Page 12 of Devilish Ink

I melted into the leather. If I could have fallen, I would have. Another sensation took over my body, the painful need in my cock overtaken by something aching in my chest.

How could someone who looked like the devil’s temptress sing like an angel?

Her voice wound round my throat as surely as fingers. The soft waves of her breathy inhales rolling over me as strongly as the tides themselves; I was underwater and I couldn’t breathe.

I cleared my throat as the first song ended.

“What band is this?” I asked.

I turned my head to catch Ry smiling.

“The Untouchables,” she answered. “A local indie band. They’re pretty much the only thing I took with me when I fled Dublin…”

It didn’t escape me that she saidfledinstead of left.

Her eyes grew unfocused. There. Whatever she was remembering.

I needed to know what gave her that distant look, what she remembered that caused her voice to falter and her lungs to stutter.

I wanted it. Coveted it like a dark cursed jewel.

I wanted to knowher.

But I had to tread lightly. I couldn’t seem too keen, couldn’t beg for her past. Couldn’t scare her by wanting too much from her too soon.

“Right. How long ago did you…leave?” I asked, trying to sound casual as she leaned over me again and restarted the tattoo.

“Five years…”Five long yearswas what I heard in the hollowness of her voice.

Whatever happened five years ago haunted her. It stained her eyes with sadness.

I wanted to wipe it away, to lift her curse. I wanted to repaint her life with laughter and singing and…love.

Withme.

“Where did you go?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Everywhere. Nowhere. Europe… I moved around a lot.”

I took in her hard swallow, the way her shoulders curled in.

I wanted to reach out and hold her, to take her into my arms and promise to protect her.

“Why did you leave?” I asked softly.

Something dark flashed across her face. Her hand jerked.

The tattoo needle caught on my back and I bit back a hiss at the line of pain.

“Shite.” She threw the gun onto the tray, snatched up her cloth and dabbed at my back. “Rian’s going to eat the head off me. I run off all his clients by threatening and then stabbing them.”

My ears pricked up at my brother’s name. At the same time, it landed like a punch to the guts.

I wanted to keep asking her about this thing that happened to her.

But this was my opportunity to get her to talk about Rian. That’s what I was here for, wasn’t it? My brother?

I ignored the guilt pooling in my stomach.

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