Alluring Ink

by Ranae Rose

  “Well, I’m going to let you in on a little secret: choosing the right lipstick is actually super easy. All you have to do is find a color that’s a shade or two darker than your natural lip color. Here.” She swiped some color onto the girl’s lower lip. “See how it’s just a little darker than your upper lip?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, there you go. This is your color.”

  The girl grinned.

  “If you only took home one product from here today, I’d recommend this. You can swipe on a shade this natural even without putting on any other make-up, and it’ll still look good. So, if you have a day where you’re in a hurry or don’t feel like messing with other products, you’ll have a secret weapon.”

  “Thanks! I definitely want it.”

  Crystal smiled. This was her favorite type of customer – someone who genuinely wanted her advice and to discover which products were worth spending money on. She always felt good about herself after interactions like this, like she’d actually helped someone. Some people might say it was just make-up, but she knew better – it was confidence. It was fun. And it was what she loved doing.

  Customers like this one made dealing with the sample resellers and internet shoppers wanting to try before they bought worth it.

  She went over the products she’d used again, identifying them all by name and benefit.

  “I’ll take them all.”

  “Okay, great. I’ll ring you up. And if you have any more questions about how to use the products, you can always come back and see me.”

  When the girl left, Dawn drifted over from the other side of the counter with a sigh. “Customers love you. I’m so jealous.”

  “You sold a metric ton of fiery rose lipstick to that woman in the twinset this morning,” Crystal said.

  She liked Dawn and felt bad for her after what had happened with the perfume sampler the day before.

  Dawn groaned. “Don’t remind me. I’m ashamed of letting her walk away with that color. She looked like she was auditioning for the role of a psycho clown in a B-list horror movie.”

  “Well, you didn’t have much of a choice.” Crystal stifled a snort as she remembered the older woman who’d insisted on finding a shade as similar as possible to her favorite color, which they’d stopped manufacturing over a year ago. “She was adamant.”

  The blazing hot pink lipstick had stood out bold and garish against the woman’s pale complexion, but she’d refused to consider anything else. In fact, she’d been thrilled when she’d looked in the mirror. Apparently, the shade was a near twin of her old favorite.

  “Judging by the half a dozen tubes she stocked up on, she’s going to be walking around in that awful color for the rest of her life, even if the apocalypse hits.”

  “Sometimes you just have to find satisfaction in the fact that you made someone happy,” Crystal said. “And the commission doesn’t hurt, either.”

  Dawn shrugged. “Sure. But I wouldn’t mind some cute twenty-something coming in here and letting me play fairy godmother just in time for her big date. You have all the fun.”

  Crystal had to admit, she’d lucked out – she did have fun at work, when the right customer came along. Dawn had had a string of crappy run-ins with stubborn, unpleasant and downright irrational customers lately.

  “Here you go,” she said as a pretty woman in her thirties turned in their direction. “There’s no ring on her finger – maybe she has a date coming up too. She’s all yours.”

  Dawn gave Crystal a tentative smile.

  The approaching customer was stylishly dressed and carried a designer handbag. Her high heels clicked against the tile and looked intensely uncomfortable. All signs pointed at her being someone who was interested in looking good, at any cost.

  “Thanks,” Dawn mouthed, and hurried to greet the customer.

  Crystal busied herself at the other side of the counter and listened curiously, wondering if the woman would turn out to be the big spender she looked like.

  She never found out. When her hands weren’t busy, her mind whirled, pulling her under a tidal wave of memories and what-ifs. She’d been like this all day – in her own world whenever she wasn’t actively engaged with a customer. Could she have handled the night before better – diffused the situation without seeming so rude to Dylan?

  She didn’t think so, and that just made her feel guiltier for having him over to her place, like she’d been leading him on.

  He’d been a perfect gentleman – hadn’t asked for anything she hadn’t been willing to give. But she saw the way he looked at her, and she knew he saw the way she looked at him.

  Her jealousy returned, a surging tide that sucked her under. Why did the nicest guy she’d ever met have to be someone she’d never see again after a couple of weeks?

  * * * * *

  Crystal pulled Emily’s stroller up beside a table in the café across the street from Hot Ink. James, who’d invited her to eat lunch with him on her day off, was already seated across from her.

  “How’s Arianna?” she asked.

  “Okay. Everything’s going fine with the pregnancy, but morning sickness is rough.”

  Crystal nodded. “Has she tried eating oranges? I used to eat one as soon as I woke up every morning, and that helped a little.”

  “I don’t think so. I’ll mention it to her.”

  “It was a tip I read online. I wouldn’t recommend some of the others, though, like drinking ginger tea. It didn’t do anything for me personally, and it tastes terrible coming back up.”

  They talked for a while about Arianna and the new baby that’d be coming in February. Crystal was halfway through her sandwich when James changed the subject.

  “I drove by your place earlier this week on my way home from work and saw Dylan’s car in the lot.”

  Crystal’s stomach knotted up, and she met James’ eyes briefly before studying her iced coffee. “We were having dinner.”

