FOUR

I will stand ready to help any biker who truly needs my help.

SINNER’S TRIBE CREED

Silence.

Cade shrugged on his cut and turned to face his brothers, seated around the table where they’d convened for an emergency executive board meeting this morning. Revealing the defiled tattoo on his back hadn’t been easy, but Dawn had treated the slashes that went through the symbol of his brotherhood last night with a quiet understanding that made this moment slightly more bearable.

“Jesus fucking Christ.” Zane, the Sinner VP, pounded his fist on the large oak table, carved with the same Sinner’s Tribe patch that the Brethren had butchered on Cade’s back. “Mad Dog is a dead man.”

Dax, official secretary and unofficial torturer, nodded in agreement, as did T-Rex, the junior patch member-at-large. Sparky, the road captain, joined in with a “hear hear.”

Cade didn’t bother looking over at Shaggy or Gunner. The senior patch member-at-large and the club’s sergeant-at-arms, like Zane, lived and breathed for the club, and this kind of dishonor screamed for Sinner justice. No questions. No mercy. No regrets.

“I say we adjourn the meeting and go now.” A war vet and Sinner since before Jagger’s time, Shaggy had earned his road name because of his full beard and unkempt long hair, now almost fully gray, that he claimed had never been trimmed in twenty years.

T-Rex snorted a laugh and gestured to the patch covering Shaggy’s left eye. “That’s ’cause you only got one eye and you can’t see in the dark when normal bikers do their killing.”

“I’ll kill you with both eyes closed and my dick buried in a sweet butt’s pussy, young pup.” Shaggy drew his weapon and placed it on the table.

“Enough.” Jagger folded his arms across his chest. An inch taller than Cade, and broader, dark where Cade was fair, he’d served with Cade in Afghanistan until a rocket propel left shrapnel near his heart. After being honorably discharged, he’d found a home with the Sinners, and when Cade had returned home, burdened by the crushing guilt of losing his squad in a desert ambush, Jagger sobered him up, straightened him out, and invited him in.

“I hear you, brothers. I feel Cade’s pain. This disrespect screams for justice, but Wolf called me this morning to apologize for Mad Dog, and he made me an offer that we need to seriously consider.” Jagger spoke with his usual implacable calm, and yet his sheer presence and power left no doubt he could enforce his will if anyone dared step out of line.

“We don’t want any fucking apologies. And we don’t want anything the damn Brethren have to offer except Mad Dog’s head on a plate and the bodies of his men lying on the street.” Gunner slammed his coffee cup on the worn, wooden table. With his head shaved military short, and his body thick with muscle, he was perfectly suited for the position of sergeant-at-arms, responsible for keeping order in the club.

“Hear him out.” Dax put a cautioning hand on Gunner’s shoulder. “It’s not a done deal. Whatever Wolf proposed will be subject to a vote.”

“I vote no.” Gunner held out his hand, thumb pointed down. “Done. Let’s get going.”

“Viper approached Wolf about a Brethren patch-over.” Jagger held Gunner in place with the fierceness of his scowl. “Wolf says the club is undecided, and he personally doesn’t think it is a good fit. The Brethren have an election coming up. Wolf made it clear he would be interested in patching over to the Sinners if he wins.”

Cade stood so abruptly his chair toppled over, banging against the worn wooden floor. “You can’t seriously be considering patching in those motherfucking pieces of slime. We kicked them out of Conundrum for a reason.”

“I’m with Cade,” Shaggy said. “We lost good men in the war with the Brethren all those years ago. Good friends of mine. There’ll be bad blood if we let them into the club.”

“There won’t be a club if we don’t expand our numbers.” Irritation laced Jagger’s tone. “The Jacks are actively recruiting supporters, and if we want to maintain our status as the dominant MC in Montana, and put the fucking Jacks in their place, we need to expand our membership. A solid midsized club like the Brethren could tip the balance either way.”

“The Jacks and Brethren together would be hard to beat,” T-Rex said. “The Brethren have their own network of support clubs. Not big ones, but enough that we would be spread thin if we had to defend against them and the Jacks.”

