Page 53 of Rogue's Path

“Maybe you should add one.” She picks up a green icing bag, and her hands float around creating beauty again.

“You aren’t going to tell me to date him?”

“Pshht. No. Don’t date a man who doesn’t want to date you. Or better yet, don’t date. Find your passion in life and live the way you want to, free of any man’s dictates.”

There seems to be a story there, but I have problems enough of my own to try to invade my friend's privacy.

Unless she decides to share more than her fantastic cakes…

“So I was thinking we might attend the Friday night market and then the movie in the park. Restaurants from counties all around us set up booths, there are treats of every kind, live music, and the night ends with a movie in the park. It sounds cheesy—"

“The best kind of cheesy. I’d love to go.” A sweet little night market would make a great murder scene. Or maybe the body is in the park. There are tons of dark, eerie paths at night in parks.

***

He’s not coming. That’s all there is to it.

You’ve been sitting here for five hours now, and he hasn’t shown.

It’s time to give up.

If you sit here any longer, you’re going to float away from all the water you drank. At least I won’t be floating away on my tears. I don’t cry over stuff like this…

Especially not bad boys that don’t turn up when you want them to.

There are plenty of men in the world who kiss exceptionally well. I’ll just find one of them to kiss. Taylor seems like the type to excel at it. There’s no way that if he actually kissed me, that I’d feel nothing.

When he gets back, I’ll have to test out my theory. A bad boy biker doesn’t have special lips or something.

Special lips…I would make a terrible romance writer. The worst.

Is that him? The jacket’s right. It’s hard to miss a metal butterfly on leather.

It’s not him. The body is wrong. This guy is a big bear…He turns around. It’s the bear guy I talked to in the honky-tonk. Ugh. If he sees me, I might die of embarrassment.

The bear guy turns in my direction.

Maybe, he won’t recognize me without the wild outfit and makeup.

His beard wiggles, and he steps out of line.

It’s too late for me to make a mad dash out the door. I’m just going to have to brazen it out. “Hello.”

He sits down on the chair I was hoping Rogue would use. “Hello. Buy me a drink.”

Okay, bear man is kind of cute. “Sure.” How can a man in a motorcycle club be cute? It’s probably against their bylaws or something.

Do they even have laws? Isn’t being lawless the point of joining a motorcycle club?

“You live around here? Cause I don’t remember seeing you around before.” He shrugs out of the leather jacket, which does nothing to make him look any smaller. This guy is a mountain of muscle. If the floor wasn’t cement, I bet it would shake with every step he took.

“No, I’m in town visiting a friend.”

“One of the women from the other night?” He twists his body until I have his undivided attention.

“Yes. Cordelia. She makes the cakes they serve here.”

“The cake lady?” His eyes widen as his whole body moves back. “You know the cake lady?”