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“ W here is your boyfriend, honey?” he asked again. He knew that she wasn’t there with anyone. had watched her walk into the bar alone, and when Ink gave her two drinks, he knew that was because she hadn’t come with any guy. No biker would allow another guy to bring his woman a drink. It was a code that they lived by—protecting their women, and that included getting them their drinks to make sure that it wasn’t tampered with, not that Ink would ever do that to Cynthia.

He watched her down two drinks, one after the other, and was sure that the alcohol would hit her sooner than later. It didn’t take long before she was swaying to the music and that’s when decided to take his chance with her—again.

“Um,” she squeaked, “he couldn’t make it.” Yeah, she was totally lying. She had just told him that she didn’t have a boyfriend, but once being dragged back to reality, she suddenly did again. That was more than a little fishy to .

“You just said that you didn’t have a boyfriend a few minutes ago, and now, you have one again?” asked. He shouldn’t push her. She wasn’t his, but the thought of her lying to him made him a bit crazy.

“I’m a little bit drunk,” she defended. “I didn’t realize what I was saying.”

“Which time?” he asked.

“What do you mean by that?” she questioned. She knew exactly what he was asking, judging by the way that she stared him down.

“Let’s start with the first time when you told me that you don’t have a boyfriend,” he said.

“That was a lie,” she insisted. “Again, I’m a little drunk.” Judging from the way that she was slurring her words, she was a lot more drunk than just a little bit, but they’d get to that next.

“Are you sure that the second part wasn’t the lie, honey?” he asked.

“Why are you treating me like this, ? You have no right to stand there and call me a liar,” she insisted.

“Hey, is everything okay here?” Ink asked, cutting in. the last thing he needed right now was one of his brothers interfering in getting the truth from sexy little Cynthia.

“Everything is fine,” insisted.

“It is not,” Cynthia spat. “He’s calling me a liar and I’m sick of it.” Ink shot a look and he shrugged, even pasting on his best smile.

“We’re just having a bit of fun. Cynthia and I got off on the wrong foot, and I was just asking her where her boyfriend is,” he admitted.

Ink turned to stare down Cynthia, and for a split second, wondered if he might spill the beans about her not having a boyfriend, but Ink didn’t. “Speaking of getting sick,” he said, changing the subject. “My wife is puking up her guts in the ladies’ room and I need to get her home. She’s become quite the lightweight since having the baby.”

“Oh, well, tell her that I hope she feels better,” Cynthia said.

“Did you drive here, tonight?” Ink asked her. His friend was already two steps ahead of him. That was going to be and Cynthia’s next argument because there was no way that he’d let her drive home tonight.

“I did, and I’m fine,” she slurred. Ink nodded to , and he followed him out of Cynthia’s earshot.

“Can you run her home tonight? I’d do it, but the longer we’re in my truck, the more chance Charlie will puke in it, and I just had it detailed.”

chuckled, “Yeah, I’ll get her home safely,” he said. “Is her boyfriend going to have a problem with me running her home?” he asked. Yeah, he was trying to shake down Ink for answers, but his friend didn’t look ready to give up Cynthia’s lie.

“Um, I really don’t know the guy,” Ink said. “I need to check on Charlie. Thanks, for helping me out with Cynthia,” he said. nodded and watched his friend walk back to where the bathrooms were, and when Charlie came out, looking a whole lot worse for ware, they left through the back door.

Cynthia started past him, and he grabbed her arm. “Where are you heading?” he asked.

“What’s with all the questions?” she asked. “I mean, if I tell you where I’m going, you’ll just call me a liar anyway, .” God, he loved the way she said his name. When he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, she moaned out his name, and damn if that didn’t make him hard. Every night, he dreamt about her moaning out his name that way and when morning came, he was fucking disappointed that she wasn’t next to him in his bed. Hell, he was disappointed that she wasn’t on top of him in his fucking bed.

“You’re a mean drunk,” accused.

“That’s not fair of you to say since you don’t really know me, do you ?” she asked. “And if you must know, I’m going to the bar to get another drink. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” She didn’t wait for him to comply, simply tried to walk past him, and when she ran into his body, he banded his arms around her again to keep her from falling.

“You don’t need another drink, honey,” he insisted. “You need a ride home and some sleep.”

“You can’t tell me what I need and don’t need ,” she spat, struggling to break free from his hold. The more she wiggled around, the more his unruly cock seemed to like it. A boner wasn’t what he needed right now. He needed to get her out of Road Reapers before any of the guys gave him shit about making her go with him against her will.

“I made Ink a promise that I’d see you home, and I plan on keeping my word to him. So, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Which is it going to be, honey?”

“First,” she said, pointing her bony little finger against his chest, “I don’t need you, Ink, or any other man telling me what to do.”

“Except your boyfriend, right?” he asked.

She took a step back from him and looked mad enough to slap him. “What happens between me and my boyfriend isn’t your business, .” He had a feeling that nothing happened between her and her boyfriend because he was sure that she didn’t have one.

