Under Her Skin

by Aria Cole

  “Want to take a break?” River offered, swiping at the fresh ink pressed into my skin and causing me to wince. “Ribs are a tender spot.”

  “No, I’m good. Keep going, I like it. It was painful getting the scar, it should be painful when I destroy it too.”

  I caught the surprised look on River’s face. His eyes held mine for long beats, air pregnant between us before his fingertips were sliding across my ribs again, sending zaps of fire through me. There was no way he hadn’t noticed the outline of my nipples by now. I cursed myself for not wearing a thicker bra or a sweater or anything to prevent his fingers on my skin from turning me on so damn much.

  His deft hands worked across my skin, wiping tenderly and checking me often. I found I liked being under his touch, the center of his world for even a few minutes, even if he was torturing me with a tiny gun.

  “Got plans after you leave here today?” His voice was thick, gravelly, like there was something else on his mind other than what he was saying.

  “No.” I shook my head. “I’m in no rush. In fact, I’d rather hang out here all day than go back to where I’m going.”

  “Oh, yeah?” River switched inks then, turning his attention to the bright red drops of blood dripping from the heart. He wiped tenderly, one palm flat on my tummy as he assessed the work so far. “Why would a girl like you want to hang around a place like this?”

  “It’s a nice vibe, good people. I like it. And anything is better than home, to be honest. Dad works constantly. Mom is…well, not really here anymore.” Why was I revealing so much? Being chatty wasn’t like me at all.

  “Sorry to hear that.” His gorgeous dark eyes flicked to mine, gaze heavy with understanding.

  “I’ve applied a few places, just something to get me out of the house more, but there’s not much going on in this town.”

  “You aren’t wrong about that.” He pushed the hemline of my shirt up a little more, his pinkie finger settling on the edge of my bra and sending a river flooding between my thighs. I’d come to get inked; I had no idea it’d be a near-orgasmic experience. Or maybe it was just River’s talent. I couldn't stop the illicit thoughts swirling in my head, all inspired by this man.

  “You know…” His raspy voice pulled me from my thoughts. “Been lookin’ for someone to run the front, answer phones, make appointments. Dev has been bitching about wanting to tattoo more. It’s time I hired someone else.”

  “Really?” I could feel a smile shoot across my face. “You’d let me work here?”

  He laughed. “So, it sounds like you'd take the job if I offered?”

  “Um, yes! I’ll take anything you’re offering.” I felt warmth crawl up my chest with the double entendre of my words. I stumbled to recover. “Seriously, if you weren’t inking me, I would hug you right now.”

  His eyes grew large. “I kind of have this thing about personal space, but an exception could be made—”

  “You don’t say?” I teased.

  “I’ve also got this rule about smartasses.” He shot me a cocky grin. “Figured you deserved a warning.”

  “A warning? So, does that mean there’s a punishment if I violate it?”

  “Violate it.” A cocky grin, loaded with innuendo, lifted his lips. “Let’s not get into a discussion about violating things, doll face.”

  “Doll face, huh?” I smirked. “Can that be my official shop name?”

  “You are a live wire, aren’t you, Sienna?” His eyes returned to my pink flesh, bruised from his needle, and here I was, itching for more.

  “Ready to see the damage?” He cleaned up his work with a damp cloth, his fingers slipping under the hem of my bra to tuck up my shirt. Butterflies rioted in my ribcage, a new wave of arousal flooding my pussy and making a moan nearly escape my lips. I felt naked under his gaze, vulnerable and laid bare. His hand clasped with mine, twining our fingers and making my tongue feel like a foreign object lodged in my throat.

  “Looks fucking beautiful,” he muttered, eyes holding mine.

  I clamped down on my bottom lip, heart rattling my chest as I sucked in a deep breath while he lifted me up.

  The way his breath skittered across my neck sent something spiraling out of control in my belly. If he thought anything on me looked fantastic, I was happy. I’d never felt beautiful to anyone, always the plain-Jane tomboy in Chuck Taylors and cutoffs.