Jagger rubbed his brow, a sure sign he was conflicted about his proposal. “We need the bodies, but we don’t need them all. We can pick and choose. Right now these discussions are just between Wolf and me, and the executive boards. The way I see it, as long as Wolf is tied up in negotiations with me, he won’t be negotiating with Viper. And since the election is still a few weeks away, we have a chance to investigate his MC and make a decision about whether any of his brothers are worthy of the Sinner name. None of the men who beat on Cade will wear our patch, guaranteed. And Mad Dog—”

“Dead,” Shaggy said.

“Not yet.” Jagger rubbed his brow again. “Wolf had a condition. He knows the value of his club, and he knows the advantage the Brethren numbers will give us over the Jacks. Mad Dog is his nephew. He wants our word he won’t be touched.”

“Mad Dog is JC’s boy?” Zane let out a strangled groan. “He’ll have a vendetta against us for killing his dad.”

“Mad Dog doesn’t wear our patch.” Jagger firmed his voice. “Ever. Wolf knows that. But he wants us to spare his life. In exchange for our mercy, he’s offered us a shipment of AK-47s, just in from Korea, that he has stored in a warehouse up in Whitefish.”

There were a few angry murmurs around the table but Jagger’s gaze fixed on Cade. “This is your call, brother. Your justice. Your vengeance. If you don’t agree, we turn Wolf down and we go after Mad Dog and his men as soon as this meeting ends.”

Cade took a deep, calming breath as he stared at the picture above Zane’s head, a half-naked woman leaning over a Harley Fat Boy, not unlike almost every other picture nailed to the walls. The meeting room had once been a dining room, but the fancy fixtures and fittings had been removed, and after it was painted, it was decorated in true biker form.

And a true biker lived by the code “Club First.”

Although he burned to jump on his bike and hunt down Mad Dog and his men, Wolf’s proposal could secure the club’s future, and end the war against the Jacks that had already claimed too many Sinner lives. He had to protect his club at any cost.

“I’ll waive my claim against Mad Dog for the club. He’s still bound by the restriction on any Brethren coming into our town so it’s not like he can rub it in our faces. But we have to take some action to address the Brethren’s disrespect or everyone will think we’re weak. Since Mad Dog’s men will never wear our patch, I say we hunt them down and give them a taste of Sinner justice.”

“All vote.” Jagger raised his hand, and rest of the board members followed suit.

“No one will forget the sacrifice you’ve made for the club,” Jagger said quietly. “And you have my word, as soon as the Brethren are patched into our club, and subject to Sinner law, Mad Dog will die.”

Cade swallowed past the lump in his throat. This is why he had joined the Sinners. Honor. Brotherhood. Loyalty. Men who would stand up for him. Men who always had his back.

His club.

His tribe.

“If the Jacks approached the Brethren, then they must be feeling vulnerable,” Cade said. “We should take advantage of the opportunity. If we weaken them enough while you’re negotiating terms with Wolf, we won’t even need the Brethren support.”

Jagger nodded his agreement. “We should hit them hard, and hit them now.”

“We’ll need more weapons to launch an offensive.” Gunner shoved a piece of paper across the table. “I got a lead on an arms shipment coming across the border heading for that Mafia boss in Helena, Franco Rizzoli. He hired the Jacks to run protection. If we ambush them, we’ll get fifty thousand dollars worth of weapons and take out some Jacks as a bonus.”

Jagger leaned back in his chair and folded his arms behind his head. A man content. He hadn’t always been that way, but Arianne had smoothed out his edges. Cade had edges, too, but he was pretty damn sure no woman could smooth them out. Some wounds just couldn’t be healed.

“Gunner can organize the Rizzoli ambush.” Jagger pointed to each man as he assigned tasks. “Cade and Zane, you go up to Whitefish with the prospect and get Wolf’s AKs. Demon Spawn is our support club in the region. They can help out.”

“Sounds like we’re in for some good times.” Tall and dark, his skin lightly tanned, and his hair just brushing his shoulders, Zane stroked the goatee he had grown during his mysterious disappearance at the end of last summer. Although Cade wasn’t a fan of facial hair, Zane’s goatee had caused such a stir among the club’s women, Cade had almost considered growing one himself.

Cade snorted a laugh. “I didn’t know ‘good time’ was in your vocabulary.”

Reserved and fiercely private, Zane was the least fun guy Cade had ever known. He rarely drank or socialized at club functions, and Cade could count on one hand the number of times he’d seen Zane with a woman.

