...The afternoon sun was beginning to set, and panic was creeping up on Lance because he hadn’t found the women. He’d been listening all afternoon for the notes of the cat’s eye. It was a small stone, not a gem, so its song was softer and more difficult to hear over the sounds of the bands and revelers. It was fortunate there were few real gems in this crowd to override its tones. Most of it was costume jewelry. At last, he heard its hum. Like a global positioning system, his ears told him where she was.

He heard Diana scream. Heard how quickly it was cut off.

Fighting his way through the crowd as he followed the cat’s eye hum, he saw her being mauled and hauled off by a nasty-looking man who would have snapped her arm on a whim. At least he was only a man. Lance sensed that in seconds. Two strides into the alley, and Lance had clipped him behind his ear. The man released Diana and dropped like a stone.

He’d never get up again.

Lance reached for her as she stumbled at the sudden release of her arm, catching her before she fell to the ground. Turning, she recognized him. She reached for him as if she were drowning. He held her tight. His heart thought his chest was a drum. He felt hers pounding like a Thoroughbred’s on a racetrack. Emotion welled up in him at how close she’d come to being hurt, and his mouth found hers, just as hers reached up to him.

He drank in her fear and her sweetness, letting his groin swell and his balls tighten. He slid his hands to her buttocks and cupped her hard against him as she opened her mouth and tongue to him. What he felt for her was unlike anything he’d ever felt for a woman before. He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted any other.

He slid down the zipper on her jeans so he could touch her skin, feel her heat, know she was safe. Her tremors racked his body as well as her own, and he wanted to love her, comfort her.

Whimpers of need came from the back of her throat as his hands slid down her jeans. Her skin was molten and soft. He had no difficulty finding the center of her, of sliding his fingers into her and cupping her.

Her moan was low and sensual. His erection was instantaneous, and so hard it pained him.

Her hands freed him of his trousers and released his penis. The cool air on it signaled him he was not only erect, he was lubricated and ready to slide into her waiting vagina. She pressed him against the alley wall, lifted one leg and curled it around his hip. Then her hand closed around his cock, and he thought he’d come right then and there in her hand, but he hung on, savoring the pleasure when she guided him into her hot box. Her fingers continued to rub his cock where it touched her folds.

He’d heard her sharp intake of breath as he entered her. Despite the shock of the attack, she’d become aroused because he’d rescued her. Hot and damp, she’d been ready for him. Her walls clamped down as if he brought life itself to her, and she matched his strokes as they took each other with such fierce intensity it was as if their bodies had ignited.

When his semen was inside her, and they were both drained by the encounter, he kissed her with all the gentleness he had. “You’re safe now. Are you okay?”