  I shook the thoughts from my head and smiled when he spun me, angling me toward the mirror to catch a reflection of his art on my body.

  I sucked in a sharp breath of air when my eyes landed on the tattoo. Dark droplets of burgundy hung from the heart, and the deep slash through the center covered by three well-placed stitches was perfection. And then the skull. He had done my imagination justice. The faint outline of the skull was like a mirage in the background of the heart, something so soft and almost ethereal. The overwhelming urge to hug him took over me.

  “Thank you,” I whispered, leaping into his arms. His hands cupped at my backside instantly, and my arms wrapped around his waist as I clung to him. It’d been so long since I’d clung to anyone, and maybe the adrenaline or the dopamine released by the pain from the needle had flooded my system, but it felt good to be embraced.

  “Told you it was goddamn beautiful,” he hissed at my neck, words like a snake trailing through my veins and slithering between my thighs.

  “Thank you so much for hiring me. I can’t tell you how much I…” I paused, my hand pushing into the soft hair at the back of his neck. “Needed this.”

  I sat back in his arms, suddenly conscious of the fact that I was wrapped around my new boss’s waist.

  “Welcome, doll face.”

  My cheeks burned brighter with his words. His eyes slid down my face to land on my lips.

  I sucked in a soft breath, conscious of his stare all the way to my toes.

  This man was fucking gorgeous, and his rough, tattooed hands were holding me firmly against his huge, rock-hard cock.

  “I—” I swallowed, stumbling for words. “I’m sorry. It’s just been so long since anyone was really kind to me.”

  “Kind to you? Why the fuck would anyone be unkind to you? Does your dad know?”

  “My dad’s part of the problem,” I grumbled, sliding out of his arms. I moved to step away, but I was surprised when he pulled me right back against him.

  “Did your dad hurt you?” His hand tightened on my arm, jaw clenching as his eyes darkened.

  “No. Well, not in that sense.” I pulled out of his arms, turning to admire my tattoo again in the mirror.

  “It’s so intricate, the shading around the scar, it just disappears. Like it was always meant to be there.”

  “Don’t change the subject. What’s the problem with your dad? If you need a place to stay, I’ve got an extra room—”

  “Wait, do you go around offering a bed to sleep in for all your new hires?”

  “What?” His face darkened. “’Course not—”

  “Never offered me a place to stay.” A woman in the tiniest tube top I’d ever seen slapped River on the shoulder. A huge tattoo of a dreamcatcher stretched across the planes of her abdomen, a piece it looked like she kept adding to with time. She was beautiful, gorgeously tall, and seemed to have a very intimate relationship with River.

  “This is Dev. All bark, no bite.” River gestured behind him. “Dev, meet the new manager, Sienna.”

  “Hey, Sienna,” she called before she sat down at her sketch table.

  “Hey,” I returned, before glancing back to River. “Manager? I’m not qualified to be a manager. I have, like, three business classes from the community college under my belt.”

  “From here on out, I decide what you can and can’t do.” He shot me a reckless look, squeezing a hand at my waist. “Now let’s get you bandaged up, and I’ll show you around.”

  “Can't wait.”

  “For the bandage or the tour?”

  “Both.” And his hands on my skin again.

&
nbsp; That was the part I was the most anxious for.

  “I like your enthusiasm.” His smile deepened, his hand catching my wrist and raising it above my head. His other fingers darted across the tender flesh of my new tattoo as he rubbed ointment into it. His other hand trailed down the underside of my arm, sending a riot of pleasure through my bloodstream. Sliding his hand across my belly, he held me still as he bandaged me tenderly, sliding tape across the covering until it was secure.

  His hands lingered on my body for extra-long beats, the wide expanse of his fingers making me feel impossibly small against him. I struggled to calm my raging heartbeat when his palm slid up my chest cavity, fingers dancing across every one of my ribs slowly, and sending my head into full-blown meltdown mode.

  He caught my shirt in his finger and gently snagged it from its position in my bra, putting it back into place before leaning in.

