No way would she risk her career because of a man a second time. Not at Rivendell, where she’d made her fresh start and the potential to achieve her lifelong dreams dangled in front of her like the proverbial carrot.

A knock sounded at her door and she looked up. Eric watched her.

Realizing she was massaging her temples in overtime, she dropped her hands to her desk and tapped the sleek black surface. Which was no less nervous appearing than her temple massaging. Taking a deep breath, she flattened her palms against the desk to stay their fidgety tapping.

“I thought you’d left.” Brilliant conversation. Yet what did it matter? His family owned stock in the center. Could the situation be any more Randall-like? She needed to put Eric firmly in the past and keep him there.

If she remained steadfast, perhaps he’d take a hint and leave her alone.

Which was what he’d eventually do regardless. She was definitely like her mother in that regard. Men never stayed long. She’d thought Randall had been different. Steady, dependable Randall. But she’d been wrong. Horribly wrong and just look what that mistake had cost her in the long run.

Not to mention that she’d gone to Eric’s hotel room on the night they’d met. She didn’t respect herself, how could she expect him to?

“I did leave,” Eric admitted. His gaze roved over her in melted chocolate temptation that made her libido growl in hungry response. “I came back.”

“Why?” Why did he have to look so wonderful in his black slacks, blue shirt and tie? Like something on the cover of a men’s magazine. He’d taken off his suit jacket at some point since she’d seen him earlier and his tie was loosened around his neck, making her want to walk over to him and straighten it.

Or perhaps she just wanted a reason to touch him?

“You.”

“Me?” As much as she thrilled at his answer, he had to stop. She’d made a mistake the night they’d met. One she could forgive due to her mother’s death. But she couldn’t justify a repeat of their amazing night.

His family held power over the medical center.

They were going to be coworkers.

If she’d learned anything from her experience with Randall, she’d learned not to mix personal stuff with one’s job.

The consequences were too dire.

“Seeing you today was an unexpected surprise.” He stepped into her office, closed the door behind him, overwhelming the tiny room. Even Bones appeared to tremble in his presence. “I enjoyed our night together.”

What rabbit hole had she fallen into? Because he looked as if he wanted to touch her. As if he’d like to push her against her desk, hike up her skirt and run his hands along her thighs, along her— Kasey gulped. “No!”

At his startled look, she took a calming breath.

“That night was…” Amazing, wonderful, just what she’d needed. Embarrassing. She didn’t behave like her mother. Not usually. She wasn’t a woman driven by lust and she had no intention of becoming one. She’d worked too hard to make something of herself, to rise above her past, poverty and genetics. “Nice, but we both know it was a one-night stand kind of thing.”

“One-night stand kind of thing?”

He towered over her, not in a menacing way, but she fought the desire to lean as far away as possible…to ease the temptation of moving closer to those broad shoulders and talented hands.

“You’re wrong,” he continued, looking completely aware of her proximity dilemma and pleased by her reaction to him. “That night wasn’t a one-night stand. Far from it.”

“What would you call it?” Besides the most humiliating event of my life? No, that would have been when Skymont Hospital had let her go over her relationship with Randall. Or perhaps when her mother had shown up drunk at her high school graduation ceremony. Either way, her night with Eric had been a mistake. That’s what she repeated in her head, not allowing her hormones a word in edgewise.

“The beginning of something worth pursuing.” His eyes bored into her, daring her to deny his claim. Unbidden, her gaze dropped to the strong set of his jaw, to his lips. That mouth had kissed her. All of her.

“Stop.” She closed her eyes, fighting memories of the tender kisses he’d placed on her hair, her face, the way he’d kissed away her tears. Memories of tenderness that had given way to passion. To urgent kisses. “Our meeting that night was nothing more than a bad coincidence. We should forget it happened.”

“What you call a bad coincidence I call a stroke of good fortune. Just as I consider seeing you today good fortune.”

His words were sweet to her ears, but what he was really saying was that he wanted sex again. They’d slept together on the day they’d met. He wasn’t interested in a real relationship with her. Just sex. Toe-curling, life-altering sex but, still, just sex.

He moved further into the office, crowding her personal space by coming around to her side of the desk and half sitting, half leaning against the corner. His closeness zapped her ability to breathe.

“Why didn’t you wake me before you left, Kasey?”

Oh, God, why had he moved so close?

She shut her eyes, counted to ten, prayed for indifference to him. “That night shouldn’t have happened and wouldn’t have under different circumstances.”

Sad, but true.

“Yes, it would have.”

Spicy, sexy musk toyed with her senses. She squeezed her eyes more tightly closed because she worried that if she looked at him, she’d have to touch. Absolutely have to.

“I’m sorry you got dragged into my bad day,” she plunged on, needing to talk, needing to do anything that kept her from reaching out to run her finger over the cleft in his chin. “I regret the entire evening.”

“You regret meeting me?” He sounded as if he didn’t believe her.

Knowing they’d be coworkers, she should regret having met him, but her heart ached at the thought of not having the comfort she’d felt as she’d drifted to sleep in his arms. At not experiencing the mind-shattering passion his kisses had evoked. She’d had a bad day. He’d made her feel better. No matter how much she should, she didn’t regret them making love.

She couldn’t tell him that.

Doing so would only make what she had to do more difficult.

Indifference. She needed indifference.

“Yes,” she choked out. “I regret meeting you.”

“Open your eyes.”

She forced her eyelids open, looked into his dark eyes and swallowed. Hard. Lord, he looked as if he really had been hurt that she’d left him.

“Now, say you regret meeting me and mean it.” He shook his head when her lids automatically lowered. “Don’t close your eyes, Kasey. Look at me, and tell me you regret what we shared, because I don’t believe you.”

She wanted to scoot her chair toward the wall to put more distance between them, but she needed to make a strong stand. Her job, her peace of mind was at stake. She should push him off her desk, but didn’t dare touch him. To do so would send her few functioning brain cells into sexual dementia.

Focus on your goals, Kasey. She gave herself a mental pep talk. Career, helping others, social status, being a valued member of society. A fling with a coworker robbed you of that once. Eric is a coworker with an influential family.

“Is your ego so big you can’t accept that I made a mistake in going to your hotel room?” she accused, going on the attack. She had to destroy the chemistry between them. Because she had to deny it. She couldn’t go through what she’d gone through with Randall.

Somehow she suspected recovering from Eric would rob her of a lot more than Randall’s decision she was good enough to sleep with but not good enough to give his last name to.

“No, my ego isn’t that big.” He leaned across her desk, staring straight into her eyes, his breath caressing her lips. “But I was there that night.”