By
USA Today Bestselling Author
Chelle Bliss

Could you love a man surrounded by danger?

Gigi Gallo’s childhood was filled with the roar of a motorcycle and the hum of a tattoo gun. Fresh out of college, she’s about to start working at her family’s tattoo studio — Inked. But when she shows up the first day, she never expects to run into someone tall, dark, and totally sexy from her not-so-innocent past.

Pike Moore is a bossy biker with a cocky attitude and an even bigger ego. He came to Inked to start over. New town. New job. New roots. None of that included coming face-to-face with the hot chick who spent a week in his bed before she vanished without a trace.

But when Pike’s dark family history catches up with him, can he stop Gigi from being caught in the crossfire?

Gigi Gallo, her cousin Tamara and friends Mallory and Mary are out for a bit of excitement for Spring Break. They’re in Daytona and it’s bike week, somewhere they are definitely not supposed to be especially with fake ids and fathers who would probably kill them if they knew.

With lots of ribbing from Mallory, Gigi approaches a biker and leaves with him after going through a safety routine with Tamara. Pike is not a biker, he does however know many of them. He’s a tattoo artist and that only slightly gives Gigi pause. Anyone in that community would know her family name in an instant. Best to keep things anonymous.

Fifteen months later, Gigi has graduated and about to start her first day at Inked, the family-owned Tattoo parlor. She’s also going to move out of the family home. It’s time for her to be more independent from her family. Working together and living together is just too much.

Someone else is starting at Inked that day, Pike. He’d been trying to get a chair at Inked for years and finally he’s got one. He just didn’t expect to run into the mysterious Gigi there, or for her to be the boss’s daughter. To say Gigi is not pleased for him to be there is an understatement and on top of it all her father wants them to be friends. The start of which is them going to get food.

This is just one of many favorite scenes between these two.

Fuck. I love my dad, but come on. Why does he have to be so gung ho about the happy family vibe at the shop? What does it matter if I like Pike or not? I don’t remember my dad going to this much trouble when they hired Kat. But what I do remember is my aunts going bananas about a young little hottie working so close to their men.

But now my dad wants us to be all kumbaya, holding hands, and one big, happy freaking family. If he only knew…

He’d fucking kill me, and then he’d murder Pike.

“We going to talk about this?” Pike asks from the passenger seat of my pickup truck.

“I think we said everything we needed to say already.” I stare straight ahead, keeping my eyes on the road instead of on the hottie next to me.

Why the hell does he have to smell so good?

Pike shifts his body, but I don’t dare sneak a glance. I know his eyes are on me and nowhere else. I can feel the weight of his gaze like a warm blanket, covering my skin. “Darlin’,” he says with a hint of a Tennessee twang in his voice. “I have a lot more to say to you.”

“Well, you talk, and maybe I’ll listen while I drive.” I shrug one shoulder, wrapping my fingers tighter around the steering wheel. “It’s not like I have a choice, do I?”

“I like a captive audience,” he says sarcastically. “First, I didn’t follow you. I’m not a stalker.”

“That’s what you say, but how do I know?”

“Gigi, how the fuck would I even find you?”

I shrug again. “Anything’s possible.”

“You told me your first name. You also told me you were from Miami, and the last time I checked, we’re hundreds of miles away from there.”

“There are other ways.”

“What other ways?” He turns and his knee is almost touching mine, but I have nowhere to go. No way to fight back because he’s making all the sense in the world, and it’s aggravating as hell.

“I don’t know. My uncle’s a private investigator, and I’m sure he could’ve found me with very little to go on.”

Pike laughs, and I can see him shake his head out of the corner of my eye. “Listen, babe.”

I growl, which only makes Pike laugh. Ugh.

“You like darlin’ better?”

“I don’t like either. My name is Gigi or Giovanna,” I correct him.

“Giovanna is kind of an uppity name, which right about now, suits you.”

“I changed my mind.” I reach for the radio because I’d rather listen to anything other than his sexy as all get-out voice.

He tightens his fingers around my wrist, peeling my hand away from the buttons on the console. “I didn’t have anything to go on. I figured what we had was nice, but it wasn’t anything that would go the distance. The last thing I’d do is stalk you to try to get another piece of that fine ass.”

My gaze slides to his face for a moment before going back to the road. “Nice?” My voice is high, almost shrill. “What we had was nice?” I ask, grinding my teeth and ripping my hand from his grasp.

“Well, not really.” He pauses, and he’s lucky as hell I can’t lunge across the seat and wrap my hands around that beautiful neck of his. “It was fucking spectacular. The shit you did…”

“Stop.” I shake my head, grinding my teeth so hard, my jaw aches. “I was there. I don’t need a play-by-play.”

Pike laughs again, practically making my blood boil. “I’m just saying, I didn’t track you down. I figured you had your fill and were through. So why would I bother to track you down?” He pauses, but I don’t reply before he continues. “I don’t chase pussy. Never have. Never will. It’s not my style, darlin’.”

“Thanks for that little nugget of truth, Pike.”

“You’re acting like I did you wrong. You were the one who just up and left without even so much as a goodbye.”

I cringe when he says the last few words. I did do that to him. I told him I was running out for some coffee, and I didn’t look back before I got in my car, picked up the girls, and headed back to FSU.

But in all fairness, when I rolled over that morning and saw his phone with a text from some skank that read, “When you’re done with the little girl, I’ll be waiting for you,” that shit set me right off. I knew I was just another piece of ass to him in a long line of pussy waiting to take my place.

For half a second, I thought we had something more than a casual fling, but that text reminded me I was nothing more than another notch on his bedpost.

“I waited in that hotel room for three hours before I figured you weren’t coming back. I felt like a fuckin’ fool too.”

“I’m sorry.”

I didn’t take into account how he felt or if he’d even give a shit. I figured a clean break, no goodbye, no last kiss, and no more questions was the best way to end things with him.
Bliss, Chelle. Flame (Men of Inked: Heatwave Book 1) Kindle Locations(1060-1102). Bliss Ink. Kindle Edition.

While Gigi and Pike do eventually get together again, something else pops up that puts them both in danger.

Let’s just say Gigi’s family is not at all happy when the truth of how she and Pike know each other comes out.

We meet many interesting characters in this book both in the family and in the Disciples MC and I’m sure there is more to come.

Twists, turns, family drama plus romance and sizzle.

I’m going to have to go back and read the first Men of Inked Series that launched all this.

5 Contented Purrs for Chelle!

Chelle Bliss

Chelle Bliss has dedicated her life to education. She has been a teacher for over ten years and holds a Master of Education degree. Teaching has given her a creative outlet, but she yearned for something more. Writing has given her that, no longer about just creativity, it became a journey.

Chelle is an avid reader, consuming contemporary romance, dark reads, young adult, and all things erotica. Chelle wanted to create a book filled with characters that readers could relate to with real world problems and matching wallets.

Chelle loves to travel, and her favorite cities are New Orleans and Paris. She currently lives in Florida with her amazing boyfriend. He’s showed her the love and passion that she has poured onto the page.