“That’s ’cause my idea of a good time doesn’t involve hot tubs, booze, and multiple women in my bed,” Zane shot back.

Cade couldn’t refute that statement, but right now there was only one woman he wanted in his bed, and he’d put her in danger. “What about Dawn? Mad Dog threatened to drag her back to his clubhouse. He’s using their kids as leverage.”

Zane gave a derisory snort. “She’s a civilian. If she needs help, she can call the police.”

“Zane’s right,” Jagger said. “We can’t get involved in a marital dispute between a Brethren member and his old lady, especially if we’re negotiating terms of a patch-over. If you want to get involved in their affairs, you’ll have to do it without your cut.”

Without my cut? Cade barely processed the rest of Jagger’s words. He hadn’t gone anywhere without his colors since the day he first put them on. Hell, sometimes he slept in them. Jagger might as well ask him to cut off his right arm. His colors were everything—a symbol of a new life where he wasn’t burdened by the past, where the only person he had to look out for was himself, and where his brothers had his back. His cut was his creed: freedom, loyalty, and brotherhood.

Life.

*   *   *

“One thousand dollars?” Dawn stared at Shelly-Ann aghast. “I don’t have one thousand dollars just sitting around the house. I’ve given you the money for this week. I have the girls for six hours.”

Maia and Tia clung to her, their fingers digging through her clothes. Tia’s soft whimpers sliced through a heart. Her girls weren’t stupid. They knew exactly what was going on and it twisted her heart that they understood blackmail at the tender age of seven.

“You got three hours with them unless you come up with the cash,” Shelly-Ann rasped from the window of her vehicle. She looked worse than she sounded today, her face pale and sallow, dark circles under her eyes, and her nose rimmed red. “You found a way to give me what I wanted before; you’ll do it again.”

Dawn pushed the girls behind her and out of sight of Shelly-Ann. “I have nothing left and you know it. I’m working three jobs. I sold my car. I’m renting my house. I buy nothing. I go nowhere. What do you need more money for?”

Shelly-Ann pressed her lips together. “Kids are expensive.”

“Not that expensive.” Taking a chance, Dawn leaned in and lowered her voice. “You’re in some kind of trouble, aren’t you? Don’t involve my girls, Shelly-Ann. They’re just children. It isn’t fair.”

“Life isn’t fucking fair,” Shelly-Ann spat out. “Thought you’d already figured that one out.”

“I’ll give you what I’ve got.” Dawn pulled out her purse and gave Shelly-Ann her tip money and pay from Banks Bar. “There’s six hundred there. I can ask my landlord for a month grace on my rent. But I can’t do it again next week.”

“Then you won’t see your kids next week.” Shelly-Ann snatched the money and stuffed it in her purse. “You’re lucky I got a massage and hair appointment booked for this afternoon. You got your six hours but you owe me. Next week I won’t let them outta the car till you make it good.”

Dawn sagged against a tree as soon as Shelly-Ann’s vehicle peeled out of the parking lot. For the longest time, Shelly-Ann had been content with the money Dawn and Jimmy paid her, but in the last few weeks her demands had increased, and Dawn had nothing left to give. What was going on? Between her and Jimmy, they had to be giving Shelly-Ann at least five thousand dollars a month.

“Mom. There’s a biker staring at us?” Maia tugged on Dawn’s arm and pointed across the playground to a lone biker in the parking lot. From this distance, Dawn couldn’t see the patch on his cut, but he didn’t look like any of the members of the Devil’s Brethren she knew. Still, given what Cade had said about Jimmy coming for her, she couldn’t take any chances.

“Let’s go to the concession stand.” Feigning calm, she slowed the swing and helped Tia down. She tried to make the most of every minute of her Sunday access visits with the girls. Now that the weather was warmer, they could venture outside again, and the park was their favorite place to play.

“He’s getting off his bike.” Tia’s voice dropped to a whisper and she plastered herself against Dawn’s side.

“What if it’s Jimmy?” Maia’s small face paled. “What if he wants to hurt us or take us away?”

“I won’t let that happen.” She gave Tia a squeeze and reached for Maia’s hand, wondering if they believed her. After all, she had effectively let Jimmy take them away last year, albeit through the courts, and she hadn’t been able to stop him from hitting Tia …

Stop. She slammed a mental wall down, blocking out all the feelings of despair, frustration, and self-doubt that had plagued her since she lost custody of the girls. That road led right back to Jimmy and a loss of the self-worth that she had rebuilt, brick by brick, over the three years since she left him. No one could have foreseen how he would use the courts against her, or that he had the wherewithal to fabricate evidence and pay off a judge. If she couldn’t stay strong and believe in herself, she would never get them back.

