Second Skin (A 1Night Stand Contemporary Romance)

by Landen, Thea

  The long drive back to the city gave her the opportunity she needed to think things through. She recalled every detail of her encounter with Brendan, all the way back to when she’d first scheduled the date via 1Night Stand. Traveling through the hills and valleys of New York, she had a chilling thought ripple through her. Did Madame Eve somehow determine who she really was? Had she intentionally set her up with a man who had the ability to see through a career of alter egos and charades? Had she realized how much it would mean to have someone burst through her second skin and touch the woman underneath who hid, but didn’t vanish?

  As always, maintaining her cover topped Anna’s list of priorities, and she hated the idea of having her career destroyed. During her journey home, she replayed Brendan’s words in her head on a constant loop. The new set of challenges she faced each day inspired her immense love for her job. Finding a way to safely introduce him into her life served as a new goal to achieve, even if there were certain secrets she’d never tell him. There were security clearances, downgrades to less perilous assignments, eventual transfers to the private sector when she grew a little older….

  The solutions wouldn’t be easy, and she would likely have to give something up one way or the other. She’d never shied away from the tests to her inner strength, and she refused to start. Regardless of which of her many aliases she adopted, she had always taken care of herself and resolved to start researching the ways to ensure the secure future she wanted. Even if Brendan never let her real name pass his lips again, he’d been correct: they should fight to maintain their connection. Once she formulated a set plan, she would call him. It would have to be on a prepaid, untraceable cell phone for the time being, but Anna would make the call.

  Chapter Five

  Brendan stood near the window in the living room of his apartment, one foot tapping against the hardwood floor. The lights from Chicago erased all opportunities for stargazing, but the night sky held none of his attention anyway. He clutched his cell phone, reading and rereading the illuminated screen. It held a message from her.

  High school crushes and teenage dreams had resurfaced when he’d discovered Anna’s true identity. Unfortunately, he still waited for the happy ending. Disappearing into the morning mist following a series of cryptic statements and vague promises, she’d left him to wonder if he’d imagined the whole encounter.

  The short message had come from an unfamiliar number, the length of which suggested it originated from outside the country. He’d received similar brief communications, though never in the form of a text. Echoes of her voice resonated in his mind regardless, and his pulse accelerated every time he heard the high-pitched alert from his phone.

  He’d tried dating other women since returning home from the 1Night Stand date in New York. Not one of them compared to the elusive Anna. Even when sitting across a candlelit table from each of them, he yearned to be with her. His heart refused to accept any substitutes.

  Thoughts of her consumed all his free moments, as if he’d stepped into a time machine and traveled back to the sleepless nights of his adolescence. Her essence followed him around like a ghost. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her coy smile, felt her warm skin beneath his palms, pictured her writhing beneath him, her lips parted in ecstasy….

  Brendan groaned and leaned his forehead against the cool glass, an erection straining behind his fly. That wouldn’t help him think any more rationally. And so much remained a mystery, he needed to stay focused. Who was Anna, really? What kept her away from him, away from the world they’d once shared?

  He’d dissected countless possibilities since they’d been together. Maybe she’d committed heinous crimes and needed to run from the authorities. Or perhaps she suffered from multiple personalities. Maybe some element of accuracy lay within one of his jokes to her, and she was secretly royalty from outer space.

  None of the possibilities mattered; he didn’t believe any of them anyway. He wanted no one else but her. Swiping his thumb along the edge of the phone, he reactivated the screen, bringing it back to life. Two simple lines filled him with hope and restored his faith.

  I want to see you again. Sometime this fall?

  His fingers trembled while he composed a reply. He’d already planned the perfect rendezvous in anticipation of the long-awaited moment when she asked to see him again. Resisting the urge to pour out every emotion into the limited space, Brendan sent his response.

  October 12th. Meet me at our special place.

  ***

  A rich palette of orange and gold splayed across the rolling mountains of upstate New York. Anna pulled her rental car into the parking lot of the winery. Her high-heeled boots clicking against the pavement, she passed by the steps to the main building and headed straight for the meandering paths through the vineyard. The breeze ruffled her short hair, and she tucked the ends behind her ears.

  Following her forced sabbatical from the CIA, she’d marched into her supervisor’s office in search of solutions to the problems that had plagued her since her surprising date with Brendan. A balance between her love for her career and her personal life existed, and she’d searched until she found it. Some of the information she’d received satisfied her, but she’d refused to yield until they found a viable plan that would allow her to have a life with him.

  Change never arrived instantaneously. Minimal time had elapsed before the start of her next assignment. Under one of her aliases, she’d flown to Italy and proceeded east toward her designated destination. Communication outside the parameters of her mission presented difficulties, but she’d snuck a few covert messages via text on a disposable phone to Brendan during her time out of the country.

