“Damn!” I mutter under my breath.

I’m not surprised at Maggie’s answer. She would have agreed to any terms for the chance to get the lowdown on the Steel Infidels.

Flint’s plan is fucked up.

I thought he was smarter than this. Just because I saved Maggie’s life doesn’t mean that she’s blind to my flaws. He’s hoping that if Maggie hangs around us for a couple of days, then she’ll see the Steel Infidels in a positive light and be willing to do an interview slanted our way.

Right now, everyone wants to see us as a bunch of fucking heroes.

Because that’s what they want to believe.

Even Maggie.

It’s a stupid plan and too quickly put together for it to make sense. We panicked when Leona brought Maggie inside the clubhouse, and this idiotic idea is the result.

First, Jesse was threatening everyone not to run their mouth off to the press, and now they want to work with Maggie.

I’m confused as hell.

All it would take is one tiny slipup for her to catch on to us. Sure, we’re a motorcycle club of family men with wives, children, and adoring aunts. We also have a huge gun-running and bootleg alcohol operation going.

Over the years, the Steel Infidels have been involved in numerous motorcycle gang shoot-outs with casualties on both sides.

We’re no fucking angels.

We’ve been under investigation by federal and state agencies for various suspected activities. Most of their suspicions were true. A few activities we were charged for, and others we walked away free from.

Even if the interview goes perfectly, as soon as she gets back out in the real world, Maggie is going to know that she’s been had.

I don’t want to be anywhere near her when that happens. Especially not if it screws with her precious career.

“Where do we start?” she asks again.

Flint waves a hand at me.

“You’ll need to stick with Toby,” he says. “If you want to call someone like your family or your boss, he’ll lend you one of our phones. If there’s anywhere you want to go, he’ll drive you.”

“Whoa! Wait a minute,” I interrupt. “We didn’t discuss this part of the arrangement. I’ve got work to do. Why is it my job to babysit her? Can’t one of the Sweet Butts do it?”

Flint raises his eyebrows at me. “Really? You want to trust the Sweet Butts with this? You’re the hero. The one the media wants to know all about. You have to be the one to do it. Don’t be an asshole about this.”

Maggie holds up a hand to interrupt us.

“What are Sweet Butts?” she asks. “I don’t know the lingo.”

“They’re the women that help out around the clubhouse with snacks, cleaning, that kind of thing,” Sam patiently explains. “Like a part-time job. They come around for a few hours a day.”

Maggie frowns. “How old are these girls?”

Do we know? I’ve certainly never asked or even thought about it.

“Not old,” Sam says, making a horrified face at the thought. “We don’t want any old women hanging around with wrinkles, saggy boobs, and all that other shit. That would be bad for the Steel Infidels image. Like we always say, ‘we can teach a pretty girl to sweep, but we can’t teach a good housekeeper to be pretty.’”

Flint shoots him a ‘shut the fuck up’ look.

“Except the Sweet Mamas,” Sam says, trying to backpedal quickly. “It’s perfectly okay if they’re old. They’ve been around a long time and can’t help it. It’s not their fault and we don’t hold it against them. We’re not prejudiced against old ladies.”

“Sam…” Flint says in a warning tone.

Sam’s eyes are wide and confused. As usual, he doesn’t know when to quit and just keeps rattling on. “We believe in equal opportunity for women,” he continues. “Of all ages. We are an equal opportunity employer, except we don’t pay them anything.”

Maggie rolls her eyes. “I wasn’t concerned with how old they are,” she says. “I was wondering how young they might be. Are they all over eighteen?”

Hell! I don’t know.

Some of the Sweet Butts seem awfully young. I always thought someone else was keeping track of that kind of shit. Maggie hasn’t been here an hour yet and she’s already tripping us up.

She looks over at Jesse for clarification.

“Yes, they’re all over eighteen,” he says. “In fact, none of them are younger than twenty-one. The Steel Infidels doesn’t need that kind of trouble, so we check IDs on everyone who hangs with us. There’s alcohol in the clubhouse, and we can’t have any underage drinking going on.”

“That’s good to know,” she says with relief.

It sure as hell is.