  Her heart sank a little lower with each second of silence that ticked by after her admission. She hated the fact that she felt guilty, but she did. She didn’t want James to think that she was making bad decisions – his opinion meant a lot to her.

  “Are you sure you want to be hanging out with him?”

  Crystal frowned. “Why shouldn’t I be?”

  “Aren’t you tired of guys using you, Crystal?”

  Heat spread instantly across her face, as if she’d been slapped. Which was exactly how his words made her feel. A split second of self-loathing was instantly overshadowed by anger, and suddenly, she wanted to leave.

  Since it was pretty hard to make a dramatic exit with a stroller, she sat still in her seat, her spine rigid. “Is that why you invited me here – so you could chew me out for spending time with a guy?”

  His gaze didn’t waver. Neither did his serious expression. “I invited you here so we could talk about Dylan.”

  “What’s next, are you going to forcibly consign me to a convent?” She frowned, hating that he thought she’d failed almost as much as she hated being judged. She also hated how easily her confidence crumbled beneath the weight of his disapproval.

  Emily babbled in her stroller, reminding Crystal that James wasn’t just judging her – he was also judging her ability to care for Emily. That hurt more than any slight on her personal character.

  “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “Like what, that you think I’m some kind of tramp?” As the mother of a fatherless child, she was used to the insinuation. It angered her and punched a little hole in her heart every time. Sometimes her heart felt too full of holes to hold any emotion worth having.

  “No.” He frowned. “Fuck, Crystal, why are you jumping to the worst possible conclusion? I just meant that you deserve better. This is about him, not you.”

  “You don’t like Dylan?”

  “It’s not about that. It’s about the fact that he’s only going to be here for a few weeks. He doesn’t have any business chasing after
you.”

  “So I’m not allowed to eat take-out with a man unless I think he’s going to fall down on one knee and propose to me after a respectable year-long courtship?”

  “I’m just saying. Do you really think a guy who knows he’ll never see you again after a couple weeks is acting with your best interests in mind, or his?”

  “He’s not like that. And I … I really like him.”

  James’ frown deepened. “If that’s true, I guess you’re going to miss him when he leaves.”

  His words stung because they were true. “Yeah. Anyway, if it untwists your panties to know, I think you’re going to get your way – I was kind of rude to Dylan last night. I doubt he’ll want to hang out with me anymore.”

  A weird look flashed across James’ face. “I doubt that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he’s a man.”

  Crystal scowled.

  “I just don’t want to see you hurt,” James said. “You’ve been hurt enough. That’s all this is about. I’m not judging you.”

  She wished that were true, but she couldn’t bring herself to believe it.

  * * * * *

  Dylan’s back ached from four hours of tattooing bent over someone’s side. Finally alone in his half-booth, he stretched and breathed a long sigh. He had another appointment in an hour – God, he needed coffee.

  When he stepped out of his booth, he almost walked into James, who’d just entered the aisle.

  “Done for the day?” James asked, his expression unreadable.

  “No. Got another appointment at four-thirty. Just heading across the street for coffee.”

  “I was just about to do the same thing.”

  Dylan ended up walking out of Hot Ink with James, which he seriously doubted was the coincidence James implied.

  “You still pissed that I had dinner with your sister the other day?”

  It’d been two days since Dylan had had contact with Crystal. Two long days.

  “There any reason I shouldn’t be?”

  Dylan barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

  “I told her she needs to watch out for you trying to take advantage of her.”

  Anger flared hot and sudden inside Dylan, but James didn’t give him a chance to reply.

  “She thinks you’re ‘not like that’.”

  “I’m not.”

  “You’d better not be, when it comes to her.” James met Dylan’s eyes as they finished crossing the street and stopped on the sidewalk in front of the café. “I don’t care what you’re actually like, but you’d better not prove Crystal wrong.”

  It sounded like a threat.

  “I don’t know what you want me to say. I told you that if I stay, I want to keep seeing her. The only thing that’d stop me would be if she said no.”

  “She hasn’t had much luck with people staying in her life. In fact, when it comes to people who haven’t abandoned her, there’s just me. So if you decide to stick around and become a part of her life, guess who you’re going to have for company? Something to think about when you decide how serious you are about Hot Ink, or Crystal.”

  James entered the café with Dylan and stayed by his side as they ordered coffee. When Dylan sat down at a table, James sat down too – presumably, he was giving Dylan a taste of what his company would be like.

  There was no denying he didn’t like it.

  * * * * *

  A week passed by before Crystal heard from Dylan again. Her heart skipped a beat when his name appeared in a text message notification on her phone screen.

  She hadn’t expected to hear from him at all, and had been trying and failing to pretend she was okay with that.

  Can I take you to lunch? Sorry about the other day. Let me pretend that buying you a sandwich will make up for it.

  She snorted as disbelief washed over her. He was sorry – really? She was the one who’d asked him to leave because she’d doubted her ability to keep her panties on.

  Yes to lunch. Let me buy the sandwiches though.

