Beth counted to one hundred as she stared at her suitcase, trying to decide whether to pack or not, trying to stay calm and focused. When she’d stormed out of Rusty’s she’d gone back to Wilde’s and thrown herself on Briony’s mercy. There had been a space in the bunkhouse, but no jobs available. She was back to living on her savings, and they weren’t going to last long.

The film role had dissolved as soon as Grim had been out of action. With a broken nose, he couldn’t shoot anything for a couple of months and it turned out he wasn’t so big of a star that anyone would wait. It seemed like he’d sold them as a package. A package that was now out of cash and out of chances. Without him on her arm she was just another actress looking for a break. One with a black eye still fading.

With hardly any money, no job, and no permanent place to stay, giving up and flying back to the other side of the world seemed like a good option. She looked at the suitcase again and pictured her parent’s faces when she arrived home. But she couldn’t do it. She wasn’t ready. And she wasn’t a quitter.

She sat up straighter. Mae West wouldn’t have done it. She would have pulled up her boots and gotten back to work. Beth shook her head at herself. You almost lost sight of who you are, girl. Focusing on Grim, then Rusty, had been where her trouble started and ended. She wasn’t just another actress. She was Beth Ravens, and it was time she told the world.

There were other waitressing jobs. Other dumps to stay in. Her bank account had enough money for two more weeks to make something happen and this time it would be completely on her own. The image of Rusty spewing his vitriol over her came back to her and she shook her head to rid herself of the memory. She would make it alone. All on her own.

Beth looked around the room. This she had not missed. She’d settled in at Rusty’s more than she’d realized and being back here was a short, sharp kick in the reality-guts. But the thrill of auditioning, of walking through the film lots, and the glimmer of hope that this time, this time, she was going to get lucky—she would miss that if she gave it up too soon. Anything else? Okay. So, she was going to miss him. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through the missed calls. Twenty of them. All from Rusty. But Rusty McKinley was as big an ass as his brother. He might have gotten under her skin but only because he was toxic, like a virus.

That was the problem, that was why it was so hard to shake the memory of him, she decided. He’d gotten into her body when her immunity was low, when she was desperate and hopeful and was willing to see good in anyone. Not now. Now she was going to fight the memories of him and push them out. So what if the way he held her had made her feel whole? So what if what he did to her body was like riding a comet to the moon? So what if he told her how incredible she was and when she looked up into his deep dark eyes, she thought she saw that he believed it, that he believed in her 100 hundred percent? It was all an act. Him and his brother, they deserved each other and one day they’d both probably be big stars. But right now, after Rusty had admitted he only cared about her being in his life to finish his TV show, after he’d told her she couldn’t do it alone, she was going to shove any memory, any sensation or thought or flicker of Rusty McKinley out of her body. And she wasn’t going to let him back in.

WWMWD? The pinup star sure as heck wouldn’t spend her time moping about in a place like this. Her phone started buzzing in her hand. An unlisted number. As she answered, her heart fluttered as it always did that this would be the call.

“Hello?” Even in her own ears, her voice sounded overexcited, too keen.

“You win the lottery or something?”

“I’m sorry?”

“It’s Dave. You sounded like you just got handed a bunch of cash.”

So it wasn’t the call then. Beth scanned through a mental list of the Daves she knew before it clicked. The rasping voice, the legacy of thousands of cigarettes. “Rusty’s friend.”

“Indeed.” He coughed and Beth winced—this right here was why she’d never started smoking. “Heard you and Rusty had a fight.”

“Did you now?” She shrugged, even though he couldn’t see it. Then she gave up all pretense of being perky and slumped onto her bunk. “Yep.”

“I didn’t pick you for a quitter.”

“Seriously? Your friend is a douchebag.”

“Probably. But he’s also a fucking good guy. Don’t give up on him. Don’t give up on any of it.”

She waited for the punch line but there wasn’t one.

“What are you doing now?” he finally asked.

“I’ll have to leave if I don’t get work soon. I won’t have a choice.”

“You always have a choice.” His voice softened and she heard a note of wistfulness in it that made her doubt herself. “You’ve got something, girl. You shine in front of the camera and behind it. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If I had a job I’d give it to you.”

That warmed her heart and for a moment she saw the future Rusty had painted for her: starring in his show, sleeping in his bed, nuzzling in the wonderful embrace of his arms. But then she looked up at the bare timber walls and remembered she had two weeks to turn things around for herself. Her chances weren’t looking good. “Thanks.”

