Restless Ink

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  “She’s not part of this, not really. And while I don’t want to hurt her, I think we both need to understand that.”

  She nodded at his words, letting out a slow breath. “But I don’t know what this is.”

  “Then that’s something we need to figure out.” He paused. “I’m not in love with Molly, Thea. I haven’t been in a long time. Too long, frankly. We aren’t married anymore, and the only reason I see her is because of Captain. I don’t hate her, I don’t dislike her, but she’s also not really a part of my life. I know she is a part of yours, and it might be hard to juggle that, so whatever you need from me, I can do. But there’s something between us. I can feel it. I won’t be an ass and say I know you feel it, too, because I’m not going to assume or tell you your feelings. But what I can say is that I don’t think what happened between us was a mistake. I think that, eventually, without booze and without Twister, we would have fallen into each other like we did anyway. Or, at least that’s what I wanted. So, what do you say, Thea? Will you take a chance on me?”

  Thea pressed her lips together before giving him a slow nod. “I think…I think I have to, even as we try to be careful.”

  Dimitri immediately relaxed, his shoulders lowering, though he still had his hand on her face. “Good.”

  Then he lowered his head, his lips pressing firmly against hers, and she opened for him, wanting more, craving more.

  She had no sugar in her system to blame, no booze.

  This was all her and Dimitri.

  All heat, tongues, and heavy breaths.

  Dimitri bit her lower lip, and she shivered, arching into him even though he wasn’t fully touching her. When he took a step toward her, coming so close she could feel the heat of him against her, she took an involuntary step back, needing to breathe. His presence was so large, it made her knees shake.

  That one step pressed her lower back and butt against her desk, and she sucked in a breath. His eyes danced as he moved even closer, the slight gap between them a thing of the past as he lowered his head and took her mouth again. She was caught, locked in place, and melting into him all at once.

  She wanted him, needed more of him, and couldn’t help but wrap her arms around his neck and part her lips for him. She wanted to slide up on top of her desk and part her legs, but she knew they didn’t have time for that.

  Not yet.

  But soon.

  When they parted and went to the front for coffee, she knew it was a step—a huge one that wasn’t that big at all.

  She didn’t know what was to come, but Dimitri was right, there was something between them. She just hoped that despite Molly’s blessing, she didn’t ruin it all.

  Chapter 12

  Brushes With Lushes was one of the best times of the month in Thea’s opinion. Kaylee was not only a fantastic artist, but she also used her studio and warehouse to host individual art lessons, as well as nighttime theme events such as Brushes With Lushes.

  Kaylee was up at the front of the room, demonstrating the next technique so they could draw their flower and moonscape, while the rest of the class looked on with wine and paint, ready to go.

  In other words, Thea got to play with paint, work with a theme, have some wine, and hang out with her best girls. Her sisters surrounded her, while Abby sat on the other side of Roxie, her teeth biting into her lip as she concentrated. Thea had invited Molly once again, but the other woman hadn’t been able to make it. At this point, Thea wasn’t sure Molly was ever going to come to a night of Brushes With Lushes, but Thea would feel bad if she didn’t ask.

  “Stop feeling guilty about Molly,” Adrienne said from her right.

  Thea paused with her paintbrush in the air. “Huh?”

  “You’re thinking that you feel bad that Molly isn’t here, and you’re blaming yourself for once again locking lips with Dimitri.”

  “Shh!” Thea whispered, looking around to see if anyone had heard them. Their group was in the back row since Kaylee knew they were usually the loud ones. The Montgomerys and their crew couldn’t help it, they didn’t get out much.

  “Don’t shush me when I’m right.” Adrienne set her paintbrush down and sighed. “I’m not reading your mind, you just whispered her name as you were grumbling to yourself. Molly has never once come to this with us. It’s not her thing. That’s fine. She doesn’t need to hang out in a huge group with us. But I want you to ask yourself if you’re feeling guilty because you feel like you need to or because you really do.”

