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  It was hard to look anywhere but those eyes. She was tiny, really. He noticed the belt on her coat was cinched tight and knotted at her little waist. He could probably wrap his hands completely around it. His gaze kept going back up to her face, her full lips were bare, no makeup, he noticed. Time to find out the name of this little cinnamon spice girl.

  Craddock walked the length of the gym with his eyes focused on the girl that had stolen his full attention. She was smiling, goddamn, she smiled this shy sort of way. And then — what the hell? A set of shoulders partially blocked his view, pissing him off.

  There he was. The Preachers Son had zoned right in and was lifting something up for her, a box or some shit, then he started crawling around. What the hell was he doing? The saint of all the Bible was probably trying to look up her skirt. Craddock quickened his pace, that asshole better get clear of her.

  “You trying to get a free peek there, Powell?” Craddock stepped in front of the brunette just in case Powell was copping a look.

  “What? Of course I wouldn’t ever…” The big man was under the desk struggling with something and sputtering an answer.

  “Excuse me, Zeke’s helping me find the outlet.” And Craddock felt a hand on his arm. It was the brunette. The cells in his arms jumped where she touched him and he turned to look at her. She moved her hand off him too fast, like she felt it too.

  She moved her hand from his arm to her hip and fixed a tough glare at him. He wanted to kiss that look right off her face. Shit, this girl was under his skin fast.

  “Zeke is it? First names already? Well what’s your name?”

  “Cassidy.”

  “Be careful Cassidy, he may wear a gold cross, but he’s no more trustworthy than any of the guys in here.”

  “Except you I’m guessing.” She gave him attitude right away. He was used to fawning and eyelash batting, but not this one. No, she was not immediately susceptible to his muscles.

  “Most of all me.” Craddock detected the slightest upturn on the corner of her lip, she wasn’t totally immune to his charms. Good.

  “Well are those muscle decorative or can you get that box and bring it over here so I can hook up this printer?” And her sass turned to a bit of shyness as she added. “I can’t reach it.” She was so fucking cute.

  “Well aren’t you bossy?” He stepped closer and moved across to where the printer box sat on a shelf behind her. On his way to the shelf he came within an inch of her and breathed in deeply. She was perfectly still maybe even scared, like moving would provoke him, so he got a good nose full of her scent. She smelled clean. Nothing smelled clean around here, and there was something else, something all her.

  She didn’t move, but he saw her blush. It was less than two seconds of time, but he’d made his point, he’d started the primal process of letting Zeke, and the rest of them, know he was top ape. She let him do it too, whether she knew it or not, she let him stake a little claim right there. Score one for Flynn. He moved on and grabbed the box down with one hand.

  “Where do you want it, boss?” He held it in his big palm in front of her like it was a pizza box.

  “Just there on the desk.” At this point Zeke was up and jockeying with him to get Cassidy’s attention. Forget it Zeke, you’re not getting anywhere with her, he thought.

  “Why don’t you back off, Flynn, she’s not like the sluts who you usually hang with.”

  “Fuck you very much, Zeke.” Flynn took pleasure in shooting the insult to his rival in all things. Zeke didn’t take the bait and addressed pretty little Cassidy. Craddock felt his nostrils flair. He didn’t want Zeke talking to this girl and he logically knew he had no right to say it, but there it was in his head. She’s going to be mine, Zeke.

  “Sorry Cassidy, this is how he is. Let me know if you need anything else, okay?” Zeke gave her a big holy smile. She smiled back, a small one, but it filled Craddock with a hot poker of rage behind his eyes.

  “Thank you. I’m all set, I think. It was nice to meet you, Zeke.” Her voice was deeper than you’d expect, Craddock noticed.

  Zeke walked out of the gym and left Craddock and Cassidy facing off at the desk. Craddock thought Zeke had made a poor strategic decision right there, never leave a girl you’re interested in alone with Craddock Flynn. The thought brought a smile to his lips.

