Page 52 of Sliding into Home

“Yeah, so—” Gonzo stood up. “I think we’re just gonna go.” He pointed his thumb toward the front door. “And we’ll meet up with you when you’re done.”

Pete and Ryan stood as well and shifted toward the door.

“We’ll all see you later for our tattoos, Kia,” Ryan added.

Forcing herself to remain professional, Kia tore her glare off Jeff and glanced at his friends. Her clients. “Sounds good. I’m looking forward to it. I think you guys will love them when they’re done.”

The trio slunk toward the front door.

“Sorry,” Jeff mumbled, drawing her attention back to him.

“For what?”

“That was out of line.”

“Mm hmm.”

“I’m serious, I’m sorry. I was just surprised you hadn’t told me you’d broken up.”

“I didn’t think it mattered.”

“It matters.” Something in the tone of his voice made her look up. She sucked in a breath at the heat in his eyes. Guess she had her answer.

She licked her lips, and Jeff’s gaze remained glued to her mouth. Goosebumps danced across her skin, making her nipples tighten. One look from Jeff and her body was instantly on fire. Oh boy. This was exactly what she’d been afraid of.

“Uh—” She cleared her throat. What the hell was happening? She was working. He was a client. She closed her eyes and took a deep, cleansing breath.

Opening them, she picked up her tattoo gun. “What do you say we get back to this, okay?”

“Sure,” he mumbled.

As the machine buzzed to life again, she tried to pull in the calm she always felt when she worked. Unfortunately, her hormones had other ideas. She’d never been so conscious of how close she needed to be to do her job. She was ridiculously aware of Jeff and the fact that her hands were on his chest.

His very naked chest.

Desperate for a distraction, something to make her feel normal, she rolled her shoulders. “So tell me about your friends.”

“What do you want to know?”

“I don’t know, the usual. Are they married, single? How long have you known them? Hit me.”

“Ryan and Pete are both in a relationship. Gonzo is single.” He chuckled. “Clearly.”

She snickered. “He gives off single vibes, for sure.”

“Gonz and I have been friends since the minors. We came up together. Both got called up the same year. I met Pete when I joined the team, and Ryan’s been with the Hawks for a couple of seasons.”

It made things so much easier that Jeff was willing to ignore the elephant in the room and let her bury her head in her work. Maybe she should have told him she’d broken up with Austin, but she’d been scared. Having a boyfriend had put a barrier between them, forcing them to ignore this attraction. It kept things from being overly complicated. But now, without that, she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to fight the fact she actually had feelings for her son’s father.

Finally, several hours of tattooing later, Kia turned off the machine and stretched her back. “Alright, I think we’re done.”

“Yeah?” Jeff glanced at his chest.

“Yep, go take a look.” She pushed her wheelie stool back from the table and followed Jeff over to the full-length mirror.

He stood in front of the mirror, staring at his tattoo. His hand reached out like he was going to touch it, then he shied away and just leaned in closer. A huge smile split across his face. “Kia,” he reverently said her name. Turning to her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and hoisted her up in the air, so they were the same height.

Laughing, she wrapped her arms around him and held on. “I take it you like it?”

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