  “You’re smiling when you think of him, babe,” Roxie said softly from her other side. “I haven’t seen you smile about a man in far too long.”

  “Smiling is good,” Abby put in, leaning over Roxie. “And you said yourself, Molly is okay with you seeing Dimitri.”

  “It’s just all too weird.” Thea took a sip of her single glass of wine, wondering once again how she’d gotten into this situation. “And I should stop telling you every time I kiss Dimitri because I told myself yesterday that I wasn’t going to tell the world about what I was doing and then two minutes into seeing all of you again, I blurted everything.”

  Adrienne reached out and patted her knee. “Of course, you did. I sucked at hiding what I was doing with Mace and hated not telling you all everything. So don’t hold back. We promise not to harass Dimitri.” She paused. “Much.”

  “In other words, we’re happy for you,” Roxie added. “Dimitri is hot. Sweet. And according to you, wickedly amazing in bed.” Her sister thankfully whispered that last part.

  Abby leaned over again. “So why aren’t you out with him tonight?”

  Thea sighed. “Because I already had plans with you guys. It’s Friday night, and it’s what we do. Dimitri and I have a tentative dinner planned for tomorrow night, depending on the bakery and his time with Captain. And I know that sounds cheesy or weird that I’m scheduling my time around a dog, but I love Captain, and I hate that they don’t get much time together thanks to Dimitri’s housing situation. With Captain getting on in years, I’m not going to stand in his way.” She frowned. “And if one of you says I’m getting on in years, I will personally slap you. Hard.”

  “Since I’m older than you, I’m going to refrain,” Adrienne said dryly.

  Thea turned to Roxie, whose eyes were dancing above the rim of her wine glass. “Oh, don’t worry. I won’t say a thing.”

  “Can we get back to painting? Because I’m behind a step I think, and Kaylee’s going to yell at us again.”

  “I won’t yell, but how about I say I’m disappointed.”

  Thea jumped as she turned to see Kaylee standing behind her, shaking her head, but there was a smile playing on her lips, so it couldn’t be too bad. “Don’t fool around too much.” Then Kaylee flowed across the room, her skirts billowing around her. Thea always admired the other woman’s style and the graceful way she moved.

  Thea was pretty sure she still had flour on herself somewhere. It was always on her. Lying in wait for someone to happen upon her and comment on it.

  “Let’s focus for a bit, shall we? Then you guys can make fun of my social life or lack thereof.”

  Roxie snorted “Since we’re with you this evening for girls’ night, I’m not going to mock you for your lack of social life. We are your current nightlife.”

  Thea laughed while focusing on Kaylee as the other woman explained once again how to complete the next step. Thea decorated cakes often, but she wasn’t the best painter in the world. Adrienne was better, but as her sister was a tattoo artist, it made sense. Roxie tried her best, but wasn’t the greatest at it either, not that any of them commented on it. Their little sister was so methodical and had to get everything right that she usually got in her own way.

  As that was basically a metaphor for Roxie’s life outside of Brushes With Lushes, Thea couldn’t help but think of how Roxie and Carter were doing. Every time Thea saw her sister, she looked a little more…worn. Or perhaps the thin armor she wore against the world wasn’t quite as shiny as
it used to be. Thea wished she could help her sister and brother-in-law, but she honestly had no idea what was going on between the two. Besides, she knew it wasn’t her business, even though her family always wanted to know about her life. And not just her sisters, her brother and parents were just as bad.

  The only person missing from their painting night was her sister-in-law Shea, who was home with Livvy and Shep for the evening. If she were here, Thea knew Shea would be peppering all of them with questions so Shep knew what was going on with his baby sisters. Thea never minded because Shep asked things himself when he was around, and since he wasn’t invited to Brushes With Lushes, he sent Shea instead, who was amazing and could get anything out of anyone at any time. It was sweetly diabolical, and Thea was so damned glad Shea was a Montgomery.

  “What do you have planned this weekend?” Abby asked the group.

