Unexpected Temptation. Samantha Hunter

      Vanessa jumped, dropping the file as she did so, Luke’s voice startling her.

      “You’re back. I, um, I came in looking for a robe, and...”

      “And you saw the file. It’s understandable. I would’ve done the same thing,” he said, unperturbed.

      He set two bags down on the bed.

      “Do you need help bandaging your side?”

      Vanessa wasn’t sure if she was more flustered by being caught peeking or that he didn’t seem upset by it.

      “I’ll be able to do it myself, thanks.”

      What she’d seen in the file had poured ice over all of her adrenaline-fired fantasizing. When Luke had kissed her, he wasn’t kissing her. He’d been kissing Nicky.

      So she was using an alias. No wonder Vanessa hadn’t been able to find her sister. She’d been looking for Julie Newman—her sister’s last registered surname—not Nicole Brooks all this time.

      When she turned around, Luke was gone, and she was still sitting on his bed. Getting up, she took the bags and went into the other, unoccupied room. She was glad she found the file. It meant that she might be closer to locating her sister, and it also meant she could keep a clear head about Luke Berringer.

      No more crazy romantic dreams. He was clearly in love with Julie—Vanessa could see that from the pictures of them together. What mattered to her was that she was one step closer to finding her sister, and Luke Berringer would help her do that.

      She took off the robe and put on the lacy underwear and soft cotton shorts and tank that Luke had bought her—much sexier than what she would have bought for herself. Her mind went back to the file as she dressed. What this also meant was that Julie was in danger—someone clearly wanted to kill her. While Luke appeared smitten in the photos in the file, he hadn’t appeared that way earlier, in the police cruiser, when he thought she was Nicky.

      He’d looked like he hated her.

      Vanessa supposed there was only one way to really know what was going on. Luke said all she had to do was ask, so that was exactly what she intended to do.