Feeling aggressive, she pushed him back, tugging at his T-shirt. Ethan pulled back, breathing hard. ‘We should get a room.’
‘Mm, here’s good,’ she said.
‘Ah, no. The last thing we need is to get arrested.’ Ethan got out of the car. Alexis did the same and they hurried into the hotel. She couldn’t keep her hands off him. The clerk didn’t seem to notice as Ethan handed him a credit card. It was Las Vegas. He probably saw couples making out everyday. Thankfully, the room wasn’t too far. Ethan led the way, pulling her behind him. Once they were in the room, he pulled her back into his arms and instantly tried to free her of her blue jeans. He got them as far as her hips.
‘I want you,’ Alexis said.
‘I want you.’
‘I love you.’ She paused, pulling back. ‘Do you think that maybe, someday, you’ll feel the same?’
‘Neither of us is perfect, but we’re right for each other,’ he said. ‘I love you, too. Just don’t run away again.’
‘I promise.’ She tugged at his pants, unzipping them. Reaching down the front, she stroked his arousal. She giggled as he shut the door. Alexis pushed him down so he was sitting on a large chair near the door. She pushed her blue jeans off her hips, taking her underwear with it. Ethan closed his eyes, groaning. She straddled his legs, kissing him as her hands explored his chest. He reached between her thighs, pushing along her folds with his fingers, stroking her just how she liked it. Working her hips up and down, she kissed him, wiggling as he thrust two thick fingers up inside her.
It was too hard to come together with the arms of the chair blocking her legs. Ethan lifted her up and carted her the rest of the way to the bed. He flung her on her back and she instantly wrapped her legs around his waist. She dipped her fingers under the denim hanging on his hips and squeezed his butt. Lifting up on his arms, he entered her. Alexis arched, gasping at the wonderful feel of him inside her. He groaned loudly. ‘Oh, man, I love doing this.’
Alexis squirmed, urging him to move. They became frantic as they thrust, erasing the pain of the long day. Her leg hooked over his hip. He took her hard and deep in his passion. Alexis reached between her thighs, feeling his body enter hers as she pleasured herself.
‘Ethan,’ she gasped, climaxing hard. His moan of pleasure answered hers as he stiffened and released himself inside her.
Alexis relaxed. ‘I think moving in together is a really good idea.’
Ethan chuckled.
‘That way, we can do this whenever and however we want.’
‘Hey.’ He tried to look hurt but she saw through it easily. ‘I thought you were going to say because you love me and can’t live without me.’
‘That too.’ She kissed him, knowing there was no other life she’d rather live than the one she was living with him. ‘That too.’
17
San Francisco, California, three months later . . .
‘Boss, you got a package!’
Ethan glanced up from the tattoo of a butterfly he was doing on a young woman’s back. He’d honestly done that same design so much he could’ve drawn it in his sleep, but if that’s the tattoo she wanted who was he to tell her no? They’d just opened up a month ago and couldn’t afford to turn the business away. In Kansas, Adam had hooked him up with some suppliers so he was able to open his doors rather quickly. Things would’ve been so much easier if he’d let Alexis keep the twenty thousand like she wanted to. In the end, they burned the cheque.
‘Just sign for it. It’s probably those gloves I ordered last week,’ Ethan said to his front man. Greg was a good kid with hopes of someday apprenticing. He had real talent, but it was still raw. With a little work, he’d have great potential.
‘Ow.’ The girl squirmed.
‘We’ll be done in five minutes,’ Ethan said, grinning at her.
‘Ugh, you said that ten minutes ago.’ She laughed. Like with all his customers, he’d established a good repartee with her, telling jokes and chatting to keep her mind off of the discomfort. She smiled at him and Ethan knew the look of invitation.
Rock star without the music, he thought. Though the notion did little to amuse him as it once did. In fact, no woman drew his interest like Alexis. She was his everything.
Their shop was in downtown San Francisco, just like he’d planned. They’d hired a piercer. Joe didn’t always show up to work on time and he sometimes flirted too heavily with the female customers, but he was good at his job and it was working out rather well.
The shop was small, but clean. Greg had airbrushed the walls with skulls, hearts, flames, alien heads, lotus flowers and coy fish, until almost the whole place was covered with artwork. There was some flash on the walls – not as much as he would’ve liked, but enough to get started with. Whatever he didn’t have he could draw.
Fast-tempo music pumped over the speaker system. The system was hooked up to his laptop. He had files set to reflect whatever mood the shop was in – be it heavy metal, alternative, or hits from the 70s and 80s. Alexis always tried to turn the volume down when no one was looking.
Ethan pulled his tattoo machine back and examined the design. ‘We’re all done.’
‘Oh, cool.’ The girl jumped up and went to the mirror. He smiled, barely listening as she gushed over how perfect it was and how much she loved it. His answers were automatic and by the time she left the shop she seemed more than satisfied with her choice.
The phone rang and he heard Greg answer, ‘Cross-Country Tattoo. This is Greg.’