  “Okay, well, why don’t you get going? No one’s looking up my skirt and I’ve got work to do.” Not quite yet, Cassidy. He was determined to get a little more time with her.

  “So you work here now permanently?”

  She nodded and he was happy as hell. She’d be right here in his very gym for him to enjoy. This day was looking up. He moved in closer, and honestly this time it wasn’t on purpose, she had a pull, wow, what the heck was this about?

  Cassidy backed up and nearly ran into the shelves behind her. None of his usual lines seemed quite right for this one. He didn’t really have a plan, except he was going to get closer to her. She looked him in the eyes and didn’t seem intimidated. He reached out without thinking, meaning to touch that gorgeous hair.

  She smacked his hand down. “Keep that hand to yourself if you don’t want to lose it Craddock Flynn.” The color in her eyes flashed a little lightning at him. Oh those eyes. He almost wanted to make her mad some more to see them flair.

  “How about the other one?” He lifted his other hand and touched her silky hair on the other side. Her eyes widened in surprise. His hands were quick. Cassidy wasn’t the first girl to learn that.

  A hoarse, familiar voice interrupted his attempt to get as close as possible to Cassidy.

  “Oh, Miss Cassidy, you have full authority to kick him or any of these assholes in the nuts if they get fresh. Or let me do it if you’re too sensitive. In fact, you can look it up, nut busting is approved conduct in the Great Wolves Gym employee handbook.”

  “Thank you, Whitey. I’ll finish this tomorrow, if it’s okay?”

  “Yep, see you tomorrow, girlie!”

  And with that little opening Cassidy slipped out of Craddock’s orbit and out the door. She was gone but he knew it wouldn’t be for long. He also painfully realized he probably needed another shower, or at least one of the slutty blondes, as Zeke called them, to work some things out.

  Cassidy

  Cassidy walked briskly to get to the Grand City Main Library before 7 p.m. If she got in before they closed the doors, she could use the computers for two hours. Then someone would notice she was there and shoo her out. She needed to sneak online to work on her classes.

  Staying to work a little at the new job had put her behind on classwork today. If only she had her own computer, but that was way over her budget. She was scrounging for the last penny every month. Next year, well, next year she’d worry about next year. For now, she was half way through year two of school and she was barely scraping by with rent and food and tuition. Forget about what most girls in college worried about, clothes maybe? She really wasn’t too clear on that. She was just trying to survive.

  The Grand City Main Library was gorgeous. Cassidy loved the Art Deco building. . She hadn’t always been an unwanted, shuttled around, foster kid. She’d had parents who had loved her and took her to museums, plays, and shows. But, that was a long time ago.

  She blocked those thoughts out. It didn’t do any good thinking about how her life had been before, with her mom and dad. It also didn’t do any good thinking about the foster homes, all ten of them.

  Cassidy Parker had one mission now and that was to help kids like her. Or how she used to be. To do that she’d need her social work degree and a master’s degree. It was a long expensive road, but she was planning to take it one step at a time. Or more specifically, she’d take it one expensive credit hour at a time.

  As she logged on to the Wayne U online portal, she had a hard time focusing. That wasn’t really like her. A set of pecs, abs, and biceps invaded her headspace. She couldn’t get her experience at the GWG out of her head. The smell, the energy,
and who was she kidding, the sight of Craddock Flynn.

  She was never boy crazy and most of her time in foster homes was spent fending off “brothers” and the occasional asshole foster dad. She always fended them off, but that didn’t make her a prude — that made her tough. And it was the reason she’d had ten foster homes. Thank God for Bess always placing her.

  Cassidy thought about her limited sexual experience. She wasn’t a virgin, she’d essentially decided to do it with a busboy at the restaurant so she wouldn’t have that hanging over her head, the virgin thing. But it wasn’t all that. Her lukewarm encounter with Jason the busboy was not what she’d hoped or dreamed it would be. The experience was okay, even sweet, but not quite like the romance novels that she’d bury her nose in from the library. Not much of what Jason the busboy did was that interesting. But it was done. She’d gotten over that stupid hurdle.