“Huh.” He paused and she wondered if that was it. If he’d just called to say good-bye. “Would you mind if I sent you something?”

“An email?”

“I’ve got your address.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay. I’m sending it in five. Sit tight.” And he hung up.

Beth looked at her phone. That was kind of weird. But then Dave was a weird guy; she didn’t know what else she’d expect of him.

She’d tucked her suitcase away when her phone pinged again. She checked the time. Exactly five minutes had passed. She’d give Dave that, he was true to his word. Sitting down again, she pulled up the email and clicked open the attachment. It was a video.

“Once, in a hot and distant land, there was a maiden with fiery hair and an even hotter heart.” It was Tiny. Reading from a script. Beth smiled. The giant man looked so uncomfortable reading the fairy tale on-camera that it made her want to hug him. But then it cut to Lucy. “The maiden came into this place and made everyone do a bunch of shit on-camera.” Lucy scowled to someone and waved a hand at him. “I know that’s not what it says on the script, but the script is lame. She’s smarter than that.”

Beth laughed.

Tiny shuffled back on-screen with another one of the boys from the workshop. The workshop that she could see now had a full tool rack and a couple of bikes up on benches again. That was good. Rusty had managed to get some customers back. “The maiden showed everyone how good they were at their jobs. And it made the people glad,” Tiny read.

“Yeah, glad,” said the guy next to him.

That gave Beth pause. She’d never thought shooting the pilot would affect the boys in Rusty’s workshop like that.

Then the camera panned and Grim walked into the frame. His nose was bruised, he still had the remnants of a black eye, and his arm was in a sling. She’d known about the broken nose when her film part slipped away, but no matter what he’d done to Rusty, she felt sorry to see him injured. It looked nasty.

“The maiden was fair of word and fair of heart and all who met her wished her well. None more than the fool she’d tried so hard to befriend. If he’d known what depths he would fall to, he would never have betrayed her trust.” So that was what this was, an apology. With a nod to her childhood love of fairy tales. She had to give the McKinley boys credit, it was original.

Grim continued. “The dark rider—that’s Rusty—knew from the moment he met her that she was special and when she refused his calls, it broke his heart into a thousand pieces.”

Rusty was going to get his brother to do his apologizing for him? Beth almost shut the video down but just then Lucy leapt back into the shot. “What this bunch of dicks are trying to say is that they miss you. And that Grim is a total fucktard.” A huge hand—Tiny’s—grabbed Lucy around the waist and pulled her out of the shot. Grim stood there with a goofy grin on his face and saluted the camera. “Friends and family gathered around and tried to put the pieces back together, but without the maiden, the dark rider was done for. He was an empty shell of a man. All who knew her thought that the maiden would relent, and that she would allow the dark rider back into her heart. But the only one who knew the truth of that was her.”

The video ended, cut to black. Beth waited. But that was it. No Rusty. No apology. Nothing. “Bastard.”

Then there was a knock at the door.

She opened it and saw Grim and Tiny standing there.

“What the hell? What are you doing here?”

“You want to come with us.”

“I don’t think I do.”

“Yeah, you do. Come on,” said Tiny and he gave her a smile so sweet she almost smiled back.

“Where are we going? It better not be to Rusty’s workshop because that bridge is well and truly burned,” she declared.

“Fair enough. But we’re not going to the workshop. Come.”

* * *

When they rolled up at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Beth was confused. “I don’t get it. Why are we here?”

“We heard you spent a bunch of time in hospitals when you were a kid,” said Tiny.

So this was about Rusty. Beth tried to be angry but being back at a hospital just made her sad for the child she’d once been and the children who were still in pain. She was supposed to be helping. She was supposed to have made a difference by now. “I don’t need this. He shouldn’t have shared that with anyone. It’s not who I am anymore,” she said.

“We know,” said Grim. “Come.”

Once they got out of the elevator and entered the ward, Beth suddenly came to a stop. “What’s going on?” A wall of leather-clad men turned as one and Rocco, the head of the Raising Hellfire MC walked toward her.

“Heard that life in a hospital was a bit boring. We figured we better spice it up a bit.”

Beth looked at a nurse, who was hovering nearby. “Is this okay? They’re not freaking the kids out or anything?”

The nurse beamed. “Have a look for yourself.”

