“Is this what you drive?” she asks, turning those wide eyes up to me.“Yes,” I say, but then I add with a smirk, “but you’re not surprised, are you? Isn’t this what bad-boys do? Ride motorcycles and break hearts?”Her smile is weak. “I suppose so.”She turns away and moves around to unlock the car door and pop the hood.I shouldn’t have said that.”

“What now?”“You’ve never ridden a motorcycle before?”“Nope.”“What kind of bad-boy girlfriend are you?” I ask in mock dismay.“Evidently a terrible one.”I swing onto the bike and grab my only helmet. “Nah, you just haven’t met the right bad-boy.”

“You’ve never ridden a motorcycle before?”“Nope.”“What kind of bad-boy girlfriend are you?” I ask in mock dismay. “Evidently a terrible one.”I swing onto the bike and grab my only helmet. “Nah, you just haven’t met the right bad-boy.”

“When she smiles shyly at me, I exhale. And when her cheeks turn pink, I chuckle. I don’t know why that makes me so happy. But it does.”

“If you’re really uncomfortable with this, you don’t have to do it.”I hold my breath as I lean back to get her answer, hoping the brave one will win out.And she does.Slowly, Olivia shakes her head and wiggles a little closer to me on the bar. Her eyes are sparkling with determination. And challenge. And it makes me jerk in my jeans.I grin at her. “All right. You asked for it,”

“Why?' she whispered.He didn't need her to elaborate; he knew what she was asking. 'I don't want you to be afraid of dying. All those people have survuved cancer. You just watched hundreds of reasons to have hope drift off into the sky.”

“I nearly swallow my tongue when Cash pops up from behind the bar. “You must be Olivia.”“Holy mother of hell!” I say, grabbing my chest to still my racing heart.He laughs. “With a mouth like that, you’ll fit right in here.”If I weren’t so surprised, I’d probably take exception to that comment. Instead, I laugh.“You bring out the worst in me. What can I say?”