Page 57 of Restricted List

“It was fun. We had a great time. The concert was more fun than I thought it would be.”

My evil mind thinks back to the picture she sent me. She can pull off cowboy boots and flannelreallydamn well.

I mentally curse myself for throwing on joggers tonight because my cock is already stirring awake, and I can’t hide very well in these.

“Great,” I say, voice straining as I try to keep my blood from rushing south. “That’s great. I’m glad you guys had fun.”

“You ready for the bachelor party?”

“Uh, yeah,” I reply, running a hand through my hair and placing my hat back on my head. “Should be fun.”

I push up the sleeves of my black henley, suddenly aware of how hot it is in here. But maybe that’s just me.

Rory follows my movements before her eyes travel over the words of one of my visible tattoos.

“You know, I’ve seen that tattoo so many times, but I’ve never actually asked you about it. I don’t know what it says.”

“It’s Latin,” I say, tracing over the line of words on the inside of my left forearm—genus est quod cum satus et finem. “It translates to ‘Family is what we start and end with.’”

“You’re such a family guy,” she replies, shooting me a soft smile that I return. “Did you ever finish out your sleeve?”

“I did, yeah.” I point to my right bicep. “Finished it out right here.”

“Can I see it?”

“Sure,” I say before realizing something. “I, uh… need to take my shirt off to do that, though.”

“Oh.” Rory says it so softly it’s almost imperceptible. “That’s… fine.”

With her permission, I do something stupid. Something I can easily regret because I know what could happen from here.

I toss my hat onto my coffee table before grabbing my shirt by the hem and pulling it over my head, leaving me in just a pair of gray joggers.

I’ve never been self-conscious, but I can’t help but feel a bit nervous right now. I’m not often shirtless around Rory, and Icertainly haven’t been since things really started to shift between us.

She moves closer to me so she can see the final part of the sleeve on my right arm. “I had PIERCE added, so with the 27 on my forearm and skulls and roses over the rest of the arm, it’s finally complete.”

“Well, the name and number make sense for you. But why the skulls and roses?”

“I like them,” I shrug. “It’s nothing deeper than that, honestly.”

“What about the rest?” she asks, gesturing to the upper half of my body. “I see four more.”

“Those are just the ones you can see right now,” I laugh. “I have a couple more that you can’t.”

Rory raises her eyebrow. “What are those ones?”

I shift in my seat, turning around so she can see the geometric pattern trailing down my spinal column. “There’s this one. No reason for it, either. I just liked the design.”

I turn back around to face her again. “Are there any more I can’t see?”

“One more,” I admit. “But it’s on my thigh, and I probably shouldn’t take my pants off.”

Though I do kind of want to.

“Right,” she replies uneasily. “What about the others I can see then?”

I point to the crossed baseball bats over my heart. “This one is pretty self-explanatory.”

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