Page 134 of The Sounds of Her

In all honesty, I’m a little nervous about how she is going to take this. It’s a pretty big thing I’m about to show her. It’s where I’ve been all day. She thinks I was doing band stuff with Adam when, in reality, I’ve been with Phoenix all day.

I paid for him and his girl to spend Valentines in New York, so long as he was free to do what I wanted first. He jumped all over it. I’ve met Lucky a few times. His girlfriend is more tatted up than he is. She works at the shop too. She’s fun and has always treated me the same as everyone else who walks into Blackhawk Ink.

The tattoo is fresh, although the swelling has gone down, it still looks sharp. Phoenix did an amazing job. I take off the shirt and toss it aside, then step in front of Brooke. She goes to spread her legs, but I step so my legs are around hers, holding them closed together. Then I lean down, my hands on the back of the couch so I’m caging her in.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

I nod down between us. Brooke gets the picture and reaches for my belt. She does it with a smirk on her lips, when she licks them, I almost lose it and take over, but I’m not planning on fucking her on the couch right now, as much as I may want to.

She lowers the zipper, making the pants loose on my waist, and reaches up to kiss me as she pushes them off my hips. She starts to peel away my underwear, when her hands graze over the gauze, and she pulls away before the kiss gets too deep.

“Archer, what happened?” she tilts my hips so she can see better.

Straightening up, my pants drop around my ankles and I realise what an idiot I must look, as she worriedly stares up at me. I kick away the pants and take her face in my hands.

“I’m not hurt. Well, it hurt a little. I can take it.”

“Archer, stop being obtuse. What have you done?”

“Peel it back.”

Her confusion is cute. I take her hand and put it on the corner where the tape is, just below the V on my hip. After a moment, she peels it away, uncovering the tattoo. Brooke blinks, staring at it. Then her eyes fill with tears. Thank fuck, it’s the exact reaction I hoped for.

Without touching the inked area, which is still red, she moves her fingers around the key I have tattooed on my hip.

“It matches mine,” she whispers.

I took a picture of Brooke’s padlock tattoo to Phoenix. He’s incorporated the same filigree pattern and the pink diamond on the top of the key. It might be girly to others, I don’t care. There are two ways she can look at this, but I hope she understands the true meaning of why I got the key that unlocks her padlock. It’s not even for a dirty reason.

“You got this today?” she tilts her head up. “Archer, it’s beautiful. I can’t… it’s…”

“Never thought I’d see the day when Brooke Hannon is speechless,” I joke.

She swipes her fingers under her eye to brush back the tears, then gets to her feet and throws her arms around me.

“It’s not because I want to lock you down,” I whisper against her neck.

“I know. It’s because you’ve helped me unlock everything I kept inside.”

My smile is huge. She gets it. She gets me.

“I love you, Archer.”

My eyes widen and I pull her back so I can see her face. It’s the first time she’s said that. First time either of us have used the L word. Fuck. I’ve wanted to, for a while, but I didn’t want to scare her off.

“Ditto.”

“No Ghost references,” she playfully bites my lip.

“Yeah. Sorry. Come on, you know I fucking love you.”

“So romantic.”

“Bet your ass.” I drag her dress up over her hips and squeeze her ass.

“Are we going to use your gift now?”

“Yeah,” I stare into her eyes. “I’ll take care of you. Trust me?”

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