Toby is worried. I can tell. His leg muscles are tense bands of steel under my fingertips. The second he received the phone call from Flint, his entire demeanor changed. He went from happy and carefree to badass biker mode.

Both sides of Toby are equally attractive to me. Every woman wants to be loved. Every woman also needs to feel protected.

Toby is capable of doing both easily.

After dropping Sadie off and picking up my things, we drive to the clubhouse where the crowd of reporters are still hanging around the gate. From the number of vehicles parked along the road and on the grass, there appear to be more here today than last night.

If that was even possible.

“If you don’t want to be seen with me, duck down in the seat,” Toby says when we approach the clubhouse. “I can toss the blanket over you until we get through the gates.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to be seen with you?” I ask curiously.

“I don’t know. I thought you might not want the other press to see you in my truck this morning.”

“Who cares? They will only be jealous and wish they were me. After all, I’m getting dibs on the first interview with the Steel Infidels.”

Toby has a valid point. If people suspect I’m sleeping with him, my interview will come across as biased or unprofessional. For the time being, it might be better to keep the private part of our relationship to ourselves. Or at least secret from the press and the public.

Up ahead, two of the Steel Infidels crew members are working the gate. I recognize Rocco from last night. The other guy I’ve never seen before.

“Who is the other man?” I ask.

“Donny, Rocco’s brother,” he says. “They own the auto repair shop where I work.”

It hasn’t occurred to me to ask Toby about his job. I assumed he worked full-time for the Steel Infidels doing something. I’m not sure what. Maybe I didn’t want to know for certain. I’m relieved to hear that he has a regular job to go to every day instead of just hanging around the clubhouse.

Or doing whatever it is motorcycle clubs do.

The crowd of reporters try to film us as we drive quickly through the gate. I suspect my face will be on their news stations tonight. That’s okay. All it will do is drum up publicity for my interview. When we’re inside, Toby drives his truck around the clubhouse so we can go in the back door.

“Where’s Flint?” he yells out to a tall, leggy blonde girl leaning against the pool table in the main room.

She straightens up and flips her long hair over her shoulders. “Upstairs,” she says. “With Sam.”

Her round, baby blue eyes cut over to me. The extra-long fake eyelashes she’s wearing make her look like a china doll. “You’re Maggie Turner from Channel 5,” she says, her eyes growing bigger. “I’m so excited to meet you! I heard you were here yesterday. Will you be hanging around long? I would love to talk to you about how to become a newscaster. Or a weather girl. I’ve always wanted to be one of those. How hard could it be, right? I’m sure they tell them what to say.”

She motions with her hands, pretending there is a map of the United States behind her. “Today we have storms in the South,” she says, waving her hands in the general direction of where she thinks Georgia should be. “While the Midwest states are clear and cold.” She holds out her hands. “What do you think about my nails? Should they be shorter if I’m on air? I bet with your connections you could get me an interview at Channel 5.”

I blink at her in surprise. The girl seems nice enough, and I hate to be the one to squash a person’s dreams. On the other hand, she’s seriously delusional.

“I’m not connected enough to do that,” I say. “If you’ll give me your email address, I’ll send you the name of the station’s personnel director.”

No way am I giving this girl my cell phone number where she can text me ten times a day asking about a job.

The blonde claps her hands. “Thank you!” she squeals. “Maybe we can work together. That would be so much fun!”

No, not happening.

Toby raises his eyebrows at me in amusement. “Maggie doesn’t have time for this today,” he says. “We’re going upstairs. Can you bring some soft drinks and snacks up for us?”

The blonde smiles at him. “Sure. I’ll get them now.”

Something about the way he casually orders her around rubs me the wrong way. I’m not sure exactly what’s going on with the Sweet Butts. I need to find out.

“All you have to do is snap your fingers and they fetch you snacks?” I grumble on the way up the stairs.

“You should be thankful I saved you,” he replies without answering the question directly. “Unless you want Chloe as your new intern.”

“No, I don’t. Not that my college intern is much better.”

