Page 40 of Ink & Desire

My face goes instantly hot, and I shake my head. “There’s nothing between me and Corbin.”

“But there could be,” she says. “If you let it.”

“That’s not a good idea.”

She just smiles. “Sometimes bad ideas are fun. Besides, I think you could be good for him.”

I shake my head again. “You’re wrong. For one thing, he wants nothing to do with me. For another, it would just make things weird at work. I don’t want to do anything to ruin this opportunity.”

She nods, her gaze tracking Corbin as he makes his way back toward us. “I get that. But I think you’re wrong about one thing. No one knows my brother better than I do. One thing I know? He never does anything he doesn’t want to do. Never. So, hiring you? Agreeing to train you? It’s because some part of him wanted to. Which means some part of him wants you here.”

My brows draw together in confusion. “What does that mean?”

Henley shrugs, still smiling. “Might want to figure it out before you decide he’s not worth complicating your life for.”

I open my mouth to respond, but I don’t get the chance. Corbin is there handing Henley a bottle of water.I can’t tell from his demeanor if he heard any of our conversation. If so, he’s not letting on. And he’s not the kind of man to just ignore someone talking about him that way.

“Drink up,” he says to his sister. “Then we’ll get back to it.”

Henley nods, lifting the bottle in a mock toast before tipping it back and draining half of the contents. Her words bounce around in my head as I sit watching Corbin work for another hour. I don’t know what to make of her comment about Corbin wanting to hire me. Is she right? She knows him better than I do. I tell myself it doesn’t matter. I’m here for a reason, and it’s not to fantasize about a certain grumpy, sexy tattoo artist. So, even if Henley was right about Corbin wanting me here, I can’t worry about that. I need to stay focused on learning as much as I can about this profession so I can be the best damned tattoo artist possible. So, when Corbin starts cleaning Henley’s skin in preparation to wrap it, I decide to go find Jessie.

“It was nice meeting you,” I say to Henley.

“It was nice meeting you, Avery,” she says. “Think about what I said.”

I make a noncommittal sound before turning to walk away. I don’t look back to gauge Corbin’s reaction to her words. Instead, I go find Jessie and help her prepare for a septum piercing. By the time we finish, Henley is gone. It’s too bad. I like her. What’s more, I like the way Corbin is when she’s around. It makes me believemaybe there’s more to him than the perpetual grump I normally see. Seeing him today with his sister seems to have softened me toward him, which is dangerous. I don’t need to think about Corbin in any other light than the one he painted himself with during our first meeting. But it’s hard when he’s offering me brownies and smiling at his little sister in a way that makes it clear he has a heart in there somewhere.

Chapter 18

Corbin

I hate slow days. Having nothing to do makes time creep by at a glacial speed. Plus, having no clients means I’m making no money. Actually, it means I’m losing money now that I have an employee. Since I don’t take walk-in clients, I usually spend this kind of day catching up on the tedious day-to-day stuff. But having Avery here means I have a lot less of that to do these days.In fact, she’s been so efficient that I don’t have anything to do to pass the time today.

Not even Noah and Jessie have anything going on today. They occasionally accept walk-ins, but those are the exception, rather than the rule. Not to mention, the shitty weather is probably keeping people from venturing out. The front door of the shop hasn’t opened in almost two hours. I have a client scheduled for later this afternoon, but I’m starting to wonder if she’s going to reschedule because of the weather. Not that I’d blame her. It’s the perfect day to avoid going outside if possible.

I look out the window where I can barely make out the dark shape of my car through the torrential downpour. It’s been raining like this for the past half hour with no end in sight. Normally, I’d be annoyed by the lack of clients and all the hours of down time. I’d spend the afternoon in my office, convinced that if I didn’t keep busy, it meant I was wasting the day. I’ve spent so many years pushing to get ahead that it feels like I’m falling behind if I relax for a moment. For some reason, today I’m not retreating to my office. Instead, I’m sitting in the main room with Noah, Jessie and Avery soaking up their conversation.

Jessie is carrying on most of the conversation with the others joining in as needed. She’s keeping busy reorganizing the supplies in her station while she talks. She does this a few times a year and usually when it’s slow like today. I get the feeling she hates being idle almost as much as I do.

Noah is playing a game on his phone, mostly tuning the rest of us out. I don’t mind, though. For my part, I’m mostly listening to the others talk while I work on a concept piece for a client’s tattoo. I’m not big on small talk and I’ve never been very good at mindless chatter to fill the silence. I’m happy staying in the periphery, rather than being in the center of things. I do my best to keep my focus on the tablet in my hands, even though I’d rather be looking at Avery.

I don’t know what it is about her, but I find my gaze drawn to her more and more as the days pass. No matter how many times I tell myself it’s a bad idea, I can’t seem to shake this attraction to her. Not that I’d ever let it show. I’ve worked hard to keep her at arm’s length for the past few weeks while still doing my best to show her the inner workings of the business. I meant what I said that day I handed her the contract. Things between us are going to remain professional. Even if it kills me.

She’s a quick learner. She’d taken to the business and organizational side of things in record time. Even I’ve got to admit she caught on much quicker than I had in the beginning. Maybe Jessie was right, and I’m not meant to be behind a desk. Not that I hadn’t already come to that conclusion myself. As for the artistic side of the business, she seems to have a good eye for color and design. She’s been enthusiastic when it comes to learning about skin as a canvas, not to mention the ways different body parts respond to tattooing. She’s been an excellent studentso far. Not that I’ve told her that. It doesn’t fit with my plan to make her want to stay as far away from me as possible.

“So, Avery,” Jessie says, her voice cutting through the drone of rain and wind outside. “How are you liking Boston so far?”

I keep my eyes on what I’m doing, even though I’m curious to know the answer myself. I’ve learned from eavesdropping on the two women over the past few weeks that Avery is originally from New York and hasn’t lived in Boston very long.

“It’s not New York,” Avery says. “But it’s a great city.”

“Your family lives in New York?” Jessie asks.

I risk a quick glance over at Avery who nods without looking up from the paper she’s drawing on. “And all my friends from college. You guys are the only people I know here.” She gives a little shrug and a laugh.

“You need to get out more,” Jessie says, making Avery laugh again.

“This place keeps me busy enough,” she says.

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