"Ha, as if! I know your type. The only one you love is yourself." Maddie tossed the words back at him and resumed shading in another scale.
"Damn, girl. Is that what you really think of me?" Link paused and studied her face, but she refused to look up at him. Maddie knew she'd overstepped and had been deliberately rude. He released a long sigh and continued, "Actually I deserve that, and I certainly have spent time with enough women without much of a commitment. I could see why you might think you know all about me just by the gossip. But people aren't always what you think.” He stopped talking and let his head fall back against the table. He closed his eyes before continuing. “Caroline was my baby sister. She died in a car accident when she was six, and she's the one that started calling me Link. She just couldn’t pronounce Lionel when she was a toddler so the nickname stuck."
Link stared in stony silence at the ceiling. Maddie wondered if he would hop off the table and leave. She’d never felt so low or rotten and cursed her smart mouth.
"I'm sorry. Link, I am so sorry. That was so out of line for me to say and I can't believe I…" Maddie paused, tears of shame filling her eyes and choking off her words.
Link reached over and grabbed the hand that clutched her tattoo gun. "Be careful with that thing; you might hurt me." He winked at her and gave her a half smile. "It's okay. It was a long time ago. She was a great kid, and it really wasn't anyone's fault. A two-car collision on icy roads. The whole family had been coming back from a recital when a Buick slid into our car and hit Caroline’s side. We were lucky that any of us survived the crash. Another few inches and you would have one fewer customers tonight." He smiled to take the tension out of his words and let go of her hand.
"I'm such a butthead sometimes." Maddie resumed her work, and the heaviness in the room finally fluttered away. “I always wanted a big brother. Isabel was too serious all the time.” She talked about how motherly her older sister had been, even when she’d been off at school. After that they were able to just talk about everything and nothing while she worked.
He occasionally gritted his teeth in pain over a particularly sensitive area and she’d stop for a second or two. Maddie was shocked to discover that Link was quite interested in various types of art and had even started purchasing a few pieces. They both liked a lot of the same painters. They talked about music, with Link telling some naughty stories about different groups Becket had toured with over the years. But it was when Link started doing impressions of Thomas getting all worked up and his accent going from “stuffy Brit” to “who the hell knew what the man was saying” that Maddie started laughing so hard she had to stop, afraid she'd mess up.
"Stop, I’m trying to work here." She giggled. "But I know what you mean, when Thomas gets wound up he just starts talking total nonsense. I don’t think Isabel even knows what he’s saying. And I can't believe he's been calling me a “Wee Moppet.” I mean, he's known me since I was seventeen; it's not like I was four or something. Damn, I was old enough to be Isabel's maid of honor. I have to get Thomas for this." Maddie paused, shaking her head.
"Well, I sure wish I'd seen you at the wedding," Link said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"Oh, you saw me. We were introduced, but you looked right through me," Maddie explained with a shrug.
"How could I not remember a girl as beautiful as you?"
"Ha! It might've been because you had two bimbo dates with you that day, and I was a skinny, knobby-kneed seventeen-year-old with braces and really badly dyed blonde hair." Madison watched his face carefully, waiting to see if that sparked a memory, and chuckled when she saw that it did. His eyes opened up wider and he studied her face intently before looking at her rounded curves.
"Guess you were a late bloomer, like me," Link answered.
Normally Maddie would give him what-for over a comment like that, but she was getting tired. She’d been leaning over his stomach and chest for the last two hours working and needed to take a break. “I can take a five-minute break and probably do another hour on the scales, but beyond that I think the work would suffer. I estimate we have about three more hours to really get this perfect. Would you rather call it a night and come back?" Maddie left the offer hanging in the air.
"How about we both take a break and get a pizza from Harry's?” Link suggested and then added in a lower voice, “And don’t worry, I’ll come back and let you color all over my body whenever you want."
"Link, I'm not sure a pizza date is really a good idea for us," Maddie said with a shrug as she dropped her equipment into the “to be autoclaved” box.
