Six weeks later…

Kady let the hot water from the shower stream down her entire body as she ran her hands through her hair and basked in the heat.

For a desert morning, it had been unnaturally chilly, and as she had rose and began her morning routine, she had shivered as she waited for the water to heat, leading her to crank it up even higher.

“Monday mornings,” she sighed as she rinsed the last bit of conditioner from her hair and turned off the tap. “Oh, how I love them.”

She chuckled to herself as she wrapped herself up in a big fluffy towel and began to wrap her hair in a turban. It was only seven am but she had already been awake for an hour and she knew she had a lot of ground to cover before she headed out the front door and began her hectic week.

She dressed quickly and smoothed on some concealer and blush, making her skin look dewy and clean. She always loved the feeling of fresh make-up, and as she carried her coffee and her vanity bag down the stairs with her she knew she was going to enjoy spending the next twenty minutes perfecting her look whil she munched on some granola and worked on her accounts. 

The kitchen was dark with the blinds down, and when she opened them, the sunlight started to filter its way in and open her up to the day. She sipped her coffee, which was already lukewarm, and flipped through an old newspaper before she settled down at her table and opened her laptop.

She was always leaving things until the last minute, and her accounts were no different.

“When will you learn…” she scolded herself as she opened the spreadsheets and cringed at all the numbers and stats that were swimming in front of her.

She looked up at the clock.

Seven-thirty.

She didn’t have to open up the salon until nine so she had at least an hour to lose herself in her work and try and make some headway so she wouldn’t have to waste another whole night on them as she had been doing for the past few days.

“Today, you are going to finish these and get them filed,” she told herself sternly. “No questions asked. No buts about it.”

She found herself looking up at the clock again and knew it was going to be one of those mornings. But at least she was her own boss. She always had that to be thankful for.

She walked down Main Street with her bag slung over her shoulder and a spring in her step. It was already shaping up to be another beautiful day in Slate Springs and Kady had never been more proud or grateful for her little town. She could still remember the moment she realized she had been born into a little slice of heaven, and the feeling of warmth she experienced every time it touched her was addictive.

Kady had never had the urge to flee her hometown, like so many of the girls she had grown up with. Instead, she had always known there was opportunity right there on her doorstep and she had taken advantage of all the town had to offer. She had started her own beauty business from home when she was nineteen, and it was pure luck that by the time she had turned twenty-two a few of the spaces on Main Street had become available as some of the other members of the town had passed away or retired.

Kady had been ecstatic when she had secured her space right in the middle of the busiest road in Slate Springs. She had set up shop and rented the store from the local bike gang, The Forsaken Riders, and she had never looked back. And she was even luckier that, in a bid to increase enterprise and keep the town thriving, the bikers had given her a wicked deal on the rent. No sky high fees for her, just honest and reasonable rates. It really had been a dream come true. 

She ducked into the coffee house and ordered her usual latte before she headed back out into the sunshine and walked across the street to her salon. She still couldn’t help but smile each and every time she saw it, and now that she had just had a bit of a spruce up and a revamp, her little store really did look better than ever.

The sign above the door was a set of big, luscious red lips and the interior was pure decadence and luxe. She slipped the key into the lock and opened the door and as she stepped inside, the familiar floral scent of roses and spice hit her and flooded her nostrils.

“Mmm,” she smiled as she reached down and adjusted her new display and selection of scented candles. “I’ll never get enough of that.”

She flipped on the lights and rested her bag down on the reception desk before she went around to all the mirrors and turned on their own lights individually. It was early but she liked to get the right vibe set in the place straight away or it only led her to feeling unproductive.

She sat down at her desk and pulled her laptop out of her bag. Her accounts were almost done, but she didn’t want them hanging over her all day, so as she sipped her coffee, she continued to chip away at them, and then she checked her diary to see what appointments she had scheduled for the rest of the day.

She had four women booked in over the course of the day, two in the morning and two in the afternoon, and she could generally rely on at least three walk-ins, so she had to prepare herself for a busy one.

She got to her feet and went to get her board out of the store room and then she went out to the front and placed it proudly on the sidewalk.

