The other tied to a past I can’t escape.For eight years, I kept them separate, knowing one day their collision was inevitable.That day has come.She’ll have to accept it.It’s over. VivianHe has two lives.A beautiful one with me. Another shrouded in ugly secrets.It didn’t matter, until now. I don’t know why he’s destroyed us, But fighting for him will be the battle of my life.It’s not over.

    She’s a concert pianist in New York who lives with her longtime boyfriend and is close with her fiercely protective father—until one fateful night when she is taken in the middle of the night.In a desperate attempt to access a program that could be a threat to national security, her ability to play the piano is threatened. Her world comes crashing down when her father puts his need to protect a program over his own daughter.At the last minute, Joss finds herself whisked away by an unlikely ally. She later lands in the protective custody of none other than small-town bad boy and bar owner Derek Slade. Slade is entrusted to look after Joss and see to it that she hides behind her new persona, Jill, so that bad people don’t find her ever again.Joss has been erased. Joss is now Jill.As Joss trades her blond locks for Jill’s mahogany ones, she also takes on the strength of her new persona. Jill is someone who doesn’t put up with crap. Jill doesn’t trust easily. Jill must protect the broken heart of Joss.Joss and Slade battle an intense attraction, but she isn’t the only one with secrets. Behind Slade’s silver eyes are mysteries he’s unwilling to share. Slade knows better than to get involved with Joss, yet he finds it nearly impossible to push her away. What happens when Slade crosses the line of protector? Can he protect her when the evils of both of their pasts come back to haunt them?

    Alone.So I started over.And my journey of rediscovery led me straight into his arms.Chase Porter.The stranger who showed me life from a different perspective. But we both had secrets…His would destroy my world.

    A political PR strategist by trade, he makes his living creating and protecting the image of men, protecting them from women like Gabrielle Kitrick. She’s a threat to every man who falls for her. Beautiful, innocent, young, and available … for a price… Gabe is the shiny little trophy men of power seem to desire. But possessing her is a risk, a risk Keegan is responsible for removing from his client’s life.He’s not above manipulating her for his own professional gain. He’s not even above seducing her and enjoying every second of it. But he finds out quickly her looks are a façade, and the more he comes to know Gabe, the more difficult it becomes to ignore her humanity. Because behind her beauty and crimson-lipped smile lies a young woman fighting for a better future, a future his very involvement with her jeopardizes.When Keegan’s professional responsibilities threaten to expose her, will he choose to do his job or protect the young woman he’s become so attached to?

    And every cell in my body.Our fiery chemistry was off the charts.The ER staff sensed it.Lion’s entourage and his drooling groupies sensed it too.If the two of us had been alone, I might have done something entirely unprofessional and completely unethical right there in the exam room. But I was his attending physician. A sexual or romantic relationship with him was grounds for my termination or worse, revoking my medical license. I wouldn’t risk my career on a moment of passion. It didn’t stop that arrogant caveman from doing everything he could to get me into his hospital bed. After denying his advances for weeks, the last thing I expected were the wild nights he would be spending in my bed.It was supposed to be nothing more than a secret fling.I knew it couldn’t last.He was still my patient.What we were doing was wrong.If anyone found out, it could ruin my life.But we couldn’t let go.We were bound to each other on some primal level that consumed us.Sometimes love is tragic.Sometimes two people aren’t meant to be together.But sometimes, two people overcome all adversity and build a love that lasts forever.I knew deep in my heart that Lion Maxwell could be my happily ever after.As long as we kept our love a secret.I wish I’d known that some secrets are too hard to keep…

    I also have a very skilled mouth and I have no problem showing off either. Women have a thing for “the bad boy.” I play that part well, only I play it dirtier. There’s not much going on in my small town of Mohave, that is, until you walk in. You. You toss me a sexy smile and strut that A+ ass my way and now I’m wondering what those high heels you're balancing on will feel like digging into my back while I’m between your thighs. I was minding my own business, perfectly fine sitting here at the bar. But you had to walk in and mess with everything. You’re noticed by the wrong crowd and that’s dangerous. Very dangerous. For both of us. I hate that I want you. We’re from two different worlds. It can be risky here for a woman like you. So why don’t you take your wide innocent eyes and expensive skirt and go back to where you belong. Because I’d eat you up and go back for seconds while you’re still panting from my first taste of you. But you don’t leave. In fact…you come closer. You’re playing with fire. Because now I not only want you, but I protect you. Fight for you. And it may not be enough to keep you safe. Problem is, you just may want me back…and I may be a small town bad boy, but I know when something is doomed from the start. And that is exactly what we are.

    He’s dangerous. He’s wild. He’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.So I hide behind my prim glasses and my book like I always do, because I have secrets too. Then he shows up in the prison writing class I have to teach, and he blows me away with his honesty. He tells me secrets in his stories, and it’s getting harder to hide mine. I shiver when he gets too close, with only the cuffs and the bars and the guards holding him back. At night I can’t stop thinking about him in his cell.But that’s the thing about an animal in a cage—you never know when he’ll bite. He might use you to escape. He might even pull you into a forest and hold a hand over your mouth so you can’t call for the cops. He might make you come so hard, you can’t think.And you might crave him more than your next breath.