"It doesn't have to be a date. It could just be two friends getting a pizza and talking some more about whatever you want to talk about, classical music, fine art, the fact that I have the most incredible Xbox and game selections ever made," Link offered.
His playful nature was quickly winning her over. She knew it was a bad idea and that she was just letting herself get sucked in for more trouble than she wanted her guarded heart exposed to. But in the end, her stomach spoke for her, letting out a very unladylike growl of hunger.
Link took immediate advantage of the sound. "See, your body knows I'm right. We'll take a cab over to Harry's, get an extra meat-lover’s special, split a pitcher of beer, and talk video games."
She placed a bandage over where she had been working and pressed a little harder than necessary. "We’ll get the vegetable lover’s pizza, and I get to pick the beer. Deal?" Maddie countered, expecting him to complain.
"Sold," Link agreed, grabbing his shirt and pulling it over his broad shoulders.
Chapter 20
Link
What the hell was he doing? Best friends’ little sisters should be off limits, but here he was, sniffing around her again. As soon as Lori had confirmed Madison was working for her, he had to see her again. He coerced her into having Madison finish his tattoo. Although, he was glad he did; the girl was a genius with color. It had been almost torturous having her draped over him all evening, caressing his skin gently as she wiped off the excess blood and ink. He could smell a hint of vanilla emanating from her hair, and he had to physically restrain himself from reaching out and sliding his fingers through her long brown tresses. The way her eyes had widened as she hungrily studied his chest sent a jolt of pure lust down his body, and his cock stiffened. He’d basically spent the last two hours with a painful erection. Link forced himself to focus on the burn of the needle on his skin to keep from pulling Madison on top of him and ripping her clothes off. Listening to her talk about the museums she’d visited and her favorite styles had only turned him on more. Suddenly he was fantasizing about covering both their naked bodies in paint and rolling around on a giant canvas. His brain added a sexual overtone to every topic she talked about. It was incredible to just talk to her, watch her work on his body as if it was a priceless canvas.
He could tell she was getting tired, and frankly, his skin was feeling pretty raw. He just didn’t want to leave her side. If he had to, he’d come up with ten more tattoos for her to do just to hang out with her longer. What the hell was happening to him?
Her agreeing to pizza was a start. If he could get her to go back to his apartment after then his day would be epic. Holy crap, when was the last time he worried about getting a girl to go back to anywhere with him? What was he doing here?
He wanted to just call Tommy and get it over with. Tell his best friend that he was seeing Madison and swear on a stack of bibles that this wasn’t him just chasing tail; it didn’t feel like one of his weekend flings. Then if Tommy wanted to kill him, at least he’d put it out there. He wouldn’t mention what happened at the Mission, just say he met her at the funeral reception and they’d been seeing each other.
* * * *
Harry’s New York Pizza was packed, even at nine o’clock. The wait for a table was going to be about an hour. A situation Link worked to his favor. He could have just charmed the hostess with cash, but he had a better plan. “What if we order th
is for delivery and we go back to my place?” He put his hand up to stop her from protesting. “We’ll just eat pizza and maybe play X-box, and I promise we won’t do anything you don’t want to do.”
Madison nodded before answering, “That’s the problem, I might want to do things we shouldn’t be doing.”
Link could only hope, as he looked at her in her black leggings and silky blouse. The fabric was so fine he could see her nipples poking through and longed to pinch at them. Her heeled boots went up past her knees and made him imagine her wearing them and holding a riding crop. He shifted his jeans a bit, his cock plumping up again at the thought. Louis Armstrong’s “Ain’t Misbehaving” played in his head. Damn, this girl would be the death of him, and he was looking forward to the trip.