  As soon as her plane touched down on American soil, she’d rushed home to repack a small suitcase. They’d set another date at the secluded resort, and she hated to be late. Without bothering to change back to a set of characteristics more aligned with her natural appearance, she boarded another flight, landed, and repeated her journey along the winding upstate highways. The sight of the sprawling estate had both soothed her and rekindled her lingering anxieties.

  She descended the sloped trail. Brendan sat near the shores of the lake, perched atop a stone wall dividing the grassy hill from the water’s edge. He turned at the sound of her approaching footsteps.

  “You’re here.” The wide smile she’d missed so much spread across his face. “A tiny part of me kept saying you weren’t going to show up, but in my heart, I believed….”

  Anna took a seat next to him, leaving several inches of space between them. Every muscle twitched with the urge to dive into his arms, yet the more rational voice in her head stopped her. “I wouldn’t do that to you.” She furrowed her brows. “Not if I could help it.”

  His gaze roamed over her body. “You look a lot different from the last time we were here.”

  “I’ll bet I do.” She smoothed her hand over her cropped, lightened locks. “I hate it.”

  “You’re still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

  Heat bloomed over her cheeks. He slid closer, and the contact of his leg warmed her thigh. The subtle scent of his cologne wafted up to her nose. Everything about him still enthralled her, and it took all her strength not to press her lips against his.

  “Brendan, wait,” she said.

  He pulled back. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “We can’t do this. Not yet, anyway.”

  A frown clouded his strong features. “Please tell me you didn’t come all the way up here just to tell me in person that you never want to see me again.”

  “No, it’s not that.” His palpable hurt pained her and she had to look away.

  “Then what?” Deepened creases on his forehead accompanied the simple, pleading question.

  Anna let out a long, slow breath. “When we parted ways last time, I must have left you with a lot of questions. You’re not stupid, and you’ve had plenty of time to figure some things out on your own.”


  “This is true.”

  “And there’s nothing more I’d like than to be able to sit here and claim to be totally honest with you, and tell you everything you want to hear. But I can’t.”

  He shifted, and she worried he would stand and leave. “I see.”

  Did he really see? She stared out over the murky waters. “I work for the government in a high-security position. I live in Virginia, but I’ve been all over the world for my job. And to put it simply, the girl you went to school with back in Iowa doesn’t exist anymore.”

  Brendan nodded. “That’s pretty close to the puzzle I pieced together.”

  “I adopted a new name and documentation when I started working to make sure everything stayed under wraps. When I’m doing nothing but sitting behind a desk or paying my bills, I’m Victoria Graham. That’s probably what you’d have to call me when we’re out and about in public if we….” The risky thought remained unfinished.

  “Not a problem. What’s the line, a rose by any other name…?”

  “You’re making this too easy.” The corners of her mouth turned up, but her concerns still hovered at the edges of her mind. “It just doesn’t seem fair to me that I’ll know everything about you, and I can’t ever grant you the same.”

  The glow of affection on his face remained constant. “I wouldn’t want to keep secrets from you, anyway.”

  “Good. Because you’ve already been subjected to every kind of background check we have. I have access to everything from the names of your college roommates to where you do your grocery shopping, and I’m not the only one.” Anna searched his face for some indication of surprise or disappointment. She found none. “For as long as you’re with me, you need to realize many sets of eyes will always be on you.”

  “I have nothing to hide. My company has even survived audits from the IRS.”

  She appreciated his attempt to lighten the mood. “That alone is impressive.”

  He wrapped his hand around hers. Skin met skin for the first time that day, sending a new wave of flutters through her. “Like I told you before you left, there’s nothing you could say to me that would make me not want to be with you. That hasn’t changed.”

  She looked away from him again. “I’ve done things,” she said. The autumn winds threatened to silence her soft words. “Things that would horrify you, things you can never learn about. I swore to do anything for my job, and sometimes I have. I’m not apologizing for them, but I’m also not denying that I’ve participated in some…unscrupulous dealings.”

  “I’m sure you had your reasons.”

  Nothing seemed to faze him. Anna didn’t know whether to be wary or to take comfort in his unyielding acceptance. “At least that part’s going to change soon.”

  “Oh?”

  She snuck a glance at him to see his reaction to her news, hoping it would be well-received. “Effective January one, my duties at work will be modified, per my submitted request. I won’t be traveling nearly as much, for one thing.”

  Amusement glinted behind his captivating eyes. “Is that so?”

  “I guess you see how I feel now, what my expectations are.”

  His head tilted toward her. “And that’s a bad thing?”

  “No. Maybe. I don’t know.” His probing stare caused another rush of warmth to spread throughout her. “I’ve tried to list all the reasons why I can’t be the partner you deserve, and you do make convincing counterarguments. It’s just….”

