Page 90 of The Devil's Scars

Chapter Seventeen

Zoe glanced up from the utterly baffling and infuriatingly detailed monthly expense report, and immediately her tetchy mood vanished. There stood Maria, and in her arms she held a squirming, singing little bundle. Zoe got to her feet, already smiling and extending her arms.

“Hey, little flower,” she said. “How’s your day been?”

Maria handed Keira over, and right away, the baby clung to her mother like a monkey. Zoe smoothed some unruly blonde curls back, kissed Keira’s forehead. The baby clutched Zoe’s shirt, and grinned gummily even as she rubbed her eyes, thrilled to have someone else to coo at.

“How was she today?” Zoe asked Maria. “Is the teething better?”

“A bit.” Maria set the loaded diaper bag on the chair next to Zoe’s desk. “But she was so busy practicing pulling herself up on every piece of furniture in the house, that she didn’t go down for a nap She needs a sleep pronto, and I’d be surprised if she lasts an hour.”

“Ahhh, poor baby.” Zoe kissed Keira’s nose, and as if on cue, the baby yawned widely, practically swallowing Zoe’s chin. The two women laughed, and Keira scowled at them. “Standing up is way better than lying down, huh?”

“She seems to think so,” Maria said. “Every time I turned around, she was off and standing somewhere else. She can cross a room at warp-speed now, I swear.”

“I know,” Zoe agreed. “I keep hoping that I’ll grow eyes in the back of my head.”

“No luck so far?”

“Nope.” Zoe rocked Keira as her little body started to go limp and heavy. “But fingers crossed.”

“So… same time tomorrow morning?” Maria asked, handing Zoe the blanket from the diaper bag.

“Yes, please.” Zoe gently set Keira into the travel crib that she had set up between her desk and the door to the back storage room. “And you’ll be able to go a bit early, I think. My last client will be finished around three, and I’m going to try to get away ASAP. I want an evening with Little Miss Sleepy here.”

“No problem.” Maria grabbed her backpack. “See you tomorrow, Zoe.”

“Thanks, Maria,” Zoe said. “Have a good night.”

Maria nodded, and headed out through the tattoo parlor, greeting the guys as she went. Zoe looked down at Keira, and tucked the pink bunny from Scars against Keira’s soft cheek. The baby sighed happily, hugged it tightly, and dropped off, as easy as a light switch being flicked.

“You’re amazing,” Zoe said to her daughter. “I wish I could just do that… drift off so quickly and peacefully. I could learn a thing or two from you, little one.”

She kissed her fingertips, pressed them gently to the back of that sweet little fuzzy head, then returned to her desk. She glared at the monthly report again, wishing that the damn thing made more sense to her. Thanks to those years back in Fargo, Zoe knew the day-to-day, up-close-and-personal running of the tattoo business inside and out, but Blue Dragon was a surprisingly busy parlor, and under her management, business was growing month on month.

That meant more of everything – more ink, more gloves, more staff hours, and now, more staff. She had to hire at least two other tattoo artists, and that meant more tables, more equipment, more insurance and medical. And here she had to sit, and put all of that ‘more’ into cold, hard numbers in neat little rows, to then run past Wolf when she justified asking for more money to cover things. She had to get it right, and she had to get it right the first time. Failure to do that meant delays, suppliers not paid on time, new hires on hold and so she’d be forced to take double shifts.

Urgh. Math and projections and shit. Soooo tedious.

She sighed, then mentally smacked herself in the face. Come on, the whole reason this was happening was because she and those guys out there had worked their asses off… expansion was a good thing, and she’d better get appreciative damn quick and stop her inner bitching about her pretty crap accounting skills.

Zoe looked at Keira, reminded herself that that little girl was counting on Zoe to make a go of this business. Zoe had to save several thousand more to buy a new car, start a savings account for herself and Keira, maybe even save to buy her own cute little house with an apple tree in the backyard. That got her head on straight again. She grimly set her mouth into a line, picked up her red pen, and narrowed her eyes at the rows of numbers.

“Wow.” The deep, sexy drawl came from the doorway. “That is one hell of an intense look you got going on, beautiful.”

Every part of herjumped at that achingly-familiar voice: her stomach, her heart, her breath. Hell, even her pussy jumped, somehow.

Yeah, Scars had her. He had her whole.

“Scars!” She jumped to her feet, shot out from behind the desk. “Hey…”

He stepped into the office, glanced down at the sleeping baby, then gathered Zoe in those strong, safe arms. She lifted her shining face to his, needing his kiss… and he delivered. Boy, did he ever.

She let out a little moan as he kissed her, his tongue teasing her mouth until she opened. He tasted her then, gentle little sips, just darting in and out, little licks of flame between her eager lips. Taking his time. Savoring her.

“Scars…” His name was a ragged whimper. “Scars…”

“Missed me, baby?” he whispered against her mouth. “Need me?”

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