She didn’t say anything.
“Answer me.”
“Yeah, fine. I like the job, the place, the town, and I don’t wanna relocate again.” She threw the words like a punch in the face.
It stung, but finally, I saw some of the spirit from last night.
“We fuck, we don’t, you fuck someone else, you don’t—none of that impacts the job. You do your job, and what you do besides that is personal.” I ran fingers through my hair, she wasn’t getting this. “If we quit working with any girl we went to bed with—”
“Don’t finish that thought if you value your balls,” she spat at me.
I threw my head back and laughed because she did care after all.
“Fear of repeating mistakes is part of it, but you know, mostly I’m just starting over, trying not to make the same mistakes I always make, like jumping into bed with the first guy who smiles my way.” She stalked past me and down the hall.
I didn’t follow. A thousand reasons I could defeat with a smile and another of those addicting kisses, but not that one. She deserved the new start, and I had no right to bull through her resistance because my cock itched for her.
I headed down the hall a couple minutes after her. She stood with her head on the door to the supply closet. Defeat had settled into her shoulders, and that pissed me off so much I wanted to hit something. I sucked in a breath and let it out, bringing that anger back inside me. “I get it.”
She cringed when I spoke.
“I’ll back off. You want this, just say so. Otherwise, we’re cool.”
She whipped around and studied me. “Really? That easy?”
I cocked my head. “I wasn’t easy on you.”
“You’ll just back off?”
What kind of pricks did she hook up with? “Yeah, don’t mean I don’t have a powerful thirst for you, but I’d be a dick not to respect what you said.” I turned away from her and walked out the door.
I wished there was another woman I could take to bed to erase her from my system, but I knew it’d only make me want her more. I called Jericho, telling him to get the whiskey ready. “Man, last night was just the warm-up. We’re drinking until neither of us can get out of bed tomorrow.”
“Turned you down cold.” Jericho’s laugh echoed in my ear.
Chapter Four: Lila
Four weeks had passed in a blur of activity. I’d met most of the regulars and understood the business enough to start making small improvements to how the shop was run. I’d gotten permission from Dare to enlarge a few of the illustrations they’d drawn for tattoos and hang them up front. I didn’t want the cheap look of tat art and photos pinned everywhere, but a few quality pieces made an impression. The books worked better for customers who were not sure what they wanted. But most of the time, the guys drew custom pieces for clients. The books were just a way to get started.
Dare.
I’ve never been more confused in my life. After that night in the shop, he’d backed off in most ways. While he left no doubt he wanted me, he didn’t kiss me when I bit my lip, I’d tested that one more than once. He didn’t touch me at every opportunity, but the potential hung between us. While I was proud of myself for sticking to my guns, my lonely bed was a terrible consolation prize.
Both Zayn and Dare had appointments at six. Rock had left about twenty minutes earlier, promising to be back at seven when his next customer arrived. I’d decided to finish straightening up and head upstairs for a break since we had a two-hour gap before the next clients came.
Before I’d finished cleaning up, Dare and Zayn showed up in reception.
“We’re bored,” Zayn grumbled. “Dare gave me some new ink, but now we need more volunteers.”
He didn’t point at me, but he just as well should have. “Um, I’d like some new ink too, but I’m working. And I never did hear the discount.”
The two broke out in laughter.
“What’s so funny?” I frowned with hands on hips. I hated being the butt of a joke when I didn’t understand the joke.
“Red, there’s no cost for artwork for employees, just schedule it, or do it when we’re slow, like now.” Dare’s face was blank, impossible to read.
Did he want to ink me?
I’d fantasized about him inking me, but those sessions had ended in erotic ways—each more inventive than the last. I either needed to invite Dare home or find someone to relieve this massive horny need I’d developed for dirty sex.
“Well?” Zayn tapped his foot. “Can we draw on you?”
“What?”