  Brendan’s thumb rubbed over the top of her hand and he grinned. “Tell me. After all, if you’re serious about us being together, you’ll have to be confiding in me at least a little bit, right?”

  Anna laughed, though the chortle sounded more bittersweet than jovial. “I’m scared,” she confessed. “After all the unbelievable situations I’ve been in, all the crazy acts I’ve committed…I’m afraid of being so close to another person. For so many years, I’ve been able to disappear at a moment’s notice, and I have no idea what it’s like to have any sort of stable relationship outside my job.”

  “Well, if you came all the way here, perhaps it’s a sign you’re ready to face that fear.”

  “Perhaps it is.” She laced her fingers through his and squeezed. “I want to be with you,” she said, meeting his gaze. “I can’t say how this is going to work out, but I want to try.”

  He caressed the side of her face with his free hand, letting his fingertips skate along the contours of her cheekbone. “That’s all I’d ever ask of you.”

  Her breath caught in her throat as he leaned forward. His lips met hers in a tender kiss, and she succumbed to the delectable passion of his mouth. In a world of masquerade and illusions, Brendan existed as a tangible presence. As much as her head filled with enticing dreams and naughty fantasies, she trusted him. She would do everything in her power to reciprocate that feeling.

  He drew back and wrapped his arms around her. Pulling her onto his lap, he kept her cradled in his embrace and held her close. “I can be whatever you need me to be for you,” he murmured, his voice muffled by her hair. “A support system, a distraction, anything. And you can be my butterfly.”

  “Your butterfly?”

  “Like the ones in your grandmother’s garden. The spectacularly beautiful creatures who kept returning to their favorite place as long as no one tried to curtail their freedom and make them into something they’re not.”

  She closed her eyes, marveling at his recollection of her childhood tale, not to mention the perfect way she molded against his broad chest. “You’re going to make it far too easy for me to fall in love with you, aren’t you?”

  “Only as long as you let me love you in return.”

  Anna wouldn’t fool herself into believing all her valid concerns vanished, or that Brendan’s integration into her life would be seamless. There were bound to be stressful moments and unforeseen hurdles in the path ahead of them. Even with the inevitable struggles, she had no doubt he’d bolster her confidence with his dedication to their flourishing bond. Beyond all of her second skins, he believed her to be a person worthy of love. And she planned to prove him right.

  ~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~

  Thea Landen lives in New York with her husband and a variety of houseplants. A former educator, she strives to encourage creativity and passion in all those around her, and uses writing to help inspire. Though she reads and writes in nearly all genres, she has a special fondness for science fiction, fantasy, and adventure and anything that pushes the imagination beyond its usual limits. When she’s not writing, or thinking about writing, her hands and mind are occupied by either yarn crafts or role-playing games.

  You can visit Thea at:

  www.thealanden.com

  Rugged Hearts by Amanda McIntyre

  Rugged, quiet, hardworking, Wyatt takes his position as head of the Kinnison family seriously. But the scars of betrayal by the women to whom he once trusted his heart now prompt his stark, simple game plan, and no one in hell is going to convince him any differently. What matters most, besides the welfare of his brothers, is to manage the ranch left to him and never risk his heart again to something as foolish as love—but after meeting Aimee, Wyatt begins to realize that a man should never say never to a determined second grade teacher.

  When vivacious, resilient Aimee Worth loses her twin sister in a tragic accident, she makes the choice to live out her sister’s dream of teaching in the small mountain community called End of the Line, Montana, never suspecting she’d meet her Mr. Right in the middle of nowhere—he just doesn’t know it yet. Used to challenges, her spirit shatters the perceptions that have kept him isolated from living life beyond the ranch, proving to him that when it comes to love, the greatest risk is not taking one.

  Lord Heartless by Tessa Berkley

  An arranged marriage maybe the death of Lord Landon Montague who has earned his rude moniker, Lord Heartless, through the distaste of the Ton. When he makes plans to collect on a debt from Lord Charles Gilbert, by foreclosing on H
olly Grove, Gilbert commits suicide. Only then does Lord Montague learn that Lord Gilbert has left his nineteen year old daughter, Juliet, at his mercy.

  Lady Juliet Gilbert has suffered the stigma of suicide as best she could. But losing her home, the servants who have raised her and stood by her father's drinking would be the last straw. Unable to secure a position, Lord Montague's offer of marriage gives her hope. All she must do is produce an heir. But arriving at Broadmoor, proves more taxing than she anticipated for her dark Lord already holds an heir

  conceived out of wedlock.

  Will this doom any hope of finding happiness and label him forever Lord Heartless or will London's society have its last laugh on Shakespeare and have a Montague win his fair Juliet?

  Contents

  Title page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  ~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~