She held up a hand. “Oh, he didn’t do anything. Quite the opposite, in fact.” She sighed. “I thought we had a nice time at dinner.” A zinger of a kiss, too. Sigh. “But, now I think he’s avoiding me. I guess he doesn’t like me.”
Michael smiled again. “Miss Campbell, I can assure you that Noble likes you. I don’t think that’s the problem.”
Braelyn tilted her head. “Then what is it? Is it Tristan?”
“Oh, no. I don’t think so. Now, I can’t speak for my friend, but my guess is that he likes you a little too much, if you know what I mean.”
She sat a moment, trying to absorb the possibility. Liked her too much? She glanced at Michael. “You really think so?”
He nodded.
Well. Only one way to find out. She tried not to blush as she worked out the details in her mind that had been so clear just an hour ago. She wiped an invisible piece of lint from her jeans and turned her eyes back to Michael. “Well, I’m not sure if I buy that. Guess we’ll see.”
He shrugged.
“So, Michael,” she continued, “you busy tonight?”
“Uh, no, ma’am. I guess not. It’s my night off work and I was just gonna head home after my time here with Tristan.”
“May I ask a big favor?”
He seemed hesitant, as if she might ask him to eat a worm or something. “Okay.”
“Could you hang out with Tristan for a few hours longer tonight? He’s usually good on his own, but I might be out late.”
“Oh.” His brows relaxed as they both stood. “Sure. No worries.”
“One more thing.”
He stopped on his way out of the kitchen. “Yeah?”
“Noble’s working tonight, right?”
He nodded.
“Perfect. Then I’ll need directions to Gentry’s.”
Let Operation Sexy Neighbor commence.
Braelyn sucked in a breath as she sat in her compact SUV facing the entrance to Gentry’s tattoo studio. Surprisingly she wasn’t nervous. In her rearview mirror she caught a glimpse of Noble’s truck parked behind her next to a black Mustang. A mint-colored Prius sat incongruously to the other side.
She shifted her attention back to the entrance of the studio, which was not at all what she would’ve pictured for a tattoo shop. It was in a nice part of town. The building was clean, contemporary, stylish even, the lettering on the sign was crisp and professional. The clientele that she’d seen coming and going in the few minutes she’d been sitting in her car had been diverse. Businessmen, college girls, musicians with dreadlocks and guitars slung across their backs. Even a couple of jocks in their University of Texas athletic workout gear.
She flipped down her sun visor’s lighted mirror and refreshed her lip gloss and her courage before grabbing her purse and making her way to the door.
She glanced up as a small bell tinkled above her head signaling her entrance. Soothing Asian music played overhead as she stepped forward onto smooth wooden floors and let the door swish shut behind her. She moved forward toward the front desk, bypassing the college girls who were flirting with the athletes and telling them about the belly-button piercings they were there to get. A miniature fountain gurgled pleasantly in the corner and lovely artwork hung on the walls showcasing Japanese cherry blossoms and koi fish.
The faint buzz of a tattoo needle began in the background but Braelyn couldn’t see where it was coming from. She wondered if it was Noble or another tattoo artist.
She stepped up to the desk and waited for the woman on the phone to turn around. She knew this was her last chance to duck out. The cynical Braelyn sat on her shoulder like a little devil and reminded her that all men were scum-sucking pigs and encouraged her to leave while she still had the chance. Her feet were twitching in her cutest, strappy heels, eager to run at the least prompting.
But, somewhere deep inside, eternally hopeful Braelyn, perhaps masochistic-glutton-for-punishment-Braelyn, hoped for something better. Something real. Something meant to be.
“Okay, now,” the woman behind the counter said in a soft, slightly familiar voice that sounded more like a small girl than a woman. “We’ll see you then. Bye, bye.” She hung up and spun around, a smile lighting up her ice-blue eyes. “Hello. How can I . . . Braelyn? What are you doing here?” She eyed her up and down with obvious interest in her choice of clothes, but she didn’t say anything.