  I sucked in one slow breath, savoring the woodsy scent of his soap when his nose hovered at the shell of my ear. “Ready for that tour?”

  “So ready,” I breathed without thinking.

  His soft chuckle was the only reply before he hooked my hand in his and turned to the front desk. “Lucky for you, ink is free for employees. Got anything else in mind?”

  “So many things.”

  His eyebrows arched when we reached the desk. “I believe it. Live wire, doll face. Gonna be fun having you workin’ here.”

  “What about you? Anything else you want?” I gestured to the tattoos across his forearms, another peeking out of the neckline of his T-shirt.

  “Got a few special ones planned for someday.”

  “Someday?”

  “Space is at a premium on my body.” He lifted his shirt, revealing eight rock-solid slabs of abdominal muscle covered in the wings of an eagle. The feathers were so detailed it must have taken hours for one wing alone.

  “That’s fucking incredible.” I stepped closer, fingers itching to trace the ridges.

  “Thanks.” He nodded, lowering his shirt. “More across my back. Comes a time you start filling up, so the shit I add now has to mean something.”

  “Didn’t it all mean something at one time?”

  “Sure.” He shrugged. “Older you get, the more shit means, though.”

  “You’re not even that old, like, twenty-five? Six?”

  “Might be surprised what a man can survive in twenty-nine years.”

  I nodded. “Women too.”

  “Yeah,” he finished, eyes lingering on mine before turning to the computer. “Ever used a program to make appointments before?”

  “Never.”

  “Great, so we’ll start at square one, then.”

  “Told you, I’m not qualified.”

  His grin turned sideways, hand catching my chin and lifting my gaze to meet his. “Strike number one. Get to three, and there will be punishment.”

  “Which rule did I break?”

  “The rule where I say what you're qualified for, and you don’t ever talk down to one of my employees.”

  “And what happens at strike three?”

  His eyes slid up and down my body, lingering for a long time on the swell of my tits before catching mine again. “You get pierced.”

  THREE

  River

  “She had the hugest fucking tits you’ve ever seen, and I don’t give a shit if they were fake or not, I’d take them for a spin.”

  “Jericho,” I bit out. “Got a woman in the studio now. Shut the fuck up.”

  “Um, there was always a woman here, you assholes,” Dev piped up as she sauntered out of the back hallway, sipping a Frappuccino and thrusting another at Sienna.

  “Thanks.” Sienna smiled, pursing her lips around the little green straw and making my cock ache.

  “These guys are fucking heathens, Sienna. Block them out if you can. Headphones should come with the job.”

  “My stories are better than anything you’ve seen in those smut books you read.” Jericho whipped a towel at Dev’s ass and threw her a randy wink.

  “Jesus. I should fire you all and just start over.”

  “Helped you build the place, man. Got a feeling you won’t abandon ship now.” Jericho smacked my arm then slapped on a thousand-watt fake smile when his next client walked in, a woman in her thirties who already had a full sleeve on one arm.

  “I didn't come here for the fancy talk. I get enough of that at home.” I said.

  “I hear ya, grew up on the north side. You know how froufrou shit gets up there.” Dev sucked on her straw, hip leaning against the counter. She had this don’t-give-a-fuck rocker vibe that I envied. Low-slung jeans and a studded belt hung off her waist. A neon tank top, cut up to her belly button showed off the ink decorating her skin today.

  “My mom used to dress up my sister and me in these horrible costumes every Halloween and make us get posed pictures. Like the kid in A Christmas Story? Yeah, we looked like that.”

  The girls burst into laughter, my own stubborn smile pulling at my cheeks.

  It felt good to escape some of the testosterone that was constantly coming off Jericho.