“Morning, Kady,” one of the old ladies from across the street called to her and Kady smiled and waved in return.

“Idyllic,” she grinned as she walked back inside.

And she knew she was lucky.

At the moment, life was pretty damned good. 

By the time the day was done, she was exhausted. Kady leaned back in the chair as she put her feet up on the desk and kicked off her high court pumps. They clattered to the floor and she yawned as she held her arms out and stretched.

“What a day,” she sighed as she ran her hands through her hair and looked at the aftermath that was still hanging over the salon.

The sinks were wet and there were piles of used towels in the bins. The place reeked of nail varnish remover and she could see several spillages on the floor next to the counters where she did the ladies’ nails. She got slowly to her feet and started to tidy her way around, and when she finally threw the last dirty towel into her laundry bag to take home, she smiled with a sigh.

She really wouldn’t change it for the world. For all it was hard work, she loved being in charge of her own life, and she had established something fun and necessary in their small town. Before Kady had come along and opened the salon on Main Street, the only beauticians had been the girls who had gone door to door. Now, Kady was giving them something different. She was providing them with an experience and for pretty much exactly the same price. She had found a niche in a town that had primarily been dominated by men and their needs and she had exploited it. And she was doing more than reaping the rewards financially, her soul was being enhanced too.

She clicked off all the lights around each of the mirrors and checked the diary for the following day. She only had two appointments but they were longer ones, and one of them was with her good friend, Ashley. The girls hadn’t had chance to catch up in months and it was going to be good to have an in-depth chat and see how each other was doing.

Kady walked toward the front door of the salon and pulled it open before she stepped out into the late afternoon sun. It had been a hot day and she welcomed the breeze that was rustling its way through the trees as she locked up the store and started to walk back down Main Street.

Every time she did, she wondered if it would be the day she would bump into him again. Since their wild night at The Bleeding Bullet, and Kady waking up to find him still there with her, Flash seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth.

He had been nothing but a gentleman and she had screwed it up. And now, she couldn’t help but think of him every time she was out and about in town. But she had yet to see him. And even though it could slowly drive her mad, she knew she would still keep looking.

She rounded a corner and suddenly, as if by magic, she saw a familiar truck parked on the opposite side of the street. And she waited just around the side of the building, trying to gauge if she knew who was inside.

Sure enough, the first person that Kady saw was Breaker. One of the town’s toughest outlaws and her friend Ashley’s boyfriend. She knew that he and Flash were good friends, and so she loitered some more, holding her breath and wondering if he would be there with him.

Since her night with Flash, it hadn’t just been him that she hadn’t seen around town, it had pretty much been any of the bikers. She hadn’t felt their presence anywhere, which was highly unusual. The streets had been quiet all day long and the nights hadn’t been as wild as she had known them. Main Street was quiet and from what she had heard from various women who had come into the salon, the other side of town had been dead too.

Something was happening but no one seemed to know what.

It kind of made Kady uneasy. It may have had nothing to do with her, but she didn’t know how it could affect her business if the bikers were in trouble. And that was the impression she was starting to get from the gossip that was slowly working its way around town.

She stood there in a daze, looking at the truck but not really taking in what was happening around her when suddenly she heard a set of heavy footsteps behind her and she felt her heart hit the floor.

She knew those steps.

Flash.

She spun around and came face to face with the man she had crushed on forever, had finally won, and then had rejected like the idiot she was.

“Kady,” he said.

His eyes fell onto hers and held her there, and her stomach felt as if it were about to flip.

The last time she had seen him he had been walking out of her bedroom in the early morning after a night of passion. She felt her face burn bright red and the tips of her ears begin to tingle. She was wild with embarrassment, but she didn’t want to show it.

He looked so goddam good. Better than she remembered. And even though she didn’t know him very well, she knew she wanted him just as much in that moment as she always had.

Their night between her sheets had not gotten it out of her system. That much she now knew for sure.

“Flash,” she smiled.

He looked even more tan than he had when she last saw him, and as they stared into each other’s eyes, fragments of their time together came flooding back to her in a hot burst of memory.