  “Work?” Roxie answered though it sounded like more of a question. “I’m actually not sure. Carter and I wanted to go see a new movie, but I’m behind on a new filing thanks to a client and things I can’t talk about, so I might send Carter off to the shop so he can get ahead and maybe we can have Sunday afternoon off or something.”

  Thea held back her wince. The two were constantly working, and Thea knew that Carter was doing his best to hire on more people and budget well so he could spend more time with his new wife, but Roxie’s job didn’t make it easy. Putting together two lives and trying to make it work was hard, hence why Thea had never really tried.

  With her business perhaps changing soon if things came together, she knew she might not have time for a love life, and dating might go by the wayside once again. That was another reason why she was questioning herself about things when it came to Dimitri.

  The others spoke around her, and when Adrienne mentioned Mace and the guys having wings, Thea pulled herself back into the conversation.

  “We’re thinking of going on a family road trip once spring hits and the mountains are a little more passible. Daisy loves the little hikes we go on, and if Mace and I schedule just right, we can take a couple weeks off.”

  “That won’t put the shop in a lurch without the two of you?” Thea asked.

  “Not really. Ryan and Shep can handle most of it, and Mace and I will just make sure we have that time free booking-wise. And if it looks like we need another artist, one of the ones from Denver can come down. When Austin and Maya helped us open this branch down here, they knew it was part of the deal, as did the rest of their artists. It’ll work out.”

  Adrienne shrugged, her attention on her painting. “We can’t do a super long trip like we might want to, and frankly, I don’t know if Daisy is up to that anyway, but a long weekend would be nice. I know we live in the mountains, but there’s so much more to see.”

  Thea smiled, she couldn’t help it. Her sister had always been in Daisy’s life, if only on the periphery. When Daisy had been living with her mother, and Mace hadn’t had the best custody agreement, Adrienne was still always there. Thea was so happy that the new little family was making it work in their own way, and Adrienne was taking to the role of almost stepmother perfectly.

  “You look so happy,” Roxie said softly from Thea’s other side. Soft, but loud enough that Adrienne heard. “You deserve to be happy.”

  Adrienne leaned over Thea and patted Roxie’s arm. “I am happy. Thanks, babe. And you’re shading that with the wrong grey, want some help?”

  Roxie frowned and looked at her canvas while Thea held back a grin. “It’s fine. Right? Why does this have to be so hard? I mean, why are there so many colors?”

  Adrienne shook her head and went around Thea so she could stand behind Roxie. “Why are there so many numbers and ways to make accounts?”

  “Math makes sense. Painting, not so much.” Roxie bit her lip, and Thea set down her brush so she could turn to her sisters and mediate if needed. Both were perfectionists but in different ways and, sometimes, that difference got under each other’s skin. It was the same for Thea, but they were sisters, and that was just life. Abby looked on, a smile on her face as she set her brush down, as well. The two of them toasted each other with their glasses in the air and watched as Adrienne tried to help Roxie with some of the moonscape, and Roxie tried not to get frustrated when she didn’t get it right.

  It might have been Brushes With Lushes and just a fun night, but Roxie wanted to learn how to do it better, and of the four siblings, she was the one who had trouble coloring in the lines because she got impatient with not being able to do it correctly the first time. Thea didn’t mind getting a little messy, but that was why she was a baker and not a tattoo artist like two of her siblings. She was also decent at math and business—hence the changes coming up with Colorado Icing—but Roxie was her accountant for a reason. And the fact that Shep’s wife, Shea was also an accountant helped. Between the two of them, Thea knew she was in good hands.

  Of course, as soon as she thought of good hands, she thought of Dimitri. She took another sip of her wine, trying not to think of him.

  How was this going to work? She’d thought maybe they could try to be friends, but now she was worried that she’d screwed everything up by kissing him again, by wanting more from him. It scared her.