Chapter 21
Madison
Link led Madison up the stairs of his Eastside brownstone and punched in the security code. It was a beautiful home but not what she’d been expecting. During the cab ride over, she imagined ultramodern surfaces with lots of black leather, chrome, and mirrors about the place. She was thoroughly surprised by the antique Victorian touches of the interior. The hallway with its delicate Queen Anne table, tin ceiling, crown molding, and dark wood floor was cozy and inviting. She glanced around the arched entryway to see overstuffed high-back chairs and a large Dell Ryan couch carefully placed before a fireplace. The table in the dining room was a high-topped oval traditional dining table that seated twelve, each leg carved in an ornate style. She guessed the pocket doors would lead to a large kitchen, but Link was helping her with her bag and gesturing her to go ahead into the living room.
"How about I grab us a couple of beers, and I can turn on the gas fireplace while we wait for the pizza to arrive?" Link offered.
"Sounds great, but plying me with some beer is not going to mean you're going to beat me in Sky Fox. I was the master at that game in my dorm tournament last semester," Maddie bragged.
"We'll see. I’ve spent a lot of time on tour buses with a bunch of guys playing Xbox. In fact we pretty much drove across the country a dozen times with nothing to do but video games, so I'm pretty good. Hey, do you care what type of beer? I think I've only got IPA or stout."
"Pale Ale sounds good." Maddie looked around the living room more carefully, surprised at the multitude of framed family photographs and miniature models Link had displayed on built-in shelves and end tables. The models were an eclectic mix of boats, planes, and famous buildings, but the photos were what caught her eye. There were some of him and what she assumed were his parents and a really old picture of him with his whole family. It must have been taken right before the car accident because his sister looked to be about six years of age in the photo. There were also pictures of him with the band and a few of him shaking hands with other famous people. She picked up a picture of him shaking the president's hand and carefully put it back down on the table. She smiled at an amusing picture of Link when he must've been a teenager. He wore an ill-fitted suit and sat behind a big piano. Possibly it was taken at some sort of school performance. She couldn't believe it was Link…except it had to be. The boy was skinny and wore thick glasses. He had spots on his face, and his smile held the metallic glint of braces. Maddie laughed silently and reminisced about how he had looked right through her at her sister's wedding. Back when she was the skinny teenager sporting her own ugly braces. He certainly was a Renaissance man; everything about him was contradictory to what she’d seen in the media.
Not wishing to be caught going through his personal photos she headed to the other side of the large living room and checked out the grand piano set up by the window. It was shiny and black with the lid left propped open, and she couldn't resist going over and tapping on a few of the keys. Her grandmother's house had a piano, but it was a broken upright missing most of the keys. She'd never had a lesson and wasn't particularly musical herself.
"Do you play?" Link asked as if he had read her quiet thoughts. He handed her a bottle of beer and waited for her response.
"Thanks. No, I don't play any instruments. You can play piano and guitar?" Maddie asked.
"Actually, I started learning piano before anything else. That's what I'm best at but there's not too many rock bands looking for a lead pianist.” He smiled wryly. “My parents both taught music. I think they dreamed of being famous musicians, but it never happened for them so they put their energies into pushing me, and when Caroline was alive, her too. We both had music lessons before we could walk. But I do love to play." Link tipped his beer back and took a healthy swallow before sitting down on the bench and pulling Maddie down onto the seat beside him. He took the beer out of her hand and placed it gently on the wood floor. "Anything in particular you like?" he asked.
"I'm fond of the real classical composers like Wagner and Bellini, Mozart, Tchaikovsky. But I'm sure anything you play would be beautiful."
"We'll play something together then."
"I really don't have any musical ability. Trust me Link, your ears don't want me touching this piano," Maddie stated, smiling at her own tin ear.
"Nonsense. Before I joined the band I was studying composition. Thought I'd be an elementary school music teacher or something. I believe we all have music in us, we just need a chance to let it out." Link placed a few of Maddie's fingers at the end of the keyboard, wrapping his own hands over hers and tapping out a few notes. "See, when I tell you to, you're just going to press your fingers down gently on these keys in the pattern I just showed you, okay?" After a couple more runs through the pattern he moved his own hands into the middle C position and started to play. It was beautiful. She wasn't sure, but it could've been a piece by Handel. He went through a few bars and gave her the signal to start the pattern. The first run through was a bit rough, but still she was amazed that what they played melded so beautifully.
