. Confidential Rejuvenations had taken a big financial hit from the fallout over what Mark did. The last thing the hospital needs is more scandal.”

      Vanessa nodded. She knew all too well how scandal could ruin lives.

      “Anyway,” Julie said. “Back to Nessa’s boyfriend.”

      “There is no boyfriend,” Vanessa corrected.

      Elle eyed Vanessa