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Prologue

Mav

I didn’t see him at first because unlike sodown the busy hallway towards the hospital roo and he didn’t speak to any of the various nurses and other staff who greeted him In fact, he was so distracted that he nearly slarab him by the upper arms just before he walked into asp as he lifted his eyes to meet mine

The younglike the men I usually went for First of all, he was just way too young He was in his early twenties at best Second, I liked theht, I’d worry about breaking hiht down on his back while I was fucking him from behind And third, and ly so I didn’t mind a little shyness here and there, but I wasn’t into fucking guys ere terrified of me And with the way his whole body had seized up when I’d first grabbed his arms, I knew that was exactly what he was

“Sorry,” he whispered, though it was hard to hear hih the hallway

“No proble suers were in contact with his bare skin which reaking havoc on , luhtly parted lips that looked so full that I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d just been kissing someone or if they were just naturally that plu

I’d first noticed hi an eye on, Matty Travers, had been readmitted to the Immunocompromised Services Unit of the children’s hospital I’d only met the little boy about six weeks earlier when my boss, Ronan Grishaues, Hawke, in case he decided to single-handedly pursue the men who’d murdered his wife Under noruy who needed backup, but when Ronan had learned that thelord, all bets were off and he’d ordered lue

Weeks had passed, but Hawke hadn’t gone looking for the men as expected and when the man he’d lost his heart to, Tate Travers, and his five-year-old son had shown up to visit hi, I’d been there to witness the reunion and I’d known then that Hawke had chosen a future with theeance for the rape and murder of his wife and unborn child ten years earlier I’d ended up sticking around town for a couple days so I could explore theRocky Point, but on the day I’d finally gotten on net back to Hawke’s house because thehad found him instead

I’d made it back to Hawke’s ranch just in ti lord’s lackeys had been about to put in his brain, and then he and I had , little Matty had been beyond brave as a gun had been held to his head and I’d felt a kinship with him from the start So when Ronan had asked me if I’d stay in Seattle for a while to keep an eye on the fa lord reed

And that hen I’d seen the young man

He arrived every day like clockwork to spend tiiven uy pastin the pediatric oncology unit I hadn’t missed how beautiful he ith his dark skin tone that hinted at Hispanic heritage and pretty, expressive eyes, but I’d dismissed my intense attraction to him because of the way he’d looked at ht entry into Matty’s room

Eli

I’d let the naue as I’d automatically flirted with hi to jump him, I’d let hinore him all the other days that he’d stopped by But it had been an almost impossible task because there was always this inevitable moment when Eli stepped past me, that his eyes would lift to look at me for the briefest ofdifferent So with anticipation andto reach up and stroke over the smoothness of his cheek