Flame eBook

Could you love a man surrounded by danger?



Gigi Gallo’s childhood was filled with the roar of a motorcycle and the hum of a tattoo gun. Fresh out of college, she’s about to start working at her family’s tattoo studio — Inked. But when she showed up the first day, she never expected to run into someone tall, dark, and totally sexy from her not-so-innocent past.



Pike Moore is a bossy biker with a cocky attitude and an even bigger ego. He came to Inked to start over. New town. New job. New roots. None of that included coming face-to-face with the hot chick who spent a week in his bed before she vanished without a trace.



But when Pike’s dark family history catches up with him, can he stop Gigi from being caught in the crossfire?

• Protective Alpha Heroes
• Troubled Past
• Found Family
• Women in Peril
• Redemption
• Opposites Attract
• Family Saga

“He wants you.” Tamara, my cousin, elbows me in the ribs while she gawks at a guy across the bar. “And he’s hot.”

I glance in his direction and look away quickly when our eyes meet.

Holy crap.

The guy isn’t just hot, he’s Freaking Fine with capital Fs.

But the last thing I need is more complication in my life, especially after what happened with Erik.

I tear my gaze away from him and roll my eyes at my cousin. “I’m not here for a guy, Tam. I’m here to be with my girls, not some…”

“Hot biker?” She finishes my statement and shoots me a smug grin.

“He’s not that hot.” I throw the thin red straw from my drink in her direction, hoping she’ll change the subject.

I’m completely lying, of course.

He’s not a pretty boy…although he is handsome. He’s a little rough around the edges and probably couldn’t pull off the corporate look to save his life, but that doesn’t make him any less attractive. There’s no way a guy like him rides his bike on the weekends and sits in a cubicle all day to pay the bills.

He lives the life.
He’s all in.

Deep in the biker world. This isn’t a getaway weekend to cut loose for a few days. Nope. This life is part of his core.

On a hotness scale of one to ten, he’s totally a twenty. But he’s a little scary too.

I’ve known plenty of bikers in my short twenty years walking this earth. Growing up with a biker dad who had biker friends, I’ve been around guys like the hottie my entire life. And since I worked at my family’s tattoo shop Inked during my summers, my circle of bikers grew, but they were all good guys…at least in their own messed-up ways.

Mallory lifts the glass in front of her lips and stares over the rim at me. “You know how to get over a jerk like Erik?”

I shake my head. “Don’t say it,” I warn her.

She slams back her drink and winces before the liquid has even slid down her throat. “Tequila is no joke,” she grits out and coughs into her hand until tears form in her eyes.

“I told you,” Mary, her identical twin sister, says and shakes her head in judgment. “You never listen.”

“I’m fine. Anyway, what was I saying?” Mallory pauses as she slides the empty glass across the table. “Ah. I was telling you how to get over Erik.” Her lips tip up. “Get lost in someone else.”

Ugh.

That’s totally Mallory, but not Mary. They are like night and day. One’s a wild child, and the other is a bookworm.

Tamara nudges another drink in my direction. “Maybe you just need a little liquid courage to go talk to Flame.”

I raise an eyebrow, glaring at my not-so-innocent cousin. “Flame?”

“Well…” She glances in his direction again and shrugs. “He’s hot, so Flame just works. Like, he’s so hot, you’ll get burned.” She laughs, finding herself funny even if no one else at the table does.

I tap my finger against the table, staring at her in disbelief. “You know what happens when I drink, Tamara?”

Her smug smirk grows bigger. “I do, and I’m counting on it.” She waggles her eyebrows.

Oh boy.

Tamara is supposed to be my voice of reason on this trip. We lied to our parents about spring break. We told them we were staying on campus to catch up on homework and to study for final exams. They would have a fit if they knew we were in Daytona, especially during Bike Week.

I tip my head back, letting the liquid slide to the back of my mouth before it makes its way down my throat. My eyes tear up immediately.

The two shots I’ve already downed along with the beer I’ve been nursing are starting to work their magic. Between Mallory’s annoying words, the hot guy across the bar, and the alcohol running through my veins, I’m ready itching to move.

I curl my fingers around the glass, and I know I’m going to regret everything about tonight when I open my eyes tomorrow. But right now, I don’t care.

I’m over the conversation, and I’m totally over Mallory.

“Shut up, Mal. I’ve been around men like him my entire life. I didn’t grow up like you, in a mansion surrounded by overprivileged jerks. A hot biker guy like that doesn’t scare me.”

“Put up or shut up, sweetie.” Mallory grins, thinking she’s proved her point because she’s always the unpredictable one in the group, while Mary and I play everything safe.