Dare flashed that sexy grin. “I want to ink up here below your neck, noticed it was bare the other night. And Zayn wants to work low moving onto your side.” He paused while he wet his lips with a darting flick of his talented tongue. “You ever had two at once?”
Holy hell, that was one of my fantasies—two guys at once on Dare’s table. Heat flooded through me just thinking about my fantasy.
“Uh, tattoos, he means tattoos.” Zayn grinned. “Right, Dare?”
He lifted one side of his mouth in that lazy lopsided grin of his. “If you say so. Up for the challenge?”
“Yeah, hell yeah. I’ve missed the iron and the bite of the needle.” I hadn’t even thought through the consequences, or if there would be any, because I wanted what they’d described.
“You have ideas about what kind of art you want?” Dare asked. “Or is it all the same?”
I frowned at him. All the same? “Yes, it matters what art is on my body. Each piece has a story, whether inspiration or lesson.”
“No need to get huffy,” he teased.
I wasn’t in the mood for teasing. “You use the pre-fab stencils?”
His glower answered that question.
“Right, you don’t want insulted, stop insulting me.”
Zayn laughed. “Your temper always surprises me.”
I worked to keep my cliché of a temper under control, but Dare knew exactly what buttons to push.
“I need something for the move to Barden and for working at the shop. Ideas?”
“Do you trust us?” Dare rumbled.
What a loaded question. Did I trust him? When I searched for the answer, I was surprised when I found I did, both of them. How had that happened?
“Yeah, I do.” I’d wanted it to sound flip, but instead emotion snuck in to my voice.
The guys turned somber and I winced internally.
“Why do you ask?”
“I’ll take Barden,” Zayn said.
“And I’ll do Marked Man. You lay down and let us work, not seeing it until the end.”
I laughed aloud, a perfect idea. I loved surprises, and any art they did, well it’d be better than what I’d think of.
“Deal.” I stripped off my shirt and tossed it to a chair, lying facedown on Dare’s table. “Unhook the bra if it’s in the way.”
“What if the pants are in the way?” Zayn teased, the laughter barely under control.
“Move higher.” My answer was muffled because of the headrest. I sat in my bra in a tat shop, nothing new for me, and I hadn’t thought twice about shedding the shirt, but my ass bare or undie clad, not so much.
Dare swept my hair up off my neck before they prepped the two areas.
I shuddered because Dare’s touch created an intense shock of sexual need. My panties dampened and I wondered if Zayn could smell my arousal. That was embarrassing, kind of.
Zayn’s needle bit my skin first, right where my back, or waist, narrowed. But I sought the float, the spot in my head where the pain was a distant pinch. When Dare started his iron, I had to force myself not to react, the added pain tested my endurance. But I breathed deep, in and out, and finally, I floated in the space I’d created to keep my calm, even du
ring the most painful art.
Dare caressed my ass with his hand. “Done with the knot. Now, I’m tying you up with that very knot, until you can’t move. You’ll be at my mercy.” I nodded and flipped over on the table. My ass cheek hurt where he’d tattooed the knot, but it added to the spice of the moment. Alone in the workroom, he reached down and brought up a long red strand of rope. Hands to my sides, he had me stand so he could wrap the rope around me then he lifted me up and placed me on the table, flipping me so I faced down again. His lips tugged at my ear and he whispered sweet words while he slid his hard cock between my cheeks until it glided between the lips of my pussy. My body reacted, wanting to push into him, but the ropes made it impossible. I moaned for him to fuck me, but he laughed and bit my shoulder. Over and over the tip of him rubbed across my clit, working me up until I begged for release. Just when I was sure I’d come, he pulled back and then pushed into me in the perfect way.
“You sleepin’?” Dare’s voice penetrated my fantasy.
Shit, had I moaned, moved? Or something worse?
“No, why?”
“Never seen anyone so still.” His words held a rough tone.
Had touching me turned him on, too?
“You both finished?”
