Perfect for fans of Katy Evans and Monica Murphy, Sarah Robinson’s
blistering-hot series
debut introduces the Kavanagh brothers—mixed martial arts fighters who work
hard, play hard, and
love with all their hearts.
As one of the big names at his family’s gym, Legends, MMA star Rory Kavanagh
is used to being in
the spotlight—until a gruesome leg injury knocks him out of the cage. Rory
is left feeling
sidelined in more ways than one, battling the inner demons that come with
losing the one shot at
his dreams. Then Clare walks into his life and gives him a new dream:
winning her heart. There
aren’t many new faces in Woodlawn these days, but this tough, beautiful
stranger makes Rory want
to get his life back into fighting shape.
Clare Ivers doesn’t think she’ll be able to tell anyone what really brought
her to the close-
knit Bronx neighborhood where she just started bartending. But her life’s on
pause and her past
is catching up fast, try as she might to move on—with new friends, steady
work, and a chiseled
alpha male trying to get her attention. Even though Rory’s more than a
little intense, she can’t
deny that her heart beats faster when he looks at her with those soulful
silver eyes. Clare
thought she was done with love, but Rory might just be man enough to show
her she thought wrong.
Read an Excerpt
Rory felt his jaw drop slightly as he watched her, his interest piqued. He
wasn’t normally one
to let a girl walk away without snagging her phone number, but something
about her told him that
she wasn’t the type to give that away so easily.
“Already hitting the latest talent?” Quinn came up beside his older brother
and handed him a
beer.
“Fuck off, Quinn,” Rory ribbed, surprised at how light he felt at the
moment. It had been some
time since he had laughed at all, he realized, as he downed the beer Quinn
gave him.
A third brother, Kane, appeared behind Quinn a few seconds later, nodding at
Rory. No one would
know those three were related if it wasn’t for the famous Kavanagh name.
Quinn was the odd man out in the group of brothers, with his straight black
hair, clean-shaven
face, and snakelike black eyes. Quinn had even added to his differences by
covering his arms and
chest with tattoos that peeked out from under his sleeves and shirt collar,
along with piercings
on both ears and several other places.
“You coming to Ma’s tomorrow?” Kane asked Rory, leaning his back against the
bar.
His body was turned to face Rory, but he was obviously scoping out the bar
as his dark blue eyes
peered around the room. Rory followed Kane’s stare, noticing more than a few
heads turned in
their direction. He didn’t bother rushing to answer his brother, since
Kane’s attention was
clearly elsewhere.
The Kavanagh brothers were well known in the Bronx, especially Woodlawn, but
even if they
weren’t, the group of athletic men was hard not to stare at. Several women
on the other side of
the bar were giggling, batting eyelashes, and attempting flirty glances as
they openly gawked at
the three men.
Rory knew Kane was a notorious ladies’ man; he watched him smile eagerly at
a woman passing by.
Everyone had always told him that Kane resembled Rory the most out of all
the Kavanagh brothers,
which was ironic since Kane was one in a set of twins. Rory wasn’t as close
to Kane’s twin,
Kieran, who was currently serving time in prison. They had had a falling-out
before Kieran
landed up in jail and not gotten around to resolving things between them
yet.
Considering their similar dark brown hair, scruffy beards, and muscular
build, the biggest
difference Rory could see between himself and Kane, aside from their eye
color, was that Rory
liked to let his hair grow to chin length, leaving the wavy locks down to
frame his face. He
liked his longer style versus Kane’s short hair, and most of the women he
found himself around
seemed to share that opinion.
One woman had even told him he appeared medieval, as if he could be her
knight in shining armor.
That was a comparison that still eluded him, since his refusal to settle
down or be in any type
of serious relationship usually had women calling him much different things,
none of them very
pleasant.
Pulling back his attention to his brothers, Rory purposefully stayed
noncommittal, though he
knew Sundays at the Kavanagh house really weren’t optional. Not if their
mother had anything to
say about it.
“What about Monday, coming to Legends?” Quinn asked, nodding suggestively at
one of the women
watching them, as he referred to the MMA club and gym that the Kavanagh
family owned a few
blocks over.
“I can’t start training yet.” Rory pushed his hand through his hair, wanting
to avoid the topic.
He was suddenly feeling a lot more sober than he liked, wanting his brothers
to leave so he
could slip a few more pills out of his pocket undetected. The numbing
feeling they had brought
earlier was already wearing off.
“It’s been over a year since the fight, man. The hell you can’t train—you’re
Rory ‘Knockout’
Kavanagh, best MMA fighter in New York!” Quinn said sarcastically and
slightly louder than was
necessary.
“New York? Try the entire nation, Quinn,” Kane added, a swell of pride in
his voice as he beamed
at Rory.
“Was, guys. Past tense.” Rory spoke through gritted teeth as his hand
touched his own knee,
feeling the thick scars through the fabric of his pants, gruesome evidence
of the injury that
had ended his mixed martial arts career. The bottle of pills was now burning
a hole in his
pocket as he thought about how badly he wanted some relief.
“Maybe it would be present tense if you didn’t reek of booze all the damn
time,” Kane said,
daring him to counter the statement. Rory took a slow, deep breath to calm
himself. He loved his
brothers, but he didn’t need their pity.
Aside from being a Top 10 Barnes & Noble and Amazon Bestseller, Sarah
Robinson is a
native of the Washington, DC area and has both her Bachelors and Masters
Degrees in criminal
psychology. She is newly married to a local police officer, Justin, who is
just as much of an
animal rescue enthusiasts as she is. Together, they own a zoo of rescues
including everything
from mammals to reptiles to marsupials, as well as volunteering and
fostering for multiple
animal shelters.
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