Page 60 of Save Me

“Hey, I know you,” he heard Billie saying some time later. “You’re the girl from the drawing.”

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah, yeah…Ryker did a drawing of you! Damn! He was spot on!”

For some reason, that made him look up, and he froze.

Ryleigh.

She was here.

In the middle of his world, in the midst of all this chaos, and…she was staring at him defiantly.

She looked stunning all dressed in black—sexy and sassy and definitely out of her comfort zone.

He nodded to Billie to indicate that Ryleigh could come into the booth, but once she did, neither said a word. She could obviously tell he was busy, and Ryker was more determined than ever to finish this dragon.

And now he had the perfect motivation to get it done.

Ryleigh stepped further into the booth and Billie immediately got her a stool to sit on and offered her something to drink.

“If there’s any water…”

“Be right back!”

As if knowing that he couldn’t look at her or be distracted, she sat primly on the stool and watched him work. Ryker was used to people doing that and it didn’t bother him.

But having Ryleigh watch him made him nervous for the first time in possibly ten years. That was when he competed for the first time, and he had no idea there would be so many people hovering around him. Over the years, he’d gotten used to it but right now this all just felt…huge.

Huge and intimidating.

Swallowing hard, he forced himself to tune it all out, to clear his mind of all the sights and sounds and smells around him and simply focus on the art.

When he finally finished, he straightened in his chair and then bent back as far as he could go—until the stretch was more pleasure than pain—before he came to his feet. “You’re all good, Nick,” he said. “Let me help you to your feet.” After doing that, Ryker grabbed the full-length mirror he had in the back of the booth and held it up so the guy could see the finished product.

“Holy shit, Ryker,” Nick said with awe. “This is fucking amazing! So much more than I thought it would be.”

Ryker was used to the praise, but it still pleased him to no end to see the look of pure satisfaction on a client’s face. “Glad you like it, man. Billie’s gonna come and get it covered up for you and give you a list of instructions you need to follow to a T.” Pausing, he gave Nick a stern look. “To a T, no joke. If you have any concerns once it’s all healed over, you’ve got my card and don’t hesitate to reach out, okay?”

“Thanks, Ryker. You’re a legend!”

Ryker shook his hand before stepping aside so Billie could come over and finish things up. After another full body stretch, he turned and finally faced Ryleigh.

“So…” he began.

She came to her feet and stared up at him. “So…”

“I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” Ryker forced himself to say, unsure of what she was thinking right now.

“Up until late this morning, I had no intention of coming here. But then I talked to my sister, who mentioned you being a tattoo artist, and I figured I’d come and check it out.” She crossed her arms and cocked her hip. “You know, since you never thought to mention what you do for a living. Or your last name—Ryker Masella!”

And then she turned and stormed away.

With a nervous glance at Billie, he said, “So, uh…I’m gonna go.”

Her smile was practically giddy. “Yeah, you better go after her because there have been tons of guys hanging around checking her out.”

“They were watching me work.”

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