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he repeated and grabbed her wrist. “One of the bouncers? One of those
loser guys who sit in there all day dishing out money just so they can get a
woman to touch him?”
    She
twisted from his grip. “Gee, aren’t you one of those loser guys?” she
asked but knew he wasn’t. No, Kade was unlike any other man she’d ever met. The
way he stared at her with thick dark lashes shading his menacing icy eyes told
her that much, and it was answer enough.
    She
huffed out a breath and shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. What I do is none of your
business anyway.”
    He
heaved the door shut and towered over her, cradling her face and forcing her to
look up at him. “Your date’s canceled. Come back here after work, and I’ll make
you forget any other man exists. I promise.” He dipped his mouth and threatened
to kiss her.
    “Promises
are for fools,” she said, staring at his lips. “And I’m no fool.”
    “That’s
a shame, because we’d get along a lot better if you were.” He grinned and
trapped her against the door. His mouth molded to hers and his tongue thrust
past her parted lips as she gasped. One of his hands braced the back of her
neck while the other slipped under her sweater and roughly caressed her breast.
    Ava
tried to shove him away, but he didn’t budge. She should have been frightened.
She should have bit his tongue, kneed his groin, and shoved the palm of her
hand straight at the bridge of his nose.
    Just
like she’d learned in the self-defense class she’d graduated from less than a
month ago.
    But
she didn’t fear Kade—she yearned for him. In his bed, cradled in his strong
arms, she could forget all her worries. She didn’t need to think about the
looming possibility of Zack finding and hurting her. She was safe. Free from
fear and free from her disguise.
    If
only the overgrown man would stop acting like such an ass.
    With
fire in his passionate eyes, he finally broke the kiss and opened the door.
“I’ll see you soon,” he said in a gruff voice.
    She
didn’t argue. She’d have plenty of time to do that later. Pinching her sweater
and jacket shut, she left.

 
    Chapter Three
     
    After
getting a few hours of sleep, Kade showered and dressed. It was time to scope
out his probable target, Poppy. And maybe check the stats on Lily’s loser date.
    Damn
it. Why did he care? It shouldn’t have mattered to him, but just the thought of
another man touching her made him mad as hell. Especially so soon after she’d
been in his bed, in his arms.
    God,
she’d had his cock inside her one night and she was planning on going out with
another man the next. He shook his head. That didn’t seem right. Sure, she was
a stripper, but she seemed so sweet. Not the type to fuck around. And, hell,
she’d been so tight, almost virginal. His balls tightened from the memory.
    Her
beautiful face came to mind. Lily. The fact that he didn’t know her real
name ground at his nerves as well. How could he even begin to have feelings for
a woman who was nothing but a stripper incognito?
    Fuck
it all. He had more
important things to worry about.
    He
reached under his bed and pulled out his duffle bag to see if everything was
still in order before he left the hotel room. His handgun was tucked safely in
its lockbox between a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.
    Satisfied,
he clasped it shut, locked it and then slid the bag back under the bed. It
wasn’t safe to leave it in a hotel room for anyone to find, but he couldn’t get
it past the bouncer’s pat-down at the front door. All he could do was tell the
hotel manager he didn’t want his room cleaned and hope for the best.
    Not
that he wanted to carry the gun around. He’d seen enough violence and heard
enough gunshots during his tours in Iraq and Afghanistan to last him a lifetime.
    Most
of the time, Kade used his size and sometimes his fists to get what he wanted.
People listened when he talked, making his job that much easier.
    Which
is why he wondered how Lily wasn’t