LITMIR.BIZ

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its way through his head. He’d been up since 3:00 a.m. to catch a flight out of Asheville. Hell, even with a hooker, he might fall asleep before he could take care of business.

      Heaving a sigh, he strode off down the street, trying to avoid looking at scantily clad women and signs for “adult” clubs. It was like putting an alcoholic in the middle of a distillery tour.

      Weaving his way among tourists and time-share hawkers, he marveled that no one batted an eye at the occasional eccentrically dressed pedestrian. Perhaps Gavin was the oddity tonight.

      He walked swiftly, needing the exercise to clear his head and regain control of his libido. It was almost one in the morning back home in Silver Glen. Exhaustion made him weave on his feet, but he knew he wouldn’t sleep unless he was tired to the bone, not as buzzed as he was by the craving to feel a woman’s soft skin and curves.

      If he had his way, he’d be able to sublimate his sexual desires. He was a loner. Which meant that women either thought they could change him or were a little scared of him.

      As the middle child of seven brothers, he had learned to be self-sufficient at an early age. He’d viewed his younger brothers as babies and wanted to avoid their company. His older brothers had been far too cool to tolerate little Gavin hanging around.

      Even the community had unwittingly isolated Gavin. The Kavanagh brood had been referred to as the Three Musketeers—Liam, Dylan and Aidan...and the Three Stooges—Conor, Patrick and James. Gavin was often overlooked, partly because he didn’t make waves.

      He liked school. He never got in trouble. And though he grew to six feet in height by the ninth grade and two years later had filled out his gangly frame with muscles, he was often found with his head in a book. He knew how to fight. He could hold his own in a brawl.

      But why do that when there were so many more interesting ways to spend his time?

      He cut down a side street and followed it several blocks. Then, reversing his original course, he headed toward the hotel. Back here, away from the strip, there were not as many streetlights...less activity...fewer temptations to do something he might regret later. Unfortunately, he was not the only one to choose this route.

      As he drew even with an alley that accommodated delivery trucks, he overheard a heated exchange. Pausing just out of sight, he listened.

      The female voice surprised him. This was no place for a woman. She made her displeasure clear. “Leave me alone,” she cried. “You can’t have everything your way.”

      Gavin peeked around the corner just as the man put his hands on the woman’s shoulders and shook her. The guy was about twice her size. “Stay out of it, Cass,” he said. “Or you’ll be sorry.”

      That was enough for Gavin. Hurling himself into the alley, he shouted, “Let go of her.”

      The petite dark-haired woman struggled, but the man had her wrists now, holding her hands away from his body. Gavin’s yell distracted the guy for a split second, enabling the woman to land a blow.

      “Ow, damn it.”

      Gavin seized the opportunity. With one efficient uppercut to the chin, he caused the bully to stagger backward. The guy was huge and wouldn’t have fallen, but his foot slid in loose gravel. He lost his balance and went down hard, his shoulder striking the ground first. He didn’t move.

      “Hurry,” Gavin said, taking the woman’s arm and dragging her behind him. “We don’t want to be here when he wakes up.”

      “But what if he’s hurt?”

      Gavin paused beneath a security light to examine her face with incredulity. “Do you really care?”

      Big dark eyes framed in impossibly long lashes stared at him. Small white teeth worried a lower lip that was plump and shiny. “I suppose not,” she said quietly. But she glanced over her shoulder nevertheless.

      She was not the kind of woman Gavin needed tonight. Innocence framed her in an almost visible aura. His gut responded to that innocence on a visceral level with caveman lust, but he wanted sex that was hard and fast and insane. This sweet young thing was not in his league. He would scare her to death.

      Still...he couldn’t resist the urge to touch her. Tucking her hair behind her ear, he brushed her cheek with his thumb. “You’re okay,” he said. “I won’t let anything happen to you, I swear.”

      Her gaze clashed with his. He felt as if he knew her somehow, a strange sense of déjà vu as if he had dreamed this moment before.

      “You’re very kind,” she said.

      “No. I’m not. But I don’t like men who use their size to threaten women.” He could have stood there looking at her all night. She made him feel things that confused him. Aroused him.

      Dragging his concentration back to the matter at hand, he touched her arm. “We should go now.” He urged her along, glad to see that even wearing four-inch heels, she was able to keep up with him. She kept a death grip on the small purse slung over her shoulder. “My car is parked at the hotel,” he said. “I can give you a ride home.”

      “No.” The negative was forceful. “He knows where I live.”

      Hell’s bells. “Okay, then. But we need to call the police. You should make a formal complaint.”

      It was difficult to carry on a conversation when both parties were almost running. And perhaps speed was no longer called for, because there was no sign they were being followed.

      “My side hurts,” she complained. “And I don’t want to involve the police.”

      Slowing reluctantly, he exhaled as she leaned against a mailbox, her chest heaving.

      He tried not to notice her breasts.

      “How much farther?” she asked.

      He named the hotel in the next block. “Did he hurt you?” Though the man’s threat had sounded menacing, Gavin hadn’t seen the guy do more than shake the woman, though that was bad enough. The argument had been escalating, however, so no telling what would have happened if Gavin hadn’t been around to stop it.

      The woman straightened. “I’m fine.” Her steady gaze took him in with a head-to-toe inspection that made him mildly uncomfortable. “You could take me to your room,” she said. “So I can calm down and catch my breath.”

      Gavin froze, his nostrils flaring as if he could actually inhale her scent like a wild animal recognizing its mate. “I don’t know if that’s wise.” Was this some kind of sick cosmic test of his character?

      “I won’t bother you. Unless you want me to,” she said with a quick mischievous grin. “But I don’t want to be alone right now. Please.”

      God help him, there was sexual interest in those beautiful eyes. He cleared his throat. “If that’s what you want. Let’s go.”

      This time, as Gavin traversed the acres of gaming floor in his hotel, he barely noticed the crowd. All his focus was on the woman he had rescued. He held her narrow wrist in one hand, sure he could feel the blood pulsing in her veins as he threaded his way through the throng, pulling her behind him. In the elevator he finally had a chance to see her clearly.

      While she stared at the carpeted floor, he studied her, his heart thudding, his muscles jerky with leftover adrenaline. Chin-length curly hair somewhere between dark brown and black framed a heart-shaped face. Though she couldn’t be more than five foot four at most, she appeared taller thanks to the outrageous shoes.

      God, he loved those shoes. He could see her wearing nothing but those shoes as he laid her out on his big soft bed.

      Down, boy. He told himself he wouldn’t take advantage of her vulnerable state. But he had lied to himself once tonight already.

      She was rounded in all the right places, including generous breasts that threatened to spill out of the neckline of her low-cut

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