  Maybe she should stop reading romances. After all, they’d primed her for today’s encounter with the epicenter of alpha males in Grand City. Every single one of them looked like they could have been on a cover. Well, maybe a little more hairy.

  No, she’d keep reading, her romances were free to borrow and a lot cheaper than cable. Since she didn’t have a television, Bella Andre it was.

  Besides, Craddock Flynn was no busboy. In fact, there was nothing boyish at all in his strong legs, cut abs, and broad shoulders. And really, nothing like the polished billionaires of her books. He’d practically inhaled her in one piece when he’d gotten close. More like a Gorilla in the Mist than a billionaire on a private jet. The scary thing was she let him. She shocked herself. Why hadn’t she kicked him in the nuts like Whitey suggested?

  She knew that answer. Because she liked it. She wanted him to put his arms around her. She imagined something wicked the moment he turned his eyes in her direction. Maybe even before then when she was drawn to the ring almost by an invisible rope.

  Cassidy shook her head to shake herself from the daydream. Nope! That’s enough. She had work to do. Finally the worry of being unemployed was over. She had a job to pay her rent, food, and bus pass. Now it was time to focus on school again.

  She pushed the images of Craddock Flynn’s abs, his arms nearly encircling her, and, oh God, that thick dark hair, out of her mind. Back to work. No more thoughts of that sexy man bun or buns. This was not a productive line of thinking at all. She went back to her online psych class. Much safer territory.

  It was dark by the time they kicked her out of the library and she walked the mile it took to get home to her apartment.

  She rented a studio with a tiny bathroom, but thank God for that bathroom. The last place had a bathroom down the hall, which led to some fending off that wasn’t much different than foster care. Her tiny bathroom with small tub and shower was safe, private, and clean as a whistle. To her, it was heaven.

  “You’ll like this place better, Cassidy.” That’s what her social worker Bess Geary told her. She’d helped her get into the Wayne U online program and the apartment. But much more than that, she’d given Cassidy the purpose she now lived for.

  Bess Geary helped her navigate some scary waters. Bess had been assigned to Cassidy’s case shortly after her parents had died. And she was the one port in the storm after being orphaned at 14.

  There were no cake or candles on her 18th birthday. She was essentially orphaned again, kicked out of foster care because she was an adult. Bess was her one salvation. The one person who asked her about her dreams and helped her take a path to make them come true.

  As she unlocked her apartment and tried to warm up from her cold walk, her phone rang. She didn’t have a cell, but there was a landline that came with the place. Bess insisted she have at least one phone.

  She picked it up knowing it was Bess. It was only ever Bess who called. Even hours after her shift at the agency ended, she checked in with Cassidy.

  “I’ve been waiting to hear! How did it go? Any luck on the job front? Because if not we need to get the paperwork started on…”

  “Let me interrupt you Bess, I got a job.” She tried not to sound as excited about that fact as she felt.

  “Awesome! Tell me about it!” Bess’s voice was comforting and the only thing she had that resembled a family. Bess even bought her a birthday card every year.

  “It’s at the Great Wolf Gym.” And she recounted the details of the meeting with Whitey.

  “So, your job is to be surrounded by buff athletes all day? Do they have any other openings?” Bess could always make her smile.

  “Well how do you feel about tattoos and sweat?” She joked back.

  “I feel like you’re going to have to stay focused and let me decide which ones you should talk to.” Bess was in her early thirties and divorced. She didn’t talk about her ex-husband or what happened. Cassidy just knew Bess had a little boy and that she had full custody. The fact that Bess had time for her while also being a single mom inspired Cassidy to someday pay it forward with her own clients. Someday.

  “Will do. And thank you for checking up on me.”

  “Always. And I like the addition of red-blooded men in this discourse. I can, of course, get your birth control options handled through the…”

  “Enough! I just work there!” Cassidy started to blush at the thought.

  “Okay, okay, I know you’re smart about all this stuff. But, if that landlord doesn’t fix that heater, I need to have you call Fair Housing Authority at..”