“Fair enough,” he drawled. “How about you let me run you home, and then you can call your boyfriend to come over to babysit you?” he asked.

“I don’t need a fucking babysitter,” she shouted. Pretty little Cynthia was garnering too much unwanted attention from the other members of the Road Reapers, and that might not bode well for him.

“So, we’re going to do this the hard way,” he breathed to himself. He could tell that she heard him from the little gasp that escaped her parted lips. hoisted her over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold while she kicked and screamed for him to put her down.

He looked around the clubroom and smiled, “The little woman has had a bit too much to drink, and doesn’t want the party to end.” He swatted her ass for show, and she yelped, screaming at him louder while calling him every name in the book.

He walked past the smiling men as they cheered him on while he carried her out of the bar. The night air hit him as he pushed his way out to the parking lot, through the back door. He wasn’t going to put Cynthia down until he reached his truck, knowing that if he did, she’d run.

quickly unlocked his truck and sat her in the passenger’s seat. “I hate you,” she spat. From the way that she looked at him, he believed her too.

“I’m sorry that you feel that way, honey. Because I’m crazy about you,” he said, slamming the truck door shut between them, and locking it so that she couldn’t make a break for it. rounded the truck and unlocked his door, hoping into the driver’s seat. “Now, you want to tell me where you live, or do I need to call Ink to get your address?” he asked. “Either way, I’m taking you home, honey.”

“But my truck is right over there,” she said, pointing to her beat-up old truck. He had noticed it at the shop a few times—not that he was driving by daily to see if she was working. Okay, that was exactly what he was doing, but admitting that he was stalking her wasn’t something he’d share.

“I’m sure that Ink will run you over to your truck in the morning, and if he’s busy, I will,” he offered.

“You can’t possibly think that I’m going to let you anywhere near me in the morning, right?” she breathed. He had no clue what the morning might hold, but it couldn’t be worse than the fight she was currently giving him.

He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and quickly called Ink. “Yeah, I need her address,” he breathed into the phone. He didn’t bother to put the call on speaker, not wanting Cynthia to interrupt. “No, she’s not being cooperative. I’ll wait with her until her boyfriend gets there and then, I’ll leave, but I won’t leave her alone like this.” Ink rattled off her address to him, and he ended the call and tossed his phone onto the dash. Within seconds, Cynthia’s cell phone rang, and he had a pretty good idea who it was, judging from the curses that came out of Ink’s mouth when he said that he was waiting for Cynthia’s boyfriend to show up to take care of her.

“You going to get that?” he asked her.

Cynthia fumbled with her phone and looked at the screen to see who was calling her. “Um, no,” she said, letting the call go to voicemail. As soon as it stopped ringing, it started again, and she did the same thing, letting it go to voicemail. let her play her game for three more rounds until he pulled her cell from her hands and put the call on speaker. He didn’t need to look at the caller ID to know who was calling her.

“Hello, Ink,” he said.

“Shit, why are you answering Cynthia’s phone?” Ink growled.

“Because she refuses to answer it, and I got sick of listening to it ring ever few seconds. She’s here, so feel free to say what you need to tell her.” had a good feeling about what Ink was going to tell her, and judging by the scowl on her beautiful face, Cynthia knew what he was going to say too.

“You have to tell him,” Ink begged.

“There is nothing to tell,” she whispered as if still having a private conversation with Ink.

“He’s not going to drop you off and leave you at your place. I’m sure that you heard him say that he’s going to wait for your boyfriend to show up,” Ink said, repeating the conversation that he had just had with .

“I heard, but I’ll be fine. As I’ve already told , I don’t need a babysitter, and I won’t bother my boyfriend with all this. I’ve been drunk before,” she insisted.

“He’s right, honey,” said. “I won’t leave you alone like this, so either I stay, or you call your boyfriend to come over.”

He could hear Ink sigh on the other end of the call, and he knew that he was about to get the truth from one of them. “She doesn’t have a boyfriend,” Ink said.

Her gasp filled the cab of the truck. “How could you out me that way?” she shouted at her cell phone. “Some friend you are,” she spat. Cynthia grabbed the phone from and hung up on Ink before he could get a word in.

“He’s a liar,” she insisted.

“Are you really going to stick with your story, honey?” asked. “Listen,” he breathed, “you obviously don’t like me, or you wouldn’t have made up a lie about having a boyfriend. You didn’t have to do that. All you had to say was that I wasn’t your type, and I would have left you alone. I’m sorry that you felt the need to lie to me, honey.”

“Well, now you’re making me feel bad,” she whispered. “It’s not that I don’t like you or that you’re not my type,” she insisted.

“You don’t have to say that to make me feel better, Cynthia. I’ll be fine.” He wasn’t sure if that part was true or not. It did hurt his damn feelings that she lied to him, and worse that her lie was to keep him at arm's distance. But he would find a way to move on at some point, even if she was one of the most perfect women he’d met in a damn long time.