On the way to the clubhouse, Toby had let me borrow his phone. The first thing I did was check in with my intern. Her excuses were the same as yesterday. That she couldn’t find any new information on the Steel Infidels because it was as if the Internet had been scrubbed clean. Since Toby was listening in, I didn’t ask her too many questions. It would be pointless anyway.

From what I’ve seen so far, the members of the motorcycle club lead a normal, somewhat boring life in Bardsville.

Up until yesterday.

Flint and Sam are both waiting for us upstairs in Jesse’s office. They’re standing by the window watching the crowd of reporters. “Hey Maggie,” they call out with a nod when we walk into the room. “Toby.”

“Maggie, I’m sorry to have to bring your interview to an abrupt close,” Flint says. “There’s been an unexpected change in our plans…”

The ringing of his phone cuts him off mid-sentence.

“What did you find out, Jesse?” he asks into the phone. “You got us all a place?” He listens for a moment then nods over at Sam, who dashes out the door. “Are you sure it’s secure enough for the women and kids? Okay, we’ll be on the road in ten. I’ll tell everyone to be at the meet-up spot in thirty minutes with whoever they’re bringing.”

He hits the off button and turns to Toby.

“Time to move out,” he says. “We can’t stay here with the media circus growing bigger every day. It’s already getting old. They followed Kendra into the veterinary clinic this morning, and Lila spotted them hanging around in the woods outside Sam’s house with telescopic lens trying to take photos of the twins.”

“Where are we headed?” Toby asks.

Flint glances over at me.

“We can trust Maggie,” Toby says firmly, taking my hand in his. “She’s with me now.”

“She’s also media,” Flint reminds him. “No offense, Maggie. I’m sure you understand our need for secrecy. The last thing we need is for the press to beat us to where we’re going. We can’t afford a leak. At this point, we need to think about the girls and the kids.”

I nod. “Sure, nothing personal.”

“You’re more than welcome to ride along if you don’t mind not knowing the location until we get there,” Flint adds.

“I would love to,” I say with a hopeful look at Toby.

“Do you remember where we spent the July 4^th weekend last year?” Flint asks him.

“Sure,” Toby replies.

“Jesse talked to the owner of the motorcycle lodge. He said he had enough empty rooms for all of us. We can stay there until the smoke clears. The women and kids are coming too. It will be a big family weekend getaway. We can leave all this behind for a couple of days. Nobody will be able to find us if we’re discreet.”

“Sounds like a good plan.” Toby turns to me. “You need to go back to Atlanta and get some rest,” he says. “You can’t come with us.”

He holds up a hand to stop me when I start to argue with him.

“Besides, shouldn’t you go back and check on your cameraman?” he asks. “I’m sure he’d love to see your pretty face. It might cheer him up.”

“He’s going to be fine,” I say.

I’m filled with disappointment. Didn’t he just tell Flint that I was with him?

“Why can’t I go with you?” I ask defiantly. “I want to go.”

Toby sighs and rubs a tired hand through his black hair. “You won’t enjoy it, that’s why. Why are you arguing about this? Bike rides in February are rough. You can’t come.”

“I’ll leave you two to work this out,” Flint says, heading toward the door. “I need to let Kendra know so she can pack up Josh and the SUV. They’re riding up with Lila, Trish, and the rest of the kids.”

“I wouldn’t want to be in the car with them for the whole trip,” Toby says, making a face. “What a nightmare that would be. Do they sing children’s songs?”

“I thought you loved singing in the car,” I remind him.

“Not that kind of singing,” he replies. “I’m more of a AC/DC kind of man. Not Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. About five minutes of that and I would be ready to jump out the window.”

“Oh yeah, they sing,” Flint says with a laugh. “Lucky for me, there’s a Steel Infidels rule that says the VP is required to ride with the crew. We’re wasting time. You two make up your mind what you’re doing. Either way, be at the meet-up point in thirty minutes.”

“We’ll be there,” I say firmly.

