Page 10 of Things Good Girls Don't Do (Rock Canyon, Idaho 1)

She blushed and took the binder from him as he walked over to close up the front of the store and turned over the OPEN sign. When he came back toward her, he was dazzled by the smile on her face.

“That’s cute.” She flipped to the next page and made a face, “Ew, who would put that on their body?” She turned the page again, stopped, and ran her finger over a picture with a smile. “This one.”

Coming around to stand behind her, he pressed against her back to see the picture. It was a daisy with a ladybug hovering over it. Very girly, and not his taste, but it wasn’t his body. Leaning over until his mouth barely hovered over her neck, he said, “And where do you want it?”

KATIE HAD NO idea where to put a tattoo. It had been a fantasy, a rebellious fancy when she was eighteen, but now the warm body of the man behind her and his softly asked question was making it all too real.

Trying not to lean back into him, she said, “Somewhere that no one will see

unless I want them to.” There, that sounded safe.

“All right, then. Go ahead and unbutton your pants and slide them down to your hips,” he said, moving away from her.

“Excuse me?” she said, turning around to see him transferring the sterile tray he’d held earlier from the counter to a metal table just behind an armless chair.

“I said, unbutton your pants, slide them to about halfway down your hips, and straddle the chair,” he said, slowly and deliberately.

“Why?” she asked, thinking there was no way she was going to pull her pants down in front of him and show him her butt. Especially under bright, fluorescent lights.

“I was just thinking you’d probably like it on your lower back. That way your jeans will cover it most of the time.” His face was blank, but she could hear the humor in his voice and she felt like an idiot.

Reaching for the button on her jeans, she unsnapped them and eased them down a little, pulling her T-shirt down to cover her skin. He pointed to the chair in front of his stool and said, “Go ahead and straddle the chair while I set up.”

She did as he asked and heard him fiddling behind her. Just the fact that she didn’t know what was coming made her ask, “Are you sure this isn’t going to hurt a lot?”

His hands moved beneath her T-shirt and when they touched her skin, she jumped. “What are you doing?”

Katie was sure she heard a sigh before he said, “It will hurt for a bit until the area becomes numb, then it shouldn’t hurt anymore. And to answer your second question, I am tucking your T-shirt up so I can see where to put the stencil.”

Taking him at his word, she didn’t protest when he stuffed her shirt up under the clasp of her bra, even though she felt awkward sitting in front of him with her butt crack hanging out. She wasn’t even wearing sexy underwear, just a pair of pink cotton briefs. Those big hands trailed across her skin and she felt her whole body tighten at the sensation. Having her back stroked and kissed was one of her favorite forms of foreplay, but Chase wasn’t being sensual, he was just doing his job.

Nothing he was doing was meant to make her heart pound, her stomach knot, or her eyes close; it was all in her head. Her body didn’t know that, though. All it knew was that there was a pair of very rough, strong hands causing some very private areas to throb and dampen. And he wasn’t even aware of the quivery feelings he was eliciting from her. If he had even the slightest clue that his touch was making her hornier than a rabbit, he would have probably teased her about that too.

The instruments of her hormone-induced trip to crazy town stopped their innocent exploration, and he said, “Now I’m going to get started. Try not to tense up.” She heard the sound of snapping latex behind her and a whining buzz.

He ran his hand over the small of her back again and she closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation but knowing that just behind it there was a rapid-firing needle. She felt him lean closer to her and his breath rustled the small hairs that curled along her nape as he whispered, “Are you ready?”

“Yes. I’m ready,” she said. The first prick felt like she’d been burned, and she bit her lip, trying to hold back her cry as her back caught fire with pain. “Owowowowow! Okay, when does the not-painful part kick in?”

“It’s different for everybody. Just try to relax.” Bzzzz went the little gun again and Katie tried to suck it up, but her eyes teared.

Stupid nearly midlife crisis!

All she felt was pain. Pain . . . pain . . . pain! It seemed like she’d been sitting there for hours when in reality he’d barely begun.

“I can’t believe you don’t use some kind of numbing agent,” she griped loud enough to be heard over the tattoo gun.

The gun clicked off, and she heard Chase sigh followed by the clink of the tray, the snap of his glove, and his steps behind her. She turned to glance over her shoulder to see where he had gone, winced as her lower back stung and faced forward again. Suddenly, a bottle of whiskey was being held four inches from her nose. “Take a couple of swigs.”

She eyed the rim dubiously and asked, “Really? From the bottle?”

He grinned at her. “That’s good Scotch. I don’t share that with just anyone. Plus it’s not just one of the oldest forms of anesthesia. It’s also an awesome sterilizer. And just to reassure you, I’m clean. I swear.”

She blushed and took a swig, the liquor burning her throat. “Smooth.”

Laughing, he went back to his work, gloves snapping and then that irritating buzzing again. She took another drink of the vile brew, hoping the foul taste and burning throat were worth it.

A moment later she heard the gun click off. “Why don’t you tell me what prompted the list? It’ll distract you from the pain.”

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