“We’re getting off track here,” I say. “Would someone tell me again why it’s my job to play chauffeur? What time length are we talking about anyway? Tonight? Tomorrow? How long is this little project going to take?”

“It’s up to Maggie,” Jesse says. “What’s your schedule? Would you be up to hanging around for a couple of days? Help us work through this mess?”

“Two days?” I say, outraged by the idea. “This is some bullshit. What am I supposed to do with her for two days? I have people to meet and places to go. And where is she spending the night? Here at the clubhouse?”

The clubhouse has a couple of tiny rooms with beds for the crew to bunk in when they’re drunk or hiding out from their Old Ladies. Maggie strikes me as the type of gal who doesn’t like to rough it. I doubt she would appreciate being stuck in a spare room that smells of stale beer and other unmentionable things that I prefer not to think about.

Maggie glares at me.

“I wish you would stop talking about me as if I’m not sitting here,” she says. “It’s condescending and annoying.”

“I’m condescending?” I say. “Like you’re not looking down your uppity nose at us even now? Thinking how you’re better and smarter? I see the way you look at us. Admit it. You’re slumming.”

“Where did that comment come from?” she asks. “The only thing I think is that you have a huge, ugly chip on your shoulder. What is your problem?”

My problem is that I want her.

The way she is now, with her green eyes angry and feisty. I had one taste of her sweet lips and now I’m craving more.

Much more.

I kissed her as a joke, to teach her a lesson about fucking with me. I don’t like people who play games and knew she was trying to con me. What I didn’t expect was how good it would feel to wrap her up in my arms.

One taste, one touch, and she had me hard and throbbing.

Hell, sex is all I can think about when she’s sitting this close. It doesn’t help matters that she’s even hotter when she’s mad, like now with her eyes shooting daggers at me.

I would be very surprised if she wasn’t a wild spitfire in bed. Willing to do and say things that could blow a man’s mind.

“Maggie can stay at your place,” Jesse says. “Your house is way out on a private dirt road. We can put up roadblocks if needed to keep the media from getting anywhere close.”

“No, sorry, that’s not going to work for me,” I say, shaking my head. “Sadie doesn’t like people staying over.”

It’s true.

Sadie loves everyone, but she doesn’t like it when people get physically close to me because she’s a jealous little shit of a dog.

Maggie’s body goes still beside me. The change isn’t enough for anyone else to notice. I can feel it though. Her breathing has gone slightly shallow. My sniper training taught me how to pick up on almost imperceptible changes in body movement.

“Who is Sadie?” she asks nonchalantly.

Is that a hint of jealousy I see flashing in her pretty eyes? More than a hint maybe?

Ha! Now this is getting interesting. I sit up straighter in my chair.

“My girl,” I reply with a straight face. “And she isn’t particularly fond of other women coming over to the house.”

“Oh,” she says, clearly caught off guard by my answer. “You have a girlfriend? I didn’t realize. That might be awkward then.”

Now she’s wondering why I kissed her this morning if I have a girlfriend staying in my house.

“I guess you could say that. I’m fond of her in my own way. She has these big, expressive brown eyes and when she looks at me, I know in my heart how much she loves me.” I touch my chest. “She never has to say a word. I just know it. Right in here. Have you ever had that feeling?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Sam struggling to keep a straight face. He’s enjoying my game. I hope he appreciates my technique. He was a master player until Lila caught him. One of the best there ever was.

Jesse stands up and walks over to gaze out the window.

“Sorry, Toby,” Jesse says over his shoulder. “She’s staying with you, and Sadie will just have to deal with it. Your house is the best location.”

I sigh heavily and lean back in my chair.

Game over.

Jesse is being quite the party-pooper today. At least he didn’t give my ruse about Sadie away.

“If you’re sure this Sadie person won’t mind,” Maggie says. “I’ll try not to be a bother. It will only be a couple of days.”

“I’ll deal with her,” I grumble while trying not to catch Sam’s eye. “She’ll get over it.” A few dog biscuits will do the trick. Or maybe a tiny piece of cheese.

Jesse leans over and picks up the binoculars on the table then moves back to the window. “This is odd,” he says. “Several of the reporters are getting in their cars and leaving. I wonder why they’re clearing out all of a sudden?”