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clasped her hand and entwined their
fingers more fully. “Let’s have a picnic lunch at Dallas Blooms.
The Arboretum is a big supporter of CanSM, and they’ve given us
tickets. I’ll bring the food. You bring the blanket.”
    She impishly bit her bottom lip. “And
what do you plan to do with this blanket?”
    The muscles in his lower abdomen
tightened. Shit .

Chapter 4

    Gavin waited for the bellhop to open
his door then walked into the room. The young man, a heavy dose of
acne marking his face, sat the luggage in the dressing area. Gavin
pulled out a twenty and handed it to the guy who looked a lot like
what he’d expected from his CanSM apprentice.
    He locked the door and leaned against
it. Taylor Smith hadn’t been at all what he’d expected. And that
was good and bad. Clearly, the young woman already had a serious
crush on him. Although he was used to the attention of women, her
attention was different. Pure and honest. And the sparkle of her
sweet dimpled smile….
    Shaking the thought from his head, he
frowned. Bad, Gav, very bad. He should contact CanSM
tonight. They’d obviously made a mistake. The right thing to do
would be to recuse himself, but the thought sent a shiver down his
spine. Was that really the right thing?
    He pulled out his laptop and started
it up. Checking his email, he found forty-seven new messages since
three that afternoon. A light email day. Four of them from Marissa
and one from Taylor. He scanned the selections. Marissa apparently
didn’t get him. None of these women were what he was looking for.
Hell, Taylor was a better choice. He froze. Therein lay the problem
with this whole damn situation.
    Everything about the girl fit. A
queasy feeling rose from the pit of his stomach. Marriage—sex with
a seventeen-year-old. He shuddered. A dirty, old man at the ripe
age of twenty-five.
    The difference in age was a little
over seven years, according to her birth date, but it was the wrong
seven. As a thirty-year-old, he could easily date a
twenty-two-year-old. In five years, the age difference would never
matter.
    In five years, neither of them would
be alive, and then it really wouldn’t matter. Why was he even
thinking about this?
    He stared at her message before
opening it. It’s just an email. Then why did he feel like he
was breaking some law to read it?
    He clicked the screen before he
changed his mind. The message opened.
     
    To: Gavin Taylor < [email protected] >
    From: Taylor Smith < [email protected] >
     
    Subject: Nice meeting you and I’m
gonna kick your butt
     
    I wanted to remind you to bring your
laptop and maybe we could play a game of CROG. That is, unless
you’re scared, Oggerboy.
     
    Looking forward to tomorrow. I have
the greatest picnic blanket in the world. Hope your food can keep
pace.
    Tay
     
    His spirit leapt then plummeted. Her
bright eyes and smile really had stolen his heart. She was
lovely. Hopeful. Innocent.
    A vision of her in a hospital, hooked
to tubes and enduring the same indignities he’d suffered, burned
through his mind. His heart shattered. His eyes stung and prickled,
as he squeezed them shut and took a leveling breath. He’d been
petrified in the hospital and could still feel the pain. The pain
of needles, of humiliation, the pain of being alone. What must it
have been like for her?
    So much pain. That was what came to
mind when he thought of cancer. Yes, it could kill. Yes, it sucked
away his time and body, but he’d never understood the pain until
he’d experienced it himself.
    Taylor Smith was the girl he would’ve
picked if he were still in high school. Not that she would’ve given
a tech geek like him more than a passing glance over her pompoms.
But he wasn’t in high school. He needed to nip this in the
bud before it came around and took a chunk out of his
ass.
    But what would she think if he recused
himself after the wonderful dinner with her family? There would be
no way to explain it. She’d think the worst. The