Page 4 of Spade
“Nope, and it took me a while to decide if I even wanted to stay in town or make a fresh start somewhere else,” Cynthia admitted.
“Why did you decide to stay here?” Ink asked.
“Because I ran into you and you offered me a job,” she said. “I decided to stay, but gave myself a few conditions.”
“Which are?” he asked.
“Well, the biggest one is that I wouldn’t date for one year and I still have another six months left, so now you know why I turned down Spade. I don’t trust myself to date right now. He seems like a nice guy, and yes, he is my type, but I need this time for me, you know?”
Ink nodded, “Thanks for telling me the truth, Cynthia,” he said. “And if you don’t want to date right now, I think that sounds like a good enough reason to turn Spade down. But it might be better if you just tell him what you told me because I know Spade and he won’t give up without a fight. You’re a challenge to him, and the guy seems to love a good challenge.”
“Shit,” Cynthia grumbled. “I’ll figure something out because if he keeps asking me out, I might just cave, and that is the last thing that I need right now.” She had a light bulb moment and jumped down from the chair. “If there was another guy in the picture, would Spade back down?” she asked.
Ink shrugged, “I guess so, yeah,” he said. “But you just told me that you weren’t going to date anyone for six months.”
“Yeah, but I don’t actually have to go out with a real guy. I’ll just start a rumor that I’m seeing someone, and I’ll make sure to tell the right people, so it gets back to him. It’s a perfect plan, really.”
“Seriously, a fake boyfriend is the perfect plan?” he asked.
She smiled back at him and nodded. “It is,” she said, “you’ll see.” She just needed to get a few of the details sorted about how she and her fake boyfriend got together, but she actually believed that she could do this. A fake boyfriend would get Spade off her tail and would give her the time she needed for herself. What could go wrong besides everything?
Spade
Spade walked into the Road Reapers, feeling like a complete jerk for the way that he acted around Cynthia. He had over a week to replay their entire conversation over and over, and the more that he did that, the worse he felt. He let his temper get the best of him when she flat-out turned down his dinner offer. She didn’t even consider his proposal—just told him no, and that plain pissed him off. There was no way that he’d be able to show his face around Ink’s shop again—at least not when Cynthia was there.
He sat down at the bar and nodded to his club’s Prez, Mace. “You look like shit,” Mace said. “When was the last time you slept?” Honestly, he couldn’t remember how many hours it had been since he slept more than twenty minutes. Work was kicking his ass, and until the case he was working on was closed, he was going to have to forgo sleep.
“No clue,” he grumbled. “I had a day off about a week ago, and tried to get my sleeve worked on,” he mumbled.
“Tried to,” Mace said, “couldn't Ink fit you in?” he asked.
“He fit me in, but then, I asked to see his co-worker, Cynthia. “Mace laughed and Spade shot him a look. “You know her?” he asked.
“Actually, she did some work for me a few weeks back. She seems nice,” Mace insisted.
“Sure, unless you ask her out,” Spade grumbled.
Mace laughed again and slapped Spade on the shoulder. “I’m pretty sure that Brooke would have a problem with me asking Cynthia out, man. My wife is pretty possessive.”
“Well, I made the mistake of asking her out, and she flat-out told me no. She didn’t hesitate at all, and there was no thinking about it—just no.” Spade downed half his beer and sat back on the barstool.
“Did she give you any reason as to why she won’t go out with you?” Mace asked.
“Yeah, she said that she doesn’t date clients, so I got up out of her chair, and told her that I’d be using Ink from down on, not that I plan on going back to his shop any time soon. I just can’t face her again, you know?”
Mace shook his head, “You obviously like the woman, so why not ask her out again? It’s not like you to just give up, Spade.” His Prez was right. He never gave up on something that he wanted without a fight, and Cynthia was something or in this case, someone who he wanted.
“I’ll think about it. Maybe I’ll ask again next time I see her,” he said. He wasn’t sure that he was being completely honest with his Prez or himself, but he’d at least think about it.
“I believe that you’re going to get your chance sooner than later,” Mace whispered, nodding to the back door. “She just walked in.” Spade turned to find Cynthia standing at the back entrance wearing dark jeans and a black tank top, and damn if she didn’t look good. His fucking heart felt like it was about to beat out of his chest, and he knew that talking to Cynthia nowwould be a mistake. He’d start speaking to her and never stop, and that seemed to be a giant turn-off to her last week. But he was being honest with her when he told her that she made him nervous—she did and now was no exception.
She spotted him and started walking across the barroom. “Shit,” he breathed.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Mace said, walking down to the other end of the bar. His Prez was an asshole for leaving him on his own, but there was nothing that he could do now but actually talk to Cynthia and hopefully, not get diarrhea of the mouth this time.
“Hey,” he said as she sat down on the barstool next to him. He wasn’t sure if he should ask her how she had been or just sit there and drink his beer. To say that he felt awkward was an understatement, and from the look on her face, she felt the same way.
“Oh, hi,” she said, smiling over at him. “Did you ever get another appointment with Ink to finish your tat?” She was making small talk, and for that, he was grateful.