The biker drew closer, eating up the distance between them with easy strides of his long, lean legs. Tia whimpered. Shy and withdrawn as a result of Jimmy’s abuse, Tia was afraid of strangers and reluctant to talk outside her close circle of friends and family. The school counselor had assured Dawn that over time, in a stable and loving environment, Tia would eventually recover. And in the two happy years they’d had together after leaving Jimmy, Tia had come out of her shell.

And then it all came crashing down.

Her heart kicked up a notch as the biker drew closer, passing through the shade of the massive chestnut trees that separated the playground from the playing fields, but damned if she would run and show the children her fear. There were at least thirty other caregivers in the playground, along with their children. Even Jimmy wouldn’t try anything in front of so many witnesses.

“Mom. He’s waving.” Always the brave one, Maia took a step forward. She hadn’t emerged from their time with Jimmy unscathed—she still suffered from nightmares—but she had been the most successful at putting the bad times behind her. Dawn admired her resilience and optimism. No matter how bad things got, Maia could always make her smile.

“I know him.” Maia’s voice rose in pitch. “That’s the biker who saved us on the street. The one who scared Jimmy away.”

Dawn studied the biker as he pulled the bandanna from his hair, revealing a head of slightly damp, golden curls. Her gaze traveled down over his broad shoulders to his toned pecs and the ripples of his abs beneath his tight black T-shirt. He bent slightly to the side, one hand against his ribs, almost as if he was … injured.

Cade.

Her heart rate slowed and she released the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Then her heart kicked up again, for an entirely different reason. “Yes, you’re right. He’s a … friend. He won’t hurt us.” The latter she said for Tia’s benefit, but her daughter was already behind her, face pressed against Dawn’s back as if she could make the biker disappear just by erasing the sight of him.

He stopped a few feet away, and Dawn tensed. “Cade. What are you doing here?”

“Checking up on you. I gotta go out of town, and I just wanted to make sure you were okay before I left.”

He glanced down at Maia, and then at Tia, still pressed against her side. “Hello, lovely ladies. I hope you haven’t run in front of any more trucks.”

“Did you catch Jimmy? Did he do that to your face?” Maia tilted her head to the side and studied Cade’s bruises. He looked even worse than he had when he’d stopped by Dawn’s apartment on Thursday night, the bruises now a greenish yellow and covering most of his face. He’d removed the bandages from his forehead and cheeks, and the cuts were dark and crusted. No doubt, they would leave scars. And yet they only added to his rugged charm.

“Unfortunately, he caught me first.” Cade bent down, grimacing in pain and dropped to one knee in front of her. “But I’m pretty damn sure he looks worse than me today. Which twin are you?”

“Maia. I do the talking. Sometimes I get in trouble for talking too much. Mrs. Walker made me stay in for recess because she gave me three warnings and I forgot. Tia’s the quiet one, but she’s smarter than me and does more thinking. She likes purple. I like pink.”

He gently lifted her hand and gave it a shake. “Nice to see you again, Maia-who-likes-pink. Musta been important stuff you were saying to forget to follow the rules.”

She nodded, her face grave. “It was.”

Cade leaned to the side, trying to catch Tia’s gaze. “And this must be Tia.”

Tia tightened her grip and turned her face away. Dawn patted the tiny hand on her stomach.

“It’s okay. Cade’s a good biker.”

“He’s still a biker,” Maia said, withdrawing her hand from Cade’s grasp. “And bikers are bad.”

“Maia…”

“It’s okay.” Cade pushed himself to his feet. “I’m guessing living with Jimmy wasn’t all flowers and sunshine.”

“There were flowers.” Maia’s gaze dropped and she toed the grass underfoot. “He bought flowers sometimes after he hit—”

“Maia.” Dawn’s cheeks heated and she bent down and lowered her voice. “We don’t talk about that. Especially not to people we don’t know. That time is gone. We live in the now.”

Maia’s bottom lip trembled. “I thought he’d feel better if he knew that Jimmy hurts everyone.”

