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C ynthia knew that she had left some giant holes in her story. She was never a very good liar, and tonight was no exception. She just hoped like hell that Spade bought her story because sitting and talking with him at the bar only confirmed how much she liked the guy. Not only was he her type, but she found herself giddy with excitement that he was paying any attention to her at all after the way that she treated him last week—and she didn’t do giddy.

When he apologized to her, she nearly broke down and told him that she had made up her boyfriend and that she’d love to go out with him. Spade had this sweetness that had her wanting to toss her rules and her made-up boyfriend right out the damn window, but that wouldn’t end well for her or Spade. She was broken after her breakup with Eric, and admitting that to anyone would destroy what little confidence she had built up over the past six months.

Ink and Charlie walked over to the bar and sat next to her. She had spotted them earlier but knew that talking to them before Spade would only ruin her resolve to tell him about her made-up boyfriend. She secretly hoped that Spade would be at the bar tonight and that she’d finally be able to tell him about her “Boyfriend”. had heard that he was asking around town about her, and she needed to put a stop to his questions before she lost her nerve. It had just proved harder than she thought it would be to lie to Spade.

“Tell me that you didn’t go through with it,” Ink loudly whispered. looked around the bar and back to Ink.

“Keep it down or everyone will know about my lie,” she insisted.

“Everyone is going to figure it out anyway,” Ink said.

“Oh, and how will they do that? Do you plan on ratting me out?” she asked. She knew Ink well enough to know that he’d always have her back. It was a ridiculous question, but when she felt pushed, she pushed back. Ink always knew what buttons to push to get her to respond.

“Of course, he won’t rat you out,” Charlie insisted. “You know that Ink and I both love you, . But we have eyes, and we could see the way that you looked at Spade. Don’t you think that some of the guys around here are smart enough to figure it out too?”

“That’s a loaded question,” mumbled. “And for the record, I was not looking at him in any way. We were two friends having a conversation. Heck, he even offered to by me an apology beer before work texted him and he had to go into the office.”

Ink barked out his laugh. “He used that one on you?” he asked.

“He used what one on me?” spat. She had a pretty good idea what Ink meant by that, but she wanted clarification.

“Spade uses that excuse when he wants out of a situation—usually involving a woman. If you haven’t noticed, he is a nice guy, but he gets nervous around women. Only a few of his close friends know about it, but when he finds a woman attractive, he goes into this total spaz mode and gets diarrhea of the mouth.” Well, that wasn’t a picture that she’d be able to get out of her mind anytime soon.

“Yeah, thanks for that mental image. I feel like I need to go home and scrub my brain with soap now,” teased.

Charlie giggled, “Yeah, my husband sure has a way with words, doesn’t he?”

“Hey, I’m just calling it the way I see it. You make Spade nervous and that means he likes you, . Can you blame the guy for wanting to run out of here after you told him that you have a boyfriend?” She couldn’t.

“I didn’t mean to hurt him, but you’re right, I do make him nervous. He told me so himself. And if that means that he likes me, then it’s good that I told him about my boyfriend,” she insisted.

“A boyfriend that doesn’t exist,” Charlie reminded.

“How are you going to explain the fact that you’re never seen with your boyfriend?” Ink asked. “How many excuses can you come up with?”

“As many as necessary for the next six months,” she admitted.

“And then what?” Ink asked. “You’ll magically break up with your pretend boyfriend and go out with Spade? What if he finds out that you were lying to him this whole time?” he asked.

She covered her head with her hands and moaned. “I don’t have the answers to all of your questions,” she groaned. “I’m flying by the seat of my pants here and that’s as good as I can do right now.”

“Go easy on her, Ink,” Charlie insisted. “Sorry about him. How about if we have a few drinks and forget about the whole pretend boyfriend thing? I’m sure that you’ll figure out what to do about Spade when the time is right.” She could always count on Charlie to clear the air when things got a bit heated between her and Ink. She wasn’t lying when she told Spade that Ink was like her brother. They fought like brother and sister too, but Charlie always knew when to step in to help them both cool down.

“I’m going to check in with a few of the guys,” Ink said. He was acting like a sore loser, and that always made him a little grumpy. “You two enjoy your drinks.” He stood and walked down to the end of the bar where Mace was talking to the Blaine brothers.

“Don’t mind him,” Charlie said, “he just doesn’t want to see his friend hurt.”

“I don’t know if you mean me or Spade,” said. “We’re both Ink’s friends, right?”

“You know that he loves you like a sister, ,” Charlie said. “But you have to understand that he considers Spade his brother. If things go south with you lying to him, Ink might be caught in the middle, and that would suck for him.” She really hadn’t thought about how her lie might hurt Ink. Hell, she could see the hurt and confusion in Spade’s eyes and that was nearly her undoing.