“Ariel?” Braelyn was shocked. Now she was truly busted. She felt like a teenager caught sneaking in after partying past curfew. It was one thing to know each other in the nursing home volunteer role. Quite another here, where she was quite literally taking Ariel’s advice. She gripped the counter and was sure all the blood drained from her face. Meeting here meant Ariel knew Noble.
Holy. Crap.
Play it cool. Braelyn forced a smile. “I could ask you the same thing.”
Ariel flitted from behind the counter. “I work here, silly. Didn’t I ever tell you that?”
She shook her head. Uh, no. She would’ve remembered that handy little tidbit. Quite the small world.
Ariel put an arm around her shoulder and led her to a quiet corner of the lobby. “So what brings you by if you didn’t know I worked here?” A sly gleam glinted in her eye like she somehow knew the answer already. Or maybe that was just Braelyn’s imagination.
I’m taking your advice? Sounded a little too hokie. “I’m actually here to see Noble. Is he busy?”
“Oh. Well, he’s with a client right now, but he should be finished soon. Come on.” She held out her hand.
“Where are we going?”
Ariel winked. “To wait for him. No reason for you to sit in the lobby here when Michael’s station is empty right next to Noble’s. You can wait there.”
“Michael’s station?” she repeated dumbly.
Ariel took her hand and drug her along with a smile. “Yes. Michael and I go way back. He’s not here tonight.”
Her head spun as the coincidences stacked up. “Uh, no, he’s at my house.”
Ariel came to an abrupt halt and she nearly slammed into her. “Your house?”
Now it was her turn to smile. “Yes. He’s my son’s Big Buddy.”
Ariel snapped her fingers. “Right. Right. I remember now. What a wonderful co-in-ki-dink!”
It was, indeed. She offered another small smile and continued to follow Ariel to the main floor of work stations.
As the sounds of strange instruments buzzing and conversation floated about, her nerves reared their ugly heads. But, she’d come all this way. She’d see it through. She straightened her purse strap on her shoulder, rolled her lips to spread her gloss, and kept on truckin’ with her back ramrod straight so her assets would be shown to their best advantage. Might as well come out swinging.
The main floor of the studio was just as classy as the exterior and lobby. The place was clean, well kept, and neatly decorated. Black chest-high partitions offered the clients some privacy, but it was still open and airy. To her right, a young bald man sat on a stool tattooing a colorful dragon onto a man’s back while they joked about something to do with Chevy engines vs. Mustangs.
As she passed, the tattoo artist glanced up and pierced her with intense blue eyes the color of deep, clear sapphires. His brows dipped ever-so-slightly as he tilted his head and offered her an enigmatic smile before turning back to his work.
There was something about him. So intense. He was good lookin’, too. Maybe if Noble wasn’t interested . . .
A woman zipped by, stirring the air with the scent of expensive perfume. She appeared so out of place, Braelyn had to glance over her shoulder for a second look: loose-fitting, fashionable linen slacks that gushed money, cashmere sweater, pearls, cute haircut. Her unmistakably designer glasses were pushed up into her hair, a stack of pap
ers were clenched in her fist, and a harried expression darkened her face. Braelyn watched as the woman stomped right up to the blue-eyed tattooing hottie and shoved one of the forms under his nose.
He calmly set his tattoo needle aside and studied it for a moment. They exchanged a few heated words before the matter seemed to get resolved. The woman’s face finally relaxed and her hands dropped her sides. Braelyn was just about to turn and keep following Ariel when the woman bent and kissed the man. And we’re talkin’ kissed the man, like a get-a-room kiss. Braelyn couldn’t have been more shocked if she’d sprouted wings.
Then the woman stepped back, pivoted, and strode away with a smirk as though she’d just won an argument. She breezed past Braelyn and Ariel.
“Hey, Kyle. How’s it goin’?” Ariel asked.
The woman stopped and smiled. “Great. Jed is just seeing the error of his ways, is all. We don’t want the IRS breathing down our neck again with another audit, do we?”