“Not for fucking long,” Cade muttered.

“Cade!”

“He swore.” Maia gave him an assessing look. “Just like Jimmy. And he wears the same clothes as Jimmy. But he has a nice face. Jimmy has a mean face.”

Unabashed, Cade twisted his lips to the side. “I’m nothing like Jimmy. First, I’m much better looking. Second, I save the swearing for special occasions. And third, I’ll bet he never bought you ice cream.” He looked to Dawn for confirmation. “If that’s okay with your mom.”

“Bribery. Very nice.” Dawn laughed and sent the girls to the concession stand to choose their flavors, pushing all thoughts about Shelly-Ann to the back of her mind. “I thought you’d scare the girls away in your leathers and chains.”

He gave her a cocky grin and placed a hand on her lower back, guiding her along the path. “What can I say? I have a way with the ladies no matter how old they are.”

“You have a way of finding ladies, too. How did you know where we were?” His hand was warm against her back, and she tried to ignore the curious glances of the other parents in the park. As far as her neighbors knew, she was a conservative, hardworking single mom with shared custody of her kids and no connection to unsavory biker types who looked sinfully good in worn, low-rise jeans.

“Drove by the park on my way to your house and saw Jimmy’s sister dropping the girls off. Decided to make sure she wasn’t giving you a hard time.”

Warmth pooled in her belly, and for a moment she considered sharing her concerns about Shelly-Ann. But her business wasn’t his business, and it wasn’t like he could help. “We’re doing fine. Thanks for checking up on us. I’m glad to see you’re up and about.”

His fingers tightened around her waist, sending a delicious tingle up her spine. “That’s ’cause I had a good doctor. Although after seeing you in those little shorts, I had an ache that just wouldn’t go away.”

“Cade. Behave.” She jabbed him lightly with her elbow, and he laughed, his deep rumble reverberating through her body. Before Cade, her sexual experience had been limited to a few fumbles with inexperienced teenagers, and then Jimmy, for whom sex was a purely selfish event. But in the two nights she and Cade had been together, they’d done things she’d only fantasized about, and then some things she could never have imagined. Even now, her cheeks heated at the memories.

“I can’t behave around you.” His voice dropped, husky and low. “Last time we were together—”

“Was the last time we will be together.” Disconcerted by the intensity of her feelings, she pulled away. “I had a good time with you, but I’m not interested in getting involved. I have my hands full with work, the girls, and the custody fight.” She was good at building walls to protect herself. Even with him, she’d given her body but kept a lock on her heart.

At least, she thought she had, but when he leaned down and brushed his lips over hers, her betraying heart stuttered in her chest.

“You’re interested in getting involved with me,” he whispered. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have invited me to sleep in your bed. You think I’m hot.”

Dawn lifted an eyebrow. “Is this part of the seduction technique you use to lure sweet, sexy young things into your bed?”

He nuzzled her neck, feathering kisses along her jaw as one hand curved over her ass. She should push him away. Run. Hide. Pretend she didn’t enjoy having a badass biker whisper naughty words in her ear in the middle of the playground as he set her blood on fire. But she couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. Instead, she closed her eyes and went along for the ride, tilting her head to the side to give him better access.

“That’s my girl,” he murmured against her ear. “She’s sweet. She’s sexy. And she wants me in her bed, my hands on her body, my mouth between her—”

“Mom.”

Somewhere in the distance, someone was calling her name. This wasn’t a dream; it was real. And she’d almost made the same mistake with him again. She jerked back, her cheeks flushing at her uncharacteristic loss of control.

“I can’t believe you.” She shook off her lust-induced haze and pulled away. “We’re in the playground.”

A sly smile tugged at his lips. “Swings. Chains. Gives me so many ideas.”

“You’re filthy.” And she loved it. But she would never let him know.

“So are you, if I recall correctly.” He licked his lips and Dawn’s throat tightened. God, he looked like he wanted to do her right here. And if not for her girls, and the playground full of people, and the fact it was illegal, and it was the middle of the day, she might have agreed.

But she knew better than that. She’d walked away from him for a reason—and it had as much to do with the fact that he was an outlaw biker with a reputation for sleeping around, as with how easily she succumbed to his touch and how much it scared her. Yes, he was hot. And, apparently, good with kids. But she had a history of trusting the wrong people for the wrong reasons, and his world was not a place she wanted to be ever again.