“I didn’t think of it that way,” said. “I’ll be careful not to mix Ink up in the middle of my lie—promise.”

“Thanks for that,” Charlie said. wasn’t sure what she had got herself into with her stupid idea of inventing a boyfriend. She was trying to save her own heart, not hurt anyone else in the process. One thing was for sure, if things got much more complicated, she might just have to come clean with Spade and let the chips fall where they may.

had thrown herself back into her work, showing up early and taking a few walk-ins every day. She knew that she was avoiding possibly running into Spade, but in a town as small as theirs, running into him was always a possibility.

Every day, she’d check Ink’s schedule to see if Spade had made an appointment to finally finish his tat. wasn’t sure if she’d stick around to see the guy or run out of the shop making up excuses about having to be somewhere. That’s what Spade had done to her at the bar a few nights ago.

She hadn’t gone back to the Road Reapers since that night either. If she had to stop going to the bar altogether, she would. It would suck not seeing her friends and unwinding at her favorite spot in town, but she’d live. On the other hand, running into Spade again might put her heart in danger, and it had nothing to do with a health issue. Every time she saw the guy, her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. She even got those damn butterflies in her tummy—something that hadn’t happened to her since high school.

Charlie walked into the shop holding Bethany and quickly grabbed the baby. They came in every day to visit Ink and honestly, it was her favorite part of each workday. She got her baby fix and when Bethany got too fussy, she’d hand her back to her mom.

“Is he in the back?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah, don’t tell him that I told you, but he’s been in a mood all day,” said.

“I know, we kind of had a fight, and I’m here to make up with him,” Charlie said, bobbing her eyebrows at her.

could feel herself making a face at her friend. “Well, then, Bethany and I will just stay out here then.”

“Thank you,” Charlie said. She started for Ink’s office and quickly turned around. “I forgot to tell you that the Road Reapers are having a live band tonight. You should come with me and Ink,” Charlie insisted.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” said. “I’ve been trying to steer clear of that place so that I don’t cause any trouble for Ink.”

“I got a babysitter and everything,” Charlie said. “Plus, how much trouble can you cause in one night?” she asked.

“You’d be surprised by my answer, I’m sure. How about if I think about it, and will let you know?” asked.

“That’s what I say to Ink when I’m planning to not do something that he wants to do. Promise me that you’ll actually think about it. You need a night out and a live band should be fun.” Charlie was right, she needed a night out and she loved a live band, but Ink was clear that he didn’t want to be trapped in the middle of her mess with Spade and if she saw him again, she was sure that it would get messy.

“I promise,” agreed. She’d just have to come up with a good excuse later to get out of going to Road Reapers. Maybe a headache or something would be believable, but she was going to have to think of something because, from the determined look on Charlie’s face, she wasn’t about to let her out of her promise so easily.

Charlie was relentless, calling about a dozen times over just a few hours. After her last afternoon appointment, she took off, hoping that Charlie would forget her invitation, and ’s promise to think about it—but she didn’t. And when finally gave up and answered her cell phone, Charlie was pissed. She told that friends don’t ignore friends and hearing that she made her friend worry about her had feeling like an ass. She felt bad enough to agree to meet Charlie at Road Reapers and stay for the first few songs at least. If her friend had her way, they’d be closing down the bar tonight, but hoped that it wouldn’t come to that.

She checked herself in the rearview mirror, sitting in the back of the parking lot in her pickup, trying to decide if her friendship with Charlie was worth all this trouble. “Pull yourself together,” she said to her reflection. She felt like telling her reflection to go to hell, but instead, just stuck her tongue out at herself. sighed and opened the door to her old truck and hopped down onto the gravel parking lot. The front of the lot was paved for bikes since gravel wasn’t a bike’s best friend. The back of the lot was reserved for cars and trucks, and since didn’t ride anymore, she usually parked in the back of the lot.

She quickly looked around and noticed that the lot was packed tonight, and she hoped like hell that didn’t mean that she’d run into Spade again. Maybe a live band wasn’t the guy’s scene, but she had a feeling that she was hoping for something that wasn’t the case. From how many vehicles were in the lot, a live band was everyone’s scene.

walked into the front door and wanted to turn around and walk right back out. The place was humming, and she could barely hear over the music, but before she could get out of the bar, Charlie had her arm in a death grip, pulling her back into the crowd.

“You came,” Charlie exclaimed as though she was shocked. Honestly, she didn’t leave much wiggle room in denying her invitation.

“Well, you didn’t leave me much choice,” complained. After she said the words, she was hoping that Charlie wouldn’t be able to hear her, but from the look on her face, she had.

“You’re here, so you should just let loose and have some fun,” Charlie insisted. From the way she was slurring her words, Charlie had let loose a while ago and was having a blast.