She remembered his tongue against hers. The way he had pinned her down on the bed. She remembered the feel of him, the way he had nibbled her neck and kissed her so hard it took her breath away. She remembered what it felt like to be wanted, and to want.

She knew she was blushing and she swept her hair over her shoulder before she could bring herself to look into his eyes again.

“How’ve you been?” he asked her.

She could still sense there was some hurt there. She had turned him down after they had shared a wonderful night together, but what he didn’t know was that she had regretted it ever since.

“I’m good,” she smiled as she took a step closer to him. “What about you? I feel like I haven’t seen you around town for ages.”

“I’ve been away,” he said. “Work stuff.”

And she saw him motion toward the truck that Breaker was waiting in.

“Oh,” she smiled and clutched her bag tightly.

“Good to see you,” he smiled as he walked past her and touched her tenderly on the arm.

She turned and watched him leave and she wanted to shout after him but she knew she couldn’t. He was a biker and he wasn’t going to chase her. She’d had her chance and blew it.

As she walked home, she wanted to bury her head in her hands and scream, but she kept moving and held her head high. He’d looked so good. So, so good. It had reminded her of the first time she had ever seen him and she had felt that pull. It was as if she was finally experiencing desire for the first time in her life, and when she had zoned in on him, all other men in the world ceased to exist.

That had been months and months ago… And now they’d had their drunken night together and Kady had gone and sabotaged a potential future.

She was such a moron.

She moped home and slinked inside before she flopped down on the couch and sighed. Maybe it was impossible to truly have it all. She could have a beautiful home and an amazing career, but she couldn’t have both of those and a boyfriend. Life just didn’t seem to work like that. However unfair it may be.

She picked up the remote and flicked on the news.

Headlines flashed before her eyes and she scanned them before she slammed off the TV and got to her feet. She could tell it was going to be a long night. One that was going to wind her up and pull at the inner workings of her mind.

She had thought about Flash and how he had appeared. And now she was going to be haunted by visions of him walking toward her, looking as sexy and menacing as ever.

And she wanted to scream and bang her head against the wall.

“Why were you so cold with him?” she said to herself as she looked at her reflection in the hallway mirror. “Do you really have such a problem letting someone be good to you?”

And then she laughed, because she knew the answer was yes.

Kady had lost her mom when she had been young and had spent the majority of her life looking after herself and never relying on anyone for anything. It was one of the reasons she was so savvy when it came to business, but it was also one of the main reasons why she found it so hard to let her guard down and just give herself over to another person.

She had tried once, and it had ended disastrously.

Her ex-boyfriend had been controlling and pushy, and when it had come to trying to mesh their lives together it had gotten so complicated and fraught that, in the end, Kady had run a mile.

She just hadn’t been ready for that kind of commitment, and after spending so many years of just having to look after herself, she didn’t want to have to give up everything to make someone else happy. Especially, when she wasn’t even sure she loved them.

Since then, she had lived the life of a single girl. And she had enjoyed her independence. In fact, she had reveled in it. But that was until she met Flash. He would come into the salon once a month to collect her rent, or she would pop into the biker bar to hand it over. She had almost exclusively dealt with him and Breaker when it came to her affairs with the salon, and so she’d had a few conversations with him and a few innocent flirtatious moments.

But then that night had happened…

That hot, intense, drink fueled night that she could only remember snippets of, but nonetheless had made her heart race ever since. The night where she had finally been honest with herself and with him, and told him she had a crush on him.

They had gone home together. They had gone back to her place and they had spent the whole night together exploring each other’s bodies.

Just thinking about it made the heat creep up her neck.

It had been so hot and so raw, it was almost too much to think about; she had to keep herself under control.

She fanned her face and walked to the kitchen and opened up the refrigerator. It was a pretty depressing display inside and she was alight with hope now that she had seen Flash again. It was as if her soul was suddenly feeling playful, and it was leading her out of the house, encouraging her to go exploring and not waste her time indoors. After all, he wasn’t going to fall into her lap if she stayed cooped up in her front room, was he?

She knew it was a long shot, but it was one she was willing to take.

She grabbed her purse and keys before heading back toward the door. She was going out.