“Absolutely not.” Ariel glanced at Braelyn. “Kyle, this is Braelyn. She’s here to see Noble.”
“Oh, I . . .” Braelyn tried to interrupt. There was nothing about her being here that warranted an introduction to his friends.
But the woman smiled broadly and held out her hand. “So good to meet you. I’m Kyle Gentry. The stubborn one over there—” She indicated the man she’d just locked lips with—“is my husband, the owner of this place, and Noble’s best friend.”
Braelyn accepted her hand and returned the generous smile. “Nice to meet you, too. Braelyn Campbell. Noble’s neighbor.” And that’s all.
“Ooooh,” she said, like being Noble’s neighbor meant something.
Braelyn studied her, waiting for an explanation. None was forthcoming. The woman straightened the papers in her hand. “Well, it was good to meet you, Braelyn. I hope to see you around again.” She pivoted and made her way to a back office and shut the door.
“Kyle is the accountant for the studio,” Ariel explained. “Michael hired her as his CPA at first, that’s how she met Jed. But then nature took its course and they fell in love.” She sighed dreamily. “Isn’t that terribly romantic?”
“Yes.” It was. Because if ever there was a case of opposites attract, they appeared to be it.
“Okay, come on. Let’s get you settled. He shouldn’t be much longer.”
Braelyn followed her blindly, wondering how she’d have any idea because she’d yet to even catch a glimpse of Noble. But as they neared an area of more workstations, the buzzing of a tattoo needle grew more incessant, as did a woman’s breathy laughter. Ariel continued to lead her toward a partitioned area that was obviously Michael’s with his humongous black leather jacket hung haphazardly over a chair in the corner.
Braelyn was drawn to the dozens, maybe hundreds, of beautiful sketches of angels that littered the workspace. She picked up one that looked a lot like she would’ve pictured Ariel as a little girl and smiled.
“They call Michael ‘The Angel,’” Ariel said behind her.
“I can see why.” She put the drawing down and spun around as Noble’s deep voice carried over the buzz of his needle. He was mumbling something, bringing about another giggle from the woman who she could now see as Ariel pulled her further into the work space. Indecision knotted in her gut as she caught a glimpse of the woman sitting in the adjacent station—obviously Noble’s, though he was nowhere to be seen. She was stunning. Statuesque, even sitting down. Long, blond, Barbie hair. Big, long-lashed, hazel eyes, which she was currently batting a million-miles-a-minute looking downward. Braelyn couldn’t help herself. She stepped up to the partition.
Shit. Barbie had a perfect, surgically enhanced body and was aiming all that come-hither charm at Noble, who was crouched down on a low stool tattooing her ankle.
She stepped one foot back, ready to bolt for it, when Ariel piped up. “Hey, Noble. Look who’s here.”
Slowly, he wiped the excess ink from Barbie’s shapely ankle, before turning his midnight eyes upward. His gaze locked onto hers and there was no turning back. What in the heck had she gotten herself into?
Noble couldn’t believe his eyes. He could scarcely breathe. What was Sweet Cheeks doing here? And dressed like that? All he could see was the cleavage-hugging candy pink top she had on and the sexy makeup job she’d done on herself and his mouth was friggin’ dry. Had to be a mirage.
He blinked and glanced at his client who’d been doing her best to come on to him all night. Her mouth was a pinched line and all her throaty laughter had disappeared. Her foot was tense in his hand as she eyed Sweet Cheeks watching from Michael’s station. Guess she wasn’t a mirage, after all.
He didn’t say a word. He couldn’t.
Finally, Braelyn offered him a small, timid smile. “I guess I’ve caught you on a busy night.” She stepped back. “I’ll see you later?”
Were those nerves in her voice? “Wait.”
She paused, her eyes darting between him and Ariel, who was watching silently.
“Is everything all right? Tristan?”
Her impossibly golden eyes widened a moment as if she hadn’t expected his question. Her glossy lips parted slightly to say something before she pressed them shut again, apparently lost for words. Finally, she tilted her head and smiled. “Everything is great.” She hiked her thumb over her shoulder. “But I think I’m just gonna go.”