Ethan cleaned up his station and washed his hands. He heard Greg talking to Joe. Apparently, Joe was going to be a little late again. He didn’t have any piercing appointments, so Ethan merely nodded.
‘Tell him he’s fired.’ Alexis grinned down at him from her ladder. She was hanging large black and white photographs from their cross-country trip along the top edge of the wall. Most of them were landscapes. There was one of him sitting in his car, one of Susan holding Ted in a headlock. She’d even hung the sketch he did of her in Colorado.
‘Want to get lunch?’ Ethan asked, his eyes drifting to her butt. She looked sexy in the faded blue jeans and the tight black shirt. She’d cut her hair. The short bangs made her look trendy and hip, almost like the girls in tattoo magazines. Well, only Alexis didn’t have tattoos and piercings.
‘Uh, yeah,’ she answered, reaching to hook the frame on a nail.
Ethan went back to his station and grabbed his wallet from the drawer.
‘Why don’t you go get it?’ Ethan said to Greg.
‘Cool,’ Greg answered. ‘I made three appointments for tomorrow and that package is over by the phone. It doesn’t look like gloves.’
‘It’s probably a supply catalogue or something,’ Ethan said.
Greg reached behind him and tossed the envelope at Ethan. Ethan caught it and slipped it under his arm.
He handed the man a twenty-dollar bill and looked up at Alexis. ‘Take your time.’
Greg winked, picked up the money and left. As the door closed, the man said, ‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’
Ethan moved to lock the front door, flipping a sign that read, ‘We’ll be back in ten minutes.’
Alexis came up behind Ethan, grinning as he stared out at the hilly streets of downtown San Francisco. It was summertime and tourist season. A bright-red trolley came by, so packed full of people that some were hanging onto the outside.
‘Hum, what do you think you’re doing closing the door so early?’ she asked, slipping her arms around his waist. An envelope was in her way. ‘What’s this?’
He turned around and handed it to her. As she flipped it around to read the address label, he backed her towards the privacy of the employee lounge. The walls were grey and unfinished. It looked like someone had started to paint a rose, but it had yet to be finished. There was a television and DVD player, an old coffee table that was painted green. It clashed with the long blue couch and yellow chair. The room wasn’t as glamorous as the front, bu
t it was cosy.
‘It’s from Susan and Ted,’ Alexis said.
‘Open it.’ Ethan kissed her neck, moaning. ‘I’ve been thinking about doing this all morning. I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you.’
Alexis giggled, trying to see what was in the envelope as she held it up behind his head. Ethan ran his hands over her body. ‘Stop, I can’t see what it is.’
Ethan moaned, took the envelope and opened it up. He pulled out a fancy card first. It was a wedding invitation. After Alexis’s mother interrupted their trip, the couple had decided not to get married in Vegas. He smiled and handed it to her. The wedding was in Colorado along the Highway of Legends where Ted had proposed. The package was also stuffed full of wedding-dress brochures with a note from Susan saying, ‘Help! I need to pick a dress.’
‘Good for them,’ he said softly.
Putting the card back in the envelope, he reached to pull Alexis back into his arms. He was so cute, even with the orange in his hair and the newly added labret piercing in his chin. At least it was a ball and not a spike like Joe the piercer wore. ‘Mm, and good for me. The publisher liked the cross-country book idea. They called while you were tattooing. They’re going to publish my work.’
‘I knew they would.’ Ethan smiled.
Alexis grinned. Life was perfect. It had been hard at first, but she was happy – even without the designer clothing and the fancy apartments. She had Ethan and he was everything she could ever want.
Epilogue
The tattoo shop prospered and Ethan hired more full-time artists to help keep up with the booming business. Alexis’s book is set to be released next year and she landed her first art show at a very fine San Francisco gallery.
Francine Grant disowned her daughter for about six months. However, after receiving an anonymous tip about Alexis’s impending success with her new photographic collection, she paid Ethan and Alexis a visit in San Francisco to make amends. She tried to redecorate their apartment. Alexis said no. Ethan still denies that he sent the postcard to Francine telling her about the show in the first place. Suspiciously, though, it was in his handwriting.
Susan made a beautiful bride. Alexis helped pick out the gown. It wasn’t the most expensive on the rack, but it was gorgeous with its box pleat silk organza skirt and strapless bodice. The faux diamond band around the waist was the only adornment.
Alexis’s cognac taffeta halter gown with the rust sash was a great complement to her rounder frame. Living with Ethan, she didn’t diet as much. She even learned to appreciate the many fine ways to dress a hot dog. Ted and Ethan wore tuxedos. Naturally, they both complained about it, but looked devilishly handsome all the same.
The wedding was simple, by the mountains near where Ted proposed. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect. Susan and Ted said their vows at sunset. The gathering was small, made up of Susan and Ted’s families and a few friends. Someone played music in a CD player as they danced over the grassy valley well into the night.
There, under the full moon and a sprinkling of stars, Ethan proposed on bended knee. Seeing how well everything had turned out for the four of them, he figured the Pekingese was right. The place was lucky. Alexis said yes. They are still madly in love.
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