Page 20 of Watercolor Skulls

“And what do you want be?” he asks, turning his gun off to look at me.

“I just want to be me.”

His gaze lingers on me for a second before he goes back to work.

My eyes fall closed as a warm feeling starts at the top of my head and rushes down my entire body. I feel like I’m floating. Maybe it’s his strong hands, his warm breath over my skin, or could it be the pain? Whatever it is I want to feel it again and again and again.

Dan

???

She’s in the zone. You never know how someone will respond to the pain. Some of us love it and others avoid it at all costs. I’ve been studying the bruises on her thighs. I saw red the minute I saw them, assuming someone hurt her. Upon further inspection I don’t see any fingerprint bruising so maybe she was injured some other way.

When she stretched her arm over her head her t-shirt road up, I saw more bruising along her mid-section. It’s not like I was being creepy, it’s simply hard to miss. It looks painful. She took quite the blow. I want to ask but it’s really none of my business.

Her eyelids flutter as I change position. She moans when I slide my hand between her legs to shift them slightly. My gaze darts to her face, but her eyes remain closed.

Goddammit, this girl is waking up a part of me I’ve tried hard to bury. I let my fingers trail lightly up her leg until I reach her panty line. Her skin pebbles beneath my touch. I pull my hand back quickly. Shit. Not appropriate. I didn’t spend years building this business to have it taken away by a sexual harassment charge.

Her eyes are still closed. Not that she didn’t notice. I’m sure she did. How could she not have?

I go back to work on the tattoo, keeping my mind out of the gutter. For the most part.

Mid-way through I stop and ask her if she would like to take a break. She doesn’t open her eyes just shakes her head no.

She’s so beautiful.

I shove my face a little closer to her skin, to inspect my work of course. My eyes fall closed as I inhale. She smells like spun sugar. I drag my nose along her leg, careful not to touch her. Okay, so maybe this is getting a little creepy.

You’ve got to understand. I haven’t been with a woman in a long, long time. It’s not like I’m immune to the opposite sex. I’ve been with plenty of women over the years, but it was always awkward. Hard to explain. It’s like no one “fit” me.

I mean, look at me. I’m a big guy and I’ve always been aware of my strength. So, I hold back. I’ve always held back. I don’t know, it just never felt right.

Comical right? Cause this girl is tiny, curvy, but tiny. Maybe five, five. I could break her easily. Oh, and do I want to break her. Fuck. No. I don’t want to break her…but I do.

See…see what I mean? I’m all sorts of fucked up. This is why I’ve stayed single. I don’t date. I fuck once in a great while but that’s it. Makes for a lonely life but I can’t complain. I have the shop, the club, and my friends. That’s all I need.

But my fucking dick thinks it needs her. Not possible. Too young. Too innocent. Too goddamn delicious. She’ll just end up giving me a sweet tooth.

When I wipe the final bit of ink away I stare at the art adorning her pale skin. My mark. A little bit her, a little bit me and the one thing that brought us together…a dragonfly. Fuck me.

“Okay, sweetheart. I think we’re all finished here.” I pull my gloves off and reach over to brush the hair out of her face. She blinks her big brown eyes at me. Just so we all know, I’m fucked. Literally fucked.

“You’re done?”

I nod, as my mind takes a snap-shot of her face. She looks so relaxed, so much more so than she did when she walked through my door.

She sits herself up with my help and twists so she can take her first look. Her hand flies to her mouth and her entire body starts to tremble. Now, I’ve seen lots of reactions over the years but this one, this one is different.

Her fingers hover over the colorful ink, wiggling in the air, wanting to touch but knowing she can’t. Kind of how I feel about her. Now that I’m done I can’t touch her but oh how I want to.

She slides off the table to look at it in the mirror. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” she whispers.

“So, you like it?”

She walks over to me as I sit on my stool and hugs me. She hugs me tight. “Thank you for giving me a piece of my soul back,” she says softly, her breath hot on my ear.

Slowly I wrap my arms around her, hugging her back. This tiny little thing, standing between my legs in nothing but a t-shirt and a pair of panties makes the angel on my shoulder drop to his knees in surrender. The devil, however, licks his lips and whispers,“Take her. Make her yours. You know she wants you.”

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