He offered his client an apologetic glance’. “Gimme just a sec, okay?” They were nearly done anyway. He released her foot and stood, ignoring her jealous glare. He was never gonna take her bait tonight, so she could just get over herself.
He took the couple of long strides over to the partition just as Ariel ducked out to answer the phone at the front desk. He eyed Braelyn up and down. She looked good enough to eat in her sexy pink top and hip-hugging jeans. He glanced at her feet. She had on man-eater heels. What was she trying to do? Kill him? Like she hadn’t done enough damage kissing him the other night. It had been all he could do keeping his distance these last days, but it was for the best. Someone as perfect as Sweet Cheeks, much less her innocent kid, didn’t need to be dragged into his dark mess of a life.
But, damn if he didn’t want her there. Selfish prick.
She took a breath and his eyes strayed to her chest. He licked his lips. “So . . .”
She cocked her weight onto one hip and it was incredibly sexy. “So.”
“I’m assuming you came here tonight to see me?” He lifted a brow.
She took a step in his direction. “I did.”
He was stupidly happy about that. “Really? And why is that?”
Another step until they were only separated by the partition and their breath. She peered up into his eyes and smiled. “A couple of reasons.”
He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans to keep from touching her because her scent had reached out and wrapped itself around him. “What can I do for you, Braelyn?”
God, how her eyes bored into him. She pitched her voice low so only he heard. “You can quit ignoring me. I had a nice time at dinner with you.” Her eyes dipped down and landed on his lips. “I thought you did, too. But if you didn’t, just say so. Otherwise . . .”
Was his chicken shit avoidance that obvious? “I had a good time,” he interrupted her, his voice nearly a whisper so his client wouldn’t hear. He was already feeling the daggers she was throwing with her eyes at his back.
She turned startled eyes up to his. “Then why on earth have you been avoiding me? Is it because I kissed you?”
Jezus! The woman was something else. If only she knew how right on the money she was. “It’s nothing like that,” he lied. “I’ve just been busy.”
“Oh,” she said. But the deflated expression on her face clearly indicated she didn’t believe him. “Okay. That’s settled then.
”
“Fine.” Though he didn’t know how she thought he’d ever be able to ignore her dressed like that. Fuckin’ A. “But you said a couple things. What else did you want?” he asked with a half-smile.
She swallowed and glanced behind him to his nearly forgotten client then back to his face. “I want you to help me fulfill one of my fantasies.”
Chapter 15
“Dude, that’s your neighbor, isn’t it?” Jed cornered Noble alone after his very pissed-off client left with a nice tattoo but no headway with her artist.
He glanced toward Sweet Cheeks where she sat, sexy as she pleased, in the chair recently vacated in his station. “Yeah.”
“I was wondering if I’d ever get to meet her.” He laughed and watched as Noble fiddled with some bottles of ink. “Dude.”
Noble glanced up. “What?”
“What the fuck are you doing?”
Avoiding her. “Nothing. Just cleaning up for a sec. Why?”
Jed rolled his eyes. “Cuz you’ve got a very hot chick waiting for you in your station.” He glanced over. “Impatiently, I might add. What does she want?”
Noble’s heart began to thud uncomfortably. He wasn’t sure he could do this. Inspiration struck. He smiled at Jed. “Why don’t you come talk to her and find out?”
Jed wrinkled his brow, but followed him over. Braelyn’s automatic smile when he approached nearly melted his resolve. She sat straighter in her chair.
“Braelyn, this is my good friend, Jed.” He inclined his head.
Jed stepped forward and extended his hand. “Hey, there.”
Her answering grin and the spark of interest in her eye was enough to make Noble want to snatch her hand away from Jed’s, but he kept himself in check. “Jed, my neighbor, Braelyn.” He waited a beat. Two. “So, Braelyn here wants a tattoo.”
The Halo Effect (Cupid Chronicles) Page 12