The chair scrapes against the floor and my knees wobble as I stand, but I can’t stop now. If I falter in any way, I’ll never hear the end of it from Mallory. The last thing I want to give her is more ammunition.

I lift the glass to my lips, pouring it down my throat and barely wincing this time because it’s already working its magic. “Don’t wait up for me tonight.”

Tamara’s hand is on my wrist before I have a chance to storm away in dramatic fashion. “Do you think this is smart?” She stares up at me with wide eyes. “Don’t listen to her, Gigi, and she’s trying to get under your skin.”

I pull my arm away, feeling surer than ever that this is, in fact, the right thing to do. I’m going to prove them all wrong.

I can be wild.
I can be reckless.

I know how to have fun, and I can most certainly talk to a hot biker guy without turning into a mumbling idiot.

“I’ll be fine, Tam. I won’t be back at the hotel room before the sun rises.”

“Gigi, don’t do this,” Tamara begs, reaching for my hand again and missing.

“One second.” I take another step backward.

Mallory’s grinning with her arms crossed while Tamara and Mary both look horrified.

I turn my back to them and make my way through the crowded bar. My eyes lock with the handsome stranger’s, and all rational thought and any reason to stop what’s about to happen go right out the window.

The way his lips curve at the side, exposing just a hint of white teeth renders me a little stupid, and I almost trip over my own two feet, but I somehow stay upright.

Reaching into my back pocket, I grab my phone and unlock the screen as I take the final steps to him.

“Hey.” I try to sound upbeat and excited instead of terrified. “What’s your number, handsome?” I lift my phone, moving my gaze from his face to the phone and back to him.

The corner of his mouth ticks, and I ready myself for a barrage of questions, but they don’t come. “Hey, darlin’,” he says smoothly. His voice is like velvet sliding over my skin, deep and gravelly.

I stand there, unable to move, staring at his mouth, surrounded by that killer beard.

“Name’s Pike.” He tips his head back, tilting it a little to the side as his gaze sweeps over me.

I open my mouth and close it because, for a moment, I can’t think of a thing to say. I can’t stop staring at him and all thoughts, rational or not, just seem to vanish. I don’t know how many seconds I stand like this, staring at him while he stares at me, but it’s more than a few and entirely too long.

“Gigi,” I finally mutter, unable to say more than a few syllables. I can’t seem to stop staring in his eyes. They’re beautiful, but I can’t tell if they’re blue or green in the dim lighting of the bar.

“Still want my number?” he asks, moving his hand across his face and partially covering his mouth to hide the smile he’s sporting.

I nod because somehow, I’m still mute.

Way to go, Gigi.

Pike gives me a chin lift, and I raise my phone before he rattles off a set of numbers…his numbers.

“Be right back.” I smile, or at least, I think I do. With all the alcohol, it could very well be a grimace.

Thankfully, Pike doesn’t ask me anything. He just dips his head, those full lips still quirked before I turn my back to him and hustle away as quickly as possible.

My eyes are wide as I stalk back toward the table where Tamara, Mary, and Mallory are all sitting, staring at me in complete disbelief.

“Tam, take down his number. If I disappear, you know where to start.”

“Don’t do this,” she pleads and covers her face with her hands.

“Just take down his number.”

“Don’t listen to Mallory, Gigi,” Mary tells me, but I shake my head.

“You want his number or not?” I stare at my cousin, ignoring the other two. “This is happening, so you can either have my back or not, Tam.”

“If you disappear,” Tamara says as she fishes her phone out of her purse, “I might as well never go home, because my daddy and your daddy will never forgive me.”

I tap my foot. “Just open your contacts and type, Tam. I don’t need a lecture.”

She snaps her mouth shut and nods. Her fingers move fast as I read his number off the screen.

“His name is Pike.”

“Of course it is,” she mutters into her phone screen. “I still think—”

“Don’t,” I snap as I jam my phone into my jeans pocket while she stares at me with her mouth hanging open. “I’ll be fine. You have his name and number. He’s not going to hurt me. I mean, look at him.” I look over my shoulder, catching those beautiful eyes again.

“I’m looking, and he’s fine,” Mallory adds like any of us care about her opinion.

I swallow hard, suddenly feeling like I haven’t had a drop of liquid in my mouth for days. “Don’t wait up for me. I’ll see you when I see you.” I turn on my heel and head toward Pike.

“Gigi,” Tamara yells out, barely audible above the music and chatter of the people around me.

I don’t stop, though. I walk straight up to Pike, taking in his vintage T-shirt, torn jeans, road-worn black biker boots, spectacular beard, and sparkling eyes and say, “Wanna get out of here?”

He pulls the bottle back from his lips, eyes sweeping up my body before his lips curve again. “Thought you’d never ask.”

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