Page 45 of The Devil's Scars

Chapter Nine

Four days later

Zoe glanced up as the door of the parlor opened and she smiled in greeting at the young woman standing there, looking slightly nervous. She was short, a bit awkward in her body, with long, dark hair and a trim, prim little skirt. No high heels, no figure-hugging clothes, very little makeup. She looked oddly angelic: innocent, kind, almost untouched.

Zoe looked down at her own tight jeans, tugged her mini t-shirt down over her pierced navel, knew she couldn’t hide the ink on her lower back. The woman stepped into the parlor, and Zoe wondered if she’d ever seen a woman who looked less likely to get a tattoo, in the whole of her life. But if this was who Zoe thought it was, then she wasn’t there for a tattoo, anyway.

“Maria?” Zoe set down her fifth coffee of the morning, came out from behind the counter. “Maria Torres?”

“Yes. Hi. Zoe Parish?” The other woman’s voice was soft, gentle, melodious, and right away, Zoe liked her. Maria extended a small, delicate hand. “Thank you so much for the interview.”

“Thanks for coming.” Zoe shook her hand, then gestured at the merrily perking coffee maker. “Coffee?”

“Green tea, if you have it, please.”

“Uhhh… it’s possible.” Zoe stared blankly around the parlor, stunned that she literally had no clue if tea bags actually existed in this space slavishly dedicated to strong, black coffee. “Maybe?”

Maria laughed then, the sound carrying sweetly over the tattoo guns, voices, music, and the guys looked over at her with great interest. Viking got to his feet, ambled over, and Zoe gave him a bit of a what the hell, man? look as he grinned at Maria. Zoe was pretty shocked that he’d make a move on her potential babysitter right in front of his boss, especially since Maria looked about as Catholic-school-girl as it was possible to look, but hell. Maybe that was Viking’s type. Good girl made to go bad. Sweet little thing, just ripe to be corrupted.

“Hey, girl,” he said now. “How’s you?”

“Good,” Maria replied, looking not at all concerned about a six-foot-seven, heavily-tattooed man with a wild red beard looking down at her. “Yourself, Viking?”

“Can’t complain.” He reached out and took her left hand, squinted at the engagement ring there. “So, it’s true, huh? You and Dillon?’

“Yes.” Maria smiled radiantly, and suddenly the shy, almost mousy little librarian-type was gone with the wind. “He says hi, and asked me to schedule another session with you, for maybe next month?”

“Sure thing, doll.” Viking lumbered over to the reception desk like a gigantic bear, flipped through the appointments. “How’s about the nineteenth? He working overnight up at Curves?”

“Uhhh, I’m not totally sure. I think he’s on early afternoons in a few weeks. Starts at one, finishes at nine.”

“Alright, hon. I can schedule him for a morning session… I figure his sleeve needs another four hours. Can he go to work all inked up, though?”

“No.” Maria shook her dark head. “Jax says no way. Says Dillon needs a day off after.”

“Yeah, I figured. Can’t bounce the bad dudes when you can’t move your arm, huh?”

“Jax?” Zoe chimed in now. She’d watched this exchange with barely-concealed delight: she kind of loved that unassuming, cute little Maria knew the terrifying teddy bear Viking. “Who’s that?”

“Oh, Jax Hamill,” Maria said. “He owns Dangerous Curves, a bar up on the highway. My fiancé, Dillon Saunders, bounces there.”

“Ohhh, yeah.” Zoe nodded, enlightened now. “Wolf told me about that place. The boys love to go out there, just to get a change of scene from Satan’s. Rough crowd, huh?”

“Can be,” Maria said quietly. “There have been a few – situations.”

“OK, doll.” Viking gave her another grin. “I’ll pencil Dillon in, and give him a call later today and confirm. Cool?”

“Cool,” Maria agreed, then she looked at Zoe. “Oh! I’m sorry! I was supposed to come here to talk to you about your daughter, not schedule a tattoo appointment…”

“Nah, it’s good.” Zoe waved her hand in a careless movement. “Let’s go do that now, OK?”

“Yes. Please.”

Zoe nodded at the guys, who resumed whatever they’d been doing, led Maria to her office in the back. She’d liked Maria Torres on paper already: the younger woman was educated, she had years of experience up at Open Skies Ranch, she had glowing recommendations from her former boss up at Open Skies and from several people she’d done childcare work for here in Denver. She’d come across to Zoe as professional, reliable, good with children. After having spoken to every single one of Maria’s former employers, she was far-and-away Zoe’s first choice to take care of Keira.

But the fact that she was on a first-name basis with Viking Callahan was yet another huge point in Maria’s favor, oddly enough. Zoe loved people with a foot in two vastly different worlds, she found contradictions both fascinating and endearing, and it looked like Maria was as comfortable in the rough, dirty world of bikers and bouncers as she was in the powdered world of babies and mushed bananas. Maria might be a bit shy and conservative, but she clearly had a backbone – and Zoe liked people who could hold their own.

So, yeah, she’d go through the motions here, ask Maria all the tough questions, work her way down the checklist… and then she’d talk money and availability. And she’d invite Maria Torres into her life with her beautiful, amazing daughter. She’d expand the circle of her new life by one more person.

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