Page 20 of Ink & Desire

She shakes her head. “I’m not talking aboutthat, either. You know what I’m talking about. So, tell me.”

I shake my head as I reach for my seatbelt. “There’s nothing to tell,” I say. “I guess he changed his mind.”

“Avery Elizabeth Scott, don’t you dare hold out on me,” Cass practically yells. “There was some smoking-hot, sexual tension between you and Corbin, and I want to know every detail right this instant.”

I turn a look of confused horror on her. “Were you trying to sound like my mother? Because you did.”

She makes a face of disgust. “Rude! Just tell me what I want to know.”

Sighing, I begin driving back toward my apartment. “Fine,” I say. “There’s some tension there, yes. I noticed it yesterday when he kicked me out of the shop. But I chose to ignore it because I was never going to see him again.”

I pause to take a breath before saying, “Except I did. Last night at the club.”

I can’t see Cass’s look of shock because I’m focused on the road, but I assume her mouth is hanging open because she’s silent for several seconds.

“Why didn’t you tell me that?!”

I shrug. “I don’t know. I thought I’d never see him again.”

“Well, it’s time to stop thinking that, because he’s practically going to be your boss soon.”

I groan miserably, turning to face her as I stop at a red light. “So, you think I should take the apprenticeship with Corbin?”

She looks at me like I’ve grown an extra head. “Duh. He’s the best there is. You’d be dumb not to.”

“But he’s an asshole,” I argue. “You saw that yourself.”

She winces. “He’s definitely a little abrasive. But you did lie to him. Who knows? Maybe he’s much nicer under normal circumstances. This is an awkward scenario.”

“Abrasive is an understatement,” I mutter.

“Stop changing the subject and tell me what happened last night,” she says.

I sigh with resignation. “Fine.”

I talk for the rest of the drive, telling her every detail of my encounter with Corbin last night at the club. Cass doesn’t interrupt, which I’m grateful for. By the time I’m finished speaking, I’m glad I told her. I needed to talk about it with someone.

“So, yeah,” I say when I finish. “There’s some tension there.”

Pulling to a stop in my parking space outside of my building, I shift in my seat to look at my best friend. She’s staring at me with a bemused expression on her face.

“What?” I ask, confused.

“That’s not tension,” she says. “That’s a ticking timebomb.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You,” she says, grinning. “You’re totally going to fuck him.”

My mouth drops open, and I shake my head, even as I feel a stab of desire at her words. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t considered what it would be like. I’d lain awake last night thinking about everything he’d said to me at the club, thinking about his hand wrapped around my throat and the power in his large body as he’d loomed over me. The idea of him using that hand on my throat and that big body to control me turns me on more than I can say.

“No. I’m not,” I say. “You said it yourself. He’s going to be my boss soon. Or close to it. I can’t sleep with my boss.”

“Who said anything about sleep?” she says. “I said you’re going to fuck him. And I don’t blame you. He looks like he’s good at it.”

“I regret telling you anything,” I mutter, climbing out of the car.

“No, you don’t,” she says, following me. “You cherish these moments of sharing.”

---