"Not bad, grasshopper. I think with another run through you might have it. Perhaps there is a little music in your soul after all? Let's go through it again." Link smiled and gave her a saucy wink.
They played through the piece again, and this time she kept the pattern up and didn't make quite so many mistakes. By the time they reached the big crescendo Madison was giggling and laughing. She optimistically felt like Carnegie Hall might not be too far after all.
"I think this little grasshopper has learned much from the master, perhaps we can plan our takeover of the Shaolin Temple next," Madison teased playfully.
"Okay, let's not get crazy. One short lesson does not make you ready for that much kung fu." Link laughed and broke into a quick-moving show tune from “Guys and Dolls.” The jazzy tempo was completely different from the classical piece they just worked on.
"If I'd known the way to get you to relax and laugh a bit was to play the piano for you, I would have been tickling my organ long ago," Link teased suggestively.
"Ha ha. I think we both need to stay away from your organ tonight."
He ignored her hesitance and whispered into her ear, his breath tickling her lobe, “But my organ just adores you.” He kissed her neck and she shivered. She dropped her head to the side, and he took the cue to move his lips to hers. The doorbell rang and they jerked apart. “Pizza must be here already.” Link hopped up, reaching in his pocket for his wallet on the way to the door. Maddie put an arm out to stop him. "I’ll pay for the pizza. You are providing the beer and the Xbox," she offered.
He shook his head. "No way, you're my guest, which means it's my treat." Link’s voice dropped as he swung the door open. The twins of sin stood before him in matching leather minis and stiletto heels.
Madison crept up behind him pushing cash his way only to stop in her tracks at the sight of his guests.
“Hey Link, thought you might want to hang out now that you’re back in town,” blonde twin number one offered with a sway of her narrow hips.
Madison’s face briefly crumpled before she forced her lips into an overly bright smile. “Oh, I didn’t know you were expecting company tonight.
I’d better be going, my roommate will be waiting on me.”
“Wait, no, I wasn’t expecting company.” Link responded with a frown. Maddie brushed past him, grabbed her bag off the couch, and hustled her way out the door and past the twins. Link reached out for her arm only to have her shake him off.
“Really, I should be going. Have fun,” she bit the words out to the eager pair of blondes still on the stoop.
“Bye-bye,” the twins called in unison. They sashayed into Link’s foyer.
“Madison, please, I didn’t invite anyone over,” Link called to her retreating back.
She ignored him. It served her right. She knew his type; hell, he probably hoped she’d join in on a harem orgy with him.
She turned the corner and stepped into a bus shelter. A tear formed in the corner of her eye. She swiped angrily at the reminder of her folly and bit her lip. Damn men. She studied the posted bus route in the shelter and ducked low. She could see Link coming around the corner looking for her. He called her name a couple of times and looked toward the army of yellow taxis driving down the busy street. He slapped his forehead and swung his arm down against his hip. Good, let him be upset that she’d bolted, the shithead. She could only hope he sent the turbo twins packing too. Perhaps this was a good reminder of why she avoided men like him; maybe the arrival of some groupie chicks helped stop her from making another mistake with him. Ahh, he had started getting under her skin tonight, and she couldn’t risk it.
Chapter 22
Madison
Despite her hesitance, Maddie found herself back at work on Link’s tattoo four days later. She was finishing up scales and highlighting around the dragon’s eyes. It was definitely turning into a masterpiece. Her boss didn’t leave her too many options, and Link’s barrage of texts and calls eventually swayed her. They could be friends, and if that’s what they were, then how could she be pissed about him having other women stop by? Ugh, but did they have to be blonde bombshells?
Loving Link Page 7
