Page 17 of Rookie Mistake

Fuck. My dick’s getting hard again just thinking about it.

Zara is a goddamn fever dream, and I’m not ready to wake up.

I’m not ready for tonight to end, which is why I’m sitting in a tattoo chair with a needle digging into the skin beneath the waistband of my briefs.

The low, vibrating buzz of the tattoo gun pulls me from my thoughts, and I glance up at Zara sitting on the opposite side of the artist, her slender fingers intertwined with mine and a pretty smile on her bloodred lips.

I never knew how much I loved the color red until I stared at it on her lips all night.

Now, it just might be myfavoritecolor.

“You okay?” she asks, leaning forward and placing her hand flat on my abdomen, then dropping her chin onto the top. Under the bright, fluorescent light of the tattoo parlor, I see the tiny gold flecks in her green-colored irises.

Holy shit.

They’re beautiful.

I clear my throat and nod. “Mhm. All good. Doesn’t hurt as bad as I thought it would. More like a beesting. Continuously.”

Zara laughs. “It does, but not really pain, per se. It’s the best therapy in the world. Think you’ll get any more?”

“I dunno. Maybe?” My shoulder dips along the chair. “Honestly, I’m the kind of guy who lives for the moment. I never think too far ahead, and sometimes that’s my downfall. But I like to live in the now. I’ll worry about the rest later.”

The needle hits a sensitive patch of skin, and I groan, “Fuck.”

Her small hand tightens in mine, and she gives me a reassuring smile.

“The only way to live, if you ask me.”

Thanks to her soft hand in mine, before I know it, the tattoo is done, and the artist is covering the art now inscribed on my lower abdomen.

I glance down at the gauze covering Zara’s wrist that hides the tattoo I picked for her from view. She got hers first, and we agreed we would get our first looks together.

We walk over and stand near the door, peering at each other with stupid, silly grins on our faces. Once she peels back the gauze, she shakes her head. “Oh god.” The tendrils of her low, smoky laugh seep through the air as she inspects the small tattoo on the inside of her wrist. “You would pick this. It’s perfect.” Her eyes lift to mine, and she shakes her head again, rolling those plump red lips together to stifle another laugh.

A little angel with a set of horns on the top of its head.

I knew the second I saw it this was it. A perfect combination of the girl I’ve grown to know tonight, even though I know I’ve only scratched the surface.

She’s the perfect mixture of sweet and dirty, and lord fucking knows I want more of the small taste I got earlier.

“Kinda worried now, Loverboy. Not sure the one I picked is gonna measure up to yours, but I guess it’s time for the moment of truth.” Zara smirks, arching a dark brow as she steps forward and tugs the front of my shirt up, exposing abs that I’m really fucking glad I didn’t let go over the summer just by the way her eyes are darkening as they drink me in.

Her fingers lightly trail along the muscles, dipping between the ridges and stroking lower. Lower and lower until her fingers slip beneath the waistband and ghost along the sensitive skin, all while those golden-flecked green eyes hold mine so tightly it feels like I can’t breathe.

Fuck.

Whatisit about this girl?

What is it about her that makes the entire room drown out, and all I see is her?

How is it that we only just met tonight, yet it feels like we’ve known each other for years? There’s an easiness between us, a familiarity that shouldn’t exist, but somehow, it does.

“You nervous?” The playful smirk on her lips widens as my shoulder dips.

“Should I be?”

Those perfect lips roll together as she hides her smile, offering me a nonchalant shrug.

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