Page 23 of Ink

“Would you mind giving me a reason why you won’t go out with me? I know that we got off on the wrong foot. Hell, I talk to fucking much when I’m not nervous, but when I am, I just can’t seem to shut it off.”

“Do I make you nervous, Spade?” she asked leaning over his body to grab something from the other side of the chair. He damn near swallowed his tongue. She was toying with him, buthe honestly didn’t mind. She was at least paying some attention to him.

“Very,” he choked.

“Good,” Cynthia said. “I like that you’re a little bit afraid of me because you should be.”

“I didn’t say that I’m afraid of you,” he said. “I said that you make me nervous.”

“Yeah, I’m not seeing a difference,” she drawled. “Besides, it doesn’t matter how I make you feel, I don’t go out with clients.”

“Technically, I’m not your client,” he insisted. “I’m Inks.”

“Yet, here you are, in my chair, getting ink from me. I think that technically makes you my client,” Cynthia insisted.

“Shit,” he grumbled. “Well, then, there’s only one thing to do.” He stood from the chair and called back to Ink, “I’m going to have to reschedule, man, and the next time I come in, I want you to work on my tats.” He gave Cynthia a mock salute and walked out of the shop, not bothering to look back at her. He wasn’t sure what he had just done, but he was sure of one thing—he had probably just blown his chances with the pretty new tattoo artist.

Cynthia

Did she find the hot biker who had just walked out of the shop to be sexy as fuck—yes, but when he finally stopped talking, and she wasn’t sure what to say next because she hadn’t heard a word he said, she stood there quietly feeling awkward as hell. Honestly, all she could think about was tattooing the big guy someplace extremely private on his body, and then, she couldn’t stop thinking about him naked. He was big, had a beard, and lots of tattoos. Plus, he was a biker. She liked all those things in a man, but Spade made her girl parts stand up and pay attention, and that hadn’t happened for a damn long time.

She was an idiot for letting herself daydream about getting naked with any man, but for some reason, Spade made her think every dirty thought that she had been holding back for the past year. That was when she left her now ex-boyfriend in town, making the excuse that her parents needed her out in California. Karma stepped in, as she usually does, and boy was she a bitch. As soon as she landed in California, her phone went off like crazy. Her mother had tried to call her during the flight, and of course, she had turned off her phone. She grabbed her overheadluggage and got off the plane, immediately calling her mother. That’s when her hysterical mom told her that her father had fallen and that she needed to hurry.

Cynthia spent months taking care of her mother and father, and when they were finally better, she decided that running from her problems wasn’t who she wanted to be, so she went home to face her old life and her ex-boyfriend.

She spent weeks trying to work up the nerve to stop by Eric’s place to talk to him, but when she finally did, she was told that he had moved across town with his new wife. She should have been shocked, but a part of her wasn’t. When she was with him, she had a sick feeling that he was cheating on her, but she could never prove it, so she left. Cynthia knew that she was better off without Eric, but it still hurt.

She wasn’t sure if she wanted to stay in town after hearing the news about her ex, but she ran into Ink, and he asked her to come work for him. The thought of tattooing again made her think that she could make a go of it in her hometown, and she decided to stick around. Dating was another subject altogether, so she vowed not to for at least the first year that she lived in town. She still had six months to go, and no matter how much she wanted to say yes to Spade, she didn’t.

She walked back to Ink’s office after cleaning up her area. She knew that he was going to give her some shit about Spade getting up and walking out, but that wasn’t her fault. He decided to leave, and how was she supposed to stop him?

“I take it that things didn’t go very well with Spade,” Ink said. He was rocking Bethany to sleep, and she knew that getting all hot-headed about Ink razzing her would only wake the baby. Then, they’d both have to take turns with her while they worked on their afternoon clients. Not that she minded. She loved Bethany and even considered the possibility of having a babyherself, after spending so much time with her. Of course, that would be in the future—far, far in the future.

“He asked me out,” she said as though that would explain the very strange morning that she was having.

“Oh, no,” Ink whispered, “how awful for you.”

“Shut up,” she grumbled, “and it was awful.”

“I take it that he’s not your type?” Ink asked. Spade was definitely her type. He was more than perfect for her, but she had sworn off all men for another six months, and she didn’t want to break that promise to herself.

“No, he’s not my type,” she lied, defiantly raising her chin as though challenging him to question her.

Ink chuckled and stood to put Bethany in her crib that he kept in his office. “Okay, if you’re not going to tell me the truth, then forget it.” He walked out of his office and headed to the front of the shop to get ready for his afternoon client.

“Wait,” Cynthia said, chasing after him. “You’re giving up just like that?”

“Yep, I don’t have time for games. I have a client coming in about fifteen minutes and will need to get ready for him,” Ink said.

“Fine, I’ll tell you the truth,” Cynthia grumbled. She needed to talk to someone about what she was going through and right now, Ink was her only real friend. She knew that she could confide in him and that he wouldn’t make fun of her—well, not too much.

“I’m all ears,” Ink said, sitting down in his chair.

“Well, I can’t tell you everything while you’re staring at me. Can you turn around?” she asked. Sure, she was acting like a child, but the story of her life over the past year was a bit embarrassing.

“Just tell me,” Ink insisted.

Cynthia took a deep breath and let it out. “I don’t tell people this but the reason I left town and went to California wasn’t to take care of my parents,” she admitted.

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