Page 43 of Devilish Ink

He grinned. “I’m very convincing.”

I hid my snort.

He lowered his body to the table and stretched out like a cat before placing his hands under his head. With that cocky country boy smirk, and in that gravelly musical lilt, said, “I’m allyours…”

My brain short-circuited at the sight of him laid out on the table, adjusted today like a deck chair rather than a table. His firm pecs, wide torso and the ridges of his six-pack, and that mouthwatering V sliding sinfully into his jeans. His handstucked like that made his biceps bulge around his handsome face.

And those damned green eyes, utterly unapologetic in the way they followed me around the room as I prepped for his tattoo.

I found myself fumbling with ink bottles and tripping over my own feet thanks to the heaviness of his stare.

But when I leaned over him, our faces inches away, our breaths fanning each other’s faces, his smirk slid off his face.

I don’t think either of us was ready for the intimacy of facing each other during the tattooing.

At least,Iwas not prepared for this.

I’d tattooed hundreds of guys’ chests, glorious, muscled chests or good-looking men, and it was never likethis.

As I placed my left hand down on his firm pec to steady my right hand, heat coursed through my body. Goosebumps broke out over him. God help me I couldn’t help but brush my thumb across his smooth skin. Electricity sparked between us.

His eyes were like magnets, drawing my gaze to them. Under the lamplight, the green of Lee’s eyes was so vivid it was distracting.

Jaysus, Ryleigh Elizabeth Carroll, focus.

I bent over Lee’s chest even farther, trying to hide my eyes from him. But this brought my breast into contact with his arm. The friction against my nipple caused them to harden painfully.

I bit back a moan.

I cursed myself for attempting such an ambitious tattoo: an anonymous couple in a heart-wrenching embrace down the left side of his chest and along his ribs.

It was large and difficult. It required a lot from me.

Worst of all, it would need time.

The small of my back was already damp with sweat and I’d only just sketched in the rough outline of the love-stricken pair.

I shifted on my stool, trying to quell the ache, pressing mythighs together. He shifted just as much on the table. Our breaths grew heavier, sweat breaking out on both of us, his fingers at some point shifting from behind his head to gripping the leather at his sides as if to stop from grabbing at me.

Soon it wasn’t his gaze I had to fight to avoid but the thick hard outline of his cock against his thigh, straining against the heavy material of his jeans. I swallowed as my mouth watered. As I imagined the pressure of it, the pain, even, of it splitting me apart. The way his muscles would move as he thrust into me.

I shoved back from him so abruptly, it drew a look of concern from him.

“Do you, er, do you need a break?” I said, just sitting there. I was soaked through my panties. That if I stood from this chair, I’d leave a wet mark of my desire.

“You noticed I was hard, huh?” he said, sounding unfazed.

“It’s fine. It’s just the human body,” I said, my throat parched. I switched off the gun and practically threw it onto my rolling workstation. “It’s just…a usual reaction.”

Was I trying to reassure Lee? Or was I trying to convince myself?

“It doesn’t mean anything,” I added in a weak voice. “It’s, you know, not personal.”

Lee’s gaze on me was steady. I hated how unembarrassed he seemed because I was dying of shame at my reaction and he couldn’t evenseehow wet I was.

“Ry…believe me when I say, my reaction to you isnotusual. And it is entirelypersonal.”

“Oh.”

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