  Never.

  Okay, coffee is my treat. And dessert.

  No negotiating. You working tomorrow?

  No.

  Damn. Day after?

  Yes. Taking a lunch break at 2.

  I’ll meet you outside your store?

  Okay. See you then.

  Her heart raced as she re-read their conversation, feeling relieved. At least now she could make peace with Dylan before he left.

  After that, all she’d have to worry about would be missing him.

  CHAPTER 9

  Dylan felt full of purpose as he walked with Crystal into the bistro near the mall. What he was about to do was something he’d thought long and hard about.

  He’d also given a lot of thought to how she might react, but really, he didn’t have a fucking clue what she’d say.

  On the other hand, he had a pretty good idea of what her brother might say, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him.

  He understood that James felt protective toward Crystal and Emily, and some of what he’d said to Dylan in the parking lot outside her apartment had stung. Still did. But James didn’t know everything.

  Whenever Dylan thought about the conversation he’d had with Crystal over his raven tattoo design, he knew that James was wrong. Dylan was interested in her for far more than her body, and he wasn’t preying on her because she was lonely. Something had shifted inside him when he’d watched her look at something he’d created and unknowingly describe exactly what he saw in it, too.

  They’d clicked, and he didn’t want it to stop.

  “Don’t even think about it,” he said when she pulled out her wallet and tried to pay for their lunch.

  She rolled her eyes and gave him a little half smile. “Thanks.”

  When they sat down he took a sip of his coffee, burning his tongue.

  “You okay?” Crystal noticed, though he tried to seem stoic.

  “Yeah.” Shit, it hurt. “Listen, I’m sorry about last week.”

  She frowned. “No, I’m sorry. The way I asked you to leave was so awkward.”

  He shook his head. “It was fine. I shouldn’t have asked to come over, after what you told me when I first asked you to lunch. It was inappropriate.”

  She looked down at her lunch, like she was embarrassed. “I wanted you to come over. I like hanging out with you.”

  “I like it too. There’s another reason why I wanted to see you. Other than apologizing, I mean.”

  “What is it?”

  “I’m staying at Hot Ink. Moving to Pittsburgh. Jed is going to expand the studio into the second story, and he invited me to tattoo there.”

  Her eyes went wide. “Really?”

  “Yeah. I like Hot Ink. I like Pittsburgh. And I’m ready for a change.”

  “They’re lucky to have you at Hot Ink. Your work is unbelievable. I’m sure your clients in Jersey will be sad to see you go.”

  “I’ll be heading back to Jersey after I finish up my guest work here to square things away with my regulars. Finish up some big pieces and works in progress. Jed says that remodeling the building’s second story will take a month anyway.”

  “Makes sense. The second story is an apartment now – it’ll be a lot of work.”

  He nodded. “I’ve been staying in it.”

  She smiled. “That’s right. I forgot.”

  “I’ve already started looking into rental listings here. And I’ve told everyone back in Jersey that I’m leaving. So, my decision is definite. It’s important to me that you know that before I ask you something.”

  “Ask me what?”

  “I want to keep seeing you.”

  “I assume you don’t mean just for lunch.” Her expression was hard to read, but her cheeks were a little pink.

  “I want to see you whenever and however you’d like. I hope that’ll eventually mean more than lunch.”

  “You know I’m a single mom.”

  “Yeah.”

>   “Well, my schedule isn’t very flexible. I’m almost never able to go out without Emily. I’m not sure how much fun that would be for you.”

  “There’s more to a relationship than just fun. At least, there is in the kind of relationship I want.”

  She wove a lock of her hair around her fingers, meeting his gaze.

  He got the impression she was trying to figure out whether he was full of shit or not.

  “I can’t remember the last time I liked spending time with someone as much as I like spending it with you. There are some people you need to be going out and doing things with all the time, to keep from facing how little you really relate to each other. But you’re not that kind of person. Not for me. I’d gladly watch paint dry with you.”

  She looked away, making a sound that was half-sigh and half-laugh. “Let’s hope things never get that desperate.”

  “I think we could find plenty of ways to fill our time together,” he said.

  Her gaze flickered back to his, and there was a light in her eyes that reminded him of when they’d first met. It made him feel restless, and hot all over.

  “If you’re sure I’m the kind of person you could watch paint dry with, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to give things a try. Whatever happens has to be better than that.”

  He finally let himself reach out and touch her hand, his fingertips gliding across her warm, soft skin.

  She smiled, and his heart sped up.

  He had a feeling it wasn’t going to slow down anytime soon.

  * * * * *

  Crystal had Dylan over to her place for dinner that night. This time, she didn’t feel guilty about it.

  He’d hesitated when she’d first invited him, which she’d found oddly touching. She’d assured him that she wanted to spend the evening with him – that meeting him for lunch wasn’t enough.

  Especially not when he’d be leaving in a week to wrap things up in Jersey. Since they’d agreed to a relationship now, she didn’t want to wait five weeks to start really getting to know him.