  Dev’s next client walked through the door then, a big, burly motorcycle guy who’d been coming to her for a while. I think he had a crush, and Dev was a hopeless flirt. Hell, if it made the old guy feel good to get inked by a pretty woman, who was I to bitch? Guy was nice enough anyway, and I always kept an extra eye on Dev’s station, never letting her close the shop alone. I owed her my business for coming in and saving my ass like she had. I’d had another artist lined up, but he’d bailed on me three days before opening. I’d had to call in every favor I was owed to find someone talented enough to work in my shop. After begging and pleading and paying an out-the-ass ridiculous salary, I’d locked Dev down—though she’d refused to sign a non-compete contract. Not because she wanted to work elsewhere, but because she said it inhibited her flow. Whatever the fuck that meant. That woman could tattoo the hell out of anyone, and that's why I kept her. She also put up with me, so that played a big part too.

  “I can show you how to clean up the piercing station if you think you’ve got a handle on things up here?” I shoved my hands into my pockets as I approached Sienna, sipping on her Frappuccino all alone. I still wasn’t even sure why I’d jumped the gun hiring her for the job I hadn’t even officially decided I needed.

  And then she turned around, grin turning up her pretty lips and dark blue eyes crinkling.

  Oh, yeah.

  Those eyes.

  Those indigo fucking eyes got under my skin.

  “I think I’ve got it down.” She smiled softly. The soft gray dress she wore hugged all of her curves completely. I wanted to be under that fucking dress. I’d jerked off for an hour last night and then come the hardest I ever had in my life, thinking about sweet Sienna.

  Biggest mistake of my life hiring her.

  Also the loveliest one.

  “Come with me.”

  “Sure thing,” she agreed.

  My hand whispered at the small of her back as I guided her toward the back of the shop and down the long hallway. Energy pulsed through my fingertips, desperate to fist the fabric of her dress in my fingers and pull it over her head, burying my face between her thighs and never coming up for air.

  “Ever been pierced before?” I cleared my throat as we entered the small room.

  “Nope.” She popped the p. She fucking popped the p, and all I could think about was her popping her lips around my fat cock as it filled that pretty mouth. I flicked on the light, shifting myself when she turned, eyes crawling up the cushioned red velvet walls.

  “This is more kinky dungeon than piercing room.”

  “People like to get pierced because they like the pain. Might as well give them the whole experience.” I stepped closer, nose rubbing at the soft skin of her neck. Shudders raced through her when my hands hovered at her waist, fingertips brushing against the silky skin there.

  I caught her wrist in my hand an
d turned her to me, our bodies brushing as I leaned against the counter. “This,” I breathed, “is the piercing gun.”

  Her eyes drifted down to the tool, my hand lingering right at the swell of her gorgeous tit, the faint outline of a nipple already puckered at the sight of it. “How bad do you wanna get pierced, doll face?”

  “What? I don’t— I mean, I haven’t really thought about it.”

  My grin slid a little deeper. She was a virgin. I could see it written all over her innocent little face. Suddenly, the idea of her being with any man but me had a possessive streak racing through my veins. “Your nipples are getting harder just seeing me hold the gun.”

  She sucked in a ragged breath, her tits brushing against my hands as she inhaled.

  “I’m going to ask again, and this time, you tell me the truth.” I dragged my teeth against her skin. “How bad do you wanna be pierced?”

  “So bad.” She nearly whimpered.

  I clamped my eyes shut, trying to contain the urge to throw her against that wall and fuck her into next fucking year. “Mine.” I slid a palm around her tit, kneading the soft flesh as she moaned. “Nobody pierces you but me. Got that, Sienna?”

  “And I should give you the honor, why?”

  My possessive side flared at the insinuation of her words. “Because I’m the only man who can do you and do you well.”

  Her heart hammered in her throat, the pad of my fingertips dragging across the skin and causing a rush of energy to pulse unseen between us. This fucking woman was intoxicating. Standing so close to her felt like being drunk.

  “I want to take you so hard you feel what you do to every fucking inch of me.”

  A little sigh rattled past her lips as one of my palms snaked up her thigh. “You think you like pain with your pleasure, doll face?”

  Her eyes darkened then fell down to the floor.

  “Sienna…” I tipped her chin in my hand. “I don’t know what the fuck you’ve done to me. The things I want to do to you…”