Page 36 of Ink & Desire

“Why? You got some place to be today?”

“Nowhere but right here with my big brother,” she says sweetly.

“Then what’s the hurry?” I ask, intentionally riling her.

“Because I don’t want to be here until midnight,” she says. “I have an early meeting tomorrow.”

“Okay, Miss I’m-So-Important,” I tease.

“Shut up,” she says, laughing as she gives my arm a shove. “You know that’s not what I mean.”

“Yeah, yeah. Come on,” I say. “Let me get everything set up and have a brownie.Thenwe can get started.”

She sighs. “Fine. A deal’s a deal.”

As we walk toward my station, I hear a sound that can only be described as a moan coming from my right. My gaze immediately follows the noise and I see Avery standing in front of the open bakery box. She’s got her hand over her mouth and her eyes are closed as she chews, a look of pure rapture on her face.

“Oh, my god,” she groans. “This is the best damned brownie I’ve ever had.”

Jessie laughs at her. “Jensen’s is the best.”

I watch Avery for a few more seconds, amused by the blissful expression on her face. All that over a brownie? I guess she has a sweet tooth. Not that I care. Her dessert preferences are none of my business. I eventually manage to tear my gaze off her before anyone can catch me staring at her and make assumptions.

“Hmm,” Henley says from beside me.

Too late.

“Who’s the girl?” she asks, her tone overly cheerful.

“Avery,” I say, my voice neutral. “New apprentice.”

“Hmm,” she says again.

I don’t think I like the curiosity in my sister’s tone.

“Hmm? What?” I ask, glancing over at her as she sits in the chair at my station.

She shrugs. “Nothing. Just that she’s cute.”

“She’s too young for you, Henley,” I say, my words sounding more like a warning than the playful tone I’d been going for.

“Too young for you, maybe,” my sister says, still watching Avery. Her gaze roams over her from her head to her toes and back up. “I’m not so ancient as you, big brother.”

Something about the way she says it sends a flash of irritation through me.

“No hitting on my employees.”

She just laughs. “Come on. That’s not a rule.”

“It is now,” I say. “I’m instituting it.”

Henley turns back to look at me, but I keep my eyes on what I’m doing. I focus on setting up my station withthe inks I know I’m going to be using for today’s work on her back. I know she’s trying to read me. It’s what she does. What she’s always done. If I’m not careful she’ll see exactly what I don’t want her to see. Who am I kidding? If she’s here long enough, she’s bound to see it anyway. Just because Jessie and Noah haven’t picked up on my attraction to Avery doesn’t mean my own sister won’t notice it. I don’t know why I’m making a big deal about the possibility of Henley flirting with Avery. It doesn’t matter to me. Or, at least it shouldn’t.

“Does that rule apply to you, too?” Henley asks, her voice teasing.

I look over at my sister and see that her mouth is curved up into a smile and her eyes are sparkling with the same mischief she used to have when she’d play a prank on me when we were kids.

“I don’t hit on my employees,” I say, not taking her bait.

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