Page 34 of Ink & Desire

Corbin narrows his eyes at his piercer, but he sighs. "Please."

It's not quite a request, but it's better than nothing.

"Thanks," I whisper.

"He needs someone to call him out sometimes," she says. "It's good for him."

"I'll let you handle that," I mutter before walking toward my new boss.

I use the few seconds it takes to cross the room to compose myself and take a deep breath. If I'm going to be working for this man for a year or more, I need to be able to talk to him without my hormones interfering. I manage to paste a generic smile on my face as I approach Corbin and hand him the folder.

"Thanks," he says, taking it from me.

He opens it,flipping through to see my signature before nodding and closing it again. Then he eyes me for a second.

"Try not to let Jessie rub off on you," he says. Then, raising his voice slightly, he looks over at the other woman. Holding up his finger and thumb close together, he says, "She's this close to being fired."

Jessie laughs, rolling her eyes. "You can't fire me. You love me."

Corbin's mouth twists slightly. "Hmm."

I'm shocked by this display of playful teasing from him. Shocked, and annoyed. Because I didn't need to know Corbin had a playful side. I preferred when I could just put him in a box labeled 'Hot, but a total dickhead'. Now, I'm forced to reevaluate my previous assessment. And it's only day one. Fuck.

"Give me a few minutes and we'll get started," Corbin says, pulling me out of my inner musings.

"Sure," I say, managing a weak smile.

This is going to be a long year.

Chapter 16

Corbin

“Admit it,” Jessie says. “I was right.”

I eye her, confused. “About what?”

“Avery.”

She says the name as if I’m supposed to know what she’s talking about.

“What about her?”

“She’s doing a great job,” Jessie says. “She might even be fitting in.” She gives a theatrical gasp that almost makes me laugh.

I follow her gaze to look at Avery, keeping my expression neutral. It’s true that she’s doing better at the shop than I expected when she’d first walked into the building. But I’m not admitting that to Jessie. Besides, it’s been less than two weeks. It’s too soon to judge.

“It’s still early,” I say, making Jessie roll her eyes.

“You’re so stubborn,” she mutters, walking back to her station before I can come back with a retort.

The woman in question is hovering near Noah’s station, talking with a client who’s getting her first tattoo. The client had walked into the shop with wide eyes, clearly nervous. Avery picked up on it immediately and engaged her in small talk, distracting her from her nerves. She’d stayed nearby the entire time while Noah set up and got started on the tattoo. The distraction had worked, for a while. But when Noah finished outlining and moved on to shading the small tattoo, the woman had gone suddenly pale and held up a hand to stop him.

Avery hadn’t hesitated. She’d immediately gone to grab a cool, damp cloth to place on the client’s neck and a bottle of water to sip while Noah gave her a few minutes. It isn’t the first time I’ve seen a client get a little light-headed during a session. I’ve seen people’sadrenaline get the better of them more times than I can count by now. Most of the time I can look at a client before we even get started and know how they're going to handle the session. But I've spent years doing this. Avery’s still new to this. I remember telling her that it happens sometimes. I’d even told her about our normal protocol for when it does. But I think this is the first time she’s seen it in action. And no one had to remind her of what to do. I’d been ready to move, and I could see Noah was too. But we didn’t have to do or say anything. Avery handled it like a pro.

Interesting.

I tear my gaze away from my new apprentice before someone can accuse me of staring at her, even though that’s just what I’d been doing. It hasn't even been two weeks since she started working in the shop. Despite my initial reservations, the past eleven days have gone both better and worse than I’d expected. Better, because despite my dismissive words to Jessie, Avery has exceeded my expectations. She’s taken on every task set before her with no complaint and very little comment.

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