“Yeah,” Zayn said right before I heard a picture snap and saw the reflection of a flash. The purr of the motor spitting out the picture came next. Despite all the technology in the world, a good-quality Polaroid was still the way Marked Man cataloged finished work and showed it to clients, especially if the location wasn’t easy to see in the mirror.
“Sit up, and I’ll bandage them.” Zayn handed me the two pictures.
I heard Dare behind me collecting tools and then moving to the supply room. The pictures were still mostly gray blobs, so I turned them facedown and waved them in the air. I don’t know if it increased the speed of development or if it just made the time pass faster. Dare returned and leaned on the table right next to where I sat. Zayn was the second bookend, leaning with the same pose on the opposite side.
Did they train bikers in attitude?
The first one to come clear was Dare’s. An abstract man marked with light lines, tattoos, held a woman who also displayed outlines of art. Somehow he’d captured the anticipation of sex between them in the lines of their bodies, or the closeness.
“Wow, you are all kinds of talented. I love it.” I grinned up at him but he ducked his face away.
Zayn had placed the old recliner in my apartment on my back and then created a halo effect around it. In that misty area words were barely there. I spotted home, friends, welcome. But I was sure there were more.
“I do have a table now,” I muttered with a chuckle I couldn’t suppress. “Priceless. That chair was my first friend in Barden, my new life. You gotta tell me all the words you hid in there.”
He smiled wide enough to show both dimples. “Never. You’ll have to find someone to inspect it up close and tell you.” He winked and headed up front.
I slipped on my top and checked the time. Damn, they’d worked on me for two hours. I was surprised I’d lost track of time, but then I’d lost track of everything reliving my fantasy from two nights ago.
The longer I held out against Dare, the more taboo my dreams became. I should give in soon. It didn’t have to be the full relationship deal, just some raunchy, casual sex that purged my brain of these explicit dreams. I’d reasoned out that two weeks was the longest I could remember not having sex, and I was beyond my limit, bound to explode soon.
We stayed busy the rest of the night, and I’d turned them down on the invitation to Blue’s. I was wound tight and the new art ached. I waved them off and headed upstairs to fix a quick pan of stir-fry before I headed off to bed.
Another week passed before I’d finally nailed the weekly schedule, so when Dare stormed in around one Tuesday afternoon, I had the numbers ready before he asked. The numbers were a bit down, which worried me, but he didn’t appear to care.
“Look who’s feeling cocky.” He grinned at me. “You got the job mastered?”
“Not everything, and especially not the customers, but the in-control moments now exceed the freaked-out ones.”
He laughed. “Ain’t ever seen you freak, just get a bit jumpy from time to time, but, Red, you’re as steady as they come.”
“Then my poker face is better than you think.” I felt sassy today. With Dare’s melodic laugh, now I could slay monsters. The sound always cheered me.
“Shit, then I hate to think what rattles around in your brain we can’t see.”
Rock joined us then. “What? Whose brain?”
“Red says she doesn’t show everything she thinks across her pretty face.” Dare glanced toward him.
“No way.” Rock elbowed me. “You’re the pretty one, no thoughts needed.”
I poked his side, rock hard. “Is that how you got your name? From those muscles?”
He laughed and winked. “Wouldn’t you like to know, but I’m not telling.”
Dare’s brows furrowed while watching us joke. It was there and gone. I might not have even seen it if I hadn’t made it my obsession to figure him out.
“I’m out, but let’s go to the bar tonight, and Red, don’t say no.” He gave Rock a shoulder slap and moved out the door. The echo of the door’s jingle was the only sign left of him.
“You know, with bikers, you don’t have to play hard to get, we’re a sure thing.” Rock stared at me with a knowing look. “You’re into him right?”
I bit my lip. “I’m not telling.”
He moved back toward the workroom and I thought I heard him say, “Well, some of us want to know.”
But surely not. I mean Zayn totally treated me like his big sister, and Rock, well, he hadn’t said anything or showed the kind of interest Dare did. I needed less guy trouble, not more, so I decided to ignore those thoughts.