They stopped beside the concession stand where Maia and Tia had made it to the front of the line. Maia turned to wave Dawn over, and a tall, bearded, giant of a man pushed past her, knocking her down on his way to the counter. Dawn ran over and picked a sobbing Maia off the ground.

“It wasn’t his turn.” Maia looked down and saw blood on her knees and her sob turned into a wail. Tia’s eyes widened and she clung to Maia’s hand.

“You’re right.” Her face flushed with indignation, Dawn leaned over the counter and caught the attention of the server. “These girls were next.”

“Not fucking waiting for kids who can’t make up their minds,” the man growled. “I just want a soda.”

“The back of the line is over there,” Dawn gestured behind her. “You can wait like everyone else. And on your way, you can apologize to my daughter. You knocked her down and she scraped her knees.”

“Fuckin’ bitch. Don’t tell me what to do.”

Dawn sucked in a breath and her vision sheeted red. A tiny niggle at the back of her mind warned her this was a fight she couldn’t win. But she’d done enough running away in her life. And this time, she had backup.

“You got this, Dawn?” Cade appeared at her elbow, his calm, steady presence spreading over her like a warm blanket.

She scowled at the man in front of her. “Yes, thanks. This gentleman was just heading to the back of the line.”

The giant looked back over his shoulder at the angry crowd, then he locked gazes with Cade. Electricity crackled between them. Cade growled, ever so softly, cold and menacing, dark and threatening. Dawn sensed rather than saw the shift in the balance of power.

“Didn’t want a damn soda, anyway.” The bully lowered his gaze and stepped out of line.

“Wait.” Dawn’s voice cracked through the shocked silence. “You owe my daughter an apology.”

“Fuck you.”

Wham. Cade shoved him up against the wall, with a strength and ferocity that made Dawn’s heart pound. He closed his hand around the bully’s throat and Dawn leaned right up in his face.

“Apology. Now.”

Eyes glittering with repressed anger, Cade loosened his hand enough for the man to speak.

“Sorry, kid.”

“Thank you.” Dawn took a step back and nodded at Cade, indicating he should release his grip. Cade lowered his hand and the man stumbled away to the murmured appreciation of the crowd.

“Thanks for having my back. Whenever anyone threatens my children, I just see red.”

“Pretty damn hot seeing you go all mama bear on his ass.” Cade chuckled and put his arm around her shoulders while the girls leaned over the counter to choose their ice cream. Although outwardly he appeared calm and relaxed, she could feel the blood pounding through his veins and the quiver of his muscles from unspent adrenaline. “Good thing we’re in public.”

“Pretty damn hot seeing you go all alpha wolf and slam his sorry ass against the wall,” she whispered. “Definitely a good thing we’re in public.”

Cade leaned down, and his voice rumbled in her ear. “We don’t have to be in public. We could go back to your place, and I’ll show you how to make an alpha wolf howl.”

“It will be a howl of frustration,” she said. “There is no being alone when you have two little girls who only see their mommy on Sunday.” And thank God for that because after Cade’s show of dominance, and with the adrenaline still streaming through her veins, she was ready to tear off his clothes at the first available opportunity.

For the next half an hour, Dawn and Cade took turns pushing Maia and Tia on the swings. Cade took Tia’s refusal to speak to him in stride, including her in their conversations even though she didn’t respond. Dawn hadn’t seen the girls as relaxed around a man as they were with Cade, and when he finally told them he had to leave, Maia didn’t hold back her disappointment.

“Do you have to go? You pushed Tia three times and you only pushed me twice.”

“Got work to do, Maia-who-wears-pink, but I’m glad I passed the swing test.”

Her mouth turned down and she squeezed Tia’s hand. “Will you come back? You make Mom smile.”

Cade didn’t miss a beat. “Your mom has a beautiful smile. Just like her girls.”

Dawn fought back a sigh. So charming. And yet why would he be interested in a woman with a fucked-up life, two kids, three jobs, fifteen extra pounds, and baggage in the form of a psychopathic outlaw biker ex who had already tried to kill him? Maybe it was just his way of getting back at Jimmy, or maybe he wanted another notch in his belt.

Cade leaned down and brushed his lips over her cheek before mounting his bike. “See you later, beautiful.”

Or maybe not.