was a taxi?
“Come on, come on,” she muttered and glanced at her watch. She remembered other late nights, other lonely streets and her gut squeezed.
Footsteps sounded behind her and her heart froze. She fumbled for the mace in her purse and found it.
With the mace in her palm, finger on the nozzle, she whirled around, growling, “Back off!”
Tanner raised both arms. “Don’t shoot.”
“Oh,” she said and let out a breath. “It’s you.”
“Storm got you spooked?”
“A little,” she said, dropping the mace back inside her handbag. She hated to admit it, but she was relieved to see him. “What are you doing here?”
“What kind of gentleman would I be if I let you stand out here alone? Are you sure I can’t give you a lift home?”
In the time it took her to draw in a deep breath, she considered his offer, but she was intensely private and didn’t like strangers knowing where she lived.
No, but you’ll dance with a stranger and have dinner with him.
That wasn’t normally true, which was what was so unsettling about this man. He made her want to do lots of things she normally wouldn’t do.
Lightning flashed again, moving closer, rapidly followed by more grumbling thunder. Fat raindrops spattered the cement around them.
“Let’s go back in out of the rain,” he said, and inclined his head toward the hotel.
The combination of his hard body, his delicious masculine smell and the quickening raindrops were too compelling to deny. She nodded. They pushed through the double doors together and ended up inside.
Vanessa couldn’t deny she was attracted to the man. She loved that he was taller than she. At five eleven, it was often a challenge to find a man whose height surpassed her own. Even with the two-inch stilettos she wore, he was still taller. He made her feel petite, which was an alien feeling. She wanted him and that was damned dangerous considering how emotionally vulnerable she was right now.
He said nothing. Just stood waiting beside her. A powerful, comforting presence. He felt like a bodyguard. Strong, silent, but muscles coiled, ready for action. They stared out the window, watching the rain coming down. She was so aware of him, her skin prickled.
“Really,” she said. “You don’t have to wait with me.”
“I don’t mind.”
The earnestness in his eyes unnerved her. Why did he have to be so nice? She wasn’t accustomed to the men she met in bars being so chivalrous. Neither was she accustomed to the rampant fantasies circling in her head. She kept imagining him hot and hard and naked.
Oh, God, it had been far too long since she’d gotten laid. She was a hormonal disaster. All it would take was one kiss from those rugged lips of his and she’d melt like candle wax. And judging from the look he was giving her, he knew it.
“You want to go back to Emilio’s?” she found herself asking. “I could use another drink.”
“A drink isn’t what you need,” he said.
She dared to look him in the face. There was no mistaking the glimmer in his eyes. He wanted her as much as she wanted him.
The air around them snapped with sexual energy. His gaze hung on her mouth and he angled his head lower.
Was he going to kiss her? Right here in the lobby with the desk clerks watching them from the registration counter?
She could see the invitation in his eyes, but he wasn’t crossing any boundaries. She flicked a tongue out to lick her lips, egging him toward that kiss.
“There’s a taxi.” He nodded toward the street.
“Is there?”
“Which is a damned good thing, but I was just about to ask you to stay.”
“Were you?”
Vanessa knew a crossroad when she saw one. Take the well-traveled fork and you knew you could stay safe. Take the fork that disappeared into the undergrowth, and while there might be adventure, you were also taking a big gamble.
It was stupid. She knew it as she was doing it, but all she could think of at the moment was how his eyes promised the pleasure of great sex. Sex that would help her forget all about the lousy day she’d had.
She wrapped a hand around his forearm. “So ask.”
He blew out his breath and pulled from her grasp, but he took hold of her chin and tipped her face up to his.
Outside the thunder boomed.
Vanessa’s heart galloped.
Tanner brushed his lips over hers. Not so much a kiss as the inherent promise of one.
All the air left her body.
Then he dipped his head lower and lightly pressed his mouth to the pulse beating in her throat. Heat shot through her body, pooling low in her abdomen. The first pinch of pure passion fisted inside her.
“Tanner.” Her voice came out in a choked whisper.
His lips were back on hers in a feather-soft kiss, and Vanessa simply had to have more. Against all common sense, she curved her body against his and opened her mouth. He inhaled sharply and slipped his tongue between her teeth. She came undone.
Languid heat curled through her body. Was it so wrong to sate the yearning sexual needs she’d been holding at bay for such a long time? Would it be so terrible to have a one-night stand with this man? They were both mature, consenting adults. They were both unattached and attracted to each other. What could possibly be the harm in letting nature take its course?
He deepened the kiss, breaking the last tenuous thread of restraint she’d managed to hang on to until this moment. Why not? As long as she kept her heart out of the fray, as long as she accepted this for what it was—a one-night fling—everything would be all right.
No expectations, no regrets, just mutual pleasure giving and receiving. She was a physician. Vanessa was aware of how important a healthy sex life was to mind, body and spirit.
He pulled back and looked into her eyes. The question was there. He was waiting for her to answer it.
“Tanner.” She breathed. “Get us a room.”
He studied her face, his hand on her shoulder. “I don’t want you to do anything you’ll regret. Are you certain this is what you want?”
She didn’t know where the word came from, but it was completely heartfelt. “Absolutely.”
FUMBLING, TANNER TRIED to slip the electronic key through the card reader while still kissing Vanessa. After three attempts and a couple of well-timed curse words, he got the door open and they tumbled inside.
Vanessa giggled. Funny, she didn’t seem like a giggler. It was probably the tequila.
The door slammed closed behind them.
Her mouth was on his and her arms were around his neck and they were sort of dancing around the room. They fell onto the bed. Tanner was on his back. Vanessa straddled him.
She tugged his shirt from his pants and plowed her hands underneath the hem to plane her palms over his belly. Then she lowered her head and planted hot kisses around his navel.
His body burst into flames. His blood burned and his cock throbbed. He hadn’t been with a woman in four years. Not since Maria. He told himself that’s why he was so hard, so blindsided by lust. He couldn’t even think straight. He knew he shouldn’t be doing this. He was her secret bodyguard and he was about to screw the woman he’d been hired to protect.
He was breaking the number one rule of the