We closed at seven tonight, and I was beginning to see another trend—our hours were just a thing printed, because we rarely stayed open to eight or ten on the weekends. When I mentioned this to Zayn, he said to take it while it lasted, soon I’d be wishing for days like this. I didn’t get a chance to follow up since Rachel headed straight for me, almost crushing me in her big hug. I think we’d become friends during my occasional nights out with the guys.
Rock, Zayn and I settled in before Dare arrived. The guys ordered without waiting for Dare, so I did too. About ten minutes later, Weasel and Angel sauntered in with their usual bad tempers. Thankfully, Weasel sat next to Rock across from me. I didn’t want to figure out how to make small talk with either of them. They both rarely spoke to me—well I should say, Weasel spoke to me when he needed something and Angel never said a word.
Rachel brought our food. I still hadn’t deviated from the burger and fries, even though Rachel swore they had other great food, like their tenderloin. I liked to stick with what I knew, and I knew it was awesome.
“Ok, we’ve passed the get-to-know-you threshold, right?” She brushed a flyaway black hair from her face.
“Okay, sure.” I honestly had no idea what she meant.
“Yeah? Then we need to do lunch so I can pepper you with personal questions and pry out all your secrets.” She rolled her hands in this evil-genius way.
I bust up laughing and everyone looked my way, but I couldn’t stop. I nodded at her. “Yeah.” I sucked in a breath. “Thursday? I’m usually off in the afternoon.”
“Dealio, be prepared to spill your secrets.” She spoke with dramatic flair. “You know I have thumb screws.”
I snorted, unable to get the idea of Rachel as evil genius out of my head.
The chair next to me scraped out and I looked up, wiping my eyes. Dare cocked his head in question and sat down. I heard a second chair move and saw Jericho sit down. I needed to eat f
ast because this looked more like a biker thing than a tattoo thing, and that was a line I wasn’t prepared to cross. Two other guys I didn’t know walked in and dragged chairs up on the other side of Zayn at the head of the table. I had no idea who they were, so I focused on my sweet tea, sipping it with an intensity the task didn’t require.
“How’d the day go?” Dare spoke low in my ear.
I shrugged. “Not so busy, but Zayn says that’ll change soon.”
“Yup. Always does, in about another month we’ll wish we had an hour to ourselves.”
Rachel strolled over then to take orders.
I heard the giggles before I saw them. Three women, all fairly attractive, with barely any clothes on, wavered in on stiletto heels. They looked like they’d already started celebrating before they made it here. Nothing wrong with that, at least until they moved to our table. Angel brightened up, shooting me a satisfied sneer, before chatting away with the newcomers.
“So, you didn’t run away,” Jericho boomed.
I jumped, especially at his choice of words. Words that held a bite for me because I was a runaway. In fact, I always ran away.
“Still here.” I pointed to myself.
He pulled out his wallet. “I owe Dare twenty bucks, I bet him you’d be gone inside a month.”
What? He’d bet what?
A smile played across Dare’s lips as he leaned back in his chair.
I leaned forward halfway across Dare’s spot, actually pointing my finger at Jericho before I even knew it. “You hired me, thinking I wouldn’t stay.” I fumed. “Are you an idiot? Or do you like losing money?”
The table kind of quieted, but I was on a roll. “You don’t bet against your hires.”
Before I finished speaking, Jericho’s deep laugh rolled out across the table. He glanced over at Dare. “Red, you do have a temper.”
“Lila,” Dare growled to his friend.
“Lila.” Jericho stared at Dare as he said my name. “I think most would say I’m an idiot, don’t you, Dare?”
“Fuck yeah.” Dare grinned in this cold way I’d never seen. I think it was his scary look, one that should frighten me away, but it didn’t. I glanced at the girl show across the table, they tittered but kept their faces down. I wondered which one of them he’d sleep with tonight. I mean, I’d turned him down, so he was totally free to do whoever he wanted. While my mind processed the very rational logic, my body and heart rebelled.
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