Beth did. She went around the ward and found that the Hell’s boys had brought games and toys with them, but more than that, they brought the smell of the road and the outdoors. And on the faces of the kids who had been stuck in bed just like she had been, she saw the thrill of adventure alive in their eyes.

Grim was suddenly beside her. “Rusty’s idea.”

“Really?”

“Really. Not bad, huh?”

She spent over an hour there. Playing with kids, talking, watching the Hell’s boys tease and cajole the children and flirt with the nurses. Whatever sort of ass Rusty was, he wasn’t a heartless one. This was a good idea. She wished she’d thought of it.

Then visiting hours were over and Grim came over to her side. “Last surprise, come on.” He took her elbow and steered her out of the ward where the Hell’s boys were still extracting cackles of laughter from a group of kids.

In the parking lot, a doctor complete with a white coat was standing next to Tiny. The guy looked like he was about to die of fright. When he saw her approaching he smiled weakly. “Do you know what’s going on?”

She shook her head just before a motorbike roared into the parking lot and drove right up to them, closely followed by Dave’s clapped-out car. Dave was hanging out of the window with a camera in hand.

The bike stopped and the noise dropped away. She didn’t have to wait for the rider to pull off his helmet before she recognized the broad shoulders. The old thrill rushed through her and when his helmet was off, seeing his face split by a grin and his dark eyes focused entirely on her warmed her in a way she wished it didn’t. No, stop it. She pushed the sensation down and tucked it behind some ribs. “What is going on? This guy is scared half to death.”

Rusty turned to the doctor and slapped his calloused hand on the guy’s shoulder. “He doesn’t need to be.” He pointed at the bike. “Do you like what we’ve done with her?”

Beth dragged her eyes away from Rusty and looked at the bike. It was beautiful, even to her eyes. The doctor looked closer and took a step forward to run his hands over the chassis. “It looks like my bike. Only, well, it’s what I wish my bike looked like.”

Rusty put a hand inside his pocket and pulled out an envelope. He gave it to the doctor and let him read it, all the while casting glances at Beth. The doctor’s face brightened, then his mouth dropped open.

Something clicked and Beth looked over at Dave who was filming the whole thing. Then back to Rusty. “It’s his bike?”

Rusty nodded. “This is Clint. The head of pediatric orthopedics,” he said, nodding at the doctor.

“And you worked up his bike,” Beth said. The anger left her as she realized what he’d done. That he’d listened to everything she’d told him. That he knew her. Really knew her. “You did this for me?”

Rusty nodded. Taking her hand, he kissed it gently on the palm. Then, not letting it go, he turned to Clint. “This amazing woman had a tough start in life. But she’s a fighter, just like the kids you’ve got in there.” He pointed to the hospital. “We’ve asked around, and you’re the guy everyone turns to when they have to fix something impossible. You’re the guy who turns kids’ lives around.” Beth watched him as he spoke and the thrill and heat she’d pushed away started pulling at her ribs, trying to get out. No. Now is not the time to start feeling all the feels. Except it was. And her body didn’t care what she had to say about it. Rusty still held her hand, and the touch seeped into her skin until she felt full. Like if she let him go she might never be warm again.

“The bike is yours. As a thank-you from everyone in your community. And especially as a thank-you from me. Without guys like you, I wouldn’t have met a woman like Beth.” Rusty handed the keys and helmet over to the doctor. “Go on. Take her out for a spin.”

The doctor grinned and Beth could see him having to hold himself back from leaping onto the bike. Still, he didn’t screw around and, seated, he gave Rusty a big thumbs-up. Rusty pointed upstairs and Beth could see some small faces at the window. Clint waved and all the kids waved back before the doctor roared out of the parking lot.

When the noise of the bike had dwindled, Rusty turned to Beth, her hand still in his. Her body was full of feels, but her mind was still aching with the burn of his words. “Is this your idea of an apology?”

“It’s the start of it.”

“Well, you get points for effort, I guess.”

He beamed. “I’ll take them.”

The pause lingered and she tried to pull her hand free of his, but he wouldn’t let her.

“I wanted you to see that I’m sincere.” He got down on one knee.

“Wait? What? Get up.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to propose. Yet. I just need you to hear me. Really hear me. This is what my dad used to do for my mom. He’d get down on his knee and he’d tell her all the things he’d done wrong and he’d ask her forgiveness. And then she’d sit on his knee and he’d tell her that she was the most beautiful woman in the world.”

Beth bit her lip. It was a wonderful memory. One that any child would love to bear witness to. “I’m listening.”

