Page 109 of Connected By Stars
“Amen to that.” He tips his beer bottle to mine as we walk back over to the table.
I get a beer out of the bucket and open it for Bell before handing it to her. Sitting down, I put my hand over her chair and lean back, taking a sip. “So what have you girls been talking so excitedly about.”
“I had completely forgotten to tell Sophia about these guys I saw when we went to Rusty’s a few weeks back. They were her type to a tee, and I wanted to know if she had seen them around before. She couldn’t miss them with all the tats on their arms, and they had the bad boy look down pat.” Bell giggles and takes a drink of her beer.
“I think I would remember if I saw them. They were probably on vacation, and I missed my one and only opportunity for a four-on-one.”
Noah and I both choke on our beer. “What the fuck, Soph.” I glare at her.
“I’m only kidding,” she says, laughing. “I got you so good, though. Trust me, I only want one guy.”
“Good,” says Noah, wiping up their spilled beer.
“One guy with the stamina of four.” She adds, causing all of the girls to bust out laughing.
“Jesus,” I mutter under my breath.
“Speaking of tats and wanting to get off this subject, the new owner of Charlie’s Ink bought the house I just finished.”
“What. That’s great! That wasn’t on the market for long at all.” Mav grins at Noah.
“He came by yesterday and saw the place. He took one look at it and signed right on the spot. The girls did an amazing job staging it, and he wants to buy it all,” he says, laughing.
“Is he living there by himself?” Bell asks her brother.
“Him and his son. He was living with his brothers about an hour north of here, but when he got the opportunity to open another tattoo shop, he jumped at the chance to relocate and get his own place. He’ll be running this one, and his brother will be running the other. They’re partners in the business.”
“Does he do good work? When I heard Charlie was retiring and selling his place, I was hoping it would land in the hands of someone as gifted as him. I want to add a little bit to mine.”
“His tats looked badass, and his brother’s looked just as good. He definitely has talent and an eye for art.”
“I’ll have to stop in when he gets it up and running and take a look at his work.”
The waitress comes over to replenish our beer, and we order some food while we wait for a pool table to open up.
“You ready for the new school year, Soph?” She grins at me at the mention of getting to meet her new students. She was born to be a teacher. The children love her.
“I’m so ready for my first year teaching kindergarten. It’s always so exciting to meet all my new students on the first day of school. I’ve checked out some of the students, and I’ve had a couple of their older siblings, so it will be fun to already knowthe family. There were a couple of names I didn’t recognize and one little boy who is new in town, according to his records. I always scan for the new students to make sure they’re making friends and fitting in nicely. It’s always fun to see them blossom throughout the year.”
“Maybe you can manifest a hot single dad of one of your students,” Emma says, winking at her.
“That’s my one rule. No dating the dads of a student. I made the mistake a while back, and things got messy when it didn’t work out. The kids always come first now.”
“To be fair, the dad turned out to be a completely obsessed lunatic. Not every dad you date would be volunteering at every school function to be near you and disrupting your classroom by delivering flowers every hour for weeks.” Bell laughs at the memory.
“Still, it took a lot of explaining to the school board about why he was around all the time, and his daughter didn’t understand why Daddy had become a permanent fixture in the back of the classroom.”
“You just have that effect on guys,” Emma says, laughing. “They become obsessed with you.”
“Yeah, well, there’s a fine line between obsessed sexy and obsessed crazy. I’ll send the crazies packing every time,” she laughs. “I’m very excited, though, to have you come read your book to us this year,” she grins at Emma. “All the teachers are envious that my classroom will be the first to haveEmma Hunterread for us and give the kids signed autograph copies. Have I told you how proud I am of you?”
“Only about a million times,” she laughs softly. “I still can’t believe I’m a published author.”
“Believe it, baby. I always knew you would be.” Noah beams at her, his love and proudness for her shining through.
“I couldn’t have done it without you by my side, encouraging me.”
“We make a great team. You’re a damn good editor and made my latest book top the charts. I couldn’t have done it without you either.” He reaches over and gives her a kiss, causing her to blush.