  Because she liked him. A lot. She liked being near him, liked kissing him, and she sure as hell more than liked their night together. Yes, it was all far too complicated, and there were so many ties and strings tightening around what they could be that it was almost suffocating, but she didn’t know if walking away was the right answer.

  Molly was okay with it.

  Dimitri seemed to be okay with it.

  Thea, deep down, was okay with it.

  Maybe she needed to trust that part of herself.

  Maybe.

  “When are you going to come in and let me work on your shoulder again?” Adrienne asked when she went back to her seat. Roxie was working on her wine rather than her painting, so Thea figured the two had finished their little mini-lesson while she was lost in her own thoughts. Considering that neither of them was covered in paint and there hadn’t been yelling, Thea counted it as a win.

  “Huh?” Thea asked, blinking away the cobwebs from her brain.

  “Your shoulder. The tattoo you wanted.” Adrienne said. Her sister tilted her head, studying Thea’s face. “You okay over there?”

  “I’m fine. Maybe I’ve had too much wine.” She set her almost-empty glass next to her easel and shook her head to clear it.

  “You haven’t even finished your first glass, but okay. Anyway, what about that tattoo? It’s my turn on you since Shep got your hip last time when we first opened the shop. When can I have you?”

  The two were always fighting over family members and their ink. It was the same for their Denver cousins, and Thea didn’t mind it. The Montgomerys were the best in the business, and she counted herself lucky that she’d always have some of the most amazing ink out there and would never, ever have a bad tattoo anywhere on her body.

  “When I have time, I guess. Or rather, when you have time. Your shop is bustling over there, and I know you have massive waitlists already, which is awesome. I don’t want to push anyone out of the way so you can work on my shoulder. Plus, the fact that I need my shoulder and arm to work makes the idea of all that soreness not so much fun. And it’s not like I have time for a vacation in order to make it work.”

  “First, you work too hard, but we can come back to that. Second, you’re adorable in thinking I wouldn’t have space open for you or a walk-in monthly. While I need and love heavy schedules, I’m also an artist who sometimes needs to do things out of the box or completely random. That’s where you come in.”

  “I want flowers and characters from my favorite movie on my shoulder, not something random,” she said dryly.

  Adrienne rolled her eyes. “The random is for the walk-ins, dork. Not that I’d pick a random tattoo for them, but it’s random for me. As in, I don’t have it planned in my head for months but
they know what they want, and it keeps my creativity going. You know? As for you, though, we can do the pieces in shifts so we don’t make you too sore. I know you want it on your right shoulder, and since that’s your dominant side, it’ll be tricky with how much you whisk and stir and use that arm to do things, but it’s not like it incapacitates you. Plus, you don’t swell as bad as some people, and you follow directions when it comes to aftercare. We can make it work.”

  “I know we can, but I probably won’t have time until after…well, until after the season.” Yes, she was busy during the holiday season, but she also had her new plans coming up that she hadn’t explained to the others yet. She knew she needed to tell them soon since they not only owned their parts of the building, but because they were family. Roxie knew but had kept her mouth shut. The only reason her little sister knew at all was because she was Thea’s accountant.

  Thea would tell Shep and Adrienne her news soon, but for now, she was a little worried and a little scared that it wouldn’t all work out. Change was hard, and making plans for something crazy like what she had planned was even harder.

  Adrienne gave her a look but didn’t ask any questions, and for that, Thea was grateful. Kaylee made her way around the class again, commenting on their paintings, and Thea went back to it, trying her best to get it to look like Kaylee’s. Of course, it wasn’t perfect, and she’d taken some artistic license when it came to the moon, but she loved it in the end. After the class was over, the whole group got up to take a photo with their paintings, and Thea left hers to dry with the others, knowing she’d either come back to pick it up for her house or Kaylee would find a good use for it. There were tons of people around who wanted art but couldn’t afford it, and yeah, it wasn’t the best work in the world, but she was happy to know that at least two of her paintings were in shelters for women and children. It wasn’t much, but maybe it could make someone happy.