“No we won’t be there,” Toby adds. “I’ll be there.”

Flint shakes his head at us and goes out the door without another word.

* * *

Thirty minutes later and we’re sitting on Toby’s bike at the meet-up point waiting for the rest of the MC to arrive. After ten minutes of arguing back and forth and me adamantly standing my ground, Toby finally gave in. I knew time was on my side, and all I had to do was wear him down.

We quickly drove back to his house, where we called Sadie’s dog sitter to come pick her up, then packed a duffel bag of clothes before hopping on his bike to meet the crew.

He cuts off the bike engine while we wait on the side of the road and then rubs my leg vigorously with his hand.

“Are you cold?” he asks. “Maybe I should get an extra sweatshirt out for you. The temperature will drop at least another ten to fifteen degrees before we get there. Maybe more when we get to the top of the mountains. The weather forecast said there is snow coming in tonight.”

“No, I’m fine,” I say. “Your jacket will keep me warm enough. Thank you for lending it to me.” I snuggle deeper into the soft leather.

“My jacket looks good on you,” he says, glancing back over his shoulder at me. “Black is your color. Maybe you’re a ‘ride or die’ girl after all.”

“I don’t know about that,” I say with a laugh. “Seeing as this is my first official bike ride. Talk to me about it again tomorrow. After straddling a bike for hours, I might not be able to walk in the morning.”

“That’s not the only thing you’ll be straddling tonight,” he says with a chuckle. “And if you can’t walk tomorrow, trust me, it won’t be because of the bike ride.”

“Promises, promises,” I tease back. “Let’s see you put your money where your mouth is, big fella.” I slide my hand lower and hover below his belt buckle. His rock-hard erection throbs underneath his jeans.

“Instead of talking about where I’m going to put my money, let’s talk instead about where I’m going to put my mouth,” he says, his voice growing huskier. “All this dirty talk is making me want to turn around and take you back to the house. We could sneak in a quickie and catch up to the MC down the road. It would mean driving a little faster. Okay, if I’m being totally honest, a helluva lot faster. We could definitely do it though. What do you think? Are you up for it? I’m game if you are. Live dangerously with me, Maggie.”

“How much faster are we talking about if we take this little sexy detour?” I ask.

“No more than an extra fifteen miles an hour,” he replies. “Or twenty tops,” he adds after a moment of thinking.

“On a motorcycle?” I ask incredulously. “No way. As enticing as your offers sounds, I also want to live to see another day.”

“Then you need to remove your hand, sweetheart,” he says. “Because when you’re stroking my dick the way you are right now, sinking down between your pretty legs is all I can think about.” He covers my hand with his and moves it away from his crotch. “I hear the MC coming down the road now anyway. You missed a golden opportunity.”

“I’ll make it up to you later. I promise.”

“Don’t think I won’t hold you to that.”

Several bikers pull in to a quick stop beside us, causing the loose gravel on the side of the road to fly up. It’s hard to know who everyone is underneath their helmets. One of them throws up a hand at me and I recognize Sam’s devilish eyes.

I count them quickly. Nine bikers including Toby. A few of the crew members have girls riding behind them. Matching long blonde hair flows out below two of the helmets. I see that Chloe, the future weather girl, made the cut for the bike ride.

Joy, joy.

She waves excitedly when she spots me. I hesitantly wave back.

“Who are we waiting on?” Toby yells out to Sam.

“Rocco and Donny stayed behind to stand guard at the clubhouse,” Sam yells back. “Someone has to be there. Here Jesse comes now.” He points to the road behind us where a lone biker has crested the hill.

“Hang on,” Toby says over his shoulder. “Time to ride.”

Jesse doesn’t stop or slow down when he reaches us. Instead he twirls his hand in the air as he passes by, and the bikers all fall in line behind him. There’s a set order in which the crew rides based on hierarchy in the club. Toby has hinted to me that the MC has many unspoken rules, least of which is who rides where.

I take a deep breath and hang on.

I hope this bike ride isn’t a huge mistake.