  “I already wrote that down,” Bess was as thorough as a person could be and Cassidy loved her for it, “Now it’s time for you to play with your son. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  “Yeah, I’m going to need pick you up for lunch one of these days very soon from the new job, you know, to be sure I approve.”

  “Of course. Talk to you soon.”

  “Okay, good night, sweetie.”

  Cassidy carefully put her clothes away. The laundromat was expensive so she rewore what she could. She slid into some sweats and climbed into the sagging bed in the corner of the studio. She had not, in fact, gotten the landlord to fix the heater. She just didn’t want to worry Bess anymore. She’d bundled up with socks and sweats and toss her coat over the covers to try to sleep in the icy space.

  As she fell asleep, her dreams swirled around a fighter named Flynn. And at least parts of her were warm that night.

  Chapter Two

  Craddock

  Craddock ran every other morning. Five miles pretty much as fast as he could. Whitey said if a fighter can stay conscious through the first two rounds, running nearly every day meant that fighter could eventually wear anyone down. Craddock aimed to wear his opponents down if he couldn’t beat them down. It also sluiced off every ounce of fat and made his muscles look deadly. His runs were non-existent when he used to party. Since he gave it up, they’d gotten maniacal. He poured everything into them and that was before he even got to the gym.

  After his run, he always stopped by his mom’s house. She usually had something for him to eat and he could help make sure Dylan got to the bus on time. His mom lived in a small house in the Irish Town neighborhood not too far from the gym. He didn’t live there anymore, but he still visited nearly every day. Just in case she needed anything.

  His dad was barely a help before Craddock kicked him out. After he was gone, Craddock understood that taking care of the family was his job now. He had no idea where his dad was these days. Maybe they were better off without him. Dylan and Ma, that was on his shoulders now and he had a plan.

  .

  “She burnt the toast, Crad.” Dylan Flynn greeted him at the back screen door that lead to a little landing and then to the kitchen.

  “No big deal, she’ll make some more.” This was just the kind of thing that stressed Dylan out, the kind of thing that could lead to a total melt down. Dylan was almost 30 years old and had the mental capacity of an eight year old. His disabilities were attributed to some sort of birth trauma. Probably something their dad did. His mom
would never say, so he figured there was a story he didn’t know. And probably didn’t want to know. Dylan was working up to full tilt outrage.

  “Because if you do it on medium it should be my favorite way, she did it more than medium and it’s too crunchy. It’s dark brown, almost black, Crad!” Dylan was laying out his case for the perfect piece of toast like he was arguing to the fucking Supreme Court.

  “I’m making another one!” His mom yelled with her back still to them. She was very patient, but Dylan could get her pissed when he got like this. Then all three of them would be yelling and worked up over God knows what. It was part of why he moved out when he turned 21, that and the inevitable cock-blocking that living at home entailed.

  Thank God he had the GWG sponsorship this year. It had made living in his own apartment so much easier. He aimed to keep it.

  “See? All set, she’s making another one. Did you watch your shows this morning?” Of course the answer was yes. Dylan was a creature of habit and getting out of his habit lead to all kinds of bullshit. The question was really a way to get him on track, rather than one he needed an answer to. To be honest, Craddock liked hearing about today’s episode of The Amazing World of Gumball or whatever.

  As Dylan got deeply into his recap Craddock gave his mom a kiss on the cheek. She patted his.

  “So, when’s the next fight?” His mom didn’t come, watching him get bloody or dish it out to other guys, made her nuts. She said she was too nervous. Which meant she also didn’t bring Dylan to a match.

  If mom wasn’t there, Dylan lost it during the fights. Since Dylan needed her to calm him down and let him know that “little brother” was okay, Dylan didn’t get to see the fights. It was all too much drama. It bummed him out that there was no one to help keep Dylan’s shit together but that’s the way it was.

  Any time Ma saw a cut or bruise after the fight she’d start in on why he should learn a trade and how the odds of getting your face bashed in as a welder were significantly lower.