“Um, how many of those have you had?” asked, nodding to the drink in Charlie’s hand.

“Oh, we have to get you one of these,” she insisted. She pointed to her husband Ink, who was standing in the corner by the bar with a few of the guys, and he nodded back at her. “That’s our signal that Mama needs more jiggle juice,” she said, laughing at herself. had to admit that Charlie was amusing when she was drunk. She had only seen her friend this way a handful of times, and she forgot how much fun she was.

“I’m only staying for a bit,” she lied. “I don’t think that I’m up for a full night of this.” She pointed to the very loud band and looked back at Charlie.

“Oh, don’t be so stuffy,” Charlie chided. “You need a night out,” she insisted. “And there are lots of guys here tonight. I’m betting that you’ll find one and forget all about leaving in no time.” Charlie was wrong about that. The last thing wanted to do was find a guy to spend time with—especially at the Road Reapers. If she was going to spend any time with a guy, it would be Spade, and that wasn’t happening.

Ink seemed to appear out of nowhere, handing her not one, but two drinks. “This is what Charlie is drinking, and they seem to be doing the trick,” he teased, winking at his wife.

“Keep that up, and you’re going to get lucky again,” Charlie slurred.

groaned and Ink chuckled. “Yeah, we’ll see,” he said. “You’re pretty drunk, honey and I bet that you’ll pass out before we even get out of the parking lot. I guess it’s a good thing that I brought my truck tonight and not my bike.”

“Hey,” Charlie said, as though that was her full defense. She started swaying to the music, forgetting what she was about to protest, and couldn’t help her giggle. Yeah, her friend was very amusing when she was drunk. Watching Charlie this way almost made coming out tonight worth it.

“I love this song,” Charlie swooned. “Dance with me,” she said to Ink, holding her arms wide for him. He caught her body before she practically fell backward and pulled her close.

“Sorry, ,” he shouted back over his shoulder. “I guess we’re dancing.” She giggled and shook her head at her friends. When she finally made her way back into the dating world, she hoped that she’d meet someone who treated her the way that Ink treated Charlie. There was no question how much he loved her, and no chance that he’d ever do wrong by her.

quickly downed first one, then the other drink, and put her empty cups on the table in the corner of the room. She had worked her way over to that spot, trying to stay out of the way. Apparently, the slow song that the band was playing was a lot of people’s favorite—hers included.

The drinks were strong—probably at Ink’s request, and she hadn’t realized how strong they were until about five minutes after she downed them. The room felt hazy and maybe that was from the amount of bodies out on the dance floor, but she was sure that it had more to do with the amount of vodka in the drinks.

“Shit,” she slurred to herself. decided that Charlie had a point—she was there so she should just let loose and have some fun. But she’d do that her way—alone, and not with some random guy that she didn’t want to go home with anyway.

swayed to the music, letting the beat of the base hum through her body. She closed her eyes and imagined herself six months from now. Would her self-imposed no men rule be lifted? Or would she still need time to heal from Eric’s betrayal? She honestly didn’t have a clue how she’d feel in six months. All she knew was that today, she didn’t think about Eric at all— well, except for now. In fact, the only man that she thought about practically all day long was Spade.

“Hey,” she heard him whisper from behind her. See, even now, she was imagining him whispering in her ear, just as she had every night since he got up from her chair and walked out of Ink’s shop. For some crazy reason, the big biker did it for her, and forgetting her time out from guys wasn’t going to be easy.

“Spade,” she practically moaned his name. It was as though he was really there with her, just like her dreams at night. She could feel his body pressed up against her from behind and his arms banded around her waist. “That feels good,” she whispered, and he tugged her close and swayed to the music with her.

They stood like that for what felt like an eternity, slowing moving to the music, and when it stopped and the room fell silent, she couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes and wake up from her dream. She didn’t want her time with Spade to end, just as it had every morning when her alarm went off and she’d have to start her day.

“Where’s your boyfriend, honey?” he whispered into her ear. Boyfriend, what boyfriend?

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” she breathed, leaning back into his hold. “Only you, Spade.”

“I see,” he breathed, kissing a path down her neck. He chuckled against her sensitive skin, and she panicked. She didn’t remember Spade ever asking her that in one of her dreams. Her eyes opened and looked down her body to find Slade’s big, tattooed arms around her middle. Shit, none of it was a dream. had been dancing with Spade, moaning his name, and telling him how good he felt pressed up against her body.

The band announced that they were taking a break, as she tried to free herself from Slade’s grip. “Let me go,” she insisted.

“After you answer my question, honey,” he said. He had asked her a question? She thought back through everything that happened and realized that Spade asked her where her boyfriend was. Yeah—her fake boyfriend and she had no clue where or even who he was, but she was going to have to come up with something quickly or tell Spade the truth that she was a big, fat liar.