“I’m no fairy-tale ending. I’m a man with a dark past and a shitty relationship with the only remaining family I’ve got left. My brother and I have been through some pretty fucked-up times. But we’re working through it. I forgave him. He fessed up to being a fuckwad.”

Beth smirked. She’d never get used to hearing Americans say fuckwad.

“And he promised to help me get you back.” He took a deep breath. “I know we didn’t meet in the most ordinary of circumstances. Fuck, it was pretty messed up actually. But it reminds me of something that I love about you: your passion, your commitment to your dreams, your true and honest heart. It breaks me into pieces to think that you don’t know that I believe in you. Especially when I know that you are every bit as talented as your folks told you you were.

“You deserve every success, Beth Ravens.” He put his hand inside his jacket pocket again and pulled out another set of papers. “I don’t know why I thought it would be a good idea to put everything in there; it’s bent to fuck. Sorry.”

Beth snorted. That was one way of putting it.

“Here.”

She took the paper from his outstretched hand. It was a contract. A contract for . . . “You got the TV show?”

He beamed. “We got it.”

“What if I don’t want it? What if I want to make it on my own? Totally on my own.”

His face fell. “Read it through.”

She scanned it quickly. “They want me be in it—the whole thing? And . . .” She read further. “I get a director’s credit on the pilot?”

“If you want it, you get to be an assistant producer on one of the episodes too. Dave put in a good word. Learn the ropes behind the camera too.”

This was her lifeline. The reason she could stay in LA and build her career back up. But she looked down at Rusty. “Is that why you want me to stay?” She pulled her hand out of his. “So you can make your precious TV show? I should have known. Men like you—”

“No.” He caught her hand again. “I want you to stay because it makes you happy. I want you to know that you did this. You made this TV show a reality. I want you to stay and give me another chance.

“I was caught up in the mess with my brother so deep I didn’t allow myself to register how jealous I was of him. How much that envy had gotten into my bones. You came into my life because you thought I was him. But I wanted you all for myself. I always have. Always will. And I have no doubt in my mind that you are going to do great things in this town. All on your own. I love you, Beth Ravens. I’m down on my knee, hoping that you will forgive me. Telling you that you are the most beautiful woman in the world.”

“And you look like a dick!”

Beth’s head shot up and she realized the parking lot of the hospital was suddenly full of bikers. She waited for Rusty to get up and dust himself off and pretend he was kidding. But he didn’t. He stayed down on his knee and looked up at her pleadingly. “I don’t care who sees me like this if it makes you listen. I know I’m not the man of your dreams. I’m not in the movies. Hell, not even close. But we have something special. And I’ll support you all the way. Be mine?”

The pause lengthened and Beth’s heart raced so hard she wondered if she would have a heart attack.

“Come on, love. Look at him. You’ve got him by the balls now.”

“Shut up, Martinez,” Rusty growled.

Finally, Beth let her doubt go. She looked up and saw Dave still rolling, and from behind the camera he gave her a thumbs-up.

That the man in front of her was willing to put it all out there, in front of a whole biker club, in front of a TV camera, was good enough. “Okay.”

“Okay you forgive me?”

She closed the distance between them and sat on his bent leg, throwing her arms around the cold leather of his jacket. “Okay I’ll be yours. You break any of those promises you just made and the Hell’s boys will have your nuts in a vise.” She looked over Rusty’s shoulder. “Right, boys?”

“Too right, hon,” one of them said.

“I love you,” Rusty said and Beth’s heart felt like it might burst. “You can’t give up. This show is going to take off, and then you’ll be able to do whatever you want. Direct, act, produce. You decide.”

Beth waved him off. “Say it again.”

“That you can act?”

“No. That you love me.”

His smile filled his face and Beth saw again the light that shone deep in the dark recesses of his eyes. It was true. She could see it. Putting a hand to his face, she pulled him into a deep kiss. Their lips met and the current that coursed through her sent her whole body to singing. When they came up for air he was still there, her dark rider. In faintly faded leather.

“And cut!” Dave called and Beth threw back her head and laughed.

Rusty gave him the finger and didn’t take his eyes off her. “I love you. More than anything. But can I get off the concrete now? I think my knee is going to disintegrate.”

“Oh, no,” she said, laughing. “I think you’re going to have to start adopting some Mae West mantras. And right now, she has the perfect one.” She smiled. “Too much of a good thing is wonderful.”